Recently in Soups Category

1 cup whipping cream
3 cups chicken stock
2 tsp butter
1/4 cup diced onions
2 tsp diced celery
2 tsp flour
salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste

Cook asparagus in water until very soft.

Blend asparagus until pureed.

Saute onions in 2 tsp margarine, using a medium-sized pot.

Add celery, cook for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle on about 2 tsp flour.

Add hot chicken stock and pureed asparagus.

Add cream, boil for 5 minutes on slow heat.

Serve immediately.

1 pumpkin 5 - 8 lbs
2 baking potatoes
2 sweet potatoes
1 med onion, diced
8 -10 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
Vegetable or chicken stock
butter
salt and pepper

Wash pumpkin well with soapy water, rinse and dry. Split pumpkin in half. Scoop out the fiber and seeds. Rub the halves with olive oil inside and out. Place flesh side down on a greased baking sheet (or silpat). Bake at 375 degrees until the meat is fork tender and orangey-yellow.

Preparing to roast the pumpkin.

At the same time, individually wrap the baking potatoes and sweet potatoes in foil. Place in the oven on an upper rack to bake until soft. The pumpkin and potatoes should be done about the same time.

Roasted pumpkin set to cool.

When cool enough to handle scoop out the flesh of the potatoes and pumpkin into a large clean bowl. Add a couple tbsp of butter and let melt into the mixture.

In a skillet brown the bacon rendering the fat. Remove the bacon to drain. Pour away all but about 2 tsp of the remaining fat. Return to heat and add the onion. Cook until clear.

Add the onions to the potatoes and pumpkin. Using a stick blender or food processor, puree the mix.

This is my 6qt stainless mixing bowl. I used a 8 - 10lb pumpkin, 2 each of the potatoes, and almost 2 quarts of stock to make this much soup.

Pour the puree into a stock pot. Slowly add the stock until the mix is the consistancy of soup that you prefer. We like a thicker soup. You might like a thinner soup. Heat through and allow to simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup is a beautiful color. Some recipes will call for heavy cream to be added. To me it isn't as nice of a soup when it has cream in it. I save the cream for my pies.

When serving use the bacon crumbles on top as garnish.

For freezing allow soup to cool. Pour into freezer containers. Lable and freeze.

**Note: I prepared this today when I was cooking a pork roast. I had plenty of broth from the pork so I used it in place of chicken/vegetable stock. It tastes great.

I am serving this soup with sandwiches made of fresh toasted bagels with a slice of roasted apple, cheddar cheese and ham. Absolutely delightful.

1 quart chicken/vegetable stock (saved over from other recipes)
egg noodles
chicken slivers (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Bring stock to a boil with any leftover slivers of chicken. Add a half cup of noodles. Cook until tender, 4-8 minutes. Season to taste.

Serve with crackers, bagel chips or a sandwich.

This recipe is perfect for lunch or a light supper. It is also one of those waste not want not recipes. Plan a little ahead and use what you have to stretch yur meals and budget. It pays in the end to do a little extra in the beginning.

During the cold of winter nothing tastes better than a nice bowl of hot soup. But not just any soup. The best soup you can make comes from summer produce cooked in a giant stock pot and then hidden away in the freezer for those early dark nights of winter.

I was taught to make this soup when I was about 13 years old. The lady who taught me to make it often let me free in her kitchen as her daughter, my best friend, had no interest in learning her kitchen secrets. Miss Rachel's husband was a truck driver. Mr. Luther was gone alot so for much of my early teen years it was Miss Rachel, Ann and me at their house in Augusta in the summer.

In a very large stock pot:

2 quarts butter beans
2 quarts peas
6 strips streak-o-lean
Water to cover

Bring to a boil, turn down heat and gently simmer until the beans and peas are just tender. When cooked taste them and add just enough salt to season the beans.

To this add:

1 large head fresh cabbage, chopped
2 large vidalia onions, chopped
1 quart fresh cut okra
12 ears of fresh corn, creamed
2 quarts fresh tomatoes, seeded and rough chopped

Return to boil.

At the point of boil you will see you need to add liquid. You can add vegetable stock but I find it is better to add tomato juice. It makes the stock much richer.

Reduce heat to a low simmer. Allow soup to slow cook for a couple hours until the broth is rich. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into freezer containers, allow to cool. Then freeze.

This soup is best served as the entree with fresh corn bread and butter. I promise, you will need nothing else to make a better meal -summer or winter.

One thing about this soup. There is plenty of it. If you make a stock pot full you have to give some of it to a friend or neighbor. Share and share alike. It's the country folk way.