Easy Pumpkin Soup

Halloween has come and gone and you may have extra cans of pumpkin left in your pantry for pumpkin pie (or stocked up on them when they went on sale).
Here's a great, tasty, and FAST recipe for pumpkin soup using that canned pumpkin. You can also substitute sweet potato puree or butternut squash puree for the pumpkin. Grating the onion will make the final soup smoother in texture and you won't have to use an immersion blender.
Many of the ingredients listed are traditional fall grocery sale items so you can make this on a budget.

 Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium onion, grated
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 29 oz. can pumpkin puree
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup cream
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS

1. In a saucepan on medium heat, saute the grated onion in olive oil for 3 minutes or until soft.
2. Stir in the pumpkin puree, chicken broth, cream, pumpkin pie spice, and salt.
3. Bring to a simmer stirring for 3 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and divide into 4 soup bowls.
5. Serve.

Recipe: Pasta e Fagioli (Pasta and Beans)

After a few years of being spoiled by mild Winters here (felt more like Spring), Old Man Winter has come back with a vengeance and it is bitterly cold with temperatures below freezing.  Nothing like a bowl of hearty hot soup to warm you up but what to make? If you have been keeping your pantry stocked up with basic items bought on sale such as dried pasta, tomato sauce, canned beans, and chicken broth, you can make this hearty Italian soup called "Pasta e Fagioli". Pronounced "pastah eh fahzeeohl", it has been also popularly called "pasta fazool" by American-Italians.
It started off as a peasant dish in Italy using inexpensive ingredients and what better recipe to make on a shoestring budget?
You can make this strictly vegetarian by substituting vegetable broth.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 4 large cloves garlic, chopped
• salt and pepper
• 2 (15 ounce) cans cannelini or kidney beans (undrained)
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups dried pasta (traditionally ditalini is used but you can use elbow shape) 

Directions

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat and add the oil.  Saute the herbs and chopped vegetables until soft. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Add the cans of beans with their liquid (it will help thicken the soup), tomato sauce, broth and water. Bring to a boil over high heat and then stir in the pasta. Lower heat and allow the pasta to cook for about 8 minutes.
3. Turn off heat and remove the herbs before serving.
4. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on top (optional).

Recipe: 7 Bean and Barley Soup

Here in the big city we have Whole Foods that are starting to spring up around town to give competition to the other large supermarket chains already established here.

I recently visited one and liked how they sell their dried grains and beans in bulk which often times is cheaper than pre-packaged name brands. There is a scale in the department so you can weigh and print out the price tag for your purchase. I bought their 7 Bean and Barley mix for $2.69/lb.

The soup mix bin has a miniscule little blip of a recipe stating that you need 1 chopped onion, 1 pound of soup mix, and 8 cups of water but that sounded too bland. Searching the internet came up with a couple of recipes but they utilized bacon, smoked ham hock, or smoked turkey and I wanted to make it simple, healthier (after all it's a bean soup) and not needing expensive ingredients.

That being said, I created this simple, economically friendly recipe.

You can also use vegetable stock in place of the chicken stock if you wish to make it purely vegetarian.

Makes about 4 hearty servings.

Ingredients

• 1 pound 7 Bean and Barley soup mix
• 1 large onion (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 2 tablespoons oil (corn, canola, olive oil... it's your choice)
• 2 cans low sodium chicken stock (14.5 oz cans)
• water (2 cans worth)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Rinse the bean mix and soak in a large bowl of water for 8 hours or overnight to plump the dried beans back up again.
2. Drain the bean mix and set aside.
3. In a large 4 quart pot, saute the garlic and onion in the oil for 2-3 minutes over medium heat.
4. Add the drained bean mix
5. Add the 2 cans of chicken stock
6. Add 2 cans worth of water (great way to rinse out the chicken stock cans for recycling!)
7. Cover pot and bring to a boil.
8. Once it starts to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2 hours.
9. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Recipe: Arroz Caldo : Filipino Chicken Rice Soup

I made White Cut Chicken (Bak Chit Gai) the night before (recipe here) and have this lovely chicken stock left over. It's quite chilly and sleeting outside and I started craving Arroz Caldo, a thick Filipino rice soup that is inspired by the Chinese rice congee. Arroz Caldo means "Hot Rice" in Spanish and was probably given that name by the Spanish settlers in the Philippines when they discovered Chinese congee.

Since the stock is already flavored with ginger and garlic, I found it perfect for this comforting dish. I used some left-over cooked chicken to make this and sped up the process.

Ingredients

• 1 small onion (chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 2 inch piece of ginger (thinly sliced)
• 2 tbs vegetable oil
• 1 cup rice (either sweet rice or long grain or a combo of each)
• 1 pound boneless chicken meat (chopped: your choice of chicken breast or thigh)
• 6 cups water or chicken stock
• 2 tbs fish sauce (you can use salt or chicken bouillon if you don't have)
• 2 scallions (white and green part finely sliced for garnish)

Directions

1. In a medium sized pot, heat oil and cook the onion, garlic, and ginger for a minute until fragrant.
2. Add fish sauce and the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the rice and stir until coated with the flavored oil.
4. Add the water or stock and cover.
5. Bring to a boil over high heat and then lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes stirring occasionally to prevent rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
6. When done, turn off heat. You may need to add a little water to adjust thickness to your preference.
7. Ladle soup into bowls and garnish with the sliced scallions.

Recipe: Campbell's Kitchen: Autumn Cabbage Rolls

This hearty and filling dish is an easy to make recipe that I found courtesy of Campbell's Soup.
Cabbage tends to be inexpensive usually going to a few cents per pound. When ground turkey is on sale, I buy it to make this or keep it in the freezer until I have everything ready to make this dish.

10 large cabbage leaves

1 pound ground turkey

1 small onion, minced (about 1/4 cup)

1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell's® Condensed Tomato Soup

1 slice stale or toasted Pepperidge Farm® Whole Grain 100% Whole Wheat Bread, crumbled

1 1/4 cups water

1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 small onion, sliced (about 1/4 cup)

1/2 cup shredded cabbage

1 medium carrot, sliced (about 1/2 cup)

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

• Place the cabbage leaves into a 4-quart saucepan and add water to cover. Heat over medium-high heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes or until the cabbage is tender. Drain the cabbage leaves on paper towels.
  
• Cook the turkey and minced onion in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until the turkey is well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off any fat.
• Stir the turkey mixture, soup, bread crumbs, 1/4 cup water and black pepper in a large bowl.
• Spoon 1/4 cup turkey mixture in the center of each cabbage leaf. Fold the cabbage leaves around the filling. Place the cabbage rolls, seam-side down, into a 12-inch skillet.
  
• Add the sliced onion, shredded cabbage, carrot and remaining water in the skillet and heat over medium-high heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 1 hour or until the filling is cooked through, basting the cabbage rolls occasionally with the pan liquid.
  
• Remove the cabbage rolls from the skillet and keep warm.
  
• Stir the lemon juice, brown sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl until the mixture is smooth. Stir the lemon juice mixture in the skillet. Cook and stir over medium heat until the mixture boils and thickens. Serve the sauce with the cabbage rolls.

Recipe: Salmon Head Soup or Fish Head Soup

When people buy fish, they tend to cut off and discard the fish head and tail not knowing what to do with them and not considering them edible. Fish connoisseurs know that the fish's cheek meat is like the "oyster meat" on a chicken/turkey/duck... succulent and delicious.

Fish heads are inexpensive and you can get them at your fish monger or in Chinatown.
In Asia, nothing is wasted especially food and thus fish head soup is so popular in that region of the world.
High in gelatin, vitamins, minerals, and omega 3... this soup is great to strengthen bones, nails, and hair (and that's what Mom says too)!

Ingredients

• 3-4 salmon heads
• water
• 3" piece of fresh ginger sliced into planks
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (smashed)
• 3 green onions/scallions (roots removed and cut into 3" lengths)
• salt

Directions

1. Rinse the fish heads with water to remove blood and remove the gills with scissors (the gills will make the soup cloudy and bitter).
2. Place heads into a large pot and cover with water.
3. Add the slices of ginger and garlic and bring to a simmer for 30 minutes. Do not allow the soup to boil or the heads will disintegrate into the soup!
4. After 30 minutes, carefully remove the fish heads with spoons and set aside on a plate to cool so that you can handle them. Strain the soup to remove any errant bones.
5. Remove and reserve fish meat from the cheeks and about the neck, collar, and head of the fish. I find that a fork makes this easy work.
6. Discard bones, skull, fins, and any other hard cartilage (or you can bury them in the garden to enrich the soil -perfect for roses).
7. Bring soup back to a simmer and add green onions and fish meat. Add salt to taste. Allow to simmer for about 3-5 minutes more or until onions have wilted.
8. Serve.

Recipe: Butternut Squash Soup with Parmesan Croutons

Nothing could be simpler to make than this when you stock up on frozen winter squash and chicken broth when on sale.
Thanks to Birdeye for this easy recipe.



Ingredients



* 2 boxes Birds Eye® Cooked Winter Squash (12 oz)
* 2 cups chicken broth
* 1 cup Parmesan croutons
* Dried chives


Instructions

Combine squash and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until heated through, about 10-15 minutes. Season with ground white pepper if desired.

Serving Suggestions

Garnish each serving with croutons and chives.

Recipe: Easy Butternut Squash Soup

Birds Eye frozen vegetables are on sale this week at $1 a box.
I noticed as well that College Inn canned broths are 99 cents each.
With this in mind, I thought, this would be great to takes these two sale items and put them together to make a butternut squash soup without the hassle of roasting a squash in the oven and all the time and work to prepare this soup from scratch (besides, winter squash is not always available all year!)
For about $4, you have soup for 4 people!


Ingredients

• 2 boxes Birds Eye® Cooked Winter Squash (12 oz)
• 2 cups chicken broth

Cooking Instructions

Combine squash and broth in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until heated through, about 10-15 minutes. Season with ground white pepper if desired.

*If you would like to turn this into a cream of butternut soup, just stir in a 1/2 cup of cream, half & half, or milk before serving.

Garnish with toasted pine nuts for crunchy texture and/or chopped chives for color.