POTS AND PANS CITY BLOG

What better way to warm up your loved ones on a cold winter day or when they are sick in bed than with a hot bowl of chicken noodle soup!  This tasty recipe will warm their hearts as well as their stomachs.

• 2 chicken breasts, cubed
• 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 parsnips, peeled and sliced
• 1 onion, finely sliced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1 TBSP. oil
• 6 cups water
• 4 packets chicken bouillon
• Salt & pepper
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 1 ½ cups fine egg noodles

In a large stock pot, heat oil and brown chicken cubes.  Add water. Bring to a boil and skim liquid of fat.

Reduce heat and all remaining ingredients, except egg noodles.

Simmer, covered for approximately 2-3 hours.  Add egg noodles and cook for another 15 minutes.

Serve hot.

Although typical chowders contain bacon, this recipe offers a bit of a lighter flavour.  The taste is all about the creaminess of the soup broth and the delicate seafood.  It is a great soup to start a gourmet dinner, but it is still relatively easy to prepare.  Wow your guests by preparing this wonderful seafood chowder!

Ingredients:

• 3 onions
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 3 TBSP. butter
• 2 TBSP. flour

In a large stock pot, melt butter.  Add onions and garlic and sauté until onions are transparent.  Stir in flour and brown.

Add to pot:

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 3 small potatoes, peeled and cut in small cubes
• 2 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 tsp. Salt
• ½ tsp. Pepper
• 1 TBSP. Basil
• 1 tsp. Thyme

Bring to a boil.  Turn heat down and let simmer until vegetables are tender when pierced with a fork.  In small batches, puree soup in blender until smooth.  Return mixture to pot.

Add:

• ½ pkg. Mixed seafood
• 2-3 pieces of fish (cod, sole, etc.) cut in chunks
• 1 cup baby shrimp

Bring soup to a boil and turn down and simmer for 12 minutes.  Add 1 cup half and half cream.

Heat through and serve hot.

Hearty soups like this one can be used as a total meal.  Thick and chunky with lots of meat and vegetables, you only need to serve this soup with a crusty loaf of bread to receive rave reviews. 

• 3-4 beefy soup bones
• 1 small steak or ¼ lb. stewing beef, cut into cubes
• 2-3 onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups water
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 3 beef bouillon packets
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 TSBP. Cooking oil
• ½ cup frozen corn
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup medium flat egg noodles

In a large stock pot, heat oil and brown meat cubes.  Add water. Bring to a boil and skim liquid of fat.

Reduce heat and add all remaining ingredients, except corn, peas, spinach and noodles.  Simmer, covered for approximately 2-3 hours. 

Add egg noodles, corn and peas, and cook for another 15 minutes.  Stir in spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.

Serve hot.

Turkey seems to be part of every Christmas and Thanksgiving holiday meal. This recipe makes turkey the start of the meal—and the star. This is a hearty, tasty Italian take on turkey soup. The soup can be made ahead of time and frozen, but just be sure you don’t add the pasta until you reheat it. You can buy turkey drumsticks or turkey breast separately to add the meat to this dish, or you can use leftover turkey from the main meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP. vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP. garlic powder
• ¾ cup cooked ham
• 2 cups cooked turkey, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, chopped
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 4 cups chicken or turkey stock
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes (including juice)
• 2 cups shredded cabbage
• 1 14 oz. can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup chopped green beans
• 1/3 cup macaroni or other small pasts
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large saucepot. Add the onion and cook for 3 minutes until softened. Add ham, carrots, celery and zucchini and cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 more minutes. Add stock and tomatoes (plus juice). Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer. Cook covered for 30 minutes. Add the cabbage, turkey, and both beans. Season with salt and pepper. Continue cooking for 30 minutes more or until vegetables are almost tender. Add the pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Spoon the hot soup into bowls and sprinkle each serving with a little Parmesan cheese.

No-one ever knows what to do with the left-over turkey carcass from that great Thanksgiving turkey.  Here is a recipe for a very flavourful soup that you can serve after the holiday is over.  You can add any left-over meat into the soup as well, or you can buy extra turkey legs from your supermarket to add to the taste of the broth.

Ingredients:

• Turkey giblets and bones (carcass from roasted turkey)
• Or 2 Turkey legs (Hint: you can purchase these separately at your grocery store)
• 1 TSBP. Cooking oil
• 2-3 onions, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 6 cups waters
• 3 chicken bouillon packets
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. sage
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• ½ cup frozen corn
• ½ cup frozen peas
• 3 cups chopped fresh spinach
• 1 cup medium flat egg noodles

In a large stock pot, heat oil and sauté onions and turkey giblets (if using).  Add water. Bring to a boil and skim liquid of fat.

Reduce heat and add all remaining ingredients, except corn, peas, spinach and noodles.  Simmer, covered for approximately 2-3 hours. 

Add egg noodles, corn and peas, and cook for another 15 minutes.  Stir in spinach and cook for 5 minutes more.

Serve hot.

Served at the start, soup gives a satisfying feeling to any meal. A rich, creamy soup like the Cream of Squash soup below is a great way to begin a fall meal, add to a Thanksgiving dinner or you can even serve it on its own, with a loaf of crusty bread to sop up the delicious flavours.

Ingredients:

• 1 TBSP. butter
• 1 onion
• 1 stalk celery
• 6 cups water
• 2 cups steamed squash (like Butternut or Acorn Squash)
• 3 cubes of chicken bouillon
• 1 tsp. ginger
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• ½ tsp. nutmeg
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Salt & pepper 1 cup half & half cream

Melt butter in large stockpot. Chop onions and sauté in butter until onions are transparent. Cut celery into chunks and add to pot. Add water, crumbled bouillon, squash and spices. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium-low heat. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes, until all the vegetables are tender. Remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes. In 3 batches, purée soup in blender. Pour soup purée back into stockpot and return to stove. Over medium heat bring soup back to a simmer. Turn heat to low and add cream. Stir until all the cream is blended. (Do not boil.) Serve immediately. Top each bowl of soup with a sprinkle of nutmeg. Note: You can use an infusion blender to puree the soup in the pot.

Very easy and inexpensive to make, this Easy-Cheesy Soup is ideal for kids who love the taste of Kraft Dinner.  Serve with toast points for soup dipping.  This is a great lunch soup for the whole family. 

College kids on a Kraft Dinner budget and who are new to cooking love this soup too.  It offers a new twist on the typical College student’s mac ‘n cheese fare and expands their food menus. 

        1 pkg. macaroni & cheese dinner (like Kraft Dinner)

        ½ cup frozen vegetables

        ½ cup milk

        salt & pepper, to taste

        1 tsp. basil (optional)

        1 can chicken broth

        1 cup water

Cook macaroni in water and chicken broth mixed together until tender.  Add frozen vegetables.  Stir in seasonings. Mix milk with cheese pkg. from box.  Add to macaroni mixture.  Heat through.  Serve.

Hearty soups are great warmer-uppers for those crisp fall and winter days.  A soup like the one below with meatballs and vegetables makes a total hot and satisfying meal.  It has everything in it needed to make it healthy and great tasting. Even kids love it with the meatballs and the macaroni submerged in its tasty broth.

Ingredients:

• ½ pkg. frozen beef meatballs
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. garlic, minced
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1 TBSP. cooking oil
• 2 large carrots, cut into chunks
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled & cut into chunks
• 1 stalk celery, cut into chunks
• 1 cup spiral macaroni
• 2 pkg. dry beef bouillon
• 3 cups water

In a large stock pot, sauté onions and minced garlic in hot oil for approximately 3 minutes (until onions are translucent).   Add frozen meatballs and let brown on all sides (approx. 3 more minutes).  Add canned tomatoes, spices and all other ingredients, except macaroni. Bring to a boil.  Turn down heat and let simmer for 45 minutes.  Add macaroni.  Simmer 15 minutes longer or until macaroni is tender when cut with a fork.

Spoon into bowls and serve with fresh Italian bread.

This terrific tasting spicy soup recipe gets its roots from Jamaican cooking. It has a slight curry taste, which comes from the Grace’s packaged soup mix (which you can find in the international aisle at your local grocery store or at your local Caribbean food store). It also has a bit of spicy heat from the country pepper. You can omit the country pepper if you don’t like it really spicy, but adding it will definitely increase the flavour value. The chicken in the soup makes this a whole meal deal, great for those cozy winter days when you want nothing more that to eat a satisfying meal and curl up by the fire afterward.

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs. Grace’s Pumpkin/Chicken soup mix
• 4-5 medium new potatoes
• 2 small onions
• 3-4 medium carrots cut in chunks
• 5-6 chicken pieces (thighs)
• 1 large can pureed pumpkin, or 1 ½ cups steamed pureed fresh pumpkin
• 6 cups water
• 1 pkg. chicken bouillon powder
• 2 TBSP. cooking oil
• Pinch each of Salt and Pepper
• ¼ of a country pepper, chopped very finely

In large stockpot, brown chicken pieces in cooking oil.

Wash and cut up potatoes into large chunks. Cut onions into chunks. Peel and cut carrots into 1” pieces. Add to stockpot.

Add all remaining ingredients to pot and simmer together for 1-½ hours. Serve.

Roasting the vegetables before adding to the soup pot really adds to the flavor of this wonderfully tasty soup. The mild roasted garlic taste adds a new dimension of flavor as well. This soup is great for vegetarians as well, as it is made with vegetable broth instead of meat based broth.

Ingredients:

• 4 medium red potatoes
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 head garlic
• 1 TBSP. olive oil
• 1 can (14 ½ oz.) vegetable broth
• 1 TBSP. flour
• ¼ tsp. pepper
• 1 cup half & half cream
• Croutons

Preheat oven to 375° F. Peel and cube the potatoes. Place potatoes on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick vegetable oil. Sprinkle the onion and rosemary over the potatoes. Peel away the outer skin of the head of garlic leaving the skin on the cloves intact. Snip off the pointed top with sharp kitchen scissors, leaving the bulb intact but exposing the garlic cloves. Place the garlic, cut side up, on top of the potatoes. Drizzle the olive oil over everything. Cover with tin foil. Place the baking tray in the oven and bake, covered, for about 50 minutes or until the garlic cloves feel soft and the potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove from oven and cool slightly.

In the bowl of your food processor, squeeze the garlic bulb to remove the soft insides. Add the potatoes, onions and half of the vegetable broth, all of the flour and the pepper. Cover and blend until smooth. Pour this into a medium stockpot. Stir in the remaining broth and the ½ & ½ cream. Cook and stir over medium heat until the soup thickens and is bubbly. You can add in a little more half & half cream to get the consistency of the soup you like. Serve hot in bowls with crunchy croutons on top.