Carrot Soup

After being sick for a week, it was time to get back on the soup wagon. I've had a recipe for carrot soup from a co-worker for quite awhile, so decided to give it a try. Recipe follows at the end of this post.

This one was really easy and didn't use any fancy ingredients. I used my Cuisinart to dice all the veggies - huge time saver. Onions and garlic into the pot until browned. Then added in the rest of the ingredients, including the broth, and simmered for 45 minutes. Used my immersion blender to puree. That was it!

The recipe called for a dollop of sour cream - I would definitely do this. I was also thinking a little nutmeg or a dash of hot sauce would also be nice to spice it up. It was a beautiful color soup. Soup's On!

Hot Carrot Soup

Ingredients:

2 cloves garlic chopped

1-2 minced onions (2 cups)

1-2 tbls butter or oil

9 medium carrots diced

2 medium potatoes diced

2 stalks celery diced

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp thyme

3 cans chicken broth (14 oz cans)

Instructions:

Cook onion and garlic in butter or oil until lightly browned. Add rest of the ingredients including the broth and simmer until the veggies are tender (around 30-45 minutes). Put in blender or food processor and puree. Correct seasonings.

Serve hot with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream and a small sprig of parsley if desired. You can also sprinkle a little cayenne pepper on top for a spark of flavor.

Loaded Potato Soup

I've had this quick soup on my list for awhile to make. My friend Molly also made it recently. Super easy and super quick - perfect for a week night or a lazy New Year's Eve day.

The potatoes went into the microwave for 13 minutes.

In the meantime, sautéed up some onions. Then added in the broth, milk, and flour.Boil and take off the heat, add in the sour cream, salt and pepper.

De-skin the potatoes (tho I left some in there for texture) and into the pot they go. Use your trusty potato masher to make the soup thick and chunky. That was it! Topped with cheese, green onions and bacon. So easy and so tasty. Soup's on!

Hot and Sour Soup

Today I had the taste for a Hot and Sour Soup. Not sure why, I've never really had one before. Seemed like a good time to try. I had some chicken already cooked from the day before. Ran out to the store for some mushroom, green onions, bean sprouts, cilantro, lime and sriarcha sauce. Also included a stop at the Penzey spice store (trouble!) for nothing that I needed for this recipe. Just wanted to stop :)

So first up, shredded the chicken from yesterday. Then sautéed the mushrooms. Then added some chopped garlic and grated in some fresh ginger. I keep my ginger in the freezer, always have some on hand.

Next into the pot was some rice vinegar. Then soy sauce. Then stock. Brought that to a boil, then added in some cornstarch mixed with water to thicken it up.

Once it was thickened, in went some sliced green onions and a few handfuls of bean sprouts. It smelled so good at this point! I also put some pot stickers on to cook, and cooked up some soup noodles.

Then it was time to assemble! This was the fun part. Noodles in the bottom of the bowl, then ladled the soup in. Garnished with a squeeze of lime, some cilantro and a couple of squirts of the sriracha sauce. Pete put his pot stickers in his soup, and said that was the way to go. I had mine on the side.

This was an excellent soup! I really enjoyed it. Might be my favorite yet because it was something I had never thought to make before. And really easy. Could easily do this on a weeknight. Soup's on!

Wisconsin Beer Cheddar Soup & Pretzels

This week our good friends Ryan and Leah brought their son Arlo over to be our first soup-tasters! And watch some football, which I would have been more excited about if I hadn'tbeen ousted from our FFL the week before, ending up 7th and missing the playoffs by one slot. But that aside...I wanted to make beer cheese soup. Recipe courtesy of recent Madison transplant Molly Norris. Paired that with some homemade soft pretzels.

First up, I prepared the dough for the pretzels. I'm not a baker, and I think it was prettyeasy to tell. Didn't love the pretzels, though everyone seemed to think they were ok, and Arlo ate Leah's, so, there you go. Then again, he also ate peas, carrots, rice, cheerios, yogurt and blueberries, so he's definitely a good eater. :) Here's the pretzel making process, which took about 2 hours (between the dough and then the cooking).Make the dough, let it rise, shape the pretzels,boil them, then bake them.

On to the soup making. This is a soup blog after all. Simple ingredients. Everyone's favorite - onions, celery and carrots. Lots of bock beer. Cream. Cheese. 2.5 pounds of cheese. It has to be good, right? I learned how to use the grating attachment for my Cuisinart today - that was fun! I used a combination of aged and white cheddar, all from Wisconsin.

Simmered the veggies in the beer and some water, then strained the veggies out. Added 2 quarts, yes 2 quarts!, of cream. Simmered some more, then added in the cheese. Ahandful at a time. Thanks to guest stirrer Pete and guest photographer Ryan. That was it! Soup's on!

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

It was cold and rainy this weekend which called for soup. Pete requested a tomato soup and grilled cheese. Not wanting to go to the store, I found a recipe that used ingredients that I had on hand and we opted for quesadillas instead of grilled cheese, as our bread was showing signs of mold.

This was an easy recipe from the Food Network - Rachel Ray. Similar ingredients in most soups, I'm finding - broth, tomatoes, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and then roasted red peppers. I used a yellow and red pepper, left from my turkey project.

Chopping, chopping, chopping....carrots, celery, onion and garlic. The peppers went into the broiler to roast, and then into a covered bowl to "sweat" a bit so that the skins would come off. Veggies went into the soup pan to sauté in olive oil for about 7-9 minutes. Then I added in the tomatoes and the peppers and cooked that a bit longer.

Then I brought out the immersion blender (our regular blender might be at the appliance graveyard after a long summer of smoothies). Note to self - an apron might be useful next time using the immersion blender. Kind of made a mess on my shirt. Once it was blended, added in the stock and simmered a bit longer.

Got out the crepe pan and whipped up some cheese quesadillas with sliced avocado inside. And that was it - soup's on!

P.S. Pete said this was the best tomato soup he's ever had. I would give it 3 out of 4 stars - my mom's tomato basil is the best!