tomato blue cheese soup

My very least favorite part of blogging is the writing part.

Sometimes it comes fairly easy.

Easily?

See!?!?

Right off the bat I'm stuck on easy vs. easily.

Sometimes, like today, it's a huge struggle to do the words putting into sentences part.

So, since I have recently acquired a recipe for tomato soup that just may change your life, and I really, really want to share the tomato soup love with you, I am simply going to go the bullet point route and leave you to make sense of it all.

But first, here's the picture. Hopefully that will hold you over until I actually get to the recipe part.


Ready? Here we go.

(Where is the bullet point key on my keyboard?)

(I guess we'll do asterisks instead.)

(Chemo brain. Love having that excuse in my back pocket.)

* I have a neighbor.

* My neighbor has an amazing garden - both flowers and veggies.

* My neighbor regularly hosts gatherings for some of the neighbor ladies, of which I am one.

* My neighbor did that very thing last week and served tomato soup as part of the delicious menu.

* My neighbor passed the recipe along to me.

* My neighbor also gave me a large bag full of delicious heirloom tomatoes.

* Score!

* My neighbor is very pretty and sweet and giving.

* I have been on the hunt for a good creamy tomato basil soup for years.

* We used to have a restaurant in town that made the very best creamy tomato basil soup on the planet.

* Sadly, that restaurant closed.

* This recipe is even better than that recipe.

* Score!

* Here is that recipe, along with the changes I made.

Tomato Blue Cheese Soup from allrecipes.com

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced - I used a very small amount of garlic, as I'm not a huge fan
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper - didn't have a pepper on hand
1/4 large red onion, chopped - used a Walla Walla from my garden
1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese - used Gorgonzola, and let's be honest - I used more than 1/4 cup
1 (4 ounce) package cream cheese, softened - cream cheese makes everything better
1/4 cup heavy cream - used half and half
1/4 cup milk
1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes - used the heirlooms
1 1/2 cups tomato juice - had V-8 on hand
2 teaspoons dried basil - I used fresh and lots of it
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon granular no-calorie sucralose sweetener (such as Splenda®) - good old sugar for me

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the garlic, bell pepper, and onion; cook and stir until the onion has softened and turned translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in the blue cheese, cream cheese, heavy cream, and milk. Heat until the cheese is melted and the mixture is simmering, 5 to 7 minutes.

2. Stir in the diced tomatoes, tomato juice, basil, sweetener, and pepper. Continue to cook and stir until the soup is heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.

I doubled the recipe because I had so many tomatoes, and I added the Gorgonzola at the end because I didn't want it totally melted.


If you are a tomato soup fan, this recipe is a keeper. It is creamy and dreamy and delicious.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

lentil soup

Let me start by saying, I should not like this recipe.

It has lentils and generally speaking, I am not a lentil person.

It has sausage, and I believe I've mentioned several times before that sausage makes me nervous.

Aesthetically speaking, this is not a particularly pretty soup. It's gray. I've tried to disguise that fact with a chiffonade of spinach and some finely grated parmesan cheese, but the bottom line is gray is not a happy food color. Gray food tends to bring back bad memories of your junior high cafeteria.

All that to say, against all odds, I love, love, love this soup. It's in my top three favorite soups of all time, and that's saying something.

Lentil Soup

1 pound bulk Italian sausage
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/4 cup diced celery
1 1/2 cups lentils, rinsed
4 cups chicken stock
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp salt - or less, depending on the saltiness of your chicken stock
1 cup cream
1 cup finely sliced spinach
grated parmesan cheese

In a large stockpot, brown and drain sausage and set aside. In the same pan, saute carrot, onion and celery in butter and olive oil till they start to soften. Add lentils and chicken stock. Simmer on low for about 30 minutes, until lentils and vegetables are tender. I usually add about a cup of water at this point as a lot of the liquid has been absorbed or evaporated. Add mustard, vinegar (both are vital to this recipe) and salt. Stir in cream and heat through.

Garnish with spinach and parmesan cheese, and you've got yourself a perfect meal for a cold winter's night.

Ina's Parmesan Crackers are the perfect accompaniment to this soup.


My sister is my Parmesan Cracker supplier, sending me a box every Christmas, so I've never actually made these myself. Sister adds an additional two tablespoons of butter to the recipe, as the dough tends to be pretty dry. She also highly recommends baking them on a Silpat so they don't stick to the baking pan. Oh, and she cuts the pepper back to 1/4 teaspoon.

They are a savory slice of shortbread heaven.

Make some today!

But only if you want to.

I don't want to be bossy.

chicken noodle soup

Sometimes when I post, my pictures are my subject.

Sometimes, my pictures have absolutely nothing to do with what I'm writing about.

One way or another though, I always have pictures.

But not today. I've been waiting all week for some awesome pictures to drop into my lap, but so far, it's a no go.

It's that time of year. The time of year when I struggle to find subjects. Struggle to find inspiration.

It's all good though. I'm up for the challenge. I'm just going to have to step out of my usual box and put a new spin on the way I look at things.

Stay tuned for that.

In the meantime, today is as good a day as any to share this soup recipe.

While this is actually one of my very, very favorite soup recipes ever, I should probably offer a word of warning for those of you who are morally opposed to Velveeta. Velveeta is scary. I know. But for today, we're going to embrace the Velveeta and pretend it's really not plastic's first cousin. Or plastic's half brother. Or full brother for that matter.

I won't go so far as to say that I'm a Velveeta lover, but I am also not a food snob. Far from it. In fact, it really rubbed me the wrong way when Martha trash talked Cool Whip on her show, and I think it's safe to assume that Cool Whip and Velveeta probably have a chemical composition or two in common.

But everyone knows chemicals are the cornerstone of healthy living, so it's all good.

For those of you who decide to soldier on with this recipe, the pay off will be a pot of hearty, satisfying and delicious soup that takes next to no time to make.

Ready? Let's go.

Chicken Noodle Soup

3/4 cup chopped onion, saute till tender in...
2 T butter
6 cups chicken broth or stock
2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
16 oz frozen mixed vegetables - I use the mix with peas, carrots, green beans, corn and lima beans.
8 oz frozen broccoli - half of the 1 pound bag...sorry to state the obvious
8 oz dry egg noodles - ditto
2 cups milk
1 lb Velveeta, cut into chunks

Add all but the last three ingredients to a large pot. Once the soup reaches a simmer, add the noodles. Cook for five minutes, then add the milk and the pasteurized processed cheese product. Stir till the cheese is melted and you've got dinner! Easy.


So, let's hear it. Are you a Velveeta lover or a Velveeta hater. Or do you, like me, just see Velveeta as a necessary evil. It's time to come clean.

creamy broccoli soup

Soup season is going to be coming to an end soon, so in honor of the snow we had on the ground this morning, I thought I'd share one of my all time favorites.

This was originally a potato soup recipe, but the base is what caught my attention. Actually, it was one particular ingredient in the base that really called to me.

Cream cheese.

It called my name.

I heard it.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

1/2 cup chopped onion
4 T butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup flour
1 cup water
3 tsp chicken bouillon granules or 3 bouillon cubes
3 1/2 cups milk
broccoli - I think I ended up using around 4 cups, maybe a bit more, of chopped broccoli (should have kept closer track of my measurements. Sorry.)

I start by chopping my broccoli quite small. I add a bit of water, cover and microwave for four to five minutes, stirring after each minute. You want that perfect not too crunchy, not too mushy texture.
Saute onion in butter until soft. Add cream cheese. (I soften it in the microwave, which seems to help it blend in without getting lumpy.) Add flour and stir in. Add water and bouillon and mix well. (If you use cubes, you will want to dissolve them in the water first.) Finally, add the milk and heat until it starts to thicken, stirring constantly. Stir in the broccoli, and you're done!

We usually serve it in a sourdough bread bowl and top it with shredded sharp cheddar.

p.s. I usually chicken out when it comes to posting recipes, because I'm afraid someone will take the time to make one of them, and not like it. That makes me very nervous. However, I think the cream cheese is giving me courage, so here goes! Hope you enjoy.

soup's on

Well, much like we always seem to skip spring here in Montana, it seems we may be skipping fall this year as well. The weather has been absolutely beautiful. Only a few trees have started to get their fall color, and everything is green and beautiful. That will all change starting tonight. A low of 18 degrees is predicted. By the weekend, our lows will be in the single digits.

In honor of the change in weather, I broke out one of my favorite soup recipes, Wild Rice and Ham Chowder. I found it many years ago in one of those mini Pillsbury recipe books you see at the grocery checkout. It is hearty and satisfying on a cozy night.

I have been obsessed lately with these chicken sausages I found at Costco and decided to try them instead of ham. They are so good!

Break for a random ode to Costco. I love Costco. It is one of my favorite places to go. As soon as I walk in the door, I get that happy feeling that only buying in bulk can bring. I could go on and on, and in future posts I will rave much more, but for now, back to the sausage.
I usually find sausage to be a rather scary food. Somehow, the ingredient list for these seems to be pretty harmless. Chicken, Gouda and apples. And a few spices. No body parts that shouldn't be in food. Unless you count the casing, and yes, I did just google sausage casing and I will spare you the details. Lets just not think about that.

Wild Rice and Ham Chowder
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup wild rice
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped onion
3 cloves minced garlic - I skipped this
1/4 cup butter
4 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
1 1/2 cups peeled, diced potatoes
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg - skipped
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 bay leaf - a must have for this recipe
1-15oz can corn
2 cups half and half or milk - go for the half and half!
1 pound cubed, cooked ham - I used the cooked, sliced sausage
Parsley for garnish

In a small saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups water and the rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer 35 to 40 minutes. I ended up using only about half the rice, since some members of my family are suspicious of black foods, and it is a rather large amount of rice.
In your soup pot, cook onion and garlic in butter until crisp-tender. Add the flour, and cook and stir for a minute or so. Gradually stir in 4 cups of water and bouillon. Add potatoes and carrots, thyme, nutmeg, pepper and bay leaf. Simmer until potatoes and carrots are tender, anywhere from 15-25 minutes. Because you have already thickened the soup with the flour, it will want to stick to the bottom of your pan, so I stir it frequently. When the vegetables are done, stir in the corn, half and half and ham or sausage. Heat through but don't boil. Garnish with parsley. I usually skip the garnish, but I rescued a handful of parsley from the garden and it does make it pretty.

We had the soup with Costco's Asiago Cheese Sourdough Bread. Toasted and buttered. Perfection.

Ha! I just looked out the window and it's snowing. Bring it on, Winter. My soup and I are ready!