Tai Coconut Curry Soup

I saw a recipe for this in “The best of Chef at Home” by Micheal Smith. The picture had me drooling, and I really wanted to try this soup. However after a trip to the grocery store I was unable to find a few of the ingredients (lemon grass, lime leaves ect), so I picked up a curry sauce instead of a paste and made my own soup!

Ingredients:
2 cans coconut milk
1 jar Thai curry sauce (I used yellow, but if you want spicier go for red or green)
2 chicken breasts, thinly sliced
2 carrots – shredded
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 – 2” knob of ginger
1 box chicken broth
1 packed thai rice noodles

Directions:
1.In a saucepan, cook the chicken strips.
2.Add in the curry sauce (start with ½ the jar and go from there), 1 can of coconut milk, cream from 1 can of coconut milk, carrots, celery, grated ginger and chicken broth. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes ( vegetables should be cooked).
3.Add the rice noodles and allow them to rehydrate (1-3 minutes depending on heat of soup – check package directions).
4.Serve and enjoy.

Tip: If the noodles are long (as rice noodles tend to be), break them before putting them in the soup, long noodles are hard to dish up or eat with a spoon!

Reviews:
O and I both really enjoyed this soup! It was easy to adjust the spice, and the flavours went really well together. Using the pre-made curry sauce allowed the soup to be made in about 30 minutes, with very little work (and I didn't have to hunt out lemon grass, but still got the flavour). That is my kind of dinner.

The chicken is great in this, but I am sure it would be just as good without and using vegetable broth as a vegetarian version.

Ravioli Soup

I saw a recipe for this in Once a Month Cooking and decided to try it. The recipe seemed alright, but didn’t have enough veggies in it for my liking, so I added a few things as I went along and omitted others.

I made a large batch of soup, and before it was done froze half for another night. It didn’t involve any extra work as I was making it already which was great. You could also just make it and freeze all of it as it is quick to pull together.

Ravioli Soup (Makes 1 supper, + leftovers, and 1 meal for the freezer)

Ingredients
1 lb lean hamburger
1 medium onion
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 lg. carrot
1 cup shredded zucchini ( I used frozen)
2 tsp minced garlic
1 28oz can crushed tomatoes
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
½ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
pinch of sugar
1 family pack ravioli
Parmesan cheese

Directions
1.In a pan, brown the hamburger (I do this in my dutch oven so I don’t have to switch pots). When the meat is brown, add the onions, peppers, carrots and garlic, and sauté until the veggies are starting to soften and onions are translucent.
2.Add the zucchini, tomatoes, chicken stock, spices, and sugar to the pot. Allow to simmer together for 10 minutes. (At this point I always taste it and see if I want to add more seasoning, as it sometimes depends on the tomatoes used). At this point I remove ½ the pot into a freezer container and it goes into the freezer. When you want to have it for supper, thaw the soup and pick up the directions at step 3.
3.Allow to cook and simmer for 30 minutes. During the last 10 minutes of cooking, cook the ravioli according to the package directions. Once they are cooked add them to the soup. (if the soup is too thick you can add water or chicken stock to thin it.)
4.Ladle soup into bowls and top with Parmesan cheese.

Reviews:
This is a great soup, with lots of veggies. If you use the low sodium tomatoes, it is a great meal. To make it a vegetarian meal simple don’t add the ground beef to the soup and use a cheese ravioli.

Owen and I both loved this soup and I can’t wait to take the rest out of the freezer next week.

Cheesy Potato Soup

I came across a recipe in my Soup of the Day cookbook for Potato, spinach au-gratin Soup. Oh this sounded good, it got me thinking and I new I had to have a yummy potato spinach and cheese soup. I didn’t like all the cream in the given recipe so I went and did my own thing.

Ingredients:
~5 cups cubed potatoes
~2 cups chicken stock
1 cup chopped ham
2 cups chopped fresh baby spinach
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk (I used 1%, but I am sure any type of milk will work)
¾ cup grated old chedder
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1. Place the potatoes into pot and just cover with the chicken stock. Cover and simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are tender.
2. As the potatoes are finishing cooking start making the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a separate pot. Once the butter is melted whisk in the flour. Slowly add the milk while whisking and let heat over medium heat until thick. Add the cheese to the white sauce and let melt.
3. Once the potatoes are tender, mash about 1/3 of the potatoes into the broth. Then pour in the cheese sauce and stir. Add the ham, spinach, salt and pepper.
4. Leave on the stove until the soup is heated through and the spinach is tender.
5. Serve.

Reviews:
This was an extremely yummy soup and the leftover were great as well. I look forward to trying this again with onions and bacon!

Vegetable Soup

It got cold out and I wanted a nice bowl of something hearty and warm. I got the vegetables chopped and put in the pan, then I lost all desire to continue cooking, and decided to forgo making a stew and switch to a soup. The end result was a delicious soup that cost us less than $2 for supper and my lunch the following day.
If you have a garden, most of the ingredients for this soup can come directly from there. Thanks to my mother’s large garden, most of this soup was homegrown.
Ingredients:
4 to 5 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped.
2 to 3 carrots (I used about 6 smaller carrots from the garden), peeled and chopped
½ medium onion chopped
2-3 stalks of celery chopped
2 cups fresh baby spinach (chopped)
3 cups water (enough to cover the vegetables) or vegetable broth
3 tsp vegetable bullion
2-3 tbsp Italian seasoning

Directions:
1. Add the potatoes, carrots, celery and onion to a pot and cover with water and add the bullion (if you are using vegetable broth, do not add the bullion). Season with any wanted salt and pepper and the Italian seasoning. Allow the soup to simmer, covered, until the vegetables are cooked.
2. When ready to serve, put spinach in the bottom of a bowl and ladel the hot soup into the bowl. The hot liquid will quickly soften the spinach.
3. Enjoy!


Reviews:
This was a great light soup and quick to make. I really enjoyed it, and look forward to making it again.

Lasagna "Soup"

I love lasagna, but I am not a fan of making it. I saw a recipe for a lasagna soup and thought it was a great idea, it looked simple enough and I was craving something hot and comforting. I looked at a couple of different recipes and ended up making up my own.

Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef
1 small to medium yellow onion chopped
½ medium to large green pepper chopped
2 carrots grated
¾ cup grated zucchini
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
3-4 tbsp Italian seasoning (if you use Italian seasoned tomatoes and tomato sauce, you will need less or none at all)
2 cups water or chicken stock (this will make a very thick soup, increase if you would like more liquid in you soup)
½ box of lasagna noodles, broken into bite sized pieces
Ricotta cheese


How to:
1. In a saucepan brown the ground beef. Drain away the excess fat.
2. Add in the vegetables (onion, carrot, green pepper and zucchini), sauté with meat until the vegetables are starting to soften. (5 min)
3. Mix in the tomatoes and tomato sauce, adding the Italian seasoning to taste.
4. Add the water or chicken broth and bring the mixture to a boil. Once the mixture reaches a boil add in the pasta and cook until el dante.
5. Ladle the soup into bowls. Top with a spoonful of ricotta and enjoy!

Reviews:

I love this soup, and it is sure to become a regular meal in my house. It made lots, and we had leftovers for work the next day. A friend stopped by just as I was finished and he couldn’t leave without trying a bowl after smelling it.

Next time I make this I will probably add more vegetables including yellow and red peppers.

Variation: Baked Lasagna Soup:

Once the soup is cooked, but in an oven safe bowl and mix in the ricotta cheese. Top with a little shredded chedder or mozzarella cheese. Bake in the oven at 350 until the cheese is bubbly.

Ham and Potatoe Soup

It got cold, and I love a good soup when it starts to gets chilly. This recipe by ELLIE11 on allrecipe.com had lots of great reviews, so I though I would give it a try. It was some of the best soup I have had in a long time, our friend and Owen love it! We are planning on making this again this week when we have some friends over for supper. This is fast on it's way to becoming a family favourite.

INGREDIENTS
3 1/2 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
3/4 cup diced cooked ham
3 1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons chicken bouillon granules
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground white or black pepper, or to taste
5 tablespoons butter
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk

HOW TO
1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
3. Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

I didn't change a thing from the original recipe and it was amazing. However next time I may add some shredded carrots to give the soup a little more colour.

Chicken Stew

It is cold and snowy out, so what is better to eat than a nice big bowl of yarm stew. I am huge fan soup in the winter and a nice thick stew tops my list.

Chicken stock (can make by boiling leftover chicken bones or by add using chicken broth and water.)
2 stalk celery
1/2 onion
Spices (I use an italian spice mix and a bay leaf) to taste.
2 chicken breasts
4-5 med. potatoes
3-4 carrots
1/4 cup flour

Add spices, celery and onion to the chicken stock and heat to a simmer. Put lid on and let simmer on the stove.

Cut the chicken breats into cubes and fry until almost cooked. Add to the stock to let simmer for 30mins-2hours.

Cut the potatoes into cubes and cut the carrots. Add to the soup and let cook until they are tender.

Mix the flour with 1/2 jar of warm water ( close jar lid and shake vigorously), Then slowly pour into the stew and stir in. Let simmer until thick.

Serve.