Category: soup

Cheesy Broccoli and Potato Soup

I bought some of the Fleishmann’s Simple Homemade bread mix a few weeks ago and I was looking for a nice hearty soup to go with some crusty bread.  I’d pinned this soup recipe from Lulu the Baker a hundred years ago and came across it again, so I finally bit the bullet and made it.  Not only was it hearty and yummy, but it paired PERFECTLY with the bread (which, by the way, was AWESOME).

I love that it has some extra veggies in there, what with the carrots and celery and whatnot.  When it was first cooking, and I had just celery, onion, and carrot sauteeing in butter, I put my head over the pot and just inhaled deeply for a few minutes.  It’s a heavenly smell.  Guess that’s why the Cajuns call it the Holy Trinity.

Broccoli Potato Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped carrot
2 celery sticks, finely chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup water
2/3 cup milk
2 cups chopped fresh broccoli
2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.  Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender.
  2. Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  At this point I also used a potato masher to slightly mush the veggies that were in there.  It allowed the potatoes to also thicken the soup a little.
  3. Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.
  4. Stir in cheese and allow to melt.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what the bread looked like when it was done…behold!

bread

I didn’t get paid or perked to say this…this bread is AWESOME.  Slightly sweet, a nice crusty outside and a doughy inside.  I’m excited to try the other varieties.

Crockpot Chicken Stock (and Tastetastic Thursday #19)

Making stock in your crockpot is the easiest thing in the world.  We buy the Perdue Oven-Ready Roasters fairly often (they’re expensive but SO delicious!) and when my husband’s done carving it, we throw the bones in the crockpot to make stock to keep in the freezer.  I don’t use a recipe, but here’s what I do:

Put the chicken bones in a crockpot and cover with water.  Add a bunch of veggies.  In this case I used the tops of celery and an onion that I quartered.  I’d typically also add carrots but I didn’t have any.  Add some thyme, a bay leaf, a dash of kosher salt, peppercorns, and whatever other seasonings float your boat.  Put the lid on and cook on low for 8-10 hours.  Strain and let cool.  I pour 2 cups’ worth in freezer bags and freeze on a cookie tray so they lay flat.  Once they’re frozen, you can stack them neatly in your freezer.

Prep ahead tip:  As you cook throughout the week(s), put all your veggie scraps in the freezer so when it comes time to make stock you can just pull it out to put in there.  

And now…time to party!  The rules are simple:

  1. Please link up no more than two recipes.
  2. I’d love it if you’d follow me on Facebook and/or Google Friend Connect.  
  3. Please have a link back to me on your post.  I’ll be featuring three links this weekend, but I can only feature you if there’s a link back.  
  4. Click around, have some fun, and get inspired!
(As always, the links show up in random order.  No rewards for the early birds, or punishments for those who get there a little later.)

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White Bean and Chicken Chili

I went through our pantry last week and threw out the expired stuff, reorganized, and wrote down everything in there.  Yes, I wrote down every item in our pantry.  Weird, I know, but that was the only way I’d remember what’s in there and if something was a duplicate.

Which is how I realized I had FOUR cans of cannelini beans.  I think I was going to make a bean soup a few weeks ago and bought a bunch of beans for it, but then never wound up making it.  However, with those beans, and the rotisserie chicken breast I had in the fridge, I remembered Alli ‘N Son had posted a recipe with beans and chicken just the other day.

I made a few changes to her recipe, both for my tastebuds and for what I had on hand.  The end result was fantastic though.  Way better than the simple ingredients would suggest.  It’s not quite a chili, but it’s not quite a soup.  A choup?

White Bean and Chicken Chili Soup
Adapted from Alli ‘N Son

Ingredients:

  • 2 15-oz cans white beans (I used cannellini)
  • 32 oz chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion (from my freezer stash)
  • 1 clove minced garlic
  • 2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 cup chunky salsa, drained
Directions:
  1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot.  Cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes.
Have you noticed that most of my recipes lately only have one or two steps in the directions?  Can you tell I’ve been feeling lazy?  What’s your favorite throw-together dinner?

You can find this recipe linked up at these parties and at Today’s Creative Blog and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays.

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset.

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Lentil Soup

As I mentioned yesterday, it’s been raining for a month straight and a chill is in the air.  I’ve been cold from the inside out so I knew I wanted to make a big ol’ pot of soup.  I had some lentils that have been sitting in my pantry for…um…years.  Is that dangerous, or just gross?  Whatever, they’re dried and there wasn’t anything funky about them.  So I made a pot of soup with them.

I could have used my cast iron dutch oven to make this soup, but I just wanted something I could throw together and not babysit so I decided to use my crockpot.  Once my veggies were sliced, it was as easy and literally throwing everything in the crockpot and turning it on.  I didn’t even stir it!  Such a rebel, I am.

What goes perfectly with a hearty soup?  Crusty fresh-baked bread of course!  My husband had the car, and my son was sleeping, so I couldn’t run to a bakery or grocery store.  Homemade it would have to be.  I started one recipe that I found online but, as I tend to do, I didn’t read the whole recipe before starting. It needed to proof in the refrigerator overnight!  That wasn’t going to work.

I wound up using this recipe but had to sort of eyeball the additional ingredients.  For instance, the first recipe had a weight amount for the flour, but the second one called for however many CUPS of flour (with no weight listed).  I just had to add flour until it looked right.  Same goes for the yeast.  The first recipe had a teaspoon of yeast, but this one had much more.  I measured it out and then just took one teaspoon out of there.  That seemed to work okay because the dough rose beautifully and it was nice and elastic.

The rolls were a little more dense then I would have preferred but I was still pretty happy with how they turned out.  I’m always impressed with myself when I can make real bread.

So, back to the soup.  So easy.  Here’s how you do it.  Make sure you pay close attention to the directions…it’s pretty complicated.

Crockpot Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/4 cups carrot rounds (about 1/4″ to 1/2″ thick)
  • 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 cup diced celery
  • 1/2 onion, diced
  • 2 cups dried lentils, rinsed and picked to make sure there are no stones or other yuckies
  • 32-oz container chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 Tbsp poultry seasoning (or to taste)
  • Salt and pepper (be generous…there’s a lot of soup to season)

Directions:

  1. Put all ingredients in the crockpot.
  2. Turn it on High for 4-6 hours.

Serves 6

This post is linked up to Cast Party Wednesday, Miz Helen’s Country Cottage, It’s a Keeper, Somewhat Simple, Momnivore’s Dilemma, Fireflies and Jellybeans, House of Hepworths, Jane Deere, Mangoes and Chutney, EKat’s Kitchen, Make Ahead Meals for Busy Moms.

Come join SoupaPalooza at TidyMom and Dine and Dish sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast and Le Creuset.

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Chicken and Dumplings

I am the proud new owner of a beautiful 5-quart Le Creuset French oven, and boy do I love it.  I received it from my in-laws for Christmas, and before we even got home I was planning my first meal.  Chicken and dumplings.

I’ve never made chicken soup or dumplings before but it never really looked that hard when I’ve seen it done.  I found the most simplistic recipe I could find, knowing The Neelys wouldn’t let me down.  And they didn’t.

It turned out beautifully, if I don’t say so myself.  I find that I’m not a fan of drop dumplings (I’m more of a matzoh ball gal) but my mother-in-law told me about something called a “slick” dumpling that my husband’s grandmother makes, so I may try that next time.  Just need to figure out what the heck it is…

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My favorite part of this dish?  I love how after the dumplings start cooking, the broth turns milky and hearty.  Yum!

Ingredients

  • 1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces
  • 6 cups chicken broth
  • 1/2 bunch thyme
  • 1 bay leaf

Dumplings:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tablespoons salted butter
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley leaves
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped thyme leaves

 

  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 large onion, chopped
  • 2 carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
  • 2 ribs celery, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
  • 3 cloves finely chopped garlic

Directions

In a very large saucepan or Dutch oven, add chicken, chicken broth, thyme, and bay leaf to cover. Turn on heat to low and let simmer for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. *Cook’s Note: You’ll want to poach the chicken on a low simmer and start with cold stock so the chicken cooks evenly.

Once the chicken is cooked, transfer to a 13 by 9-inch casserole dish and let cool. Reserve broth and discard the thyme and bay leaf. When chicken has cooled, shred. Use your hands or a fork and make sure to get all the meat off the bone. Discard the skin and bones.

Dumplings:

Add flour, salt and pepper, to taste, and baking powder to a large bowl and whisk together. In a small saucepan, bring heavy cream, butter and herbs to a low simmer then add to the dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Using your hands, form dough into dumplings.

Heat a large Dutch oven over medium heat and add oil. Once oil is hot, add onions, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute until soft, 3 to 4 minutes. Add reserved broth to Dutch oven with vegetables and add the chicken. Bring to a low simmer. Add dumplings 1 at a time into the simmering soup. Cover pan with a lid and cook for 25 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste, if necessary.

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