Creamy tomato and basil soup

Recipe taken from Pioneer Woman cookbook

Ingredients:
1 medium white or yellow onion, diced
6 tablespoons butter (3/4 stick)
Two 14.5 ounce cans diced tomatoes
One 46 ounce bottle/can tomato juice
3-6 tablespoons sugar
3 chicken bouillon cubes
Freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
1/4 cup chopped basil

Method:
1. Melt butter in large soup pot, saute onion.

2. Add tomatoes and stir. Add tomato juice, combine.

3. Add sugar (I used 4 tablespoons), chicken bouillon, black pepper. Stir to combine and heat until almost boiling.

4. Turn off heat and add cream, parsley, basil and more pepper to taste.

I served this soup with grilled cheese on sour dough and it was perfection.

French onion soup

This recipe is not fast but surprisingly, it's little hassle. It's also extremely delicious.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter or margarine
6 medium onions, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups water
1 can (14 1/2 ounces | 1 3/4 cups) chicken or vegetable broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
4 slices (1/2 inch thick) french bread - I used french sour dough
4 ounces (1 cup) Gruyère, swiss or muenster cheese

Method:
In a large pot melt butter over medium heat.
Add onions and salt.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are very tender and begin to caramelise - about 45 minutes.
Reduce heat to low; cook, stirring often, until onions are deep golden brown, about 15 minutes longer.

Put onions in a bowl.
Add 1/2 cup of water to pot; heat to boiling over high heat, stirring until browned bits are loosened from bottom.
Add broth, thyme, and remaining water.
Heat to boiling over high heat.
Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer about 30 minutes, until onions are very tender.

Meanwhile pre-heat over to 450'f.
Place four 2 1/2 cup oven safe bowls in jelly-roll pan.
Spoon onion soup in bowls; top with bread pressed lightly into soup.
Put cheese on bread.
Bake until cheese melts and begins to brown, 12 - 15 minutes.

*I use larger oven proof bowls than the 2 1/2 cup ones. Mine are big enough to top with 2 slices of bread.

Apple-Cinnamon Butternut Squash Soup

8          cups cubed seeded peeled butternut squash (2 medium)

1          large apple, peeled, chopped

1          large onion, cut into 1-inch pieces

2          tablespoons packed brown sugar

3/4       teaspoon salt

3/4       teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8       teaspoon pepper

4          cups chicken broth

1          container (6 oz) Greek plain yoghurt

2          tablespoons chopped fresh chives

In a large soup pot combine all ingredients except yoghurt and chives.

Cover and heat to boiling.
Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Blend 1/3 of the mixture at a time or use an immersion blender and blend until smooth.
Return to pot - add yoghurt and mix well.
Serve sprinkled with chives.

recipe modified from here.

Miso Soup

We got this recipe from a P90X cookbook, but made a few alterations. I'm also going to give you some tips:

*Miso is soy bean curd. They sell it at Asian grocery stores. It's about a pound, and in the refrigerated section. I used yellow Miso.
*Tofu goes bad after about a week. If the water is discolored, or it's extra slimy, or it smells bad, throw it away. To prolong the life of your tofu, you should replace the water every day and keep it in an airtight container. Tofu is also found in the refrigerated section, but you can get it at most grocery stores.

Miso Soup

½ t Dark Sesame Oil

⅓ c Onions -- finely chopped

3 T Miso

1 quart Vegetable Stock

¼ c Firm Silken Tofu – diced

Optional: 3-6 finely sliced mushrooms

3 T Green Onion -- sliced for garnish

1. Heat the sesame oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until translucent.

2. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a simmer. Remove a small amount of stock and dissolve miso in it. Add miso, tofu, and mushrooms to stock. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

3. To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish each serving with green onion.

Sorry I don't have any pictures!

Cheesy Chicken Chowder:

From page 33 of Taste of Home's Prize Winning Recipes cookbook.

3 cups chicken broth
2 cups diced, peeled potatoes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1/2 cup diced onion
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 cups grated cheese
2 cups diced, cooked chicken

In a 4 quart saucepan bring chicken broth to a boil.
Reduce heat; add potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt and pepper.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a medium saucepan; add flour and mix well.
Gradually stir in milk; cook over low heat until slightly thickened.
Stir in cheese and cook until melted.

Add cheese mixture to broth and add chicken.
Cook and stir over low heat until heated through.

Yield: 6-8 servings.

*I didn't add celery but did add a lot more onion. Broccoli would be a good add to this as would bacon. It's so good!

"Bad Day Soup" ~ or ~Tortilla Soup

"Bad Day" Tortilla Soup

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour, 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/4 bunch cilantro, well washed (cut off the stems)

2-3 garlic cloves

1/2 small onion

4 oz can of green chilies

6 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water

2 14.5 oz cans of tomatoes (at least one diced)
1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
1 can of corn drained and rinsed
1 Small can of chopped olives (OR lol a big can of whole.you decide!)
1 cup uncooked minute rice (about really it is up to you)
1 chicken bullion cube

1 tsp. ground cumin

1tsp. salt

2 Tbsp cornstarch (dissolved in a small amount of water to make it thicker)
1-2 cups cooked chicken or..lol (or I like 3 breasts or so)
Toppings:

Monterrey Jack cheese
1-2 avocados, peeled, pitted and sliced

sour cream

salsa
(I even life some fresh chopped red onion as well)

(Corn tortillas about 10 cut into thin slices and fry them in
vegetable oil)

(When it comes to food I'm no minimalist, I include all the toppings on my plate, so I didn't list anything as optional because I believe it shouldn't be. But if you can't even read the ingredient with out your stomach flipping by all means don't include it. But you're missing out.)

Preparation:

Puree cilantro, garlic, onion, chilies and 1 can of tomatoes in a food processor.

Heat chicken stock and add pureed mixture along with cumin and salt and water.

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 40 minutes.
Add the beans, the can of diced tomatoes, olives and the corn at this point :)

Stir dissolved cornstarch into stock. (Don't add if you like thinner soup, add more- which I did, if you like more)

Add the chicken & rice to the stock. Cook for about 25 more minutes.

Fry cut tortilla strips in oil in batches until crisp (I add a little salt as I fry them) drain well.

Garnish or top with shredded cheese, tortilla strips, avocado, sour cream and salsa and whatever else you prefer. I suggest going with a fresca type salsa.

The avocado and sour cream taste so creamy and cool with the warm soup then you have the creaminess of the cheese and the crunchiness of the tortilla strips and chunks of chicken and salsa. This soup is a melody of textures, temperatures and tastes - my bad days totally melt away in this soup along with the cheese~

Baked Potato Soup!

It's that time of year for comfort foods. The air is crisp and the skies are getting crowded. Here's one of my many winter recipes.



Baked Potato Soup

The indredients are: 6 To 8 slices bacon
1 cup Diced yellow onions
2/3 cup Flour
6 cups Hot chicken stock
4-6 cup Diced -- peeled baked Potatoes (Yeah I said baked. MUCH better flavor)
2 cup Heavy cream
1/4 cup Chopped parsley
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp Dried basil
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 tsp Coarse black pepper
1 cup Grated Cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Diced green onions -- white Part only
Additional chopped bacon -- Grated cheese and Chopped parsley for Garnish

I Fry bacon until crisp. Chop bacon and reserve drippings. Cook onions and garlic in remaining drippings over medium-high heat until transparent, about 3 minutes. Add flour, stirring to prevent lumps. Cook 3 - 5 minutes until mix just begins to run golden. Add chicken broth gradually, whisking to prevent lumps, until liquid thickens. Reduce heat to simmer and add potatoes, cream, chopped bacon, parsley, basil, salt, and black pepper. Simmer 10 minutes; DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL. Add grated cheese and green onions. Heat until cheese melts smoothly.

Garnish with chopped bacon, grated cheese and chopped parsley.


Try it in a bread bowl and let me know how ya like it!

QUICK Chicken Tortila Soup

Okay well I am not a very technical cook. I just sort of add until it tastes good. Therefore it's sort of hard for me to give exact measurements, but here are my best directions:



3-4 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Chicken Broth
Rotel (or something with stewed tomato and green pepper)
Crushed Red Pepper
Minced Onion
Cheese
Corn Tortilas or Chips


Okay hopefullly this will make sense...sorry for not having EXACT measurments, but really I don't think you can screw this up...especially if I can do it.

Okay put your chicken in your soup pot and add your broth. As to how much broth to use: make sure that your chicken is covered. Your pot should be about half full of broth....make sense? Haha. Okay. Then your going to cook the chicken. Once it is cooked through I pull out the chicken breasts and shred it up into smaller pieces...you could cube it if you prefer that way. Then put your chicken back into your boiling broth. I then add a couple shakes of Crushed Red Pepper and a couple shakes of dehydrated onion in there, but you could use a real onion too, I just normally don't have a real one on hand.

It should look something like this:

Okay then you will add your Rotel. I used 2 cans of Rotel and this is what it looked like after I added it:

Then bring it back to a rolling boil.

Then while my soup is boiling I start to make some crunchy things for the soup. I like to use corn tortillas and kinda fry them up in vegetable oil until they are golden brown. I like this way better than chips because they stay crunchier longer when they are sitting in your soup, but I have used tortila chips before and that works great as well.

Check your soup, and by check I mean stick a spoon in there and taste it. If it tastes too salty or condensed add some more water and bring it to a boil again. If it still doesn't taste right add some more onion or maybe some chicken boulion cubes until it tastes yummy.

Once your soup is done put some of your crunchy things in your bowl and pour your soup over them. Then sprinkle some cheese over top.

Did that make any sense? It might sound harder than it actually is, but really it shouldn't take too long and it's really good!

I've also done this in my crockpot as well and that works too. If you want to do a longer version then instead of Rotel use fresh tomato, green pepper, and onion...it will take longer to cook, but it's really good as well.