This time of year really is just begging me to make soup.  (Well, maybe not days like today – 66 degrees in New England on November 14th?  Really?)  This recipe has been a long time coming to this blog.  The soup was actually first featured on Domestic Pursuits last year in the background of my whole wheat flaxseed bread post – it really is very tasty, and very versatile.  Aside from the roasting of the pumpkin (which you can avoid, I suppose, by using canned pumpkin puree) this really is a weeknight kind of soup.  Another perk: you can make it with pretty much any squash.  I personally chose pumpkin, this being savory pumpkin week and all, but acorn squash and other similar winter squashes would work just as well.  (I’ve tried it with acorn squash – very awesome!!)   It also goes quite well with whole wheat flaxseed bread.   And aside from the pumpkin this contains pretty much exclusively pantry ingredients – so make it whenever the spirit moves you!!

Thai Pumpkin Soup – adapted from 101cookbooks.com

Ingredients

• 2 pie pumpkins (or acorn squash, or other winter squash)
• Olive oil
• 1 can light coconut milk
• Thai red curry paste
• Chicken broth
• Salt to taste

Cut pumpkins (or other squash) into quarters, and scoop out seeds (save for later garnishing purposes!)  Place pumpkins flesh-side up on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Roast at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes to an hour, or until the pumpkins are tender.  Cool until pumpkins are able to be handled, then scoop cooked flesh out of the pumpkin skins.  Place pumpkin flesh into a large pot, add coconut milk and thai curry paste and bring to a simmer.  Cook on medium high heat until simmering.  Remove from the heat and puree the pumpkin and coconut milk.  Add chicken broth, stirring well after each addition, until the soup reaches the consistency you prefer.  Add salt to taste.  Enjoy!

Addendum:  I made this on Thanksgiving day and made it even tastier by adding 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger, and a splash of lime juice.  Yum!!

Ok in the home stretch now!  3 days to go, and then I will be 31.  I really think I’m going to finish all of these things on this list!  This soup has a very nice backstory – it’s one of the things my husband made for me for our first Valentine’s day together.  This started our proud tradition of not going out on Valentines day – it’s just so…hokey.  Instead, we got dressed up and he picked up ingredients for a fancy 3 course meal in – turns out, 2 of the 3 courses were bright green (both of them delicious as well – in case you’re wondering the other one was salmon with scotch bonnet pepper sauce – I’ll have to blog about that one some day too) and we have fond memories of eating this green soup on that chilly winter evening back in 2005.

I personally love bisque, however the pound of butter per bowl is a little much for my stomach usually.  This bisque has – wait for it – absolutely NO butter.  Yep, that’s right, no butter.  The avocado provides all of the creaminess one needs in a bisque, and is much, much healthier than butter.  Some people who have reviewed it complain it is too bland; I will agree, it is a bit on the bland side if you follow the recipe to a tee.  I added much more lemon juice than called for and also some extra salt and pepper.  The other thing I did was to add some extra shrimpiness by boiling the shrimp tails in the chicken broth before I used it.  I also pureed the base after it was made, before I added the shrimp, as I personally think a smooth green soup is more tasty looking than a lumpy green soup.  Enjoy with some crusty french bread on its own, or you can try it as an appetizer as well.

Avocado Shrimp Bisque

From William via allrecipes.com

• 3 ripe avocados
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 cups skim milk
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons minced onion
• 1/2 pound cooked shrimp
• salt and pepper to taste

• Slice avocados in half, and discard pits.  Remove avocado flesh and chop coarsely.  Remove shrimp tails and chop shrimp coarsely.  Place chicken broth and shrimp tails into a small sauce pan and simmer on low for about 10 minutes.  Strain shrimp tails out of broth.  Combine avocado meat, broth, milk, lemon juice and onion in a small sauce pan and heat through thoroughly but not quite to a boil.  Remove heated broth to a food processor, and puree.  Place pureed soup back into the sauce pan and add chopped shrimp.  Enjoy!

This 30-while-30 recipe came out much better than the last one.  (What can I say, no one bats 1000 all the time!!) And, it is another favorite dish that for some reason I had never cooked until age 30!   Italian Wedding Soup has comfort food written all over it in my house, but usually we get it out of a can.  After making this recipe, I am not sure why - Italian Wedding Soup from scratch was incredibly easy and fantastically tasty!  It is also decidedly more healthy – it has only a fraction of the sodium, as is pretty much true when you compare any homemade soup to a canned soup. 

We used spinach fresh from our garden and used ground turkey rather than ground beef but otherwise followed the recipe pretty closely.  I personally loved the fact that the meatballs were not browned before cooking - they came out like tasty little meaty clouds that melted in the mouth - but you certainly could choose to brown your meatballs before you put them into your soup for even extra flavor. 

Italian Wedding Soup

Adapted from LikeitLoveit via Food.com

• 1/2 lb lean ground turkey
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons breadcrumbs
• 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 cups reduced sodium reduced fat chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 chicken flavored boullion cube
• 2 cups chopped spinach (traditionally, you can also use escarole)
• 1/2 cup ditalini pasta uncooked

• Mix together turkey, egg, breadcrumbs, parmesan and spices.  Roll into small (3/4 inch) meatballs.  In a stockpot, combine chicken broth, water, and boullion cube and bring to a boil.  Stir in chopped spinach, meatballs, and pasta.  Cook for at least 10 minutes, or until the meatballs are cooked through and the pasta is done.  Enjoy!

Making clam chowder at home has always seemed like a tall task to me.  Somehow you have to get clams, cook and chop them, and then make a smooth creamy base.  Getting the seasoning right, adding the right vegetables…I always figured I would need to get clam chowder at a restaurant to really enjoy it.  I got this recipe from a cookbook, “Recipes from Historic New England,” by Linda & Steve Bauer, which I got as a 30th birthday gift from my good friends Mike & Anne who know about my fondness both of New England and of cooking.  The cookbook is really cool – all the recipes come from famous New England restaurants and historic bed and breakfasts.  There are some really awesome looking dishes in there – but I chose to try a clam chowder recipe from the Chatham Bars Inn section.

As it uses canned clams and clam juice it was super easy.  Both of these ingredients previously had kinda creeped me out…something about canned mollusks just didn’t seem right to me…but, I figured if it’s good enough for the Chatham Bars Inn, it would be good enough for me.  It also introduced me to another new ingredient, salt pork – this is kind of like bacon, only fattier and saltier.  I would highly suggest you not try to eat it as a side dish with your morning eggs, but it really lends a tasty smokiness to the Clam Chowder – which I think is what all my previous attempts at Clam Chowder lacked.   I also omitted the ‘clam boullion cubes’ this recipe called for – because who has clam boullion cubes in their pantry, really – but it came out perfectly clammy despite this omission.  I served it with some delicious buttery biscuits, and it was fantastic.

Clam Chowder

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup diced Vidalia onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/3 cup flour
• 3 x 6.5oz cans of chopped clams in clam juice
• 4 x 8oz bottles of clam juice
• 2oz salt pork, sliced
• 2 cups diced potato, cooked
• 1 pint half-and-half, warmed
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

In a dutch oven, or a deep heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Saute the onion and celery for about 5-10 minutes, or until the vegetables are translucent.  Stir in the flour, cooking for about 5 minutes.  Drain the clams, reserving the juice.  Add the reserved and the bottled clam juice to the saucepan, whisking until smooth.  Add the sliced salt pork and the chopped clams to the soup, and cook for about 20 minutes over low-medium heat.  After 20 minutes of cooking time, add the cooked potato.  Turn off heat and let the mixture stand covered for 20 minutes.  Remove the salt pork from the chowder.  Stir in the warmed half-and-half to the chowder.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Enjoy!

Looking for the perfect bowl of soup to combat that winter chill?  Look no further than this Chicken Pot Pie Soup.  It’s the ultimate comfort food – a tasty, healthy dish that’s warm, filling and chock full of familiar flavors.  With the thickened broth, variety of vegetables and chunks of chicken and potato, it is indeed chicken pot pie in a bowl.  You get all of these flavors and warmth with minimal preparation time and far fewer calories than your typical pot pie.  As an added bonus, this recipe yields 6-7 hearty portions.  It heats up beautifully and tastes even better on the second and third day!  I simply can’t say enough good things about it.

As we plunge into the depths of winter I can assure that I’m adding this soup to my regular menu rotation, and I recommend you do the same.  You won’t regret it!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Yields 6-7 1 1/2 cup servings

1/4 cup flour
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups fat free milk
1 large celery stalk, chopped
1/2 medium chopped onion
8 oz sliced baby portabella mushrooms
fresh ground pepper
pinch of thyme
10 oz frozen classic mixed vegetables (peas, carrots, green beans, corn)
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed small
16 oz cooked chicken breast, diced small
salt

1.  In a medium bowl, combine 1/2 cup of the chicken broth with the flour and whisk until well blended.  Set aside.
2. Heat a stock-pot coated with a small amount of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add celery, onion and mushrooms to the pan and cook for several minutes until vegetables have softened. Add frozen vegetables and allow to heat through – about 3-5 minutes.
3. Add remaining broth and milk to the pot, increase heat and bring to a boil.
4. Bring to a simmer and add potatoes cooking until soft (about 5 minutes).
5. Slowly whisk in broth and flour mixture, mixing well to combine.
6. Add chicken, cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Allow the mixture to thicken slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.

My love of Panera has been well-documented in this blog.  Living one mile from one location makes it far too easy to pick up a bowl of soup or loaf of bread when the urge strikes.  I’ve been dying to make Food Network Magazine’s knock-off recipe of Panera’s well-loved broccoli cheddar soup for months.  With the arrival of fall in New England, soup and bread is making its way back onto my dinner menu.

As written, the recipe easily yields 4 generous servings.  I opted to double it so that I would have leftovers after serving company.

Panera’s soup is cheesy, rich and full-bodied, and this knock-off does not disappoint!  While the finished product is not quite as cheesy as the original, it’s creamy, velvety-smooth and packed full of broccoli and cheddar flavor.  Served with a slice of crusty bread, it’s the perfect end to a crisp autumn day.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup
Yields 4 Servings

6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups half and half
3 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1/4 tsp grated nutmeg
Kosher salt & freshly ground pepper
4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 head)
1 large carrot, diced
2.5 cups (about 8 oz.) grated sharp cheddar, plus more for garnish

1. Over medium heat, melt the butter in a large pot. Add onion to pot and cook for five minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
2. Add flour and whisk until golden, about 3-4 minutes. Gradually add half and half, whisking until smooth.
3. Add chicken broth, bay leaves, and nutmeg. Season as desired with salt and pepper and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes or until thickened.
4. Add broccoli and carrots to the broth. Simmer for 20 minutes or until tender.
5. Discard the bay leaves. Puree the soup in the pot with an immersion blender, or puree in batches in a regular blender.
6. Turn up heat to medium. Add cheese and whisk until melted. If soup is too thick, add up to 3/4 cup of water.

As strange as it sounds, I was not quite ready for the weather to warm up – don’t get me wrong, the more than 70 inches of snow we had this winter I was more than happy to see melting away, but I really love soup season and will be sorry to see it go.  There are few meals I enjoy more than a bowl of warm soup when it’s cold outside.  The warmth and sunshine today on the 1st official day of spring made me realize that it’s about time to make one last stew before our soup crocks go into hibernation for the summer.  This recipe was very easy to make and was quite hearty.  I omitted half the salt the original recipe calls for and I still thought it could have used even less – I also changed the proportion of sausage to mushrooms a bit to weight it more towards the meat.  Accompanied by a piece of toasted garlic bread, it was a fabulous farewell to cold weather.  While I will miss soup season, I am looking forward to busting out my ice cream maker for the summer!

Sausage and Mushroom Soup

Ingredients:

• 6 links of mild Italian sausages
• 1 tablespoon  olive oil
• 1  onion, chopped
• 3  cloves garlic, minced
• 1 8oz package  mushrooms, sliced
• 7  cups  canned low-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/4  teaspoon  dried red-pepper flakes
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 teaspoons  salt
• 1/4  pound  angel hair

•  

  Directions:  In a large pot, brown the sausages until they are completely cooked through (about 10 minutes), then remove from the pan and cool.  Add the olive oil to the pan, and saute the onion and garlic until the onions are translucent – about 5 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and saute for another 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are golden brown.  Add the chicken broth, thyme and pepper flakes, 1 tsp dried parsley and the salt to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer for about 10 minutes.  In the meantime, slice the sausage into 1/8 inch thick slices.  Add the sausage to the soup, and the angel hair pasta.  Let cook for about 3-4 minutes or until pasta is cooked.    Enjoy!

After a long blogging hiatus, I’m back.  While I haven’t been blogging regularly, I’ve been tracking my kitchen adventures and have a number of fun recipes to share.

In the dead of winter, nothing is better than a warm, hearty bowl of soup.   Panera’s Baked Potato soup is a favorite of mine,  so I was intrigued when I saw a copycat recipe on A Year of Slow-cooking.   While the flavor differs somewhat from the original, this soup is smooth, creamy and rich… the perfect meal for a cold winter’s night.

Honestly, it doesn’t get much easier than this.  I find potato soups very messy when cooked on the stove – you need to make sure that things don’t boil over or stick to bottom of the pan, and clean-up is a pain.  With this recipe,  you just throw everything in the slow-cooker and walk away.

Beware:  this recipe makes a lot of soup – easily 10 generous servings.   The soup is so tasty, you probably won’t mind an abundance of leftovers.    It filled my 6 quart Crock Pot with only about an inch to spare, so make sure you use a 6-quart or larger slow-cooker if you choose to make a full batch.

Slow-cooker Baked Potato Soup
Yields 10 servings

5 lbs potatoes, peeled and diced in 1 to 2-inch chunks
1 small onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 quarts chicken broth
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese
optional garnishes: crumbled bacon, green onion, chives, shredded cheddar cheese

1. After peeling and dicing potatoes, place them in the slow-cooker (use 6-quart or larger). Add onion, garlic, seasonings and broth.
2. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, or on high for four hours.
3. Once potatoes are fork-tender, use a masher to mash the potatoes.
4. Break up both packages of cream cheese and add to slow-cooker. Put the cover back on.
5. Cook on high for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. Once cream cheese is completely dissolved, serve with desired garnishes.

This was my first foray into slow-cooker meal preparation. Just about everyone I know received one or more when they got married. I didn’t register for one because I couldn’t see the need. I still don’t think that it falls in the “can’t live without it category”, but I can tell that I’m really going to enjoy this “set and forget” form of meal preparation.

While I was chopping vegetables, defrosting chicken and measuring ingredients this morning I thought to myself “What’s the point? I have to do all this prep work when I make dinner on the stove top.” But then I loaded everything in the slow cooker, set the temperature and walked away. It was at that moment that I realized I was really going to like not having to babysit the stove.

I consider myself very fortunate, in that I work from home most days. Since I save time by not commuting, I often have ample time to prepare dinner. Just because I have time to hang out in the kitchen in front of the stove, doesn’t mean that I need to!

I picked up a 5.5 quart Rival Crock Pot at Target using a gift card from Christmas. This is the gift that will keep on giving. My model is very basic, but manual controls make sense because I am home all day. This is only my first recipe, but I think the size is just about right. Even though I only cook dinner for two people, I like to have leftovers.

My friend Carolyn sent me this recipe for Chicken Tortilla Soup after she tried it and loved it. I followed her recommendations of adding a can of drained and rinsed black beans, and adding 2 raw chicken breasts to the pot and allowing them to cook in the soup. I shredded the chicken shortly before serving. Since I didn’t have a can of whole peeled tomatoes or enchilada sauce in the house, I made my own substitution. I mixed a 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes with some honey, garlic powder, cumin, cilantro and poultry seasoning and use this blend in place of the tomatoes and enchilada sauce. I also used half chicken broth and half vegetable broth so I could try some of my home made stock.

This soup was SO good! I served it with crushed tortilla chips and a sprinkling of Mexican blend cheese. My husband said that it reminded him of Panera’s Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was warm and hearty with a nice kick. The original recipe states that it yields 8 servings, and I think that’s pretty accurate. We’ll probably have this again for dinner and lunch and then freeze the remaining portions.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
Yields 8 servings

1 pound shredded, cooked chicken
1 (15 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, mashed *
1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce *
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
2 cups frozen corn
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

* can substitute 28 oz. crushed tomatoes (seasoned with chili powder, cumin, garlic powder etc.) for tomatoes and enchilada sauce

1. Place raw chicken, tomatoes, enchilada sauce, onion, green chiles, and garlic into a slow cooker.
2. Pour in chicken broth, and season with cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.
3. Stir in corn and cilantro.
4. Cover, and cook on Low setting for 6 to 8 hours or on High setting for 3 to 4 hours.
5. Before serving, remove chicken breasts and shred. Return shredded chicken to pot and allow to heat through before serving.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

Despite my Irish heritage, I have not done anything to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day in recent years. Now that cooking has become a hobby, I thought it would be fun to create an Irish-inspired meal.

On Sunday, my mother and I made Potato Leek Soup and Brown Irish Soda Bread for our early Saint Patrick’s Day celebration.

I tried Potato Leek Soup for the first time at Epcot’s International Food and Wine Festival last fall. For some reason, I always shied away from leeks. I used to be a very picky eater, and I sometimes still avoid foods for no good reason. I’m glad I finally tried the soup! Since I love potatoes in just about any form and have quite a weakness for cream soups, this is a perfect soup. At the same time, I also sampled some Brown Soda Bread and Dubliner cheese.

I found this recipe for Potato Leek Soup in the Boston Globe. It appeared to be straightforward and was very similar to other Potato Leek Soup recipes I had found online. Since soup is always better when served with bread, I also made Brown Irish Soda bread.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but omitted the parsley and added some dried rosemary. I started with 1/4 tsp, but added more as I altered the seasoning to fit my tastes. To speed up the cooking process, I cooked the potatoes at a low boil before mashing with a potato masher. Once the soup was done, I added an extra 1/4 cup of broth and 1/4 cup of cream. It’s worth noting that I think milk or half and half would work quite well in this soup in place of the heavy cream.

According to the Globe, this recipe produces 6 servings, but I got 8 1+ cup servings. The soup was delicious! I just finished the last of the leftovers, and were sad to see them go!

May your troubles be less,
And your blessing be more.
And nothing but happiness,
Come through your door.

Potato Leek Soup

Yields 6-8 1-cup servings
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 leeks, thinly sliced and rinsed well
3 cloves garlic, smashed
5 medium russet (baking) potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
4-5 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Salt and pepper, to taste
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 tsp dried rosemary

1. In a large heavy-based stock pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, leeks, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until softened.

2. Add the potatoes, 4 cups of the stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

3. Either mash the potatoes with a potato masher or, puree soup in batches in a blender. Return it to pot. Bring to a simmer. Add the cream and parsley, and taste for seasoning. Add more salt and pepper, if you like. If the soup is too thick, add remaining stock in 1/4-cup increments until it is the consistency you prefer.