Spaghetti Soup and Cheesy Garlic Bread

I love making soup!  You've probably noticed soup is on our fall/winter menu quite a bit.  I love making soup because I become like a magician in the kitchen.  I can take nothing and turn it into something.  Spaghetti Soup is one of my family's favorite recipes that I created from a bunch of nothin' and turned it into something great!

Do you ever have just a little bit of spaghetti sauce leftover at the end of dinner?  I'll make a pound of pasta and a batch of sauce, but it always seems we have one scoop of sauce leftover at the end of the meal.  I used to just toss that away because it seemed like it was not enough to bother with.   Then one day, I needed something for dinner that needed to be made from the ingredients on hand because the littlest one was down for a nap and there was no time to go to the store before dinner.  I had a small bowl of spaghetti sauce in the fridge and just started adding some things to it into make a soup.  The end result was fantastic!  Now, instead of throwing away those small bits of sauce, I freeze them and when I have about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of sauce collected, I make a batch of this Spaghetti Soup. 

The kids love this dish!  The littlest one scraped her bowl clean before I had a chance to even finish my salad!   The soup comes together in under 30 minutes which is perfect for our busy afterschool schedule.  The soup cooked while I made a loaf of garlic cheese bread and helped supervise some music practice.  If you choose to make the soup ahead, it will thicken up so you'll have to add a little water before serving it.  Because I made this soup from all our leftover bits and pieces, it was very economical.  It's a good end-of-pay-period kind of meal or great for a night when you might want to spend your grocery budget on a fancy dessert or a family ice cream date.

Here's the recipe:

Spaghetti Soup
1 Tbsp olive oil
2-3 Tbsp chopped onion and celery
1 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 - 2 cups of leftover spaghetti sauce
1 can of diced tomatoes (I use home canned tomatoes from my mother in law)
1 can of tomato sauce (small or large can; whatever you have)
2 cups beef broth (or 2 cups water and 2 beef bouillon cubes)
1/2 - 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 pound of spaghetti noodles broken in 1 inch pieces
Parmesan cheese for garnish

1.  Drizzle olive oil in a large stock pot.
2.  Saute onions and celery until opaque.
3.  Add garlic, spaghetti sauce, tomatoes, and tomato sauce.  Rinse out the cans/containers with a little water (no more than 3/4 cup total)
4.  Add beef broth, salt, and Italian seasonings and stir.
5.  Bring to a boil.
6.  Add spaghetti noodles and stir.
7.  Cook at a low boil until noodles are tender and soup thickens. (about 15 -20 minutes)

Serve with pamesan cheese on top.  (You'll have to imagine some parmesan on the top of this bowl in the picture.  I forgot to take a picture BEFORE we ate, and this was all that was left!  Our original bowls were filled a bit more towards the top!)

Spaghetti Soup and Cheesy Garlic Bread

My kids love to order cheesy garlic bread whenever we get pizza!  I picked up a loaf of fresh Italian Bread on the way home from school and thought it would make a great addition to our soup.  We LOVED this bread!  They all said I could give Donatos a run for their cheesy garlic bread money!  Try some today!

Cheesy Garlic Bread
1 loaf of Italian Bread (often $1 or less at Kroger)
4-5 Tbsp Spreadable Butter (I used Country Crock)
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp of dried parsley
few shakes of salt
1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese (or Ital blend with provolone)

1.  Slice bread horizontally.
2.  In a small bowl, mix together the butter, garlic powder, parsley, and salt.
3.  Spread the butter mixture on the bread evenly.
4.  Sprinkle cheese on top of the buttered bread.
5.  Place cheese topped bread on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for 15 minutes.
6.  Slice cheesy garlic bread into wedges.

Cheesy Garlic Bread
Your house will smell like a pizzeria with this fresh baked bread topped
with ooey, gooey cheese and a hint of garlic.  I'll take you on, Donatos!

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Soup

Once a month, three other moms and I feed the staff at my girls' elementary school.  This month we'll be doing a dinner on Parent Teacher Conference Night instead of lunch, so I thought I'd invite the girls over for lunch so we could have the chance to plan out our conference dinner and just catch up.  It's always a treat to sit down and have a leisurely lunch with friends.

I often try out new recipes when I have company.  This may be an unusual practice for some, but I like the challenge of finding something new that might please my guests' tastes.  I was fortunate in that my guests all said, "I don't think I ever met a food I didn't like!"  It was a dreary day, the kind of day that seemed to call for soup, and a creamy soup at that.  I saw this post on Mel's Kitchen Cafe about one of her favorite creamy soups containing simple vegetables, chicken, potatoes, and cream cheese and decided to give it my own spin. 

I have been clearing out my freezer stash, so I decided to put together a simple lunch menu based upon what I found on sale at Kroger and the chicken breasts I had leftover from last week's shopping trip.  I first spotted some baby bibb lettuce, grape tomatoes, and English cucumbers for $1 and a yellow pepper for $1.25.  That inspired me to do a simple mixed salad with a light oil and vinegar dressing seasoned with a bit of garlic, salt, and pepper.  When I went to the store to pick up a few things, I spotted asparagus for just $1.99/lb.  I love asparagus, and I thought the green would make a nice addition to the soup.  I also picked up a few red potatoes because I thought the red skins would make a nice touch over regular Idaho potatoes.  I planned to make another batch of artisan bread.  What a wonderful way to greet my guests with a house that smelled of fresh baked bread!  One of my guests offered to bring dessert, so I was all set.

The soup turned out beautifully!  The color combination of the red potatoes with their skins on, the green asparagus, and the orange carrots was very appealing to the eye.  The cream cheese gave the soup a smooth, velvety texture and just the right amount of zing.  The salad was light and offered a nice balance of crunch and sweetness.  The fresh baked artisan bread spread with just a little bit of real butter balanced out this luncheon feast.  What a treat to sit, laugh, and share a great meal with friends.  I was able to get this feast on the table in less than an hour and the entire meal cost less than what it would have cost for just one You Pick 2 Combo at Panera.

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Soup

Here's the recipe:

Creamy Chicken and Asparagus Soup
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced (the inner stalks with the leaves are fine)
2-3 carrots, peeled and sliced into coins
1 tsp minced garlic
3 cups chicken broth (I used 1 cup homemade stock, 2 cups water + 2 tsp bouillon)
3-4 red potatoes, diced with skins on
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 Tbsp flour
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1 block of low fat cream cheese, softened (I put it in microwave for 1 min @ 40% power)
1 bunch asparagus, cooked and cut into 1 inch pieces (saute or steam; I sauteed)
2 cups cooked, diced, chicken breasts (I cook mine in the crock pot in a large batch)

1.  In a large stock pot, melt the butter.
2.  Saute the onions, celery, and carrots for about 2 min or until the onions turn opaque.
3.  Add in the potatoes and chicken broth and seasonings; stir.
4.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer with lid on for 10 minutes.
5.  Check potatoes to see if they are cooked; you don't want them mushy.
6.  Whisk the flour into the milk in a 2 cup measuring cup.
7.  Pour the flour and milk mixture into the soup pot after the potatoes are done.
8.  Gently stir and bring soup to a boil.  (turn up the heat a bit)
9.  Boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring gently to keep it from sticking on the bottom but not enough to break up the potatoes.
10.  Return the heat to low.
11.  Add the cream cheese in cubes.  (The cream cheese should be very soft, so it melts easier.  It might look like it's clumping up; be patient; it will melt.)
 12.  Add the cooked asparagus and the chicken to the soup and heat through.

I always taste my soup after I get everything cooked and in it.  Sometimes I need to add more salt and pepper depending on how much the potatoes absorb or how salty the broth or chicken is.  Adjust it to suit your tastes.

When I make soup, I like to chop all my vegetables first and have them on the counter so I can see if all the ingredients are in balance and add more if necessary.  The great thing about soup is that your measurements don't have to be exact in terms of the ingredients.  Go for balance.

I have learned to do some batch cooking of chicken breasts to have cooked, diced chicken on hand.  I buy chicken breasts only when they are on sale for under $2 a pound.  I cookziploc  bags or containers.

For this recipe, I opted to saute the asparagus before adding them to the soup so they would retain some of their firmness.  I have not put asparagus in soup too many times before, and I didn't want them to end up all mushy.  By sauteing them lightly, they stayed bright green and had the perfect amount of crisp tenderness.   If you don't like asparagus or they are not on sale, I think that green beans would also do nicely for this soup.  You could probably add the green beans with the potatoes and they would cook appropriately.

This was the first time I had used cream cheese in a soup before.  It really did a nice job of making a rich, creamy soup!  I have not done a caloric comparison of using cream cheese to using cream or half and half, but I would imagine it is less.  It had a much richer flavor than the creamy soups I have made in the past using just milk.  The trick to getting the cream cheese to melt nicely into your soup is to soften it quite a bit before adding it to the pot.  I was worried when I made it the first time, because it seemed to be all gloppy, but by the time we served the soup, it had all melted and was incorporated into the base just fine.

I made this soup a second time for dinner last night because I thought it was so good for a cold winter day!  It was just as yummy and came together in about 30 minutes or so.  The kids really liked it, and John took the leftovers for lunch today.

What's your favorite recipe to serve for a special luncheon?

Easy Vegetable Soup

It was time to put together my Spaghetti Soup last week, but when I went to the pantry to get a box of spaghetti, I realized that I had every possible noodle shape except spaghetti!  While I certainly could have made the soup with a different noodle, I decided to make a pot of quick vegetable soup instead.

I like this soup vegetable recipe because it can be made quickly and ahead of time.  In fact, it tastes better after it has been sitting on the stove or reheated on a new day.  I also like this soup because my kids eat the whole bowl and it goes great with grilled cheese sandwiches, a favorite comfort quick food at our house.  We like it without meat making it budget friendly, but you could certainly throw in some beef or chicken if you want a heartier meal.  I now make this soup with home canned tomatoes (from my mother in law) and home canned spicy tomato juice (from my dad), but I used to use just canned tomatoes and Spicy V-8 juice from the grocery store.  I was in a bit of a time crunch this week and even discovered a faster way to prepare this soup to fit our busy, on the go schedule. 

Here's the recipe:

Easy Vegetable Soup
1/4 cup diced onion (dice it small so there are no big chunks)
1/4 cup diced celery (use the inner celery stalks with the leaves)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 12 oz. can spicy V-8 juice
3 cups beef broth (I use 3 cups water, 4 beef bouillon cubes)
1 or 2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables
1 heaping tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 bay leaves

1.  Drizzle 1 tbsp olive oil in the bottom of a large stock pot.
2.  Saute the chopped onion and celery for 1-2 minutes.
3.  Add the tomatoes, V-8 juice, beef broth, vegetables, and spices to the pot.
4.  Bring to a boil with the lid on the pot.
5.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until vegetables are tender (about 15 minutes).
6.  Turn off heat and let stand with the lid on until you are ready to eat. 

**The soup will stay warm for a couple hours if you do not take the lid off.  You can also reheat it a bit if necessary at dinner time.

**I learned out of necessity that you can also start preparing this soup 15 minutes before you have to leave the house, bring the soup to a boil, turn off the heat, leave the lid on, go pick up your kids from school, and the soup will be ready when you come back home! 

**I boil just one cup of water in the microwave, add the 4 bouillon cubes to that one cup of water and then add more water to the pot instead of trying to boil 3 cups of water. 

**You can also throw in some shelled edamame with the mixed veggies if you want to add in some extra soy protein; they look like lima beans.

Easy Vegetable Soup
I may be the Campbell's Soup Label Lady at the girls' school, but this
homemade soup is so much better than the stuff in the can.  Give it a try today!

What's your favorite quick soup recipe?

Chicken Mushroom Barley Soup

I first read about this soup on one of the blogs that inspired me to start my own - 5dollardinners.com.  Erin, the blog author, is a cook much like me.  She likes to find a good bargain and tries to make healthy meals for her growing family. 

While the kids were home last week, I took stock of my freezer and pantry and tried to come up with some meals that could make use of what we have.  I made a list and posted it on the freezer so I can remember what I have.  When I went to Kroger on Saturday, I saw a package of mushrooms on Manager Special, so I picked them up with this soup in mind.  I knew I had a chicken carcass in the freezer and some barley in the pantry. 

I usually will make a recipe the way I find it first.  Then I try to tweak it to match my family's tastes or try to simplify it a bit.  This recipe did not need too much tweaking.  You can find the original post at http://www.5dollardinners.com/2010/01/mushroom-barley-soup.html.

Here's the version that I served the family tonight.  It got rave reviews from all.  John said it was the perfect light but hearty dinner for a snowy day after putting away all the Christmas decorations.  It made enough for 3 leftover lunches.  We'll enjoy 2 of them tomorrow and put the 3rd serving in the freezer to pull out on a day when there's nothing else to put in his lunchbox.

Chicken Mushroom Barley Soup
2 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
1/4 cup celery, diced (use the inner stalks with the leaves)
1 tsp minced garlic (or 2 cloves fresh, minced)
1 pkg mushrooms, sliced (button or baby bella)
6 cups homemade chicken broth
1 cup pearled barley
2 tsp dried dill
2 tsp dried parsley
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste (1/2 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp pepper or so)
1-2 cups of cooked, chopped, chicken breast

1.  Dice up all the veggies.

2.  Melt butter in large stockpot. 
3.  Saute the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic about 3 minutes.
4.  Add the mushrooms and saute about 3 minutes.
5.  Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.  (I think this enhances the flavor a bit)
6.  Add in the chicken broth, dill, parsley, and bay leaf and bring to a boil.
7.  Add the barley.  Stir.  Return to a boil.
8.  Simmer on low for 55 minutes.
9.  Test to see if the barley is cooked tender enough.  Add more salt and pepper to taste if needed.
10.  Add cooked chicken.  (I like to add my meat after the barley has cooked because I think it allows the meat to be more tender.  It also cooled the soup down enough that we could eat it without being too hot.)

We had this with crusty bread, tossed salad, and fluffy orange salad (recipe to come later). 

What do you have in your freezer or pantry that could be made into a meal?