Harvest Soup

Every time I make a soup I remember how simple they are and wonder why I don't make it more often. This soup was super easy to make and was excellent! The pefect light dinner on a fall evening.

Harvest Soup

• 1 medium butternut squash (peeled, seeded and cubed..about 3 cups)
  
• 3 cups zucchini, peeled and cubed
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 3/4 cup milk (optional)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• sour cream (to garnish)

Start by peeling and cubing the squash, zucchini and potatoes. Mince the garlic, chop the parsley and slice the onions.

In a large pot add the squash, zucchini, potatoes, onion, parsley, garlic and chicken stock. Cover and simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes or until the veggies are tender. If the chicken stock condenses while it is cooking you can add more to bring it to the original level.



Ladle the soup into a food processor or blender in small batches and puree. Once it has all been pureed, add the soup back to the pan and add the basil and milk. Check seasoning to see if you need to add any more salt & pepper.

Serve with a small spoonful of sour cream.

Enjoy!

Source: TFM

Anything and Everything Turkey Soup

Soup is one of the easiest things to make. I've never made a bad soup if I follow one basic strategy. Chicken or Turkey, add any variety of fresh veggies that you like and whatever stock you have on hand. When I looked in my refrigerator today, I realized that I had a bunch of vegetables that were getting close to tossing time and I wanted to make sure and use them before they went to waste. I usually make my own stock, but for this recipe I was using turkey thighs which were pretty fatty and I didn't want a greasy stock for my soup. I had leftover chicken stock and beef broth on hand from other recipes, so I used those instead.

Anything and Everything Turkey Soup

• 2 Turkey Thighs
• 2 carrots (cut lengthwise and then chopped)
• 2 stalks of celery (cut lenthwise and then chopped)
• 1 large onion diced
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms
• 5 brussell sprouts (I had leftover from another recipe)
• 2 potatoes peeled and diced
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups beef broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 scallion chopped

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush turkey with olive oil and season liberally with salt & pepper

Bake in the oven for approximately 35-40 minutes or until juices run clear.

Chop veggies and set aside.

Melt butter in a stockpot and add the veggies. Cook for 3-5 minutes.

Remove and discard the skin from the turkey thighs. Pull the meat away from the bone.

Add the turkey meat, chicken broth, beef broth and parsley to the pot. Simmer for approximately 30 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. You can add cooked egg noodles if you wish, but with this many veggies I didn't think it needed them! Enjoy!

Seafood Chowder

Yesterday's new recipe was a seafood chowder. The idea was sparked from watching The Food Network and watching a "Tyler's Ultimate" recipe for something called "Halibut and Cioppino". It looked AMAZING and I wanted to rush right out and buy all the ingredients and get to cooking. The problem was that it was chock full of lots of expensive seafood and the recipe had pretty bad reviews (even though when I watched him cook it I thought it looked fantastic). I decided I needed to head out to The Fresh Market and get some stuff...but before I left I checked their website to see what specials they had. While browsing their website I stumbled on a recipe for a seafood chowder that looked great and decided that might a better choice. I headed out with a general idea of what I was looking for. I hit a major road block when I got there with both my kids in tow and realized that they didn't have two of the main ingredients that my recipe called for, haddock and shucked oysters. I went out on a limb and without a recipe I picked up a pound and a half of peeled and deveined shrimp,16 ounces of crab meat and the typical soup potatoes, celery, onion..etc.

Once I got home I tried to look up some recipes using what I had but didn't find much that I liked. This is where I combined a recipe that I found online with what I know WE like at our house! I added some ingredients and changed around some things and then....voila...seafood chowder!

This was the recipe:

1 1/2 pounds peeled and deveined shrimp (tails removed)
8-16oz lump crab (depending on your taste.We like crab meat!)
1 1/2 medium onions diced
1 shallot diced
4 cloves garlic finely minced
3 celery ribs (I cut down the middle and then a small dice).
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup flour
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 8oz bottle clam juice
1 cup white wine
2 1/2 pounds potatoes (I used a combination of red and white fingerlings) quartered.
1 tablespoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 cup heavy cream
fresh parsley
kosher salt & pepper to taste

Saute onion, shallot, garlic, and celery in hot oil and butter in a large pot over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until tender. Stir in flour, and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Stir in broth and add clam juice, potatoes, old bay and white wine. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

Stir in shrimp, crab meat, and heavy cream. Cook over low heat 5 minutes or just until shrimp turn pink.

Garnish with fresh parsley and season with kosher salt and pepper to taste.

I served this up in a bread bowl, but after eating this meal I wouldn't advise using the bread bowl to serve the chowder in because it soaked up most of the juice and the bottom got really soggy. I would serve this in a bowl with a nice hunk of french baguette and your favorite glass of white wine (drink whatever you added to the recipe!) Enjoy!