I find it easy to stick stuff INTO the freezer sometimes and harder to remember to use it up, so since it’s just me tonight this is perfect!

And this time I have some tortilla chips to go with it!  I also have a bit of avocado left so am adding that once the soup warms up. If avocado goes great with chicken tortilla soup, I’m thinking it will add a nice cool bit to taco soup too.

• 2 Tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 2-3 cloves chopped garlic (about 2 tsp)
• 1 Tbs chopped jalapeno pepper (I had some in the freezer)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 Tbs tomato paste (freeze leftovers in spoonfuls on wax paper)
• 6 cups homemade chicken stock
• 2 cups cooked diced or shredded chicken
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp lime juice
• 1 avocado, peeled and chopped
• sour cream at the table

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 tsp oil
• 20 oz frozen chopped broccoli
• 1 quart chicken or turkey broth
• 1 cup water (or just use 5 cups broth if you have it)
• 1/3 cup oatmeal (not instant, but 5 minute or so) * you can also substitute rice
• a pinch of nutmeg
• a pinch of cayenne
• a few grinds of the pepper grinder
• 1 Tbs Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp dry mustard (optional)
• 8 oz grated or diced Cheddar cheese (optional)
• 1/2 cup half and half (or milk for a lighter soup)

Heat the oil and saute the onion. (Or if you’re really in a hurry I have skipped this step and just started with the broth and added the raw onion straight to it.)  After the onion has cooked a few minutes, add the broth, broccoli, oatmeal, and seasonings. Bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, 20 minutes or so, stirring now andthen. Basically, you want the broccoli cooked through.

Use an immersion blender, also called a  Stick Hand Blender (affiliate link) to cream the soup. Just stick it right in the pot and blend!  No more transferring hot liquids to your blender and making a mess.

After blending, stir in the cubed cheese, if using, until melted, then stir in the half and half or milk, warm up a minute or two and serve.

Stracciatelle Soup

This was originally a totally ad hoc soup but it has become a family favorite. I make a soup of broth, tiny pasta and carrots (we call it Frog Eye soup, after the pasta) but then one day I had started making that and decided to turn it into a meal and added some spinach and meatballs, then read about stracciatelle soup somewhere so added the eggs.

When my daughter came home from school today feeling a bit sick she asked for it for dinner.  I normally use chicken broth but had turkey broth in the freezer now so that’s what I used. I luckily had a large supply of baby spinach leaves in the frig that I’d bought a few days ago.  Last time I made meatballs, I made some regular size and some tiny ones thinking of this soup, so used the last of the tiny ones up tonight.  I love having building blocks in the freezer like this. (I used the rest of the tiny meatballs in some baked ziti earlier.)

• 6 cups chicken or turkey broth
• 1/2 cup tiny pasta (pastina or anci de pepe, our favorite)
• 1 tsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 carrot, peeled and sliced into thin rounds
• 1/2 pound spinach, sliced thinly (julienne or chiffonade I think is the “proper” term)
• 1/2 pound of small tiny meatballs (or large if that’s all you have!)
• 2 eggs
• grated Parmesan cheese at the table

Bring the broth to a simmer and add the pasta, parsley, marjoram, carrot, spinach and meatballs. Simmer, covered partially, until the pasta is done (about 9 minutes for my frog eye balls) and the meat is heated through (if you started with frozen, as I did, it seemed to be done just fine in 9-10 minutes).

In a small bowl, whisk together the two eggs, then pour into the broth while stirring. If you stick a wooden spoon or a fork up against the bowl and pour across it, it breaks the eggs into smaller streams which is what you want. Stracciatelle means “rags” and that’s what the eggs look like as they cook in the broth, similar to Egg Drop Soup if you like Chinese food.  I suspect most cuisines have a similar soup with eggs in it.

Try to get the eggs in a thin stream and stir the soup as you pour. Stirring with a whisk would probably help but I just now thought of that!  Anyway, you want strings of egg. Put the lid on, turn the heat off, and let the soup sit a few minutes while you set the table, then dish up!

Serve with some grated Parmesan cheese for those that like it.

Pure comfort food yet full of protein and vegetables.

Spicy Coconut Rice Noodles and Chicken Soup

This is from Noodles Every Day: Delicious Asian Recipes from Ramen to Rice Sticks. It’s the first recipe I’ve tried from it and if the rest of the recipes are half as good as this one, it’s a real winner!

I, of course, made a few changes. First, I didn’t follow the base recipe for “Basic Asian Chicken Stock.” Instead, I took some turkey broth from Thanksgiving, added some water and chicken bases, then simmered with some sliced daikon, ginger, scallions, peppercorns, and fish sauce. I simmered it about half an hour since i was starting with stock. Her basic recipe started with chicken parts and simmered an hour. I figured i was just trying to infuse some Asian flavor into my turkey/chicken broth. I also about halved the recipe.

• 4 cups chicken/turkey broth
• 2 2″ slices of daikon, peeled
• about an inch of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and lightly crushed
• 3 scallions, trimmed and crushed lightly
• 1 tsp peppercorns
• fish sauce (about 1 tsp)

Simmer this all together for half an hour or so, then strain and reserve the broth. (If you’re starting with 3-4 pounds of raw chicken, beef or pork bones, simmer for at least an hour.)

I also roughly halved her recipe for the soup since the original recipe says serves 6 and I was cooking for two AND as part of  a meal, but I was using up half a can of coconut milk so just kept the 50/50 ration of coconut milk to chicken broth.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 1 shallot, peeled and minced
• 1 squirt of lemongrass from a tube (or 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and grated)
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 Tbs Thai red/green curry paste (Original recipe called for red, I used green)
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 Tbs fish sauce
• 2-3 cups coconut milk
• 2-3 cups Asian chicken stock
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a soup pota nd saute the garlic, shallot and lemongrass about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the curry paste and curry powder and stir, cooking another minute or so. Add the sugar and fish sauce and cook another 2-3 minutes, stirring.  Add the coconut milk, broth and lime juice, salt and pepper. Stir and simmer, covered, about an hour. (I shortcutted this to half an hour.)

• 4 ounces rice noodles

Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. The book said to soak the rice noodles in water until pliable then cook in boiling water 10 seconds. My package said to pour boiling water over the noodles in a bowl and let steep for 10 minutes. That’s what I opted for since it seemed less time sensitive.

Bring the broth back to a simmer and add:

• the equivalent of 3 boneless skinless chicken thighs, sliced thinly (I used 2 chicken legs, skinned and boned and sliced)

Cook for 5 minutes until chicken is cooked.

Into each bowl (3-4 by my serving size), place some noodles.  Add some

• parboiled snow peas (boiled for 1 or 2 minutes)
• bean sprouts

Pour the broth and chicken pieces over the bowls of noodles, snow peas and sprouts. Add some

• chopped fresh cilantro

We had some hot dogs left from my daughter’s graduation party in June and some neighbor’s had a party recently and gave us their leftover hot dog buns, which I froze (having had a miscount for the party so luckily NOT left with too many hot dog buns!). Anyway, the menu tonight was for barbecued hot dogs and a can of Bush’s baked beans, which we love. I decided to augment that with a very simple vegetable soup, which I might spice up later in the week but left very simple tonight.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 stalks of celery, diced
• 2 carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• salt and pepper to taste
• 4 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 can of green beans, drained
• 1 potato, peeled and diced

This is the very simple version.

Heat the oil and saute the onion a few minutes, until softened. (I do this while I’m prepping the garlic, carrots, and celery.)  Add the garlic and stir, cooking a  minute or so. Add the celery and carrots and stir.  (At this point I peel and dice the potato, letting the other vegetables cook.)  Add the potato and green beans, if using, and whatever seasonings you like (thyme in this case). (I don’t normally use canned green beans and can’t remember why I bought these, hence they were great fodder for soup. I might also, at this point, add some chopped cabbage and/or zucchini and/or peas or corn or … you get the idea.)

I didn’t even bother thawing my chicken broth but just put the 4 cups of it in frozen and let it melt while the vegetables finished sauteing. I let the whole thing simmer 20 minutes or so, long enough to get the potatoes soft.

Had I wanted a heartier soup I might have added some rice or beans or pasta. If I’d wanted something spicier I might have added some salsa or pesto or even some spicy sausage.

If  you like, you can make this very simple the first night, as I did here, then spice it up a bit another night later in the week to go with something else.  Sausage and shrimp and okra could make it into gumbo. Chicken and black beans and salsa and some crushed tortilla chips could go great with a Mexican meal.

I do think the key is good broth. I haven’t bought chicken broth in years. I make my own homemade chicken broth or turkey broth and freeze it.

Clear Soup with Mushrooms, Tofu and Daikon

I picked up a used copy of Japanese Women Don’t Get Old or Fat on a whim. I enjoyed the stories and her descriptions of various foods and cooking guidelines.  I didn’t really pick it up for the recipes but this easy soup was worth the $3 I spent for the book!  We all love Japanese soup and the instant miso packages are okay but not great.  This soup calls for dashi (made from seaweed and bonito flakes) but when I went to our Asian grocer I saw a packet of dashi soup base and used that.  Everything is in a bag and you simmer it for 10 minutes in 3 cups of water, then remove the bag. (The bag is like a tea bag.)   The soup was fantastic.  Her original recipe called for just tofu and shitake mushrooms. I used the regular small mushrooms from our grocery store because I had some and added some daikon (Japanese radish) cut in matchstick pieces because I saw that in another soup and it sounded good to me.

• 3 cups dashi (her recipe called for 4 but my instant stuff made 3)
• 8 ounces tofu
• 4 button mushrooms, sliced thinly
• 1/2 cup of daikon, peeled and sliced into matchstick pieces
• 1.5 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sake
• 1 green onion, sliced thinly

Rinse the tofu gently and cut into cubes. She called for heating the tofu and cooking the mushrooms in separate pans, then placing the tofu in one half of the bowl and the mushrooms in the other half and covering with the dashi broth. I just heated the tofu and cooked the mushrooms in the broth.

So make the dashi by simmering the tea bag of goodies for ten minutes in 3 cups of water.  Take the bag out and add the soy, salt and sake. (Note: we found this a bit salty and I had already cut the salt back so you might even eliminate the salt. I think the fact that this was “packaged” probably meant they added salt), add the tofu and simmer gently for a few minutes, then add the daikon and simmer a few more minutes, and finally add the mushrooms and cook just another 3 minutes or so (so roughly ten minutes for the tofu in total, 5 minutes for the daikon and 3 for the mushrooms).

Oh, I think I had some dried roasted seaweed out because I was making onigiri too and threw in a few flakes of it. That’s the dark green.

She says that cooking the ingredients separately helps keep the broth clear. I might try that next time but it’s not very cloudy and it tasted great this way!

Ladle into 3 or 4 bowls and garnish with the green onion slices.

NOTE: I didn’t really want leftovers so probably used more tofu than needed if this is a side dish. It was fortuitous though. I was winging some steak to go with this, along with some rice and spinach. The steak had been frozen in marinade and was just blah. So we filled up on soup and rice!

White Bean and Ham Soup

This is from The Supper Book: 10th Anniversary Edition by Marion Cunningham. Kind of funny–you can buy a hardcover of this on Amazon (used) for $3 (plus shipping) but the paperback version, that I have is $8 (still a deal!). This is so simple, but so delicious. Certainly frugal, let’s see $1 for the beans, two onions for 50 cents maybe. The ham is the expensive part and that’s only because I actually did buy a small piece of ham just to make this. Normally I would have cooked a ham and used a ham bone but that’s hard to do with just the two of us! So I used about $2.50 of ham. Her recipe says 4 servings but I know we’ll get at least 6, likely 8. I’ll likely serve with a small sandwich, like a tuna melt.  So $1 / serving or less.  You’d pay more for a can of ham and bean soup and it wouldn’t be half as good and you’d get two small servings.

• 1 pound white navy beans or Great Norther beans
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 cups or so of chopped ham or smoked pork butt or a leftover ham bone with some meat on it
• water to cover
• salt and pepper to taste

Soak the beans, either overnight or by the quick soak method: cover with water, bring to a boil, cover, turn the stove off, and let the beans sit in the hot water for an hour or so. Then drain and use.

Put the beans, onion and ham in a large stockpot. Cover with water by 1 1/2″ . Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, cover partially and simmer 2 hours or so, until the beans are tender. Watch the water level and add a bit more if needed. Taste and add salt and pepper as desired.

This is ham and bean soup at its simplest and it’s delicious. If you want more in it, you could think about adding some carrots and celery (I would saute first in a bit of oil with the chopped onion then add the other ingredients.)  You could also use chicken broth if you wanted. But I think you will be surprised at how delicious this is in its most simple form.

Mexican Inspired Chicken Soup

I wanted some soup for lunches later in the week so cooked this up to go with the carne asada soft tacos I was making for dinner. I wanted something Mexican oriented and with some vegetables so played around a bit and came up with this soup. I used some corn I had frozen after we had leftover corn on the cob. I just sliced it off the cob and froze it. I liked it in the soup because it was larger chunks of corn rather than just individual kernels.

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 tsp taco seasoning (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your broth)
• 6 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 cup cooked chicken, diced
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen)
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

This could have gone any number of directions depending on what I had found while rooting through the freezer and vegetable bin.  If I’d wanted a lighter soup, I’d have left out the chicken but I was thinking this would make a nice lunch for me later. If I’d wanted a heavier soup I would have added some cooked beans and maybe some potatoes or rice. Also, if I’d had extra salsa without the avocados I would have added that instead of or in addition to the fresh tomato from my garden.

Heat the oil and cook the onion and celery until softened. Sprinkle with the taco seasoning, cumin and salt and cook a minute. Add the rest of the ingredient except for the fresh cilantro and simmer 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Mmm!  Could also add some diced avocado, grated cheese and crushed tortilla chips if you wanted a heartier soup.

• 6 ounces precooked sausage, sliced
• 1 cup diced green, red, or yellow bell pepper (I used red)
• 1 14 ¼ ounce can fat free chicken broth
• 1 15 ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup picante sauce or salsa
• chopped cilantro (optional)

Cook the sausage in a medium saucepan until lightly browned. If you’re using very low fat sausage, you might want to spray with some cooking spray or give the pan a light coating of olive oil first.   Cook, stirring now and then, until the sausage is lightly browned. Add the diced peppers and cook, stirring, another minute or so.

Add the broth, beans and salsa and simmer, covered, 5-10 minutes.   Add the chopped cilantro just before serving (or add it to each bowl individually). Makes about 4 1 cup servings.

We had a cup of this with some Welsh Rarebit on English muffins. Great dinner for a rainy night!