5 ingredient Cauliflower Soup

Having two little ones under two I need quick, easy lunch ideas. On this particular day, I had half a head of cauliflower left in the fridge. Aiden was having hot dogs (I don't like them, but sometimes I give them to him so he can enjoy being a kid!). I decided to make up a quick bowl of soup for myself. Super easy, and only 5 ingredients!!!




Ingredients: 

• Half a head of cauliflower, cut into small chunks
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• Approximately 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup cream
• Feta (optional)

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, saute onions for 3 minutes. Add cauliflower and add enough chicken broth to just cover. Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes until cauliflower is tender.
2. With an immersion blender, slightly blend up (I like mine a little chunky...not so pureed)
3. Add cream and heat through
4. Serve and top with feta, salt and pepper!

Beef, Rice and Vegetable Soup

Winter has finally decided to make an appearance. The past two days it has been damp and cold with snow and freezing rain. So the obvious choice for dinner was soup. It was somewhat of a "clean the fridge" soup. We had soup bones and stewing beef in the freezer so it had to be beef something.

I boiled down the bones in 4 cups of water with an onion and Epicure Beef Bouillon Base (if you read my blog you know how big a fan I am of the Epicure Chicken Bouillon Base. When I went to restock, I decided to buy the beef and give it a try. It was really good as well!). I then strained the broth and used it in my soup. But if you don't want to do this to make a broth, you can use 4 cups of a store bought broth.


Making Broth



Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 pound stewing beef, in small chunks
• 1 leek, thinly slice everything but the dark green leaves
• 3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• 1 cup chopped baby carrots
• 1 cup fresh sliced mushrooms

  

  
• 4 cups beef broth (made as above or store bought)
• 3/4 cup rice, uncooked

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, cook beef in water over medium heat for 10 minutes.
2. Add in the leek, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Cook for an additional 10 minutes.
3. Stir in broth and simmer on low heat for at least an hour.
4. 20 minutes or so before serving, add in rice.

Broccoli Soup

Someone requested I make broccoli soup, so of course I had to take her up on it! This recipe was adapted from The Joy of Cooking. I thought it was really good, although I wish it was a little creamier. Next time I will probably use heavy cream instead of half and half, or I might cut back on the broth (by 1/2 or 1 cup). Here is the recipe I used tonight.

And if you have any recipes you want me to investigate and try I would love to!! I am always looking for new ideas :) Just leave a comment - I love hearing from you!! Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1.5 pound broccoli crowns, cut in small pieces (about 4 cups)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 4 cups chicken broth (As always I use the Epicure stuff - it is amazing...I should take up selling the stuff!)
• 1 cup half and half
• Salt and Pepper
• Shredded cheddar cheese to garnish

Directions:

1. In a large saucepan, heat butter over medium heat.
2. Add onions and cook until tender. Add broccoli and cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
3. Mix in flour and turn to high heat. Slowly add in broth and bring to a boil.
4. Simmer over medium low heat until broccoli is tender about 15 minutes.
5. Process in a food processor or with an immersion blender until smooth. Transfer back to pot and add cream, salt and pepper.
6. Garnish with cheese. (I also put about 1/4 cup of cheese in the soup before serving)

Mushroom Soup

I have been on a soup kick lately. I *love* mushrooms! So this week I made mushroom soup, it was delicious! I didn’t really use a recipe, but I did somewhat follow the potato soup I made recently (for the base). I enjoyed this soup with a bacon, cheese and mustard sandwich.

Ingredients:

-          2 tbsp butter

-          2 packages of fresh sliced mushrooms (I used white mushrooms and cremini mushrooms)

-          1 large onion, finely chopped

-          Salt and pepper

-          2 cups beef broth

-          2 cups 1% milk, divided

-          3 tbsp flour

-          ½ cup 1% sour cream

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan on medium-high heat
2. Add mushrooms, onion, salt and pepper. Sauté for approximately 10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender
3. Add broth and bring to a boil
4. Mix flour and ½ cup milk and add to soup, bring to a boil
5. Add remaining milk and sour cream

Potato Soup

It is starting to get chilly here, which means nice, warm comfort dishes. I found a recipe for potato soup on Pinterest. I am very new to Pinterest, a friend from work suggested I join, and I am happy I did! There are a lot of great things on there! I am really happy with this recipe, it is super easy to make, and surprisingly there is no heavy cream which means relatively healthy…right!

Ingredients:

-          5 red potatoes

-          2 tbsp olive oil

-          1 onion, chopped

-          1¼ cup chicken broth

-          3 tbsp flour

-          2 cups 1% milk, divided

-          ¼ cup 1% sour cream

-          ½ tsp salt

-          ¼ tsp ground black pepper

-          6 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

-          Shredded cheddar cheese

-          Green onions, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Pierce potatoes with a fork and microwave for 13 minutes or until tender. Cut in half and cool slightly.
2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and sauté for 3 minutes. Add broth.
3. Whisk flour and ½ cup milk in measuring cup. Add to pan, followed by remaining milk. Bring to a boil while stirring often. Cook for 1 minute.
4. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream, salt and pepper.
5. Scoop potato into soup and discard skins. Using a potato masher, mash coarsely and add bacon.
6. Ladle into soup bowls and top with cheese and green onions.

French Onion Soup

Earlier this year I had French Onion soup for the first time. It was amazing!! I really enjoyed sitting at William’s Coffee Pub waiting for my husband’s uncle and cousins to get back from Alberta (I work near the airport so I am sometimes a taxi!) indulging in a delicious bowl! I then had it again while I was shopping with a friend.

Shawn had never tried it before so I decided to make it for him. I loved it!! He liked it, but I think he prefers a dinner with more mass! It is more of a lunch thing for him (with grill cheese of course!).

Ingredients:

-          2 tbsp oil

-          2 tbsp butter

-          5 onions, thinly sliced

-          1 tsp each of dried thyme, salt and pepper

-          ½ cup sherry

-          1 bay leaf

-          6 cups beef broth

-          8 1” slices from a baguette, toasted

-          Shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:

1. In a soup pot, heat butter and oil over medium heat
2. Add onions, thyme, salt and pepper; cook until onions are a caramel colour stirring occasionally
3. Add bay leaf and sherry to deglaze
4. Once deglazed, add broth and bring to a bowl
5. Ladle soup into oven safe bowls, float baguette slices and top with cheese
6. Put bowls on a cookie sheet and broil until cheese is melted

Creamy Tomato Soup

It has been raining for the past few days, so I decided to make a nice pot of soup and homemade bread. I had a bag of frozen tomatoes from our garden (from last year!), and thought this was the perfect opportunity to use them up.

The soup turned out really well! (My mom came over for a visit so I gave her a bowl and she loved it!) As usual, I combined a few recipes to make something of my own. Enjoy :)

Ingredients:

-          2 tbsp butter

-          1 onion, chopped

-          2 cloves of garlic, minced

-          3 tbsp flour

-          About 2 pounds of skinned whole tomatoes (or 2 14oz cans)

-          ½ tsp baking soda

-          1½ cups chicken broth (I use the epicure spice to make my own)

-          Coarse salt and pepper (½ - 1 tbsp each)

-          1 cup 18% cream

Directions:

1. In a large pot, melt butter and add onion and garlic, stirring for about 3 minutes until tender
2. Stir in flour
3. Add tomatoes, baking soda, broth, salt and pepper
4. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for 10 minutes
5. In a food processor, process mixture (in batches) and return to pot (I put each processed batch in a large bowl until all soup was processed, and then returned to pot)
6. Stir in cream and simmer for 10 minutes
7. Serve with bread

Hearty Chicken Noodle Soup

Last night we had a roasted chicken. I love using the leftovers to make stew, soup or pot pie. Today I decided to make soup. It is freezing out and soup sounded fabulous!

Last year my friend had an Epicure party where I bought a few of their products. For my stock I used their Chicken Bouillon Base, as well as 900mL of Campbell’s Chicken Stock. I find the Epicure bouillon is amazing, but you can use any kind of bouillon. I added the Campbell’s stock just to make more (without using all my Epicure base!)

Ingredients:

-          2 or 3 cups of cooked chicken (in small pieces)

-          8 cups of water

-          8 tsp of Bouillon base

-          900mL Campbell’s stock

-          1 onion, chopped

-          2 cups carrots, sliced

-          1 tbsp each of basil and parsley

-          Ground pepper to taste

-          3 cups cooked noodles (I use the No Yolks noodles)

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot add all ingredients except noodles
2. Simmer for 2-3 hours
3. 30 minutes before serving add noodles
4. Top with parmesan cheese!

**We had the soup with my previously posted bread**

ENJOY!!!