Soup of the Day: part 4

For now, this is the final post in the soup of the day series. But we have enjoyed some fabulous soups during these past few weeks and I have enjoyed reading your comments about the ones you've tried.

This recipe for Winter Squash Soup was shared by Alisa, and the hubby was oh, so excited to see that it was a version of the soup he had eaten many moons ago when he was a missionary in Paris. A "potage" of sorts (as he called it), I made this in my new Christmas/Birthday present--a pressure cooker (thank you, thank you Mindi) which cooked the squash in 7 minutes. This is a fabulous tool to add to my kitchen and I cannot wait to see what other magic it can do.

I must admit I intended to make the gruyere croutons, but forgot to buy a baguette so we ended up using the gruyere in a grilled cheese sandwich which was delicious dipped in the potage. Even if you think you hate squash, give this soup a try. It is sweet, savory, creamy and surprisingly rich even though it only requires 1/4 cup cream for the whole recipe.

Soup Accessory of the Day

Before Christmas, I visited here and made a wonderful discovery. If you want to make homemade soup even more special, you can make your own bread bowls. I'm re-posting the recipe here (with my edits). They are very easy and surprisingly quick for something that requires yeast and rising. (pictured above with yummy Minnesota Wild Rice Soup)

BREAD BOWLS

2 Tbsp. yeast

2 cups warm water

1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt

5 cups flour

Mix yeast and sugar with with warm water and allow to sit for 5-10 mins until foamy. Add salt and flour and knead until relatively stiff.(I used the dough hook on my Kitchenaid) Form into 6 round balls and place on greased cookie sheets. Allow space so they don't touch each other. Let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes. Cut a circle in the top of the roll, pull off top and scoop out bread to make a bowl.

Soup of the day: part 3

Today's soup of the day recipe doesn't come from me. It comes from Pamela, who is the sister of Ellen, (the owner of Classichound, my great boss and the creator of the doggie bags). I featured Pamela's necklaces on a Monday Fun Find awhile back, and you can see more of her beautiful jewelry in her Etsy shop.

She posted this recipe on her blog the other day and my mouth was watering. This was the soup I was hoping for that fateful day at Fred Meyer. I haven't made it yet only because I keep forgetting to buy leeks. But it is on the menu.

Soup of the Day: part 2

Thanks for all the positive response from the last recipe. Here is the second installment.

The credit for this recipe goes to none other than Rachel Ray. Like the cheesy chicken chowder, it's a quick-cooking soup, (30 minutes in fact :-)) so you don't have to start making it hours before you can serve it. (Also, the picture above doesn't really do it justice. It has been so overcast here I couldn't use natural light, so had to use the flash.)

Meatball and Macaroni Soup

3 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bay leaves
kosher salt and pepper
½ pound ground beef
½ pound ground pork
1 egg, beaten
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup bread crumbs
½ tsp. freshly grated or ground nutmeg
8 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
1 ½ cups macaroni (or use any kind you have left over, I used broken fettucine)
½ bag triple-washed fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

1) In a deep pot over medium heat, add carrots, celery, onions and bay leaves with a bit of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook veggies until soft, about 5 minutes.
2) While the veggies cook, combine the ground meats, egg, garlic, parmesan, bread crumbs, nutmeg, with 1 tsp. salt and ½ tsp. pepper in a separate bowl.
3) Add broth and water to the pot of veggies, increasing heat to high and bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and start to roll meatball mixture into small balls, dropping them straight into the pot.
4) When you are done rolling the meatballs, add pasta to the soup and stir. Cover and simmer soup for 10 minutes.
5) When pasta is tender, stir in chopped spinach. When spinach is wilted, the soup is done and ready to serve.

My apologies to all you readers who don't eat beef or pork. You could probably substitute ground turkey in these meatballs. The nutmeg and parmesan in the meatballs flavor the broth while they're cooking and the spinach adds just a bit of texture. Even Jeff said while eating this soup, "this might be the first time I ever enjoyed cooked spinach". But if you absolutely hate spinach, you can skip it because it is difficult to fish it out later--it floats around the top of the soup, and therefore wants to be included in every bite.

Also, the recipe does make a lot of meatballs. When I was rolling, I kept thinking it would be way too many. But I found that when eating, you do kind of want some meat in every bite, so it turned out okay.

Yumm-o. (Dangit Rachel Ray and your weird phrases, but somehow I couldn't resist)

Soup of the Day

As promised, here is the first recipe. I am always on the lookout for new soup recipes and here is one recently discovered from the Taste of Home cookbook I've had since forever.

I modified the recipe just a bit, but couldn't think of a better name, so don't judge the soup by its "cheesy" name.

Cheesy Chicken Chowder

1/2 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced celery
1 cup diced carrots
2 cups peeled, diced potatoes
3 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1-2 cups shredded chicken
1 cup frozen supersweet corn

1) Saute onions, carrots and celery in olive oil in a med-large pot for 10 mins until onions are translucent. Add potatoes, chicken broth, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, cover pot and simmer for 15 mins or until potatoes are tender.
2) When potatoes are almost tender, melt butter in medium saucepan. Whisk in flour and cook for 1-2 minutes. Slowly whisk in milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and stir in shredded cheese.
3) Add milk/cheese sauce, chicken and corn to the pot of veggies and mix well, Heat over medium heat until heated through.

I bought one of the yummy rotisserie chickens from Costco, cut all the meat off and then boiled the bones and skin that was left with 1/2 onion, some salt & pepper, a chx bouillon cube and a bay leaf for about 30 minutes. I strained out all the bones and onions and it made the perfect amount of delicious broth for the soup.

**To my family who are reading this--when I ate this soup it reminded me of the cheese soup mom used to make on Christmas eve(hers didn't have chicken, though and it could easily be left out). In fact, I thought to make it taste more like that soup, cooked cauliflower should be added the next time I make it.

There is no substitute for homemade soup

Last week I officially hit the 17-week milestone in this pregnancy. For most pregnant ladies, that isn’t a big deal, but for me (in both of my previous pregnancies also) it is the lucky number when my sickness--for the most part—subsides, and my body allows me a couple of months of generally good eating and good sleeping until the third trimester when the heartburn and insomnia kick in.

So I’m trying to take advantage of it.

During those long weeks of constant nausea, occasionally I had an overwhelming desire to eat soup. It seemed like the only thing that would go down easily and be kind to my sad stomach. However, canned soup only did the job once or twice. I discovered that canned soup is kind of disgusting.

Oh how I wanted to just cook up a pot of some homemade chicken noodle, split pea, or bean soup, but most recipes have you start by sautéing an onion (otherwise it would be kind of flavorless) and the thought of handling, let alone SMELLING an onion sent me straight to the toilet.

So I went on a mission to find some non-canned soup that would taste like homemade. I was willing to pay big bucks, people. I searched delis, restaurants, and grocery store refrigerated sections. But many of the soups I encountered were a little too heavy on my still super-sensitive stomach, like tomato, southwest black bean, tortilla, and curried butternut squash.

Once I went to the soup bar at Fred Meyer’s deli. There was a chicken and wild rice soup that seemed bland and homemade and creamy and smelled pretty good bubbling away. I scooped myself a disposable cupful and paid the $3.00 they wanted. I took it to the car, had one bite and almost gagged. It was worse than canned.

What I finally discovered, after throwing away many more cups of random soup, is that there just aren’t any soups out there that even come close to homemade soup. Does that seem obvious? But see, I do think that some food items are better in restaurants than what you can make at home. Soup is not one of them.

Now that my body will allow me to again chop and sauté an onion, I’m busy making all the soups I’ve been missing so much. So if you, like me, are a soup lover, you’ll enjoy these next posts, where I’m going to share all the recipes of all the soups I love.


**A small disclaimer: my semi-sensitive stomach still won't allow me anything spicy, smoky, ethnic or tomato-based, so although I normally love soups like the ones mentioned above, the only recipes I'm making and sharing right now are creamy, chicken broth-based, and non-ethnic.

Eat up! And if you're in the soup mood, share your favorite recipes on your blog as well. The more the merrier.