Showing posts with label Soup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Soup. Show all posts

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Potato Corn Soup






I have been yearning for some potato corn soup ever since D's friend's mom told me she made some in her slow cooker and that was about a month ago. She is having her kitchen remodeled so she was without a stove for quite some time. That's why she made her soup in her slow cooker. I am not (unfortunately) having my kitchen remodeled so I made this soup on the stove. I think it is a Paula Deen recipe but I can't be sure. It definitely comes from the http://www.foodnetwork.com/ website. The original recipe added shrimp but I found another version with less butter and no shrimp on the http://www.howtoeatacupcake.net/ website. I (of course) did some of my own adjustments to the recipe. Feel free to use the recipe "as is" or make the changes that I made. I used no sodium chicken bouillon, skim milk and fat free half & half rather than regular bouillon cubes, 1% milk and regular half and half. Even if you used the originally called for ingredients this soup wouldn't be that bad for you. Paula's original recipe called for cooking 6 slices of bacon and crumbling them. I cooked the bacon and chopped it rather than buying bacon bits. I use the oven method when I make bacon because it is less messy and much easier than frying the bacon. I put it in the oven on a cookie sheet that is lined with a grill such as the type you would use to cook a roast or chicken. The bacon comes out great. It will be flat and not all twisted up like when you fry it. I was lucky to have D help me cube the potatoes and chop the carrots. He did a great job even though he had a bruised pinkie finger.
I don't eat seafood so I substituted some diced precooked chicken instead of using shrimp. This addition turned the soup into a meal in a bowl!

Potato Corn Soup
Serves 8-10

1/2 stick butter
1 small onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced about the same size as the onion
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups 1% milk
1 cup half-and-half
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cans whole kernel corn (I used frozen)
crumbled bacon bits, for garnish
grated sharp Cheddar, for garnish

In a 4-quart saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onion and carrots until both are slightly tender, about 5 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the potatoes, milk and dissolved bouillon cubes. Cook over medium heat for 20 minutes, until the potatoes are soft and some of them have begun to dissolve into mush. Add the half-and-half, salt, pepper and corn. Return the soup to a boil, then remove from heat. Serve soup sprinkled with bacon bits and grated cheese.

This soup is another new family favorite for us. Please try it and let me know how you like it.

Enjoy!
The Creative Cook






Sunday, February 15, 2009

Lasagna Soup




I realize that although I am working now, my family still needs to eat. I had made copies of several recipes that I thought D would enjoy. He picked out the Lasagna Soup to try first.

I found this recipe in the February 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine. It is originally from Meredith Deeds cookbook 300 Sensational Soups. Her son Kyle came up with the idea of turning his favorite meal, lasagna, into a soup.

I was fairly faithful to the recipe but I used chicken Italian sausage which is lower in fat than regular pork sausage and I used part-skim ricotta as usual. I also reduced the amount of onion because neither D nor B like onions very much. And since I didn't have any fresh basil so I used half a teaspoon of dried basil instead. The soup turned out so good. Here is the quote from the Family Fun magazine article: "The tomato-y broth, brimming with sausage and pasta, melts the mix of cheeses placed in each bowl before serving. A quick swirl of the spoon ensures diners will get a bit of gooey cheese inn every bite." I really can't decide if I should keep the cheese mixture separate and add it just before serving or go ahead and put the entire mixture into the soup. For now, I'm keeping them separate like the directions recommend. Apparently, I didn't read end of the recipe very well because I combined the mozzarella with the ricotta and Parmesan and put it on top of the soup rather than putting the cheese in the bowl first and soup on top as you can see from the picture. I wish I had done it the right way but, oh well, the soup tasted great to me anyway. I reduced the amount of red pepper flakes in the recipe because D thought the soup was too spicy with 1/2 teaspoon in there. I will definitely leave them out altogether next time I make this soup. Yes, there definitely WILL be a next time for this one!

Lasagna Soup

Ingredients:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1-1/2 pounds Italian sausage (bulk or with casings removed)
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons tomato paste
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
6 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
8 ounces fusilli pasta
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh basil
8 ounces ricotta
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of pepper
2 cups shredded mozzarella

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and saute, breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon, until the sausage is no longer pink, about 5 to 7 minutes. Drain any excess fat from the pot. Add the onions and saute until softened, about 6 minutes. Add the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and saute for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and saute until the paste turns a rusty brown, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the broth, and the bay leaves and bring the soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

2. Add the pasta, then increase the heat to medium-high and boil the soup until the pasta is tender to the bite, following the time recommendations on the pasta package. Discard the bay leaves, then stir in the basil. If desired, season with salt and black pepper to taste.

3. In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, the Parmesan, the 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and the pinch of pepper. To serve, place about 1-1/2 tablespoons of the ricotta mixture in each bowl, sprinkle with some of the mozzarella, and ladle the soup on top. Makes about 13 cups.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Olive Garden Style Chicken Gnocchi Soup

I went to lunch today with a friend. We ate at Olive Garden. We had their soup, bread sticks and salad lunch special. It was a wonderful treat. We both got the new Chicken Gnocchi Soup. My friend was so enamored with the soup that she thought about buying three more servings to take home for her hubby and kids but I convinced her to try making it herself at home. I had high hopes of finding a "copycat" recipe inspired by this wonderful Olive Garden soup. I was very successful and I plan to make this soup very soon for my family. Please try it. I will most likely substitute chicken broth for the bullion cubes because of the MSG in most (if not all) bullion cubes that I have ever seen. If you know about any chicken bullion cubes sold that do not contain any form of MSG, please please please email me or send me some feedback about them. Here is the recipe that I found:


Olive Garden Style Chicken Gnocchi Soup Recipe
Post By Heather (Guest Post) (11/09/2008)

I used this recipe and I absolutely loved the soup. It seems to be the closest to the Olive Garden Chicken Gnocchi Cream Soup. From beginning to end it takes about 10 min. of prep and 30 min. cook time.

1/3 cup olive oil or butter
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 lb. chicken
1/3 cup flour
1/2 carrot shredded
1 stick of celery
1/2 cup fresh chopped spinach
2-1/2 cups whole milk
1-1/2 cup heavy cream
3 chicken bullion cubes
Cracked pepper to taste
17.6 oz. of Gnocchi from Target

On medium heat. Melt butter in a soup pot, add in the garlic and saute, add your chicken and cook through out. Add flour and stir in flour and mix well until the flour is cooked into the chicken. Next add your milk and heavy cream, then add the veggies (carrots, celery, spinach). Add three bullion cubes. Add your Gnocchi last it, takes 3-4 min. to cook through. Mix ingredients well until soup thickens and stir occasionally. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cook