And even though the temps lately have been in the 80-90 degrees F range, there is a feeling of Autumn in the air.
In the mood for soup, I decided to create a roasted carrot soup with some vegies I had in the fridge.
It turned out SOOOO good!
I mean – how can you go wrong with roasted vegetables that include onion and garlic and fresh rosemary pureed into a creamy, warm, soothing soup?
You could add some greek yogurt or cream to make it even creamier, but I loved the freshness and healthiness of this soup that tastes like it is loaded with calories, but instead is low-calorie and loaded with flavor!
Hope you will give it a try. I loved how it turned out!
Layer first 8 ingredients in a large stoneware bar pan or shallow roasting pan. Drizzle liberally with olive oil, and toss to coat. Roast 30-40 minutes.
Transfer roasted vegetables to a pot. Add chicken broth. Blend with Immersion Blender or in food processor or blender until creamy. (I love using an immersion blender as it is quick, efficient, and easy to clean up.)
Ladle into bowls, and top with croutons if desired.
Enjoy!
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
*I have become such a huge fan of Maldon Sea Salt! I’ve always been a salt lover, but these soft, flaky sea salt crystals have a clean salt flavor without the bitter after taste that table salts I’ve always used in the past leave. It truly provides a freshness that enhances the flavor of food. I so highly recommend it! It not only tastes wonderful, but it is also beautiful to season with. AND, as a watercolor artist, I love it to use to create textures in my artwork! I keep mine in a cute little bamboo salt box on the kitchen counter next to the stovetop for ease of grabbing pinches of for cooking. Bravo Maldon!! (and this is not a paid promotion in any way, shape, or form – I just seriously love this stuff!)
This “soup” recipe is so hearty, you might almost consider it a stew, so my clever blogging friend Kathryn at Another Foodie Blogger, aptly named this recipe Stoup.
I was dying to try this recipe, as I am a huge fan of soups, and a huge fan of barley. (Grandma used to make a Beef Barley Soup, and I haven’t had it in years!)
Hubby is not much of a soup lover, but when I read Kathryn’s recipe and saw how hearty it was, I thought I might be able to get away with this one.
And did I ever! Hubby actually ate it with a fork and happily ate leftovers the following night.
This is one of the best new recipes I have tried in a long time! If all of Kathryn’s recipes are this amazing, I will be excited to try more.
This stoup literally tantalizes your taste buds with it’s bounty of complex textures and flavors, and I think what really took it over the top was the fact that I made homemade beef broth for it (not canned beef broth or water and bouillon cubes). I made the broth from scratch with beef bones ROASTED in the oven first with vegetables and then simmered for hours until it became a rich, dark brown pot of goodness. I found the recipe at Taste of Home and will share below.
This recipe is not hard, but it takes time. It is great for the type of weather we are experiencing in our part of the world right now… very cold and snowy. It’s a recipe for when you have time to roast and simmer all day while you are home. A recipe for when you are in the mood for chopping and dicing and then just totally curling up under a blanket by a fire with a crusty piece of bread to dunk in it and sop it up with.
I tweaked up Kathryn’s recipe just a bit. She added mushrooms. For those that like, please do add. Mushrooms are one thing I just can’t eat. Hubby on the other hand would have loved, but I just can’t put them in my mouth. I added a bit more beef and veggies to make it even thicker. And Barley is such a wonderful healthy grain.
I do hope you try this when you have time, and I hope you will visit Kathryn’s blog (or her Austin Street Taco Food Truck if you are anywhere near Bend, Oregon in the summertime) to check out some of her recipes. She has become a great blogging friend.
1 1/2 lb. high-quality beef roast, cut into 1 inch pieces
Salt and pepper, for seasoning meat
Flour, for dusting meat
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 tablespoon tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 14.5-ounce can diced or stewed tomatoes
4 cups homemade beef broth (recipe follows)
1 bay leaf
3 small sprigs thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions:
Season cubed meat with salt and pepper, then toss with some flour to dust it. In a large soup pot or dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add beef to pot, and sear cubes on all sides until browned. Remove to a bowl and set aside.
Add onion, carrots, and celery to pot that you seared meat in, and cook 8-10 minutes to allow veggies to wilt and brown slightly. Add garlic and tomato paste in the last minute of cooking.
Pour in the red wine, and deglaze the pot by scraping up the browned bits. Add tomatoes, beef broth, bay leaf and thyme. Stir well to combine. Add the meat, including any accumulated juices in the bowl.
Bring to a boil, then stir in the barley. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 45-60 minutes or until the barley is cooked. Remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs and taste for additional salt and pepper.
4 lbs meaty beef bones (beef shanks or short ribs)
3-4 large carrots, cut into chunks
3-4 ribs of celery with green leafy tops, cut into chunks
2 large onions, quartered
1/2 cup warm water
3 bay leaves
3-4 large garlic cloves
1 tsp coarse black pepper or peppercorns
3-4 sprigs fresh parsley or 1 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried oregano
1 beef bouillon cube
1 tsp salt
12 cups cold water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. In a large dutch oven, roast soup bones, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Add carrots, celery, and onions, and roast an additional 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, and add warm water, stirring to loosen browned bits. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, and slowly boil for 30 minutes. Reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered 4-5 hours. Skim any foam that forms.
Remove bones (and send for Charlie!). Strain broth through a colander, discarding solids. If time allows, refrigerate to allow removing fat that forms on top. Otherwise skim as best possible from top.
Broth can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 4-6 months.
This was something new and intriguing to me when mentioned by a friend on Facebook who said she was making it because she was coming down with a cold.
I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and I finally made it this past week.
O M G!
What have I been missing?!?!
As far as I can tell, this recipe was originally posted on The Noble Pig several years ago, and I totally missed it.
It is a wonderful combination of tart, sour, salty pickles and creamy potato soup. It reminds me of a delicious potato dish we’ve eaten at a local favorite restaurant that combines potatoes and cheese and pickles.
What a great comfort food recipe!
What a wonderful flavorful, warm meal in a bowl.
I can’t wait to hear if you’ve heard of it or if you are going to try it.
I tweaked it up a bit by adding a few more potatoes (especially some small gold, red, and purple ones to add color and texture).
6 cups chicken broth (I use 6 cups water and 6 tsp. chicken base)
2 lbs potatoes (large potatoes peeled and quartered or small yellow, red, and purple potatoes halved – I used a combination of all)
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup chopped dill pickes
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup water
2 cups dill pickle juice
2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning
1 Tbsp. coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
Directions:
In a large pot, combine chicken broth, potatoes, carrots, and butter. Bring to a boil, and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add chopped pickles, and continue to boil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sour cream, and water, making a paste. Vigorously whisk paste into soup, small portions at a time, breaking up lumps. Add pickle juice, Old Bay Seasoning, pepper and cayenne. Cook 5 more minutes to incorporate.
When I have a head cold, nothing makes me feel better than the smell and taste of good old-fashioned chicken noodle soup.
So when my throat started aching, nose started running, cough began croaking, ears felt like they were stuffed with cotton, and head began pounding this week, I knew I had to get a pot of soup on.
Not only does the smell comfort me and remind me of Grandma’s house and love, but the steam clears up the stuffed nose and the warm broth soothes my sore throat.
When other foods lose their flavor when your head is congested, nothing tastes as good as homemade chicken soup.
If you are a beginner cook, I hope you will find this recipe easy to follow. It is made from staple ingredients I almost always have in my kitchen, and though it takes a couple hours to simmer, you can throw it together quickly and forget about it during that time – enjoying the aroma and anticipation of comfort.
Place frozen chicken breasts in large soup pot. Cover with 12 cups cold water. Add celery, carrots, chicken base, whole garlic cloves, onions, parsley, and pepper. Cover and bring to a rolling boil.
Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer with lid tilted slightly so it is not tight fitting, but allows steam to escape. Simmer for approximately 2 hours or until broth level reduces 1/2 – 1 inch. You can tell this by looking at the side of the pot where a line will be formed where soup started. This will allow the broth to build depth of flavor.
When soup is almost done, boil noodles in a separate pot, cooking 2-3 minutes less than directions. Drain and rinse well with cold water. Set aside.
When soup broth is done, pour through strainer into a larger pot. The broth will go into the pot, and the chicken and vegetables will remain in the strainer.
When cool enough to handle, chop chicken and vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Add back to broth, then add drained and rinsed noodles. Stir to incorporate all.
Your soup is now ready to enjoy. This soup keeps well for up to a week in the refrigerator and also freezes well.
Beginner’s sidenotes/tips: You can certainly use a whole chicken or chicken parts, but it is a lot more work to clean the chicken from the bone, and remove the skin and fat after cooking to cut up for the soup. Using chicken breasts also eliminated the need to allow the broth to cool and fat to rise to top to skim off as there is little to no fat in the chicken breasts. Chicken breasts also allow for a heartier soup with big chunks of tender chicken. Buying a better grade and organic chicken will give you better flavor and better food value. I’ve found with cheaper brands of chicken, there is fat and gristle that needs removed as well as ligaments that need cut out.
You can certainly use whole raw carrots, but the convenient short-cut carrots save the need for peeling and cutting down carrots into manageable pieces.
While dried herbs are always good to have on hand in a pinch, nothing will make your recipes better than using fresh herbs. Fresh parsley as opposed to dried will really add a whole new sophisticated level to your soup.
Always cook your noodles separately, and drain and rinse well in cold water. This will remove the starch that cooks off the pasta from being in your soup and “muddying up” the broth’s texture and flavor. Rinsing in cold water will stop the “cooking” that still continues in food like pasta while it is still hot.
Cook noodles 2-3 minutes less than directions say to avoid soggy, mushy noodles in your soup. As they sit in the soup, they will soften and plump even more, so no need to over-cook.
Do not add oil or salt to the noodles when boiling. There is plenty of salt in the soup base that will make the broth. It is almost impossible to “unsalt” soup, but additional salt can always be added for individual taste or preference. If you over-salt, add more water to broth or consider boiling a whole peeled potato in the broth. The potato will absorb some of the salt. You can then throw the potato out, hopefully salvaging your broth.
Does anything warm you up more wonderfully on cold winter days than a steamy, creamy bowl of soup?
I made this yummy creamy, cheesy cauliflower soup one day this past week, and we absolutely loved it.
When hubby, who typically prefers to eat lunch out during the work week, asked for a serving to take for lunch the next day, I knew I had a real winner on hand!
It is chock full of delicious vegetables simmered in broth and then creamed by adding an easy cheesy roux and blending a bit. You could completely cream it if you like, but I like to cream about half and leave plenty of hearty chunks of the cauliflower, celery, carrots and sweet red peppers.
Fresh thyme really adds a fabulous fragrance and taste, and hot sauce is a great way to kick it up just a bit!
Imagine serving this with some crusty french or chewy ciabatta bread to dunk in it or alongside a sandwich or salad.
Hope you’ll give it a try, and hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
I head cauliflower, broken into florets (5-6 cups)
1 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup chopped sweet red pepper
1 tsp freshly chopped thyme
3 cups chicken broth (I made from water and 3 tsp. chicken base)
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
Dash of salt and pepper to taste
2 cups half and half or milk
1 cup freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese (do not use pre-grated)
2 tsp Cholula Hot Sauce (or you can use Sriracha or your favorite or none)
Directions:
Combine all vegetables, thyme, and chicken broth in a large pot. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.
In a medium saucepan, melt butter, then add flour, salt and pepper to create a roux. Whisk half and half in slowly. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook and continue whisking for 2 minutes until thickened and smooth. Turn heat off and stir in shredded cheese until melted. Add hot sauce (if desired).
Pour creamy cheese mixture into vegetables and broth. Stir until completely combined.
Puree to desired consistency using Immersion Blender leaving chunks of vegetables, but creating a creamy texture.
If you are a soup lover like me – especially this time of year when the temperatures turn cooler and the days grow shorter – you are going to love this hearty, rich, and flavorful meal in a bowl.
If you love the taste of stuffed peppers, but not the fuss, you are going to be in heaven.
Stuffed Pepper Soup is one of my all-time faves. You can make it on the stove top or throw it in the crock pot to simmer all day. Your house is going to smell like Grandma’s kitchen, and your belly is going jump for joy!
In a large dutch oven, brown ground beef with onion and garlic. Drain. Stir in remaining ingredients, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for approximately one hour until peppers are tender and flavors have had the chance to blend. Serve piping hot, and enjoy!
My BFF was coming for dinner one night this week, and I wanted to make one of her favorites. Jill loves creamy potato soup, especially on these cold winter evenings, so I was excited to make it for her to enjoy for dinner with Marty and I since her hubby is out of town. How lucky for me to get to have extra time with her!!!
I found a recipe for Crockpot Potato Soup and thought that would be perfect – I could prep it in the morning, let it cook while I work, then finish it up after work and enjoy the evening with Jill.
So I started peeling and dicing the potatoes. The recipe called for 3 to 3 1/2 lbs, but I decided to double it to assure there would be plenty leftover for Jill to have for the rest of the week to take for lunch or have for dinner at home.
And as a side note: Marty would be so proud that I actually used the vegetable peeler tool to peel all 7 lbs. of potatoes! What a hassle! I usually just use a paring knife to be quicker, but I do waste an awful lot that way… I had a bag of red potatoes and several loose russet and Yukon Golds. I used every single one of them.
Then I chopped two wonderfully large sweet Vidalia onions. I’m not the best chopper/dicer. I just don’t have the patience to “finely” chop or dice. Marty and Jake are so much more precise. I like to refer to my style of chopping as “rustic.” Doesn’t that sound so much more artistic and purposeful than “too lazy to bother?” 🙂
Next the recipe called for chicken broth. I didn’t have any canned or boxed, but I did have chicken base, which makes a wonderful and much less expensive broth.
Since I was doubling the recipe, I needed 10 cups of chicken broth.
Well – I have a pretty large crockpot, but wasn’t thinking straight (Disclaimer: it was like 7:30 am, and I was only on my first cup of coffee), so 7 lbs. of diced potatoes and 10 cups of chicken broth…. well – not happening in the crock pot…. And there was more to add….
The recipe didn’t call for garlic, but c’mon – what savory dish doesn’t taste better with some freshly minced garlic in it? Again – note the “rustic” mincing job I do with my garlic…
And just because I had it – – and because it is yummy – – – I wanted to throw in some fresh “rustically” chopped rosemary and sage. Oh the wonderful aroma!!!!
So before I had a huge mess, I dumped it all in a LARGE pot – way too large – but whatever – it fit – and too big is better than too small (for soup pots)!
Next – the recipe called for a cup of evaporated milk. I had one can. I needed 2 cups (doubling – remember?) One can does NOT equal two cups….
… so I just filled the remaining half cup with Half and Half. I dumped poured it in the pot, then added a dash of salt and pepper.
According to the crockpot recipe, this is all to simmer on HIGH for 4 hours or LOW for 8 hours…. I put a lid on the pot, set the burner to simmer, and it only took about an hour of simmering for the potatoes to be fully cooked and soft. So it just sat there (and the flavors melded) for the day once done.
After work, when I was ready to finish the soup, I melted 2/3 cup butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, I whisked in 2/3 cup flour and cooked for a couple minutes. I then whisked in 4 cups of the potato soup broth.
This was then added to the big pot and cooked for about 10 minutes. While that was cooking, I fried up a pound of sliced bacon, chopped a handlful of green onions, and grated some cheddar cheese.
I stirred half the bacon, onion and cheese into the pot, along with a cup of sour cream…
I reserved the rest of the bacon, green onions and cheese for garnishing on top of the soup.
And because nothing goes better with warm, creamy soup than rustic crusty homemade bread, I made a loaf for dunkin’. (You can find the recipe for this super-easy, no-knead, three ingredient crusty bread here from a previous post.)
We filled and warmed our bellies, and then…… the best part….. my favorite holiday show was on! RUDOLPH the Red-Nosed Reindeer! And I got to watch it with my bestie!
And Jill got to take a big container home to enjoy for the rest of the week. It was a pretty great Tuesday! 🙂
Here is the recipe (the SINGLE recipe that FITS in the crockpot!) as posted by www.CookingClassy.com.
Make it however you like, add whatever spices you like, substitute whatever you need…. That’s the beauty and fun of cooking!
3 to 3 1/2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch to 3/4-inch pieces (about 7 medium potatoes, 8 – 9 cups)
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced (1 cup)
3 (14.5 oz) cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup evaporated milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (6 oz)
9 oz bacon, cooked and diced or crumbled
4 green onions, diced
Directions
To a 6 or 7-quart slow cooker, add potatoes, onion, chicken broth, evaporated milk and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover with lid and cook on HIGH heat for 4 hours or LOW heat for 8 hours (poke potatoes with a fork to check make sure they’re soft).
Ladle out 2 cups liquid from soup mixture in crock pot into a liquid measuring cup, set aside. In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. While whisking, slowly pour 2 cups liquid in measuring cup into butter mixture (it will thicken quickly). Pour butter mixture into slow cooker and stir to blend. If desired, mash potatoes with a potato masher to break down into smaller pieces or use an emulsion blender to puree. Cover and cook on HIGH heat until thickened, about 10 minutes. Turn heat off (or to warm), stir in sour cream. Serve warm topped with cheddar, bacon and green onions (you can just mix in those three remaining ingredients into slow cooker or top individual servings).
Cheers & Warm Hugs,
Jodi
I am submitting this post as part of my #Writing201 Assignment: A How-To How-To – We all have something we can teach others. This week, dig into your bucket of expertise to pen an instructional post.
What do you do when someone you love is sick or grieving?
I make homemade chicken noodle soup.
I had a sick son in the house this week. Does anything break a mama’s heart more than a sick “child?”
After every effort of soup and ginger ale, Aleve, and cold and sinus medicine, a trip to the doctor was in order for Nick.
It seems he has the flu. Already! First day of Fall and the flu is in our house!
And then there is a family I care deeply about that is suffering a loss….
When there is nothing else you can do…….
Cook…..
Feed….
Warm the heart and soul.
When I make homemade chicken noodle soup, it is nostalgic for me in so many ways.
Grandma made chicken soup almost every week.
I can still smell it as vividly in my memory as if I were there.
All I need do is close my eyes and inhale slowly, but deeply through my nose, my mind, my heart…
The distinct aromatic union of leafy celery tops, pungent chopped onions, sweet and nutty carrot slivers and juicy chicken creating a steamy aroma that oozes comfort, warm hugs, and healing goodness…
So when I make chicken soup, it is more than a recipe – more than a meal. For me, it is a labor of love, a reminder of my greatest role model, a tribute to simple, loving gestures, a way to share warmth, and give a hug in every spoonful.
And I want to share that love.
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Jodi’s Version of Grandma’s Homemade Chicken Soup
Place 1 3lb pkg frozen chicken breasts in a large stock pot filled with water to cover. (You can certainly use a whole chicken or bone-in chicken parts – like Grandma did. The skin and bones do add a lot of flavor. But then it is fussy to pick apart, and we like plump white meat best, so I find this much easier.)
Simmer all for 3-4 hours.
Drain, and chop chicken and vegetables into broth.
In separate pot, boil 1 lb of your favorite noodles in salted water to al dente.
Drain and rinse.
Add noodles to broth and serve.
Wishing you good health and peace.
Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi
PS – Had so much fun with A Tale of Two Condiments yesterday, so wanted to share a couple current photos of those cute little condiments. (Thanks for all the great comments and likes!)
Here is Handsome Mr. Ketchup on his wedding day last year with the love of his life and our darling daughter-in-law (who LOVES french fries!)
Here is Handsome Mr. Mustard and his beautiful and sweet girlfriend. (He is the one who had the flu 😦 )
And here is the contrary, but equally handsome Mr. Mayonnaise (having things other than mayonnaise at Mr. Ketchup’s wedding last year!)
Roasted Carrot Soup.
the creative life in between 