My Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

1 bag of Barilla Collezione Cheese and Spinach Tortellini pasta

1 shallot or Onion, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, pressed (or minced)

4 carrots, sliced

4 stalks of celery, sliced

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1/2 - 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

2-3 cups Spinach (or more, use as much or as little as you like)

4 cups stock (vegetable, chicken, beef-it's up to you!)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1.    In a large Dutch oven, or large pot, cook pasta according to the package. Drain and set aside.

2.    In the same pot add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the shallot, garlic, carrots, celery, salt, pepper and Italian seasoning until vegetables are tender. You will want to keep an eye on the veggies, stirring often, or you risk burning the garlic. Use more olive oil if the bottom of the pot gets too dry.

3.    Once the vegetables are tender add 2 cups of your stock. I bring this up to a simmer and I add the the spinach. Cook just until it's wilted (it doesn't take long).

4.    Add the cooked tortellini, and add enough or the remaining broth to cover. For me, that's usually 2 more cups. The pasta really soaks up the stock. I bring this up to a simmer again just so it's all the same temp, and the pasta is reheated. Taste the broth and see if you need to add additional seasoning, like a little more Italian seasoning or salt and pepper. Then enjoy! 

Cheeseburger Soup

½ Lb. Ground beef

¾ cup chopped onion

¾ cup shredded carrots

¾ cup diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried parsley flakes

4 Tbsp. butter

3 cups chicken broth

4 cups diced potatoes

¼ cup flour

2 Cups Velveeta Cheese cubed

1 ½ cup milk

¾ tsp. salt

¼ tsp pepper

¼ cup sour cream

Brown beef & set aside. Sautee onion, carrots, celery, basil & parsley with 1 tbsp. butter until vegetables are tender.

Add broth, potatoes & beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat-cover and simmer until potatoes are tender.

In a small skillet-melt remaining butter. Add flour and cook until bubbly. Add this mixture to soup until it thickens.

Reduce heat to low – add cheese, milk, salt & pepper. Cook until cheese melts.

Remove from heat & blend in sour cream. Can put in a crockpot.

Chili

1 pound ground sirloin

2 pounds round steak, cubed

2 cans of tomato sauce (16 ounce cans)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cans of chopped green chilies (4 ounce cans)

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons cumin

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons parsley

1 - 1 1/2 teaspoons garlic

1 can beef broth

1 can kidney beans (20 ounce can)

Brown meats in pressure; add remaining ingredients EXCEPT KIDNEY BEANS. Put under pressure, racking slowly for 15 minutes, allowing pressure to drop of it's own accord. Add beans and simmer

Recipe from Jan Dougherty

Cream of Mushroom Soup

8 ounces of mushrooms
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 can beef broth
1 soup can water or 3/4 can of water with 1/4 can marsala wine
1 cup half-n-half
Snipped parsley

Slice enough mushrooms to measure 1 cup; chop the remaining mushrooms. Cook and stir sliced mushrooms in 2 tablespoons of butter in a 3 quart sauce pan over low heat until golden brown. Remove mushrooms with a slotted spoon. Add chopped mushrooms, onion and garlic to pan and cook until tender. Stir in flour, salt and white pepper. Cook over low heat stirring constantly for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Stir in broth, water and wine. Heat until boiling stirring constantly for 1 minute. Stir in half-n-half and sliced mushrooms. Garnish with parsley.

Recipe from Susan Clarke

Butternut Squash Soup

Nothing says Autumn like a trip to the pumpkin patch. This year, Emily's company sponsored a trip to our favorite spot, Bauman's Farm, located in Gervais, OR. Bauman's is a bit of a local spectacle; it attracts folks from all over the state and has lots of attractions for adults and children alike. Our favorite part of the visit is the store, which carries all kinds of local produce and fall delicacies. Among those are an amazing and varied selection of squash and other fall vegetables.

Job number one after a visit is to make the first of what will normally be a number of batches of soup, usually beginning with our favorite: butternut squash soup. It's really easy to make and it doesn't really require a recipe. Just play the small set of ingredients to produce a soup to your liking; this is just you cooking.

Ingredients (not exact)

1 sm. to med. butternut squash
1 - 2 cloves garlic
4 Tbsp butter
3 cu. chicken or vegetable stock
salt, peper, cayenne pepper to taste

The amount of each ingredient isn't super important. If you want a thicker soup, use less stock and vice versa. If you like just a hint of garlic, use less; if you love it and don't mind offending your family and co-workers, use more (I, personally, don't give a damn--I work from home).

Peel, remove the seeds, and cut up the squash into equally sized cubes. I aim for about 3/4" to 1" pieces. The size isn't important... just make sure the pieces are roughly the same size so they cook at the same rate.

Melt the butter in a heavy pot over medium high heat, I use a Le Creuset dutch oven, but any heavy sauce pot will do. Add the garlic when the butter starts to sizzle. Don't brown it! Just let it "bloom", so keep it moving. Then add the squash and stir for about three minutes. Then add a cup or so of the broth and deglaze the pot. Add the rest of the stock, 1/2 Tsp. of salt, and black pepper to taste and simmer on med. low (just a very gentle boil) until the squash is very tender; roughly twenty minutes. You should be able to squash the squash (Ha!) with a fork with no pressure.

Once the squash is fully cooked, kill the heat and let the soup sit for around fifteen minutes. Then you need to process the soup. I usually use my cheap wand blender that I've had for more years than I can remember, but you can also use a food processor or blender (be very careful). Adjust the seasoning (salt and pepper) and add roughly 1/8 Tsp of cayenne. The cayenne pepper doesn't really add heat; it's just a small amount to awaken your taste buds. Trust me on this; you should add a pinch of cayenne to everything!

Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or sour cream and enjoy. This is one of life's very simple pleasures.

~David

Bean Soup

For Casondra.

When I make soup, which is often during the fall and winter months, I do so in a completely organic fashion. Organic as in process, not necessarily referring to ingredients, although sometimes that is the case; it depends on what I can find in the grocer. I don't usually measure or weigh or count, I just toss stuff into a pot and simmer it until everything is cooked.

I've made this bean soup a few times, but never the same way twice. That said, Emily really liked the last batch, so I'm going to try to write it down as close as possible to the way I prepared it. Your mileage may vary.

Ingredients

1 lb. thick-sliced bacon (you can substitute a nice ham steak or some grilled chicken)
3 - 4 Tbsp bacon fat or olive oil
1 large yellow onion or 3 - 4 small boiler onions, whole
4 - 5 carrots
4 - 5 stalks of celery
5 - 6 cloves of garlic
6 cans of your favorite beans, we mix them up for variety
1 large can of tomato puree
2 qts. chicken or vegetable stock
2 c. water
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 Tbsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon until the fat has started to render; you don't want it too crisp at this point. Reserve the bacon fat for later use (if using).

While the bacon is cooking, open, drain and rinse the beans and set aside. Chop up the mirepoix (carrots, celery and onion) into even-sized pieces and also chop up the garlic. Open up the tomato puree and stock.

Add fat to a large soup pot and heat over a medium flame. Add mirepoix and cook until the onions begins to turn translucent. Add garlic and cook for two minutes. Add beans and cook for two minutes. Then add the spices, tomato, stock and water. Bring to a simmer and then cover (mostly) and cook until the vegetables are tender. Season to taste and serve. It's really lovely with corn bread or biscuits, and a glass of wine (or two or three).

N.B. this recipe makes a metric **tt-ton of soup, so you should be prepared to freeze a bunch of it for safe keeping. Feel free to reduce by half or a third; the measurements for this are left as an exercise to the interested student.

Hot and Sour Prawn Soup

The credit for this recipe goes to Gordon Ramsay. Say what you will about the man, but he can cook.

You'll need:

2 qts. chicken stock (see the recipe on this blog)
2 oz. fresh ginger peeled and cut into strips
2 stalks lemongrass
1 fresh cayenne pepper, cut into half lengthwise
Juice of 1 lime
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
2 - 3 Tbsp. fish sauce
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
1/2 lb. fresh shrimp
2 c. white button mushrooms
1/2 c. fresh cilantro (coriander if you're outside of the US)

Bring the stock to a boil and then take it off the heat. Add in everything but the shrimp and mushrooms and let infuse for 15 - 20 minutes. Strain and then add in the shrimp, mushrooms, and coriander (or cilantro). The shrimp will cook in the still-hot stock and you want the mushrooms a bit firm. Serve and enjoy.

~David

Postscript: I added onion to a recent batch for extra good nominess. :)

David's Lentil Soup

Ingredients:
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

Med onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

3 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 cups lentils (or 2 sixteen ounce bags)
1/2 ham steak (one of those flat packs) chopped into half inch cubes)
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 32 oz box (4 cups) chicken stock
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In your soup pot, sauté the garlic, onion and carrots in the butter and olive oil.   Sauté until the onions start to turn translucent.  Add the lentils and sauté for an additional two minutes.  Add ham and mix.  Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.  Add chicken stock, and then add enough water to cover the lentils.  Cook until the lentils are soft.

Optional-after lentils are soft and soup is cooked you can add a pack of spinach and cook until the spinach is cooked.  Server with a dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt-yum!