Corn Chicken Chowder

I use to not like soup. None of it. Chili (or occasionally Calm Chowder in a bread bowl)was as close as I got for a long time and even then, it had to be mainly meat, not vegetables. Then I had the Corn Chicken Chowder at the Story Teller at Disneyland and my world changed. While that one has a bit of spice to it, I have found a regular or more mild approach is still very good and also quite easy to obtain via a slow cooker!

 



Garnish of bacon? It has to be good.

 

 

Slow Cooker Corn Chicken Chowder

Ingredients

4 slices bacon, diced

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks

12 ounces red potato, diced

1 onion, diced

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

2 cups corn kernels, frozen, canned or roasted

4 cups chicken broth

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 bay leaf

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/2 cup half and half

2 tablespoons cornstarch

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Instructions

Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add bacon and cook until brown and crispy, about 6-8 minutes. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate; set aside.

Place chicken, potatoes, onion, carrots, celery, and corn into a 6-qt slow cooker. Stir in chicken broth, garlic, thyme, oregano, cayenne pepper and bay leaf; season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours.

In a small bowl, whisk together half and half and cornstarch. Stir in half and half mixture and butter during the last 30 minutes of cooking time.

Serve immediately, topped with bacon and garnished with chives, if desired.

Notes

*Half and half is equal parts of whole milk and cream. For 1 cup half and half, you can substitute 3/4 cup whole milk + 1/4 cup heavy cream or 2/3 cup skim or low-fat milk + 1/3 cup heavy cream.

 

Homemade Chicken Pho

So the weather has been rather Bi Polar here in StL since we have arrived. a solid 50 degrees one day then a solid 85 the next. I got a bit sick thanks to a combination of allergies and post nasal drip so I decided it was time for the beautifulness that is chicken soup.

Instead of going the chicken noodle route, I decided I should try to make some Vietnamese style soup, Pho.

Spaghetti Squash and Chicken Pho
Ingredients
1 Spaghetti Squash
1 tablespoon Olive oil
1 thumb size piece fresh ginger, peel off skin by scraping it off with a small spoon.
1 Cinnamon Stick
2 whole pieces Star anise
1/2 tablespoon Coriander Seed
1/2 tablespoon Fennel Seed
5-6 cups chicken Stock
2 Chicken Breasts, sliced into 1/4" thickness
Also serve with big handful of Fresh Thai basil leave, bean sprouts, minced cilantro
1 small white onion, thinly sliced
1 limes, cut into quarters
1 fresh jalapeno, thinly sliced
Hoisin sauce, fish sauce, and Sriracha hot sauce.
Method
First, let's start with our spaghetti squash. There are many ways to cook a spaghetti squash, crock pot and in the oven is probably the most common methods. I used the crock pot this time, first because I want to try it out, and second, because I started it before work today, and definitely don't want to leave the oven on while I'm gone.
Crockpot: Place the whole spaghetti squash in, pour in 1/3 cup of water. Turn on low heat, and cook for 3 hours. When you can easily poke a knife thru the squash, it is done! Place the squash on a easy-to-work-with surface, like a cooking sheet.
Baking in an oven:
Use a spoon to scoop out and discard seeds from the middle of each half. Arrange squashin a 9x13-inch casserole dish, cut sides down. Pour 1/2 cup water into the dish and bake until just tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Take out of oven.
Let it cool for about 15 minutes. Now cut the squash into halves. Remove the unwanted seeds with a spoon, disgard. Then scrape off the noodle like flesh with the spoon again, transfer to a plate or bowl, separate into 4 equal servings, and sit aside till needed.
Place a medium size pot on the cook top on med-low heat, add in olive oil. Stir in ginger, cinnamon stick, star anise, coriander seed, and fennel seed. Stir constantly for it to sizzle. Let it slowly cook for about 2 minutes. This is a quick, easy way to release the aroma of dried herbs. But be very, very careful not to burn them.
Add in chicken stock, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, wash and prep chicken, fresh herbs, and all the other ingredients that you will serve with.
Season sliced chicken with salt and pepper, and add it in the chicken stock to bring it to a boil. This soup is smelling heavenly!
In a big soup bowl, gather a serving of spaghetti squash. Pour hot soup and some chicken over it. Add in sliced onions and minced cilantro. On a separate place, place sprouts, basil, lime and jalapenos.
Serve
If you have seen or eat pho before, and feel that me explaining how to eat it is dumb. Shut up, open your mouth and start eating this delicious bowl of yumminess.
If you are confused, this is what you do. Squeeze the quartered lime wedge directly in your soup. Grab a handful of sprouts, pick off the basil leave from the stem and add it directly to the hot soup as well. Depending on how spicy you can handle, add in jalapeno slices. Stir, so that the hot soup can slowly cook the sprouts and basil in your bowl. Squeeze in a little hoisin and hot sauce for extra flavoring.
Eat, slurp, and lick your lips when your bowl is done.

tadah!

See the not noodles doing their noodle job?

This turned out great! Everyone enjoyed getting to dress it themselves and it was a hearty, but not heavy, meal. I am happy I tried something out of ordinary for me and now with the left over bean sprouts, I will totally make some Pad Thai. MiL has never had Pad Thai to her knowledge so I am excited to make it for her.

Until the next meal...Cook it up!

Cravings: Tomato Bisque Soup

On President's Day Monday, we gamed. Be played DnD for hours. It was awesome. One of my favorite parts of the "all day" gaming sessions is the food possibilities. I get to feed 5 people twice in one day. I am very fortunate that my friend Kris over at HTFASA offer to help. So for a day of gaming we made roasted chicken (Kris makes AWESOME roasted chicken, you don't even know) with Tomato Bisque (like at Medieval Times!) for Lunch. For Dinner, we made some killer diller Bison Stew. You'll see that come up later on the blog. The best part about this soup recipe is that you make it and then let it cool before you add the cream. I ended up making the soup in the crockpot on Saturday and then boxed it up until the morning of Monday when I added cream and let simmer for 20 minutes with the cream.

Here is a great Tomato Soup recipe:

Tomato Bisque 

1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
1/4 cup celery finely diced
1/4 cup carrots finely diced
1 cup onions finely diced
2 tsp garlic minced
3 Tbs all purpose flour
6 ounces tomato paste
4 cups/32 ounces chicken stock
2 14.5 ounce cans of fire roasted tomatoes
2 1/2 Tbs of sugar
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp dried Italian seasonings (oregano and basil)
1/4 cup of heavy cream
Salt & Pepper to taste
Directions
Over medium heat, add olive oil and butter to large sauce pan.
Add onions, carrots, and celery to pan and cook until light brown, about 8 minutes.
Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes stirring constantly.
Add in flour and stir constantly for 2 minutes.
Add tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.

Add chicken stock and deglaze the pan.

Add fire roasted tomatoes and stir.
Add sugar and stir.
Add nutmeg and stir.
Add Italian seasonings and stir.
Turn heat to high and bring soup to a boil
Reduce heat to medium low, cover pan and let soup simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender.
Turn heat off and transfer soup to blender. Fill blender half full, cover with folded towel and pulse blend. Blend till fully pureed. Repeat till all soup is pureed.
Return pureed soup to sauce pan and stir in heavy cream.
Add salt and pepper to taste but you won't need either.
Warm soup till hot and serve.

omglob.

I LOVE this soup. I have been making some sort of variation on this soup since I stated working at Puck's in the St Louis Art Museum years and years ago. Puck's had a REALLY good tomato bisque recipe which I never actually got. Pretty much though, they added TONS of tomatoes to make the awesome texture verses extra cream. That is how I like to roll with my tomato soup recipes too.

It seemed as though the entire group liked the soup as they all said as much and I was super pleased that they did. This was also the first time I have made Tomato Bisque Soup since I found out I was lightly allergic to the nightshade family so also the first time for Husband to have it.

He said he would keep me. :D

Post Thanksgiving Idea: Right on Time (Turkey Pot Pie Soup)

If you are like me, you have some leftovers from Thanksgiving still. This doesn't upset me one bit. I find that it is rare that I get tired of left overs, but perhaps that is because of the fact I doll them up in more that just repeat mini Thanksgivings and sandwiches. Today's Post Thanksgiving Idea is a simple one, especially if you make turkey broth with your turkey carcass as it is Turkey Pot Pie Soup!
I made this recipe up on the fly and figured that using the magic that is my Crockpot would increase the yumminess. Other Post Thanksgiving Ideas that I have done are: Mashed Potato Waffles with Turkey, Brie, and Cranberry and Turkey Cranchiladas.

Turkey Pot Pie Soup Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups homemade turkey broth

2 cups water

1 cup peas, frozen 

1 cup corn, frozen 

1/2 cup carrots , diced (I used the carrots that I cooked in the broth)

1 cup white or yellow onion, diced (I used the onion that I cooked in the broth)

1/2 cup celery, diced (I used the celery that I cooked in the broth)

3 cups potatoes, diced
1 tbsp sage

1 bayleaf 

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp parsley
1 tbs salt
2 tsp black pepper

3 cups turkey, shredded
4 tbsp of butter

2 1/2 cups milk

6 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup half and half

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

Method

Put homemade turkey broth, water, peas, corn, carrots, onion, celery, potatoes, sage, bayleaf, thyme, parsley, salt, black pepper, and turkey. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

About 30 minutes before serving, in a medium saucepan set over medium heat, melt 4 Tbsp butter. Stir in flour and cook mixture, stirring constantly for 1 1/2 minutes (you need to do this to cook the flour, it makes quite a difference in flavor). While whisking slowly pour in milk and whisk vigorously to smooth lumps. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat (to thicken it) while stirring constantly, then remove from heat and stir in cream. Pour and stir milk mixture into mixture in pot. Stir in lemon juice. Remove bay leaf and serve warm with a biscuit or roll.

Creamy, comfort food!

Before the Roux and Half and Half were added, it looked like this.

Gotta top it with some bread.

Husband was very happy with the outcome as was I. It was a very good use of the stewed veggies from the broth I had made the few days before as well as the Turkey meat that had come off the carcass while "brothing". This recipe really worked out well as I had everything to make it already in my kitchen. I usually have frozen corn and peas in my freezer

I attempted to make pie crust "lids" for the soup bowls, but they burnt. there was smoke everywhere. So even though we didn't have a nice warm fire to curl up next to, we did have that warm smokey scent.

Hurray for Leftovers Reinvisioned!

a big bowl of LOVE...

Another favorite soup of mine is Corn Chowder. Like have crazy cravings for it...

Corn and Potato Chowder

INGREDIENTS

24 ounces red potato, chopped

1 (16-ounce) package frozen corn
2 can creamed corn

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

6 cups chicken stock (or vegetable stock, for vegetarian!)

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 stalks of celery
1/2 of a red bell pepper

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup heavy cream

INSTRUCTIONS

Place potatoes and corn into a slow cooker. Stir in flour and gently toss to combine. Stir in stock, thyme, oregano, celery, pepper, garlic, onion, salt and pepper, to taste.

Cover and cook on low heat for 7-8 hours or high heat for 3-4 hours. Stir in heavy cream.

Serve immediately.

a big bowl of LOVE

As you can see, I changed this recipe a little bit for the original. I added cream corn (I like things really corny) and I used actually onion and garlic instead of the powdered stuff. I also added celery and red bell pepper, neither of which do I normally like, but I miss it when it isn't in this soup. So I put it in.

Another recipe I like for this dish when I am feel a bit more overachieverish is from The Storyteller Cafe in Disneyland. You can find the recipe here.

Until the next meal...

My Fall favorite is not a "PSL"...

I love butternut. While I am not a fan of PSLs, I must say that butternut is my fall flavor of choice.

Butternut Squash Soup with Sage

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash, cut lengthwise in half, seeds removed

4 tablespoon(s) olive oil

2 medium stalks celery, chopped

3 green apples, cored and chopped

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic
1 carton(s) (32-ounce) vegetable broth
3 sprig(s) fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon(s) chopped fresh sage leaves

Salt and pepper

Water and Milk (Non vegan Option)
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Place squash halves, cut sides down, in prepared pan and roast 30 minutes or until very tender when pierced with knife. Toss  celery, apples, onion, and garlic with olive oil and roast with butternut squash. Cool until easy to handle; with spoon, scoop squash from shells and place in large bowl. Discard shells.

Put all roasted vegetables and fruit into a saucepan and cover with stock. Stir in thyme, bay leaf, 1 tablespoon sage, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper.
Cook 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove thyme and bay leaf. Using an immersion blender, cream the vegetables and chicken stock together until smooth and thick. Continue to simmer
stirring in additional water for desired thickness. Also, if you'd like, you can add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of milk to enhance the creaminess factor. Obviously, it is no longer vegan then.
To serve, ladle soup into shallow bowls; garnish with croutons and crisped sage leaves, if desired.

Yup, that is a lot of butter on that bread. I ain't scared.

This is one of my favorite dishes over the Fall season. I make it specifically to have some frozen for the season as it is easily Lactose and Gluten Free as well as being Vegan and Vegetarian. Perfect for all my friends and their diets of choice! Make this and enjoy it, cuz you will.

Until the next bowl of joy...

WHOktoberfest!

We celebrated Oktoberfest as well as Doctor Who Night this past Sunday. We decided to call it WHOtoberfest. Our host took care of the Brats and Sausages, another friend did soft pretzels, my walking buddy brought an apricot torte, and Husband and I brought Beer Cheese Soup and the family recipe for Sauerkraut.  

Crockpot Beer Cheese Soup

Ingredients:

32 oz chicken broth ( or veggie broth to make vegetarian friendly) 

12 oz beer 

1 cup of carrots, finely diced or shredded

1/2 cup celery, finely diced 

1 cup onion finely diced

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, diced <Added by me>

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce 

Dash nutmeg

Dash of Paprika

1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

3 cups sharp cheddar cheese, shredded 

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup cornstarch

Directions:

Place all chicken broth, beer, carrots, celery, onions, apple, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, paprika, dry mustard, cayenne, salt, and pepper into your crockpot. Cover and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours. 

Once time is up, remove lid and stir in shredded cheese, and heavy cream. Stir until cheese is melted. Next whisk in cornstarch. Recover and cook for 10-15 minutes longer. 

For a smooth soup (which we prefer for this soup), use an blend soup in batches, or use an immersion blender before serving.  

Garnish with bacon if you have it on hand.

Bock Recipe: Sauerkraut with Bacon and Apples Recipe

Ingredients

1/4 pound sliced apple-wood smoked bacon

2 tart apples, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored, and grated

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups unfiltered apple juice

1/4 cup white wine vinegar
2  secret ingredients
2 pounds of refrigerated (in a jar, not can), prepared sauerkraut, drained (about 1 24-fluid-ounce jar, drained)

Method

Lay the slices of bacon down at the bottom of a large, thick-bottomed pot and heat on medium heat. Cook until the bacon has browned and most of the bacon fat has been rendered, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the bacon from the pot and set on paper towels to drain. Remove all but 1 Tbsp of the fat in the pot. (Do not pour down the sink, bacon fat will clog your drain!) Chop the bacon and set aside.

Add the chopped onions and apples to the pot and cook until the onions are translucent, about 6-7 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a minute more.

Add the apple juice and the white vinegar to the pot. Increase the heat to high. Bring to a boil and boil vigorously until the liquid is reduced to a syrup, about 5 minutes.

Add the sauerkraut and bacon to the pot and stir to coat with the sauce. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the sauerkraut has been heated through and is tender, about 10 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Here they are in their glory...

The soup was started in the Crockpot, but then was transferred to the the party location so it moved into a regular pot.

The flavor on both items turned out very nicely. I was unhappy on the smoothness of the soup, but I think I can fix that by simply taking the extra time and effort to use the Blender and not just the immersion blender. Most people at the party claimed that they didn't like Sauerkraut, but most of them ate some! I must be doing something right.

Until the next Doctor Who night (and who the Heck is Missy?!)....

For Melanie: Crockpot French Onion Soup

I love french onion soup with a passion, thanks to my Maman (Mommy). I am a big believer in the long cooking process it takes, complete with scrapings and deglazing of the pan. Most people don't like taking THAT long to cook or that much effort just for a soup, so I cam up with a recipe that should give you the best of both worlds as well as an easy reheatable meal.

Crockpot French Onion Soup

Ingredients

5 medium yellow onions, halved, peeled, and thinly sliced

¼ cup Butter, pieced or 2-3 tablespoons of Olive oil (for Vegan)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme

Coarse salt and ground pepper

32-48 ounces vegetable broth, your preference on how brothy you would like it.

Serve with Crusty Bread and Swiss Cheese or Parmesan Cheese

Preparation

 Put onion. Butter or oil, salt in the Crockpot and Cover

Cook for 6-8 hours  on low. (I started it right before going to bed)

Wake up to the smell of delicious smelling onions.

Cover with Vegetable Broth.

Allow to cook on Low for another 4 hours

Season to taste with Salt and pepper.

When serving, garnish soup with shaved Parmesan or Swiss and a slice of crusty bread. (use a vegan substitute or leave out altogether)

If freezing, allow to cool completely before placing in freezer.

I dolled mine up a little bit cooking the onions with 6 mushrooms stems or so, which I then took out before adding the Broth. That is a personal preference for me though, and I know it is not a traditional ingredient to French Onion Soup. Granted, neither is vegetable stock. Normally, it would be made with Beef stock, but I am shooting for 3 Vegetarian meals this week.

I ended up freezing the larger one as well as one of the medium sized ones. 

Husband and I were both very happy with how this turned out. While it tastes hardy, it doesn't weigh you down like a Chowder or Chili.

2 out of 2 people agree: Give this one try.

I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses...

My favorite thing from when I worked at the SLAM was the soups. Puck's always had such good selection of soups throughout the year and it was the easiest thing to take home after a day at work. The chilled English Pea Soup was a particular fave of mine. Unfortunately, it is FULL of heavy whipping cream. So I came up with a healthier alternative.

Healthy Chilled English Pea Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter or olive oil

6 green onions (white only)

1 cup yellow onion 

4 cups chicken or veggie stock

1 clove of garlic

5 cups peas (2 10 oz frozen bags)  

2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon of honey

Method

Soften leeks and onion in oil or butter

Add peas let cook for 3 minutes

Add stock let simmer for 5 minutes

Add honey and stir until well combined

Puree soup 1 cup at a time

Garnished with: Whipped crème or creme fraiche, chives or chopped mint

This turned out wonderfully. The gals loved it and I loved it. As I dislike gazpacho, I love having an alternative to the tomato broth. Make this sometime this summer, your guests with thank you. Serve with garlic croutons or stale bread.

Until the next meal...


**Today's title is from C.S. Forester: I must be like the princess who felt the pea through seven mattresses; each book is a peas.**

I feed on good soup...

Husband said he was feeling like he was getting sick. So I do what any self respecting, cooking loving, on the South Beach Diet wife would do. I make:

Low Carb Wife Chicken Soup
Ingredients
8 pieces of chicken, bone in (or a whole chicken, if you want, but no giblets)
2 cup chicken broth,
4 cups water
1 whole onion, roughly chopped
6 carrots, roughly chopped (Not Phase 1 of SBD, so I leave them to big so I can eat around them)
4 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 bay leaves
Satchel of herbs including: Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, and Sage (I use a loose tea thing for this)
Salt & Pepper to taste
Method
Put it all in a pot and simmer until chicken is cooked. I let mine cook for 1.5 hours.
Cook's note: This could be made in a Crockpot on low for the 5-7 hours.
Remove chicken bones and connective tissue as well as the bag leave and herb satchel.
Serve, eat, feel better.

It needed a little salt and pepper when I was served, but I would rather it need it than already have to much of either. Husband really enjoyed the broth of the soup.

This is soup is excessively easy, light, and fulfilling. It really just took the time of me letting everything simmer for an hour or so. This wasn't hard, as I had much Arrow to watch on my Tele.

He said the fact that I served it in the Mickey dishes made him feel better as well.

Hope everyone out there is stay well with this on going winter of crazy cold temperature (not where I live, but you know what I mean.

Until the next meal...

**Today's title comes from one of my favorite play rights, Moliere: I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.**

Only the pure in heart...

Today, I used my favorite piece of cooking equipment. My red Crockpot given to my by Mrs Dana Moldenhaur of Wisconsin. I someday will have a beautiful white and black kitchen with all the appliances being primary colors (on the color wheel, not the lighting scale, Husband) and silver. hence the reason I mentioned the lovely red color of the Crockpot.

Anyway, I made Chicken Tortilla Soup from my Pinterest Pin of this recipe: http://www.bakedbyrachel.com/2012/09/slow-cooker-chicken-tortilla-soup/

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb chicken breast, trimmed
15 oz can sweet whole corn kernels, drained
15 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
5 C chicken stock
3/4 C onion, chopped
3/4 C green pepper, chopped
1 Serrano pepper, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp ground pepper, divided
Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded, for garnish
Tortilla Strips, for garnish

Directions:

To your slow cooker add first 9 ingredients plus 1 tsp salt and 3/4 tsp ground pepper. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
 Prior to serving, remove chicken breasts. Transfer chicken to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment for easy shredding. Alternately you may shred chicken by hand. Season chicken with 1/2 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Return shredded seasoned chicken to slow cooker bowl. Stir gently.
If serving immediately, divide among bowls. Top off with a generous helping of shredded cheese and seasoned tortilla strips. Soup may be stored in the fridge for up to several days. If freezing, label containers well with soup name and date.

  

I, as normal, made just a few alterations to the soup for it to be less expensive and more accessible to my pantry.

I used chicken tenderloins verses chicken breast, simple because it was a good $8 cheaper at Costco.

I used Turkey Stock (homemade from Thanksgiving time) instead of Chicken stock as I had it in the freezer.

I used Colby Jack cheese, simple because I prefer it to Monterrey Jack to be kept in the home.

Finally, I used 1 jalapeno pepper instead of a Serrano because I had it in the fridge.

All in all, it has been well liked and I think a Serrano and Jalapeno would make this a perfect amount and combination of spicy.

Until the next meal...

**My father is probably extra proud of my choice in people to quote today. Ludwig van Beethoven: Only the pure in heart can make a good soup.**

Facts must be faced.

As mentioned in a prior post, you will be seeing a lot of soups up on the blog from here until Easter probably. Today's gift is from my MiL's excellent arsenal of delish recipes.

Last year, Husband (then Fiance) asked me to make soup from the turkey carcass. I willing obliged as long as he asked his mother for a recipe he knew he liked. She sent us the Turkey Broth Recipe and this little gem: Garden Soup.

When I first made this soup, I was inclined to think I was not going to like it. I don't really enjoy tomato soups (I have slight allergy) as well as I don't care for Lima beans or (cooked) carrots. How wrong I was. I love this veggie filled soup. I have no problem enjoying this soup despite the fact that I still eat around the carrots (it's a texture thing, not flavor).

This year, we changed it up this year and decided the put in some green beans which turned out VERY good. I have dropped a bit of spinach in my personal bowl as well as Husband this spinach wilted in a soup is a bit odd. I think some form of peas wouldn't go amiss as well as maybe some asparagus. Pretty much add or take out any veggie that suites your tastes.

Garden Soup
Ingredient's
2 cans (29 oz total) of chicken broth (or 4 cups of homemade turkey broth)
2 cans (24 oz total) of tomato juice
1.5 cups of chopped chicken (or the turkey you salvaged from when you made the broth)
1 (12 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (10 oz) package frozen Lima beans, thawed
2 small potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped carrots
1.5 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 bay leaf
3/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Method:
Combine all the ingredients in a large Dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil.
Cover and reduce heat.
When it have come down to a simmer, add the bird meat.
Simmer for 1 hour, covered (stirring occasionally)
Remove bay leaf and enjoy.

**Today's title comes from Peg Bracken from The Compleat I Hate to Cook Book with the full quote reading: Facts must be faced. Vegetables simply don't taste as good as most other things do.**

Too many cooks spoil the broth.

What happens when your Thanksgiving dinner is all done?

Make leftover sandwiches?

Start planning Christmas Dinner?

Figure out how to repurpose all the leftover turkey?

Simmer the bird carcass in water with some veggies and make 24 cups of broth?

That's what Husband and I did! Yes, be impressed. Soup is a staple in our home at this point. With Husband working funky hours and needing easily reheated food while I need food that will fill my up, but I won't be binging on, SOUPS are the best answer for our style of life.

Now for most soups you need a starter broth. I can't tell you how many times I have purchased Chicken/Beef/Veggie Stock/Broth. Last year, MiL sent us instructions on how to make a very good TURKEY broth from the bones and stubborn meat on our now mostly devoured bird.

So now I will share it with you: The Turkey Broth Project
Put carcass in a large pot (you can break the carcass if necessary)
Put in enough water to nearly cover the carcass.
If you have them, throw in the following:
an onion or two, peeled and quartered
some carrots, cut into chunks
some celery, cut into chunks
Bring water to a boil then cover pot and turn heat down to a simmer for about 2 - 3 hours.
Remove the bulk of the carcass.
Chill broth over night and then skim off what fat congeals on the top the next day.
Strain the broth of any bones and veggies while salvaging what meat has come way from the bones in a separate container. (you can use this meat in soups or casseroles later.)
Then, using the really good double barrier ziplock bags, measure out 1 or 2 cup batches into the bag. Don't forget to write how much of what is in the bag with a permanent marker.
*Seriously, use the best kind you can find. I had a broth puddle this year from the store name brand kind we normally use.*
Put into the freezer and put out one or two baggies at a time as needed for the recipe you are making.


Until the next Thanksgiving meal....

**Today's title comes from Joan Aiken from the mouth of the most legendary of ladies, Jane Austen, from Ms Aiken's story: Emma Watson: The Watsons Completed **