PUMPKIN BEAN SOUP - 5 INGREDIENTS!

This couldn't be easier and EXACTLY what we need as the next snow storm approaches... aauugghh!!!!!

Five ingredients and ready in 15 minutes. Serve with nice crusty bread or good oyster-style crackers. If you don't want to use chicken broth certainly substitute vegetable broth.

Ingredients:

1 (15 oz) can pumpkin

1 (15 oz) can cannellini beans rinsed and drained

1 (14 oz) can unsweetened coconut milk

1 (14 oz) can low-sodium broth

1 tsp dries sage crushed

salt

fresh pepper

Here comes the SUPER easy part. Combine first 5 ingredients in a saucepan. Heat through and until everything is combined. Taste to see if you would like a more salty taste. Sprinkle with pepper....A nice twist is to serve it with a lime wedge. DONE!

5 INGREDIENTS, 15 MINUTES - DINNER!

ENJOY!

CHICKEN TORTILLA SOUP - EASY!

Well it is 60 degrees here....haven't seen that in months...got the windows and doors open....BUT we all know winter hasn't completely left us and some night we will want a nice hot bowl of soup...and this one is so easy and quick ....like 15 minutes quick.

Ingredients:

2 tbl canola oil

3 corn tortillas cut into strips

1 cup red or green salsa (homemade or store bought)

28 oz low sodium chicken broth

2 cups cubed cooked chicken

1 large zucchini chopped

1 cup cooked corn kernels

garnishes of sour cream, cilantro and lime wedges

In a saute pan heat oil over medium heat and add tortilla strips. Cook until crisp and drain on paper towel.

In a saucepan, combine salsa and broth and bring to a boil. Add chicken, corn and zucchini and heat through.

Ladle into soup bowls and top with tortilla strips and garnish with sour cream, cilantro and lime.

STAY WARM!

ENJOY!

SLOW COOKER WEEK - CHICKEN WILD RICE SOUP

Nothing like a bowl of soup that eats like a meal for all you "New Englanders" covered in SNOW today! So throw this in the pot and cover yourself with a blanket, watch a movie all while dinner is cooking.

You can use rotisserie chicken or other previously cooked chicken you may have. Before the chicken gets to the slow cooker it has to be cooked.

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups cooked chicken

2 cups fresh sliced mushrooms

2 medium carrots chopped

2 stalks of celery chopped

1 can reduced fat and sodium cream of chicken or mushroom soup

1 (6 oz) pkg long grain and wild rice mix

5 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

5 cups water

In a slow cooker, combine the cooked chicken, mushrooms, carrots, celery cream of chicken soup, packet of rice with seasoning mix. Gradually stir in the chicken broth and water. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours. You can garnish with the leaves from the celery stalks. Serve with nice crusty bread.

Stay Warm In New England Today!

ENJOY!

PEA AND MINT SOUP

I Love Love Love pea soup. It is an acquired taste. I remember going to a restaurant in Buelton, CA just for their pea soup. While some pea soups can be very heavy from the starchiness of older peas, this is made with younger peas, If you can't find younger peas use frozen, they will make the soup less thick.

Ingredients:

4 cups peas

2 tbl unsalted butter

2 shallots chopped

1 tsp garlic minced

2 cups water

2 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint

1/2 cup heavy cream

zest of half a lemon

salt

pepper

In a large sauce pan, melt butter and add garlic and shallots and stir until both are soft but not brown. Add the peas, broth, half the mint and water. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until the peas are very tender, about 8-10 minutes. Let it cool a bit and puree it in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. If the peas weren't sweet enough you can add a bit of sugar.
Pour the heavy cream into a bowl and whip it to soft peaks. Add lemon zest and season to taste. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with a spoonful of the lemon cream. Garnish with the remaining mint.

So good!

This can be served hot or cold!

ENJOY!

MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL - BEER AND BRAT STEW

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!

Beer and Brats - can you go wrong here???? A Monday Night Football feast whether there is a chill in the air or rain on the horizon...or both like it is here! This stew is just what the doctor ordered...okay probably not, but it does have vegetables..so it's practically HEALTHY!

Ingredients:

1 lb bratwurst

6 slices of bacon

1 cup savoy or napa cabbage, chopped

1 lb of cremini mushrooms, quartered

2 shallots chopped

1 garlic clove minced

2 carrots peeled and sliced

2 stalks celery cleaned and chopped

3 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chunked

1/4 cup italian parsley minced

1 (12 oz) bottle of dark beer

2 cups chicken broth

salt

pepper

Pour beer into a large soup pot and add bratwurst. Boil and then simmer the brats for about 10 minutes. Remove brats from pot and cut into large coin-shaped pieces. Reserve beer in the pot. In a saute pan add bacon. Cook until almost done and add brat pieces so they get cooked through and brown. Drain the bacon and chop in pieces.

In the pot with the beer add all the ingredients including bacon and brats. Cook on medium until it boils and then simmer until the potatoes are soft and the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for about 1-1/2 hours.

Serve with nice crusty bread and MORE BEER!

Just can't pick this game tonight...?????

ENJOY!

CARROT AND PANCETTA SOUP

This is a very colorful fresh tasting soup. The house smells so wonderful while it is cooking. You really need a food processor to get this fully pureed and silky.

The soup could be the star of a luncheon or a starter for dinner. This soup freezes very well and can stay for about 2 months in the freezer.

Ingredients:

5 oz pancetta diced
1 medium onion chopped
2 lbs carrots, peeled and chopped
5 celery stalks chopped
2 large russet potatoes peeled and chopped
1/2 cup flour
2-1/2 quarts low sodium chicken stock
1 stick unsalted butter
6 sprigs italian parsley, and some for garnish
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs fresh thyme
salt
fresh ground pepper
sour cream for garnish

Take cheesecloth or kitchen twine and make a bundle of the parsley, bay leaf and thyme as you will be discarding it later.

In a soup pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add pancetta and stir until soft but not brown. Add onion, carrots, celery and potatoes. Stir frequently until the carrots and potatoes are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour until it is incorporated into the vegetables. Add the chicken broth and bring soup to a boil. Add the spice bundle and season with salt and pepper. Turn heat to low and cook covered for about 45 minutes. Stir occasionally. Remove form heat and let cool to almost room temperature.

Discard the spice bundle and ladle soup into a food processor in batches. Run it until the soup is a creamy puree. Return the soup to the pot and when you are ready to serve reheat and garnish with some chopped fresh parsley and a dollop of sour cream.

I like to serve with a nice crusty italian bread...
ENJOY!

SOUP TIME - CHICKEN NOODLE

According to Anne...there MUST be more soup. Fall and Winter are soup seasons so I will be blogging as many as I have. This is really a very traditional chicken noodle soup at the start, but the addition of a little cream and cooking sherry really adds so much more flavor to the soup. You can add other vegetables, but if you are planning to store some leftover soup there are certain vegetables that won't hold up too well in the stock for long.

This is a great weekend meal because the fragrance of the stock just screams comfort!

Ingredients:

For Stock

3 lb fryer chicken whole or cut up

3-1/2 cups of water

3 carrots peeled and cut in half

3 celery ribs cleaned and cut in half

1 large onion peeled and cut in half

3 cloves of garlic peeled and cut in half

4 bay leaves

3 chicken bouillon cubes

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp lemon pepper

2 tsp salt

1 tbl whole peppercorns

For Soup

2 cups sliced carrots (coin shaped)

2 cups sliced celery

1/3 cup cooking sherry

3/4 cup heavy cream

3 tbl chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 tsp fresh rosemary finely chopped

2-1/2 cups uncooked pasta noodles (egg)

grated Parmesan cheese

salt

fresh ground pepper

a nice crusty baguette

Stock: add all ingredients into a soup pot. Cook until the chicken is tender -about an hour. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. Strain the rest of the stock reserving the broth. When the chicken is cool, cut up meat into chunks and discard the bones, etc. Set chicken aside.

Soup: Bring stock back to a boil and add carrots and cook about 3 minutes, then add celery and cook 8 minutes. Add the chicken, parsley, sherry and rosemary. Stir to combine and add the cream. Cook for another 5 minutes and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cook the noodles in a separate pot according to package directions. Add noodles to individual servings so they don't continue to cook in the soup and absorb all the stock.

Serve with grated Parmesan and a nice crusty bread! Keep warm!

ENJOY!

SUNDAY CORN CHOWDER

Corn Chowder...yuuummmmmmmmm! I love this stuff. This is the perfect soup to make on a Fall Sunday while you are watching football. Served with a nice crusty bread or small blt sandwiches, or just a tall glass of chardonnay.....yes!

It is so very affordable, if you have an at-home or road trip tailgate party this is an excellent dish that adds a nice new dimension to the bbq'd menu.

It is great to be able to thicken this soup by pureeing half and adding it back. Works great! This serves about 6-8.

8 ears of corn, shucked
1/3 lb pancetta or bacon, chopped
5 tbl unsalted butter
1 tbl thyme, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large pieces of celery chopped
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 bay leaf
6 cups milk
1-1/2 lb new potatoes peeled (or not) cut into 1/2" cubes
salt
fresh pepper
1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil for garnish
1/2 tsp old bay seasoning for garnish


Standing the cobs in a large bowl on their end, slice the kernels off the cobs and scrape the cob to get all that great corn juice into the bowl. Take 5 of the cobs, break them in half and save, discard the others. Set corn and cobs aside.

In a large pot cook the pancetta until crisp. Reserve 3 tbl of the pancetta on a paper towel to drain and leave the other pancetta in the pan. Add the butter, thyme, garlic, celery, onion and bay leaf. Cover the pot and cook until onion softened, stir occasionally. Add the corn, reserved cobs, milk and potatoes. Cover and bring to boil then reduce to low and simmer about 25 minutes until potatoes are tender. Stir occasionally.
Skim any foam from the surface. Discard the cobs and bay leaf. Transfer 1-1/2 cups of the soup to a blender and puree. Stir puree back into the chowder and season with salt and pepper. Serve the soup garnished with reserved pancetta, basil and dashes of Old Bay seasoning on top.

You can add shrimp or crab to this to "kick it up"!!!
ENJOY!

DOWN EAST LOBSTER CHOWDER

This is another great recipe from Ellen. Thank you!!!!! When you are in Maine the only way to go is shellfish and the most succulent shellfish is Maine Lobster....so wonderful!!! This lobster chowder has a lighter broth, not like the thick clam chowders you are used to.

You will need 4 cups of liquid for this recipe. If you are steaming your own lobsters SAVE THE COOKING LIQUID it will add the best flavor to your chowder. Also reserve one cup of the cooking liquid you get when you boil the potatoes. If you are short on liquid, make up the difference with water.

Ingredients:

3 medium Yukon Gold potatoes cubed to 1/4 in

10 oz cooked lobster meat coarsely chopped

4 ears of corn, kernels cut off cob

3 cups lobster cooking liquid

1 cup potato cooking liquid

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 Tbl parsley or thyme

salt

pepper

Fill a large pot with water. Bring it to a boil and add some salt. Add potatoes and reduce heat. Let simmer about 8-10 minutes until potatoes are tender.

In another large pot, bring lobster cooking liquid and a pinch of salt to a boil. Add the corn and simmer about 2 minutes. Transfer the potatoes to the corn mixture and add 1 cup of potato cooking liquid.

Add the lobster and any extra juices you get when you remove them from the shells and coarsely chop the meat. Stir in the cream and cook until it begins to bubble. Add pepper, parsley or thyme and taste. Season if necessary.

Couldn't be easier....Great served with chowder crackers or a wedge of nice crusty bread!!!!

ENJOY!

MY UNCE JOHN'S TUSCAN WHITE BEAN AND SAUSAGE SOUP

What an amazing day I am already having!!!! I was searching for my usual Friday cocktail to blog and getting a headache..which might have something to do with my night out last night.....so I decided to forget the blog for a second and check out what was happening to all my facebook friends this morning....

I opened facebook and there was a message waiting for me. It was a note from my Uncle John with this recipe attached!!!!! So great!!!! It was such a great surprise not only because it looked sooooo delicious, but I loved that Uncle John thought of me and my blog. Thank you Uncle!!!

Anyone who doesn't know Uncle John needs to know he is Italian through and through so definitely try this. So here it is:

Ingredients:

1-1/4 cup dried cannellini beans (or great northern)

8 ounces mild Italian sausage, casing removed

8 cups low sodium chicken broth

2 tbl extra virgin olive oil

4 tbl tomato paste

1/3 cup chopped carrots

1/3 cups chopped onion

1/3 cups chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped garlic

3/4 cup small pasta, farfilline, dry

salt

pepper

Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Cover the beans with water at least two inches higher than the beans.

In a non-reactive heavy sauce pan or soup pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, carrot, celery and stir until all the vegetables are glazed with oil. Add garlic and cook, stirring about 2 minutes or until the vegetables are softened but not brown.

Crumble the sausage and add to the pan. Cook stirring and breaking the sausage apart about 4 minutes or until sausage is thoroughly cooked.

Drain the beans and add to the pan with the chicken broth and tomato paste and stir well. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer stirring occasionally. Cook about 45 minutes then add the pasta and cook an additional 30 minutes or until the beans are tender and the soup has thickened. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Makes about 12 cups.

To spice it up a bit you can substitute hot Italian sausage either by completely replacing the mild or some portion thereof. You can also add 1/2 tbl of chopped fennel.

Love, Uncle John

Thank you very much, Love Julie

ENJOY!

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

Is this my week for soup or what? This soup IS a meal and there is no need for anything else. With the hearty meatballs and the great stock and pasta, some nice italian bread, some good cabernet and your favorite TV drama..all good to go. Again as in many other recipes on this blog, you can add lots of other things....carrots, celery...I just happen to like it the way I make it.

Ingredients

8 oz (95%) ground beef

8 oz ground pork or veal

2 shallots minced

2 tsp minced garlic cloves

1/3 cup chopped italian parsley

3 large eggs

1 slice white bread crust off and cut in small pieces

1/2 cup parmesan cheese plus 3 TBL

2 tsp salt

2 tsp pepper

12 cups chicken broth, canned or homemade

1 lb curly endive chopped

small pasta

First step is to make the meatballs. In a bowl combine onion, parsley, one egg, garlic, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp pepper, 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, bread, beef and pork or veal. Roll into very small meatballs and place on wax paper.

Bring broth to a boil and add meatballs and endive. Cook for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, boil water and cook 8 oz of a very small pasta. In a small bowl whisk 2 eggs and 3 tbl cheese. Stir the soup while pouring the egg mixture into pot. Taste and add 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper to desired taste. Add pasta to the soup and serve.

Serve with bread and extra parmesan cheese....WONDERFUL...again so easy.. I make big batches of this soup and freeze it in two serving containers for myself and my husband. I do not add cooked pasta to the ones I freeze as pasta tends to expand. So when I take ones from the freezer I cook a little pasta and add it when it is hot and ready to serve.
ENJOY!

TOMATO BASIL SOUP

This tomato soup is so easy. It only has 6 ingredients takes about 15 minutes to make...that's it!!!!

I like to serve it with crusty bread and some shredded cheese on top, any cheese you like...I am addicted to cheese.

Ingredients

1 (32 oz) box of good chicken broth. Swanson or Progresso

1 (28 oz) can of crushed San Marzano tomatoes

1 cup heavy cream

Fresh basil, 10 good size leaves

1/2 tsp cracked pepper

salt to taste

Cook broth and tomatoes over medium heat. When it starts to boil add the cream, basil and pepper. Taste it and add salt to your desired flavor. Simmer for 15 minutes. Take it off the stove and blend it until smooth in a food processor.

That's It!!! Dinner is served!.. So delicious and easy

Enjoy!