Market Power

Quick and Easy Tomato Soup

It's winter here in Mankato, which means it's comfort food time here at the Pub and Grub*.  Yes, this early part of the season has been unusually mild here in southern Minnesota, but it still gets dark soon after 5 PM.  So even with the relatively warm temps, it's comfort food time at my house.

Then again, when is it not comfort food time?  But I digress.

Today for lunch I'm having a grilled cheese sandwich (homemade potato bread with Muenster and American cheese) and a tomato soup that I whupped up from scratch a year or so ago.  Here is the recipe.

Ingredients for 5-6 servings

• 1 28 ounce can of tomato puree
• 1 14.5 ounce can of chicken broth
• 1 chicken bullion cube
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 cup of butter

Directions

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, stir the tomato puree and chicken broth together until well-mixed.  Add bullion cube and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Add salt and sugar and stir in.  Add butter and stir until melted.  

That's all there is to it.  The prep time is trivial, so your soup is ready to serve in about 12-15 minutes.

*Since I brew my own beer and I do about 80 - 90% of the cooking in my household, I've taken to calling my kitchen the Pub and Grub.

Update:  edited for typos.

Ham and Bean Soup

We had a Christmas ham at the Miller household and needed a recipe for leftover ham.  I chose this Ham and Bean soup at Allrecipes.com that turned out wonderfully.  

I used a mixture of pinto, red kidney, and great northern beans because that's what I had on hand.  I made some veggie stock from scratch using this recipe* and I used some chicken stock I had made and canned a month or so ago.  I substituted two pints of tomatoes I had canned this past summer in place of the diced tomatoes and the low sodium veggie juice.  I also used some homemade yellow mustard since I had no Dijon mustard on hand.  I also added no salt since the soup was salty enough via the ham.  Lastly, I added a quarter cup of butter to the soup to add richness and flavor.

*I didn't have any peppers of turnips on hand, so I left those out of the veggie broth I made.  I added a few frozen beans, peas, and corn as well to the stock in step 4.  

Turkey Soup

I'm making this turkey soup with the rest of the leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.  I followed the recipe but added two teaspoons of salt, 6 bullion cubes (I didn't have the granular bullion), and I used 1 cup of whipping cream and a cup of 2% milk instead of 2 cups of half-and-half (I had none).  I also sauteed the carrots, onion, and celery in about 1/2 cup of butter.  If you make it, make sure to stir the final mixture occasionally while it is simmering.  Otherwise it will scorch.

It has a rich flavor and will be an excellent soup - great for a winter evening.

Make it any thicker and you've got a turkey pot pie filling - a lot of turkey pot pie filling..

Phili's Chili

Many moons ago, Doc asked me to post my recipe for chili.  I've been pretty generous with my recipes here on this blog, but I couldn't part with the intellectual property that is my chili recipe.

Yes, I actually own a piece or two of intellectual property.  But I digress.

Here, after all these moons, is Phili's Phamous Chili recipe.  As usual, t = teaspoon and T = tablespoon

Spices*:

• 1/3 cup chili powder
• 1 t salt
• 1/2 t cumin
• 1/2 t black pepper
• 1/2 t paprika
• 1/2 t ground mustard
• 1/4 t crushed red pepper
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1/4 t sage
• 1/4 t garlic powder

Other ingredients:

• 2.5 quarts of canned fresh tomatoes (I've never used store-bought canned tomatoes for this recipe)
• 1 pound of ground beef
• 1/8 cup vinegar
• One pound of dry pinto beans, washed and cooked
• 1 cup of diced fresh onion

I combine the tomatoes and the spices into a large pot and stir until the spices are dissolved.  Then I add the beans, the vinegar, and the onion.  Lastly, I add the raw ground beef directly to the chili.  I put the chili over medium heat, cover, and cook for about an hour (long enough to cook the meat), stirring occasionally.

The result is a medium to mild chili that has always been a hit at parties and tailgates.  Even my wife, who is not too fond of spicy food, loves it.  Not only is it good as a bowl of chili per-se, but the leftovers are great for chili dogs.

When I've felt spicy, I've added cayenne pepper sauce, fresh hot peppers (cayennes, for example), or tabasco sauce to make the chili hotter.  But, usually, I just go with the recipe as given above.

*I make this recipe so often that I have made a big container of the chili spice mix listed above.  Nowadays I just add 1/3 heaping cup of my chili mix to the other ingredients.

Chicken Noodle Soup

This recipe only uses the seasoning in bouillion cubes and on the Schwann's vegetables, but it makes a delicious meal.  It's also one of the easiest-to-prepare soups that I make.

1. 5 quarts of water
2. One whole chicken, cut up
3. 2 celery stalks, cut
4. 4 oz carrot slices
5. 1 slice of whole onion, cut
6. 8-10 peppercorns
7. 18 chicken bouillion cubs
8. 1/4 package Schwann's Fire Roasted Veggies (you can substitute celery, cut red peppers, and carrots)
9. 1/2 c mixed veggies
10. 5 oz wide egg noodles

Bring 1 to a boil.  Add 2-6 and cook for 2.5 hours.  After 2.5 hours, strain out the broth, cut the chicken meat from the bones, and and take out 3-6.  Pull all the meat off of the chicken and add to the broth.  Add 7-9 to the broth, bring to a boil, and cook for 15".  Add 10 and cook 5-7 minutes.  Serve with fresh bread (if y'all got it).

Process:  Add bouillion to water.  Bring to boil.  Add chicken.  Cook thoroughly.  Skim off fat.  Skim out 3-6 and cut chicken from the bones.  Add veggies.  Cook for one hour.  Add egg noodles for chicken noodle soup.

Vegetable Soup - I

I made this for my family a few weeks ago. 

1. 3Q Beef Stock
   1. 3Q Water
   2. 2 pounds of soup beef
   3. 20 beef boullion cubes
2. 28 oz Hunts Crushed Tomatoes
3. 1.5 t basil
4. 0.5 t oregano
5. 1 package frozen stew vegetables
6. 1/2 package frozen green beans
7. Olive oil

Cook 5 and 6 in 7 until tender.  Bring1-4 to a boil in the meantime.  Add cooked vegetables to stock and cook for approximately 30 minutes.  It's a very easy recipe that results in a great soup.

Potato - Garlic Soup

I'll probably see the man downstairs for this, but I desecrated my mother in-law's potato soup recipe by making it a soup fit for an Italian mafia don, or something. 

Ingredients:

1. 4T butter
2. 4T flour
3. 2t garlic, minced
4. 1t onion, minced
5. 6T olive oil
6. 2c chicken broth
7. 3/4 # Italian sausage*
8. 6c milk
9. 3/4 t salt
10. 3 sliced russet potatoes
11. Italian seasoning, freshly ground
12. Leaks, washed and cut to preference

Cook Italian sausage in olive oil.   Add in garlic and onion until fragrant.  Add to the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Cover and simmer while you do the next step.

Warm milk in microwave for one minute.  In a separate soup pan, melt butter, add flour, and blend.  Add the warm milk and salt and cook until slightly thick, stirring constantly.  Warming the milk before this step keeps the butter-flour mixture from hardening up when added to the warm milk.  Mix in with the chicken broth blend and cook for 5". 

Deep fry thinly-sliced potatoes in 375 degree vegetable oil for 45", just enough to toughen them up so you don't get mashed-potato soup.  Add potatoes to the soup, cook for 5" on low. 

Season with pepper and freshly ground Italian seasoning** and serve with parsley flakes and leaks. Makes 12 servings.

The PowerWife and I put down 7-8 servings this evening with a t-bone steak meal cooked medium over lump charcoal.  Very tasty!

*I used links which I cut into 1/2" wide circles when originally making this soup, but I've also used ground Italian sausage in later iterations of this recipe.

**I used seasoning from a McCormick Italian Seasoning Grinder containing rosemary,black pepper, red pepper, garlic, onion, sea salt, tomato, and parsley.

Potato Soup

Ingredients

1. 4T butter
2. 4T flour
3. 6c milk
4. 3/4 t salt
5. 3 sliced russet potatoes

Melt butter in soup pan, add flour and blend.  Add mil and salt.  Cook until slightly thick, stirring constantly.  Cook potatoes in 375 degree vegetable oil for 45".  Add potatoes to the soup, cook for 5" on low.  Season with pepper and serve with parsley flakes and serve. Makes 12 servings

Vegetable Beef Soup - II

1. Beef Stock
   
   • 3Q Water
   • 2 pounds of soup beef
   • 18 beef boullion cubes
   • 1c white onion
   • 2 stalks of celery, cut into slices
2. 1qt canned* tomatoes
3. 1.5 t basil
4. 0.5 t oregano
5. 3c Schwanns Fire Roasted vegetable blend (Mediterranean vegetable blend also works well)
6. 3c frozen mixed vegetables (1/2 package of stew vegetables also work)
7. 1/2 package frozen green beans
8. Bay leaf
9. Pesto - 1.5t
10. Red wine - 1T

Bring1-4 to a boil for 20".  Then add 5-10 and cook for an additional 30 minutes.  It's a very easy recipe that results in a great soup.

*I can my own tomatoes each fall.  As a substitute, you can add 28oz of crushed tomatoes (such as Hunts brand).