Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup

When October rolls around, my Staub pumpkin pot comes out of the upper cabinets and remains a fixture on my cooktop throughout the fall season. It’s so cute and provides extra incentive to make a pot of soup. Overnight, it seems, it feels like fall in my area. We love soup, especially when it’s cold outside. There’s just something about a hot bowl of soup and some crunchy bread that makes a person feel cozy!

This soup recipe comes from the Half Baked Harvest blog. My Hubbers loves Cream of Broccoli soup so I thought he would enjoy this variation. It gets a lot of its flavor from the pumpkin ale and the cayenne pepper adds just the right amount of heat. We enjoyed this!

Pumpkin Beer Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 tablespoons butter

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1 12 ounce pumpkin beer

3-4 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese, plus more for serving

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more, to taste)

1 large pinch kosher salt and pepper

4 cups broccoli florets

2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, plus more for serving

Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the onion and carrot and cook until fragrant, about 10 minutes. Whisk in the flour and cook until golden, about 2 minutes, then gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Add the broth, beer, broccoli, bay leaves, nutmeg, cayenne, and a large pinch each of salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the broccoli is tender, about 20 minutes. 

Remove the soup from the stove and puree in batches in a blender or use an immersion blender.  Return the soup to the stove and set over low heat. Stir in the cheese until melted and creamy. Add the thyme and cook another 2-3 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired. Ladle into bowls and top with a little extra cheddar and fresh thyme.

Winter Minestrone

During our crazy tax season, the hours are long and we're working 7 days a week.  What little lunch break we get is mostly spent answering phone calls and e-mails, addressing questions from our staff, and trying to catch up on projects. We usually eat at our desks. There are no long lunch breaks at our favorite downtown spots!  Consequently, I try to make dinner meals that will provide enough leftovers for lunch or another dinner. A big pot of soup works for both!

This soup is very thick and hearty, it's almost a stew.  It is full of chunky vegetables, beans, pasta, and spinach.  The broth's flavor is enhanced by browned pancetta.   The pesto and white wine added at the end adds a multitude of flavors. Serve it with some garlic bread and you have a filling and nutritious meal.

For fair disclosure I must admit my Hubbers isn't a fan of this soup.  He dislikes squash, (though he loves pumpkin pie). I keep trying to hide squash in his meals as it is so good for us. He ate it but his bowl was full of uneaten squash pieces. I took the leftover minestrone to work the next day and he went out to lunch. Don't let his picky ways deter you, this is a great soup!



Once all the veggies are diced, making the soup is easy!

I make pesto from my basil crop each summer and freeze in mini muffin pans. Pesto can also be found in the grocer's frozen food section.

Winter Minestrone

Good olive oil
4 ounces pancetta, 1/2-inch diced
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions
2 cups (1/2-inch) diced carrots (3 carrots)
2 cups (1/2-inch) diced celery (3 stalks)
2 1/2 cups (1/2-inch) diced peeled butternut squash
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic (4 cloves)
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
26 ounces canned or boxed chopped tomatoes, such as Pomi
6 to 8 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups cooked small pasta, such as tubetti
8 to 10 ounces fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup good dry white wine
2 tablespoons pesto
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat in a large, heavy pot or Dutch oven. Add the pancetta and cook over medium-low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned.  Add the onions, carrots, celery, squash, garlic, and thyme and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the tomatoes, 6 cups of the chicken stock, the bay leaf, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and 1 1/2 teaspoons pepper to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Discard the bay leaf.  Add the beans and cooked pasta and heat through.  The soup should be quite thick but if it's too thick, add more chicken stock.  Just before serving, add the spinach and toss with 2 big spoons (like tossing a salad).  Cook just until the leaves are wilted.  Stir in the white wine and pesto.  Depending on the saltiness of the chicken stock, add salt to taste. Serve in large shallow bowls.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and drizzle with olive oil, if desired.

Recipe source: Ina Garten

Taco Soup (aka Busy Day Soup!)

I love to cook and bake, can spend all day in the kitchen chopping, stirring, kneading. But I have a career.  I have a home to maintain.  I'm a Mom, a Nana.  I sew and do other crafty things. Some days dinner just has to be quick! Today was one of those days, a late afternoon client appointment had me coming home later than normal. Thankfully, I had planned for this, had all the ingredients necessary to make this soup. Within an hour of walking in the door, I was in my comfy clothes, soup and cornbread done, most of the dishes washed. An added bonus is that my Hubbers loves soup, he really loves this one, so I have a happy Hubby in the house tonight, too! (He wasn't thrilled with the butternut squash pasta I served him a few days earlier.)

This is an easy soup to make; brown some ground beef and onions, throw in a few cans of ingredients.  It's not gourmet fare, it's simple but good. While the soup was simmering,  I mixed up some cornbread and got it in the oven. All-in-all, a very easy dinner!

Taco Soup

1 pound hamburger (I use extra lean)
1 small onion, diced
32 ounce can diced tomatoes
16 ounce can kidney beans
16 ounce can chicken broth
1 small bag frozen corn
1 package taco seasoning

Garnishes:
Avocado
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream
Sliced black olives
Tortilla chips
Chopped green chilies

In a large pot, saute the meat and onions until browned, breaking with a spoon to get small pieces.  Add tomatoes, kidney beans (including liquid), chicken broth, corn and taco seasoning mix. Bring to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes.  Top with garnishes of your choosing.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

After 33 years of marriage my husband occasionally gets irritated with me (ok, maybe it's more than occasionally!) One of his irritations is that I get bored with cooking the same things.  I like to try new foods, techniques, variations of a familiar recipe or new recipes.  He likes the tried and true and likes some things on a regular rotation. The other night he requested cream of broccoli soup. My first thought was that I had made it a few months ago. But I played good wife that night and made it for him.  I must admit our dinner was good. 

This is a great soup, very creamy as the name implies. I like the addition of the cream, it makes for a thicker, richer soup, but if you're counting calories whole milk can easily be substituted. Sometimes I will add some shredded cheddar cheese before serving or some crumbled bacon. It's an easy and quick soup to put together, I don't know why I don't make it more often (but don't tell my husband I said that!)

I have an immersion blender and use it to puree the soup. I have had many hot soup/blender blow ups in my kitchen and the immersion blender is a nice remedy for that problem! We like our soup a little chunky so I don't blend it to a smooth puree.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

2 tablespoon butter
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cups chicken broth
8 cups broccoli florets
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in a medium-sized stock pot, and saute onion and celery until tender. Add broccoli and broth, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

Pour the soup into a blender, filling the pitcher no more than halfway full. Hold down the lid of the blender with a folded kitchen towel, and carefully start the blender, using a few quick pulses to get the soup moving before leaving it on to puree. Puree in batches until smooth and pour back into stock pot. Alternately, you can use a stick blender and puree the soup right in the cooking pot.

In small saucepan, over medium-heat melt 3 tablespoons butter, stir in flour and add milk/cream (or substitute with 2 cups half & half). Stir until thick and bubbly, and add to soup. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Cheese Tortellini and Kale Soup

I love soup and stew, especially in the cold winter months. They are usually easy to make and not easily messed up. My last few attempts at a bowl of something warm have been lackluster, to say the least. While at my son and daughter-in love's recently, I made stew. It turned out more like stew soup. I made clam chowder one night and it was more like flavored water. I thought there was no more flour in the kitchen, turns out I didn't know where to look! My excuse, on both occasions, is that it's hard to work in another woman's kitchen and I was more concerned with holding my newborn grandson. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

It's been very foggy here lately, the kind of fog that doesn't burn off, we don't see the sun, the damp just permeates a person. Perfect soup weather. After the above-mentioned mishaps I was almost afraid to attempt making soup. Third time is the charm, I guess, as this soup was pretty good.

I found the recipe on Taste of Home.  I modified it by adding carrots and eliminating the water called for. I used bulk Italian sausage instead of links and didn't add the extra olive oil the original recipe calls for. The original recipe is here. I think a can of crushed tomatoes would be a nice addition, next time I will try that.

The soup is full of all sorts of good-for-you-things such as carrots, kale, beans. Don't be afraid to try the fennel, it cooks to a mild flavor.

Once everything is prepped, making the soup is very quick.

To go with this nutritious meal I made corn bread.  I'm pretty sure the calories in the cornbread, butter and honey outweighed the benefits of the soup.  Sigh.  Besides, I needed an excuse to use my little skillets again. Remember them?

Cheese Tortellini and Kale Soup

3/4 pound mild Italian sausage
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup chopped fennel bulb
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 cartons (32 oz. each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
4 cups chopped fresh kale
1 can (15 oz.) white kidney or cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 package (9 oz.) refrigerated cheese tortellini

In a large saucepan, cook the sausage, onion, fennel, garlic, carrots, thyme and pepper flakes until sausage is no longer pink; drain.  Add broth; bring to a boil. Boil 5 minutes.

Stir in kale and beans; return to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, until kale is tender.  Add tortellini; simmer, uncovered, for 7-9 minutes until tender.

Season with salt and pepper.

Sausage Minestrone Soup with Orzo

Though I love to bake, and share many of my baked creations here, I do cook, too.  We eat most of our evening meals at home. In the summer we grill a lot. In the winter months we eat a lot of soup.  Soup is easy to make, can be made from almost any ingredients and usually results in leftovers for the next day's lunch or dinner. After Thanksgiving I made stock from the turkey carcass. I used the stock in this soup, as a substitute for the chicken stock. This soup is a favorite of ours, especially in cold weather.  We've been getting some much-needed rain in Northern California. This soup, cornbread, and a glass of wine made a great dinner!

The meaty flavors from the sausages really enhances the tomato-flavored stock. This makes a big pot of soup.  I shared with my neighbors, a co-worker and we had leftovers for dinner the next night.  It also freezes well.

Sausage Minestrone Soup with Orzo

1 pound sweet Italian sausage
1 pound hot Italian sausage
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, sliced
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
1 can (28 ounces) chopped tomatoes
12 cups chicken stock
4 cups tomato juice
2 bay leaves
1 can (16 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 ounces) red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (16 ounces) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 large zucchini, diced
1 large summer squash, diced
1/2 cup dried orzo
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet or a roasting pan with parchment paper or foil.  Place the sausages on the pan and bake for 25 minutes. Let cool on a plate lined with paper towels.  Cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch slices. (It's important to cook the sausage separately so that there is not a lot of excess fat when you mix it into the soup).

Heat a stockpot over medium-high heat.  Add the olive oil, onion, garlic, celery, and carrots.  Saute for 8 minutes.  Add the tomatoes, stock, tomato juice, bay leaves, chickpeas, kidney beans, cannellini beans, and cooked sausage slices.  Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium, cover the pot, and simmer for 40 minutes, adding more stock or water if too much liquid evaporates.  Remove and discard the bay leaves.  Add the zucchini, summer squash, and orzo.  Cook for an addition 10 minutes.  Stir in the basil and season with salt and pepper.

Orzo is a small, rice-shaped pasta.

Tired of Turkey Yet?

Though the Thanksgiving dinner is, by far, my favorite dinner of the year, I have to admit I am tired of turkey leftovers! We've had sandwiches (more than one!), a turkey shepherd's pie and I still have turkey left over.  I think it is multiplying in my fridge while I'm away at work!

Our weather has turned, we have frost warnings for tonight (this is the definition of cold in central California!).  When it gets cold I turn to soup as my main dinner choice. We have a local restaurant in town, Harvest Moon, that serves a great corn chowder.  When I saw this recipe I knew I had to try it as I love the restaurant's corn chowder and I love shrimp.  Happily, this recipe didn't disappoint, we really enjoyed it. I found the recipe in a magazine called Autumn in the South. As it was only the two of us for dinner I halved the recipe.  We still had leftovers for lunch the next day.

Shrimp & Corn Chowder

1/4 cup butter
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
2 bunches, green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 quarts chicken broth
6 cups diced red potatoes
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups half-and-half
5 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
3 pounds medium fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
Garnish: chopped red bell pepper

In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium-high heat.  Add bell pepper, green onion, and garlic; cook for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add flour; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Gradually whisk in chicken broth; bring to a boil.  Add potatoes, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Add salt, black pepper, and red pepper, stirring to mix well.  Add cream, half-and-half, and corn.  Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 40 to 50 minutes, or until slightly thickened.  Add shrimp; cook for 5 minutes, or just until shrimp are firm and pink.  Garnish with chopped red bell pepper, if desired.

Our house is mostly decorated for Christmas and I'm in full-hostess mode as I'm hosting a family tea, for 20, on Saturday.  The theme of the tea this year is gingerbread so I decorated the dining area tree accordingly.  I have various gingerbread items, in various stages of production, throughout my kitchen and am making another batch of dough tonight. As I'm knee-deep in projects this chowder is but a distant memory for my hubby (we had it a week ago).  Tonight he gets bacon & eggs!

Chicken and Vegetable Minestrone

Though we no longer have kids at home and have to be out and about on Halloween, it's still a busy night for us. The doorbell is ringing every few minutes with trick or treaters, neighbors come by and we chat, we visit a few houses with the granddaughters. Knowing things would be busy I prepared a pot of soup.  Soup is one of those foods that you can make ahead, reheat, leave out for guests and all will be ok.  This soup, from Sara Foster, was very good, lots of fresh veggies which meant it was also good for us, always a bonus! It's lighter than a traditional minestrone, a nice variation. I love soup, think it's the ultimate comfort food.  It was a great dinner on a fun night!

Chicken and Vegetable Minestrone

Serves 8 to 10 / makes about 3 quarts

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots diced
1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
3 plum tomatoes, cored and chopped
1 summer squash (yellow or zucchini), diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups chicken broth
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 cups shredded cooked chicken (meat from a 3 1/2 - 4 pound roasted or poached chicken)
2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
1/2 cup small shape pasta ( elbow macaroni or bow tie)
1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 cup chopped green cabbage
2 cups fresh spinach, stems removed, washed and drained
8 fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
3 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano or marjoram leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook and stir about 10 minutes. Add the carrots, bell pepper, tomatoes and squash and cook and stir another 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sit a minute longer.

2. Add the broth, chickpeas, chicken, salt and pepper and bring to a low boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered for about 1 hour.

3. Add the pasta, green beans and cabbage and bring the soup back to a low boil. reduce the heat and simmer for another 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. add the spinach, basil and oregano and remove the soup from the heat and season to taste. Serve hot topped with the freshly grated Parmesan.

My notes:

I poached 2 large chicken breasts
I used zucchini, 2 small ones
The green beans in my grocery store looked limp so I used frozen
I didn't have fresh oregano or marjoram so used a few teaspoons of Italian season

And, like most foods, this minestrone was definitely enhanced with a glass of wine.  Tonight we had a glass of Twomey merlot.  The Twomey winery is located in Oakville and is one of our favorite places to visit whenever we are in the Napa Valley.

It's Fall So It Must Be Soup Time!

When the fall weather begins to arrive my culinary thoughts turn to soup.  Soups are easy, they're pretty (can a food be pretty? I think so!), they are nutritious and nothing warms you up better! I recently bought a new cookbook (despite my vow to buy no more!), The Soupbox Cookbook. What a great book! There is a restaurant in Chicago called The Soupbox and it was voted best soup in Chicago. I can understand why! The book has many pictures and easy-to-understand recipes as well as the author's personal anecdotes. It's a keeper!

So far, I've made two soups from the book, mushroom barley soup and roasted butternut squash soup with sage and apple. We enjoyed both.

Lots of mushrooms and veggies! You just know it's got to be good for you!

 

Though it looks "light" it really is a substantial soup, very filling.

 

Mushroom Barley Soup

8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
8 oz. shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon thyme
2 bay leaves
48 oz. vegetable stock **
1/2 cup pearled  barley
Salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

In a large stockpot with a lid, sweat the mushrooms, onion, carrot, and celery in the olive oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the garlic, thyme and bay leaves and cook till fragrant, about one minute longer.  Add the vegetable stock, cover and bring the soup to a simmer.  Add the pearled barley and cook for 35-45 minutes until the barley is tender.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper if needed.

Lots of color and flavor in this pan! I've made butternut squash soup many times but this is the first recipe I've used where the vegetables were roasted first. 

Garnished with an apple slice, this soup was slightly sweet and very flavorful due to the herbs and the roasting of the vegetables.

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Sage and Apple

1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks
2 medium carrots, quartered
1 medium onion, quartered
2 Gala apples, cored, peeled and cut into quarters
3 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
32 oz. vegetable stock**
1 cup heavy cream

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl toss the squash, carrots, onion, apples, garlic and the dried herbs in the olive oil and spread them evenly on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Roast in the oven until the squash is tender, approximately 35-45 minutes. The vegetables should be tender and lightly browned.  Remove them from the oven and transfer the contents of the baking sheet to a large stockpot set over medium heat.

Add the vegetable stock, bring the contents to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes to allow the flavors to marry. After 15 minutes, remove the soup from the heat and puree with a food processor in batches.  If the soup is too thick, add a bit more stock.  Add the heavy cream.  (Be sure to remove from heat first.) Taste the soup and adjust seasonings with salt and pepper as needed.

** The authors provide recipes for vegetable and other stocks, I used a boxed organic stock.