Soup Recipes

Sorry I'm a bit late with today's post.  I am under the weather, which stinks.  My daughter is also ill, making for a not-so-fun household of late.


I have been on a soup making kick lately.  There is nothing quite as satisfying on a cold day than warm soup!  I think that broth made from boiling a carcass is the best flavored broth and makes the best flavored soup.


I tend to use a recipe as a guide...and change things up to make the recipe my own.  Last week I made both broccoli cheese soup and tomato soup, both of which I thought turned out really well.
For the broccoli cheese soup I found a recipe in one of my cookbooks and a recipe online that I used as my guide.  Here's what I did!

Broccoli Cheese Soup:
Chop one red onion.  Melt 1 stick of unsalted butter in a large saucepan.  Add onions and cook until onions are tender.  Add broccoli.  I had broccoli in my refrigerator that needed to be used.  I would estimate I used about 2 1/2 stalks of broccoli. Stir the broccoli in the onion and butter mixture.  Cover this with chicken broth.  Let that simmer until broccoli is tender (I cooked mine for about an hour).
Blend (in batches) the soup using your blender.  Don't add too much at a time!  I usually filled my blender about 1/2 way full, and blended that.  Be careful blending hot food/liquid!  Blend in batches until all the soup has been blended.  Return the blended soup to the saucepan.  Cube 1/2 of a loaf of velveeta cheese.  Add the cheese to the soup, stirring constantly until the cheese is melted and blended in to the soup.  Let the soup simmer.  Just before serving, stir 2-3 tablespoons of cornstarch into 1/2 cup of milk.  Add this to the soup, stirring constantly until soup thickens.  Season with salt and pepper to your taste.

Tomato Soup:
Chop two onions.  Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan and add onions.  Cook until onions are tender.  Add 4 cups of chicken broth, 1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes and 1 smaller can (soup can size) of fire roasted tomatoes.  Stir in 2 tablespoons italian seasoning and pepper.  Simmer for 1 hour.  Blend soup in batches (like you did with the broccoli cheese soup).  Return blended soup to saucepan.  Add a pinch of sugar.  Cook and stir with the lid off to reduce down a bit.  Serve the tomato soup with some freshly grated parmesan and croutons!  Yummy!

I hope you enjoy the soup recipes!