Celebrate National Soup Day!

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Happy National Soup Day! Boy is it ever the perfect day to celebrate. We have loads of snow on the ground, the temperatures are frigid, and I am tucked up in the house in front of the fire with my favorite cat, my favorite blanket, a tatty, bulky sweater, remote in hand, binge-watching my favorite British mystery.

 If you are as big of a soup fan as I am, then you will want to try one (or all!) of these. I have listed my favorites below (in alphabetical order because I didn’t want to play favorites). Click on the highlighted name beneath the photo to head straight for the recipe.

 Celebrate with soup! 

 Beef & Vegetable Soup

 

 B​​etter than Bread Co.’s* Cream Cheese Potato Soup

 

Cheesy Leek and Broccoli Soup

 

 Chicken Soup au Gratin

 

 Cream of Portobello Mushroom Soup with Sherry

 Rigatoni and Meatball Soup

 

 Slow Cooker Creamy Tortellini Soup

 

 Wonton Chicken Noodle Soup

 

Chicken & Dumplings

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Last week I gave you a recipe for amazingly good biscuits the scraps of which I turned into dumplings for chicken and dumplings. Today I’m going to give you the recipe that I used to make the soup. (If you don’t want to go to all the trouble I did for the dumplings, make it easy on yourself and use the recipe on the Bisquick box, or simply get a can of Pillsbury biscuits, separate them, quarter them, and drop them into the simmering soup.) As I enjoyed every delicious, comforting mouthful of this scrumptious meal-in-a-bowl, the likes of which would have made grandma proud, one thing came to mind -- if my mother truly didn’t enjoy chicken and dumplings, then she was obviously crazy. Somehow we just didn’t see it.

 

 

Chicken & Dumplings 

Slightly adapted from The Novice Chef

6 T. butter

1 c. chopped Melissa’s shallots

1 c. matchstick carrots

1 c. diced celery

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 T. flour

1 12-oz. can evaporated milk

32 oz. (1 quart) chicken stock

4 c. shredded cooked chicken

1 t. dried thyme

1 t. freshly ground black pepper

Salt, to taste

 In a medium stockpot, melt butter over medium high heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook for five minutes until vegetables begin to soften. Add garlic, and cook for one minute more. Sprinkle flour on top of the vegetables, stir to combine, and cook for one minute.

 Slowly pour in evaporated milk and stock, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and add chicken, thyme, pepper, and salt. Bring to a simmer, uncovered, while you make the dumplings. Once made, drop dumplings directly into the simmering soup. Scatter them around the surface so they don’t cluster in one section. Press them down gently so that the soup runs over the tops of them.

 Cover the pot (I like to use a glass lid so I can see what’s going on), and lower the heat to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes; gently stir the soup and dumplings. Cut one dumpling in half to check for doneness. If dumplings are not yet done, simmer an additional 2 to 3 minutes and check for doneness again.

 Serve immediately.

 

 

 

 

Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup

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We have had a week of gray days with intermittent sleet, snow, and freezing rain. Nothing much has come of any of it, so I really don’t mind, but the continuing grayness is starting to get me down. Because this old body tends to react adversely to changes in weather, I make sure I have plenty of chicken soup on hand, consuming it regularly, to ward off any ills that may be planning attack. After a while, however, even my favorite chicken soup becomes a bit dull, so I decided to try a new one.

Using both lemon juice and dill in chicken soup was new to me, but I absolutely loved both! The dill provided a wonderful spring-like taste; the lemon juice a brightness that made this a joy to consume. Orzo in place of the usual noodle was welcome as well, and I ate this soup three days running.

Give it a try, and be sure to use plenty of fresh dill, and squeeze the juice of an entire lemon into your bowl before eating. You won’t regret either. I was so impressed with this soup that I have decided to grow dill in my deck garden this year. I want to make certain I have plenty so that I can make this again and again.

Lemony Chicken and Orzo Soup

Slightly adapted from Bon Appetite

1 T. olive oil

1 lg. Melissa’s leek, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise, sliced crosswise ½” thick

1 celery stalk, sliced crosswise ½” thick

12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken thighs

6 c. chicken broth

Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

½ c. orzo

¼ c. chopped fresh dill

Lemon halves (for serving)

Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium heat. Add leek and celery and cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, 5-8 minutes. Add chicken and broth; season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until chicken is cooked through, 15-20 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. Let cool, then shred chicken into bite-size pieces. Meanwhile, return broth to a boil. Add orzo and cook until al dente, 8-10 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Stir in chicken and dill. Serve with lemon halves for squeezing over.

  

Panera Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (Crockpot Copycat)

Because I have a food blog, you probably think that I cook all of the time. No. In fact, I have managed to get it down to no more than three, maybe four days a week. I'm not all that different from you, some days I like to cook, but some days I really don't. Unfortunately, even on the days when I don't want to cook I still have to eat. So I always seek the path of least resistance, and by that I mean the crockpot.

It's warm and breezy as I write this, but big changes are in the air. Next week the highs are going to be in the 40s, the lows in the 30s, my kind of fall weather. I cleaned out the fireplace today, set a fire, and decided a big batch of chicken and wild rice soup would be perfect. I had seen the copycat recipe for Panera's Chicken & Wild Rice Soup, but the thought of paying attention to something on the stove was not appealing. I took a look at the recipe, and just knew that it could be easily done in the crockpot.

As it turned out, I was right! Essentially, after I chopped the celery, carrots, and onion, I threw everything into the crockpot (including an entire frozen breast of chicken), with the exception of the dairy ingredients. Because I had thrown the chicken in frozen, I cranked it up to high and let it do its thing for about six hours. At that point, I removed the chicken, cut it into bite-size pieces, added it back to the pot, along with the cream and cornstarch slurry, and had a wonderfully delicious and soothing soup. The remainder of it went into single serve containers (I use these, that also make soup easy for gifting.) that I marked and stuck in the freezer. I am set with chicken soup all winter.

Panera Chicken & Wild Rice Soup (Crockpot Copycat)

6 cups homemade chicken stock
1 large chicken breast, cut into bite-size pieces (or not)
1 box Rice-A-Roni Long Grain & Wild Rice
2 large carrots, sliced
2 large ribs of celery, sliced
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup water

Spray the interior of your 6-quart slow cooker with Pam. Place all ingredients EXCEPT the heavy cream, cornstarch, and water, into the slow cooker in the order listed. Set to "high" and cook 5 to 6 hours, until vegetables are fork tender and the chicken and rice are done. 

Remove chicken (if, like me, you tossed in an entire breast), cut into bite-size pieces and return meat to the pot. Pour in heavy cream stirring to combine. Mix 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 1/4 cup water whisking to ensure there are no lumps, and stir into the soup. Return the lid, and allow to cook another 15 minutes until it reaches desired thickness. 

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This post is linked to:

Full Plate Thursday, Dishing It & Digging It, Cooking & Crafting with J&J, Amaze Me Monday, Busy Mondays, Make it Pretty Monday, Celebrate Your Story, O My Heartsie Girls Wonderful Wednesday,  Homestead Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesday, Wine’d Down Wednesday, Grace at Home, Friday at the Fire Station, Foodie Friday & Everything Else, Create, Bake, Grow and Gather, Share Your Style, Simple Saturday Blog Hop, A Bouquet of Talent, Paula's No Rules Weekend Blog Party, What’s for Dinner Sunday, Happiness is Homemade Sunday