Curried Pumpkin Soup with Chicken

 

(*To note: This picture actually shows curried butternut-pumpkin soup. This recipe will make a more orange soup. Close enough.)

A recipe of sorts, based on this. Makes a big ol' pot of delicious soup! The amounts given are loose, and I always add more spices, to taste, as I'm making it. I highly recommend tasting frequently as you cook. That's how I maintain this robust figure! :)

We have enough pumpkins for perhaps one more pot. I will miss it when they are gone, and will probably make it using butternut squash, instead.

Curried Pumpkin Soup with Chicken

-6 small New England sugar pie pumpkins, halved, de-seeded, and roasted until flesh is tender

-a stick of butter

-3 onions, finely chopped

-a large head of garlic (a full head, not one clove), pressed

-2 tbsp. yellow curry powder, more to taste

-1/2 tsp. grated nutmeg, more to taste

-a couple of tablespoons freshly minced ginger

-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne (optional), to taste

-1 tsp. salt, to taste

-1/2 tsp. ground black pepper

-6 cups chicken bone broth (or stock/broth)

-1 can full-fat coconut milk

-additional cow's milk or cream, as needed

-several pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into very thin strips

-chopped cilantro, if desired

-pumpkin seeds for garnish, if desired, either toasted from the pumpkins or green pepitas given to you by your mother-in-law :)

Directions:

1. Scoop the cooked pumpkin flesh out of shells and puree in batches in the blender with enough of the bone broth and/or coconut milk to help blend evenly. Place in a pot and stir in the remainder of the broth and coconut milk. Add additional cow's milk or cream until you reach the desired consistency. 

2. Saute the chopped onions in the butter over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add the minced ginger and pressed garlic until fragrant. Add to pot with pumpkin puree.

3. Add remainder of ingredients (except pumpkin seeds) to pot and heat over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until chicken is cooked through.

If desired, add pumpkin seeds for garnish.

Glow-in-the-Dark Turmeric & Coconut Fish Curry

 

Seriously, that fluorescent yellow around the edges of the bowl is not a trick of the camera!

Here's another recipe based on someone else's concoction, with the specialty ingredients omitted.
This is more of a sweet curry than a spicy one, and it's the perfect winter comfort food, only healthier than most.  I usually top it with a sprinkle of cayenne to add a little heat.

We double the following, and it serves our family of 12.

Ingredients:

• 
  
• -1 lb. mild white fish (we use tilapia)
  -1 onion
  -2 tbsp olive oil
• -4 garlic cloves, or more, pressed
• -1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• -lime juice, to taste
• -1 can full-fat coconut milk

-1 cup chicken stock/broth

-ground cardamom, to taste (if desired)

• -1/4 tsp cloves, ground
  -2 tsp ground coriander
• -1 tbsp ground Turmeric, or to taste (we buy it in bulk and just dump a bunch in until it tastes good
• -1 tsp. ground cumin
  -fresh cilantro (we use fresh, frozen, chopped from summertime)
• ALSO, SALT, TO TASTE!!! (Edited on 12/09/2025 because my married daughter Mildred just made it and told me I forgot to include salt in the recipe. 😂)
  
  

-Basmati or white rice (we cook four cups dry for 12, so 2 cups dry should be enough to easily serve six)

Directions:

1. Saute chopped onion in olive oil over medium heat until soft and translucent. Add grated ginger and pressed garlic and saute for about one minute until fragrant.

2. Add lime juice, coconut milk, chicken stock, and spices, and cook until heated through. Add thawed fish and cook until done. Once fish is cooked (this will not take long), break into chunks with a spoon and then add in the fresh (or frozen) cilantro.

3. Serve over rice.

• 
  

Romantic Thai Red Curry (19!)

 

I'll try to get an appetizing shot next time we make this, but for now, a split-second shot of the last bowl.

Millie first made this for John's and my 19th anniversary meal (nineteen years...wahoo!). She's heard me rave about Thai red curry since John took me to a Thai restaurant several years ago, and now there's no need to go to restaurants!

We loosely follow the recipe found here but omit a few of the rarest ingredients, making this a definite splurge meal but not so excessive that we can't still make payments on our house, which is just the right balance for a nineteenth anniversary. We omit the butternut/pumpkin and green beans to streamline it, substitute lime juice for the kaffir lime leaves, and regular basil for the Thai basil. I'm guessing our version is a greatly dressed down version of Thai Red Curry, but it's doable, and it tastes close enough to the restaurant version to make me swoon and eat it for three meals running.

We double or triple these amounts, but I'm putting in the original amounts with our alterations. Most of the children like the rice/curry ratio to heavily favor the rice. I'm the opposite and eat the curry as a soup with just a small amount of rice mixed in. Slurping is encouraged.

Red Curry Paste

-one can of Maesri Thai Red Curry paste (the cheapest, and, according to the recipe's author, the best!) *USE LESS IF YOU DON'T LIKE HEAT. The author recommends 5-6 tbsp. or less, to taste. We use the whole can, which makes me happy and most children unhappy.

-2 large garlic cloves, minced
-2 tsp. fresh ginger, finely grated
-1 tbsp. lemongrass paste (found a tube in Walmart's refrigerator section, and it lasts for several big curry batches)


Thai Red Curry

- 1 cup chicken broth/stock
-14 oz. full-fat coconut milk
-a splash or two of lime juice, to taste
-1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. or so chopped basil, if desired (we just dump in a bit of chopped, frozen, garden basil, to taste)
-2 tsp. fish sauce, plus more to taste (one bottle will stretch a looong way in curries)
-boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into very thin slices-- as much or as little chicken as you want. More is better. :)

Jasmine rice, cooked

Cilantro leaves, for garnish


DIRECTIONS

• Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add canned curry paste, garlic, ginger, and lemongrass paste and cook for about 2 minutes so it "dries out." 
• Add chicken broth and stir to dissolve paste. Simmer rapidly for 3 minutes or until liquid reduces by half.
• Add coconut milk, lime juice, sugar, basil, and fish sauce. Stir, then bring to a simmer and turn heat down to medium. Cook until sauce is almost the thickness you want, and then add sliced chicken. Cook for several more minutes until chicken is cooked through. 
• Taste curry and add more fish sauce for saltiness, as needed, and/or more sugar for sweetness.
• Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with cilantro leaves, if desired.

Italian Wedding Soup

(The last half-eaten bowl of soup-- more delicious than it looks.)

Before I type the recipe, here's an extra paragraph in case you haven't made bone broth before.

Homemade bone broth is the base for almost all of our soups these days, and it turns a good soup into an extraordinary one, with minimal effort.

First of all, SAVE THE BONES. ALWAYS.
After a meal, we just throw the bones in a ziplock bag and store them in the freezer until needed.

To make poultry bone broth, take a turkey carcass, a roast chicken carcass, or any combination of bones thereof and place in a crockpot. Add an onion, quartered, about 6 cloves garlic (split), a stalk of celery cut into chunks, a carrot or two, cut into big chunks, half a dozen peppercorns, a couple of teaspoons of salt, and a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (this will help the bones break down more easily so you can get all the goodness of that marrow). Add about a gallon of water (I usually just fill to top of crockpot) and simmer on low heat for about 24 hours. Strain into a bowl for use.

*I also now make bone broth in our instant pot when I forget to do it the day before and am feeling time's pinch. It only takes a couple of hours in the instant pot, but when I remember, I prefer using the crockpot.

ITALIAN WEDDING SOUP

This is a sloppy "recipe," as it's basically my notes to Susannah typed word-for-word. I can always come back on here later and type it up in proper recipe form.
A couple of notes: 
1. The ingredients are in bold
2. These amounts are general. As I told Susannah, throw in whatever you want! You can't ruin it!
3. If you don't have a huge stockpot and want to fit this soup in a normal pot, cut it all in half. This fed 11 Owen people for supper with leftovers for the next day's lunch.

One gallon+ of turkey or chicken bone broth (or store-bought chicken stock, though it will cost more and taste less) for the soup's base.

For the meatballs:

2-3 pounds ground turkey (could use pork or beef)
1 and a half pounds sweet Italian sausage
1 cup dry bread crumbs (ours are plain homemade ones; if you're using storebought seasoned, keep that in mind when you shake in the dried seasonings at the end.)
3 eggs
1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
1 large onion, finely minced (we used food processor to turn it to mush)
6 plump cloves garlic (turned to mush with the onion)
1 tsp. salt
a couple of shakes each of dried sage, rosemary, thyme, and basil

Mix all these together by hand in a bowl. Shape into smallish meatballs and bake on tinfoil-lined, rimmed baking sheets for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees, or until cooked through.

Slice 5-6 carrots into coins and set aside.
Thaw 1-2 bags of frozen spinach (we used two 12 oz. bags) and squeeze out excess liquid. In the summer, use fresh!

Meanwhile, sauté about one-two cups chopped celery and one large onion in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and butter until softened. Add the celery mixture to the bone broth, add the sliced carrots, and cook until carrots are almost soft. Add 12 oz. small-shaped pasta (acini de pepe is standard, but we just used egg noodles broken in pieces) and spinach and cook until the pasta is al dente. Add the meatballs, add additional salt and pepper (and garlic powder, rosemary, thyme, and basil), to taste, if needed, serve, and slurp.

Curried Zucchini Soup

This recipe is most useful in mid-August through September, when one's intelligence is measured by how many ingenious ways one can use up the eternal zucchini harvest.  The children and I ate this nearly every day for lunch for a week straight last summer, and I didn't hear complaints until the end of the week, so that's something.  If one's family eats that much zucchini soup in one week, then the recipe's worth keeping.

It's best to eat it while shouting this poem all together.   Trust me.

*Notes: 

1.  After making it the first time, I just added ingredients, to taste, and threw in a ton more zucchini and chicken stock.  You do the same.  Also, I've never once chilled it before we eat it for lunch, but leftovers are even better the next day after the flavors have settled into the whole soup.

2.  I sometimes add diced potatoes to this, too, and blend them in with the zucchini, before adjusting the spices to suit.  

Curried Zucchini Soup (source: Emeril Lagasse, my best buddy)

4-6 servings

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil 
1 cup chopped yellow onions 
1 teaspoon minced garlic 
2 teaspoons curry powder 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
Pinch cayenne 
2 pounds zucchini, trimmed and chopped 
3 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken stock (we use chicken)
1/2 cup heavy cream (we probably just used milk)
Chopped cilantro, garnish, if desired

Directions:

In a medium pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. Add the curry powder, salt, and cayenne, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the zucchini, reduce to medium heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the zucchini is very tender, about 20 minutes. 

Remove from the heat. With a hand-held immersion blender, or in batches in a food processor, puree the soup. Return to medium heat and stir in the cream. Simmer for 3 minutes. Adjust the seasoning, to taste. 

Pour into a clean container and let cool slightly. Refrigerate until well chilled, 4 to 6 hours. 

To serve, ladle into large cups, garnish with cilantro, and serve with pita toast. This soup may be served hot or cold.

Wild Leek and Potato Soup

 


I love this soup and make it a bit differently each time I make it.  Next spring, go find some wild leeks and whip some up yourself!

-12 small, white potatoes, unpeeled and diced
- 2 and 1/2 cups washed, thinly sliced leeks (white part only), reserving the tops
- about 20-30 green leek tops
- 6 (?) cups chicken broth or water + bouillon (I always wing this)
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh or frozen chopped parsley (I used herbs frozen from summer in this)
- 1 tsp. fresh, chopped thyme
- dried thyme, additionally, to taste
- dash of ground cayenne
- salt (1- 2 tsp.) and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
-fresh garlic, minced and sauteed in a bit of olive oil, or garlic powder, to taste

-fresh chives, chopped, for garnish
- If you have bacon, USE IT.  Crisp it, crumble it, and top your soup with it.  And instead of sauteing the garlic in olive oil, for the love of Pete, USE BACON GREASE. Drizzle some into the soup, too, please, and think of me.

Cook potatoes in salted water until done.  Saute leek bulbs and garlic in olive oil until soft.  Simmer herbs and spices in chicken broth until heated through and then add the drained potatoes, sauteed garlic, and sauteed leeks.  In a blender or food processor, puree the green leek tops with some water and then add to the soup mixture.  Working in small batches with a food processor or blender or using an immersion blender, blend the soup until smooth, adding flour or additional broth/water as needed to achieve desired consistency. Finish off with more spices, if desired, to taste.  Top with crumbled bacon (if you're so lucky) and fresh chives and serve with buttered, crusty bread.

 

For Benjamin Boyd: White Bean Chicken Chili with Cilantro

I have no picture of this yet, but since you wanted it, here it is!

The first time I made white bean chicken chili was for a ladies get-together here on the hill.  I made two enormous crockpots, but in the rush of cleaning and baking and preparing, I didn't even taste it before people spooned it into their bowls.   When I finally sat down with a bowl and commented on how bland it was, a guest politely suggested I add more salt and top it with cheese.  You see, in my rush, I had forgotten to add any salt.  Everyone had already finished most of their bowls, and I felt like a complete idiot.

Never again, folks.

The second time I took it for a meal with friends, I wrote down what I threw in, I tasted it before leaving, and, by golly, I added salt.


Here you are, Boyd.

White Bean Chicken Chili with Cilantro

- 4 cups dried Great Northern beans, cooked until soft and drained

-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled until done and then shredded with a fork

- bean broth and chicken broth (or water from boiling the chicken breasts + bouillon) for the soup base
 - 4 tbsp. butter and a bit of extra virgin olive oil
-2 medium onions
- about 8 cloves fresh garlic, pressed or minced
- around 6 tbsp. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups whole milk
 - 8 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, grated

- 1/4 cup fresh, chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
- 1 - 2 tsp. salt
- 1 - 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- a dash of chili powder
- ground cayenne, to taste
- about 4 cups corn (I used stuff frozen from last summer)


*additional grated cheese and chopped cilantro for garnish, if desired.

1.  I usually use a mixture of chicken broth (or chicken cooking water + bouillon) plus some bean cooking water as my soup base, and then add the beans and shredded chicken.

2. Next, saute onion in the butter and olive oil until soft; add minced garlic and cook for another minute.

3.  Stir in flour and cook for about 30 seconds to start your bechamel.  Add the milk and whisk until all flour lumps are dissolved (onion and garlic lumps will still be there!).  Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly, and then add the grated cheese.  Stir until melted.

4.  Add bechamel (cheese sauce) to the bean and soup base and add spices.  Add corn and heat through.  Taste and adjust spices, as desired.  DON'T FORGET THE SALT.

A Delicious Mess of Pottage

...or thereabouts, Esau.

A mess of faux pottage is prepared similarly to kale and beans, only with a mixture of pinto and black beans, the addition of diced tomatoes, beet greens in place of the kale, and ground rosemary, to taste, added to the onions, garlic, salt, and pepper. Important, as well, is the addition of 2 small links of sweet Italian sausage I found in the bottom of our freezer. Cook the sausage at the same time as the onions, and proceed from there.

I used more water in the pot than usual in order to make a flavorful broth. Chicken broth would taste good, as well.

The broth necessitates some buttered, crusty bread for mopping. Don't forget!

Chilled Canteloupe Soup (Drink)

John made this for the girls and I one morning for breakfast. I took the liberty of calling it a drink because it's more practical to serve it to one's children in cups than in bowls with spoons, and all the mess that would entail. It's a delicious twist on cantaloupe, but if you don't like cantaloupe, I don't recommend making this, 'cause even with the orange juice and spices, it remains a canteloupe soup. I think if one froze this concoction, it would make refreshing popsicles, too.

Here you are!

• 1 cantaloupe - peeled, seeded and cubed
• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Peel, seed, and cube the cantaloupe.
2. Place cantaloupe and 1/2 cup orange juice in a blender or food processor; cover, and process until smooth. Transfer to large bowl. Stir in lime juice, cinnamon, and remaining orange juice. Cover, and refrigerate for at least one hour. Garnish with mint if desired.

(John found the recipe here.)

Curried Red Lentil Soup

It's 10:30 p.m. on a Monday night, John's in the shower, and I should be cleaning the house.

And that, my friends, is the dullest possible sentence I could write to usher in the rebirth of buildabelly. Two years have passed, and a million + three recipes are wasting away to nothing in the attic.
The time of liberation has come!

Alright. That's all the pomp and circumstance I can muster at this hour. Onward!

I'll start with the most recent new recipe that I will make until I die. I made it a few nights ago, and it's so good that I had another bowl after I was stuffed to the gills. Gluttony is not something I am proud of nor is it something to which I should admit in this setting, but there you have it. I'm a sucker for Indian food. John loved it, the girls loved it, my sister loved it; what more proof do you need? Just make it already.

It may not be the most lovely picture, but it is a lentil soup, after all. There's only so much one can do.




-2 cups red lentils (I only had one cup of red left and substituted brown for the second cup)
-8 cups vegetable stock (I used water + veg. bouillon paste)
-1 and 1/2 tsp. turmeric
-4 skinny carrots, diced in small pieces
-*I can't remember, but I may have also dumped a package of last summer's frozen parsley into the water while the lentils cooked (@2 tbsp. frozen fresh parsley)

Place the lentils and stock in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the turmeric, carrots, and parsley, if using. Partially cover the pot and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 45 minutes or until the lentils are soft and tender, stirring occasionally.
______________________________________________

-extra virgin olive oil
-1 large onion, chopped
-@ 1 and 1/2 tbsp. fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated
-@ 1 and 1/2 tbsp. fresh garlic, finely chopped
-1 tsp. ground cumin
-2 tsp. ground coriander
-2 tsp. curry powder (I used red curry); if this is your first foray into making your own Indian food, start with less and add to taste.
- ground cayenne, to taste
-1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
-salt, to taste

For the seasoning, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the onion to the pan and cook until the onion is softened and begins to brown. Add the ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, and curry powder; cook and stir for one minute. Add to the lentils, along with the tomatoes and their juice. Simmer til heated through; add cayenne and salt, to taste, and add more water as needed to reach desired consistency.

*Recipe credit: I adapted this recipe from Lisa at foodandspice.blogspot.com, who herself adapted it from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey. Also, Lisa suggests blending a portion of this soup with an immersion blender before serving. We don't own that gadget, and it was delicious as is.

More to come later this week.
Prepare those bellies, people.

White Bean and Sausage Soup

I had a carnivorous fit while walking through the grocery store. I hadn't eaten meat in 2 weeks or so and was craving IT ALL! So, I bought Italian sausage. I buy sausage literally 2 times a year, and it's only to make my mom's lasagna. This sausage, though, was special. I wanted it in a soup, so into a soup it went.



This is a full, flavorful, hearty soup, perfect for fall and winter. I can't imagine eating it in summertime, but it felt so right to spoon it steaming from a bowl while the snow fell thickly outside the window. I don't think I could eat it more than a few times a year just because of what seemed to be a LOT of sausage, but it definitely hit the spot when I wanted it, and I'll make it again when I'm overtaken by meat-loving urges.

2 cups dried white beans, soaked overnight.
1 large onion, chopped
1 and 1/4 pound hot Italian sausage
6 cloves garlic
1 quart canned tomatoes, broken up into small pieces (My home-canned tomatoes are quite soft, so this is easy. You may wish to use diced tomatoes instead.)
chicken broth
1 tbsp. basil
1 tsp. oregano
salt and pepper, to taste
a pinch of red pepper flakes
@ 8-10 oz. frozen spinach (I used frozen flat leaf spinach and then chopped it on the cutting board while it was still frozen)

Like most soups, this is an easy, throw-together soup, but here are some simple directions. Soak the dry beans in water overnight. The next day, drain them and put them in a pot with as much chicken broth/water as you'd like. Bring to a boil and simmer until beans are soft. Meanwhile, brown the hot sausage with the chopped onions in a touch of olive oil until meat is cooked and onions are translucent. Add garlic, tomatoes, and spices and cook for a few more minutes. Chop the frozen spinach (if you were smart enough to buy the spinach already chopped, don't bother). Add the sausage mixture to the bean/broth mixture and bring to a boil. Add the chopped spinach and cook for a few minutes until spinach begins to wilt.

Meat!
Er. Pardon me.
I meant, "Eat!"

Eat. Eat! EAT!!!!

Butternut Squash and Black Bean Soup

I loved this soup. Loved it! The stupid picture of the squash above, though, is the last picture I took with an uninjured camera. After taking it, I put the camera on the counter, and now...well, now the camera has no zoom capabilities. Let's just end the story there so I don't have to accept responsibility.

I'd never made a squash soup before, so I wanted to stick to flavors that I already knew our family liked. Since then, I've made a butternut and apple soup (which I didn't like as well), and I've tasted a divine squash soup with garlic, onion, and chicken that my mom made. (Tasted? I suppose eating two bowls right in a row is more than a taste...) I'll get that recipe and post it here sometime, because it showcased the bright flavor of the squash instead of relegating it to the sidelines like the one below does.

Suffice it to say, squash tastes really good on the sidelines, too.


This soup has a rich and comforting flavor, and the butternut squash hidden in the background lends a delicate sweetness to the rest. If only I hadn't used up all the butternut squash left from my mom's garden, I'd make it again tomorrow. *Pumpkin can be used interchangeably with butternut squash in this recipe and in just about any other, too.

Ingredients:

1 large onion
8 cloves garlic, freshly pressed
one large butternut squash (about 2 cups squash puree is needed), cooked and pureed
4 cups cooked black beans, separated
1 cup canned tomatoes
2 and 1/2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
chicken broth
4 tsp. apple cider vinegar
a pinch of cayenne, to taste

Halve butternut squash and remove seeds. Bake cut side down in oven until tender. Meanwhile, saute onions in some olive oil until translucent. Add garlic and cook for about one minutes more. Puree 2 cups cooked black beans with 1 cup tomatoes until smooth. (Use a hand-cranked food mill or an electric food processor.) Scoop out cooked squash and puree until smooth. In a large soup pot, stir the 2 cups pureed squash together with the pureed black bean mixture. Add the remaining 2 cups cooked black beans, the spices, and the vinegar. Stir and heat. Add chicken broth, as needed, to reach desired consistency.

KEEP READING! Black Bean, Corn, and Tomato Soup

Essentially, this is another tortilla soup recipe, but you really haven't seen this one before! I made this last week in a fit of fall madness. You know, the madness that demands that you roll in the leaves and run in the wind and...make soup.



You can forget Not-Mindy's-Tortilla-Soup because we like this better. John and I prefer the taste, and the girls don't weep because it's too spicy. Cheers all 'round! It's quite similar, but less spicy, depending on how many sauteed jalapeños you add (or don't add) to your bowl; it has a hint of lime, a touch of spiciness, a smoky undertone thanks to the liquid smoke seasoning, and corn that rounds it all out with a bit of sweetness. We rarely have bacon, but the first time I made it, we had some left over from having visitors. We've had it since sans bacon, and it's still really yummy, but if you're anything like us, bacon makes just about anything better.

So.
Add bacon, you vegetarians! Go ahead! You know you want to!


These are the amounts I wrote down the first time I made it. The second time I just threw all these ingredients in, to taste. If you want, do thou likewise.

1 large onion, chopped
2-3 large carrots, sliced into coins
6-8 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced or pressed
2 red peppers (or one red and one green or, sigh, NO peppers if your garden is now hibernating)
frozen corn (we used maybe half of a quart bag of garden corn)
4 jalapeño peppers, finely diced, if you like things hot (I saute and serve them separately)
4 cans black beans or the equivalent of freshly-cooked ones
4-6 cups chicken broth
tomatoes (we used one quart of canned garden tomatoes and a small can of store-bought, diced tomatoes; you can do the math)
3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
healthy splash of lime juice
about 3/4 tsp. hickory smoke flavoring (We bought a bottle to make beef and chicken jerky ages ago, but we found it on a clearance shelf, so I don't really know where to find it. Look for some without preservatives and MSG.)
splash of Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne
1 tsp. salt
dried cilantro, to taste

Saute diced onion, carrots, and red/green sweet peppers in a bit of olive oil until onions are translucent and carrots begin to soften. Add minced garlic for the last minute. Puree (or if you have no gadget to puree, smush) half of the black beans into a smooth-ish paste along with a bit of chicken broth. Put the pureed beans into a big soup pot along with the remaining black beans, the chicken broth, the carrots, onions, and garlic, the corn, and liquid/dry seasonings. Okay, just add everything but the bacon, cheese, tortilla strips, and sauteed jalapeños to the pot. Warm it all through while you're making tortilla strips and bacon and sauteeing the jalapeños. Spoon into bowls and...

top the soup with
crisp, cooked crumbled bacon
shredded Monterey jack cheese
baked corn tortilla strips (see instructions at the bottom of this recipe)
finely diced jalapeños that have been sauteed in a bit of olive oil or butter
OR
none of the above, although I highly recommend the bacon and tortilla strips.

Not-Mindy's Tortilla Soup

***Edit: We prefer this new tortilla soup by far!!!

John ate some delicious tortilla soup at his bi-weekly meeting of boardgamegeeks, and I heard so much about it that I was driven to seek out the same. I still need to get Mindy's exact recipe, but since I haven't, I made a soup cobbled together from lots of other recipes. It's yummy, but if your finances are strapped or you hate meat, skip the chicken entirely. John really liked it, but he would have preferred it meatless, which is fine by me, so next time, I'll cook the chicken to make the chicken broth base and then freeze the meat for another use.

It's a full-flavored, moderately spicy soup with a hint of sweetness from the corn. I'm definitely making it again, only next time I'll have the foresight to bake extra tortillas.

*I used all fresh herbs because we have them growing in the garden, but dried herbs could easily be substituted. Rule of thumb: for every tablespoon of fresh herbs, use one teaspoon of dried.



1/2 of a giant onion, chopped (@ 1 cup?)
@ 10 cloves garlic, minced

Cut up the whole chicken into eight pieces and boil it until cooked (reserve chicken broth for soup base; more than half the chicken can be saved or frozen for another meal)

1 quart canned tomatoes, cut up (or one 28 oz. can diced tomato)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
frozen corn (I used last summer's frozen...about 10 oz.???)
@ 1/4-1/3 cup chopped green onion tops, opt. (we had them in the garden, so I threw them in)
@ 1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro, then chopped
2 tablespoons freshly chopped oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 and 1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. white pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. ground cayenne

12 corn tortillas, cut into 1/4"-1/2" strips (I'll use more tortillas next time.)

tortilla chips
shredded Monterey jack cheese

Saute the onions in a bit of olive oil. Add the garlic for the last minute. After cooking the whole chicken, skim the fat off of the broth. Shred the desired amount of chicken for the soup and save the remainder for another use. Add all ingredients to the chicken broth and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, it's time to prepare the tortilla strips from which the soup gets its name. Buy a bag of soft CORN tortillas. Stack about six of them on a cutting board and cut them into strips. All the recipes I looked at had instructions for frying them, which you can do, but I baked them with excellent results. Simply spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, lay the tortilla strips on the sheet and spray the tops of the strips with cooking spray. Bake in a hot oven (@ 400-450 degrees?) until golden brown and crispy, turning once midway through.

Serve the soup topped with tortilla strips and Monterey jack cheese, if desired. (I like it with lots of tortilla strips and little cheese.) Break the tortilla strips as you add them to your soup, unless you need to keep them whole in order to take a picture for your recipe blog.

Cheeseburger Soup

Far more savory and not at all greasy as its name implies, I post this delicious recipe for Leah. My mom makes this soup, along with many others, in the fall and winter months, and it's packed with flavor. I've only made it a handful of times because though John's growing favor now includes a wide range of soups, it still boycotts those soups that have a creamy or cheesy base. The girls and I smack our lips and eat it when he has to work late...

It serves as a perfect supper served with homemade biscuits or rolls. Really, as with all soups, homemade bread of any kind is a great complement.

Saute the following together until cooked and tender:
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup diced celery (I skip this b/c we rarely buy celery)
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. parsley
1/2- 1 lb. ground beef

White Sauce:
3-4 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup flour
1 and 1/2 cups milk

Melt butter in pan, stir in flour, whisk in milk and stir until thickened and bubbly. To this sauce add 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and 2 cups diced or shredded American cheese (I usually use sharp orange or white cheddar to add more flavor).

In three cups of chicken broth, cook 4 cups diced potatoes (peeled if you must) until tender. Add the white sauce mixture to the broth, stir together until mixed, and add 1/4 cup sour cream (fat free doesn't harm anything).

Mix and heat until warmed through. Breathe in the aromas and serve immediately.

*I usually add 5 minced fresh garlic cloves while cooking the onion and ground beef together.  I also use more carrot than the recipe calls for.

*I use a couple tablespoons of frozen-fresh parsley from the summer garden instead of the dried stuff.  Ditto for the basil.

*This is excellent with added chopped kale.  Excellent! 

* Due to reasons of thrift, health, and, sometimes, not enough cheese in the fridge, I've only made this ONE time with the full battery of cheese. Usually, I cut back quite significantly on the amount of cheese, and the soup is still scrumdiddlyumptious.

Chicken Vegetable Soup with Noodle Balls

One dead and plucked chicken, cooked whole in its skin (reserve broth)
a large onion, diced
carrots, chopped
potatoes, cubed
green beans, cut
celery, if desired, sliced

lots of little noodle balls, recipe found below

ground sage
ground thyme
minced, fresh garlic
salt + pepper, in copious amounts
a dash of cayenne pepper for zip
chicken bouillon, if needed
a dash of parsley
*When in season, use chopped, fresh herbs of your choice. They make it even better.

Boil chicken in its skin. When chicken is cooked, remove and discard skin, then cube the chicken, reserving the fluid (chicken broth) for the soup base. Cook carrots, potatoes, onion, and celery in chicken broth until almost tender (keep skins on the potatoes to seal in nutrition). Add beans and cook another five minutes. Add spices, to taste, and let simmer while you make the noodle ball fixings. Add noodle balls and cook another few minutes until done. Serve with garlic bread if you want to feel too stuffed.

** If you have no whole chicken available to make chicken broth, cook + cube the cut you have and use chicken bouillon, to taste, for the chicken soup base. Even with boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, refrain from discarding any skin or fatty parts and boil them in water to make a type of broth.

Noodle Balls-- The Cheater's Way

To be fair, I'm including the real recipe for noodles, which is quite good, but, at the end, I'll give you my I'm-always-in-a-rush version.

NOODLES

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 beaten egg yolks
1 beaten egg
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon oil

1. In a large mixing bowl stir together 1 and 3/4 cups of the flour and the salt. Make a well in the center of the dry mixture. In a small mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, egg, water, and oil. Add to dry mixture and mix well.

2. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (@ 8-10 minutes). Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.

3. Divide dough into four equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 12" square about 1/16" thick. Let stand, uncovered, about 20 minutes. Loosely roll up dough jelly-roll style, cut into 1/4"-wide strips. Shake the strands to separate and cut into 2-3" lengths. Pass through pasta machine or hand-cut into 1/4" wide strips. Cut strips in 2-3 inch lengths.

4. To store cut noodles, spread on a wire cooling rack and let dry overnight or till completely dry, place in airtight container, and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Or, dry the noodles for at least one hour and freeze for up to 8 months.
5. Cook for 1 and 1/2 to 2 minutes, a bit longer for dried or frozen noodles. Makes about one pound fresh pasta.

ABIGAIL'S CHEATING NOODLE BALLS

For one large pot of chicken soup, combine 1 cup flour and 1/4 tsp. salt in a medium mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.

In a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg, @ 1/5 cup water, and 1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil. Dump egg mixture into the well you've made in the flour mixture. Mix well and knead until smooth-ish. Add more flour, if needed, to make an easy "noodle-balling" consistency. Remove small pieces of dough; using your hands, roll lots of tiny little noodle balls; plunk noodle balls into soup; cook for a few minutes.

Voila! In five minutes, you've got Noodle Balls in your Chicken Vegetable Soup!