Leek & Bacon Soup

Have you ever made the exact same recipe twice, only to find the results taste almost nothing alike? That happened to me recently. I first made this soup back in December and loved-loved-loved it. I think I ate it for lunch at work and then dinner the same night 2 days in a row. It was super simple to make, not unhealthy and well, it has bacon and leeks. Winner-winner in my book folks! So . . . I made it again just a day or 2 ago. Now keep in mind the only change I made was not peeling the potatoes this time around. I know, I know, I always hear about all that nutrition I lose when I peel 'em, so this time I figured why not leave 'em unpeeled? Heck, it all goes through the blender anyway, so it won't really matter. Well kids, something mattered, and I have no clue what. Maybe it just needs more salt and pepper. It's by no means bad this time around, but it's so different it's scary. Can you say bizarre? Well, here you go. It's your turn to see how you like it.

Leek and Bacon Soup
Adapted from Kraft

8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 c. chicken broth
2 large leeks (approximately 1 lb.), white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
3 baking potatoes (approximately 1 lb.), chopped
Dash white pepper
1/2 c. skim milk

Bring the broth, leeks, potatoes and pepper to a boil in a medium saucepan and cook 15 - 20 minutes veggies are tender. Remove from heat. Add half the crumbled bacon and the milk to the pot and combine all. Blend in small batches in a blender until smooth; pour into bowls or back into the pot. To serve, top with reserved bacon. 

There, you see, simple enough to make a person really wonder how one could get such different results. It's not a hard recipe! Hmmm, what does that say about me then? Well, we won't go there. Both results are tasty, so I'll just have to make it a 3rd time - 2 out of 3 wins? Then I'll know what to expect? Well, it sounds good in theory at least. Anyway, give it a try and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

Yes, I realize the picture doesn't look like much, but believe me, that's some crazy-tasty soup right there!

For tomorrow's dinner, I planned on cauliflower soup since I had almost all of a head in the fridge with no real plans for it. Plus, I'm a soup junkie. I perused recipes on the 'net today before heading to town to run some errands, then I got busy as soon as I got home. The recipe is a little vague simply because I have the awful habit of not measuring when I cook, but I got most of it stored up in my lil' head for now. Gotta get it out quick!

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

1 head cauliflower, broken into florets (cut the large ones in half for faster cooking)
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
Water (just enough to cover these veggies once they're in the pot)
3 chicken bouillon cubes
1 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (preferably yellow for color, although white would work, too)
1 c. fat-free half and half
1 heaping Tbsp. cornstarch

Add the cauliflower, onion, celery and bouillon cubes to a pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook over medium-high heat until they're quite tender (10-15 minutes or so). Fork test them for softness if you're unsure. 

Once they're soft, blend in batches in a blender or food processor until smooth. I left the last 1/2 c. or so unprocessed because it didn't fit with the earlier batches, and I refused to blend that small amount all by itself. Return all of it to the pan. Turn the heat to medium and add the cheese; stir to help it melt and become smooth.

Mix the half and half (must be cold!) with the cornstarch in a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Shake until well dissolved; add to soup and stir. Heat through, on the verge of boiling (to thicken), but do not bring to a full boil. Served with crusty bread or crackers. Or just slurp it down as is, 'cause that's ok too!

There, it's that simple! I'm glad I made it tonight so we can reheat at our leisure tomorrow for dinner; I'll probably be home later since I'll head to the gym after work. Hopefully it reheats well; I'm not too worried though.

My sister and I feel like some of the best cream-based soups we've ever had come from Flamingos in Shawano, Wisco, so they're kind of our standard that we judge cream soups against. Well Sissy o' mine, this recipe beat their soups hands-down. Perfect creaminess. Subtle but still noticeable flavor. Salty, but not overly so. What can I say? I'm a soup rock star! Enjoy some this Fall folks --- I promise you won't be disappointed.

This post is linked to Miz Helen's Country Cottage Full Plate Thursday for 9/29/11. Head on over to check out more fab recipes!

Sausage & Spinach Soup

Tuesday night's dinner, which was actually supposed to make it's appearance last week, was sausage and spinach soup. While Buppy is leery of most dark green leafy veggies, I found out that it's usually when they're in cooked form, not fresh. For example, last night's garden salads had fresh spinach in them, and he enjoyed dinner. Now because I didn't have turkey Italian sausage on hand as the recipe suggested, my version isn't as figure friendly. With that being said, it still isn't bad for you. It's pretty much veggie soup with some sausage, and a tasty veggie soup at that. Read the recipe, then read my comment at the end. It's a real knee-slapper.

Sausage and Spinach Soup
Adapted from myrecipes.com

9-10 oz. hot Italian sausage
1 c. chopped onion
2 tsp. jarred minced garlic
1 (15 oz.) can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 tsp. chicken bouillon (I favor Orrington Farms chicken flavored soup base by far)
2 c. water
1 tsp. dried basil
1/4-1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional garnish
Garlic toast, optional

Remove sausage from the casings and cook in a large pot over medium-high heat until approximately halfway cooked. Break up the sausage while cooking if possible; you're looking for small pieces. Add the onion and garlic to the pot and continue to cook several minutes or until the onion starts to become tender. Stir in the water, chicken bouillon, beans, tomatoes and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and continue to cook for approximately 10 minutes. Serve hot, sprinkled with freshly grated cheese with a side of garlic toast.

Ready for the fun part here folks? Did you pick up on the fact that my recipe has no spinach in it!??! Ah yes, Buppy found the bag buried underneath something else on our counter top as we were cleaning up after dinner. Silly, silly me. I remembered to buy it and even to pull it out when I pulled all the other soup ingredients! Now I'll have to try it again to see what it's really supposed to taste like. Oh well, it was still really good, healthy soup, so no complaints from anyone at our dinner table. For those of you questioning it, the spinach should be stirred in just prior to serving. Enjoy!

Cheese-Beer Soup

A few weeks back I hit a soup-making phase. I've always loved soups, but within a week or so I'd made a French onion & mushroom soup, cheese-beer soup, Southwestern chicken soup and another one that currently is escaping my memory. The Southwestern chicken soup was Buppy's new all-time favorite soup, but it came completely from my head and I (silly me!) didn't write down what went into it. Shame on me. He'll never get his favorite soup again. As for the French onion & mushroom soup . . . well, that kind of went the same way.

The cheese-beer soup recipe came from Recipe Girl and was quite tasty. Having grown up for a time in Wisco, we pretty much love all things beer, cheese and/or sausage. This had 2 of the 3, which is a good start. I won't go into great detail about the recipe as it can be found at her site, but I will say that my only modification was to sub in cornstarch for the flour. I've never been a flour-thickening person; never cooks out right for me, but to each their own. Oh, I also omitted the parsley because I never have that stuff on hand. Kind of a big 'why bother' in my opinion, but again, to each their own.The soup was good, although it was on the thin side. Great with crusty bread dunked in it, but not really substantial enough to hold up as a meal on it's own. Even with more cornstarch or flour, it would still be a rather brothy soup, which is fine with me as long as I have some good bread. We could definitely smell the beer in it when it was pulled from the fridge and as it was reheating. Mmmmm.

Anyone else try this or have an even better recipe for cheese-beer soup? Lemme know!

Southwestern Broccoli Cheese Soup

Ah, here I am, jumping back into the more "regular" posting of some tasty recipes. Who knows how long this'll last, but I'll try to keep up the good work.

Today has been a busy day so far, and I had to hit up 3 grocery stores throughout this past week to find the hashbrowns I needed for this recipe. They're my favorite for morning breakfasts, but very hard to find around here. I'd say the search was worth it; the soup is good as it is now, but Buppy and I agree that the addition of some protein (sausage or chicken) might be a nice, too. But it's light, and it's tasty, and I don't feel guilty eating it. Always nice to be able to say that!

Southwestern Broccoli Cheese Soup
Slightly Adapted from Taste of Home's Light and Tasty Annual Recipes 2005
Submitted by Peggy Hendrix, Richardson, TX

4 c. water
4 tsp. chicken bouillon powder (I prefer Orrington Farms)
4 c. fresh broccoli florets
3 c. frozen southern-style hashbrowns (I prefer Simply Potatoes)
1 c. chopped carrots
1 c. chopped celery
Salt & pepper, to taste
1 1/2 Tbsp. corn starch
2 c. 2% milk
6 oz. 2% processed cheese (I prefer Velveeta)
1 c. chunky medium salsa

In a large saucepan, combine the water, bouillon powder, vegetables, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Combine the cornstarch and milk until smooth; gradually stir into the soup. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Reduce heat to low. Add the cheese; cook and stir until cheese is melted. Add the salsa; cook and stir until heated through. Yield: 9 servings (about 2 quarts).I think next time I might use a mild salsa instead of a medium because the potatoes lend a lot of heat to the soup, too. This reminds me of a salsa con queso dip, with extra (lots of extra) veggies. I'm thinking it'll be a superb lunch at work with some garlic bread or some type of toast. Enjoy!

Linked to: My Sweet and Savory's Meatless Monday, 2/21/11

Black Belt Coupon Ninja

Is it really only Tuesday so far? I feel as though this week is dragging by, and yet I’ve only been dragged to Tuesday afternoon. Bah. I suppose the slow, molasses feeling stems from my want for this Saturday’s wedding to be over and done with. Then, onto bigger and better things!

I went grocery shopping last night, mainly to use some decent coupons since one of our local stores periodically runs a coupon special: double coupons from .51 cents to $1, triple anything .50 cents and under. It's pretty handy when you have multiple $1 off coupons. I sorted through some coupons while on my lunch break, made a list, then headed to the store after work. I'm happy to say that the trip was a success and I'm now a black belt coupon ninja. My original bill was $77.03; after coupons and the discount for using several re-usable bags, I ended up spending $35.69. Yup, I saved a total of 54%. And funny enough --- grocery shopping is kind of relaxing for me, so it was a win-win sitch all around last night.

While Buppy’s only been gone for 2 days so far, it’s hard to get motivated in the kitchen when I have only my own mouth to feed. I’m used to at least 2, and often times 4, people to cook for. After he left on Sunday, I managed to make some praline apple bread, which for some odd reason baked out of one side of the pan. Left me an icky mess on the side of the bread pan and in the bottom of my oven. I’ve made that bread twice now, and this is the first mishap I’ve had. Odd.

Tonight I have to finish making split pea & ham soup. I cooked off a ham bone we had in the freezer over the weekend to make the ham stock, and now I have to actually make soup with said stock. I pulled out some turkey ham I had in the freezer to throw in, too; not sure how it’ll be with the turkey ham since I’ve never tried it in soup before, but how bad could it be [knock on wood!]?

It's Zuppa Dupa---

As in "super duper."

While I don't eat out at typical 'chain' restaurants like Houlihan's or Texas Roadhouse very often, I do go occasionally, especially if we have a gift certificate and I've had a long day. Sometimes it's nice not to have to clean up after yourself, ya know? However, since learning how to make this soup that I love from the Olive Garden, I haven't been back. When I'd gone there in the past, since I'm not really into pasta, I'd always have their soup, salad and bread sticks with this particular soup. Now I have absolutely no need to go.

I love the spiciness of the sausage paired with the creamy broth this soup offers. And the addition of the kale gives it nice vibrant green pizazz. Even Buppy, who doesn't like green veggies like kale and spinach, devours this soup.

Zuppa Toscana
My sister-in-law created this version --- yay her!

1 lb. spicy Italian sausage
5 med.-sized red potatoes
½ -1 tsp. minced garlic
½ med.-sized onion, minced
½ tsp. Italian seasoning
¼ tsp. cayenne pepper [ground]
2 Tbsp. minced celery leaves [or a dash of celery salt]
2 Tbsp. chicken bouillon
1 bunch fresh kale
4 c. water
3 c. milk
1 c. half & half
Parmesan cheese [optional], for garnish

Cook sausage; when done, empty pan and set meat aside. Drain excess oil, leaving a small amount to sauté veggies. Add potatoes, garlic, onion, seasoning, celery leaves and 1 c. water. Cook until vegetables become tender. Add remaining water, milk, half & half and kale. Continue to cook until kale is tender. Taste and re-season to your liking. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese when serving. And by the way, crusty bread is this soup's best friend!

It's a fairly simple recipe that yields fantastic results. I adore this soup, and the fact that the broth is so creamy with only 1 cup of half & half [I use fat free if I can find it] just astounds me. Rockin'.

Funny and strange coincidence today --- I was checking out some of my favorite sites and found that Maria over at Two Peas and Their Pod was blogging about the same soup today. Weird. Anywho, you can check out her post here; the recipe her hubby made has bacon in it, mine doesn't. But who doesn't love bacon?!? Might have to give this one a try next time!

Enjoy!

Menu Plan Monday - Dec. 28, 2009

Ah, menu plan Monday. Wow, it's been awhile since I've linked up to I’m an organizing junkie. This week isn't too stressful meal-wise as we have several outings planned that eliminate the need to plan/prepare for a meal. Here we go:

Monday - Ribs in the rotisserie, steamed Old Bay carrots & a green salad (with all sorts of good stuff!)

Tuesday - White chicken chili (found on eatbetteramerica.com) with crusty bread, possible addition of a green salad. The chili will be made Monday night so the flavors really have time to meld by Tuesday night. I'm really diggin' the recipe selection at eat better america!

Wednesday - I'm alone (Buppy's at work) so I'll fend for myself. Most likely it'll be a sandwich or breakfast-for-dinner kind of night.

Thursday - A pretty basic repeat of Wednesday. We'll see if I get any more ambitious to cook something more impressive for myself.

Friday - No plans. We're going to Buppy's mom's house for her annual "New Year's Open House", so that'll cover a late lunch for us. Then Buppy's father, his wife, Buppy's brother's family and our clan are all doing something for dinner. His father wants to go out to eat, so most likely that's what will happen.

Saturday - Lunch will be grilled cheese or tuna fish sandwiches (or leftover chili.) Dinner is going to be Salisbury steak. I've never made it, but I really enjoy it and almost never eat it. Buppy is skeptical as the only time he remembers eating it was when he was a child and it was part of a TV dinner. I have yet to figure out what recipe I plan to use, but I'm hoping to find one that's uber tasty!

Sunday - We're hosting a brunch to celebrate Christmas/Nick's birthday with Buppy's whole family. I plan on making this bagel and cheese bake for sure, and possibly this jiffy fruit salad I found on Hannah’s Hangout. Sounds good, but I'll see what else I can find. I'm looking for recipes that aren't too laden with fatty ingredients --- it'll be after the 1st and eating healthier is becoming a priority. Dinner on Sunday will be at a restaurant in Baltimore called Dionysis; we'll stop there for a relaxing dinner after we see the Nutcracker. I'm psyched!

If anyone has a good recipe (that isn't all too unhealthy) for Salisbury steak, please feel free to share!

Italian Vegetable Soup

Good thing I had some leftover carrots after making this soup; the kids just came inside to get one for Buppy's snowman's nose!

Back on topic though. I was perusing through blogs yesterday (something I just don't have enough time for these days) and I happened upon a recipe for Italian vegetable beef soup on Aggie’s Kitchen. She has some really great looking recipes, and since it's been a snowy, blustery weekend, I thought this soup would be just the ticket. Plus, I had some extra veggies in the fridge that I needed to use up. I made some changes to the recipes, but overall the concept is still the same. It's good, although to suite my personal tastes, next time I'd add a few less veggies. I like veggies and all, but this soup has lots! But hey, I don't feel guilty eating it at least. Buppy and I plan to have this for dinner with some nice crusty bread and a little Parmesan sprinkled on top.

Italian Veggie Beef Soup
Adapted from Aggie’s Kitchen

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
2 zucchinis, quartered & chopped
1 yellow squash, quartered & chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
3/4 of a large onion, chopped
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 tsp. each dried basil, dried oregano & dried thyme
1 heaping tsp. minced garlic
1 (14 1/2 oz.) can diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano
6 c. beef broth
1 lb. beef stew meat, cubed
Parmesan cheese (optional)
Salt & pepper, to taste

Rinse cubed stew meat in water and pat dry (I forgot this step today). Shake in a large Ziploc bag with just enough flour to lightly coat the meat. Heat a large skillet to med-high heat, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil and let it come up to temp. Add the meat, turning pieces occasional, until nicely browned on all sides. It's not overly important to cook the meat thoroughly since it'll be added to the soup and can finish cooking in the liquid.

In the remaining olive oil, saute zucchini, squash, carrot & onion until tender (approx. 10-12 min.). Add seasonings, tomatoes, garlic, corn & broth. Heat to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the cooked stew meat and simmer for approximately 30 min., or until all veggies are cooked to your liking. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve with Parmesan cheese if you'd like.

Aggie’s recipe calls for small cooked pasta as an optional addition, which I haven't decided about yet. I'm not sure what we have in the cupboards, so I'll have to check that out at dinner time. It already reminds me of minestrone, and the addition of pasta will only make it more so. This is a good, healthy, warming soup.

I *Heart* Baked Potato Soup

Since we all know I love soup, I won't go into detail about that love here. Today was definitely a soup day, but I didn't make any. How sad. Mmmm, shoulda made me some baked potato soup. I always order this if restaurants have it, and some are definitely better than others. The Houlihan's where I used to live uses a pretty darn good recipe. A few weeks ago, I decided to give it a try and used a recipe I found on Le Petit Pierogi’s blog. Her pictures looked yummy and I was excited; hers was adapted from allrecipes.com. This is a soup I plan to make often this winter to keep my family warm and satisfied. My only question about it is if it's freeze-able. It has half-and-half cream in it, which makes me wonder how it would thaw. Would it become grainy? I don't know, so if anyone has an answer to that questions, please feel free to comment!

Instead of reposting her exact recipe, I'll let you find that here and just tell you that it's super tasty. She has a fabulous blog, so explore it if you have some free time!

Mad-Crazy Love for French Onion Soup

I'm pretty excited for Fall, I'm not gonna lie. Fall means I can do more cooking of comfort foods, soups, stews, etc. I really enjoy making warm dishes, using the oven and snuggling up with something that's gonna warm my tummy.

The recipe I'm sharing today is for one of the first soups (actually, I think it's the first) soup I ever attempted. Whenever I went out to restaurants, I'd always have to try their French onion soup. A lot of times I would judge a restaurant by their soup: if it was good, I'd assume that most everything on their menu might be good as well. Bad soup? Good luck with any other menu picks. I realize that isn't always fair but hey, it worked pretty well most of the time.

When I went to Wisconsin for vacation 2 weeks ago, dinner one night was at a restaurant that I used to . . . well, I wouldn't say frequent, but I'd eaten there several times in the past. One of my ex-coworkers had suggested it and said their French onion soup was amazing. The funny thing about that, at the time, was that I knew she didn't like onion. I found out as we were ordering that she actually has them strain her soup. And yes, they actually do this for her. It's a family establishment and my coworker visits enough that they accommodate her. She is seriously, I think, the pickiest eater I've ever encountered.

I thought to myself when she ordered this, "Why would you order French onion soup, even if they strain it, if you don't like onions?" Granted a main flavor of the soup is always the beef base, but still. I was puzzled. And then our soups arrived.

Their soup was one of the best French onion soups I've ever had. There was plenty of melted cheese on top and the bread absorbed plenty of broth without completely dissolving. What made it so wonderful and helped me to figure out my friend's love for this soup was the base; it seemed that instead of a beef base, it was more of a mushroom base. There was still a light beefy flavor, but the broth was thicker than most soups I've had and was definitely mushroom-y. It was absolutely delicious and I plan to try to recreate this sometime very soon. Until I can perfect this one though, you can try this recipe.

As always, the measurements are approximate and please, season to taste for you and your family! I think I actually use more beef bullion than what this recipe calls for, but since I don't measure, it's hard to say for sure. Again, it's a recipe I've had for awhile and have no idea where it came from.

French Onion Soup

3 lg. onions
½ c. butter
2 Tbsp. beef bouillon
4 c. hot water
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp. salt
French bread, toasted (for croutons)
Swiss, provolone or mozzarella cheese for topping

Saute the onions in butter until lightly browned. Pour into a crock pot and add remaining ingredients. Cook on low, 4-6 hours. Top with bread and cheese; place under broiler to melt cheese.

I'm assuming you'll be able to tell from the short list of ingredients and the quick preparation that this isn't a 5 star restaurant recipe for French onion soup. It's quick, it's easy, it requires little work and time and you can pretty much prepare it and leave it alone for a few hours to finish cooking. While this isn't the end-all FOS recipe, it does my body good!

Bisque, the Zucchini Way

*Update: This week's URS (Ultimate Recipe Swap) by Life as Mom is for quick meals, so I'm adding this to her collection. I'm quickly becoming rather fond of her Thursday URS's and if you'd like to read more about them, stop by here.

Since we've already established that I love soup, this recipe should come as no surprise to anyone. Buppy and I had some leftover zucchini from our summer party, and since I had nothing better to do with it, it was made into a bisque. It didn't take me too long to find a simple recipe on allrecipes.com (I use this site a lot) and to say the very least, it turned out delish!

Zucchini Bisque
Recipe from allrecipes.com

1 medium onion, diced
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2 ½ c. shredded zucchini
2 ½ c. low sodium chicken broth
½ tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 c. fat free half-and-half

In a large pot, sauté onion in butter until slightly tender. Add zucchini and chicken broth. Simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes; add seasonings. Puree on low in a blender (I had to do this in several batches). Return to pan; stir in cream and heat through.

This has got to be one of the simplest and most fantastic soup recipes I've ever tried. Buppy loved it too and insists that I make this often. What a great way to use up zucchini if your garden produces bunches of it! (I'm still lacking in the garden department for now. Poo.) This bisque, served with some crusty bread, would make a quick, easy and scrumptious lunch or dinner. We're thinking about adding crab meat (we're in Maryland, we add it to everything!) next time. I'll let you know when that happens. Enjoy!

P.S. Sorry for the lack of pictures. It was a beautiful green color but was eaten too quickly for me to snap a few shots!

Split Pea & Ham Soup

I love soup. There, I said it. Doesn't matter the time of year or even what kind, I just really, really love soup. Buppy eats soup more in winter than the warmer months, but he'll still take some of the stuff that I make and freeze to work if we don't have much else in the house. I remember growing up, my dad used to make split pea & ham soup; it was one of my favorites, along with his chicken dumpling. While what I make doesn't taste like his, it's just as delish!

Pam, author of For the Love of Cooking, has some amazing recipes on her site. I decided to give hers a try when I got hungry for split pea & ham soup, and I wasn't disappointed. While I'll list the ingredients and directions here, her pictures are much better; stop on over to check out her original post here.

Split Pea & Ham Soup
From For the Love of Cooking

1 Tbsp. olive oil
½ onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 carrots, diced
1-2 stalks of celery, diced
1 russet potato, peeled and diced
1 lb. ham steak, diced
7-8 c. chicken or vegetable stock
1 lb. dried split peas (rinsed)
1 bay leaf
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat olive oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over medium heat. Cook the onion until slightly tender. Add garlic and ham; cook for 60 seconds or so. Add 6 c. stock, peas and bay leaf to pot; salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium-low heat for 1½-2 hrs. Add stock as necessary to keep from becoming too thick/burning. Add the carrots, celery and potatoes, then cook for another 30-45 min. or until vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf. Enjoy!