Cream Cheese Chicken Soup

1 small Onion, chopped (or you can use minced onion)
2 Tbsp. Butter or Margarine
3 cups Chicken Broth
3 med. Carrots, sliced
2 med. Potatoes, peeled and cubed (of course we just keep cutting until it looks like enough for all who are eating it)
2 cups cubed cooked Chicken (We use a whole pkg.)
2 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley or equivalent amount dried Parsley
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
1 cup Milk
1 (8 oz.) pkg. Cream Cheese, cubed

In a large saucepan, saute the onion in butter. Add broth, carrots & potatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover & simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add chicken, parsley, salt & pepper; heat through. Combine flour & milk until smooth; add to the vegetable mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes, or until thickened. Reduce heat. Add cream cheese; cook & stir until melted.
Yield: 8 servings.
Like I said we usually make a big batch, so we add more then they say!
This is one of my family's favorite recipes! It is Delicious!!!

Not Quick - Chicken Asparagus Soup

Ok, this one is Not Quick. If a recipe is not quick it has to be reallllllly good for me to keep it. And this one is. I usually make the broth and soup base the day before and the soup the next day since it's time consuming.

2 lbs fresh asparagus; 2 large potatoes, peeled or not and diced; 1 lg onion, chopped; 2 T dried parsley; 2 garlic cloves, minced; 2 T vegetable oil; 3.5 C (2 cans) chicken broth; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp. pepper; 1 bay leaf; 2 C cubed cooked chicken; 2 C half and half, Parmesan cheese 

Make broth - Cut tips off asparagus, set aside. Cover stalks with water in large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 40 min. Strain, reserve 4 C of cooking liquid. Discard stalks.

Make soup base - In dutch oven, saute potatoes, onion, parsley and garlic in oil til vegetables are tender. Stir in broth, salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, asparagus water, and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce , simmer uncovered 30 min. Discard bay leaf, cool slightly. In blender, a little at a time, puree soup.

Make soup - In soup kettle or dutch oven, put soup base, chicken, half and half, and asparagus spears. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 5 min. or until spears are tender. Sprinkle with Parmesan.

Garlic Broth

I will never have plain chicken stock when I am sick again - This is awesome broth.

8 c. chicken stock

3 Tbs. minced garlic or more

2 Tbs. olive oil (either saute fresh garlic in this or just put in a glug :)

½ tsp. paprika 

Sprinkle in a generous helping of parsley, then a bit of  thyme, oregano, and basil

salt and ground black pepper to taste

 

Bring everything to a boil, then simmer 30 minutes. YUM.

Chunky Potato Soup

This may not be easy and quick, but when I thought I'd lost this recipe, I went into despair--I love this soup.
Original found here. Though I've changed it up.



My version:

• 3 medium potatoes
• 2 cups water
• 1 small onion
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 6-7 Caraway seeds
• Cayenne to taste
• Ground black pepper to taste
• Salt to taste
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup shredded white cheeses
• 1 cup cubed cooked smoked sausage

Peel potatoes and cut into 1-inch cubes.

Bring water to a boil in large saucepan. Add potatoes and cook until tender. Drain, reserving liquid. Set aside potatoes. Measure 1 cup cooking liquid, adding water, if necessary; set aside.

Peel and finely chop onion. Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion to saucepan; cook, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and tender, but not brown.

Add flour to saucepan; season with  seasonings. Cook 3 to 4 minutes.

Gradually add potatoes, reserved 1 cup cooking liquid, milk and sugar to onion mixture in saucepan; stir well. Add cheese and ham. Simmer over low heat 30 minutes, stirring frequently.

Italian Peasant Soup

This one takes a lot of chopping, but after that it's fast. Makes a ton, I often serve this for gatherings, but I freeze serving sizes in ziplocs when we make it for ourselves.

1 lb. sausage links, cut in 1" pieces

1 lb. cubed cooked chicken

1 large or 2 med. onions, chopped

6 large garlic cloves, minced (I use equivalent of preminced garlic from jar)

2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

2 cans (3.5 cups) chicken broth

1 tsp. basil

1 tsp. oregano

6 handfuls of fresh spinach (small bag or half of a large bag), chopped

grated parmesan

In skillet/cast iron preferred over med. heat, cook sausage til no longer pink, transfer to large dutch oven/pot. Cook onions (& garlic if you're using fresh garlic) in skillet til tender, transfer to pot. Cook chicken if uncooked til no longer pink, transfer to pot. Add broth, beans, tomatoes, basil and oregano (& garlic if using preminced). Cook uncovered 10 min. Add spinach and heat just til wilted. Sprinkle with parmesan.

Even finicky kids eat it - just don't tell them ahead of time there is spinach! I get raves over this soup all the time and often lots of people go back for seconds.

Vegetable and Fish Soup

I like this soup because it is fast and can easily be adapted to use leftovers.

4 fillets of fish (I generally use tilapia)
black pepper
1 T olive oil
2 cups of fresh vegetables thinly sliced (if I don't have some kind of garden leftovers, I use frozen peas and carrots)
14 oz can (OR 2 cups) vegetable or chicken broth
2 1/4 cup water (OR 2 cups if you use 2 cups broth)
leftover mashed potatoes  (I'm sure potato flakes, salt and butter would work too)
salt, saltines or parmesan

Put oil and fish in deep sided skillet or dutch oven.
Pepper to taste.
(If you have fresh veggies, chop and add to fish in skillet.)
Over medium heat, cook for 3 minutes, break fish apart into bit size pieces with spatula.
Add broth and water. (If you have frozen veggies, add now)
Bring to a boil,
Reduce heat, simmer, covered, for 3 minutes or until fish flakes when tested with fork.
Throw in mashed potatoes (the more potatoes, the creamier the broth) or throw in the amount of flakes, and butter to make about 2 servings of potatoes and stir until dissolved.
Now, I either salt to taste, or
I like to throw in parmesan to taste but hubby hates parmesan, so he crumbles in saltines if he wants more than just the salt.

About 20 minutes 4 servings.

Creamy Tortilla Soup

I had extra turkey leftovers from the holidays. (Who doesn't have leftovers?) After a few sandwiches, I was down to the dregs, maybe a cup of shredded turkey. So, Leftover Tortilla Soup was in order.

Quick Easy Creamy Tortilla Soup (Less than 15 minutes)

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can tomatoes and chilies (Or a substitute for tomatoes and chilies is 1 cup salsa if you do not have this on hand)
1 can refried beans
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 to 1 cup corn (frozen, fresh, canned, whatever)
1 lb cooked chicken or turkey (or whatever you got left!)
shredded cheese
tortilla chips

Stir tomatoes, salsa, beans, broth and corn in a large pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and add meat until heated through. Ladle into bowls and top with cheese and crushed tortilla chips to liking.

I ladle serving sizes into freezer bags and freeze for later since this makes too much for my family to eat in one sitting.

Pull out of the freezer, place it in a sink of hot water to soften enough to get it out of the bag and zap it in the microwave.