In the last several weeks I've made a lot of soup. In fact, a couple weeks ago I told David, "All right, David, let's go eat our soup!" He rolled his eyes and said, "Soup AGAIN?!?!?" It was pretty funny! So when I was making my menu for the next week I was sure to ask him what he'd like to suggest we have for dinner. He said, "You know that chicken soup you made that John ate two bowls of?" I just about died laughing! Well, speaking of soup, I've got a basic soup recipe that can be turned into a few different kinds. I like to make a big batch and then put the leftovers in the freezer.
Basic Soup Recipe . . . with variations
1 onion, finely chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
2-3 stalks of celery, finely chopped
heat a large soup pot on med heat with 2ish TBSP olive oil (I usually put in a pat of butter).
Sauté veggies for about 7-10 minutes until softened.
Add 2-3 cloves of garlic.
(Prep these next veggies)
Add 1 c. shredded (or thinly sliced) carrots
1-2 c. potatoes, chopped into small cubes (I've also done lightly colored sweet potatoes)
Cover with chicken broth (I've been buying the organic free range chicken broth from Winco)
Add 2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
Simmer on low for about 15 minutes, or until veggies are soft
At this point you can add whatever you'd like and just heat the additions. Here are my tried and true faves!
Chicken . . . Add 2 c. chopped chicken breast, 1 can corn (about 2 cups), and about 1- 1 1/2 cups milk or fat free 1/2 n 1/2.
Salmon . . . Add 2-3 cans salmon, or home baked salmon, 1 can creamed corn, and 1-1 1/2 cups milk or fat free 1/2 n 1/2.
Italian sausage soup . . . leave out the potatoes and sauté some italian sausage with the veggies. Either crumble sausage without the skins or slice w/skins. I've been using chicken sausage and liking it really well. I recently used the Trader Joe's sausage and found I couldn't get them out of the skins. Before you simmer the veggies, throw in about 1 c. of pasta. I've made it with wheel pasta, elbow pasta, and star pasta.
This recipe is great for babies! You'll want to add the salt and pepper at the end after you've taken a baby sized portion out. I've been slightly blending up the finished product for Johnathan and he loves it. It's recommended that for babies under the age of 1 that you don't season their food with salt.
I love soup in the winter time, and once you make it a few times it seems so easy! Good luck and let me know what you try!!
YUM! Some variations I like: instead of potatoes, add black beans, mild green chilis, and some corn. Take a portion of the soup and blend it in the blender (to thicken the soup). Leave the rest chunky.
ReplyDeleteI also like to do this with white beans and a little yellow curry powder to warm the soup up.
Top with some sour cream, green onions, chopped tomatoes, and/or avocado. Yum!