Tag: soup

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

I like things in my life to be fairly simple. That is why this slow cooker chicken tortilla soup recipe is a winner in my book. The soup itself requires barely any prep time at all. If you want to really save time with this recipe, you can opt out of doing the tortilla crisps, and just use store-bought tortilla chips instead. I think the tortilla crisps add a nice touch, though. I love topping this soup with with avocado, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and the tortilla strips. This soup is great for leftovers because the soup actually gets even better after being in the fridge for about a day, since it gives the flavors a chance to meld together even more. Hope you love this one as much as we do! Enjoy.

Recipe for Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

INGREDIENTS

I love the homemade tortilla strips in this recipe!
  • 5 cups chicken broth
  • 1 29-ounce can diced tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup diced yellow onion
  • 4 cloves of garlic, pressed
  • 2 tsp. cumin powder
  • 1 Tbsp. chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 tsp ground coriander
  • Pinch or two of salt
  • Freshly ground pepper
  • 2 1/2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 14.5 ounce cans of black beans
  • 2 cups of frozen corn
  • 2 Tbsp. of freshly squeezed lime juice
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • For topping: chopped avocado, sour cream, cheddar cheese
  • For the tortilla strips:
  • 4 8-inch flour tortillas
  • 2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • salt

DIRECTIONS

For the soup
Put the chicken broth, tomatoes, onion, garlic, and spices into the bowl of a slow cooker. Add the salt and pepper. Drop the chicken into the mixture, cover with the slow cooker lid, and cook on low heat for 6 hours (or until chicken is cooked and shreds easily with a fork).
Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken from the slow cooker and transfer to a plate. Use a fork to shred the chicken into smallish pieces. Then add the chicken back to the slow cooker and stir in the beans, corn, lime juice, and cilantro. Cook for an additional 10 – 15 minutes. While it finishes cooking, make the tortilla strips.

Once tortilla strips are finished, ladle the soup into bowls and top with grated cheese, sour cream (or full-fat Greek yogurt), chopped avocado, and tortilla strips.

*If you make the soup later in the day like I did, ladle the soup into airtight containers and store in the fridge. Reheat in a pan over medium-low heat on the stove top. I actually found that the soup got even better leftover because the flavors melded together more in the fridge! 

For the tortilla strips
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a baking sheet with Misto or Pam.  In a small bowl, stir the oil and spices together. Brush each side of a tortilla lightly with the oil mixture (about 1/2 tsp.per side – you will not use all of the mixture). Then stack the flour tortillas together on a cutting board and cut into desired sized strips.. Put the strips in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and sprinkle salt over top. Place in oven and cook until crispy, about 10 – 15 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet until ready to use. Any leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.

*If you want to save time on this recipe, use tortilla chips in place of the tortilla strips!

Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe makes approximately 8 servings.

Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe adapted from: Cooking Classy
 Tortilla Strips recipe adapted from: Food.com

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5-Ingredient Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

This soup is super awesome because you make barely any mess making it, the prep time is less than 1 minute, and the cooking time is just a little over 5 minutes. Oh, and it also is pretty darn tasty AND healthy. It’s loaded with Vitamin A, protein, and fiber. You can make it with more kick based on the type of salsa you use in the recipe. The first few times I made it I used a Hatch Chile salsa, and it was nice and spicy. Now when I make this soup, I like to use a milder salsa to make everyone in the family happy. You can serve this soup with quesadillas or serve it on its own with some tortilla chips. I love warming the tortilla chips in the oven with a little olive oil and salt to serve with chili type recipes. This soup is rich and creamy, and is definitely a comfort-type food, but it has the bonus of being good for you. Enjoy!

Recipe for 5-Ingredient Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

INGREDIENTS

1 can of black beans (15.5 ounces), drained and rinsed
1/2 cup of water, vegetable broth, or chicken broth
1/3 cup of canned pumpkin puree
1/3 cup of salsa (we like it with Newman’s own Farmer’s Garden – you can use hot or mild salsa)
1/2 tsp. of cumin powder
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/3 cup of full-fat Greek yogurt or sour cream

DIRECTIONS

Dump the black beans, water, pumpkin puree, and salsa into a medium sized pot. Sprinkle in the cumin powder, salt, and pepper. Use a spoon to mix well. Set the pot over medium heat on the stove top and cook for 4 – 5 minutes, or until hot. Then adjust the heat to low and stir in the Greek yogurt until smooth. Cook for an additional 45 seconds to 1 minute (don’t cook too long, because the yogurt will curdle a bit and slightly effects the texture of soup). Remove from heat and ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with white cheddar cheese, if desired.

Makes approximately 2 – 3 servings. 
Original Recipe

Per Serving (with a serving being 1/3 of the recipe): 155 calories, 2 grams fat, 29 grams carbohydrates, 12 grams protein, 8 grams fiber, 50% RDA Vitamin A, 15% RDA Iron,

A great saucepan for making this soup! 

Cheese Tortellini Soup with Chickpeas, Sundried Tomato, and Artichoke

Cold weather means that it is time to eat more soup! This cheese tortellini soup is super yummy and flavorful. There are no onions, garlic, or salt in the recipe! The first time that I made it, Greg told me it would be nice if I had prosciutto or some other type of meat to add to it. However, once he had his first bite, he did not miss the meat at all!

Not only does this soup taste incredible, but it is also so simple to make. It requires minimal chopping (just the sun dried tomatoes) and barely any cook time. You can probably make it from start to finish in less than 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Recipe for Cheese Tortellini Soup with Chickpeas, Sundried Tomato, & Artichoke

INGREDIENTS

7 cups of chicken or vegetable broth (use vegetable to make the soup vegetarian)
3/4 cup of thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes in oil, drained of the oil (reserve 2 tsp.)
1 9 – 10 ounce package of refrigerated cheese-filled tortellinis
2 15-ounce cans of chickpeas, drained
1 8.5 ounce can of chopped artichoke hearts in water, drained (do not use marinated artichokes)
3/4 cup of half and half or light cream
3/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper flakes
Several grinds of freshly ground black pepper
Baby spinach leaves (for topping)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (for topping)

DIRECTIONS

Put the broth into a dutch oven and set over high heat. Bring the broth to a boil and then add in the sun dried tomatoes and tortellini. Boil for 5 minutes, then lower the heat to medium low. Add in the chickpeas, artichokes, reserved sun dried tomato oil, half and half, crush red pepper flakes, and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes.

Ladle soup into bowls. Top each with desired amount of baby spinach leaves and stir. Then top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Serve with your favorite crusty bread, if desired.

Recipe makes about 8 servings
Recipe Adapted from: Foodie Crush 

Zuppa Toscana

Hearty and savory soup with sausage, kale, and potatoes.

This zuppa toscana soup is AMAZING. I made this soup for the first time almost ten years ago, and I have continued to make it several times since then. When I serve this soup at parties, almost everyone who tries it asks me for the recipe. It is so flavorful – it’s made with kale, potatoes, and sausage.  The flavor is so perfect and all I can say is that it is just so delicious. There are barely any meals that my husband truly raves about, but he always is impressed by this zuppa toscana. I hope you will enjoy the soup as much as we do.

Recipe for Zuppa Toscana

INGREDIENTS

1 pound of mild ground Italian sausage
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup of dry white wine or white cooking wine (to deglaze the pan)
1/2 – 1 tsp. of red pepper flakes
2 large or 4 small russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks
2 cups of kale, chopped to your desired size
4 cups of chicken broth
2 cups of water
3/4 cup of heavy cream
Salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS

Place a large stockpot on the stovetop over medium heat. Put the sausage in the pan and cook until it is browned and fully cooked through. Remove the sausage from the pan using a slotted spoon and transfer it to a bowl. Add the chopped onions to the pan and saute for about 5 minutes. Add in the minced garlic and red pepper flakes to the pan and cook for one minutes. Pour the wine into the pot and stir, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen any browned bits (when you pour the wine in, a lot of steam might come up). Add in the chicken broth, water, potatoes, and kale to the pot. Put the sausage back into the pot. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to medium-low and cover the pot. Let the soup simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through. Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Recipe Adapted from: Annie’s Eats

Curried Pumpkin Mushroom Soup

Here is a delicious pumpkin soup recipe. An old coworker of mine had sent me the recipe for this soup. I remember questioning how it would taste when she told me it was a recipe for pumpkin soup with mushrooms. She told me that a nice restaurant in Delaware is famous for the recipe, so that persuaded me to want to try it out. The soup did not disappoint. It’s creamy, hearty, a tad spicy, and soulful. It’s also fairly healthy, since pumpkin is packed full of Vitamin A and mushrooms are high in riboflavin, niacin, and selenium. Greg and I love this soup, and I hope that you love it too! Enjoy.

Recipe for Curried Pumpkin Mushroom Soup

INGREDIENTS

  • 5 TBSP Unsalted Butter
  • 1/2 of a large yellow onion, chopped
  • 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms (baby bella or cremini)
  • 2 Tbsp. of all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp. of curry powder
  • 4 cups of chicken broth
  • 1 16-ounce can of pumpkin
  • 2 Tbsp. of honey
  • 1 Tbsp. of dark brown sugar
  • A dash or two of nutmeg
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 2/3 cup of heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter in a large pot over medium-low heat. Add in the onions and mushrooms and saute over medium heat until softened, about 4 – 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and curry powder. Stir constantly for about 45 seconds and make sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so the flour doesn’t stick to it. Slowly mix in the chicken broth. Add in the pumpkin, honey, brown sugar, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stir together and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, then adjust the heat to medium-low. Simmer the soup for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Mix in the heavy cream and cook soup for one more minute. Serve immediately – makes 6 – 8 servings.

Recipe Adapted from: Delaware Online

The Best Cream of Crab Soup

This soup is possibly the best cream of crab soup I have ever had, and I have had a lot of cream of crab soup in my day, because I live in Maryland! I found the recipe in a cookbook called “The Chesapeake Bay Crabbiest Cookbook,” and it was one of 22 crab soup recipes. I thought the cookbook was the right place to look for my cream of crab soup recipe, especially since I loved a crab cake recipe I had recently used from the book. The soup was easy to make and it tasted amazing. Greg exclaimed how much he liked it, and then after eating it for awhile, he turns to me and says “um, so how unhealthy is this soup, because it seems really rich.” And I was like, “um, well it is CREAM of crab soup, and why do you have to take the fun out of everything?” I then explained to him that although it did have heavy cream, that is was thickened because a flour roux was added to the soup. It is the roux that makes this soup so nice and thick (but of course it’s the cream that makes it so deliciously, um, creamy).  I ended up using crab claw meat for the soup and it worked out well. You can choose to add the sherry, but I don’t think it is necessary. I do recommend sprinkling it with some extra black pepper and Old Bay Seasoning before serving. Oh, and make sure you have some toasty bread or crackers for dipping. Enjoy.

RECIPE FOR THE BEST CREAM OF CRAB SOUP

INGREDIENTS

4 Tbsp. of unsalted butter
1 small to medium yellow onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, pressed
3 Tbsp. of all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. of Old Bay Seasoning
1 1/4 tsp. of freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. of ground yellow mustard
A pinch of cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. of salt
16 ounces of heavy cream
16 ounces of half and half
1 pound of crabmeat (I used crab claw meat)
3 Tbsp. of sherry, optional
Parsley leaves for garnish, optional

DIRECTIONS

Melt the butter over medium-low heat in a large stockpot. Add in the diced onions and pressed garlic and stir. Stir frequently and cook until the onions come to a light golden color.
While the onions are cooking, put the flour, Old Bay Seasoning, black pepper, yellow mustard, cayenne pepper and salt into a smallish bowl and mix.
Once onions are light golden in color, adjust the heat to medium and then make a roux. Add the flour mixture in, and stir continuously to make a blond roux (until the mixture is light golden in color), about 3 – 4 minutes.  After the roux is made, pour in the cream and half and half. Bring it to a boil, and then stir in the crabmeat. Bring the soup back to a boil, and then immediately stir in the sherry, if using.
Ladle the soup into bowls. Sprinkle each with some extra black pepper and Old Bay Seasoning, and garnish with some parsley leaves, if desired.

Recipe makes approximately 6 servings. 

Recipe Adapted from: The Chesapeake Bay Crabbiest Cookbook, by Whitey Schmidt 

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