Manly Soup

I love soup! I make soup at least once and week and sometimes more often. We have our family favorites...chicken noodle, chili, chicken tortilla, clam chowder, vegetable, lentil, and split pea. Yes, my kids eat soup too....even the lentil. It's SO good!


I recently acquired three new recipes for soup. I thought I'd share them with you. They are Manly Soup recipes because they were all given to me by men.






Beef Provencal by Gary (Also know as The Soup Master)


BEEF PROVENCAL SOUP


6 quart pot

2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup onion – chopped

2 cans – white beans

2 cans – diced tomatoes with garlic, basil, oregano – undrained

1 package chopped frozen spinach (or 1 bunch fresh)

4 cups beef broth (or Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix & water)

½ tsp – dried thyme

½ tsp – dried rosemary, crushed

Brown ground beef until beef is no longer pink. Pour off drippings. Saute’ onion until tender.


Add to pot along with beans, broth, tomatoes, thyme and rosemary. Bring to boil; reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Stir in spinach and continue simmering for 5 minutes. Serve.


This is a good soup to freeze so I often make it with 3 lbs. ground beef, 1 large onion, 3 cans beans and tomatoes, same spinach, 6 cups broth, ¾ tsp thyme and rosemary.








Red Lentil Soup with Curry and Coconut Milk by Jeff (Also know as Chef Romanos)


3 Tbs. veg. oil

2 medium onions chopped

1 C red lentils

3 medium carrots, peeled and roughly chopped

14 oz. can coconut milk

1 bay leaf

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch piece fresh ginger, minced

1 Tbs curry powder, preferable hot (Mae Ploy's Curry Paste is what Jeff uses)

1/2 C chopped cilantro


Directions


1. In medium saucepan, heat 2 T oil over medium heat. Add onions, and cook, stirring ofter, until onions start to brown, about 10 min. Add 4 C water, lentils, carrots, coconut milk, 1 tsp. salt and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer partially covered until lentils are tender, about 20 min.


2. Meanwhile, in a small skillet heat remaining 1 T oil over medium heat. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder and cilantro. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add to soup.


3. Remove bay leaf. In food processor or blender, puree soup in batches until velvety smooth. Taste, and add a bit more salt if desired. Serve hot.








Chicken Corn Chowder by Jim (Also known as my dad and the Crockpot King)

 Picture is my dad at the latest Nascar race.

2 cans cream corn 1 1/2 cups chicken broth celery onion pepper crushed red pepper to taste (depending on how hot you want it) 1 medium skinless, boneless chicken breast Puree the cream corn and broth in a blender. Cook the breast and cube it into small chunks. Add all together and cook until the celery and onions are tender. It's even better if you serve it the next day.



And what to have with soup?

I usually make biscuits with soup. It's easy and quick. I like the Joy of Cooking recipe. I use half white flour and half whole wheat flour. It gives the biscuit a nice nutty flavor.

I also recently made cheesy bread sticks. I make pizza dough, roll it out and place on large cookie sheet. Then I brush with garlic butter and sprinkle on cheese. I bake it and then but into rectangles. It's wicked good!! Dangerous stuff. I took this photo from Google....but this is what my bread sticks look like...except rectangle in the pan.

If I'm rushed for time I pop some good whole grain bread into the toaster, add butter and voila...done!