Category: soup

Easy Vegetable Soup – Simple and Delicious

Posted in easy vegetable soup, soup, vegetable soup, winter soup

 

I love soup.  I’ve always loved soup.  It’s so versatile, filling and healthy.  Not to mention an easy way to clean out your fridge.  And don’t we all love a way to lessen our food waste.
Recently I was in a live Facebook event (Krafters in the Kitchen) that was all about healthy food.  For years I’ve been making one version or another of vegetable soup.  As a matter of fact I made vegetable soup or the kids at school (I was a teacher for a large part of my life) once a week.  It’s a great way to get kids involved with the preparation by getting them child safe choppers to use to chop the veggies.

The ingredients are simple and can be tailored to what you have on hand.  For this pot of soup I used the basics; onions, carrots, celery and potatoes.  Then I added some garlic because it’s so good for you.  Some spinach, and a can of tomatoes.  For the broth or what the kids used to call “the juice” I used my favorite soup base– L.B. Jamison’s.  For this pot of soup I used chicken soup base because it’s what I had.  But of course you can use veggie stock if you have it.

INGREDIENTS

1 Tablespoon oil of choice

2 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, cleaned and diced

1/2 yellow onion, diced 

3 red potatoes, cleaned and diced

3-4 cloves of chopped garlic

1 can of whole tomatoes or 1 can of diced tomatoes

6 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 cup fresh spinach

1 can of white beans, rinsed (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

1 teaspoon oregano

2 bay leaves

DIRECTIONS

In a dutch oven or a heavy bottomed sauce pan heat the oil.  When the oil is hot add the chopped onion and stir to coat with the oil.  Cook until the onion is translucent.  Once the onion is softened add the celery, carrots and potatoes.  Continue to cook until the veggies are soft – about 5 minutes.  The potatoes will not be completely cooked but will finish cooking as the soup simmers.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring constantly.

Add in the chicken or veggie stock and stir to combine.  Check for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.  Add in the oregano, bay leaves and the can of tomatoes.

Cover and cook on medium low heat until the potatoes are soft – about 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and add in the spinach and the rinsed beans if using.  Stir to combine.

 Let the soup simmer uncovered for another 20-30 minutes.  Then it’s time to serve!

To see my FB live use this link:

https://www.facebook.com/frommycorner/videos/347657511567747

NOTES

This soup is delicious served right away but will only get better the next day.

You can freeze this soup in individual portions for a quick meal.

Feel free to change up the veggies.  You can even add frozen vegetables.  Just be sure to adjust the heat since the frozen veggies will lower the temperature of your pot.

To check out the other healthy dishes made during the event use the links below

Paint Party with Lidia: https://www.facebook.com/paintpartywithLidia/videos/3720638268255712

The Crafty Brother: https://www.facebook.com/thecraftybrother/videos/1131458331178130

The Crafty Bunch by Rustic Daisies: https://www.facebook.com/RusticDaisiesHOMEwithAngi/videos/257682937361697

gotmaria:https://www.facebook.com/herbalcraftingchef/videos/726376536260550

5 Ingredient Greek Chicken Rice Soup

Posted in chicken, Greek, soup

I usually spend Saturdays running errands and this past Saturday was no different. My husband and I decided that we would treat ourselves to a Greek lunch while out shopping so we headed over to one of our favorite Greek/diner restaurants called Grecian Gardens.  There we both had a lunch of salad, fries and gyros.  But I was surprised to see that Avgolemono (Greek chicken and rice soup with lemon) wasn’t on the menu and I really was looking forward to a nice, warming bowl of soup to go with my gyro.

I can try to make it myself, I thought.  How hard could it be?   I had homemade broth that was cooked all day in the crock pot.  I had left over chicken from the night before, and I had plenty of eggs and a whole bottle of lemon juice.  All I needed was a recipe.

I did an internet search and came across a recipe on about.com  and it was very simple.

This soup can be made quickly (if you have instant rice and the broth on hand) or it can take all day if you first cook the chicken to make the broth as in the original recipe.  I’ll give you the short version.

To make Greek Chicken and Rice Soup this is what you’ll need:

12 cups of broth
1 cup of instant rice
3 large eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 cup lemon juice (or the juice of 2 large lemons)
cooked chicken (in the original recipe the chicken isn’t added to the soup.  They suggest serving it on the side.)

Pour the broth into a large stock pot.  Heat to boil.  Add the rice, turn off the heat and cook 5 minutes.  Meanwhile take the cooked chicken and season with salt, pepper and dried oregano.  Beat the whole eggs into a separate bowl and add the lemon juice.  Whisk until frothy.  Once the rice is cooked ladle out about a cup of the broth into a separate cup, then pour the broth very slowly into the egg/lemon juice mixture, whisking the entire time.  This will temper the eggs so that they don’t scramble when you add them to the soup.
Pour the broth/egg/lemon mixture into the soup pot, whisking.  Stir in the cooked, seasoned chicken if using.  Check the soup for seasoning and add salt and pepper if needed.

Simple 5 ingredient Greek Chicken Rice Soup warm and filling.  Serve it by itself or with a sandwich or Greek salad.

<TIP> If you make your own broth be sure to skim off any of the fat that might be on the top.  You don’t want greasy soup
<TIP>  I used only a 1/4 cup of lemon juice and I think it could have used a little more.  You might want to start with a 1/4 cup especially if your lemons are fresh.
<TIP>  Be sure to be careful with the seasoning.  My broth was homemade so it needed salt. Most canned broths are pretty salty, so taste before adding any more.

Makes about 6-8 main course servings and is ready in 15-20 minutes.