Category: Soup

Recipes for soups, chilis, etc.

Leftovers may necessi’tater’ cooking some soup

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date December 5, 2019

Leftover mashed potatoes can be easily transformed into a creamy, filling soup.

Well, I can officially say I survived my first experience with hosting Thanksgiving dinner.

I floated the idea a little over a week out from the big day to my mother-in-law, not wanting to step on her toes but also knowing she’s been extremely busy at work lately and could likely use a break from cooking all day—especially with family coming from out of state to stay with them.

And she took me up on my offer, which meant I took a deep breath, made an overly detailed list, and got to work.

The meal was a little late, since I wasn’t very good at timing out my side dishes on my first attempt, but everyone walked away full and seemingly happy, and it’s already been announced that the Young Family Thanksgiving meal is mine for the foreseeable future.

And while hosting is definitely an exhausting experience, it does have its benefits, namely: leftovers. While that’s arguably one of the best parts of Thanksgiving, it also gets tough to get creative with eating the same meal again and again over the next week, so I have an option for you if you, like I, had plenty of leftover mashed potatoes.

This is from the website “Thrifty Fun.” You can find the original post at https://www.thriftyfun.com/Leftover-Mashed-Potato-Soup-1.html. I added more seasoning to my version, but remember to take the amount of seasoning you did to your mashed potatoes originally into account when adding spices. I normally season my potatoes pretty simply with salt, pepper, milk and butter only. The amount of each of the ingredients depends on how much leftover mashed potatoes you have, but your rule of thumb is to add the amounts listed in the directions for evert two cups of potatoes. In my case, I had four cups leftover, so I doubled all those amounts as I made my batch of soup.

Leftover Mashed Potato Soup

Leftover mashed potatoes can be easily transformed into a creamy, filling soup.

Course Main Course

Keyword bacon, leftovers, mashed potatoes, soup

Ingredients

Mashed potatoes
Milk I used skim
Chicken broth or vegetable stock
Butter or margarine
Celery salt
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Salt and pepper
Shredded cheese
Cooked crumbled bacon

Instructions

You will add the following ingredients to every two cups of mashed potatoes you have—do so in a large cooking pot—1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup broth, 4 tablespoons butter, 1 teaspoon celery salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, salt and pepper to taste.
Place the mixture over medium heat, stirring regularly, until the soup is hot and creamy.
Serve with shredded cheese and crumbled bacon on top. (Cook up about a strip of bacon per bowl of soup you’re serving.)

This was a great belly warmer for a cold day’s dinner, especially paired with some leftover Thanksgiving cornbread.

And, ironically, if you have leftover soup, it reheats nicely, too, which is a nice bonus.

I’ll probably be making another batch of this soup in the coming weeks, since I, for some reason, made enough potatoes to feed the family four times over.

Cooking for Thanksgiving made me extremely thankful for all of the wonderful cooks who have provided that same spread for me over the years. It’s a lot of work, but seeing family enjoying themselves around the table makes the sore back and aching feet seem worth it.

This piece first appeared in print on Dec. 5, 2019.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Tags bacon, leftovers, mashed potatoes

Main Dish Soup

Chicken mushroom soup is ‘chowder’ this world

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date November 14, 2019

Creamy chicken mushroom chowder is a hearty soup for a cold night's dinner.

Thanks to this column, I’m constantly on the lookout for recipes I have never tried. If you look at a lot of food blogs and recipe books like I do, you’ll find several common words and phrases in the titles of recipes.

There are quite a few that include the descriptor “Amish” in the title, and while I’m not necessarily qualified to say what makes a recipe particularly Amish or not, there are some I wouldn’t peg as particularly authentic.

And, of course, people love making recipes that claim to be like “crack.” I’ve also always found that one strange, considering that the bios of most of these online chefs don’t seem to indicate drug problems on their end.

But this week, Joey and I ended up trying to figure out what makes a “chowder” a “chowder,” and after searching online quite a bit, I’m not sure if that isn’t just another random adjective cooks use. The only official explanation that seemed to show up more often than not was that a chowder must be cream based, but folks differed on that rule, too.

I found this recipe on the blog “The Chunky Chef.” You can find the original post at https://www.thechunkychef.com/creamy-chicken-mushroom-chowder/. I changed the amounts of some of the ingredients in my version. I also actually doubled the recipe below to give me some leftovers for the freezer.

Creamy Chicken Mushroom Chowder

Creamy chicken mushroom chowder is a hearty soup for a cold night's dinner.

Course Main Course

Keyword chicken, chowder, mushrooms, potatoes, soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
1 small yellow onion diced
3 carrots peeled and diced
3 stalks celery diced
8 ounces mushrooms sliced (I used baby bellas, but use what you like)
6-8 cloves garlic minced
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon thyme
1/4- cup flour
4 cups chicken stock or broth
5 medium-sized red potatoes diced
3 cups shredded or cubed chicken cooked
1 bay leaf
2/3 cup heavy cream or half and half

Instructions

Heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat in a large pot.
Add the onions, carrots and celery and saute until they’re soft (about five minutes). Add the mushrooms and garlic and stir, cooking for about two more minutes.
Add the salt and pepper, thyme and flour and stir to soak up any liquid in the pan. Let the flour cook for about one minute.
Stir in the stock, making sure the scrape the bottom of the pot.
Add the potatoes, chicken and bay leaf and bring the soup to a very low boil. Let it cook for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes are to your desired tenderness, stirring occasionally.
Add the cream and let the soup simmer until it’s hot again.
Serve.

I went about this a little differently by boiling my chicken in the broth to cook it to start and making my veggies in a saute pan on the side. I did all the steps up to adding the broth in the saute pan and then dumped my veggies in with my cooked chicken that was already boiling in the stock pot.

If you do it that way, you will probably need to add a little water or more broth to the pot.

And while the recipe is called a chowder and does meet a lot of the definitions of what a chowder should be, I’m still not sure if everyone would agree.

What I can tell you is that I’m pretty sure it’s not Amish, it certainly doesn’t mirror any drugs I’m aware of, and it’s an extremely satisfying, good soup, especially when served with a thick slice of crusty bread.

I may never figure out what a chowder is, but it won’t stop me from eating seconds until I figure it out.

This piece first appeared in print on Nov. 14, 2019.

Tags chicken, chowder, mushroom, potatoes

Main Dish Soup

Ring in winter with bell pepper soup

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date October 17, 2019

Italian sausage and pepper soup contains lots of fresh vegetable flavor along with deep Italian herbs and spices.

This past week, we went north to Iowa and Minnesota for a newspaper conference and to visit some friends.

One of my wonderful friends, who has inexplicably given up her Kansas roots for the big city of Minneapolis, assured us that Minnesota is generally pretty mild in October, so we were excited to experience some nice, fall weather.

But, as often happens, Mother Nature had other plans, as we endured rain—and eventually snow—and some cold winds while we visited. It was still a great trip, but when the northerners are bundling up and complaining, you know you hit a weather anomaly.

We still had a great visit, despite the cold, and upon coming home, it reminded me that soup season is most definitely just around the corner.

With that in mind, this week’s recipe comes from “Parade” magazine and is by Donna Elick. You can find their original post at https://parade.com/217706/donnaelick/30-minute-italian-sausage-and-pepper-soup/. I added extra tomato paste to use an entire can, put in extra garlic, and I got rid of the added olive oil, since I figured the sausage would have enough grease for the pan on its own. I also added some more herbs.

Italian Sausage and Pepper Soup

Italian sausage and pepper soup contains lots of fresh vegetable flavor along with deep Italian herbs and spices.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword peppers, sausage, soup, spicy

Ingredients

1 pound spicy Italian rope sausage casing removed
1 small yellow onion diced
4 bell peppers get a variety of colors, cut into bite-sized pieces
6-8 cloves garlic minced
2, 14.5- ounce cans Italian style diced tomatoes
6 ounces tomato paste
8 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh basil roughly chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried basil
1/4 cup fresh parsley roughly chopped, or 2 teaspoons dried parsley
2 teaspoons dried oregano

Instructions

Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute the sausage in the pan, breaking it apart as it browns, and add the onions as well. Stirring regularly.
Once the sausage is cooked through, add the peppers and cook to your desired tenderness, continuing to stir often. Add the garlic and cook for an additional two minutes.
Add the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and broth, and scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any cooked-on bits.
Bring the soup to a low boil. Add the salt and pepper, basil and parsley and allow to boil for about 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve with crusty bread.

The flavor of this soup was fantastic, and it was a really quick meal to make, too. It was a bit of a thin soup overall, though, so it would be a great side dish, or you should definitely serve it with some big, thick bread or rolls. Of course, it’s that same quality that makes it a good, lighter lunchtime option.

We didn’t end up ordering any soup while we were up north, opting instead for everything from a delicious Ecuadorian restaurant to coal-fired pizza and fresh fish and chips.

What we’ve learned about Minnesota over the years is you definitely can’t predict the weather, but you can count on some really good meals.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 17, 2019.

Tags Italian, peppers, sausage

Main Dish Soup

This soup is ‘dumpling’ you should try

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date September 26, 2019

Chicken and dumplings come together in about half an hour and make a delicious, hearty dinner.

As I was poking around our local grocery store’s clearance bin about a month ago, I stumbled on a box of “dumplings.” I was a bit confused, since they really just looked like really wide noodles, and it certainly didn’t fit my internal definition of what constitutes a dumpling.

But they were cheap.

So Joey and I tried “chicken and dumplings,” made with the recipe on the back of the box, which consisted of these noodles, canned chicken and a can of peas and carrots. It was fine.

But I wanted to give a more traditional dumpling a try, so I hunted for a recipe and found one that purported to create a delicious, homemade soup in only 30 minutes.

I have rarely made myself gasp with a kitchen creation, but let me tell you, I celebrated out loud when I pulled the lid off my soup and saw beautiful dumplings floating on the surface. This recipe was a complete slam dunk for me, and while the noodles we tried before were good, this recipe was the winner.

The blog “The Slow Roasted Italian” is quickly becoming one of my favorites, and this recipe came from there. It was created by Donna Elick. You can find the original post at https://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2012/11/chicken-and-dumplings-in-30-minutes-2.html. I played around with her seasonings a bit in my version.

Chicken and Dumplings

Chicken and dumplings come together in about half an hour and make a delicious, hearty dinner.

Course Main Course

Keyword chicken, dumplings

Ingredients

Soup Ingredients

4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried parsley
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
3 cups milk I used skim
2 cups fresh or frozen peas and diced carrots

Dumplings Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup milk I used skim

Instructions

In a large pot with a lid, heat the chicken broth, water, butter and seasonings over medium. Cover the pot and let it come to a boil.
Cut the chicken into about one-inch pieces and add them to the pot and cover again.
In a large sealable container, combine the flour and milk. Seal and shake until the mixture is smooth. Add the flour mixture to the pot slowly, stirring as you do so. Add the vegetables to the pot as well and put the lid back on.
While the soup is cooking, combine all the dumpling ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
Stir the soup really well, scraping the bottom with your spoon to make sure the flour mixture isn’t sticking to the bottom.
Then, using a tablespoon-sized scoop (or eye-balling about that amount with a normal spoon), add scoops of the dumpling mixture to the soup. They’ll sink like rocks, but don’t worry, that’s what they’re supposed to do.
Once all the dumpling mixture is in the pot, cover it again and reduce heat to a low simmer. Let the soup cook for 10 minutes. It’s done when the soup coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and serve.

Oh, boy, was this a hearty dinner for us. And we were able to freeze the leftovers for later, too, which has been a nice treat on busy evenings.

I know there are a lot of complicated types of dumplings out there, but this recipe is not one of them, and you definitely get the “wow” factor with those beautiful balls of dough floating in the top of a creamy soup.

And I still haven’t found any evidence that the noodles I used technically counted as dumplings, but I guess now that I have a really good recipe, it won’t matter much—unless I find another really good sale.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 26, 2019.

Tags chicken, dumplings

Main Dish Soup

It’ll be tough to ‘leaf’ leftovers of basil sausage soup

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date September 5, 2019

Italian basil sausage soup has deep tomato and spice flavors and freezes easily for quick leftovers.

I recently came across a photo of an adorable indoor herb garden and immediately became interested in having one myself.

I’m not much of a gardener, and I’m enough of a nerd that I love research, so I have spent more time than I’d like to admit over the past few weeks looking at which herbs are easiest to grow indoors and what kind of skill each one requires to keep alive.

Then I went shopping for the ingredients for this week’s recipe, and all my planning to really map out my herb choices went out the window when I realized that it was going to cost me an arm and a leg to purchase the two cups of fresh basil the recipe required.

I noticed, though, that my produce department had fresh basil plants for a much more economical price than the small packages of leaves in the refrigerator case, and I caved.

So now I have a basil plant, which graciously delivered lots of fragrant leaves on its first night at my house. I hope I can keep the poor thing alive.

This recipe comes from the website “The Slow Roasted Italian.” You can find the original post at https://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2013/09/30-Minute-Hearty-Italian-Basil-Sausage-Soup-Recipe.html. I changed up the spices a bit in my version and simplified the directions some.

Italian Basil Sausage Soup

Italian basil sausage soup has deep tomato and spice flavors and freezes easily for quick leftovers.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Keyword basil, pasta, sausage, soup

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 pound mild Italian sausage
3 carrots diced
2 stalks celery diced
8 cups chicken broth
15- ounce can cannellini beans rinsed and drained
14.5- ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
8- ounce can tomato sauce
6- ounce can tomato paste
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
black pepper to taste
1/2 pound small pasta I used macaroni
2 cups fresh basil chopped

Instructions

In a stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, carrots and celery. Stir regularly, breaking up the sausage as you go (You can also use rope sausage. Just remove the casing and slice it into half-inch rounds before adding it to the pot.)
Once the sausage is cooked through, add the chicken broth, beans, tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste and spices.
Stir to combine and bring the mixture up to a boil.
Once the soup is boiling, add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes (or until the pasta is done to your liking), stirring regularly to keep the soup from sticking to the bottom.
Reduce heat and serve once the mixture is no longer boiling.

I have been in search of some good soups to toss in the freezer for the plethora of nights when Joey and I either need to have a quick dinner or pack something to eat at the office for a late night of work. This recipe definitely fits the bill, and it’s filling several containers in my freezer at the moment.

I poured a little water on my basil plant this morning, where it sits in front of my kitchen window. If all goes well, it will eventually be replanted into an adorable pot, along with some other choice herbs.

If not, I might just stick to dried basil from here on out.

You’d think that having a 10-year-old schnauzer and a one-year-old beta fish would make me feel confident that I can keep something alive, but to be fair, I did a lot of research before adding both of them to our family, too.

Wish me—and my new plant—luck. We’ll both need it.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 5, 2019.

Tags basil, Italian, pasta, sausage

Main Dish Soup

Warm soup goes beyond the ‘kale’ of duty

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 28, 2019

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.

I started following a few folks on Instagram who post beautiful food pictures regularly.

One is Karin Pfeiff Boschek, who does some of the most spectacular pie crusts I have ever seen. Another is food stylist Judy Kim, who not only posts many of her gorgeous food photos but often chronicles the behind-the-scenes set up for her photography sessions.

I continue to try to improve my food photography, despite terrible lighting in my kitchen and my propensity to bake late into the evening, but sometimes, even though the photo of the recipe I try looks extremely appetizing online, mine just doesn’t turn out the same.

This week’s recipe was one of those. Truth be told, it was definitely my fault. The recipe calls for wild rice rather than the normal, long-grain variety, but as we all know, sometimes the local grocery store just doesn’t carry whatever specialized ingredient you’re looking for, so you have to improvise.

What I did not consider was that my cooking time would need to be adjusted and that the colorful soup photo I saw online would not be quite as pretty with only white rice.

With that in mind, I still really liked my end result—even if it wasn’t a picture-perfect soup—and I adjusted the cooking time below to reflect what I wish I would have done.

This recipe comes from the blog “Gimme Some Oven.” You can find it at https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/cozy-autumn-wild-rice-soup/, where the recipe author also posted instructions to make this soup in a pressure cooker. I added extra seasoning and garlic to my version. I also opted for using regular rice instead of wild rice.

Autumn Rice Soup

Autumn rice soup is a nice meal for a cold day.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword kale, rice

Ingredients

4 tablespoons butter divided
1 small white onion diced
2 medium-sized carrots diced
2 ribs celery diced
1 pound sweet potato peeled and diced
8 ounces sliced baby bella mushrooms
8 cloves garlic minced
6 cups vegetable stock
1 cup uncooked rice
1 bay leaf
2 heaping tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk I used skim
about 3 cups loosely packed kale chopped into bite-sized pieces and the stems removed
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven with a lid, heat one tablespoon of butter over medium-high heat.
Saute the onion until it is translucent. Add in the carrots, celery, sweet potato, mushrooms and garlic, and stir regularly, letting them cook for about 5 minutes.
Add the stock, rice, bay leaf and Old Bay and stir to combine, making sure to scrape the bottom of the pot a bit to loosen any stuck-on bits.
Keep the pot on medium-high heat until it just starts to slowly bubble. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cover. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and give it a good stir and check the rice’s doneness. If it’s not quite how you want it, continue to let the pot simmer, covered, checking on it every five minutes or so until the rice is where you want it.
While the rice is cooking, melt the remaining three tablespoons of butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisk in the flour and let it cook for about one minute. Whisk in the milk and stir frequently, making sure to break up any clumps and letting the mixture thicken significantly.
When the rice is done and the cream sauce is thickened, add the sauce and kale to the Dutch oven and stir to combine.
Add salt and pepper to taste and serve when it is heated through.

If you decide to use wild rice for your version, the original recipe calls for a 45-minute simmer time. I tried that with my long-grain rice, and while the flavors were still nice, the rice was pretty mushy, and I didn’t end up with the amount of liquid in my soup that I should have had at the end.

This wasn’t one of Joey’s favorites. The kale stays quite crisp, despite being added to the hot soup, and he was not a big fan of the texture. If you’re not a kale enthusiast, you could easily add fresh spinach instead.

And be prepared that your soup might not photograph as nicely as you want. I don’t think my concoction would have a chance of appearing on Karin or Judy’s Instagram feeds, but it was nice to have a warm bowl of soup on a cold day—pretty or not.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 28, 2019.

Tags kale, mushrooms, rice, sweet potatoes

Main Dish Pressure Cooker Soup

Get a ‘lentil’ bit adventurous in the kitchen

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 21, 2019

Lentil soup is a meatless meal that doesn't skimp on flavor or protein.

With less than a month to go before Lent starts for some and the push to continue to eat healthier in the new year for others, it’s the time of year to look for meatless recipes.

Unfortunately, sometimes it feels like those meatless meals are less satisfying than heartier meals, so I often find myself hunting for vegetarian recipes that are high in protein. The last thing I want is for a healthy dinner to drive me into the kitchen for a snack later because it just doesn’t stick with me.

When I stumbled on a recipe for some lentil soup I could make in my pressure cooker, I decided to do some research on lentils, not being particularly familiar with the ingredient, but I was pleasantly surprised at how healthy lentils really are.

Registered Dietician Katherine Zeratsky with the Mayo Clinic explains that “Lentils are high in protein and fiber and low in fat, which makes them a healthy substitute for meat. They’re also packed with folate, iron, phosphorus, potassium and fiber.”

And I thought they were pretty tasty, too, after we gave this soup recipe a try. The recipe I used is from the website “Delish” and was posted by Makinze Gore. You can find it at https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a25240121/instant-pot-lentil-soup/. I increased the amounts on several ingredients.

Pressure Cooker Lentil Soup

Lentil soup is a meatless meal that doesn't skimp on flavor or protein.

Course Main Course

Keyword lentil, pressure cooker, soup

Ingredients

1 medium yellow onion diced
2 medium carrots peeled and diced
3 stalks celery diced
6 to 8 cloves garlic minced
1 1/2 cups dried green lentils
14.5 ounces diced tomatoes
3 teaspoons thyme
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
4 cups fresh spinach
shredded or grated parmesan for serving

Instructions

Add all the ingredients, except the spinach and parmesan, to the crock of a pressure cooker and stir.
Set the pressure cooker to high pressure for 18 minutes and then quick release the pressure when it’s done cooking.
Stir in the spinach, and once it’s wilted, serve the soup garnished with parmesan.

There was enough leftover soup for us to put some in the freezer, and it was great later on, too.

I also opted for the vegetable broth to make this truly vegetarian, and I didn’t even notice there wasn’t any meat in the soup. It was hearty and filling and packed a lot of flavor.

If you really can’t bring yourself do meatless, I’d suggest tossing some cooked ham or bacon into the mix, but honestly, you won’t need it.

If you’ve never cooked with lentils before, don’t let them intimidate you. They look a little different, but they’re really just beans, but they have a bit of a nutty flavor, too.

I’m looking forward to seeing how else I can use them in my kitchen and glad I have a new vegetarian recipe to add to our dinner rotation.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 21, 2019.

Tags lentil, vegetarian

Main Dish Soup

Let’s ‘brocc’ and roll with soup this summer

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date July 5, 2018

Cream of broccoli soup uses fresh broccoli and carrots, along with some great melty cheese.

A few years ago, we met a young newspaper editor from Kentucky while we were at a conference. She’s one of those “do it all” folks and in addition to being a managing editor, she runs a small farm.

I’m friends with her on Facebook, and now that summer is in full swing, I enjoy seeing the photos of her fresh vegetables when she sets up at her local farmer’s market.

Recently, she posted a photo of some gorgeous stalks of broccoli, and it gave me a major craving. Joey isn’t much of a broccoli fan, so I waited for an evening when he wouldn’t be home and made myself a big batch of soup.

I know it’s July and it’s hot, but I will eat soup any time of the year—especially if it has some fresh veggies in it. Plus, the recipe’s author says it freezes well, so I was able to fill up some freezer containers for later, too.

The recipe I used is from the website “Happy Money Saver.” You can find it at https://happymoneysaver.com/homemade-creamy-cheesy-broccoli-soup/. I used more garlic and also swapped skim milk into the recipe instead of half and half. The original also used gouda in addition to cheddar.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

Cream of broccoli soup uses fresh broccoli and carrots, along with some great melty cheese.

Course Main Course, Soup

Keyword broccoli, carrots, garlic, sharp cheddar cheese

Ingredients

5 cups chicken broth
1 small onion minced
4 cups fresh broccoli chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup carrots grated
4-6 cloves garlic minced
1 bay leaf
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 cup milk I used skim
1 1/2 cup sharp cheddar shredded

Instructions

In a pot with a lid, combine the broth, onion, broccoli, carrots, garlic, bay leaf and some garlic salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and place the lid on the pot. Simmer for about 15 minutes or until the broccoli is nearly cooked through.
When the veggies are nearly done, melt the butter over medium heat in a large Dutch oven. Whisk in the flour and let it cook for a couple minutes. Once the broccoli mixture is cooked, begin adding the liquid you cooked the vegetables in to the Dutch oven with a ladle, whisking as you do to incorporate the flour roux.
Once the liquid thickens a bit, toss in the vegetables (remove the bay leaf), milk and more garlic salt and pepper, if desired.
After the mixture is heated through, remove it from the stove and stir in the cheese until it’s melted.
Serve with some crusty bread and a fresh salad to really bring in the garden-fresh deliciousness.

I was really excited about this soup, and I liked that it wasn’t made with heavy cream, too, so I didn’t feel quite as badly about enjoying a big bowl of it.

Plus, I’m pumped to have several containers of this waiting in my freezer to go to work with me for lunch in the coming weeks.

I won’t be making it to Kentucky for my friend’s fresh broccoli any time soon, but I think it’s time to do some visiting to our local farmer’s markets. It looks like the gardens are starting to overflow with some amazing veggies, so it’s time for my table to overflow with them, too.

This piece first appeared in print on July 5, 2018.

Tags broccoli, carrots, garlic, sharp cheddar cheese

Soup

Leftover potato soup a f‘root’ful experiment

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date April 19, 2018

Sausage and potato soup is a hearty meal and a good use for leftover baked and mashed potatoes.

I know that we’re quickly moving out of what most people would consider “soup weather,” but I tend to like it no matter what time of year it is.

I especially like to have containers full of it in my deep freeze at all times for evenings when Joey and I are far too busy (or tired) to make a home-cooked meal.

Recently, Joey was at an event where both baked and mashed potatoes were served. At the end of the evening, someone bagged up both and asked if anyone wanted the leftovers or they were going in the trash.

Joey snapped them up, figuring we could do something with it at home.

We brainstormed together and came up with what ended up being a delicious soup. We were pretty proud of ourselves, and I couldn’t help but think we weren’t the only ones who sometimes come across lots of leftover potatoes after a get-together, so I thought I’d share it with you. It also wouldn’t be hard to get a big bag of taters and just do this on its own.

I don’t have a source for this week’s recipe, since it came from Joey and I experimenting in our own kitchen, but I will say that you may need to adjust the amounts based on how many potatoes you have or how thick you like your soup. It’s a very flexible recipe, so I’d recommend adding liquid a little at a time until you get it to the right consistency.

We had so many potatoes that I doubled this and made two big pots full.

Sausage and Potato Soup

Sausage and potato soup is a hearty meal and a good use for leftover baked and mashed potatoes.

Course Main Course

Keyword baked potatoes, fennel, mashed potatoes, potatoes, sausage, soup

Ingredients

1 pound sage sausage
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 to 4 cloves garlic minced
4 to 6 tablespoons flour
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
About six medium-sized baked potatoes
About one pound mashed potatoes
1/4 teaspoon fennel
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk I used skim
4 ounces sharp cheddar shredded
4 ounces pepper jack shredded

Instructions

In a large Dutch oven, combine the sausage and onion, breaking apart and browning the sausage until it’s cooked through and the onions are soft.
Once the sausage is done cooking, stir in the minced garlic and cook for two to three minutes or until it browns slightly and starts to smell nice.
Start sprinkling in the flour, mixing it into the sausage to that it soaks up any grease. Keep adding it, a little at a time, until the grease is completely incorporated into the flour. Let it cook, continuing to stir, for about two minutes to cook the flour taste out.
Stir in the chicken broth and let that cook for a couple minutes as well.
Cut the baked potatoes into bite-sized pieces (we included the skin in ours) and add them to the pot along with the mashed potatoes (Both can be cold at this point. No need to heat them up beforehand.). Also toss in the fennel, garlic salt and pepper.
Stir the mixture well. Start by mixing in about one cup of milk and let the soup cook, stirring regularly so it doesn’t scorch on the bottom, for five to 10 minutes or until it begins to thicken. If it’s too thick, add more milk until you reach your desired consistency.
Once the soup is heated all the way through (probably another 10 minutes or so), dump in the sharp cheddar and pepper jack cheeses and stir until it’s melted.
Serve hot with a bit more cheese on top if desired.

We were head over heels in love with this recipe. It definitely fills you up quickly and has tons of great flavor.

It was also pretty satisfying to not see so much food tossed in the trash and instead be transformed into a wonderful meal (actually, several meals).

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, Americans toss about 30 to 40 percent of our food supply every year, which is a staggering amount. If we can come up with more ways to keep good food out of the garbage and back in our fridges, we could begin to solve a lot of issues in this country.

Of course, it doesn’t hurt when there’s sausage and garlic involved, too.

This piece first appeared in print on April 19, 2018.

Tags baked potatoes, cheese, fennel, mashed potatoes, sage, sausage

Main Dish Soup

Vegetarian soup will give you inner ‘peas’

Post author By Lindsey Young
Post date February 1, 2018

A pastor friend of mine noted on social media the other day that 2018 is a weird year, with Lent beginning on Valentine’s Day and Easter falling on April Fool’s Day. He was excited at the sermon possibilities that may come from it.

I started thinking about folks who will avoid taking their dates out for expensive steak or lobster dinners on Feb. 14.

If that happens to be you, or you’re looking for a good, filling meatless meal for Lent, you like to get some vegetables in your diet, or you just really like good soup, do I have a deal for you.

I was very curious about this week’s recipe when I first spotted it on Pinterest, because it features chickpeas, which I’ve only ever eaten when made into hummus.

This recipe comes from the blog “Feel Good Foodie.” You can find it at http://feelgoodfoodie.net/recipe/vegetarian-chickpea-pasta-soup/. I added a lot of spices and increased the amounts of some ingredients in my version.

Vegetarian chickpea pasta soup

Vegetarian chickpea pasta soup is a hearty soup despite being a meatless option.

Course Main Course

Keyword chickpeas, pasta, soup, vegetarian

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion diced (I used a yellow onion)
3-4 large carrots diced
4-5 stalks celery diced
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1 heaping teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
salt and pepper to taste
8 cups vegetable broth
15 ounces chickpeas rinsed and drained
8 ounces small pasta I used macaroni
grated parmesan and dried parsley for garnish

Instructions

In a Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, carrots and celery until they’re soft (about five to 10 minutes). Add in the garlic and sauté until it’s aromatic and just beginning to brown.
Add the spices and vegetable broth, and stir to loosen any bits from the bottom of the pot.
Bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
Add the chickpeas and pasta and cook for another 10 minutes or until the pasta reaches your desired level of doneness. (If you need to add any liquid, pour in some hot water.)
Remove from heat and serve with parmesan and dried parsley sprinkled on top of each bowl.

We enjoyed this soup a lot, and between the chickpeas and pasta, it fills you up nicely. It also has a lot of great flavors going on.

If you’re wondering, the chickpeas had the same basic texture as beans, so if you like beans, you’ll probably like this, too. And if you’re really not sure about them, throw in a can of great northern beans instead.

And if you want to make a good, vegetarian dinner for Valentine’s Day this year, I give this one my stamp of approval. Pair it with some crusty bread and a great chocolate dessert, and you’ll sweep your sweetie right off his or her feet.

This piece first appeared in print on Feb. 1, 2018.

Tags carrots, celery, chickpeas, onion, pasta, vegetarian