Wild Rice and Turkey Soup

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 It's soup season, and leftover turkey is the perfect reason to make this yummy soup. 

Ingredients

1/2 c. wild rice mix (Winco bulk bins are perfect for this)

4 c. turkey broth or chicken broth , divided (1 cup to cook rice, 3 for the soup)

2 ribs celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, diced

1 small onion, diced

1/2 c. butter

1/2 tsp. ground thyme

2 bay leaves

1/2 c. flour

2 c. half and half (or 1 c. milk and 1 c. heavy cream)

2 c. cooked turkey, diced or shredded

Salt and Pepper to taste (about 1 tsp each)

 

1. Cook the rice mix.  Use 1 cup of the broth and the dry rice mix and bring to a boil and then turn down to low, cover and simmer for about 35-40 minutes until tender.  The 1/2 cup of dry mix will cook up to about 1 1/2 cups of rice. 

2.  While the rice cooks, chop the vegetables.  In a large stock pot (I use my 6 quart enameled cast iron pot), melt the butter over medium heat and add the onion, celery and carrot and bay leaves.  Cook and stir until translucent and softened (about 8 minutes).  Add the ground thyme and stir for about 30 seconds.  Remove the bay leaves before the next step.

3.  Add the flour to the sauteed vegetables and stir with a wooden spoon to form a paste and cook for 1-2 minutes to cook off the flour taste and build some flavor.  Slowly add the remaining 3 cups of broth (add about 1/2 cup at a time and stir in to avoid lumps in the flour).  

4.  Add the half and half (which I don't usually have on hand, but I do have milk and I keep shelf-stable cream in the pantry all the time, so I use the combo of milk and cream).  You can make it with just milk, but treat yourself with the richness of cream. 

4.  Add the turkey/chicken and cooked rice.  Bring to a boil slowly over medium heat (stir constantly to avoid burning).  Check for seasoning and if needed, add salt and pepper.

 Serve with some delicious bread and a salad and you are good to go!

Navy Bean Soup

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I love soup on a cold day!  Last week we got 18" of snow on one day, so I was happy to stay home and just sit in front of the fireplace with a bowl of soup and some cornbread!  If you have canned or already cooked beans, this is a 20 minute dinner!   You could tweak the recipe by either cooking it in the slow cooker with dry beans or even do the whole thing in the pressure cooker.

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 celery stalks, diced
1 small onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups chicken broth (or 2 cans)
1-2 cups cooked navy beans
1-2 cups ham, cubed or shredded
2 teaspoons parsley
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium stock pot, heat the oil over medium and saute the celery and onion until soft and translucent (about 5 minutes).  Add the carrots and continue saute for another 3-4 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook til fragrant (30 seconds) then add the broth, beans and ham.  Simmer for about 10 minutes until warmed through and vegetables are tender.  Add parsley and salt and pepper.  I served it with corn muffins made from a mix. 

Pressure Cooker Chile Verde Soup

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I am loving my electric pressure cooker.  I  bought one last year on Black Friday with deals, coupons, etc... so it was less than $50.  I'm finding its awesome for slower-cooker style meals without needing the advanced planning (I am at work early, so sometimes getting a meal in the slow cooker before work isn't practical).

This is a soup recipe, but if you left out the beans, and cooked it down a bit--it would make really awesome sauce for burritos too. 


Ingredients
1.5 lb pork, cut into small cubes
1 medium onion, diced
1  can green enchilada sauce
1  can low sodium chicken broth
1 Tbs cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp oregano
1 Tbs corn starch, dissolved in 2 Tbs of water.
8 4 oz. cans diced green chilies.  Puree 4 of the cans and leave the others diced.
1 Tbs green or red pepper hot sauce
1/2 one jalapeño, seeded and chopped
1-2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed


Garnish
cilantro
sour cream
tortillas or corn chips
shredded jack cheese

Turn the electric pressure cooker to the meat/sautee function and toss in the pork and onions (use 1 Tbs vegetable oil if your pork is lean).  Brown meat for 3-4 minutes.  Dump all the ingredients except the beans and the garnish into the pot and stir until mixed.  Put the lid on the pot and press the soup/stew button and adjust the cook time to 25 minutes.  When the timer goes off, use the quick pressure release and open the pot and add in the beans.

Serve with warm flour tortillas, corn chips, shredded cheese, sour cream and cilantro.  Freezes nicely too.

I tried this with chicken and I didn't love it as much (not enough fat..maybe if I used chicken thighs).  I usually buy the least expensive pork I can find--the pressure cooker makes it cook up tender and delicious.  Buying the chilies in 4 oz cans can be pricey--your store might have frozen ones in the freezer section.  My Hispanic grocery store carried a 32 oz can that was economical.

Butternut Squash Soup--Thai Style

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I love butternut squash.  But I can almost never purchase pre-made or restaurant items with butternut squash because invariably, they have pumpkin pie spices in them--that does not work for me.  I like it savory-no pie flavors.

I've made butternut squash soup before, I used cumin as my seasoning and cream and it was good.  This recipe is a take on a dish my mom ordered at a Thai place in Mesa, AZ.  Instead of white potatoes in the curry, it had diced pumpkin.  This soup has most of the ingredients of a curry, but then it gets all pureed into a smooth and non-dairy soup.  This soup is a one-pot dish and can be done in about 30 minutes if you have a pressure cooker.


Ingredients

4 cups diced butternut squash
1 Tbs vegetable oil
1 medium onion, rough dice
1 Tbs ginger, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 Tbs Curry paste (red is spicy, massaman is mild)
14 oz can coconut milk
14 oz can chicken broth
Cilantro, lime for garnish

In my electric pressure cooker, I turned it to the meat/saute feature and sauteed the diced onions in oil for about 5 minutes, then added the garlic, ginger and red curry paste and sauteed another minute.  Add in the chicken broth, coconut milk and diced raw butternut squash.  I put the lid on, pressed the stew button and adjusted the time to 20 minutes.  It took my cooker about 10 minutes to come to pressure and then it cooked for the 20 minutes.  I used the quick release method to reduce the pressure and open the pot.  If you have an immersion blender, you could puree the soup right in the pot--if not, scoop it into a blender and puree in batches (use a towel as a lid to avoid the blender lid popping off and soup flying everywhere).


You can doctor up each bowl of soup with diced cilantro, squeeze of lime, sriacha or even add some veggies (mushrooms, bok choy, gnocchis...hmmm all of those sound good at the moment).

This freezes well too.  

Asian Noodle Soup

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Its winter.  It snowed so much on Christmas Day that they cancelled church--that never happens.  So its soup weather.  Maybe this is faux pho, or some version of ramen...whatever, its a tasty soup.  If your New Year's goals include trying new things, how about this one?

I made a whole pot of broth that I plan on tweaking for both this Asian soup as well as a tortilla soup.

Broth

1 lb chicken thighs with bones
1 lb pork with bone (I bought neck bones from the Latino market.  You could use spareribs cut up)
1 medium onion, rough chop
1Tbs fresh ginger, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
8-10 cups water

I used my electric pressure cooker to make the broth.  I set it to saute and sauteed the onions in vegetable oil until soft, then added the ginger and garlic for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Toss in the meat and add water to the max line of pressure cooker.  Set for 80 minutes. When done, strain through a fine strainer and set the solids aside.  I let my broth cool and scooped off the fat that floated to the top.

When the solids are cooled, you can pull off any chicken or pork meat and save to use in the soup.  Discard the rest.


Soup (1 serving)
1/4 c. Noodles, cooked (I used black rice noodles, but any kind you like are fine)
1/4 c. Meat
2-3 drops Sesame oil
1/2 Tbs. Soy sauce
Sriracha  to taste

Toppings:
Green onion, sliced
Mushrooms, thinly sliced
Bok Choy, sliced crosswise
Cilantro

Since I had broth in bulk, I measured out enough for my dinner (about 1 1/4 c.) and put in a small saucepan on med-high.  Doctor up the broth with the sesame oil, soy and sriracha.  Toss in the bok choy and mushrooms for about 1 minutes to soften them up.

Assemble

Put the noodles and meat in the bowl along with the toppings of your choice.  Pour the hot broth in and top with cilantro.  I have zero skill with chopsticks, so I used a spoon and a fork. 

Tortilla Soup--Ah Yummy!

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I went looking for a copy cat recipe for Cafe Rio's tortilla soup--and found one here.  I have to say, pretty good stuff.  I made a couple tweaks based on what I had in my cupboard and the time that I had (got home from work at about 5:45 and had the soup done and ready by about 6:15).  I do love Cafe Rio's soup, and this one came as close as I've ever gotten to replicating it.  Totally worth it.  I think the key to speed and tastiness was my stop at my local Hispanic grocery store (they have already made pico and guac and fresh tortillas).   This recipe made 4 servings. 

Ingredients

Broth
1 small onion, diced
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1 T. vegetable oil
3 cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 c. water

Heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion for about 5-6 minutes until transparent and soft.  Add the spices and cook another minute before adding the broth and water.  Simmer for about 20 minutes while you get the rest of the ingredients ready.

Chicken
1/2 a  rotisserie chicken, shredded
1 T. taco seasoning
1 T.  Herdez salsa ranchera (look for it on the Mexican food aisle)
1/2 c. water

Toss the shredded chicken in a bowl with the taco seasoning and Herdez sauce
(the Herdez is pretty spicy, so use more/less to control the heat)-add about 1/2 c. of water and heat up.  


For garnish
Pico de gallo
Guacamole
Shredded cheese
Tortilla chips
cilantro
lime wedges
warm flour tortillas

Build your bowl of yummy soup like they do at Cafe Rio:
Get your bowl
Mound up some chicken
Scoop of guacamole
Scoop of pico
Cheese (if using)
Now add the hot broth
Top with corn chips and cilantro
Squeeze a lime wedge over the top.

Serve with a warm flour tortilla and enjoy the yumminess.