Chunky Potato Soup

My husband makes a delishish ham that my whole family devours.  However, there are always leftovers because it is so big.  I have finally found a great recipe to incorporate some of these leftovers in.  Potatoes, cheese, ham, are you drooling yet?  It just screams comfort food to me.

Serve this up with a side of salad and some crusty bread (or skip the bread!) and you've got yourself a filling, nutritious meal.  Yum!



Ingredients:
3 medium red potatoes
2 cups water
1 small onion
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
crushed red pepper flakes
ground black pepper
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed cooked ham (mine was shredded)

Directions:
1.  Peel potatoes and cut into 1 inch cubes.

2.  Bring water to a boil in a large saucpan.  Add poatoes and cook until tender (approx. 20 minutes).  Drain, reserving liquid.  Set aside potatoes.  Measure 1 cup cooking liquid, adding water, if necessary; set aside.

3.  Peel and finely chop onion.  Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat.  Add onion to saucepan; cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and tender, but not brown.  (approx. 6-7 minutes)

4.  Add flour to saucepan; season with pepper flakes and black pepper to taste.  Cook 3-4 minutes.  (this will make it into a thick mixture)

5.  Gradually add potatoes, reserved 1 cup of cooking liquid, milk and sugar to onion mixture in saucepan; stir well. 

Add cheese and ham.

Simmer over low heat 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

6.  Serve and enjoy!

This recipe is from a mail order recipe card from www.grandmaskitchenreicpes.com

Thai Chicken Soup

I'm such a fan of Thai food.  I love me some red curry, coconut milk, and lemongrass.  Yum yum yum!  So, last week, while I was flipping the pages of a food magazine, I became completely mesmerized by a photo of Thai soup.  Gone were my plans to post a recipe for delicious Southern style black-eyed peas, ham, and collard soup. Gone were my plans to try out a soup made creamy by the addition of hummus.   Every other recipe just seemed so boring by comparison.  { insert dramatic sigh here}

Fast forward a few days, and I'm happy to report that this recipe was deserving of my fixation; it's just so, so good!  We loved it, and I couldn't stop sneaking spoonfuls of the broth when I was putting the leftovers away.  Once you have the veggies and chicken sliced up, it goes together pretty quickly, so this recipe would make a great weeknight dinner.

Enjoy!






Thai Chicken Soup
adapted from Food Network Magazine


1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbps. red curry paste
6 c. low-sodium chicken broth
13-15 oz. can light coconut milk
1 Tbsp. fish sauce, plus more to taste
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced 
1 c. mushrooms, sliced
6 oz. rice noodles, broken into pieces
1 Tbsp. lemongrass *
1 medium boneless, skinless chicken breast (about 1/2 lb.), thinly sliced crosswise
juice from 1/2 a lime
1/4 c. cilantro, roughly chopped, optional

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook, stirring, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, coconut milk and fish sauce; cover and bring to a boil.

Add the bell peppers, mushrooms, and noodles and simmer, uncovered, until the noodles are al dente, about 3 minutes. Add the lemongrass and chicken, and simmer until chicken is just cooked through, about 3 more minutes. Stir in the lime juice and cilantro, and add more fish sauce, if desired**.


* Note 1:  My grocery store doesn't carry fresh lemongrass, so I bought a tube instead.  It measures tablespoon for tablespoon the same as fresh lemongrass, and it will keep in my fridge for a lot longer.


** Note 2:  When you taste the broth at this point, if it tastes like it could use more salt, try adding 1/2 Tbsp. fish sauce.  I did, and it tasted just right.  My total fish sauce for the entire recipe was 1 1/2 Tbsp.


*** Note 3:  Rice noodles tend to get mushy if you leave them in broth in the fridge.  When you package up your leftovers, keep the noodles and broth in separate containers.  Add the noodles back in to reheat.

Ingredient Lineup:

(MIA: the chicken and cilantro)

Remove the noodles from the broth before storing leftovers.

Yummy in my tummy.

Beef and Barley Soup

I've been on the search for a beef barley soup that we would enjoy for a long time.  I think I finally found it!  This recipe comes courtesy of all*you EAT WELL, SAVE BIG Cookbook.  My husband has been telling everyone I made him the best soup ever.

My favorite part?  It cooks all day in the crock pot.  I threw it in before I left the house for the day and when I came back home my house smelled wonderful.  I made it on a day that we weren't all home at the same time for dinner making it the perfect meal for us to grab when we were ready.

I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
10 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced
2 lb. lean beef stew meat, cut into 1/2 inch peices
6 cups low-sodium beef broth
2 carrots, chopped
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes with juice
1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2/3 cup pearl barley
salt and pepper

Directions:
1.  Warm 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onions and mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables have softened slightly and mushrooms have released their liquid, about 7 minutes.  Scrape vegetables into slow cooker. 

2. Warm remaining 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil in same skillet.  Add beef and cook, stirring until meat is browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.  Scrape beef into slow cooker.

3.  Pour 1 cup of broth into skillet and stir with a wooden spoon to scrape up any browned bits on bottom of pan.  Pour broth from skillet, remaining broth, carrots, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, garlic powder, barley and 1 tsp. salt into slow cooker.  Stir, cover and cook on low until meat is tender, 6-7 hours.

4.  Season with salt and pepper and serve hot.  

French Onion Soup {so good I could cry}

I love onions - really I do. But after the incident as I like to refer to this recipe: Orange Coriander Chicken with Red Onions I have yet to attempt to cook with one of my favorite foods in anything but minuscule portions since May of last year. It was that traumatic. But when I saw this recipe for French Onion Soup my taste buds told my tears to put on their big girl panties and find a way to cut up onions with out crying.

So I scoured the internet for the best tips on how to cut onions without all the water works. You could try any one or a combination of these: Use a very sharp knife. Chill onions in freezer before cutting.Cut the onion near running water or a pot of steaming water. Soak the onion in water before cutting. Breathe through your mouth when cutting. Light a candle right next to cutting board. Chew gum or bread while cutting.

Or you could just do what I did: chop fast, cry a little and get back to making a really good soup. Just tell yourself like I did that tears are like love - they make a recipe taste better.

French Onion Soup
{Elise} @ Simply Recipes

Ingredients:
6 large red or yellow onions, peeled and thinly sliced.
Olive oil
1/4 teaspoon of sugar
2 cloves garlic, minced
8 cups of beef stock, chicken stock, or a combination of the two.
1/2 cup of dry vermouth or dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1/4 teaspoon of dry thyme
Salt and pepper
8 slices of toasted bread
1 1/2 cups of grated Swiss Gruyere

1 In a large saucepan, sauté the onions in the olive oil on medium high heat until well browned, but not burned, about 30-40 minutes (or longer). Add the sugar about 10 minutes into the process to help with the carmelization.

2 Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add the stock, vermouth or wine, bay leaf, and thyme. Cover partially and simmer until the flavors are well blended, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Discard the bay leaf.




3 To serve you can either use individual oven-proof soup bowls or one large casserole dish. Ladle the soup into the bowls or casserole dish. Cover with the toast and sprinkle with cheese. Put into the broiler for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F, or until the cheese bubbles and is slightly browned. Serve immediately.



Hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed this soup but we were worried about whether the kids would even taste it. We thought kids were going to have a fit when they see that this is onion soup...but the boys ate it with encouragement while Maddy completely ignored her bowl. 

She is going though one of those eat like a bird phases.