I start with my own chicken and broth. You can always skip this step by boiling or poaching some 3-4 bone-in chicken breasts and buying 96 oz. or more canned chicken broth.

Ingredients
One large whole chicken, giblets removed and discarded
One carrot, cut into chunks
One rib of celery, cut into chunks
One small onion, cut into chunk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
4 cups or more good quality frozen corn, or fresh cooked corn cut from the cob.
2 chicken bouillon cubes
32 ounces or more canned chicken broth
2 tsp. dried parsley
Salt and pepper to taste

Place chicken in a large pot. Fill pot with cold water until chicken is almost covered. Add everything but the corn. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 1-1/2 hours.

Remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool. Strain broth through a colander. At this point I use a fat separator pitcher (see photo) to remove the fat. I pour the broth from the pitcher through a fine sieve to remove smaller bits from the broth. You can also line your colander with cheesecloth if you prefer, and remove the fat by spooning from the top of the broth. Return the strained broth to the pot and add bouillon. Place pot on medium heat.

When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat and cut into small bite-sized pieces. Add to the broth.

Bring to a simmer again. Add the corn and the broth until you have a ratio you like. Add the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.

I have, in the past, added shredded carrots for color and more nutrition but it changed the taste enough that I no longer do. Still, it is a thought if you want more veggies.

If you really want some carbs, you can add cooked small pasta like ditalini or orzo, or follow the rivel recipe below.

Rivels
3/4 c. flour
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 TBS water

Place flour and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk egg and water together. Add the egg mixture to a flour and stir to combine.  Drop pea-sized pieces of the dough into simmering soup.

I hope you enjoy this tradition Pennsylvania soup!

I think a training session and license should be required before being allowed to use an immersion blender. However, I have inadvertently served this without blending it and it is still fabulous! Just like last week’s lentil soup, this is from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker, (with the amount of cayenne reduced) so you can do all the work in advance, and have a steaming bowl of healthiness waiting for you! I’ve doubled the recipe – just make sure your crockpot has the capacity.

Ingredients
1 TBS olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 small green pepper, seeded and chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 – 15.5 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
28 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
8 cups vegetable broth
4 bay leaves
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1/8 tsp. cayenne (more if you like spicy)
Salt and pepper
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute until softened, at least 5 minutes.

Transfer the cooked vegetables to the slow cooker. Add the beans, tomatoes, broth, bay leaves, cumin, thyme, and cayenne. Stir. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Remove the bay leaves. If you prefer a thicker soup, use an immersion blender to puree some of the soup, or you can transfer batches into a regular blender, taking care not to splatter boiling hot liquid out the top when you start it up.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Just before serving, add the lemon juice.

Lemon juice may seem an odd addition, but it really brightens the flavor. Have fun, experiment with blended or not blended, enjoy!

The list of ingredients for Lentil Soup with Kale might suggest it would be rather bland, but some sort of alchemy takes place during the eight hours of cooking to yield a rich, comforting meal. I like to plug my crockpot into a timer the night before so that the soup is done for a weekend lunch. 4AM start equals noon yumminess.

This recipe is straight from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker though I’ve doubled it. (Make sure your crockpot has enough capacity to handle it.) This soup freezes well.

Ingredients:
2 TBS olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 ribs celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound dried lentils
12 cups vegetable broth
2 TBS soy sauce
1 bunch kale, at least 5-6 large leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Saute the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic for 8-10 minutes, until soft.

Place the cooked vegetables in the crock pot. Add the broth, lentils, and soy sauce. Set crockpot to low and allow to cook for 8 hours.

Prepare a pot of boiling salted water. Rinse kale well, and soak in cold water bath if it seems gritty. Remove leafy parts of the kale from thick ribs. Discard the ribs. Slice the leaves into thin strips. Boil the strips in the water for at least 5 minutes. Drain. Add to the crockpot. Add salt and pepper to taste.

A container of Lentil Soup with Kale ready to go into the freezer, with a yummy side of cornbread waiting for me to eat it just because I want to!

Last weekend I knew my husband was REALLY looking forward to the Green Bay Packers playing the Chicago Bears, so I decided to make one of his favorite eat-in-front-of-Sunday-football meals:  chili. This can be a one-bowl dinner, though there are so many sides and snacks that go with chili that it is hard to resist temptation. My absolute favorite accompaniment is mashed potatoes, but corn bread, cheese and crackers, cheese quesadillas, or tortilla chips with guacamole are also great. (Dare I also suggest sangria, margaritas, or beer?) My kids like to sprinkle shredded cheddar on their chili. A dollop of sour cream adds creamy freshness to it, too. This recipe results in a fairly mild chili. You can adjust the hot pepper sauce as desired.

As with all of my prior soup recipes, this makes a pile (10-12 servings) because I like leftovers.

Ingredients:
2 pounds lean ground beef or a blend of beef and turkey
1 large onion chopped (1-1/2 to 2 cups)
3 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
2 TBS chili powder
2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano leaves
2 tsp cocoa
4 dashes hot pepper sauce
56 oz. canned diced tomatoes, undrained
8 oz. tomato sauce
40 oz. dark red kidney beans, undrained.

Cook and stir ground meat, onion, and garlic in large saucepan until beef is browned. Drain fat. Stir in everything else but beans. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1-2 hours.

Stir in beans. Heat to boiling, reduce heat. Simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, at least 20 minutes and until it is the consistency you want.

The chili worked, because the Packers are in the playoffs!

In one of my earlier posts, I mentioned that I generally avoid cream-based soups. This one has no cream but is cheesy and definitely has more fat than most soups I make. I think it is worth it when you want a filling meal in one bowl or a winter lunch when you are entertaining. This recipe is available online, but I’ve added some of my own notes, and doubled it because a single batch is barely enough for my hungry family of four, especially since I adore leftovers. This recipe will make 12-16 servings.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1-1/2 cups chopped onion
1-1/2 cups shredded carrots (I buy a bag of matchstick carrots)
1-1/2 cups chopped celery
2 tsp. dried basil
2 tsp. dried parsley
7 TBS. butter
6 cups chicken broth
8 cups cubed potatoes (peeled or not, your choice)
1/2 cup flour
4 cups cubed Cheddar cheese (I use two blocks of Cabot sharp 50% reduced fat)
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream

In a large pot, melt 1 TBS butter over medium heat. Add beef, onion, carrots and celery. Cook at stir until beef is brown.

Stir in basil and parsley. Add broth and potatoes. Bring to a boil. Simmer 10-12 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

In a separate pan, melt 6 TBS butter and stir in flour until smooth. Add milk gradually. Stir until smooth.

Gradually add milk mixture to the soup, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer. Stir in cheese. When melted, add sour cream and heat through. Do not boil.

Enjoy!

My dried peas and ham shank!

Ingredients:
2 pounds dried split peas
16 cups water

Ham of some sort unless you want vegetarian soup. Pictured above is a ham shank or you can use about 2 lb of bone-in smoked ham, or you can just add diced pieces of ham at the last stage of cooking.

1 onion, chopped (about 1cup)
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 bay leaves
4 carrots, chopped

Heat water and peas to boiling. Cover and turn off heat. Let stand for one hour.

Add ham if using a bone-in variety, onion, celery, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Heat to boiling, cover and simmer for one hour. Skim fat if needed.

Remove bone and fat from ham. Cut into dice-sized pieces and return to pot. (If you are simply adding chopped ham, do it now.) Add carrots. Simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until carrots are soft, making sure to stir every 10-15 minutes. (The solids sink to the bottom of pan and will scorch if left alone too long.)

Remove bay leaves, adjust salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Anyway, I made my best batch of Beef Vegetable Soup last weekend, and here is how I did it.

Soup on the left and the awesome fat separator pitcher on the right.

Beef Broth (this is modified from Betty Crocker’s Cookbook)
One beef chuck roast
6 c. cold water
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 carrot, cut up in chunks
1 stalk celery with leaves, cut up in chunks
1 small onion, cut up in chunks
5 peppercorns
3 whole cloves
3 sprigs parsley, or 1 TBS dried parsley
1 bay leaf

Coat a large pot (mine is 8 qt.) with cooking spray or drizzle with a small amount of oil. Heat over medium heat. Brown all sides of the beef. Add water. Heat to boiling. Add all remaining ingredients, return to a boil, cover and simmer for 3 hours.

Remove beef and set aside. Strain broth through a colander, then through a smaller sieve or cheesecloth. Remove fat. (The separator in the picture is the bomb.) Return broth to the pan. Chop beef and add to broth.

Soup
48 oz. canned beef broth
2 c. good quality frozen sweet corn
2 c. cabbage cut in thin strips (regular or Napa)
28 oz. can diced tomatoes (do not drain)
2. c fresh green beans in 1-inch pieces
2 c. frozen lima beans
3/4 tsp. salt
sprinkle of pepper
1 TBS tomato paste

Add all the soup ingredients. Simmer for 1-2 hours.

I know the cabbage and the lima beans may scare some of you, but they are key ingredients. Enjoy!