Turkey and Stuffing Soup - Turkey Day Leftovers

What to do with the Thanksgiving leftovers? I love stuffing and I love turkey, so I searched for a soup recipe that combined both and found this one on the Food Network. It was really simple and quick. And tasted pretty good too! I cut the recipe in half since I didn't have as much turkey and stuffing as it called for - I was lucky to get what I got! The stuffing seemed to go fast this year - and I had doubled the recipe!

The ingredients were simple - turkey, stuffing, broth, carrots, onions, celery and a bay leaf.

The stuffing went into the oven at 350 degrees to warm up and get kind of crispy & crunchy. Didn't want it to be soggy in the soup. Then I chopped up some onions, celery and carrots. The veggies went into the pot to sauté with some olive oil.

Once the veggies were softened, I added a whole carton of chicken stock, a bay leaf, and brought to a boil. Once boiling, chopped up some turkey (dark meat of course, the best kind!) and added that to the pot to simmer for 10 minutes.

Then it was time to assemble the soup. Put a big scoop of stuffing into your bowl first. Then ladle the soup around the stuffing. And that's it! Soup's on!

Traveling Soup - Chicken Corn Chowder with the Barrons!

I recently spent the weekend visiting fellow IU GPhiB Shannon Barron (Cross) and her beautiful family, husband Mike and kids Libby and Cooper, in Zionsville, Indiana. It was a much needed break from work and a good excuse to go shopping! Shannon and I share a mutual love for hunting down good deals and recreating outfits we've pinned on Pinterest. In addition to shopping we had lunch at a Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives spot in Carmel called Jersey Cafe, I tried to convince Cooper that I wasn't a babysitter, and I read Libby lots of books and much to her disappointment, didn't have a sleep over in her room.

Anyway, Shannon and I (with Mike pitching in) made one of her favorite soup recipes, chicken corn chowder. Here are the ingredients: bacon (yum!), potatoes, chicken, stock, milk, corn, green chiles and cheese. Not much to it. Here's the recipe link.

First, as most soups go, we had to chop a lot of things. We used a rotisserie chicken to make that part go more quickly. I think every soup I've made so far has potatoes in it. They are my favorite vegetable!

Then the bacon was fried up in the soup pot. We added the potatoes to the pot and cooked those for awhile as well. Then went in the stock, milk, chiles, corn, spices, and bring it to a boil then simmer. Started to smell fantastic!

And here's the final product! We ended up thickening it up a bit with some flour. With a nice glass of wine, can't go wrong! It was nice and hearty to make us forget about the wind, rain and hail (?) that the evening brought. Both Mike and I definitely had second (um, maybe thirds?) before calling it a night. Super sad that I forgot to grab some to bring home when I headed back to Chicago the next day. Guess I'll just have to make some myself!

We ended the night with dessert, of course! Shannon and I both love the cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery in NYC, so I made a pit stop to the new outpost in Chicago before heading to Indy and picked up a half dozen. Wish I could have brought the banana pudding - I remember Shannon raving about it when we stopped there in NYC for my bachelorette outing. Maybe she brought some home on the plane as well? Anyway, I close with a picture of Mike, Libby and Cooper - it was the first MB cupcake for the kids! And Libby of course picked the purple one.

Traveling Soup: Mom's Kitchen

Potato and Leek Soup

On a rare day off recently, I spent a fun day with my mom kitchen floor shopping at Tudor Carpet One, clothes shopping at Bangles, noshing at Silver Spoon in Valpo, and of course, cooking. We tackled a simple potato and leek soup that involved a lot of chopping but not a lot of cook time. While cooking we talked about whether a food truck focused on soup could have a following in NW Indiana - with lunch time stops at local office buildings. Two girls can dream!

This is me and my mom in her kitchen!

The recipe we made came from a newsletter from Heifer International. The Lazar Family supported Heifer as one of our Christmas charities several years ago. It was the start of the llama obsession for Pete, for those of you who follow his llama pics on FB. Here's the recipe:

Leek and Potato Soup

4 cups leeks, white part only, chopped

4 cups baking potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces

6 to 7 cups of chicken or vegetable stock (or water)

Salt and peper to taste

Bring leeks, potatoes and stock (or water) toa boil in a stockpot, then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Process in a blender for smoothness or serve chunky.

Here's how it went.

First we peeled and chopped the potatoes. 4 cups measured in a large measuring pitcher.

Then we cleaned and chopped the leeks. Only the white parts. My mom showed me how to slice open the white parts and fan them out, to be able to rinse out any sand. Measured 4 cups in the measuring pitcher. We cut up 4 leeks.

Once we were done chopping, everything went into the pot! The taters, then the leeks, then the broth. We used 3 cans of chicken broth and then 1 cup of water to give us the right amount of liquid. We brought it to a boil and then simmered for 30 minutes.

Once it was done simmering, we busted out the immersion blender to thicken up the soup. Then added in some salt and pepper to taste. That's it! Pretty easy and super yummy. This isn't a creamy soup - its nice and light. You could add some bacon or a dollop of cream (or cheese, Pete's preferred condiment). Soup's on!

Copycat: Olive Garden's Toscana Soup

First soup out of the gate - a copycat recipe of Olive Garden's Zuppa Toscano, a creamy potato, sausage and kale soup.

Ingredients: Sausage (Caputos), onions, garlic, potatoes, bacon, kale, cream, chicken broth.

Bread: with some bread baked fresh today from Caputo's.

Click the post tile to get to the recipe.

First step was to brown the sausage inthe soup pot and to fry up some bacon in a frying pan. Then I browned onions and garlic in the soup pot.

Next, I added the potatoes and broth and it simmered until the potatoes were tender.

Finally, the sausage and bacon went back into the pot for a bit, then the kale and cream were added. And voila! Soup's On!

A 3 Month Experiment in Cooking Soups

I've decided it's time to learn how to make soup. I love soup. With yummy bread. During the winter months. But I've never really expanded beyond chili (is that considered a soup?). Follow along as I master the art of soup making. If you have any suggestions for something you'd like me to try to make, post it. Soup's on!