Summer Squash and Corn Chowder

This is my favorite summer soup. I know it seems weird to eat a hot soup in summer but this is delicious and a great way to use up squash from your garden. Plus it is light. The recipe came from Cooking Light and if you follow the directions exactly it only has 285 calories per serving. I usually double this recipe so I can have some leftovers the next day.

Summer Squash and Corn Chowder
4 Servings

2 slices applewood-smoked bacon
3/4 cup sliced green onions, divided
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 pound yellow summer squash, chopped
1 pound frozen white and yellow corn kernels, thawed and divided
2 1/4 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Cook bacon in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crisp. Remove bacon from pan, reserving 2 teaspoons drippings in pan. Crumble bacon, and set aside. Add 1/2 cup onions, celery and squash to drippings in pan; saute 8 minutes or until vegetables are tender.

2. Reserve 1 cup corn; set aside. Place the remaining corn and 1 cup milk in a blender; process until smooth. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups milk, thyme, 1/2 tsp salt, and pepper to blender; process until just combined. Add pureed mixture and reserved 1 cup corn to pan. Reduce heat to medium; cook 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring constantly. Stir in 1/8 tsp salt.

Ladle about 1 1/2 cups soup into each of 4 bowls; top each serving with about 1 Tbsp bacon, 1 Tbsp remaining onions, and 1 Tbsp cheese.

Asparagus Corn Chowder

It snowed in Reno. A lot. Last week it was sunny and dry and even got up to 67*. It was wonderful. Now it's freezing and snowing. So I decided to make soup to warm everyone up and it hit the spot. I even made some Parmesan Cheese Toast to sop up all the goodness. We were lucky enough to stop at Schat's Bakery on our way home from Disneyland and got some lovely Sourdough Rosemary Bread which worked very nicely with the soup. If you have never been to this bakery, I highly recommend stopping there next time you are skiing in Mammoth or going to Bishop, CA. The second you walk in the door your over-zealous craving for carbs kicks in and you want to buy everything in sight. The quality is outstanding as everything in sight is made by hand. Good luck deciding. We managed to get out of there with two loaves of delicious bread, a turkey sandwich to share, and one M&M cookie picked out by John 5. Out of all the delicious treats in that beautiful case he picked an M&M cookie. Tragedy. And onto the main event, I loved this chowder.

Asparagus Corn Chowder

Serves 4-6

4 strips turkey bacon, chopped

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, small diced

2 potatoes, peeled and diced

6 cups chicken stock

dash red pepper flakes

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1/4 lb asparagus, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 (16 oz) bag frozen corn

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup cream

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat; add chopped bacon and cook until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon and let drain on a paper towel.

Add onion, and cook, stirring occasionally until soft, 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add broth, potato, Italian Seasoning, and red pepper flakes. Bring to a boil and simmer until potato is just tender, about 8 minutes.

Stir in asparagus and corn; season with salt and pepper. Simmer until asparagus are tender, about 8 more minutes. Place immersion blender in soup pot and blend just enough to thicken the soup a little, but still leaving plenty of veggie chunks in sight. Add cheese and stir to melt.

Serve with cheese, bacon crumbles and some yummy Parmesan Cheese toast

Parmesan Cheese Toast

1 slice bread

butter

Parmesan cheese

Turn on your oven to broil. Place buttered bread on a baking sheet and shred some Parmesan over the top. Broil for 2-3 minutes. Yum.

Beef and Barley Soup

This recipe is for Kristi, who inspired me to make this by asking me if I ever have. So delicious! Kristi has since moved to San Diego where her husband got a new job, so yay for employment and boo for friends leaving. I got this recipe from a food blog that I love, Prudence Pennywise. She made it in the slow cooker, which I would have done if I had the time, but I didn't so I made it on the stove. Everyone who eats in my family loved it.

1 lb. stew meat
1 large onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 ribs celery, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
1 clove garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon dried parsley, or 2 tablespoons fresh
Add later:
1/2 cup uncooked pearl barley (quick cooking is fine)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
fresh parsley, for serving

Slow Cooker version:
Add meat through parsley to crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 3-4 hours. Add barley for last hour of cooking. Stir in vinegar and sugar. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Stove top:
Heat 2 Tbsp oil a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onions, carrots, celery and mushrooms. Cook until onions are translucent an mushrooms have browned, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Add garlic and stew meat and sprinkle with salt. Brown the outside of the meat for about 3 minutes then pour in beef broth.
Bring to a boil; add red pepper flakes, bay leaf, parsley and barley. Let simmer, covered, for 35-45 minutes, until the barley has cooked through. Add vinegar and sugar. Adjust seasonings as needed.

Lightened-Up Potato Cheese Soup

When it's stormy and freezing outside there are few things that warm you as well as a good bowl of soup, especially if it is a creamy, delicious bowl of cheesy potato soup. The only downside is that you will have to wear stretch pants to eat it and still be comfortable. The original recipe comes from my Aunt Pat who is an amazing cook, but since I would like to continue to button my pants I needed to lighten up her recipe a little. If you want the original recipe e-mail me and I will gladly send it to you.

2 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 ribs celery, chopped
1/2 large onion, chopped
6 potatoes, peeled and chopped into small dice
2 tsp olive oil
4 cups water + 4 tsp chicken bouillon OR 4 cups chicken stock
3 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
2-3 cups 1% milk
4 oz Velveeta cheese, cubed

In a large pot, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium-high. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook until onions are almost translucent, about 5 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt and some pepper. Add water and bouillon (or stock) to pot and bring to a boil; once boiling add potatoes and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes.

In a medium pot melt butter and add flour, stirring constantly to combine, about 1 minute. Slowly pour in 2 cups of milk. Heat through and add cubed Velveeta, stirring until melted. Add to potato pot and stir to combine. Simmer for 20 minutes. If soup is too thick add another cup of milk and stir to combine.


Note: cut your potatoes into small to medium size chunks so that when you eat them you don't get a big hunk of bland potato.

Chicken Dumpling Soup

My mom used to make us Chicken Dumpling Soup, she even made her own stock. Which is pretty impressive all on its own but now is more so because she thinks Ragu tastes good. It was one of my favorite soups growing up. I loved the dumplings but hated the celery. The secret is chopping the celery really small so you still get all the flavor but skip that nasty crunch. It's not really a secret but I just now figured it out, so apparently it was a secret to me. To make my soup I used a combination of three different recipes. I used a little from my mom, Ina Garten, and Better Homes and Garden. Here's what I did:


2 chicken breasts
kosher salt
cracked pepper
8 cups of water
8 tsp chicken granules
2 stalks medium celery diced
3 medium carrots diced
1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp canola oil

Soup:
Generously salt and pepper chicken and broil chicken on hi until no longer pink, about 6-8 minutes.
Bring water and chicken granules to a boil. Add celery and carrots and simmer for 10 min. Shred chicken and add to soup.

Dumplings:
In a medium bowl add flour, baking powder, salt and whisk together. Combine milk and oil and add to dry ingredients. Stir until moistened. Drop Tablespoon sizes of dough into soup. Cover, return to a boil reduce heat and cook 12-15min.