Cheeseburger Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 4 tablespoons butter, divided
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots
• 3/4 cup diced celery
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• 1-3/4 pounds (about 4 cups) cubed peeled potatoes
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 to 4 cups shredded Velveeta process cheese
• 1-1/2 cups whole milk
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook and crumble beef until no longer pink; drain and set aside. In same saucepan, melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Saute onion, carrots, celery, basil and parsley until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, ground beef and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until potatoes are tender, 10-12 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a small skillet, melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir until bubbly, 3-5 minutes. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low. Stir in cheese, milk, salt and pepper; cook until cheese melts. Remove from heat; blend in sour cream. Yield: 8 servings (2-1/4 quarts).

Test Kitchen Tips

Save on prep time by using frozen cubed hash brown potatoes in place of fresh.

To prevent soup from curdling, remove from the heat before adding sour cream.

Go all out! Serve in bread bowls with condiment skewers: Try cocktail onions and mini pickles.

Crockpot Chicken & Leek Stew

Serves: 6

           9    chicken drumsticks, skin removed

• 6cups water
• 2medium carrot, sliced
• 2stalk celery, sliced
• 3/4cup barley
• 3teaspoons chicken bouillon
• 2teaspoons salt
• 1⁄4teaspoon pepper
• 1bay leaf
• 2cups leeks, with tops (sliced and cleaned very well)

Add all ingredients to a crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 8 hours.



Adapted from:
http://www.food.com/recipe/cock-a-leekie-chicken-and-leek-soup-7702

Crockpot Mushroom, Barley & Lentil Soup

INGREDIENTS

• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup water
• 3 large carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• ¾ cup pearled barley
• ¼ cup brown or green lentils
• 16 oz button mushrooms, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1¼ tsp salt (or to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Place all ingredients in a crockpot. Cook on high for about 3 hours, or until grains are cooked through and vegetables are tender. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Found here: http://www.hummusapien.com/crockpot-mushroom-barley-lentil-soup/

Sausage, Kale, and Lentil Soup

One of the best soup I've ever made and had, hands down.

Done in less than an hour, and can be made ahead of time in a slow cooker if you want. I love Rachel Ray, she packs her meals full of flavour, and this one is on top of her recipes in my books. I adapted her recipe, and the original is found here.








Sausage, Kale, and Lentil Soup
Serves 4 (very generous portions)
Total time: less than 1 hour (15 minutes prep)

INGREDIENTS_____________________________________________________

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 pound hot sausage, casing removed*
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 3 large cloves garlic
• 1/2 Tbs ground cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 bundle kale, stemmed and very thinly sliced
•  1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1 cup water (minus 2 Tbs) PLUS 2 Tbs cider vinegar (to make a cup total)
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 3/4 cups lentils (you can mix with pearl barley i.e.: 1 cup lentils and 3/4 cup barley)
• 4 cups beef stock (or chicken)*
• 2 cups water

DIRECTIONS______________________________________________________

1. In a soup pot or large dutch over, heat olive oil. Add the sausage, break it up, and cook until lightly browned. Add onions, celery, carrot, potato, rosemary, garlic, cumin, salt, and pepper. Cook to soften for about 8-10 minutes.
2. Add in the kale until it wilts a bit, about 1 minutes, and sprinkle the nutmeg onto the kale. Stir in the tomato paste, then add the water/cider vinegar mixture. Reduce by half, about 3 minutes, then stir in lentils, stock, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer the soup until the lentils are tender, about 35 minutes. Add water if it's too thick (usually needed if you add in barley).

*Note: you can easily make this vegan by omitting the sausage, and substituting the beef stock for vegetable stock.

Serve with crusty bread and/or crackers.

Bon appétit!

Cathy

Zupas' Wisconsin Cauliflower Soup

I have been meaning to post this and I completely forgot. I went to Zupas the other day and was reminded of this wonderful soup! Every time I go there I MUST get this soup. It is delicious :)

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 (14.5 oz) can chicken broth
• 2.5 lbs cauliflower
• 1 tsp. Dijon Mustard
• 1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese, shredded

directions

1. Melt butter and chopped onion together in a large sauce pan and sauté for approximately 10 minutes over medium heat until onion gets golden in color.
2. Add flour and stir to make a roux. Heat while stirring for a couple of minutes.
3. Slowly add half and half along with the milk. Gradually add and stir the entire time. Following the milk, gradually add water and chicken broth and stir constantly.
4. Add chopped cauliflower and heat until boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until cauliflower is tender. This will take approximately 15 minutes.
6. Place contents of sauce pan into blender and blend until smooth. Remove center part of blender cover to allow steam to escape.
7. Return cauliflower mixture to saucepan; heat over medium heat until hot, stirring occasionally. Remove saucepan from heat; stir in mustard and cheese until melted and smooth.
8. Serve soup topped with a little cheese for garnish.

Easter Ham Leftovers: Ham and Potato Soup

So, what to do with your ham leftovers from Easter?! Ham and potato soup! Here in the Canadian necks of the woods, it's going to be pretty warm today, but in other parts of the world, I hear some of you got snow, so let this AMAZING soup take those chills away, it is absolutely comforting and delicious!

**So, I've tried making this using half cream (10%) and half milk, and don't get me wrong, it was SO good, but oh so rich, too. So if you're thinking the same, I wouldn't put half and half, maybe 1/2 cup of cream with 1 1/2 cups of milk. Just a thought :)

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
• 1/3 cup diced celery
• 1/3 cup finely chopped onion
• 3/4 cup or more diced cooked ham
• 3 1/4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
• 5 tablespoons butter
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups milk

Directions

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a large pot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute, aka, you're making a roux. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.
4. You may add some cheese and some green onions as a topping if you wish, mmm!

Bon Appetit!

Cathy

Source: all recipes

Chicken Noodle Soup

Well it finally snowed here in Utah and what better way to celebrate then a nice bowl of Chicken Noodle Soup? Watching "The Help" at the same time. best movie ever- seriously. Anyways this recipe was quite simple. Most recipes call for a 3-5 lbs chicken but I didn't have that so I used 2 boneless, skinless chicken breats. If you don't have marjoram you can replace it with some oregano (they are cousins...at least that's what mama B tells me.) Enjoy the recipe!!

• 
  Ingredients
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 1/2 medium onion, chopped
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 cup diced carrots
• 1 cup diced celery
• 1 1/2 cups uncooked whole wheat macaroni elbow noodles

1. In a large soup kettle, place chicken and all ingredients except noodles. 
2. Cover and bring to a boil; skim broth. 
3. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 30min. or until chicken is tender. 
4. Remove chicken from broth; allow to cool. 
5. Cut chicken breasts into chunks. 
6. Skim fat from broth; bring to a boil. 
7. Add noodles; cook until noodles are done. 
8. Return chicken to kettle; adjust seasonings to taste. 
9. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Oh and I know that macaroni noodles arn't the "norm" for chicken noodle soup but that's what I personally like. You can do whatever kind you like :)

-Christy

Gnocchi Sausage Leek Soup

Happy friday!

Ever have the Olive Garden gnocchi soup? Oh so good. Here in our neck of the Canadian woods, we are deprived of olive garden, so we are left just dreaming about eating their unlimited soup, salad and breadsticks. I know! So I had to do something about it..

Potato gnocchi are actually pretty cheap, like $1.50 for 1 kg (32 ounces). I bought a bag a while back, and since this week have been like FREEZING (-20 Celsius), soup sounded perfect. I also had leeks (look like big green onions), and so I combined a gnocchi soup recipe, with a potato leek soup, added some sausage, and OH MY GOODNESS! It was delicious! We combined it with a fresh baguette, and our canadian winter chills left for the evening.

This recipe serves about 8, typically--but when we ate it for dinner, and then for lunch the next day...it was already gone. So in our family, it served a total of 4 adults, and 2 kids!

Cooking and prep time: less than 30 minutes guys!

• 3-5 sausages or sausage meat, removed from the casings and cooked, or diced
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 carrot, shredded
• 1 leek, cut (look here to see how to clean and chop a leek, she shows 2 ways, either way is fine, depending on how big you want to cut them)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 cup fresh packed spinach, chopped
• 1 tsp thyme
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 Tbs cornstarch (mixed in 1-2 Tbs if water)
• 16 ounces potato gnocchi

1. Heat up the olive oil in a pot over medium heat, and then fry the celery, carrot, leek for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and stir until you can smell it.
2. Add the cooked sausage meat, chicken stock, half and half, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper. 
3. Heat to boiling, then add the cornstarch mixed in water, stir. 
4. Immediately add the potato gnocchi. Gently boil for 3 minutes, then reduce to simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Add the spinach and cook until it is wilted, a couple minutes.

Oh you will enjoy this! If you want a creamier soup, you can do 2 cups of half and half, or even bump it up to heavier cream. I just happened to only have 1 cup left, and so I did the other cup with milk, and it was amazing and less fatty. Let me know how it turns out!

Bon appetit!

Cathy

Not Chili

It's like chili, but white instead of red, chicken instead of meat, cilantro instead of....ok so it isn't chili at all! Ever try it? A similar chili recipe was the winning chili at our church chili cook-off back in 2009, made by the Goold family (and not to brag, but my corn bread won first prize...or I guess Paula Dean really actually won first prize, but I did make it for her...)

The original recipe was easy, simple, and DE-LICIOUS-- I decided to kick it up a small notch/make it my own and substitute in a couple more fresh ingredients (it: real onions instead of onion powder etc)...so here it is!

If you are not a fan of regular chili, this is the chili for you. I don't even think it should be called chili. My husband loves this, and he is a chili hater (had a bad experience, yes you got it). So there you have it, hubby approved!

• 1 lbs of chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 
• 5-19 ounce cans white kidney beans
• 1 can creamed corn
• 2-3 cans of chopped canned green chilies (hard to find in canada, Old El Paso makes them) You can add more if you want.
• 2-14 ounce cans of chicken broth
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cumin
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 cup heavy cream (whole milk or milk to make less fatty)
• Cayenne pepper to add some heat (optional)
• Chopped cilantro before serving

1. Fry the onions until translucent (5-8 minutes)
2. Add garlic and stir for 30 seconds until the aroma hits your nose
3. Add the cooked chicken, beans, corn, chicken broth, salt, cumin, oregano, and pepper. Bring to a boil.
4. Add the sour cream and cream, and reduce to a simmer.
5. Simmer for as long as you can wait, but 20-25 minutes for best flavor mixing results.
6. Add cilantro in individual bowls as desired

Served this with fresh baked bread

Let me know who wins in your books, chili, or not chili?


About 8 servings (large servings)


Cathy