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Soups

Instant Pot Turkey Stock

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Make Instant Pot Turkey Stock from your fresh or frozen leftover turkey carcass in an hour + prep time.

Instant Pot Turkey Stock
Instant Pot Turkey Stock

Do I Stay or Do I Go

When we cook a turkey dinner, a couple times a year, I am always wondering do I keep the carcass to make broth, or do I compost it. It’s a dilemma faced by many of us, or so I’m told, as to whether the carcass stays or whether it goes?!

In the end for me it comes down to time and how much time I will have available in the coming weeks since making stock can take several hours on the stove. Or at least it use to.

While I am neither for or against keeping the bones, I swing both ways depending on my mood. Some days I keep the carcass, other times I freeze that bad boy with good intentions, and there are days I’ve let him go fly into the compost and be done with it. No guilt whatsoever. This battle has been going on for 30 years that I’ve been roasting turkey and making stock.

Instant Pot Turkey Stock
Instant Pot Turkey Stock

New Instant Pot Blasts Out Turkey Stock

Having received a new Instant Pot for Christmas, I was more than willing to keep the carcass, and freeze it, until I had time to try turkey stock in my new small appliance. When the opportunity presented itself, it was only a matter of pulling out some leftover herbs, carrots, celery, onion and the frozen carcass. I had a couple wings leftover from the dinner so I gave them a chop or two and tossed them into the pot.

Instant Pot Turkey Stock
Instant Pot Turkey Stock

Sixty minutes later plus some time for the pressure to release and I’d suddenly made the best turkey stock I have quite possibly ever produced. Using the same recipe I tend to use when making stock in a pot on the stove. After this pleasant experience I feel the future of my new Instant Pot holds many more stock making sessions.

Pro Tips

Tip: Chop up the carcass into smaller pieces. If freezing it will be much easier to fit into freezer bags. When stock making it will be easier to make stock in a pot on the stove or Instant Pot.

Tip: Do not add salt. You can salt all you like when you use the stock. It doesn’t need the salt until the stock is going to be used. Just like buying salt free stock in a box at the store!

 

Instant Pot Hamburger Soup

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I never jumped on the Instant Pot train. I didn’t feel I needed yet another small appliance to add to the already over stuffed pantry pouring over onto shelves full of small appliances. My mom started buying me small appliances and cookware when I was 19. Thirty years later I’ve accumulated a small collection.

This past year we have been trying to minimize and down size what we have and part with what we do not need. It’s not as easy as it sounds when you are a food blogger who styles their own photos and needs props to do this. This and other reasons are why I resisted until I could no longer resist.

Instant Pot Hamburger Soup
Hamburger Soup with pasta

Enter my Father-In-Law. He raves about his Instant Pot, so much so he gave us one for Christmas this year. He’s already given me many tips and tricks on using the pot and recipes he’s tried, so making this soup was pretty simple. We took our tried and true Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup recipe, changed it up a bit and turned it into an Instant Pot Hamburger Soup recipe.

Receiving an Instant Pot for Christmas had me intrigued and started my mind wandering about what I could actually make in one since I never paid much attention to the recipes even though I have an Instant Pot Pinterest Board. So I fired it up and started with a simple soup.

Instant Pot Hamburger Soup
Instant Pot Hamburger Soup

Our Instant Pot Hamburger Soup features ground beef, bacon, carrots, celery and shallots all coming together in a savoury tomato broth. I added bacon hoping the bacon flavour would infuse into the soup and it did a little but not as much as I had hoped plus the bacon didn’t crisp up. Next time I may cook the bacon in advance and crumble it on top.

Tip: I always cook my pasta separately and then ladle it into individual bowls. This method works best when you have leftover soup to ensure the noodles do not soak up the broth leaving you with no liquid when you are ready to eat the soup again. Cooking your pasta separate and adding it to each bowl, and storing separately keeps the soup loose and brothy the next day.

 

 

Simple Tomato Soup

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A Simple Tomato Soup using ingredients from your pantry comes together quickly for a comforting meal.

Simple Tomato Soup
Simple Tomato Soup

This is a soup that can be served hot or cold. Imagine that, you can enjoy tomato soup cold. It’s quite refreshing on a hot summer day and even better top it with a little basil pesto or cucumber salsa to you totally change up the tomato soup game.

Or fried sausage or bacon for those who need a little protein in their diet.

Tomato Soup with mini grilled cheese
Tomato Soup with mini grilled cheese

My mom used to make us tomato soup from a can when we were growing up and the one I really liked was called old fashioned tomato soup with rice. It had basil in it. Clearly the basil stood out for me so I’ve added fresh basil to my soup. You certainly don’t have to but I urge you to try it.

Simple Tomato Soup
Simple Tomato Soup

PRO TIPS:

  • Use 1 tsp. dried basil to replace fresh.
  • If you can afford to buy San Marzano tomatoes, buy San Marzano tomatoes
  • The parmesan rind is essential for adding umami flavour, however if you do not have any forget about it.
  • Always season in layers. Season when you add the tomatoes and season at the end as needed

We do love our tomato soup around here and some times serve it with grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, or even cheese toasts. Anything goes. If you need more tomato soup in your life check out our other tomato soup recipes:

Tomato Soup with Sausage

Our play on a French Onion Soup – Roasted Tomato Soup

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

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Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup

January is soup month and a great reason for those of who live in colder climates like us (think Canada cold) to eat more soup. A healthy and hearty offering, this Chicken Tortilla Soup came together quickly on a Friday night, topped with delicious crisp tortilla strips that my kids could not stop eating out of the bowl, fresh avocado and grated old cheddar cheese. I may be a little bias but it was so delicious. Even my daughter filled her bowl twice.

Our goal this month is to re-make and/or recreate some of our soup recipes, while adding more to our stash of comfort foods. With so many amazing and healthy soups out there, it’s a good way to perhaps be a little healthier.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup

As you read through the recipe deciding whether or not you have the ingredients to make the soup, you will notice a spice called Epazote. Epazote is an herb used in Mexican cooking to flavour moles, soups, and other dishes. It is popular cooked with beans and said to help relieve some of the bean causing “symptoms” we all know so well. This herb is known to have a pungent, petroleum-like odor. Like cilantro you either like it or you don’t, there is no in-between. People describe the taste to be like a curious combination of turpentine, mint, citrus, pine, oregano, anise, and mustard greens.

We tasted the soup before we added in the Epazote and again after. There was no turpentine smell or taste but there was a slightly noticeable flavour enhancer we picked up on. We have been told not to use to much of this herb as it could over power the dish. A few light pinches in our soup equaling about 1/4 tsp is what we started with.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup

PRO TIPS:

  • use a store bought rotisserie chicken
  • substitute regular dried oregano for Mexican oregano
  • no epazote, no problem
  • do not care for cilantro, use flat leaf parsley instead
  • like it spicy? add more of the chipotle in adobo, carefully
  • sub in leftover turkey, for the chicken
  • the crunchy tortillas added to the top of the soup, stay crunchy – no soggy bits unless kept in soup overnight
  • pressed for time, simmer away for 30 minutes and you will be good to go

We highly recommend you give this tasty soup a try. It got four thumbs up here.

If you enjoyed this soup you might also like to try:

Sausage and Lentil Soup

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Almost annually we host International students and currently we have a student from Spain (small town near Madrid) living with us for the school year. It’s his first time leaving Spain and traveling so far from home. He’s done remarkably well during the holidays and missing his family all things considered.

Sausage & Lentil Soup
Sausage & Lentil Soup

He likes to cook and loves to eat even more. So he and I get along amazingly well since we both love to cook and of course eat. One of the dishes he says he misses the most is his Momma’s sausage and lentil stew. Made with small brown lentils. Did you know lentils are considered pulses and extremely good for you. Just 1 cup of lentils = 6.59 mg of iron. So if you are feeling like you are lacking in iron, lentils are a great way to add more iron, fiber and vitamin A to your diet.

Sausage & Lentil Soup
Sausage & Lentil Soup

He and I have talked about this stew many times. Because I ask a lot of questions. This week it was added it to our weekly menu and last night I attempted to recreate it. I wasn’t nervous at all, after all his mom makes it all the time. No pressure right? I patiently waited as he took his first bite. And his face lit up. He took another bite. And then he told me he couldn’t believe how similar it tasted to his mom’s. I was so excited I almost peed a little.

He tells me his version of this dish is a stew and thicker. They add potatoes into the stew while cooking it which would help thicken it. I opted to finish our soup with diced, cooked potatoes mixed with fresh parsley, lemon and olive oil. This mixture complimented the soup perfectly.

We simply adore this young man and have gotten to know his parents a little. You know sometimes you just click with people, well it was like that with this family. I hope we get to go to Spain one day and meet them. I’m sure the wine, food and interesting conversation would free flow non stop.

Sausage and Lentil Stew
Sausage and Lentil Stew

This soup is hearty and super flavourful. We’ve added Spolumbo’s Sausage which is a locally made, preservative and gluten free sausage. The cured sausage in this soup is also locally made, called shremska and available at The Italian Store. A very healthy meal indeed.

 

Roast Turkey Pho

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Back in the 90’s Robson Street was Vancouver’s outdoor shopping mall with great restaurants and cafes as well as all kinds of high end stores to tickle your fancy in. It was a seen and be seen place to be. In fact it still is. Walking up and down Robson every time I go to Vancouver to visit brings back vivid memories of the time spent living there. At one point I lived in the West End so merely a hop skip and jump over to Robson Street to take it all in.

I was a part time Gapper back in those days, and my time working at The Gap on Robson was extremely adventurous, it was an experience. I ate out a lot (single in the city) and one of my favourite little stops was a little hole in the wall cafe on Robson Street. This eclectic little place served up the best soup I’d ever had and I would visit whenever a cold struck. This soup was Pho, pronounced Fuh. Pho is not the same as Ramen, which is darker and richer cooked entirely from pork bones, but rather traditionally made from beef and scented with star anise, cinnamon and ginger.

Roast Turkey Pho

Pho is an anytime soup but most comforting in the Fall and Winter on those days you need a bowl that hugs you back and some comfort food. The most important component to a Pho is the broth. Enjoyed in a restaurant, Pho broth is typically simmered for hours on end resulting in a delicious tasting broth with many levels of flavour. For this Roasted Turkey Pho Broth I can honestly say my turkey stock simmered for 4- 5 hours. Was left to sit for several hours while it cooled and then further cooled in the fridge with all it’s aromatics and turkey bones for up to two days. The result, the best tasting turkey stock I’ve ever made.

There was only one thing to do at this point, try to make a pho soup in stead of your basic turkey noodle soup to use up the last of the 15lb roast turkey. While shopping for ingredients for my turkey pho, I discovered Campbell’s offers a new product, Pho Broth. So I did what any virgin pho maker would do and bought a pack, you know just in case the turkey broth was lacking in flavour. After straining the turkey broth and getting 6 cups of intensely flavoured broth, I decided to add in the package of pho broth to make approximately 8 cups. I just knew it was going to be good.

This quick version of pho is layered with each ingredient giving you the full restaurant experience.

Create your Pho Bowl

Rost Trukey Pho w/ingredients

When you make this recipe you must get your soup bowl ready and start with the cooked noodles, gingerly placing on the bottom of the bowl. Ladle in your hot broth gently moving around the noodles with chopsticks to ensure they are not sticking together. The next layer is the turkey breast, add a good heaping spoonful. At this point you add whatever toppings you prefer that are available. We eat family style here so it makes sense for each person to customize their pho.

Looking for other ways to use up leftover turkey? This soup is very popular and quite tasty: Turkey, Bacon & Corn Chowder.

 

 

 

 

 

Tomato Soup with Sausage

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Lately I’ve been craving soup. Specially french onion soup but I haven’t had the booze I needed to make the broth sing. Recently I took some out of town clients to Charbar for lunch, a fairly new Argentinian style restaurant I’ve admittedly been to several times. I ordered the lunch special (and they did to) of half a salad and the daily soup. I encouraged them to have the fugazza (pizza) with their soup. The soup was an Argentinian inspired tomato & sausage soup. Wow was it ever good. In fact all four of us at the table completely enjoyed the soup. I decided to try and make my own version of this soup at home.

Have you heard of Spolumbo’s sausage? They are local sausage maker and the sausage is preservative and chemical free. I use it in pasta sauces, soups and we especially love it grilled on the BBQ. You can use whatever uncooked sausage you love in this soup. I also added a small piece of leftover parmesan rind as I’ve seen chefs do this to add flavour and depth. It did something because the soup was the best tomato soup I’ve ever had.

It’s a simple soup that screams flavour.

 

 

Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

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The first time I made this soup was sometime in 2013. It was a craving soup end of the week kind of day and I had very little vegetables left to play with. There it sat on the third shelf in the refrigerator staring back at me. There was no way around it – it was to be cauliflower soup or nothing. Admittedly I’ve never made cauliflower soup before but I sure love roasted and grilled cauliflower.I turned on the oven, hacked up the cauliflower, tossed in some garlic cloves for good luck, a little oil and off it went into the oven. What happened next was outstanding. I made Roasted Cauliflower soup, and I loved it.

You have to agree, roasting your garlic with the cauliflower is pretty clever, and imparts great flavour. I wanted the soup again, so I took it a step further this time, and tossed in a couple shallots to roast them up to. I do not add cream to this soup but blitz the cauliflower, garlic and shallots like crazy to keep it healthier.

The roasting party in my oven became soup on my stove. I like it when this happens. A few extra minutes to simmer on the stove with thyme and bay leaves, then it gets blitzed, strained and is ready to serve. Those who can not eat dairy will appreciate this soup is dairy free. If you are gluten free do not add croutons. I quickly made some cumin croutons for this soup, but you can use any croutons you have on hand. I made croutons so often I will need to share the recipe. Simple flavours make it delicious.

This should serve 4 pending how big your servings are.

Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup
Roasted Cauliflower & Garlic Soup

 

 

Butternut Squash Soup with Tamarind

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It was clean out my pantry day and I have had a butternut squash rolling around on the floor for about 2 months. My mom used to roast butternut squash and serve it simple with shaved parmesan, salt & cracked pepper. Oh and a maybe just a lil butter drizzle on top.

While roasting this bad boy, I started sorting through two shelves of canned items. Way at the back of one shelf I found a jar of Tamarind Chutney. I love tamarind and practically inhale it whenever we go for Indian food. Only thing is this jar had well expired. You know what, this did not deter me. I opened the jar and sampled. About three tablespoons of samples later I decided it was safe to eat. And a little spicy however on the taste buds.

To make this soup is easy. Rough chop your onion, carrots and garlic as it’s all going to get pureed anyways. Toss them in with some olive oil and cook until just lightly softened. You could add chopped uncooked squash in with the onions and carrots if you don’t feel like roasting your squash first. The roasting however did impart a great flavour.

Important to note while the tamarind chutney is spicy, well when you eat it right out of the jar, it is not overpowering in the soup but yet adds a subtle hint of heat and incredible depth of flavour. We have a 16 yr old German Student living with us right now who does not like spicy food. She gave me two thumbs up on and loved the soup indicating it was not very spicy at all. We added in some more tamarind chutney right into our soup bowls. Seriously could inhale that stuff and it’s my new favourite condiment. Watch for it in everything (ha ha just kidding).

A simple soup for busy nights or cold days.

How often do you clean out your pantry?

 

 

Lentil, Cabbage & Sausage Soup

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We recently had a couple of rainy, wet and grumpy kind of days in Calgary which is a good reason to have soup. More specifically Lentil & Sausage Soup. We don’t get these days very often in the Spring (seems more wind and hail the past couple of years) but when we do I’m mentally taken back to my Vancouver days where rainy, wet and grumpy days are the norm. When I lived in Vancouver I learned to live with the rain and secretly enjoy those days once in awhile. In fact Blue Rodeo’s “After The Rain’ was on my favourites play list for many years. Back in those Vancouver days.

With the cooler, damp weather comes the desire for warm comforting foods. Like soup. The typical rummaging through the refrigerator begins the search for soup ingredients. I knew I wanted either lentils or barley in the soup. So I found some green lentils and cooked the lentils in advance. I found some smoked sausage dying a slow death, so it to was in. And I always seem to have your basic vegetables on hand. I went on to pull out some cabbage for good measure. My soup was about to become a reality. My mom used to make a cabbage soup, the variations are endless.

Soup du Jour is this tasty Lentil & Sausage Soup with Cabbage. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.

 

 

Turkey, Bacon & Corn Chowder

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When leftover turkey happens turn it into this Turkey, Bacon & Corn Chowder for a filling, hearty soup.

Leftover turkey or chicken means new meals to create or old stand by’s will be made. Either way we love leftovers and the potential of some good eats in the days to come.

Today’s soup was both inspired from a similar soup by Curtis Stone (I got his cookbook for Christmas) and the desire to make a turkey soup with bacon. If you do not have any leftover turkey substitute roast chicken leftovers for an equally delicious tasting soup. But don’t forget the bacon!

Turkey Bacon Corn Chowder
Turkey Bacon Corn Chowder

I didn’t grow up eating chowder. My mom never made it and I had never heard about chowder of any sort until I moved to Vancouver. Chowder was a thing and came in many varieties. Adding cream to a soup was also a new concept for me but one that I latched onto quickly.

The flavour of this soup was spectacular to begin with, but when we finished it off two days later it seemed to taste even better.  The addition of chilies adds a hint of heat….add more chilies if you want more spice in your soup. We enjoyed this soup and it has gone into rotation whenever there is leftover turkey in our house.

 

Roasted Vegetable Soup with Chipotle

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How often do you find leftover vegetables in your fridge begging to be used before they grow legs?! In my soup adventures this week, I was tossed whether to make a soup with some of my frozen meatballs or leave it a plain vegetable soup. Once I decided to puree the soup, I went with a vegetarian style soup kicked up a notch with some chipotle in adobo sauce. The chipotle in adobo sauce gives the soup quite a kick (spicy), so you may want to start with 1/2 tsp of the chipotle first, taste, and keep going until it is hot enough. If you do not like spice, just omit entirely.

Change up whatever vegetables you want to add in, and make it completely vegetarian or vegan by using vegetable stock. If you do not like or have bok choy, leave it out. It really is an acquired taste, one I was introduced to in the 90’s by mom mom. She started making this Bok Choy Salad and to this day my entire family loves it. You’ll find bok choy errs on the bitter side and again it might be an acquired taste, but oh so good for you! It will add a little crunch and texture to the soup.

To roast veggies, toss two cups sliced veggies with a splash of sesame oil, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and bake in 350 oven for 20 minutes or until starting to brown and soft.

 

Chicken & Sausage Soup

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Tis the Season. For colds and flu. Always amazes me how one can get sick and the other one can miss it entirely. It was a day where one of the minions was under the weather. When this happens I always make a big batch of chicken soup. Sometimes with noodles. Sometimes with rice. This soup had sausage.

The last time I was in the store I picked up a couple fresh links of Spolumbo’s Chicken & Apple Sausage. I had the intention of making a soup or stew with it one day and this was going to be the day. Just so happens we had leftover roasted chicken in the fridge and so the union was meant to be. Rummaged around for some chicken soup vegetables, grabbed some broth and a Chicken & Sausage Soup was born. I always use some form of broth in my soup since it adds so much flavour.

Everyone loved it and it didn’t take very long to make. It was so comforting to have a bowl of hot steaming soup on a cold Calgary day and a pimped up version of chicken soup. Here are the particulars.

 

Loose Moose Theatre: Jack & The Beanstalk | Smoky White Beans

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We’ve been patrons of the Loose Moose Theatre at the Crossroads Market for over six years (since my daughter was two). It’s always been an affordable, enjoyable and interactive afternoon outing for the entire family. If you decide to check out a performance, whatever you do, do not expect a quiet relaxing rest. While you may get to take a load off your feet, it will not be quiet to say the least. The audience gets involved in the show at times and of course, little kids can not sit still or keep quiet for long. Noise throughout the play is expected, accepted and sometimes even encouraged.

The Actors are clearly well versed in their craft. They re-create and re-tell classic children’s stories adding in humour specifically tailored for the adults as well. You can buy simple & light snacks at the concession or bring in your own snacks. I have seen many a birthday party group come in to enjoy the show. The tickets are remarkably cheap when you compare to some of the other Kids Theatre Shows around town. After all these years we are getting to know, and love some of the Actors who we’ve seen many times and the ones who continue to shine in each production they participate in. There’s a whole lot of love that goes into these productions and that is why we remain Season’s Ticket Holders. Plus our kids love it.

Other shows to catch at the Loose Moose Theatre beyond kids performances are an evening Improv show, Gorilla Theatre or the ever popular Chrismoose Carol during the Holiday Season. So much fun.

The recipe ingredient for this Adventure series post featuring Jack & The Beanstalk, was obvious; Beans. But trying to decide what kind of beans to use was the biggest challenge. I used green beans, canned beans and bulk beans in my recipe testing until I settled on this recipe. I decided on the canned white kidney beans I had in the pantry. I paired them with some cut up Pancetta and Mennonite Sausage I had purchased at the Farmer’s Market. It became a smoky and delicious bite that needed very little seasoning. The smoky sausage and pancetta were the flavour enhancers in this dish. I further had some fresh cut side pork strips in the fridge I wanted to incorporate into the dish. So I cut them into thin strips (this part of the animal, cut up is called Lardons), fried until crisp, mixed with some parsley and used it to garnish the dish. These strips were not smoked so I added some salt for flavour as I was cooking them.

Add in two more cups of broth and you have a magnificent tasting soup. Grating on some Asiago or Parmesan cheese would also be a delicious addition giving the soup some depth. Eat it as a main dish, light lunch, pair with a roast or use it as a side. Comfort food that hugs you.

Loose Moose Theatre
Loose Moose Theatre Programs over the years. Missing a few I reckon.

 

 

Carrot & Cumin Soup

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Some days you just feel like soup. Nothing else. Soup. Maybe a Sandwich because you need to feed the minions a little more than soup or you can’t guarantee they will like the soup you made. But mostly soup. I made this soup and it rocked our world. Well the grown ups. Easy Peasy as Jamie Oliver would say.

Make it entirely vegan by replacing the chicken stock with vegetable stock and omitting the butter.

Easy, quick and currently our favourite comfort soup.

 

Roasted Tomato Soup

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I am excited to be participating in November 2013 challenge for the Canadian Food Project, The Canadian Harvest. The Canadian Food Project Experience was started on June 7, 2013 by Valerie Lugonja of A Canadian Foodie. It’s a compilation of Canadian Food Bloggers who are committed to sharing their time, unique regional Canadian food experiences, and recipes. We hope to bring clarity to our Canadian Culinary identity by sharing food that is important to us as Canadians.

With a short growing season, September and October bring us a cornucopia of tomatoes. My own little crop of tomatoes are grown in container plants on my deck. This year we harvested quite a number of lovely little tomato specimens and true to form in Calgary, we get early frost in September, so it becomes a race against time to get everything harvested. Since many were picked green, they had to be left on the counter to ripen. And ripen they did.

Growing up in the 1970’s, my parents garden was full of blooming edibles. The greenhouse was home to many varieties of tomatoes and cucumbers. I believe it was an art growing such delicacies and my mom had mastered it. Every Summer and Fall we would have an abundance of fresh produce to enjoy. Many of the tomatoes were canned and stored for the winter. A couple of my favourite things to eat was tomatoes picked fresh from the garden and my mom’s canned tomatoes that had been warmed in a pot, mixed in with cooked macaroni and finished with Parmesan and salt. One thing she never did get into was making tomato soup, until I was in my twenties and living in Vancouver. So for us, as children, tomato soup consisted of Old Fashioned Tomato, Basil and Rice Soup, from a can. Long live Campbell’s.

Tomatoes from Wanda's Garden
Tomatoes from Wanda’s Garden

Compelled and determined to bring my own rug rats up on home made soups, I’ve been trying different versions of tomato soups over the years. One memorable epic fail was squash and tomato…it did not work together. This year we had our own red and yellow garden tomatoes to use and a friend’s red tomatoes from her garden that she shared with us.

When I think of an Albertan or Prairie Harvest, I think beyond wheat, mustard, grains and canola oil…I think about all the love and care that goes into the Farms and the crops the farmers grow and protect from damaging weather and hail, only to harvest and bring to market. A true labour of love.

As we entered November I needed to use up what was left of our tomato harvest and so yet again, I made tomato soup. This time it worked.

 

 

 

Shredded Brussels Sprout & Sausage Soup

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As I was making this soup last night I was reminded of a pasta I used to make back in the early 1990’s. Back then I worked with a great group of people, in the hair industry, and we would have these fabulous potlucks or gatherings. Inspiration came from everywhere those days and really enhanced my food aspirations.

The 1990 pasta had a base of onions, garlic and sausage. The other ingredients I added were based on what I had available. Always finished with a sprinkling of freshly grated Asiago Cheese. My mom posted this pasta recipe in her community cookbook back in the 1990’s. I think it’s time to revive this pasta dish and share it since the smell of the onion, garlic and sausage brought me back to another time and place reminding me why it was so good.

Back to the soup. We love and adore a locally made sausage called Spolumbo’s Sausage. No binders and no fillers and very delicious. So much so we had it for our rehearsal dinner BBQ, the night before our wedding many moons ago. Spolumbo’s Sausage & Deli is a labour of love between brothers Tom Spoletini, former Lineman for the Calgary Stampeders, Tony Spoletini, former Fullback for the Calgary Stampeders, and Mike Palumbo, also a former CFL football player and Offensive Lineman. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Tony in the past during one of the many outdoor BBQ and community events Spolumbo’s has been involved in. They have a large variety of sausages to choose from, some that are made with 100% Alberta Pork and admittedly, we eat our fair share every month.

Some days recipes come from rummaging through the fridge, and last night’s soup was one of those experiments that became soup a la whatever I have in the fridge. I decided to toss in some thinly sliced brussels sprouts mid simmer. Then serve the soup topped with fresh chopped parsley tossed with more thinly sliced brussels sprouts. Parmesan cheese rounded it out.

To get the kids interested I added some precooked Alphabet pasta. It worked. They only picked out the bigger pieces of tomatoes. I was even able to sell the shredded brussels sprouts as celery..heh heh heh. They loved it.

A lovely Fall/Winter soup full of flavour. Use your favourite sausage, or seek out some Spolumbo’s and find out why we love it so much.

 

Roasted Fennel and Broccoli Soup

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I love soups. Smelling up the house while they cook. I’m trying to get my kids to eat more soup. Wish me luck? They tend to enjoy raw vegetables over cooked. But one must not give up. I had someone come to the door while this soup was simmering on the stove and they were drooling over the smells wafting through the air.

I haven’t made many pureed soups and honestly the family was not too sure about the texture of this soup. But I loved it and I am going to start making more pureed soups to put into rotation. So easy and so healthy.

More often then not my inspiration these days comes from something I’ve heard, seen, or what’s in my pantry/fridge. I’ve had a fennel bulb taking up space for two weeks with the intention of making a salad. Decided today was the day of the fennel bulb. And it wasn’t going to be salad. Looked in the fridge again and broccoli pops out. Thinking a fennel and broccoli soup might work. I used to Google my ideas to see if they’d been done before and I finally clued in to the fact that was a bad idea. Who cares if it’s been done before, at this moment in time it’s my idea inspired by the vegetables staring back at me from the fridge. You can totally make this vegetarian by using vegetable stock or water instead of chicken stock. And you can omit the evaporated milk for a Vegan soup. I just so happen to have some leftover from pumpkin pies so it tossed it in.

Substitute almond or coconut milk (unsweetened) if you are making this while doing the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox.

 

Beef Noodle Soup

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Kids activity nights require quick meals.  I had some leftover roast beef (sliced thin) from a recent roast dinner and had been wanting to do a Vietnamese Beef style Pho (or my rendition of it) for awhile.   Of course I decided to make the soup on an activity night and did not have the time or ingredients to make it the way a Pho should be made.  So I went with what I had and came up with this delicious tasting Beef Noodle Soup.

You can use any leftover roast (cut thin), or steak.  The vermicelli noodles can be the rice kind or regular pasta version.  Precooked noodles makes it easy to assemble this dish quickly.   Play around with seasonings if you wish until you find a flavour combination you like.  A squeeze of lime and some bean sprouts would have been equally delicious to add before serving.

 

 

 

 

Gazpacho Soup

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Hard to believe I’ve gone over a decade without making a gazpacho.  It’s a cold summer soup with a delicious blend of flavours.  I also find it sort of a palate cleanser.  It was a last minute addition to my dinner Saturday night and as such I served it as a gazpacho shooter.  It was divine.

Note salt is important in this soup to bring out the flavours. So do not skimp on the salt!

This makes at least 4-6 servings if you are not serving it in a shooter glass.  If you are going with the shooter theme it makes at least 8 cups or too many soup shooters to count.

 

Slow Cooker Beef Minestrone Soup

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Delicious beef soup on a cold, fall/winter day comes in the form of our Beef Minestrone Soup in the Crockpot.  Many variations of Minestrone soup are available, this is one version we enjoy.  We prefer to cook our pasta and add it separately since when  it sits in the soup over night (leftovers) it tends to soak up all the soup broth.

In the photo I did not have cabbage for this some so I shredded extra zucchini and added in some chopped carrots & celery.  Really anything goes.

Our preferred noodles for this soup are Ditali noodles but you could use macaroni or any smaller type noodle.

Turkey Meatball Soup

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As the rain commeth down, and Fall under our toes, I am feeling more like soup these days. I did not grow up eating home made soups, or a lot of soup in general, but I want my kids to have home made soups in their lives, and so I continue to try out different soups to tempt their little palates. It’s a comfort thing.

This is a tried and true one that is quick, easy, tasty and the kids can help roll the meat balls. I like to make the meatballs very small as small (little bites) seems to be more appealing at times for my kids. You change change up the meat to chicken if you don’t have turkey, same with the stock. It’s all good.

Black Bean Soup with Bacon, Crockpot

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I’m all about my crockpot and really into soups these days (I try to do one a week). I guess I want our kids to be exposed to more than I was as a child (no offense campbell’s) and learn difference flavours and textures (even if they are fussy right now I’m not giving up).   That’s where our latest soup recipe Black Bean Soup with Bacon, Crockpot comes in.  I love having a big pot of soup for supper in the colder months and some yummy crusty bread/rolls to accompany it.

This month so far we’ve had success with our Pizza Soup, Hamburger Soup and a Minestrone Soup (with napa cabbage). It’s also nice the kids I look after are great eaters and so I can happily experiment more regardless of how our kids eat!

Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup

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Here’s another delicious soup for a cold day. Slow Cooker Hamburger Soup has been done many times before so this is a slight variation of an original recipe using onion soup mix. Cooked in the Slow Cooker it makes for a lovely smelling meal to come home to.

We enjoy this soup and admittedly have it a couple of times a month during the colder Fall and Winter months. Top it with a good helping of freshly grated  Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano (a more salty cheese) & some crouton crumbles.