Carrot ginger soup

I love this website and get many of my recipes from here.  This soup is super cheap, easy, and tasty and for the most part I didn't make many changes from the original.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter 
• 1 large white onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 cups low sodium fat-free vegetable broth - I only had chicken broth on hand and it still turned out great
• 1 lb carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger - I used the big side of the grater and it worked great
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream - I added this but really don't think it's necessary and will prob leave it out next time
• salt and white pepper to taste

Methods:

1.  Melt butter in large saucepan or dutch oven and saute onions and garlic until soft.  If you are looking to reduce calories you can saute them in a little broth instead.

2. Add broth, carrots, and ginger and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are soft, about 20-30 minutes.

3. Add sour cream, if desired, and then blend soup with immersion blend or transfer to blender if necessary.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

Stuffed pepper soup

This is sooooo much easier than actually making stuffed peppers and it tastes exactly the same.


Ingredients:


1 pound ground venison - you can use ground beef, chicken, or turkey

• 2-3 green bell pepper, chopped - or more depending on your tastes
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 1 (29 ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 1 (14 ounce) can chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• I threw in some random spices that I like
• 2 cloves garlic - minced
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup brown or white rice - cooked

Directions:

1. In a large pan brown the round meat. Drain fat and add pepper and onion. Cook until onion is translucent, not letting them brown.  Add garlic in the last minutes not letting it brown.
2. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, broth, spices, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, until peppers are tender.
3. Add cooked rice to soup and let it heat through.
4. Top with cheddar cheese and enjoy.

Potato and Leek Soup

Kevin and I made this recipe yesterday.  It is really simple and requires only a few ingredients.  Ours was a little leek heavy but it was still delightful.  It goes especially well with good bread, like sour dough mmmm.  We halved this recipe and it still turned out good with a decent amount of soup. We had three bowls between us and there was still enough left for 2 days of lunch.


Ingredients:
8 potatoes, peeled and cubed - the smaller you cut the potatoes the faster they become tender
4 cups chicken broth - you may want to have a little extra on hand in case it is too thick in the end
1 pound bacon, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 leeks, sliced
1 cup heavy cream
 
1. In a large saucepan or stockpot, bring potatoes and chicken broth to a boil. Simmer until potatoes are tender, 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile, place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown but not crispy and brittle. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of grease and set aside. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with the reserved bacon grease 8 to 10 minutes until soft.

2. When the potatoes are tender, stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and bacon. Stir to blend and remove from heat.  We used a hand held blender to blend it all together into a creamy soup.  You could also use a blender or food processor.  Just beware of blending hot liquids in the glass blenders - it doesn't turn out so well the glass will crack. :)  Serve hot.

French Onion Soup

Now that it is getting colder outside soup season is officially here. :) I got the recipe from here but I changed it some from reading reviews and combined some aspects of Julia Child's soup recipe. Make sure you have a good chunk of time caramelizing the onions takes at least 45 minutes.

Ingredients:
3 TBS butter
1 TBS oil
6 onions (about 3 pounds), sliced - this may seem like a lot but the onions really really cook down
6 garlic cloves, sliced
2 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry white wine (I'm going to try red next time, according to reviews it is better)
6 cups canned beef broth
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
4 sourdough bread slices, toasted
Gruyere cheese


Melt butter and oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add onions, garlic, and thyme. Stir thoroughly so that all onions are coated in butter/oil. Cover and turn heat to medium low. Cook covered for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 20 minutes remove lid, add 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt and turn heat to medium high to high. Stay in range of the onions during this time, you don't want them to burn. Cook the onions, stirring frequently until they are brown and caramelized. This will probably take 20-25 minutes. Once caramelized add wine and let condense until thick, about 3 minutes. Next I added 2 cups of beef broth and the mustard. I then transferred it to a larger pot to add the rest of the broth and the bay leaf. Simmer soup for 20 minutes.

To make the toast:
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Drizzle eat side of the bread with olive oil and place on a cookie sheet. Cook for 15 minutes on each side (30 minutes) total.

Preheat broiler. Ladle soup into broiler proof bowls. Top each with slice of toast and grated/sliced cheese. Broil until cheese melts and bubbles.

Mexican Chicken Soup

This is a super simple and tasty soup courtesy of one of my Bealeton co-workers. It is very easy to add a lot of variety to it.

1 TBS oil
1 small onion - chopped
1 jalapeno - diced
2 garlic cloves - minced
2 tsp cumin
5 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 lbs chicken - I usually use about 4 chicken thighs.
2 cups store bought salsa
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and jalapeno and cook until tender. Stir in garlic and cumin and cook 30 seconds more.

Add broth and bring to a rapid simmer. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 3 minutes. Stir in salsa and bring back to a simmer, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve hot with a dollop of sour cream.

For more variety you can substitute shrimp for the chicken. I also like to add corn, black beans, and sometimes rice to this soup.


This soup is also great to make in a crock pot.  Just put the onion, jalapeno, garlic, cumin, broth, and chicken thighs in the crock pot on low all day.  After about 6-8 hours pull the chicken out to remove the bones and gristle and then add the salsa, corn, black beans, and any veggies you like and let it cook for like 20 more minutes.

Butternut Squash Soup

This is an easy tasty way to get a ton of vegetables in one sitting.


Ingredients:
2 TBS butter
1 small onion - chopped
1 stalk celery - chopped
1 med carrot - chopped
1 sweet potato - chopped
1 med butternut squash - chopped
1 jalapeno - chopped
2 cloves garlic - chopped
32 oz chicken broth

Butternut Squash Tip: In order to easily seperate the squash from its skin and chop it first cut it into quarters. Place the quarters in a large bowl with about in inch of water, cover with plastic wrap, and cook in the microwave for about 4 minutes or until soft.


Place butter, onion, celery, jalepeno, and garlic into large pan and saute for a few minutes. Next, add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer until all ingredients are soft. Let cool and then blend/food process until the soup is smooth.

Warm up and serve with a dollop of sour cream