Creamy Tortellini Soup - Pinterest Pick #24

Two years ago I made a delicious tortellini soup (you can find that recipe HERE). Because the weather has actually been pretty cold this winter in FL I was looking for comforting soup, stew, and one pot meal recipes. I came across this recipe on Pinterest for CREAMY tortellini soup and I remembered how good my other recipe was, so I decided to give it a try. Both hubs and I loved it! And it fit the bill for a comforting soup dinner on a chilly night.  Not to mention you make it in your slow cooker so it's super easy as well. I made a couple of adjustments, as I always do. Instead of both cans of diced tomatoes I only used 1 can and then a can of plain tomato sauce. I used frozen spinach instead of fresh. And because my diced tomatoes were plain and not Italian style, I spiced up the soup with a couple of dashes of garlic salt, a big pinch of Italian seasoning, and lots of black pepper. Also, I made this soup without meat for meatless Monday, but you can easily add in some chicken or sausage if you choose. You can find the original pin HERE and the original recipe is listed on the pin, it does not link to a website. 

Creamy Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 bag of frozen tortellini
• 1 box (10 oz) frozen spinach (or a bag of fresh baby spinach)
• 2 cans diced tomatoes (or 1 can of diced, and 1 can of tomato sauce)
• 1 block of cream cheese, cut into 4 chunks
• 1 carton chicken broth
• garlic salt
• black pepper
• Italian seasoning

***Parmesan cheese for topping (optional)
***Garlic bread for serving (optional)

Directions:
Put all ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for 4 hours. Enjoy!

Tortellini Soup - Home Cooked Recipe #76

Well, there was not much of a winter here in FL this year. And now that it's March I don't expect it to be very chilly for quite a while.  But sometimes you just want a good bowl of soup! And I have a great recipe for a creamy tortellini soup that has some yummy veggies in it as well.

Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 carton of chicken broth
• 1 can tomato soup (I use Campbell's)
• 1 can diced tomatoes (14.5oz)
• 1 tbs tomato paste
• 2 tbs sundried tomatoes
• 1 pkg frozen tortellini
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 zucchini, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper
• red pepper flakes
• olive oil

Directions:
Saute onion in a small bit of olive oil over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, and a dash of red pepper flaked. Stir in garlic, saute for a minute. Add in carrots, saute another 5 minutes. Squeeze in tomato paste and let cook for a minute. Add in zucchini, tomatoes, tomato soup, and chicken broth. Stir well and let simmer for 15 minutes. Pour in package of tortellini and let cook for the time the package suggests. Whisk in heavy cream, cook for 1 minute, then remove from heat. Serve with a nice salad and garlic bread. Enjoy! ***NOTE: You can also make this in a slow cooker. Just put everything in your slow cooker except tortellini and heavy cream and cook over low for 4 hours. Then add tortellini, cook on high 10 minutes. Stir in cream and turn off slow cooker. Easy!***

Tunisian Shrimp Stew - Pinterest Pick #14

One of my goals for 2016 was to try a new food, and I picked Harissa.  It is a spicy Moroccan pepper paste.  I got mine at Whole Foods, the ONLY place I could find it in the metro Orlando area.  It is delicious!  If you recall, I also used it in one of the fillings for my beef hand pies.  I decided to give it another application by using it in the stew I found on Pinterest.  You can find the original Pin HERE and the original recipe HERE. The original recipe uses cod instead of shrimp, but really you can easily adapt it to whatever protein you prefer.  I like shellfish better than regular fish, and I had some on hand already.  So shrimp it was.  I also left out the turnips because, well, I have never tried them before and figured there was enough veggies.  This is a very light and healthy dish that makes for a fairly quick weeknight dinner.

Tunisian Shrimp Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 12 oz bag peeled and deveined shrimp
• 2 zucchini, sliced into half rounds
• 2 red potatoes, diced into small pieces
• 3 carrots, chopped into rounds
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 quart chicken broth
• 3 tbs tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon harissa (start there and add more depending on your love of spice)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

Directions:
In a soup pot, heat 2 tbs olive oil and then saute garlic and onions for 5 minutes.  Add in tomato paste and let cook for a minute or two.  Add in cumin, salt, pepper, and harissa.  Stir for one minute.  Put in carrots and potatoes and saute for two minutes.  Add chicken broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer.  Cook 10 minutes then add in zucchini.  Cook another 5 minutes then add in shrimp.  Let simmer for 10 more minutes then serve.
Enjoy! 

Black Bean Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 55

Weather is finally getting chillier here in FL (we actually reached 45 this past weekend -whoah!) and it's time to start cooking the recipes I reserve for winter cooking.  In addition to making old favorites, I like to try new ones as well.  Also, I am looking for meatless and/or gluten free recipes and this recipe for black bean soup fits the category!

Black Bean Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups chicken broth (use vegetable broth to make this recipe vegetarian)
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cajun or creole seasoning

Directions:
Saute onion and carrots in 2 tbs olive oil until soft and tender (5-10 minutes).  Add in garlic and saute another minute.  Add salt and pepper, as well as creole/cajun seasoning at this stage.  Pour in 2 cups of broth and cook at a boil for 2 minutes.  Reduce heat to simmer and stir in beans, tomatoes, and remaining broth.  Simmer on low for 15 - 30 minutes.  I served mine with yellow rice and a caesar salad, but white rice, another kind of salad, and bread also make great additions to make this soup a main meal.  Hint, use a couple dashes of hot sauce to spice up this soup if you/your family can handle the heat.
I used an immersion blender to partially puree the soup.  You can also use a blender or food processor.  I would only puree half the soup though, you want some texture by leaving the other half unprocessed.
Enjoy!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 29

I recently had some dental issues and needed to have food that was easy to eat.  Instead of just going and buying cans of soup, I thought I would try my hand at making my own.  One of my favorite soups is the broccoli cheddar soup they serve at Panera, so I decided to make my own version.  Here is the recipe!

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Ingredients:

1 package frozen broccoli

2 cups sharp cheddar, grated

1 stick of butter

1 small onion, finely diced

1/4 cup flour

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

3 cups chicken broth

1 carrot, shredded

1 bay leaf

dash of cayenne

salt and pepper

Directions:

Melt butter in large pot over low heat.  Add onions and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender.  Whisk in flour and cook an additional 4 minutes.  Whisk in milk, then cream, then chicken broth, and bring it to a boil.
Add cayenne, then season with salt and pepper.  Toss in bay leaf.  Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes. 
Microwave broccoli for 3 minutes, then add to soup.  Stir in grated carrot.  Cook for 10 minutes, then remove bay leaf and puree until smooth (either with and immersion blender or in an actual blender in batches). 
Add cheese to soup and whisk over medium heat until smooth. 
Enjoy!
***Some fun ideas are to garnish soup with more cheese and homemade croutons, or serve the soup in breadbowls.  You can also add a dash of smoked paprika when you add the cayenne, it gives the soup a nice sweet smokiness.  Another way to impart even more cheesy goodness is to add in a can of cheddar cheese soup, I use Campbell's.

Hot And Sour Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 23

I mentioned in an earlier post I wrote about P.F. Changs that I was going to copy their Hot And Sour soup.  I found a recipe online that seemed to be close, so I altered it slightly, and that is our recipe for this week.
ALSO -
Congratulations to Priscilla in New Mexico for winning our contest for a free Duncan Hines product!

Hot And Sour Soup

Ingredients

• 6 ounces of chicken breast, thinly sliced
• 4 cups of chicken stock
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 tsp pepper
• 6 ounces bamboo shoots, julienned
• 6 ounces of mushrooms, julienned
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 eggs beaten
• 4 ounces rice vinegar
• *6 ounces tofu, optional (I did NOT include tofu)

Directions:
Cook chicken through and set aside.  Bring chicken stock to a boil, add soy sauce, pepper, bamboo, mushrooms, and chicken.  Let cook for 3 minutes. Combine water and cornstarch in sepearte bowl.  Add a little at a time to soup.  Stir soup until thick.  Add eggs and stir while cooking.  Turn off heat.  Add vinegar (you would also add tofu at this point if you were including it).  Spoon in to bowls.
Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 13

Since I went to the Mexican restaurant last week I have been in the mood to make some Mexican at home.  I have never made tortilla soup, but found some recipes on the internet for versions of tortilla soup.  (I have also been inspired to make homemade enchilada sauce, and think that I may make it and post the recipe next week.)  I found that in making tortilla soup, it is healthy, spicy, filling, and full of flavor.  Here is my recipe!!!  ***Bonus, this is a crockpot recipe, so it's even more convenient!***

Melissa's Tortilla Soup

2 cans of chicken stock (14.5 ounces each)
1 cup water
1 can RoTel - tomatoes with green chiles (10 ounces)
1 can plain diced tomatoes (14.5 ounces)
1 bag frozen sweet corn (16 ounces - you can use canned if your prefer)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried cumin
1/2 tsp dried ground coriander
dash of cayenne
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb chicken breasts, cooked and diced
6-10 corn tortillas, cut in to strips and fried (or you can use tortilla chips)
*optional - Sour cream
*optional - Monterey jack cheese, shredded

*optional - Cilantro, chopped

Add all ingredients to slow cooker except tortillas, sour cream, cheese, and cilantro.  Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours, or on high for 4 to 6 hours.  *To fry tortilla chips, cut in to strips, fry in oil (I use a deep fryer) at 350 degrees for 15 to 30 seconds.  Drain on paper towels, and salt while still warm. 
To serve, ladle soup in to bowls.  Top with tortilla strips.  Garnish with the optional ingredients of sour cream, cheese, and cilantro.  Enjoy!

French Onion Soup - Home Cooked Recipe 11

I wanted to try a recipe last week that was more of a classic recipe.  While the weather is still quite warm here in Orlando, I was dreaming about winter and the cool weather it will bring.  I thought of things that were comfort food.  And I came up with the idea to make french onion soup!

French Onion Soup

6 large red onions, sliced

4 tbs olive oil

1/2 tsp sugar

3 garlic cloves, minced (I use my garlic press)

6 cups of beef stock (with this recipe, I actually used 4 cups beef stock and 2 cups chicken stock - yum!)

1/2 cup vermouth (or you can use sherry)

bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper

6 slices toasted french bread (using croutons can also be fun!)

1 cup Gruyere, grated (you can also use Swiss cheese, if you're short on cash)

Saute the onions in the olive oil on medium heat until they become brown and caramelized (but not burned!).  This should take 35 to 45 minutes.  About 10 minutes in to the process, add the sugar to help with the caramelization.  Add the garlic and saute for a minute.  Add your vermouth (or sherry), cook for two minutes, then add the stock.  This is also when you add your bay leaf, thyme, and salt & pepper to taste.

Partially cover and let soup simmer for at least 30 minutes.  Discard the bay leaf.

To serve, spoon in to oven-proof bowls.  Cover with toasted french bread and sprinkle with cheese.  Broil on low for approximately 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Enjoy!