Hello there, and Happy Friday!
I haven't been around too much this week, but it's not for lack of stuff going on behind the scenes. It's a strange thing, the whole "readying for Christmas when one should be enjoying Halloween". I've been working on Christmas products (exciting but not-quite-the-proper-thing-to-share just yet) and on a long-term project that I'm very invested in. And, enjoying warm drinks and crunching leaves, of course.
Also, things from bowls. Two soups I want to share that I love. Both are very hearty, but that is all they have in common. I'm a big soup person. I love 95% of soups, so when soup-weather rolls around, I get very excited.
The first soup is a stew from an old Martha issue. We both love it. It has heaps of parsnips, which is a plus in my book. In fact, this is the soup that introduced me to parsnips. And now I am in love with the little ghost-carrots.
You can follow the recipe here, but we make a few substitutions/omissions. We use turkey sausage as a rule, but my suspicion is that veggie crumbles would be very good, too, and besides swapping to veggie stock, is the only substitution you'd need to make it a vegetarian stew.
Also, the recipe calls for a generic "handful" of herbs, but I say rosemary all the way. But then again, given the choice, I always go with rosemary. Oh! I also omit the pearl onions.
The other soup is my guilty pleasure soup...the ol' Broccoli + Cheddar variety.
This soup might be a little more low-rent than the fall stew above. I don't know. It's definitely not good-for-you, but it's so good to have once in a while. This is my take on a recipe that I found on AllRecipes a few years ago:
INGREDIENTS:
2 Tablespoons butter
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 large yellow or white onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 crushed garlic clove
1 1/4 cups 2% milk
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
5 oz grated sharp cheddar
Large handful of grated monterey jack cheese
16 oz package frozen chopped broccoli
1. Melt butter in stock pot on medium, add onion and cook til' soft. Add pepper and garlic, and cook for a few minutes. Add broccoli and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then simmer to broccoli is tender (10-15 minutes).
2. In separate bowl, whisk flour into milk until completely dissolved. Stir into soup, stirring frequently ti'l thickened. Reduce heat to low, and then stir in cheese til smooth and heated through. Salt to taste.
Serves 4-5.
Enjoy, if you try one of my favorite soups!
If not, enjoy your Fall (or Spring, depending on the hemisphere) weekend.
xoxo