Quick Everything But the Kitchen Sink Soup

Missy Tippens

Well, I don't have anything very new or exciting to share today, except some soup that I've probably made before. :) But I also thought I'd share these precious photos of my sweet grand dog. Poor baby yanked out another toenail while jumping out of the truck less than an hour after being at Grandma's house. I'm so thankful it didn't happen on my watch! But I feel so badly for the poor thing.

Here's the day it happened, after my kids took him to the vet.

And here's my sweet baby the next day. Doing better but still in pain and trying to get some sympathy from Grandma.

Oh, how I hope to have human grandkids someday too. :) And I don't think I'll have to worry about them yanking out toenails! Of course, I'm sure you grandmas worry about everything else. :)

Soooo, for today's soup. Our weather turned cool one day a few weeks ago (after having a 97 degree day in October!). And I went looking for things to put into soup.

I decided to use up the frozen field peas with snaps that had been in the freezer for probably a year. They may have had a little frostbite, but we couldn't taste it.

I also located canned corn, Rotel tomatoes and chilis, and canned diced, fire-roasted tomatoes.

I started by heating some oil in the pot and adding in some tomato paste to add richness. Then I sautéed the frozen veggies for a couple of minutes.

I went searching further in the freezer and found a bag of stir-fry vegetables to add. They had little noodles in them! So that ended up being a cool addition. They also had broccoli and carrots, and I think peppers and onions.

Once the vegetables had thawed, I added the canned veggies and a box of chicken broth.

After everything had simmered for a while, I added a can of pinto beans to increase the protein so the soup would stick to our ribs better.

It really turned out good! Next time you want a soup starter, look to see if you might have some frozen vegetable, especially a stir-fry mix. And enjoy a quick, easy, hearty soup.

By the way, the new edition of All God's Creatures for 2020 just came out!! I'm so thrilled to have 10 devotionals included. I got my author copies and have been reading ahead. I'm really enjoying the devotionals! You can check it out here.

www.missytippens.com

Winter Vegetable Soup with Garlic Twist Bread

We're on the downside of March with only one more week left of this year's Speedbo (Seekerville's annual writing challenge - go here for details. It isn't too late to sign up!).

Even though it's spring for our southern peeps, we're still enjoying cool (i.e. cold) temperatures in the north, and even a little (or a lot of) snow. So before soup weather disappears, I thought we'd take a rerun look at one of my family's favorites. I hope you enjoy these recipes from 2012!

This soup is one of those you can make with almost any veggie – except potatoes. If you add potatoes, then it’s potato soup, right?

Here’s the official recipe:

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

2 medium sized turnips, chopped

1 rutabaga, chopped

2 parsnips, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 ½ quarts stock – chicken or vegetable

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or one sprig fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup heavy cream

2 cups kale

1 Tablespoon each, butter and olive oil

In a large soup pot (I use an 8-quart pot), melt the butter. Add your turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the 30 minutes, add your stock, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring it all to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer and cook for an additional 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are soft.

When your veggies are nice and soft, it’s time for the blender. (If you used fresh thyme, remove the sprig now.)

If you have one of those handy immersion blenders, this is the time to put it through its paces. Just stick it in the pot and blend until the soup is smooth.

I don’t have one of those, so I put the soup – about a quart at a time – in my big blender and blend away. As each part gets done, I put the blended soup in a large bowl and do the next batch until the whole pot of soup is nice and smooth. Then I return it to the soup pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat.

While the soup is coming back up to temperature, tear the kale into 1-inch pieces. 

Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until melted. Add the kale and stir to coat. Add salt to taste. Cook at medium heat, stirring, about 3 minutes. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and let the kale steam for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft.

While the kale is cooking, add the cream to your soup and let it heat slowly. You don’t want to heat it too quickly or let the soup boil or the cream will break.

Serve the soup in bowls with a nice dollop of kale for a garnish.

Now, soup for dinner begs to have bread on the side, and the fresher the better.

For this yummy Garlic Twist Bread you need:

one loaf of bread dough

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon dried Basil

The garlic twist idea comes from my friend Martha Greene. Check out her Facebook page: www.facebook.com/MarmeeDearAndCompany.

Since I make my bread six loaves at a time, it’s easy to use one lump of dough for this recipe…

OR, you can buy a loaf of frozen bread dough from the grocery store…

The main thing is to have bread dough ready to go.

On a baking pan (greased or lined with baking parchment), spread your dough out into a rectangle, about 9 inches by 12 inches.

On this rectangle, spread 2 Tablespoons softened butter. 

In a bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 teaspoon dried basil.

Spread this mixture evenly over your dough.

Now, roll up your rectangle from the side, jelly-roll style.

Next, cut the roll up the middle.

If you don’t have a pair of kitchen shears, buy one. They’re way too handy not to own a pair.

Oh! When you’re cutting, stop just before you get to the end!

Now, carefully twist the two halves of the roll around each other. This isn’t as easy as it looks, but it works.

Warning: you’re going to make a mess. Just put any spilled filling back on top of your bread.

Brush the top of the loaf with an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. (This step isn’t crucial to the recipe, but it sure makes the loaf look professional!)

Let it rise for about 20-30 minutes, and then bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.

Mine got a little browner than I wanted – my oven doesn’t keep an even temperature, but I’m shopping for a new one. My dear husband insists we make the purchase before the Christmas baking season...

Now, doesn’t that look like a great cold-weather meal?

I hope you enjoyed our flashback. I'll be making this for my family this week or next, whenever the next chilly evening comes around - because in a couple months, it's going to be too hot for soup, right? 

Meanwhile, if you're a writer, how is your Speedbo month going? 

My word count doesn't match my goals, but I did meet today's editing deadline. Even though I haven't worked on my WIP as much as I planned, I have put in steady days of work all month long. 

And if you're a reader, aren't you glad your favorite authors have been working so hard???

Guest Mary Curry with Pumpkin Soup!

Missy, here. Before I share Mary's guest post, I want to tell you about an exciting event to help raise money for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. Several authors are donating a 50-page critique, and the highest bidder will win--with proceeds going directly to Samaritan's Purse. I'm one of the authors participating, so I hope you'll bid on me! :) Here's a link to my blog (click here) and to our Facebook event page (click here.)

Now, on to fabulous Mary Curry!

Pumpkin Soup

by Mary Curry 

Last week, I commented on a soup that I made and Missy asked if I would share the recipe.

Sure. I love to share recipes here. The only problem? Well, there wasn’t really a recipe. I kind of made it up as I went along based on flavors that I felt belonged together. I guess that’s sort of the pantser way of cooking. But it’s all good in the end.

I promised I’d try to recreate the soup because it was really delicious and so healthy.

These are the ingredients I started with:

Chicken (or vegetable) broth, canned pumpkin (I used the large can because that’s what I had.), spices (I used Garam Masala, Nutmeg and cinnamon. The Garam Masala has cinnamon but I wanted more!), apples and lentils. 

 Assembling the ingredients and chopping up the apples is really the hardest part! After that it’s just a matter of mixing it all together and letting it simmer.

First I added the broth to my Dutch Oven. I used two of these containers of broth because I wanted enough soup to have lunch all week. Feel free to adjust or use a combo of broth and water. I used chicken broth this time because it’s what I had on hand, but last time I used vegetable broth. Either works fine.

I dumped in a whole bunch of the spices after that. Sorry I can’t give measurements, I just shook – a lot. Less on the nutmeg because it has a stronger flavor. You can adjust the spices when it gets to the tasting stage so for now, go with less if you don’t like spicy.

Next comes the pumpkin.

 Share some with the cute dog if he’s hanging out at your feet.

Note – if the cat thinks the dog is getting treats, he’ll show up too. But he doesn’t want pumpkin.

Good thing I’m cooking for myself. The Board of Health wouldn’t be liking these animals in the kitchen.

Next I peeled and cut up apples. You probably could do it without peeling, but I peeled.

I had a bunch of apples that were starting to go soft so I used about six, but it doesn’t have to be that many. I think I only used three last time. Go with your feelings about apples. For me, you can’t go wrong with lots of apples.

Simmer awhile.

See how specific this is? It really depends on how close you are to wanting to eat. The longer you simmer, the thicker and richer it gets. When you’re about half an hour or so away from wanting to eat. add the rinsed lentils. They absorb a lot of the liquid so this is where you want to check to make sure you don’t have pumpkin apple stew. Add liquid as needed or leave it alone if you like the idea of stew.

I had some pumpkin seeds in the cupboard so I toasted them to sprinkle on top. They added a nice crunch when I was eating.

Enjoy!

The first time I made this I added apple cider for flavor. I left that out this time since I had so many apples.

Hint – the soup tastes really good with the oatmeal cranberry walnut scone I picked up at the farmer’s market.

Warning: Did you know that pumpkin seeds have a certain effect on you? I didn’t and I wondered why … (how do we say this delicately?) Ah, they give you an overactive bladder.

But they’re good for you and they taste good!

!5-Minute Soup!

Missy Tippens, here. Bringing you a recipe I stumbled on last week when I was digging through the refrigerator to find something to eat. (I'm so bad about planning beforehand lately that I'm afraid I've turned into a scavenger!)

I found this recipe on the back of a bag of pre-washed and prepared greens. :)

I actually bought them because I'd never had beet greens. The package said they're mild like spinach only sweeter. Who wouldn't like that?!

The soup called for tortellini, and of course, I didn't have any fresh tortellini on hand. You can click the link to see the original recipe. They have other great recipes on their site!

So here's my version of the recipe...

15-Minute Garlic, Tomato, Beet Greens and Tortellini Soup

(Adapted to fit Missy's Pantry and without the tortellini)

Ingredients:
1 32-ounce box chicken or vegetable broth (I used chicken)
1 cup of water (since I was using dried pasta instead of fresh)
14.5 oz box pasta (I used Penne)
1 can diced tomatoes (with the juice)
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic (I used a teaspoon of jarred, chopped garlic)
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 bag of chopped, prepared greens

Check out the nutrition on these greens! Mary Curry, I figured you'd be impressed. :)

They're gorgeous in color. Even turned the broth pink!

Put the oil in the pot and add the chopped garlic. Don't burn it! Cook a minute or so.
Add the broth, onion powder and water.
Bring to a boil and pour in dried pasta. Boil 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and simmer another 4 or 5 minutes.

Look how yummy it looks already! I started nibbling at this point as the pasta got softer.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stir in the greens. You can see they almost overflowed my pot! It takes a few minutes to work them all in.

Simmer another 3 to 4 minutes. It's ready to serve!

Oh, wait! Everything is better with parmesan cheese! Especially if it contains pasta.

A word of advice on leftovers (which you will have--this makes a ton). When I ate the leftovers, it was more like a pasta dish, all the liquid having been absorbed. So you can either add more broth/water in the beginning. Or you can cut back the amount of pasta noodles in the recipe. Or just do like I did and add water before re-heating.

Enjoy!

Missy
www.missytippens.com

Winter Vegetable Soup with Garlic Twist Bread

Jan here with an important announcement: 

Fall has arrived in the north…

Little Spearfish Canyon, October 2011

Okay, we’re still waiting for the fall colors, but the temperatures are plummeting, the skies are cool blue, the geese are gathering, the shadows are lengthening, football season is starting...

Fall is definitely here!

It’s time to put soup back on the menu!

This soup is one of those you can make with almost any veggie – except potatoes. If you add potatoes, then it’s potato soup, right?

Here’s the official recipe:

Winter Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

¼ cup butter

2 medium sized turnips, chopped

1 rutabaga, chopped

2 parsnips, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 ½ quarts stock – chicken or vegetable

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 teaspoon dried thyme, or one sprig fresh thyme

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup heavy cream

2 cups kale

1 Tablespoon each, butter and olive oil

In a large soup pot (I use an 8-quart pot), melt the butter. Add your turnips, rutabaga, parsnips, carrots and onions.

Cook on medium-low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. After the 30 minutes, add your stock, garlic, thyme, salt, pepper and cayenne. Bring it all to a boil, and then reduce it to a simmer and cook for an additional 30 minutes or so until the vegetables are soft.

When your veggies are nice and soft, it’s time for the blender. (If you used fresh thyme, remove the sprig now.)

If you have one of those handy immersion blenders, this is the time to put it through its paces. Just stick it in the pot and blend until the soup is smooth.

I don’t have one of those, so I put the soup – about a quart at a time – in my big blender and blend away. As each part gets done, I put the blended soup in a large bowl and do the next batch until the whole pot of soup is nice and smooth. Then I return it to the soup pot and put it back on the stove on medium heat.

While the soup is coming back up to temperature, tear the kale into 1-inch pieces. 

Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet until melted. Add the kale and stir to coat. Add salt to taste. Cook at medium heat, stirring, about 3 minutes. Cover the skillet, reduce the heat to low, and let the kale steam for about 5-7 minutes, or until soft.

While the kale is cooking, add the cream to your soup and let it heat slowly. You don’t want to heat it too quickly or let the soup boil or the cream will break.

Serve the soup in bowls with a nice dollop of kale for a garnish.

Now, soup for dinner begs to have bread on the side, and the fresher the better.

For this yummy Garlic Twist Bread you need:

one loaf of bread dough

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 teaspoons minced garlic (about 3 cloves)

¼ cup shredded parmesan cheese

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 teaspoon dried Basil

Since I make my bread six loaves at a time, it’s easy to use one lump of dough for this recipe…

OR, you can buy a loaf of frozen bread dough from the grocery store…

The main thing is to have bread dough ready to go.

On a baking pan (greased or lined with baking parchment), spread your dough out into a rectangle, about 9 inches by 12 inches.

On this rectangle, spread 2 Tablespoons softened butter. 

In a bowl, mix together 2 teaspoons minced garlic, ¼ cup parmesan cheese, ¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese and 1 teaspoon dried basil.

Spread this mixture evenly over your dough.

Now, roll up your rectangle from the side, jelly-roll style.

Next, cut the roll up the middle.

If you don’t have a pair of kitchen shears, buy one. They’re way too handy not to own a pair.

Oh! When you’re cutting, stop just before you get to the end!

Now, carefully twist the two halves of the roll around each other. This isn’t as easy as it looks, but it works.

Warning: you’re going to make a mess. Just put any spilled filling back on top of your bread.

Brush the top of the loaf with an egg beaten with a tablespoon of water, then sprinkle with sesame seeds. (This step isn’t crucial to the recipe, but it sure makes the loaf look professional!)

Let it rise for about 20-30 minutes, and then bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes, or until nicely browned on top.

Mine got a little browner than I wanted – my oven doesn’t keep an even temperature, but I’m shopping for a new one. My dear husband insists we make the purchase before the Christmas baking season...

Now, doesn’t that look like a great cold-weather meal?