winter squash soup

Spring forward. Except, as usual, it looks nowhere near spring outside. It's cloudy and rainy and dreary... and the perfect weather for soup.

I received this recipe from my friend Sara after many food discussions during our recent vacation. She and her husband, John, highly recommended it so I thought I would give it a shot. I love squash soup, but it's sometimes difficult to find a recipe without copious amounts of heavy cream. I was happy to see this healthier version - and just as happy with the taste! Freddy and I both give it a thumbs-up and we will be making this again.

I didn't have everything on hand: I used acorn squash, omitted the tomato (but added a bit of tomato paste), used great northern beans in place of the black beans, and a lemon wedge instead of lime. I also went a bit blender happy and blended the whole batch - which I think lent itself to a nice consistency.

Source: Eating Well

Winter Squash Soup
Serves eight

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
3 pounds buttercup squash, peeled and diced (about 6 cups)
1 plum tomato, chopped
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 15-ounce cans pinto or other brown beans, rinsed
10 ounces spinach, stemmed and coarsely chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Instructions
Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add garlic, carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Add broth and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Add squash, tomato, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the squash is very soft and almost breaking apart, about 20 minutes.

Transfer 3 cups of the soup to a blender and puree until smooth. (Use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Return the pureed soup to the pot. Stir in beans and spinach and cook over medium heat until the beans are heated through and the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes. Serve with lime wedges.

To make squash bowls:
Preheat oven to 425°F. Slice about an inch off the top of each buttercup squash. Scoop out seeds and loose flesh. Pour 1/2 inch water into a glass baking dish (or two) large enough to hold the squash. Place squash cut-side down in the water. Bake until the flesh is tender when gently poked with a knife and the squash still holds its shape, about 30 minutes.

fake-out tortilla soup

I'm off work today, so you get a blog post! Plus, I've realized just how much we reference this blog when cooking - and that this recipe should really be transferred from this soup-stained piece of note paper that I scribbled it on.

This recipe came about in my attempts to convince Freddy that buying a 6-pack of Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup from Costco was a good idea (come on, it's $11 for 6 boxes at Costco - and $4 for ONE box at the grocery store).

It worked. Now, it's become one of our favorite go-to soups. We sometimes eat it on taco night or with tortilla crusted tilapia - also from Costco. This could also be a great vegetarian dish. Just leave out the chicken.

Source: Me.



Fake-Out Tortilla Soup
Serves Two

Ingredients:
2.5-3 cups Pacific Foods Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup
1/2 cup+ frozen corn (I like a combo of white and yellow)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
Pinch cayenne pepper (to taste)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1 cooked, shredded chicken breast

Garnish Ingredients
1 soft flour tortilla, cut into strips
Vegetable oil
Sour cream
Shredded cheese

Instructions
Combine all ingredients, heat until warmed through.

Meanwhile, fry tortilla strips in 1" of vegetable oil until golden. Remove from pan and drain on paper towel. Lightly season with salt or season salt while still hot.

Garnish soup and serve.

seriously yummy (and simple) french onion soup

I'm not feeling well this evening and figured that chicken noodle soup was a must. But, I only had beef broth in the pantry so French onion soup it was! I never realized how simple it would be to make! You definitely need to try this recipe.

Freddy and I derived this from several other recipes. I left the cheese and bread off the top of mine - I didn't think that it was needed. But, I might take the tip from Cooking Light next time and toast a bit of cheese on top of a slice of baguette.


French Onion Soup
Serves two

Ingredients
2 cups thinly sliced onions
1 clove garlic, smashed and left whole (you'll fish this out later)
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/8 cup vegetable oil
1 14-oz can beef broth (I used Swanson - use low sodium for a healthier option)
Dash worshtechire sauce
1 small pinch of dried thyme (or 1 fresh thyme sprig)
2 slices toasted baguette
Shredded swiss or gruyere cheese (we used sliced mozzarella)

Instructions
Heat oil in a soup pot. Add onions, brown sugar and pepper, stirring frequently until onions are caramelized. Add garlic, worshtechire sauce, beef broth and thyme and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes. Remove garlic and thyme sprig, if used.

Transfer soup to ovenproof bowls. Top with toasted bread and cheese. Broil until cheese is melted and bubbly.

tuscan vegetable soup

Today was a soup kind of day. Actually, I planned on making this even before I knew it would be a snowy mess. Look at me planning ahead! This recipe is by Ellie Krieger from foodnetwork.com.

We thought it was really good... but it could use a little bit of extra simmering to break down the vegetables more. I also think my can of "diced tomatoes" needed a bit more dicing. They are huge! I have a feeling this is going to be even better tomorrow after sitting in the fridge overnight. I cut the recipe in half, except for the beans and tomatoes - so that I could use the full cans. Most of the comments on the food network site suggested adding an extra can of mashed beans, so it worked out well.

Tuscan Vegetable Soup
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
1/2 (15-ounce) can low-sodium canellini beans, drained and rinsed (I used a full can)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 carrot, diced (about 1/4 cup)
1 stalk celery, diced, (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 small zucchini, diced (about 3/4 cups)
1/2 clove garlic, minced (I used 1 small clove)
1/2 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme leaves (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves (or 1/4 teaspoon dried)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces low-sodium chicken broth or vegetable broth (I used chicken)
1/2 (14.5-ounce) can no salt added diced tomatoes (I used one can)
1 cup chopped baby spinach leaves
Freshly grated Parmesan, optional (I omitted)

Instructions
In a small bowl mash half of the beans with a masher or the back of a spoon, and set aside.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, zucchini, garlic, thyme, sage, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of pepper, and cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes.

Add the broth and tomatoes with the juice and bring to a boil. Add the mashed and whole beans and the spinach leaves and cook until the spinach is wilted, about 3 minutes more.

Serve topped with Parmesan, if desired.

italian wedding soup

After seeing a canned version of this at the grocery store the other day, I thought "well, I could pay $4 for canned soup, or I could just try to make this." I chose the latter. I first consulted with my local Italian girl, Molly from My Happy Meals, to see if she had a recipe. She didn't - and quickly concluded that Giada De Laurentiis was way more Italian than she is. So, I made a variation of Giada's! ;)

And for those that are wondering: 1) no I'm not still obsessed with weddings and 2) Italian wedding soup has nothing to do with weddings. Its actually a bad translation of "minestra maritata" - which basically means that the meat and the greens in the soup "marry well together".

We thought this soup was great! It was very filling and the perfect comfort food. I might try different meats in the meatballs next time, though. The texture was kind of odd to me. I thought that maybe some sausage meat might work well. I used fresh baby spinach instead of the curly endive... and shredded Romano instead of Parmesan (because our parm went moldy on us and it was all we had). I also added some orzo. My sister added a bit of lemon to her soup because she adds lemon to everything.

Italian Wedding Soup
Serves 4

Meatball Ingredients
1/2 small onion, grated (I just threw it into the food processor)
1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/2 large egg (you'll use the other half later)
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan (or Romano in my case)
4 ounces ground beef (I found a "meatloaf mix" with beef and pork, but I'll go for the ground sirloin next time)
4 ounces ground pork
Freshly ground black pepper

Soup Ingredients
6 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 chicken bullion cube (to add the sodium back - ha)
1/2 5oz package baby spinach
1/4 cup orzo
1/2 large egg
Freshly grated Parmesan for garnish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
To make the meatballs: Stir the first 6 ingredients in a large bowl to blend. Stir in the cheese, beef and pork. Using 1 1/2 teaspoons for each, shape the meat mixture into 1-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a baking sheet.

To make the soup: Bring the broth to a boil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs, spinach and orzo and simmer until the meatballs are cooked through and the spinach and orzo is tender, about 8 minutes. Whisk the egg. Stir the soup in a circular motion. Gradually drizzle the egg mixture into the moving broth, stirring gently with a fork to form thin stands of egg, about 1 minute. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.

Ladle the soup into bowls and serve. Finish soup with Parmesan cheese if desired.