Broccoli Wild Rice Soup

Cute Denise just emailed me this recipe. She said the soup is delicious. It sounds perfect on a cold wintry day like today. The recipe is from Taste of Home. So make this soup and try and stay warm!

Ingredients:
1 package (6 oz.) chicken and wild rice mix
5 cups water
3 cups frozen chopped broccoli, thawed
1 medium carrot, shredded
2 tsp. dried minced onion
1 can (10-3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, cubed
1/4 cup slivered almonds, optional

Preparation:
In a large saucepan, combine the rice, contents of seasoning packet and water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring once. Stir in the broccoli, carrot and onion. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in soup and cream cheese. Cook and stir until cheese is melted. Stir in almonds if desired. Yield: 8 servings (about 2 quarts).

This picture is from Taste of Home.

Rotel Chicken Tortilla Soup

I love soup, Nate, not so much. I suggested trying a chicken tortilla soup since he loves Mexican food so much. I sent Nate a couple of links to recipes and this is the one he picked. I adapted this recipe from Food Network and it comes from Rotel. He really loved this soup. We'll definitely be making it again.

Ingredients:
2 (10 oz.) cans mild Rotel tomatoes and green chilies, undrained (it was a bit spicy for me so next I'll do one can of Rotel and one can plain diced tomatoes
5 cups chicken broth
1 (16 oz.) can refried beans (I used fat free)
1 - 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
2-3 cups shredded cooked chicken (I made my chicken using this rub, so good!)
shredded cheese
tortilla strips or chips

Preparation:
Combine tomatoes and broth in medium saucepan. Stir in beans and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add chicken and corn and cook until they're heated through. I cooked my soup an additional 30 minutes stirring occasionally, just so the flavors could marry. Serve topped with tortilla strips and cheese, if desired.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Okay, Alisha made this soup for her family the other night and it was a huge hit! It is the same soup Aunt Kathleen made at our chocolate dipping party, and I remember everyone loved it. This recipe comes from Simply So Good. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups onions, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic, minced
3 corn tortillas (6-inch size), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 (10.5) ounce can diced tomatoes with green chilies
4 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 cups cooked chicken or turkey, shredded or cubed
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons lime juice
Salt and pepper
Black bean Salsa
Sour Cream
Tortilla strips

Preparation:
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high; add onions and garlic, and saute 3 minutes. Stir in tortilla pieces and saute until they begin to soften. Add tomatoes, broth, and spices, and bring to a boil. Removed from heat; let cool 5 minutes, then puree soup base in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return soup to pot.

Add Turkey, corn and cream. Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes, or until beginning to thicken. Reduce heat to medium, sprinkle in cheese, and stir until melted. Add lime juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with salsa, sour cream and crispy tortilla strips.

Makes 8 cups. 267 calories per cup. Not including the salsa, sour cream or tortilla strips...Just so you know.

Hamburger Soup

This recipe is similar to one my mom would make when we were growing up. It was a favorite of my little sister Kelley's. I hadn't thought about this soup in years until a week or so ago. I called my mom for the recipe and she told me she didn't have one. She told me the basic idea and this is what I came up with. Instead of potatoes you could add pasta, but it has to be wagon wheel pasta, that's my mom always used.

Ingredients:
4 cups beef broth
4 cups V8 juice
1 cup water
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 large potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces (or you can add wagon wheel pasta)
2 carrots, sliced into rounds
1 celery stalk, sliced
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 can cut green beans, drained
1 bay leaf
seasoning salt
seasoned pepper

Preparation:
Add beef broth, V8 juice, and water to pot and bring to boil. Add bay leaf, cut potatoes, carrots, and celery, reduce to simmer and cover, stirring occasionally. Brown and cook ground beef with diced onion, seasoning with salt and pepper. Drain any grease from beef mixture and add to soup. Continue to simmer until vegetables are fork tender. Then add drained green beans and any additional salt and pepper that the soup requires. Simmer until beans are warm and then serve.




I linked up this recipe over at Totally Tasty Tuesdays at Mandy's Recipe Box.

Lasagna Soup

I've had this recipe bookmarked since Spring, just waiting for the weather to cool down. Now that we are well into October, bring on soup season! I tweaked Paula Deen's recipe to suit our tastes. FYI- if you are planning on eating leftover soup just know that the noodles absorb a most of the broth over night, but it is still so delicious!

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (32 oz.) box chicken broth (I used fat-free, low sodium broth)
2 (14.5 oz.) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. garlic bread seasoning
1/2 tsp. seasoning salt
2 cups broken lasagna noodles (I used garden rotini)
1 (5 oz.) package grated parmesan cheese (I forgot to buy parmesan, so I omitted it)
shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:
In a large pot, combine ground beef, onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until beef is browned and crumbles. Drain well.
Stir in garlic bread seasoning, broth, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Add noodles, and simmer until noodles are tender. Stir in armesan cheese.
I just sprinkled a little mozzarella on top of my soup to save on calories. Paula covers her soup with the mozzarella and then pops it under the broiler for a couple minutes. Serve hot!

Again, sorry about the picture, it was really late when we had dinner.

Santa Fe Chicken Enchilada Soup

This recipe comes from Alisha.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 28 mins
Servings: 6 servings, about 1 cup each

Ingredients:
4 corn tortillas (6 inch), cut into strips
1 tsp. oil
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 tub (10 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Santa Fe Blend Cooking Creme
1 cup milk
1 can (15 oz.) black beans, rinsed
1 can (11 oz.) corn with red and green bell peppers, drained
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 400°F.
2. Toss tortilla strips with oil; spread into single layer on baking sheet. Bake 10 to 12 min. or until crisp, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, cook chicken in large nonstick saucepan sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 8 to 10 min. or until chicken is done, stirring frequently. Stir in cooking creme, milk, beans, corn and tomatoes; simmer on medium-low heat 6 to 8 min. or until heated through, stirring frequently.

Serve soup topped with tortilla strips and cilantro.

Beef Stew Attempt #2

Okay, so I have been working to perfect beef stew. I made a batch a few weeks ago but it was a little too tomato-y for my taste. So this time I tried a different recipe. Nate loved it, he gave it a 10 out of 10. For me it was missing a little something. I wanted the stew part to be richer. However, I loved the way the beef turned out. It was so flavorful and so tender. I am going to keep the beef portion of the recipe, but continue to try to work out the sauce portion. I found this recipe at Anna Can Cook. I just changed a few things.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp. garlic powder
salt and pepper
2 bay leaves
1 lb. stew meat
1 onion, chopped
4 large potatoes, peeled and diced
3 carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, diced
3 (14.5 oz.) cans of beef broth
3 Tbsp. cold water

Preparation:
In a large ziploc bag, thoroughly mix the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Set aside 3 Tbsp. of flour mixture for later use. Add stew meat and shake until well coated. Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. In small batches brown the coated beef, about 1 minutes per side. Once beef is finished, remove and set aside.

Turn heat down to medium and add onion to pot. Cook onions until tender, about 5 minutes.

Return beef to pot with the onions and pour in the beef broth. Stir to combine and bring mixture to a boil. Add bay leaf. Turn heat down to low, cover pot and let simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Bring stew back to a boil and add potatoes, carrots, and celery. Mix the 3 Tbsp. of reserved flour mixture with 3 Tbsp. of cold water. Whisk thoroughly and then slowly add to stew, stirring continually to thicken stew.

Turn heat back down to low, cover with lid and cook an additional 40 minutes, or until vegetable are tender.

Beef Stew

So, this recipe was good, but not great.  I didn’t care for the tomato flavor, to me it tasted more like a vegetable beef soup rather than beef stew.  Nate, however, loved it, and he is not a soup kind of guy.  I got the recipe from For the Love of Cooking.

Ingredients:

1 lb. stew meat

1 yellow onion, chopped into large pieces

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 can diced tomatoes

1-2 tsp. dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

6 cups of beef broth

1 cup carrots, diced

1/2 cup celery, diced

1 cup red potatoes, diced with the skin on

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 250 degrees (you can also use stove top or crock-pot). In large cast iron (or baking pot) heat olive oil. Add stew meat and onion and cook for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds before adding tomatoes, seasonings and stock. Cover and cook in the oven (on stove top or in crock-pot) for at least 4 hours. Remove pot from oven place on stove top over medium heat.
Add vegetables (carrots, celery, and onion)  to the stew and add more beef broth if low. Taste and add seasonings if needed. Cover and cook for 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

* I added a slurry of cornstarch and beef broth to thicken it the last little bit of cooking.

Butternut Squash Soup

This recipe comes from Alisha.


Ingredients

* 2 tablespoons butter
* 1 small onion, chopped
* 1 stalk celery, chopped
* 1 medium carrot, chopped
* 2 medium potatoes, cubed
* 1 medium butternut squash - peeled, seeded, and cubed
* 1 (32 fluid ounce) container chicken stock
* salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Melt the butter in a large pot, and cook the onion, celery, carrot, potatoes, and squash 5 minutes, or until lightly browned. Pour in enough of the chicken stock to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer 40 minutes, or until all vegetables are tender.
2. Transfer the soup to a blender, and blend until smooth. Return to pot, and mix in any remaining stock to attain desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper.



*****I did add garlic in with the butter in the beginning. Also you could add orzo pasta when you serve the soup. (I doubled the recipe and would only use 3 small potatoes not 4.************

Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscana

This is the soup that Alisha made and served at Jenni's shower.

Ingredients:
* 1 lb ground Italian sausage
* 1½ tsp crushed red peppers
* 1 large diced white onion
* 4 Tbsp bacon pieces
* 2 tsp garlic puree
* 10 cups water
* 5 cubes of chicken bouillon
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1 lb sliced Russet potatoes, or about 3 large potatoes
* ¼ of a bunch of kale


Preparation:
1. Sauté Italian sausage and crushed red pepper in a large pot. Drain excess fat, refrigerate while you prepare other ingredients.
2. In the same pan, sauté bacon, onions and garlic over low-medium heat for approximately 15 mins. or until the onions are soft.
3. Add chicken bouillon and water to the pot and heat until it starts to boil.
4. Add the sliced potatoes and cook until soft, about half an hour.
5. Add the heavy cream and just cook until thoroughly heated.
6. Stir in the sausage and the kale, let all heat through and serve. Delicious!

This photo is from Olive Garden's website.

Potato Soup

Oh my gosh, potato soup is one of my absolute favorite things. My Grandma Olson (my mom's mom) is the best cook. I love her potato soup. For some reason I don't have her recipe so I experimented a little bit with a recipe from Kuki's Kookbook and here is what I came up with.

Ingredients:
6 medium russet potatoes
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup bacon or ham, cooked (optional)
3 tsp. Lawry's seasoning salt (Nate likes things really salty, so you may not need this much, it also turns you soup to an off white color, so if you want it white, just add regular salt)
1/2 tsp. celery salt
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 cups hot milk


Preparation
Wash and peel potatoes. Cut them into pieces. Boil until fork tender, I always add a little salt to my water when I boil potatoes. In a large pot, saute onions in the butter until they are translucent. Add seasoning salt, freshly ground pepper, and celery salt to the onions, combining them thoroughly. In a separate pot, heat milk until hot. Add the boiled potatoes to the onion mixture. Stir in heavy cream and the hot milk. Once combined, add frozen corn and ham (if you want ham). You don't need to defrost or cook the corn, it will cook in the soup. After everything is added bring the soup to a boil. Once boiling, simmer for 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring often. Don't turn down your heat, I made that mistake and my soup didn't thicken. Mix in cooked and crumbled bacon just before serving. Serve immediately! I think it keeps well and that the leftovers are really good.




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