Soup season is coming!

[JTHunter]

Many of you have posted some good home-made recipes here.  I would like to suggest what might be an easier alternative.
I like many of Progresso's and Campbell's Chunky soups BUT because of the high amount of sodium (salt) in them, I've made some "changes".
I take 3-4 oz. of frozen vegetables (peas, corn, & mixed) put them in a microwave safe bowl with enough water to heat them up.  In my MW, that takes 90-120 seconds (YMMV).  I drain the water off and add the vegetables to the soup.  It is at this time that I also add additional meat to increase the protein content.  This also helps to reduce the percentage of salt in the soup.
Depending on the type of soup, I'll add canned chicken, previously cooked (usu. grilled) chicken breasts that I dice, sliced hot dogs (at least 2), diced ham, previously cooked ground pork sausage or ground beef, or pre-heated frozen meatballs.  If the meatballs are the 1/2 oz. size, I'll use 6-8 but if the 1 oz. size, I only use 3-4.  Then I heat the whole mix up in the MW.  It makes enough for 2 meals that way.

[K Frame]

Progresso soups are generally pretty good, but their money soup, for me, is the Tomato Basil.

Paired with a grilled ham and cheese it makes a FANTASTIC winter meal.

[K Frame]

And yes, extending a can of soup with add ins is a nice, quick way to get a good soup. I've done it many times.

But nothing, and I mean nothing, beats a soup made from scratch.

Yes, it can take hours to simmer chicken to get a stock.

And hours more to assemble and cook the perfect chicken vegetable, chicken & rice, beef and mushroom, or ham and bean, but nothing that comes out of can will ever match that.

Depending on the soup, I'll start them on Saturday and finish them Sunday (if I'm making a full stock from scratch).

Or, I'll pull a couple of containers of stock out of the freezer and assemble the soup on Sunday and have it for dinner and lunches the following week.

One thing I really need to get into the habit of is saving my vegetable scraps (carrot tops, peelings, onion tops, etc.) in a bag in the freezer for stock base. I already do that with chicken bones.

[JTHunter]

Progresso soups are generally pretty good, but their money soup, for me, is the Tomato Basil.

Paired with a grilled ham and cheese it makes a FANTASTIC winter meal.

Agreed !

[T.O.M.]

Mike, I agree that nothing beats a homemade stock, but I've found that on weeknights, or anytime we want soup sooner rather than later, some of the box stocks aren't bad.  Where I've had good success is starting with Swanson unsalted chicken or beef stock.  I control the salt level, and can simmer for quite a while without worrying that it will end up too salty.   I made a pot of creamy chicken noodles this evening using unsalted Swanson chicken stock.  Turned out really good.

[zxcvbob]

I made a big pot of chicken noodle soup tonight.  Cooked 4 (bone-in skin-on) chicken thighs in a big soup pot with some celery and onions; no water yet.  When they were about done but still tough I added a couple of cups of water and continue simmering until the chicken was tender.  I took the thighs out of the pot and added a quart of commercial chicken stock, more onions and celery and some chopped carrots, and some frozen turkey breast that to be honest was slightly freezer burned.  Also some black pepper and thyme.  Let that cook until the veggies were almost tender, and added half a pound of frozen mixed vegetables.  I was going to use crushed lasagna noodles for the starch but Wife had some frozen noodles in the freezer, so I cooked those separately in chicken bouillon and added them and the bouillon to the soup pot.  Mainly because freezer space is more valuable than pantry space.

I still had the meat from the chicken thighs but didn't need to add it because the turkey was enough, so I have braised chicken thighs to munch on for other meals.  I ate one for supper with some cheese, hot peppers, and a tortilla, Wife had soup.

[K Frame]

Don't get me wrong -- I use the boxed broths all of the time.

My local grocery has a store brand version that's called "cooking stock." It's basically a heavier version of their regular stock or broth.

I usually use the boxed versions for a "heavy broth" type of soup -- like a baked potato soup. If I'm making something that uses a clear broth, like chicken & vegetable, where it's not thickened with starch or pureed beans or the like, then I always go with a homemade stock. I might extend it with a box, but for clear broth soups I want the gelatin that you can only get from simmering bones and skin for a bunch of hours.

A good way to get a quick hearty stock without having to simmer it all day is to use a pressure cooker. You can get a very hearty chicken stock in about 45 minutes (vs 4 to 8 hours).

The only drawback to a pressure cooker stock is that it tends to be quite cloudy because of what's forced out of the bones. So if you want a clear stock you'll need to either filter it or clarify it with egg whites (which is a huge pain in the ass).

Here's how you clarify a stock with egg white -- https://www.bhg.com/recipes/how-to/cooking-basics/how-to-clarify-stock/

Generally I don't worry about that. I'll just strain it through a very fine mesh strainer and call it a day.


You know you've gotten the goodness from the chicken when you stock sets up like jelly in the fridge.

[K Frame]

Crap. Now I want to make a pot of chicken vegetable soup.

I guess that's what I'm going to make Sunday.

Ok, local grocery doesn't have chicken on sale, but they do have rotisserie chickens on sale. So I'll get myself one of those, pick the meat off and boil the carcass for soup.

[Boomhauer]

My wife makes a Zuppa Tuscano soup that is absolutely amazing, and makes the Olive Garden version look like trash. That stuff is good on a cold winter day.

[K Frame]

My wife makes a Zuppa Tuscano soup that is absolutely amazing, and makes the Olive Garden version look like trash. That stuff is good on a cold winter day.

You know the rules. You can't say that without posting a recipe!

[K Frame]

The great thing about making a ham for Thanksgiving is having all of that meat and the bone for soup.

This one is a honey ham, so I'll have to see how sweet it is.

Last year I baked a brown sugar ham and I was afraid that it was going to be too sweet for making ham and bean soup; fortunately I was wrong and it made one hell of a batch.

This year I'm thinking, possibly, ham and potato soup.

[K Frame]

I picked most of the meat off the ham bone last night after dinner.

Later today I'll boil the bone down and will contemplate what kind of soup to make.

And the ham inspector was fully engaged in the breaking down process.

[K Frame]

Found the soup recipe I'm going to make this time around...

Ham and cabbage soup.

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/285832/hearty-cabbage-and-ham-soup/

I may make drop dumplings out of the left over mashed potatoes, too.

https://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/64/Mashed_Potato_Dumplings38710.shtml

I like adding a little baking powder to my drop dumplings to give them some lift. Not much, just a bit. Self-rising flour will do the same thing.

[K Frame]

Whoo boy do I have myself one epic batch of pig squeezings.

[JTHunter]

I picked most of the meat off the ham bone last night after dinner.

Later today I'll boil the bone down and will contemplate what kind of soup to make.

And the ham inspector was fully engaged in the breaking down process.

Is that Seren?  If so, she's (??) a good looking pal.  I haven't ever seen her photo before.

[K Frame]

Yes, that's my incredible girl Seren.

That picture was of her fulfilling her duty as ham inspector at Thanksgiving dinner. She was lying so close to me that we were practically wearing the same pair of socks.

[JTHunter]

Yes, that's my incredible girl Seren.

That picture was of her fulfilling her duty as ham inspector at Thanksgiving dinner. She was lying so close to me that we were practically wearing the same pair of socks.

  I'll bet she was !!  And that "expectant" look on her face - - .  She waiting for you to "slip up" and drop something.  Of course, it would not have reached the floor ! 
BTW, how is she doing? 

[zxcvbob]

My dogs were underfoot the whole times I was in the kitchen breaking up the roast turkey, making stock, etc.  (they got plenty of tidbits; they are good girls)

I have a pound or so of boiled turkey meat and skins and small bones from making stock.  I'm trying to figure out how best to make dog treats out of it.  (the meat remarkably still has a little flavor to it after being boiled twice; I made one serving of turkey salad with it yesterday)  I'm thinking maybe grind it all up skin and bones and all in the Vitamix, then mix with whole wheat flour and maybe an egg to make a stiff dough, and bake into thick crackers?

[K Frame]

Yesterday I made the ham and cabbage soup.

I froze half the batch of ham stock and cut the remainder with an equal amount of water. I normally don't do that, but this stuff was so rich that it was the right move. I would have used a container of chicken stock from the store but... I was out. I used the last of it and forgot to get more. Sigh.

Sweated a couple of ribs of celery, a yellow onion, and a shallot along with salt and black pepper and some dried thyme and Italian seasoning blend, then into the stock along with a 1 pound bag of baby carrots, half a medium head of cabbage in about a 3/4" chop, and about a pound of reserved ham (Seren inspected, of course).

Brought it to a boil, then let it simmer/slow boil for about 30 minutes.

During that time I mixed up a batch of potato drop dumplings.

1 cup of left over mashed potatoes, about 3/4 cup AP flour, about 1.5 t baking powder, and an egg. Mixed that all together well into a dough then formed into 12 roughly 1 ounce balls.

Let those dry on the counter while the soup simmered.

Once dumplings were dry (I could have left them dry a bit longer, another 30 minutes to an hour) I brought the soup back to a rolling boil, dropped the dumplings, threw a lid on it and let it go for 15 minutes (reduced the heat to bring it back to a low boil).

Absolutely perfect. The dumplings firmed up beautifully.

Even more important, they puffed up wonderfully. Then went in around the diameter of a quarter and came out golf ball diameter. I was worried about that because, when I pulled it out of the freezer, my baking powder had expired nearly 8 years ago. 2016. But it was still active (keeping it in the freezer makes a HUGE difference on how long it lasts).

Best of all... it was one hell of a bowl of soup. One of the best I've ever made, and perfect served with pumpernickel bread.

[K Frame]

As for Seren...

She's still in remission. She's doing brilliantly with that. Two more treatments left in this chemo cycle.

But...

Her control and stability of her hind quarters is getting worse. She's falling more. She doesn't have full control of her rear feet when she's picking them up and putting them down. I'm having to lift her into bed and into the car if she's not using her steps, and about half the time I have to help her into the car even when she is using her steps.

I think the mobility issues are going to get her before the lymphoma does.

But until I'm forced to make a decision on that, I'm going to give her the best life possible, to the point where I'm seriously considering moving downstairs so that she doesn't have to climb steps.

[K Frame]

And what do you mean that you've never seen Seren's picture before?

Her picture has been my profile avatar for years.

[JTHunter]

And what do you mean that you've never seen Seren's picture before?

Her picture has been my profile avatar for years.

But that picture is too small to clearly see how pretty her face is, even after enlargement.
What is she? A Golden?  Or a golden mix?

[K Frame]

She's a pure breed Leonberger.

[JTHunter]

She's a pure breed Leonberger.

Hhmm?  Never heard of that one before.  Going to look it up.  THX.

[K Frame]

Don't know how you've missed me talking about Leonbergers.

I've done so almost constantly when the topic is dogs. Or even when the subject isn't dogs, like threads about soup.

Seren is my second Leo.

Another member here, Castle Key (a good friend and Seren's breeder), has three Leos. His first Leo was Seren's father, and one of his females was Seren's mother.

Leos are absolutely magnificent dogs on so many levels.