Potato, Tomato, Spinach Soup

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

I have my daughters new mother-in-law to thank for turning me on to this delicious soup.  This currently is my favorite soup.  No fancy ingredients and it is done in about 30 minutes.  It is thickened by the potatoes, not flour or cream.  Lots of good stuff in this one and it tastes so good.  I use turkey broth because I have some canned,  although the recipe calls for chicken broth.  I am tempted to use beef broth the next time I make it.

What you need:

3 cloves crushed or finely chopped garlic
1 large onion, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 quarts chicken broth
3 pounds all purpose potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 pound fresh triple washed spinach, stems picked and coarsely chopped
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, grated or ground
salt and pepper
1 (28-ounce) can chunky-style crushed tomatoes or diced tomatoes in puree
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese for topping

In a deep pot, saute 3 cloves of garlic and 1 large chopped onion in 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Add broth and bring to a boil.

As the mixture is coming to a boil, slice the 3 pounds of peeled potatoes.  Using a mandelin is extremely helpful.  Add the potatoes to the broth and cook for 20 minutes.  The potatoes will break up and thicken the broth as it cooks.

Coarsely slice up the spinach and add to the broth in bunches until it is all added.  Add the 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg and salt and pepper.

Stir in tomatoes and heat through, 1 or 2 minutes.  After you serve up the soup in bowls, top with cheese.

Cheesy Vegetable Chowder Soup

My family certainly has had their fill of soup lately. So I think this is the last one for a while.  This is  probably my kids very favorite soup.  The recipe is from my cousin Annie who I am very thankful shared this with me quite a few years ago.  The only change I have made from the original is that I add ham to it so that my husband can consider it a meal.  My husband considers any food that doesn't have meat an appetizer no matter how filling it is!

Here is what you need:

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup celery
3/4 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped potatoes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped ham (optional)

Combine onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, garlic powder, and chicken broth in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat and simmer 15-20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir in corn, remove from heat.

Melt butter, add flour and cook 1 minute.  Gradually add milk.

Add the flour/butter mixture to the soup and stir.

Add the cheese and ham.  Stir until the cheese is melted.  Now sit back, relax, and enjoy this tasty soup on this chilly evening.

Italian Sausage Soup

My husband bought me a cookbook called Americas's Most Wanted Recipes.  It is filled with great recipes that I cannot wait to try.  I adapted the soup recipe for today from Olive Garden's Italian sausage soup found on page 178.  I left out the spinach and tomato paste and substituted my own canned tomatoes.  I love finding a way to use the canned tomaotes from my garden.  I was also able to use the beef broth I made from canning my own ground beef.  It's a little late to can tomatoes but you can look up my previous post on how to can ground beef/broth if your interested.

So here is what you need to make it my adapted way:
1 pound bulk sweet Itailian sausage (or links taken out of the casing)
1 cup converted white rice
1 quart beef broth
1 quart stewed tomatoes (or a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes)
salt and pepper to taste
grated Romano cheese for garnish

Brown the sausage in the bottom of a large pot, breaking it up as it browns.

Add the 1 cup of cooked rice to the Italian sausage and stir until it is completely coated in the fat from the sausage.

Add the can of tomatoes, beef broth and the salt and pepper to taste.  Let is simmer for just a few minutes and your done!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I can hardly believe it either.  Yes I am posting again!  I probably have lost all the people who ever was following this, but that's ok because I have found that this blog makes an excellent cookbook for myself.  I have had to refer to it many times to find lost recipes that I had entered months ago that I no longer could find in my "recipe drawer" (i.e. a junk drawer filled with cookbooks with no covers and a bunch of tattered paper with recipes scribbled on them).  So at the very least this blog serves as an organized place for me to keep track of things I don't want to forget.  I thought I would start posting some soup recipes because, well, it's just what sounded good on this rainy day.

What better soup to start with than the basic chicken noodle soup.  My kids love my mom's the best.  I called my mom this morning to find out exactly what she does different than me and this is the recipe she gave me.  We all enjoyed some for lunch today.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

Ingredients:
2 quart (8 cups) of water, or chicken broth*
1 chicken breast
carrots (I used about 1 cup of mini carrots)
celery (I used about 3-4 stalks)
onion (I used 3 leaks instead)
1 cup dry noodles (I used orzo pasta)

*My mom adds 2 heaping Tablespoons of Superior Touch "better than bouillon" to the water after the chicken and vegetables have simmered.  I didn't have this so I just used water with 8 chicken bouillon cubes to begin with.  My mom's way is better, but I used what I had.  You can find Superior Touch at Kroger.

So this is pretty basic.  All you do is put all the ingredients in a pot and let it simmer until the chicken breast is done (mine was frozen when I put it in) and the vegtables are tender.  This takes about a half hour.

After it has simmered about 1/2 hour, skim all the ingredients out of the broth.  If the water has too much foam on it from the chicken you can strain it.  Mine did not this time, but for some reason that happens every so often.

At this point you can discard the vegetables.  I asked my kids if they wanted them in the soup and they said (to my surprise) that they did.  I chopped up the carrots and the chicken to add to the final soup. Before adding them, however, bring the broth to a boil and add the noodles.  Boil for as long as the package suggests.  If you are using Superior Touch bouillon you would add 2 heaping Tablespoons at this time.  After the noodles are cooked, add the vegetables and the chicken.

And now your soup is done.  Sit back, relax, and enjoy the new season upon us!