Autumn is upon us once again & once October arrives, I am absolutely in love with the last three months of the year. Halloween, Thanksgiving & Christmas all sandwiched together in three months of fun, family & of course, food! One food I absolutely love is soup - I think that it would be completely possible for me to live on just soup & be perfectly happy. I mean, I think I'd need some macaroni & cheese every once in a while & I'd still want chocolate, but soup makes me pretty happy. So with that being said, I though I'd make a little post about three really delicious soups I've made in the past couple weeks. They are some of my favorites, they're super easy to make & hopefully you'll love them too! First up, the kind of soup I could eat a couple times a week - Potato Soup!
Potato Soup
-2 to 3 potatoes, cut up
-3 tbsp. butter
-onion flakes (just eyeball this...maybe 1 tbsp)
-3 tbsp. flour
-1 cup cooking liquid (from potatoes)
-bacon (or cubed ham or Canadian bacon)
-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
-1 tsp sugar
-salt & pepper to taste
Cut up your potatoes & cover them with water. Bring water to a boil & cook the potatoes until they are tender; you should be able to stick them with a fork. Set aside one cup of the cooking liquid, strain off the rest of the water & sit your potatoes aside.
Put the butter in your pan & melt, mixing in the onion as the butter melts. Add the flour & a little bit of the reserve liquid, whisking. You should continue to add reserve liquid & milk at alternate intervals so that a rue forms; this will help your soup thicken. You will continue to add the reserve liquid & milk until you have added it all in.
Sprinkle in salt & pepper as well as the teaspoon of sugar. Add back the potatoes, adding in your meat (be it bacon, Canadian bacon or ham - I've used all 3 & they all taste delicious) & your cup of cheese. Keep cooking on low heat for about 20 minutes until you reach the desired consistency. Be sure to stir this frequently because since it is a cream based soup, it will burn if you just leave it simmering on the stove!
OK - change of plans on the pictures. Because they are being crazy weird, I'll go ahead with the recipes first & then the pictures at the end. Not exactly what I had planned, but then again - plans change all the time & life goes on. As do I...so moving right along...to Black Bean Soup!
Black Bean Soup
-3 cans black beans
-Canadian bacon (or cubed ham)
-1 bell pepper
-32 oz. chicken broth
-1 onion
-3 garlic cloves
-1 tsp. cumin
-1/2 tsp. chili powder
-1/4 tsp. salt
Chop up your bell pepper first & foremost - small dices work best.
Cook the Canadian bacon, pepper, onion & garlic (this will make your kitchen smell delicious) - when it comes to that garlic, I use garlic powder & just read the label, it will tell you how much equals 1 clove. I believe if I remember correctly 1/4 tsp equals a clove, but check that to be sure!
Add in the cumin, chili powder & salt
Add the chicken broth & 3 cans of beans, simmer for about 30 minutes.
Puree 2-4 cups of the soup in the blender & then add it back to the soup & simmer for about 10 more minutes. This will help thicken the soup. You can top it with shredded cheese - mozzarella is good, but whatever you prefer! This is a really easy one & absolutely delicious. It has a great smoky taste.
And...last but not least - Cream of Vegetable Soup! I don't know if any of you have ever been to the Dixie Stampede, but my family has been several times. I remember the first time we went, the first thing they brought out was listed on the menu as a type of vegetable soup. I don't eat vegetables very much, so I was apprehensive...but this is some of the best soup I've ever tasted. I'd always wondered about the recipe & then just two nights ago, a Facebook friend posted that she'd made the soup & I had to get the recipe. I made it tonight for supper & it was delicious! It's rich, for sure...so don't eat too much. It is also divine though!
Cream of Vegetable Soup
-3 tbsp. butter
-1/2 tsp. onion powder
-1/2 tsp. garlic powder
-1 tsp. corn syrup
-3 tbsp. flour
-1/4 tsp. pepper
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 cup chicken broth
-1 1/2 cups water
-3/4 cup chopped vegetables (the recipe suggests potatoes & carrots, so that is what I did)
-1 pint half & half
Melt butter in a sauce pan; add onion, garlic & corn syrup - simmer but do not brown.
Add flour, pepper, salt, chicken broth, water & veggies - simmer for approx. 3 minutes
Add the half & half, simmering until the soup thickens to the consistency you'd like. This needs to be stirred pretty frequently & you should cook it on very low heat; I kept my eye at about 4-5 so that it just had small bubbles. You don't want to let this boil.
Well - there you go! Three soups to try out as this weather gets cooler - at least, I hope it gets cooler, because I am about tired of summer! :)
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| Almost all of my ingredients - my counter always looks crazy when I cook! |
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| Cooking up some taters! |
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| This is what a rue looks like - thick & creamy. Smooth out any lumps! |
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| Double meat - Canadian bacon & bacon. Delicious! |
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Ready to be eaten!
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