Tsa's Soup of the Week

Thanks to the fact that there are four and a half weeks in March and, on a larger part, my need for an entire battery of new socks (and cropped cardigans at the Old Navy. They’re fifteen dollars people!!), my grocery budget has found itself being stretched particularly thin this week. Luckily for you, what I assume is at least a half dozen avid readers, this means a brand spanking new recipe! What else is going to keep you fed for four days on around six bucks? Did you just say ‘ramen’? Shame on you, that’s how people get scurvy.

Now team, I will share with you a little secret: you can put meat in this soup. In fact, feel free to dress it up with whatever bacon/veggie/cheese/sour cream combo makes your little heart pitter-patter with joy and delight. However, since we are on a budget this week and snare trapping is, for the most part, illegal, our version of Black Bean Soup is meat-free. 

Tools:

• The Stock Pot
• Stirring Implement

Food:

• 2 cups dried black beans/ 2 cans black beans
• 1 can stewed tomatoes with green chilies
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 2-3 cups frozen corn
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
• Olive oil
• Rooster Sauce (or whatever hot sauce you have)
• Chili powder, salt, and pepper to taste. 

Instructions

• If you went with the more economical dried beans, prepare them like it says on the package. If you went with canned, enjoy your sodium and preservatives, sucker!! Make sure you save some of the water from your beans OR don’t drain the cans. 
• Heat up some olive oil in your stock pot, and fry the onions and pepper until the onions turn clear. 
• Add beans, tomatos, veggie broth and corn. Simmer for a half an hour so the flavors can mesh. Feel free to mush up some of the beans if you like a thicker soup. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.
• Add hot sauce and seasonings to taste.
• Eat with chips if you happen to have them, quietly resent anyone who dares to eat real food in front of you for the next seven days.

Are you feeling lonely today? Do you wish that you had someone in your life to leave their dirty snugs on your bedroom floor, steal your toothpaste, and make a mess in your bathroom? Someone who can fail to appreciate your penchant for midnight nachos, campy Batman Movies, and that weird goose laugh you do when you get really excited? 

Well my dears, unfortunately I can neither provide nor be that person for you (unless you happen to be Ben Foster, in which case, oh goodness am I ever flattered that you read my blog! Your performance in 30 Days of Night was absolutely chilling. Wanna get coffee and talk about that movie for ten hours?). But what I can give to you is this: A super easy, super fast, super delicious soup recipe that you can make with whatever you happen to have in your fridge.

Tools:

• Small Pot
• Knife
• Cutting Board
• Stirring Implement

Food:

• 12 oz can Vegetable Broth
• 1 block of tofu, sliced into strips
• 1 egg
• Various vegetables
• Olive Oil
• Sriracha Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Ginger

Instructions:

• Chop them veggies. Heat some olive oil in your pan. When hot, add your chopped veggies. Stir-fry until cooked.
• Add vegetable broth, a bit of soy sauce, a bit of Sriracha (okay, a lot), some ginger, and tofu. Bring to a boil.
• Crack that egg in that broth. Simmer for 3-4 minutes, until everything is hot and the egg is cooked through.
• Eat it in your most fanciest bowl.

Vegetable Beef Barley: the Ron Perlman of soup. Sure, it’s not handsome, it’s not sophisticated, but darn is it just perfect for when you need a soup who looks like someone crafted its head out of an empty jug of 2%. Veggie Beef Barley is just a down and dirty hearty soup for when you are cold and have a bunch of frozen vegetables just sitting in your freezer. Also, if you are a fortunate creature like me, somewhere down the line your parents decided to go splitsies on half of a cow and then promptly forgot about it in their freezer and then you took some of it because it’s not like they’re even going to eat it anyway.

Tools:

• The Stock Pot
• A Sharp Knife (I mean it)
• Cutting board
• Stirring Implement

Food:

• 2 Beef Steaks
• 1 med onion, chopped
• 1 tbls. Garlic
• 6 cups Beef Broth
• 1/2 cup Red Wine
• 1 tbls Worcestershire sauce
• 2 med Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 box Barley
• 32 oz Bag of Mixed Veggies (because we are cheating today.)

Instructions

• Trim all of that delicious fat off of your steak. Throw the fat away, weep softly. Cut the remaining meat into delicious bite-sized pieces.
• Heat some oil in your stock pot, when hot, add meat, garlic, and chopped onion. 
• When meat is brown and onions are clear, add stock, barley, potatoes, wine and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil, simmer for ten minutes.
• Add mixed veggies, simmer until heated through

So team, long time no soup (hurr hurr I couldn’t help myself). After a long and grueling pre-christmas season of baking (successful), crafting (semi-successful) and sewing (I jammed the sewing machine after using it for three seconds and have given up on sewing forever), I am back to tell you what the heck to do with all of that leftover holiday ham! This recipe is also really cool if you happen to be at your parent’s house and they have half a sack of questionable potatoes that have begun to grow limbs and like three pounds of carrots because your mother keeps buying carrots despite the fact that no one in your house really eats carrots. Also, mostly healthy, so rock on.

Tools:

• A stock pot (The Stock Pot is at school)
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife
• Stirring utensil

Food:

• 1 lb bag of dried split peas
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 3-4 potatoes
• 3-4 carrots
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 tsp garlic
• 1 lb pre-cooked ham
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

• As for all dried and bagged veggies, check for rocks and other exciting debris before adding to your pot. Add chicken stock to peas, along with enough water to keep everything covered. You’ll probably need to keep adding water as the moisture simmers off, and that is perfectly okay. Bring everything to a boil and then simmer on low, stirring every once in a while until the peas turn to a lovely green mush.
• Chop up your ham and veggies (garlic is a veggie), add them to the green mush.
• Simmer until the veggies are tender, stirring occasionally. Salt and pepper until you like the way it tastes.
• Serve it up with some fancy bread!

Does that mean super special Thanksgiving soup time? NOPE! No soup this week kids, because after tomorrow I will have someone else’s food to eat.

There may be a super special “cooking at my Mom’s house using her groceries” episode this week, but who knows. Thanksgiving week already means a buttload of food and there might not even be room in my fridge.

Hey there folks. This week’s soup is Bean and Ham. Yes, this recipe is partially lifted from the “12 Bean Soup Mix” bag that you can find at any supermarket ever. However, this recipe is better, and I base my argument solely on the fact that nowhere in this recipe will the term “Ham Flavor Packet” be used.

Tools: 

• The Stock Pot.
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife
• Stirring Implement

Food:

• 2 lbs dried beans (I used the 12 bean mix and light kidneys)
• 2 lbs ham, cubed 
• 1 can crushed tomatoes
• Onion
• Carrots
• Celery
• 2 tsp chopped garlic
• Salt, pepper, chili powder, to taste

Instructions:

• Wash those beans and check for rocks and/or baby teeth. Throw them into The Stock Pot with enough water to cover, boil for 1 hour.
• Chop up veggies, add to pot along with ham, tomatoes, garlic and spices.
• Simmer for 1 hour.
• Eat it.

Clam chowder is not a healthy soup. It is, however, my favorite soup. It is also the perfect soup for when you are in one of those “I’m just going to hibernate in this cave call me when it’s June-ish” kind of moods. 

I’ll admit it, I have had both fear and reverence for cream soups. Even when I was five and figured out how to make it out of a can, cream soups just seem more.. risky. However, this recipe is nothing to fear. You will need two pots, but overall it’s pretty straight forward. Also, it’s fricken clam chowder. 

Tools:

• The Stock Pot
• Medium Pot
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife
• Spoon 
• Whisk 
• Can Opener

Ingredients:

• 3-4 Potatoes
• 3-4 Carrots
• 3-4 Celery Shoots
• 1/2 Onion
• 4 6.5 oz tins Minced/Chopped Clams
• 1 1/2 sticks Butter
• 3/4 cup Flour
• 1 quart Half and Half
• 3 tbls. Red Wine
• Salt and Pepper to Taste

Instructions:

• Chop veggies, put them in the stock pot.
• Add liquid from clam tins (save the clams) plus enough water to cover veggies, bring to a boil then simmer until the veggies are tender.
• In the medium pot, melt butter. Add flour, and keep whisking until the mix turns a light brown. (Not waiting until the butter turns brown means your broth will taste like flour.) Stir in half and half until the mixture thickens. Do not bring to a boil.
• Add half and half mixture to the veggies. Add seasonings and wine. (again avoiding boiling the soup).
• Once hot, stir in clams.
• Enjoy!

Ya’ll it’s Halloween! Also, it’s Monday, and that means soup. And since we just made chicken stock, we are all set on ingredients!

Tools:

• The Stock Pot
• Cutting Board
• Sharp Knife 
• Wooden Spoon

Food:

• 8 Cups Chicken Stock
• Roasted Chicken, cut into pieces
• Onion
• Carrots
• Celery
• Whole Grain Pasta
• Italian Seasoning
• Chili Powder
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

• Chop them veggies, throw them in the stock pot
• Add chicken stock, chicken, and spices to taste
• Bring to a boil, then simmer with the lid on for 20 min or until veggies are tender
• Add pasta, simmer for another 10 minutes until pasta is done
• Eat your soup!

Making chicken stock is kind of gross. I say that mainly because it requires carving a chicken, which for me quickly turned into disregarding any sort of official carving technique and hacking away like Jason Vorhees. Anyway, any soup chef worth his or her salt should be able to make a simple stock, right? And it’s a great way to use the stuff you would normally throw out when you make say.. chicken noodle soup, which is what we’re going to do next.

Tools:

• Cutting Board
• Sharp Carving Knife
• The Stock Pot.
• Spoon

Food:

• 1 Roasted Chicken (if you are feeling really adventurous, roast it yourself. Otherwise, hit up your local deli for a pre-made one)
• Carrots
• Onion
• Celery
• Italian Seasoning
• Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

• Carve up that chicken. There is a lovely tutorial here, but if you are the devil-may-care type that I am, just sort of put the meat parts in a bowl, and put the non-meat parts in another bowl. You’re going to find a lot of interesting things inside that chicken. Save all of it. Throw the meat in the fridge for another recipe, and put the non-meat bits (yes, all of them) in your pot.
• Chop those veggies. Now is the perfect time to make use of the funkier parts of the vegetable. They’re in there for flavor, not for show. You can keep the prettier parts of the veggies for a soup in the future.  
• Throw everything in the pot, using the seasoning to taste. Add enough water to cover. Yes, I know it looks like a monster movie in there. 
• Bring everything to a boil, and then simmer for four hours with the lid on. Stir occasionally and skim off any foam that bubbles up to the top. Enjoy the chicken smell permeating your whole apartment.
• Strain out the non broth bits with a colander, and you are ready to use it for some soup!

My dad (My Dave) has been fiddling with this chili recipe for the entire history of him making it. I do not know where he found it. Perhaps it came to him in a vision, or maybe it was on the back of a can of beans. Anyway, this is my version of his version of Chili, and it is pretty darn good. 

This isn’t a “burn all of the mucus membranes along your digestive tract because you are a masochistic nut” kind of chili. It’s a hearty, meaty, beansy kind that is awesome with cheese and chips and has enough kick to keep things interesting. Best part? All of those veggies means it’s actually good for you.

Tools:

• The Stock Pot. 
• Spatula
• Can Opener

Foods:

• 1 lb ground meat (lean is best because we all want to keep our girlish figures, right guys? I usually go beef, but turkey is okay too. It just tends to give you that unique funkified turkey taste)
• 1 onion
• 5-6 Jalapeno peppers
• 1 can each of: Light Kidney Beans, Dark Kidney Beans, Black Beans, Chili Beans, Tomato Sauce, and Diced Tomatoes
• Chili Powder
• Red Pepper
• Sriracha Sauce

Instructions:

• Chop up those fresh veggies. Try not to cry or amputate anything you may need later.
• Throw the meat and chopped veggies in your stock pot. Brown it on medium, then drain any excess fat in case you didn’t listen to the whole “lean meat” thing
• Drain all of the beans that aren’t Chili beans. Put them in the pot
• Add the Chili beans you didn’t drain, tomato sauce and diced tomatoes
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour with the lid on. Stir it occasionally
• Toss in as much Chili Powder, Red Pepper, and Sriracha as you want, depending on how dangerous you feel
• Eat it, or store in the fridge for about a week, freezer for a few months