Bean Soup

The calendar says Fall but the weather outside says shorts.  This is the time of the year that I begin to get into great soups and hearty meals in my kitchen.  While I enjoy the weather reprieve I still look forward to some of those good basic meals that make the cooler weather seem almost worth while.

With this thought in mind I decided to make a huge pot of bean soup on Sunday.  You know,  just enough for lunch, a pot to take to the neighbors and three containers for my freezer.  In this house it doesn’t make much sense to make a small pot of anything.  Anyway the soup was really good, it hit the spot and then we took a walk around the neighborhood; wearing shorts and no socks.

Chicken Soup

From the label of Campbell’s Chicken with Rice Soup.  Ingredients: Chicken Stock, Rice, Chicken Meat, Carrots, Less than 2% of: Modified Food Starch, Chicken Fat, Salt, Celery, Monosodium Glutamate, Flavoring (Soy), Potassium Chloride, Sugar, Maltoextrin, Onions, Vegetable Oil, Mechanically Separated Chicken, Yeast Extract, Cornstarch, Lower Sodium Natural Sea Salt, Beta Carotene, Sodium Phosphate, Soy Protein Isolate, Disodium Inosinate and Disodium Guanylate, Lactic Acid,  Spice, Chicken (Dehydrated)

WOW, I can’t pronounce half of these ingredients on the Campbell’s Chicken with Rice can much less want to feed them to my family.  Hard to believe all of these are in a 10 1/2 oz condensed can.  Come on people; you can do better than this.  It takes only a few minutes to start a great pot of soup for your family.  Let it cook for a while and you will have a wholesome meal for your family with enough left over for at least one more meal.  Make my soup once and I promise it will become a family favorite; or perhaps your really like Disodium Inosinate.

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup

This recipe makes a lot of soup and you will have extra cooked chicken leftover for another use. Heat a large soup pot, add the olive oil, when it begins to shimmer add the cut up and dried chicken. Brown, don’t burn, the chicken on both sides. Add the onion, carrots, celery, salt, and stir. Lightly brown the vegetables; add the broth and water and stir. Cook on a low boil for 20 -30 minutes; until the chicken is fork tender. Remove the chicken to a platter and taste the broth. Depending on the chicken, the broth may need to be reduced to concentrate the flavors. Cook on the boil until the broth is tasty. In the meantime, remove the chicken from the bones. Cut half the chicken into small pieces and add back to the soup pot. Once the soup is done adjust the salt and pepper to taste. (It is important to not add the salt prior to reducing; as the soup will become too salty)
Bring the soup back up to the boil. Drop the spaetzle batter into the boiling soup to form small dumplings.

Use the remaining chicken in chicken salad or tacos.

More delicious soups, less crazy ingredients at emealsforyou.com.

Bean Soup

Last week my significant other came down with a cold.  Nothing fights the icky feeling of a cold like a hot bowl of soup.  I immediately made a huge pot of chicken soup; delivering a hot bowlful to work and then freezing the rest.  This is the season for soup.  You can never have too much soup frozen for a quick lunch, a hearty dinner or just a hot bowlful a comfort when the cold bug has you pinned to the couch.

Saturday I found myself with some time on my hands and the urge to replace the last bowl of bean soup we had just finished for lunch.  The time it took to chop a few veggies, open a few cans and stir occasionally is very little, especially compared to the warm comfort it provides.  Little did I know at the time that the cold bug would strike me on Monday night.  Feeling headachy and just generally drained of all energy, I am heartened by the mere fact that a hot bowl of soup is just a few microwave minutes away.  Let’s see should I have veggie, chicken or the bean soup.  Sometimes choices are a good thing.

Beef Vegetable Soup

I will try not to jinx it but hopefully we are in the last days of this cold, snowy winter.  For this post I will get back to my soup making recipes, although my wife reminds me that soups are good all year long.  A hot bowl of soup on a cold day really hits the spot.  My father used to make a huge pot of this soup on Saturdays in the winter when we were growing up.  He would use up all the small portions of vegetables in those plastic bags in the back of the freezer.  It’s a good excuse to clean out the frozen vegetables that have been taking up space.

If your grocery doesn’t have any beef soup bones in the case just ask the meat cutters for some, they always have some in the freezer and should charge you a small amount per pound.  As for the soup meat, you can usually find this in the case but any beef will do; I usually look for the least expensive cut as it will cook for a long time and will be tender.  Don’t add the salt until you are just about done cooking it as it will reduce and any salt added early will become more pronounced when done.

Give this soup a try, your family will like it and the house will smell great as you watch the last of the ice melt outside.

Bean Soup

So the snow continues here in the Ohio Valley; must be that beaver and shadow thing.  I don’t know if I can take it for 5 more weeks.  I am back on the soup kick.  Nothing beats a hot bowl of soup on a cold and snowy day for warming your body as well as your soul.

This recipe comes by way of my father who would save any ham bones he had and then make a pot of this filling and wonderful soup.  As there are just the two of us, I substituted a ham steak for the ham bones he used.  This is probably the heartiest soup I make.  I usually have a couple of containers frozen for days just like this.  Just get a pot started and let the magic happen.  Use any beans you have in the pantry; well almost any bean.  No baked beans please.

French Onion Soup

It’s still cold, very cold, here in the Midwest.  I am staying with my soup theme.  What could be better than a steamy bowl of onion soup to warm you after a tough day.  This basic and yet terrifically comforting soup is easy to make.  A little pre-planning may be necessary to have the bowls or bowl available that may be used in the oven.  You can make individual bowls or just one big one; but then there may be fights over who gets the most cheese and bread.

What sets this soup off from many others is the crusty bread that soaks in the tasty broth; and then there is the cheese; gooey, stringy, melted cheese.  A popular hit in many bistros why not try this at home and see how the oohs and ahhhs stack up.

Mexican Meatball Soup

I guess I owe you all a few recipes as I have been AWOL for a little while.  The NJ trip at Christmas and then closing on a condo on the 30th took me away from the blog and I apologize.  The move is just about complete now and being that I heard ( course nobody hears anymore; more like emailed back and forth, from my old partner Chef Teresa, I thought I would give you her recipe for Mexican Meatball Soup.  I don’t know about where you live but here in “southern” Ohio we had really cold weather and now some snow to boot.

Nothing says comfort like a hot bowl of soup on a gray and cold day.  Chef Teresa brings us this wonderful warming and fulfilling addition to our soup collection.  Serve it up with some crunchy bread or crackers.  It is perfect to warm the soul as well as the body.

Mexican Meatball Soup

Heat oil in large heavy pot. Add 1.5 cups chopped onion, 2 garlic cloves, and bay leaves; saute 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes with juices, salsa, and 1/4-cup cilantro, bring to a boil. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine ground beef, pork sausage, cornmeal, milk, egg, salt, pepper, cumin, then remaining onions, 2 minced garlic cloves and 1/4 cup cilantro in medium bowl. Mix well. Shape meat mixture by tablespoons into 1 to 1 1/2 inch meatballs. Add rice and meatballs to soup and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice and meatballs are tender, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Hint: Soup is shown in picture topped with sour cream and cilantro.

Chicken Soup

It’s the flu and cold season and there is nothing that takes the edge off the aching feelings like a bowl of homemade chicken soup.  All of us grew up with some form of chicken soup on those days when mom would bring a tray with soup and crackers to our room.  Maybe it was the white and red can variety or maybe that somehow good, but strangely green-yellow soup with those thin noodles.  Everyone of us can immediately identify that smell from memory.

I am here to tell you that there is real chicken soup, much better than those cans or packets and it is almost as easy to make.  The broth should be darker brown, rich in taste and full of veggies.  The color and flavor comes from browning the chicken parts, hopefully with skin on, before adding the vegetables and then the liquid.  I use some chicken broth from cans to make this soup all that richer.  Be careful to hold off on putting too much salt until just before the soup is finished.  You will be reducing the stock while cooking it and any salt you add will be stronger in less broth at the end.

Soup’s on, enjoy!

Old Fashioned Chicken Soup

This recipe makes a lot of soup and you will have extra cooked chicken leftover for another use. Heat a large soup pot, add the olive oil, when it begins to shimmer add the cut up and dried chicken. Brown, don’t burn, the chicken on both sides. Add the onion, carrots, celery, salt, and stir. Lightly brown the vegetables; add the broth and water and stir. Cook on a low boil for 20 -30 minutes; until the chicken is fork tender. Remove the chicken to a platter and taste the broth. Depending on the chicken, the broth may need to be reduced to concentrate the flavors. Cook on the boil until the broth is tasty. In the meantime, remove the chicken from the bones. Cut half the chicken into small pieces and add back to the soup pot. Once the soup is done adjust the salt and pepper to taste. (It is important to not add the salt prior to reducing; as the soup will become too salty)
Bring the soup back up to the boil. Drop the spaetzle batter into the boiling soup to form small dumplings.

Use the remaining chicken in chicken salad or tacos.