Potato Leek Soup

Winter has finally shown it's frosty face here in Philadelphia and I'm desperately digging out all my comfort food recipes, pulling my blinds shut and hunkering down under a blanket.  To be honest, all I really want is a big down comforter, Harry Potter (yes, I know those books are old news and I've already read them 7 times) and a big bowl of steamy soup.  My new favorite?

Potato Leek.

I've taken snippets from several recipes and made it my own.  It's delish.  I highly recommend.
PS - if you want a word document of this, email me..

Dani's Potato Leek Soup

Ingredients
1lb Leeks - cleaned and dark green parts removed
2 slices thick cut bacon - chopped
4 TBSP unsalted butter
4 small Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and diced small
3 small Yukon gold potatoes, diced into "bite-size soup pieces" (peel if you want)
1 quart chicken broth (or vegetable)
1 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp white pepper
Snipped Chives - for garnishing
Finely Shredded Sharp Cheddar - for garnishing

Directions
1. Using a sharp knife, halve the white part of the leek lengthwise and rinse well under cold running water to get rid of any sand. Slice thinly and set aside.

2. In a 6-quart saucepan over medium heat, melt 3TBSP butter. Add the leeks and a heavy pinch of salt and sweat for 5 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium-low and cook until the leeks are tender, 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. - They should have cooked down quite a bit and be a golden color. (and smell amazing)

3. While the leeks are cooking, add 1TBSP butter to frying pan and add the chopped bacon.  Cook until crispy.  - (You could probably just fry the bacon and then chop it... whatever works best)

4. Back to the soup - after the leeks have cooked 25 minutes, add the 4 diced, peeled, potatoes and 1quart broth, increase the heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and gently simmer until the potatoes are soft, 45 minutes.

5. Turn off the heat and puree the soup mixture with an immersion blender until smooth. (If you don't have an immersion blender, pour small batches of the soup into a regular blender and return to pot)

6. Add the 3 remaining potatoes and cook in soup (on medium low) until potatoes are fork tender.*** About another 30-40 minutes.

7. Stir in the heavy cream, and white pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning if desired.

8. Sprinkle with chives, cheese and crispy bacon pieces

9. Serve immediately with a thick, crusty piece of garlic bread


*** If you want to cut down on cooking time you can boil the 3 diced potatoes ahead of time and add them but I think they taste better if they're cooked in the soup!

Slow Cooker Chili

This recipe was quick and easy. It turned out really flavorful, and thick-which I love. Must top with sour cream, too. It was taken from www.kraftfoods.com

INGREDIENTS:

1-1/2 lb. lean ground beef
1 can (15 oz.) dark red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) light red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
1-1/2 cups TACO BELL® HOME ORIGINALS® Thick 'N Chunky Mild Salsa
1 can (16 oz.) no-salt added tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen corn, thawed, drained
1 cup KRAFT Mexican Style Shredded Four Cheese

DIRECTIONS:

BROWN meat; drain. Add to slow cooker with remaining ingredients except cheese; stir. Cover with lid.
COOK on LOW for 5 to 6 hours (or on HIGH for 3 to 4 hours).
STIR just before serving. Serve topped with the cheese.

**I cooked the beef and the onion together. I also added in one clove of garlic to the beef and onion.

Taco Soup

This is probably one of the easiest soup recipes I know.

Ingredients
1 can corn
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can olives
1/2 lb. ground beef
(Beans and other ingredients could be added too)

Seasoning:
1 T. Chili powder
1/4 t. oregano
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/4 t. onion powder
1/2 t. paprika
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper

1. Brown hamburger and drain.
2. In a 2 quart sauce pan combine corn, tomatoes, olives INCLUDING the liquid from the can
3. Add hamburger to sauce pan
4. Combine seasoning in a small bowl and add to pan. (I usually just add about 2 Tablespoons)

We eat them with pan fried tortillas or quesadillas.

White Bean Chili

This is a great recipie for this time of year. It is great by itself, but the garnish on top really makes it wonderful!




INGREDIENTS:
3 cans Canalini White Kidney beans (or great northern) With juice
2 chopped onions ( I only did one.)
48 oz. chicken broth
4 cups diced chicken
3 cans (4 oz each) chopped green chilies
2 teaspoons oregano
4 teaspoons cumin
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cayene pepper (to taste)
6 to 8 cloves of garlic
*Last 15 min. add:
1 cup sour cream
3 cups shreded monterey jack cheese

Put the first 9 ingredients in large pot-cook 1 hour. Then, add sour cream and cheese during the last 15 minutes of cooking.


GARNISH:
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoom dried onion powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon celery seed
1/3 cup vegetable oil
chopped tomatoes and chopped parsley
In saucepan combine sugar and vinegar, boil until sugar disolves. Add rest of ingredients. Cool, and add tomatoes and parsley. (Do the night before) (I did this a few hours before I served it.)
Serve in bowl with a few spoonfuls of the garnish on top.

Tomato and Wild Rice Soup

I cannot get enough of this soup in the fall!! It's really pretty simple to make, super hearty and tastes SO good --and an added bonus is that it has a great fall color! It would be great for hosting because it makes quite a bit.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped to the size you prefer
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped (with at least some of the leafy tops because it adds really yummy flavor)
• 32 ounces diced tomatoes (cans are in all different sizes, but you should have at least 32 ounces, sometimes I like to add more).*
• 2.5 cups chicken broth
• 1 cup wild rice combo (wild, whole grain, brown and white rice) --the one I buy at Alberstons is pictured below,
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil or about a teaspoon dry basil
• 1/2 can of corn
• 1 chicken breast, cooked and shredded (not 1 full breast, just 1 half breast)
• 2 cups 1% milk (the original recipe calls for whole milk, so if you have that use it, I'm sure it would be yummy, but 1% works just fine!)

*When my mom makes this soup she pulses the diced tomatoes in a blender to make a thick paste, I prefer the "chunkiness" of the tomatoes so usually only pulse about 1/2 of them, or none if I'm too lazy to get out the blender... anyway you go, it's still really good!

1. Saute the butter, oil, carrots, onion, celery in soup pan for 10 minutes2. Add next 5 ingredients (tomatoes, chicken broth, rice, basil, salt and pepper)
3. Simmer 1 hour4. Then add the 1/2 can of corn, cooked shredded chicken and 2 cups of milk
5. bring back to simmer for about 10 minutes

6. Serve!
Enjoy!!

Baked Potato Soup

In honor of fall (my family calls it the season for soup). This is pure heaven! It's reminiscent of Black Angus' soup if you've ever tried it. We had it tonight with broiled steaks and it was so yummy! A perfect compliment to the terrific steaks.

Ingredients:
4-5 Large potatoes peeled and chopped into bite size pieces
42 oz. of chicken stock (or 5 cups of water with 8 chicken bullion cubes
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 onion diced
5 strips of bacon fried (reserve 1 Tbsp. bacon grease)
8 oz. cream cheese (I forgot this in the picture!)
Cheese (any melty type you like)
green onions chopped
Sour cream

Directions:

1. Fry bacon according to directions and save a Tbsp. to add to soup later. Crumble bacon into small pieces.

2. Add to a large pot: Chicken stock, onion, potatoes, salt, pepper, bacon grease and bring to a boil.

3. Reduce temperature to a simmer and allow to cook on low heat for 30 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

4. When potatoes are soft, bring temperature to a boil again, and then take off the heat so that cream cheese does not curdle when you add it. It needs to be hot enough to melt the cream cheese, but not boiling. Add salt to taste.

5. Add cream cheese and stir until all is blended.

6. Garnish with bacon, green onions, cheese, and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Tortellini Soup

This soup will become a favorite. I promise!

- they come in packages of about 10 oz. I usually buy two and use a package and a half. The leftover tortellini is also great with a little pasta sauce for lunch the next day. Or you can freeze it.24 oz. chicken broth
4 garlic cloves - minced
14 oz. can of stewed tomatoes
1/2 lb. ground sausage (the butcher out here had never heard of ground sausage. he kept trying to get me to buy sausage links but I eventually found these "sausage patties")

- you can use the whole pound if you want to but I find it overwhelms the soup. basically, it becomes "sausage soup" with tortellini - stick with the 1/2 lb.

1 tsp. basil
1 pkg chopped spinach (in the freezer section, but thaw and drain before adding it to the soup)
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
1 can tomato sauce (optional)

* I also think adding some white beans, zucchini, or chickpeas would make this soup even better... I just haven't tried it yet.1. Brown the sausage and garlic

a. the trick to mincing garlic is this...

...take your large knife and smash the garlic head. I even leave the garlic wrapper on while I do this.

...see how much nicer it is to work with a smashed garlic head? All I need to do is chop it a little and throw it into the pan. And discard the garlic paper of course.

2. After the sausage and garlic has cooked through, drain the fat and dump the sausage into a large soup pot.

3. Add the chicken broth, stewed tomatoes and basil

4. When the soup is boiling add the tortellini and simmer for about 10 minutes

* if you think the broth is too thin add the can of tomato sauce - I always to because I like the sauce a little heartier

5. Add the spinach and Parmesan cheese and simmer for about 10 minutes more

6. Serve with a small salad and garlic bread and you've got dinner!

The Ingredients1 1/2 pkg tortellini (you can find this in the "deli meats and cheeses" section of the grocery store)