Autumn Soup

I received this recipe in an email from my Aunt JoAnn. Chris and I loved it.

Autumn Soup

1 1/2 lbs. ground beef

1 med. onion, chopped

1 lg. can of tomatoes (they can be crushed or whole, if whole you need to break them up)

1 can of water from the tomato can

2 potatoes, diced and peeled

1 1/2 cups of diced celery

1 - 2 tsp. of dried sweet basil

Salt and pepper to taste.

Brown the hamburger with the onion. Add it to a crock pot with all the other ingredients. Make sure that the liquids cover the raw vegetables. Put on low for 6 hrs. or less. Most of the stuff will be ready.

If your going to have company for dinner, add another potato, and some chopped celery.

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Base Ingredients:
6 large potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, diced
1 quart homemade chicken broth
6 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup butter
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste


1 cup cream
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Garnish: chives, sour cream, bacon, and cheese


Cook the base ingredients in your crock pot for 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low. Add the cream, cheese, and garnishes.

Spud Special Soup

3 tablespoons of butter
1 large onion
1/2 cup carrot, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic
4 cups diced potatoes
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon parsley flakes
1 cup browned sausage
1/2 cup cheese, grated

Brown sausage in a pot. Add butter, onion, carrots, and garlic and cook until the onion is soft and clear. Add potatoes, broth, salt, pepper, parsley, and sausage. Cover and simmer until all ingredients are cooked. Stir occasionally. Turn off the heat and add the milk. Serve with cheese as a garnish.

Cream of Spinach and Sweet Potato Soup

Chris does not like sweet potatoes or spinach so we thought he would hate this meal that a neighbor gave us, but one bite and he was hooked. He is still not sure why he likes a dish with so many items that he does not like in it. I think it is great because spinach and sweet potatoes both have a lot of nutrients and we need to keep them in our diet. Also it is beautiful when served.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large bunch of spinach
1 lb mushrooms, diced
1/2 cup rice
1 lb sweet potatoes, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium squash, chopped
2 cups beef broth or Better than Bullion
3 bay leafs
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups heavy cream

Cook oil, garlic, onion, and spinach until the spinach is bright green. Add sweet potatoes, mushrooms, rice, broth, bay leaves, salt and pepper.  Simmer for 30 minutes on low. Add the cream and stir until warm, then serve.

The vegetables in this soup are bright and delicious. 

The cream really makes it a comfort food. 

Cream of Mushroom Soup

Chris and I do our shopping on Sundays after church. I have found that often on Saturday I have a bunch of left over vegetables from the week that are about to expire. So I make what I call "Saturday Soup." I just throw all the vegetables in the Crockpot and hope it turns out well. Chris calls it "Wife Soup." Well one weekend I found that I had a whole lot of left over mushrooms and not much of anything else. So what do you do with a whole lot of mushrooms, some onions, a lemon and 1/2 cup of cream. I made cream of mushroom soup.  The really long vegetable in the picture is green onions. For some reason they are sold really big here and we usually have to fold them in half to make them fit in the vegetable drawer.

4 small green onions or 1 large, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/4 cup lemon juice

2 tsp thyme

1/4 cup of butter

2 lbs mushrooms, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons flour

3 cups chicken broth

1 cup of cream

Cook the onions, garlic, lemon and thyme in the melted butter until the garlic is golden, about 1 minute. 

Add the mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook until the mushrooms are soft about 2 minutes. 

Add the flour and cook for another minute, stirring constantly. 

Remove from heat and add the broth. Return to the heat and cook on low for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. 

Wisk in the cream, heat until warm. Do not let it boil. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve. 

Crockpot Potato Soup with Clams

This recipe was for plain potato soup but the soup was bland so we added clams to it, which improved it greatly.

6 small potatoes chopped not peeled
1/2 medium onion chopped
water
3 strips of bacon
1/2 lb (200 grams) fresh shelled clams chopped
2 cups of milk
1 TBS Butter.

Place chopped potatoes and onion in crockpot. Add just enough water to cover the potatoes. Cook on low for 8 hours.

Add the clams and turn the pot to high.

Fry the bacon in a frying pan. When crispy, crumble it and place it in the pot. Add about 2 cups of milk or cream and the butter.

Stir just until the milk or cream is warm.

You can add all the ingredents in the morning. We don't because we often forget to buy the clams early. We like to use only fresh clams and we often forget to buy them the night before. (Except the bacon, it is best added just before serving.

You do not have to use a Crockpot to make this meal. Just boil the potatoes like you would for mashed potatoes. When they are soft add the other ingredients. Heat until warm and serve.

Chris likes this as a soup. I prefer clam chowder. So I took the leftovers (only one serving) the next night, and put it in a frying pan. I brought it to a boil slowly being careful not to scorch the milk. Then I took half a cup on cold water, added 1 TBS flour and shook it up. I added it to the pan and stired until it became thick. So I had a nice filling chowder.