Creamy Turkey & Wild Rice Soup

This soup is so delicious that Bruce was moved to tears the first time I made it. I’m not making this up.

CREAMY TURKEY & WILD RICE SOUP

1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 ½ cups thinly sliced celery
1 ½ cups sliced carrots
½ cup finely chopped shallots
¼ tsp. thyme
10 cups chicken broth
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. freshly ground pepper
⅔ cup wild rice
24 oz. turkey breast, cut in bite-size pieces or about 2 cups diced, cooked turkey
⅔ cup butter, melted
¾ cup flour
1 cup sour cream
2 cups milk
4 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in a large stockpot.
Add mushrooms, celery, carrots, shallots and thyme; cook, covered and stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened—about 5 minutes.
Add chicken broth, salt, pepper and wild rice; bring to a boil.
Add the raw turkey pieces. [If you're using cooked turkey, add it when you add the sour cream.]

Lower heat to simmer, half-covered, for 45 minutes; stir occasionally.
In a small bowl, mix the melted butter with the flour. Add to hot soup, whisking until soup begins to thicken.
Add sour cream and milk; stir out any sour cream lumps.
Remove from heat and sprinkle chopped parsley on top.
Serve with sourdough bread. So delicious!

Salmon-Noodle Soup

Sounds weird, huh? But it's pretty darn good and way easy to make. It's good with shrimp too—I mean, instead of the salmon; or I suppose you could use chicken. But I really like the salmon in it. Yum!

SALMON-NOODLE SOUP

6 cups water
1 tsp. salt
1 pkg. Oriental-flavor Ramen noodles
1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 celery rib, thinly sliced

10 oz. cooked salmon, broken into small pieces [you can use canned salmon, if you'd like]

Oor 3/4 lb. medium-size raw green shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 cups diagonally-sliced carrots

2 cups snow peas or sugar-snap peas

4 green onions, sliced [use the green and white parts]

1 tsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger

1 medium garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

soy sauce (optional)

Make sure all your veggies are peeled, chopped, sliced, and grated ahead of time—this cooks fast!

Bring water and salt to boil in a medium-large-ish size pot.
Add the noodles, but NOT the seasoning packet. Also add the broccoli and celery at this time and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the salmon or shrimp (or some of both, if you want). And add the carrots, peas, green onions, ginger, garlic clove, sesame oil, and now the seasoning packet, too. Cook for 1 minute.
Stir in a dash or two of soy sauce, if desired.
Serve immediately.

Yum-yum!

Cheddar Chowder

I suppose if I'm going to gripe about whether or not people read this blog, then I ought to at least post something to read once in a while. So here's a recipe that's a family favorite--I mean everyone in my family likes it!
No, I take that back. Kaylie refuses to eat anything that's called "soup" (or anything like unto it). But I bet she'd like it if she'd actually taste it. :-)

CHEDDAR CHOWDER

1/4 cup finely diced onion
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup sliced carrots
2 cups diced potatoes
water
chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 cup melted butter
1/3 cup flour
2-3 cups milk
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (sometimes I throw in a pinch of pepper-jack, just for kicks)
1 cup diced ham

Put onions, celery, carrots and potatoes into a big soup pot. Measure in enough water just to cover the veggies (probably 3-4 cups). Add one bouillon cube per cup of water you've put in. [Oh no! Did you forget to MEASURE the water? :) ] Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer until carrots are tender.
In a small bowl, mix the melted butter and flour. Add to the soup and mix in thoroughly. Then add the milk and stir until smooth [well, actually it's kind of chunky because of the vegetables; oh well]. Add cheese and ham and stir until cheese is completely melted. Serve right away. Preferably with hot bread--in fact, this soup is just the right kind to put into bread bowls--Yum!

Fish Soup

Well, this recipe was originally called "Pacific Stew Pot," which sounds a lot nicer. But in our house it just evolved into "Fish Soup."

If you're not a seafood lover, skip over this one. But if you do like seafood, then this is delectable. Not only that, but it has no added fat, it probably does have those fabulous omega-3 fatty acids (from the fish) that you're always hearing about, and it fits into most diets--including low-carb diets. And it's soup! Can't get much better than that! ;-)

FISH SOUP

1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 cup water
1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. Tabasco sauce
1 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. curry powder
1 cup water
*1/2 lb. white fish (like cod, tilapia or roughy), cut into bite-size pieces
*1/2 lb. medium (raw) shrimp, peeled
*1/3 lb. scallops (bay scallops, or you can get sea scallops and cut them into bite-size pieces)

*You could substitute any seafood you like, I'd imagine. Or skip some that you don't like and add something else. You could be daring and add octopus, or squid, or frog's legs, I suppose. That's the fun of cooking. :-)

Bring the onion and celery and 1 cup water to a boil; simmer for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, ketchup, Tabasco, Worcestershire, salt, curry powder and remaining 1 cup water. Bring to a boil; simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Add seafood and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until seafood is cooked through. [Don't overcook the seafood or it will be tough. Yuck!]

I like to serve this soup over a scoop of hot rice. But I suppose that would blow the low-carb thing, wouldn't it?

Savory Shell Soup

This cooler weather means it's soup time again! Yea!! Well actually I eat soup all year round, even in the hottest weather because I love soup. It's easy to make, it's delicious and it tastes even better as left-overs. What's not to love? And this recipe is a favorite of all my kids—which even makes it more lovable.

SAVORY SHELL SOUP

1 lb. beef, cut into bite-size pieces (DON'T use hamburger! Yuck!)
1-2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 Tbsp. marjoram
1 celery rib, sliced
6 cubes or 6 tsp. beef bouillon
10 cups water
2 medium potatoes, diced
2-3 carrots, sliced
2 1/4 cups shell pasta, uncooked

In a 5-quart pot, heat the olive oil; add the meat and cook over medium-high heat until browned. Sprinkle the salt, pepper and marjoram over the meat and stir. Pour the water over the mixture and bring to a boil. Add the bouillon to the soup and stir until dissolved. Add the celery; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Adjust the heat to bring soup back to a full boil. Add potatoes, carrots and shells and cook over medium-high heat until pasta is completely cooked and veggies are tender.

Serve with fresh, hot bread. Mmm-mmm good!

Gazpacho

I first tried out Gazpacho on my honeymoon. NO, it's not anything kinky! What kind of a blog do you think this is?

Gazpacho is a Spanish, cold tomato soup. I learned about it in 7th-grade Spanish class; but I really did not try it until I was at a nice restaurant, on my honeymoon. It is delicious! And it's the perfect recipe for this time of year when the ripe tomatoes are abundant!

Unfortunately it is one of those recipes where I don't really have exact measurements of the ingredients. But you'll figure it out. ;-)

GAZPACHO

*3-6 slices of French bread [shouldn't it be Spanish bread?]
*2-3 lbs. ripe tomatoes, peeled and diced
*1 red onion, peeled and diced
*1-2 cucumbers, peeled and diced
*1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced or 1 mild chili pepper, diced or a combination of bell pepper and a mild chili
olive oil
red wine vinegar, to taste [well really the whole recipe is "to taste"]
salt and pepper, to taste
garlic, to taste (optional)

[The honeymoon gazpacho also had some medium-size shrimp in it. Mmmmm!]

* Don't forget--these are not exact amounts; you just make this soup to taste!

Remove and discard the crusts form the bread; tear bread into chunks. Place the bread pieces into a large bowl and soak in water--just enough to make the bread a little soggy, but without leaving it in standing water. [I know, this sounds weird. Just trust me.] Add tomatoes, onion, cucumber and peppers. Puree in blender until homogenous--or use your magic wand [hand-blender--every kitchen should have one!]. Drizzle mixture with olive oil and add vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic to taste; stir well. Chill until ready to serve.

This makes a nice, cool appetizer or side-dish. It is very pretty with some of the diced veggies and a sprig of parsley or cilantro for garnish. :)