Bread Soup Bowls

I have been trying to 'PIN' this recipe for 3 days but it won't let me.  I don't want to lose it so I am putting it here where I have it.

Bread Soup Bowls
Makes 3 bowls
1 loaf frozen bread dough
1 egg, beaten

Cut loaf into 3 equal pieces.  Form each third into a ball.  Place on a large sprayed baking sheet.  Brush with beaten egg.  Cover with sprayed plastic wrap.  Let rise in a warm place until double in size.  Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool and slice off the top.  Hollow out bread from bowl (leave at least 1/2 inch around the sides - more if disired).   Fill with favorite chili, soup or dip. Serve and enjoy.  (The bread you pull out of the inside can be used to make croutons or breadcrumbs.  I just eat it.)

Noodles

I make this about once a month in the winter. I used to cut the dough by hand for my chicken noodle soup, but now I have a pasta maker. (Thanks, Heather.) Carianne requested the recipe many moons ago and I finally remembered. I will post how I make the soup after the pasta recipe.

Homemade Pasta

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

2 large eggs

1/4 water*

1 Tbs. olive oil

Mix flour and salt in a medium bowl. Make a well in the flour mixture and add the wet ingredients. Add water as needed if it is too dry, add flour if it is too sticky.

Gather dough into a ball. Knead on a lightly floured surface 5 to 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Cut into pieces (or use the pasta maker) and add to boiling soup.

(*I use about 1/3 cup of water a lot of the time, but I am not sure if it is because it is so dry here or what.)

I made this recipe up because I wanted soup like my moms and she didn't have a recipe. This is what I came up with.

Heidi's Chicken Noodle Soup

10 c. water

7 chicken bouillon cubes

1 c. carrots

1 c. celery

1 1/2 c. chicken or turkey (cut or shredded)

noodles (see above)

Boil the water and bouillon cubes together. Add in the vegetables and meat and cook on medium heat. When the chicken is done (no longer pink) return to a boil and add in the noodles. The noodles only need to cook for about 5 minutes at a boil. Let cool for 10 minutes and serve. Enjoy.

I have shredded leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and Christmas and frozen it to just add in. (hence the chicken or turkey.) 

(Mallory loved ate more than Luke this week when I made it.)

Butternut Squash Soup

This is really good.  We have a missionary that has PKU in our area right now - so he cannot have protein.  I am always trying to find recipes that are tasty and full of vegetables and fruits.  This is actually from America's Test Kitchen Magazine and worth the trouble. 

Butternut Squash Soup
2 1/2 pounds butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 2 inch pieces.
2 Tablespoons butter
1 leek, white and green parts only, quartered lengthwise, sliced and washed thoroughly (about 1 1/2 cups)
Salt and pepper
4 cups vegetable broth
1-2 cups water
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Pinch cayenne pepper
Sour cream or butter
Place squash in a bowl, cover and microwave until paring knife glides through flesh, 14-18 minutes, stirring halfway through the process.  Carefully transfer to colander that is set in a bowl (squash will be very hot) and drain for at least 5 minutes; reserve liquid.

Melt butter in Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add squash, leek and 1 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally; until squash pieces begin to break down and brown fond forms on the bottom of the pot, 10-15 minutes.

Add 2 cups broth and scrape bottom of pot to loos and dissolve the fond.  Add remaining 2 cups of broth, reserved squash liquid, 1 cup water, thyme sprigs, bay leaf and cayenne.  Increase heat to high, bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer over medium low heat for 10 minutes or until leeks are fully tender.

Remove and discard the bay leaf and thyme sprigs.  Working in small batches, process the soup in blender until smooth, 1-2 minutes (You might have to add a bit of water if soup is too thick).Return soup to clean pot and bring to simmer, thinning with up to 1 cup water to desired consistency.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and dollop of sour cream or butter in each bowl.  (Soup can be made two days in advance).

Quick Black Bean Soup

For some reason people think that soup is just for winter.  I like them year round because like this one, they are quick. This is not a heavy soup.  I serve it with tortilla chips and a shredded lettuce salad.  Dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes.  It is somewhat like a taco soup but lighter.  You make it as spicy as you want by how hot the salsa is you put in.
Quick Black Bean Soup
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, minced (optional)
2 cups chopped cooked chicken
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups chicken  broth
1 cup salsa (as spicy as you like - store-bought or homemade)
The juice of one lime
Melt butter in a medium saucepan and cook onions until golden.  Add chicken and cook until edges start to turn a golden brown.  Add the drained black beans, the chicken broth and salsa.  Simmer together for 20 minutes.  Add the juice of the lime just before serving and just heat through.  Serve with a side salad and tortilla chips or warmed corn tortillas. 

Creamy Wild Rice Soup

I have to admit that I really wondered about this soup when I first read the ingredients, but it was cold and rainy and just seemed the perfect meal to start our fast.  It was tasty, filling and comforting.  It is kind of expensive because of the wild rice but it is rich and tastes great.

Creamy Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
4 Tablespoons butter
1 shallot or small onion, finely minced
1 cup celery, finely chopped
3 Tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste
10-12 ounces chicken broth
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup cream
2 cups diced, cooked chicken

Prepare wild rice according to the directions on the package (you want just dry, cooked wild rice).  Melt the butter in a large dutch oven or pot, over medium heat.  Add onion and celery, then saute for 8-10 minutes.  Stir in flour, mixing until no flour shows.  Cook for 2 minutes and add salt and pepper to taste.  Add chicken broth, stirring constantly so there are no lumps.  Add the milk and cream.  Add the cooked wild rice and the chicken.  Simmer at least 10-15 minutes more and serve. 

Note: For some reason this soup really holds the heat well.  I  don't know if it is because of the wild rice or the thick gravy like stock.  As I wrote before, it is comforting and filling.  It is well worth the price of the wild rice.

Ham and Beans

A great Wintry soup is Ham and Beans.  This was a soup my father made with the leftover ham bone - whenever we had a bone-in ham when I was growing up.  He wanted more of the flavor and marrow than me and would actually saw the bone into 3 or 4 inch pieces but I don't.  I just chuck the whole bone in or if I want the soup and have no ham I buy a couple of ham hocks from the store.  I served this on Sunday to our Military students and a few other ward members.  It was a big hit.  It is amazing how something so simple can taste so good.  It is fairly inexpensive too!

Ham and Bean Soup
1 pound dried navy beans or small white beans for every 6-8 servings.
Either soak the beans overnight or if you forget to do that just cover the beans with water and bring to boil.  Boil for 5 minutes.  Turn of the stove and let the beans sit for at least 1 hour.  Rinse the beans and the stockpot and put the beans back in the pot.  Add the ham bone or the ham hocks.  Splash in about 4 splashes of liquid smoke for every pound of beans you are cooking or if you can find it you can use smoke flavored salt (I have gotten so I like the liquid smoke better).  Cover the beans with water and let simmer.  Keep the beans just covered and stir about every hour until they are tender - this will take from 2 1/2 to 3 hours - depending on how hard your simmer is.  Salt and pepper to taste. About 1/2 hour before serving, take the bone or hocks out and remove any usable meat off of them.  Cut the meat into bite sized pieces.  Add any other ham you would like to the soup at this time so it heats through but don't add any more water.  You want a fairly thick soup, so you want it to reduce to the consistency you desire.  Serve.  As with any soup, this one is always better the second day

Note: I  have actually used leftover deli-ham in my soup when I have had some laying around, just to use it up before it goes bad.  Usually I have some in the freezer just for this purpose.

Chicken Pot Pie Soup, Lite Version

6 small red potatoes, cut into 8ths
1 medium stalk celery, coarsely chopped, (1/2 cup)
1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 small onion, finely minced (1/4 cup)
5 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 pepper
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken or turkey (cut or torn into bite size pieces)
1 cup frozen sweet peas
1/4 cream or low-fat 1/2 & 1/2 or milk
In a 5 quart pot, pour in about 2 Tablespoons olive oil over medium heat and cook the potatoes, celery, carrots and onion for about 5-6 minutes or until the onion is softened. Pour broth, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper into vegetables. Heat to boiling; reduce heat to medium low. Cover and cook 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are tender and soup is slightly thickened. Mash the vegetables until they are still large lumps but the soup is thickening. Add the remaining ingredients. Cover and cook 5-6 minutes more, stirring occasionally, until chicken and peas are heated through. Ladle into soup bowl. Top with a biscuit if desired.

Alternate Method: To cook in a crockpot forgo the olive oil and just dump the vegetables, stock, and seasonings into a crockpot. Cook on high for 5-6 hours. One hour before serving, mash the vegetables. Add the peas, chicken and milk and enjoy.

Red Beans and Rice

This is spicy. I was told that it was from the Dominican Republic but someone tasted this not too long ago and said that it was from Haiti, they don't eat spicy food in the DR but they eat very spicy food in Haiti. Interesting. Don't know but it was given to me by someone that had lived in the Dominican Republic. I usually fix this in the summer but it would really be a better Winter dish.

Red Beans and Rice
1/2 pound kidney beans, dry, rinsed
1/2 pound pinto beans, dry, rinsed
4 cups water
4 cups chicken broth
2 garlic cloves, grated
2 bay leaves
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes with liquid
1 can 4 ounce tomato paste
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 onion, minced or grated
1 cup celery, chopped
1 can green chilies, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or 2 Tablespoons dried
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasonin
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vinegar
Place beans in a large pot with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Cover and let stand 1 hour. Drain and rinse beans in cold water Return the pot of beans to the stove and add broth, garlic, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for at least 1 1/2 hours. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 1 hour more or until beans are tender and stock (gravy) is thick. Remove the bay leaves. Serve in a bowl over a scoop of rice.

This meal freezes well and keeps well in the refrigerator.

Variations:
For 1 can tomatoes with liquid, diced you can add 3 fresh tomatoes, diced
For 4 ounces tomato paste you can use one large tomato run through the food processor and then drain all the liquid off.
I have used fresh, frozen or canned vegetables in this recipe with excellent results.

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Wash and remove the tips from 1 pound of fresh asparagus. Simmer the tips until tender in a bit of chicken broth. Cut the stalks of the asparagus into pieces and place them in a saucepan. Add 6 cups chicken broth and 1/4 cup finely minced onion with 1/2 cup finely chopped celery.

Simmer all of this, covered for 1/2 hour. Throw the mixture in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. In a saucepan melt 3 Tablespoons butter, stirring until blended with 3 Tablespoons of flour. Slowly add 1/2 heavy cream (whipping cream). Add this to the asparagus stock. Heat the soup through adding the chopped asparagus tips to the soup. Season with salt and pepper. Serve

Alternate Recipe: You can make this lower fat by adding skim milk instead of the cream. I have deleted some of the butter by just adding water to the flour and thickening the soup stock like you would gravy - broth gravy not cream gravy. This deletes the the fat and I must admit some of the flavor and richness. Clyde loves the original recipe the best but I like the lower fat recipe better.

Carolyn Brugger's Chili

This is my mother's chili recipe. I don't remember her making chili any other way and I personally gauge all chili recipes by this one. I have won one Stake Chili Cook-off and one Ward Cook off with this recipe.

2 1/2 pounds ground beef
2 tall cans tomato juice
2 pounds kidney or pinto beans
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 Tablespoons salt
1 Tablespoon pepper
2-4 Tablespoons chili powder
1 onion, minced fine
Bring the beans to boil and cook for 5 minutes. Take off heat and let sit for 1 hour. Drain and rinse the beans in cold water. In a dry skillet 'bloom' the chili powder or just heat up until you can just smell it. Bring the tomato juice to a boil. Add the beans and onion, chili powder and pepper and put it on the back of the stove for 4-6 hours or until the beans are cooked through and the stock is thick. Add water or tomato juice as needed. About one hour before serving add the ground beef and salt. It isn't necessary to cook the ground beef all day with the beans but you can if you want too. You don't want to add the salt too soon or your beans will be tough.

Tamale Soup

This is really good! It is quick and tasty. We are going to spice ours up a little more next time but this is a great recipe for family's that like things mild.

1 pound ground pork or beef
1 pound ground chicken or turkey
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
2 beef bouillon cubes
2 cups water
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup green chile enchilada sauce
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 15-ounce can tomatoe sauce
1 15-ounce pinto beans, drained
10 fresh tamales, frozen or canned, husks removed
Grated cheese

Brown ground meat with onion in a large skillet (if meat is too lean, add 1 Tablespoon oil). Drain off grease. Add the chili powder, salt and pepper, mixing until the chili is blended well. Add remaining ingredients except for the tamales and cheese. Cook on low heat until flavors are blended. Ten minutes before serving, cut the tamales into 1-inch pieces and add to soup. If the tamales are not frozen, they will fall apart after cooking for extended periods of time. So if using canned tamales, drop in just before serving and just heat through. Top the serving with cheese if desired and serve with tortilla chips.

Note: I made mine with meatloaf mix because the one I found was made with beef, pork and chicken. It turned out great. I made the recipe today for the meal after the meetings for the military students. My soup ended up being served with a wonderful fruit salad, a tossed salad, some pineapple salsa and some guacamole along with some dinner rolls. It was a wonderful meal. Enjoy!

Danish Sweet Soup

I don't think anyone in the family likes this but me. The only reason that I am posting it is because it is my Grandma Myrl Brugger's recipe and it was her mother's. I think that legacy recipes are important to keep in the family. Part of the reason my sister doesn't like this is because of the texture. I love it because it reminds me of warm winter meals and frankly I love it! The one recipe that I wish I had and I knew how to make was Grandma Myrl's Cherry Chocolates - but alas I am afraid that one died with my mother.

1 quart water
12 pitted prunes
1/2 cup raisins
A scant 2/3 cup sugar
2 - 3 cinnamon sticks (if they are small - use 3)
Boil together for 10 minutes.
Add 1 quart cold water and 1/4 -1/2 cup tapioca (if using instant tapioca, 1/3 cup should be enough).
Boil stirring constantly.
Cool.
Add juice of 3 oranges (or 3/4 -1 cup orange juice)
Add juice of 2 lemons and 1 1/2 cups of frozen raspberries. Warm through. Serve hot or cold. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Dutch Sausage Soup

I know you have all missed me. Still no camera.

9 c. water

1 pound dry lima beans

1 c. ham

4 celery stalks including leaves (sliced)

2 tsp. garlic salt

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

1 pound cooked polish sausage

Heat water and beans to boiling in a large pot and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for one hour. Add remaining ingredients except sausage. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer at least 3 hours. The add whole sausage to the pot. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove and slice, return to soup.

I served it with fresh rolls. It is a very easy soup. It is hard for me to remember to do things in advance for dinner that aren't crock pot. However, I did this as I made lunch for my children and it turned out fabulous. (I used turkey sausage.)

Andy is very proud of his Dutch heritage and said this soup tasted like what his Grandma makes.

Ham chowder

6 c. chicken broth OR

4 boullion cubes and 6 c. water.

4 potatoes

2 c. chopped ham

1/2 whipping cream

1 can corn OR green beans

Bring broth to a boil, add potatoes. Cook potatoes for about 20 minutes or until soft. Add ham, cream and veggie. Heat through.

I used to add cheese, but realized it was not necessary and had less fat, too. Also, we didn't want to use corn last night and I experimented with the green beans. They taste fine, but are a weird size. We do prefer corn. I serve it with rolls and milk.

Busy Day Soup

We like this recipe and it is really good with bread bowls.

Busy Day Soup

1/2 pound ground meat (we use turkey)

1 can tomato soup

1 can veggie beef soup

1 can bean with bacon soup

1 Tbs. chili powder

3 cans water

Brown meat and add the rest of the ingredients. Simmer for 30 minutes. Fast and surprisingly good.