Art’s Tomato Soup

This recipe was developed by my dad originally, and he usually prepares it in BULK for dinners and such. As such, I had to figure out how to scale this back down for my family of four.

The key to this soup is to double the usual amount of carrot in the mirepoix mix, which moderates the acidic bite of the tomatoes. You get a tomato soup that even people who don’t much care for tomatoes (like myself, sadly) can enjoy.

Grilled cheese sandwiches optional.

Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion

1 stalk celery

2 medium-large carrots

2 Tbs butter or oil

pinch of salt

4 14.5 oz cans of tomatoes, or 2 28 oz cans. Whole, diced, or crushed, but not sauce or paste

1 Tbs dried basil

Chop the vegetables. Saute veggies in the bottom of a pot with the fat and salt over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add all the tomatoes and basil. Bring up just to a boil, then turn down the heat to low and simmer 20-30 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Blend with a blender. Soup may be kept at a simmer until time to serve.

Sick Day Soup

A textbook case of why you keep broth in the freezer. Today, both adults in the house are sick, but cooking needed to be done. So, I took some broth from the freezer this morning to thaw, and made soup for supper.

• 3-4 cups concentrated broth (I had bone broth made from the last chicken I’d cooked)
• 4 cups water
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, sliced
• 1-2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• bell pepper, diced (optional)
• cauliflower, cut into florets (optional, not pictured)
• peas, fresh or frozen (optional, not pictured)
• bay leaf
• salt
• black pepper
• oil or butter
• half a pound of egg noodles

Start by cutting up your vegetables. Get a large pot and place it on medium heat. Put some oil or butter in the bottom of your pot and pour the vegetables (but not cauliflower or peas) in. Sprinkle on a little salt and gently saute for a few minutes until the onions begin to turn translucent.

Add the broth. It’s okay if it’s half frozen, it’ll melt fast. Add the water, the bay leaf and some black pepper.

Bring the soup up to a simmer and cook for ten to fifteen minutes (add cauliflower here if using), until the vegetables are still firm but not crunchy.  Adjust the seasoning- you’ll probably need more salt and maybe more pepper. If the broth tastes weirdly watery, it likely needs more salt.

Add the egg noodles (and peas, if using) and simmer uncovered another 10 minutes, until the noodles are soft.

Serve hot, with some toast or crackers handy.

Baked Potatoes

BUDGET YOUR TIME WISELY. These take an hour to cook after prep! Keep that in mind if you’re hankering for starchy goodness these cold winter months.

You’ll need:

• 4-6 large, starchy potatoes (gold or russet are best), all similar size
• oil (olive oil adds nice flavor, but plain old vegetable oil is fine)
• salt
• Foil
• Tongs
• A baking sheet (optional)
• An oven set to 425 degrees F
• A fork

Set out your foil. If you’re using a baking sheet, put it on the sheet. (You can place potatoes on the oven rack- the sheet just makes things more convenient.) For crispy skin, bake with the potatoes unwrapped. For softer skin, wrap them individually in foil. The ones above were unwrapped.

Scrub your potatoes and remove any blemishes. Poke them all over with a fork. Dry your potatoes and then rub them all over with oil. Side note: olive oil is good for the skin in dry winter conditions- a good reason to just get in there and use your hands. You can’t wash off oil very well, though- use a paper towel or napkin to wipe off the extra.

Sprinkle on some salt. If you’re wrapping your potatoes, do that now.

Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes. Turn over after 20 minutes, after 40, and then check them at 50. If a fork slides right through when you poke one, it’s done. If not, put them in for another 5-10 minutes.

Serve with whatever toppings you like on your potatoes. Butter, sour cream, french onion dip, cheese soup, Cincinnati chili, shredded cheese, bacon.. whatever floats your boat!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

(Over a baked potato!)

This recipe is adapted from the Pioneer Woman’s site. Her recipe calls for half-and-half, which I never use. Because I’d rather just have heavy cream left over. It’s handy.

• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
• 1/3 cup white flour
• 5 cups whole milk (YES, five)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 4 stalks of broccoli, florets cut apart and stems skinned and chopped
• pinch of nutmeg
• 3 cups grated cheese (cheddar is classic, but any kind will taste good)
• salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• extra milk or broth for thinning (not usually needed)

Note- when preparing the broccoli, first cut off the florets. Prepare the stem by cutting off the bottom end and paring away the tough outer peel (it’s THICK). Slice the core. Throw away the peel.

Melt the butter over medium heat, then add the onions. Cook for a few minutes, until they just start to turn translucent. Add the flour and stir. Cook a minute or two until the roux stops smelling like flour.

Pour in the milk and cream. Add the nutmeg, all the broccoli, a little salt, and a generous sprinkling of black pepper.

Simmer with the lid on for 20-30 minutes (WATCH the heat on this- milk is notorious for boiling over if you let it get too hot). Stir in the cheese and let it melt.

Give it a little taste and add any more salt or pepper if needed. Can be served as is, or mashed with a masher for chunky soup, or blended in a blender. (Our picture shows the soup after we’ve used the stick blender.) If the soup is too thick for your tastes, add a little milk or broth to thin it until you’re happy.

Serve with crusty bread, or with potatoes! (My bowl has it poured over a baked potato, which was excellent.)

Thick and Simple Chili

Here’s my standard chili recipe. Note – I enjoy THICK chili, that you can stand a spoon in. I include some notes on how to make yours more soup-like. This recipe is great to double and stores and reheats nicely.

• 1 lb ground beef (I’ve used buffalo, too, but you can do fine with ground chuck)
• 1 onion, diced
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced or crushed
• 1 bell pepper, diced (may be left out)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (I think it’s 14.5 oz for the standard size, these days)
• 1 can or 2 cups cooked beans (kidney beans or black beans or both)
• 1 can tomato paste, 6 oz OR 1 can crushed tomatoes for a thinner chili
• Salt
• Black pepper
• Chili powder
• Cumin
• Cayenne pepper OR red chili flakes
• Optional: smoked paprika or chipotle powder

Brown the meat with the onions and garlic in the bottom of your cooking pot. Add bell pepper, tomatoes, beans, and tomato paste, and salt to taste. Add some pepper, cumin, chili powder and cayenne/chili flakes now, simmer at least 40 minutes.

Taste, and adjust seasoning. If you want more heat, add more cayenne. If you want more spice right at the beginning of a spoonful, add more black pepper. If you think it needs more depth, add more cumin. If it tastes watery or underwhelming, add more salt. Stir, cook another 3-4 minutes, then check again and adjust until you like it.

This can also be made in the slow cooker – brown the meat first, then add all ingredients and cook on high 2-3 hours, or low 7-8. It doesn’t hurt the chili to let it just simmer on low all day, so it’s an easy one to start before work and eat whenever you get home.

Very good with crackers or Frito corn chips.

(Cream of) Roasted Bell Pepper Soup

I know that’s not the usual color- the soup you get in a can or box is Roasted RED Bell Pepper Soup, so it ends up somewhere between orange and red in color by the time you eat it. But you can roast any ripe bell peppers for this soup- red, orange, yellow, purple, or chocolate colored. (Yes, there are purple and brown bell peppers. You can grow them, but they’re not often found in the supermarket.) Today, I used yellow and orange bell peppers.This is a very good soup to make if you’re dieting and need an easy lunch. It’s also good for women who need extra vitamins for various reasons. Bell peppers have lots of Folate, Vitamin E, and Vitamin B6, all very helpful to females. For maximum nutrition, use chicken stock. For maximum bell pepper flavor, stick with vegetable. This can be made vegetarian, even vegan, by choosing vegetable stock and oil over chicken stock and butter, and then leaving out the milk.

Ingredients-

• 4-6 bell peppers, roasted and sliced (the post on how to roast bell peppers is here!)
• 4-6 starchy potatoes (russet or gold), peeled and sliced
• 1 medium or large onion, diced
• butter or oil
• salt
• 1 quart (or less) of stock, chicken or vegetable
• Optional: 1 cup milk, half-and-half, or cream

Put some butter or oil in the bottom of a large pot on medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Saute gently for a few minutes, until the onion turns translucent.

Add the bell peppers and potatoes, and enough stock to just cover. Turn the heat to High until it boils, then down to Low to let it simmer 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender enough to easily pierce with a fork.

Use a stick blender to puree the soup in the pot, or puree it in batches in a standing blender. Add salt to taste- if the soup tastes watery, there’s not enough yet.

If you wish to add milk or cream, do it now. Stir it in gently and remove from heat after.

Very good served with rolls or crusty bread.

Coddle

This is a traditional Irish stew, full of meat and potatoes and enough onions to keep you warm all night. It’s called “coddle” because it’s easy on the stomach and is used as a hangover cure. It’s good comfort food and goes well with Irish soda bread and a little cheese.

You’ll need:

• 2 lbs potatoes (any kind will do, but I like gold or russet best)
• 4 large onions
• a fairly large ham steak (between 1 1/2 and 2 lbs)
• 8 pork sausage, large, OR 12-14 breakfast sausages (plain, not maple)
• 4 heaping tablespoons dried parsley
• salt & pepper

Cook the sausages first. Let them cool, then dice and add to a large pot. Dice the potatoes, the onions, and the ham and add them, too. Add in the parsley and just a little salt and pepper (more pepper than salt- there’s lots of salt in the meat).

Add just enough water to the pot that you can barely see it creeping up through the chunks. Don’t cover the ingredients- the onions will break down and you’ll end up with more broth than you started.

Bring the stew to a boil, then turn down to a simmer and cook it with the lid on for at least 20 minutes. Check the potatoes and onions- the stew’s done when they are. If it’s a little thin, you can boil it with the lid off for a bit.

Serve it hot!