It's Soup Weather

I really like soup. It can take me from cold, hungry and miserable to warm and full in just a few minutes. Soups can also be quick and easy to make. In fact I'm fixing soup tonight. I froze the smoked turkey that I cooked off the bones after Thanksgiving and tonight will be good night for turkey and rice soup.

There are a lot of recipes for soup - really good ones, so I thought instead writing out a recipe I'd blog on some tips to making good soup.

1. Use a good base. Soup base is easy to make yourself using vegetables or whole chickens, but if you don't want to take the time make sure you buy a base (sometimes called stock or broth) that doesn't have lots of sodium and monosodium glutamate. Cream bases are also pretty easy to make just follow the instructions to a good recipe. The easiest soup in the world is probably a chowder of some type (I'll include instructions at the end of the post).

2. Fats carry flavor so include a bit of a good olive oil or some butter (just a tablespoon or so) in your soup if it doesn't naturally have much fat in it.

3. Throw carrots and celery in the pot just washed and with tops removed. After they are cooked chopping them up is a breeze. If you're going to cream the soup you're making throw onion and garlic in whole. or just chopped in half. If you're using organic onions wash them before peeling and add the skins to make your broth even better (remove before finishing soup) and to add a nice golden color.

4. Soups are great for hiding veggies in. I grate summer squash, zucchini or broccoli stalks into soup for extra nutrition.

5. Use short cuts if you need to. I keep frozen hash browns on hand to throw in soup so I don't have to chop potatoes when I'm in a hurry. Velveeta is not as gourmet (or as good for you) as cheddar but it makes good filling soup. A block of cream cheese or some sour cream added to just about any soup kicks it up a notch.

6. If a soup calls for dried beans you can always use canned instead.

Here's a quick easy chowder recipe; in saucepan over medium low heat melt 1 tablespoon butter (or use olive oil) cook 1 chopped onion until soft. Add 2 chopped cloves of garlic. Add 2 cups of water to pot. Grate a carrot and add to the pot. Dice two potatoes and add to pot. Cover and simmer until potatoes are tender (12 to 15 minutes). Add 1 can of corn, drained (or frozen). Pour 2 cups of milk into pot. Salt and pepper to taste. Add chopped ham, turkey ham or a few bacon slices to make it even hardier. Heat through and serve.