Butternut Squash Soup

In my ongoing quest to have more than one favorite soup for my work lunches, I looked around for another butternut squash soup. I have a couple of requirements for my lunches: they need to be mostly vegetables, full of flavor, and stick with me through the rest of the work day. I found this recipe and asked Kent to make it up this weekend. It's a big hit, especially the chickpeas on top. And it's a slow cooker recipe. Although we usually use dried beans rather than canned, in this case the canned chickpeas were cheaper than dried. Isn't that odd?

The chickpeas stayed crispy when stored in a covered container; don't combine them in the soup ahead of time. You'll miss out on a great texture combination.S

Soup ingredients

• 2 small butternut squash (about four pounds), peeled, seeds and fibers removed, and diced (about an inch cube)
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 4 C chicken or vegetable broth 
• 1 T ground cumin

Chickpeas

• 2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 t ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 t smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Soup

1. Place the squash, bell pepper, carrots, and onion in a large slow cooker. 
2. Add the broth and cumin.
3. Cover and cook on high until the vegetables are soft and beginning to dissolve into the liquid (for us, it took about six hours). 
4. While the soup cooks, follow the directions below for the chickpeas.
5. When the vegetables are soft, use an immersion blender to puree the soup until mostly smooth (leave it lumpier if you prefer it that way).
6. Top with the chickpeas and serve immediately.
7. Enjoy!

Chickpeas

1. Place the drained chickpeas in a colander and let sit for about an hour.
2. Line a baking sheet with a double layer of paper towels and place the chickpeas on the paper towel for about another hour.
3. An hour before the soup is done, preheat the oven to 400°F. 
4. Place the chickpeas in a bowl and drizzle with the olive oil.
5. Add spices and shake until the chickpeas are evenly coated.
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the chickpeas in a single layer on the parchment paper.
7. Place the pan in the oven and bake until the chickpeas are crispy, about 40 to 50 minutes. Shake the baking sheet every 10 minutes to ensure even baking.
8. Remove from the oven when done.

Chickpeas after baking

Spicy Vegetable Soup

You control how spicy this soup is—if you like it hotter, dice the adobo peppers finely and use two or three. If you don’t want it hot, then use one and either don’t dice it at all or cut it into large pieces. The heat comes from the seeds in the pepper and when they get diced, they get hot. The adobo sauce isn’t (or shouldn’t be) hot; it’s just flavorful. I’ve also found that the Lacostena brand is hotter than the Hernandez brand. I prefer Hernandez for the flavor.

As written, this soup makes about eight to 10 servings, depending on how much water/broth I add.

Ingredients:

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (we use fire-roasted)
28 ounces chicken broth or water or a combination
2 C frozen corn OR one can corn, drained
1 pound carrots, peeled and diced
1 pound celery, diced
1 small or ½ large white onion, diced
3 or 4 small red potatoes, diced
1 to 3 adobo peppers, diced or a packet of taco seasoning
1 can pinto or black beans, drained

Directions:

• Saute all the vegetables, beans and potatoes in a skillet (I use a bit of canola oil) until the onion and celery are softened.
• Stir in the beans.
• If you are using the taco seasoning, sprinkle over the vegetables and stir. Cook just a bit longer til bubbly. 
• If you are using the adobo peppers, add to the skillet and stir. 
• Put the vegetables in the slow cooker and add the tomatoes and broth.
• If needed, add water to almost fill the slow cooker. 
• Cook on high for about eight hours.

Go here for nutritional information per serving.

Cheater Chicken Soup

Very occasionally, we’ll pick up a grocery store rotisserie chicken for dinner. To alleviate the guilt of not having made dinner from scratch, I stretch that bird to cover a few meals and then use the carcass as the basis for what I call cheater chicken soup. It’s cheating because it’s not entirely made from scratch but boy is it tasty. I prefer pasta in the soup because the pasta ends up behaving like dumplings. Use potatoes if you prefer that instead.

This is not a complicated recipe in terms of hands on time but does take two days just so you can get your broth properly made.

Ingredients: 
The carcass of one rotisserie chicken OR the remnants of a whole chicken you’ve previously roasted
Two carrots, peeled and diced
About half of a medium white onion, coarsely chopped
One small potato, diced into cubes OR a handful or two of your favorite uncooked pasta
Two stalks celery, diced
A liberal sprinkling of Italian seasoning
One bay leaf
Lots of water

Directions:

Day 1
Simmer the carcass and seasonings in enough water to fill a large stock pot for several hours.
Cool overnight.

Day 2

• Strain and discard the fat from the surface of the broth.
• Pick off any meat remnants from your carcass and toss into the broth.
• Add the vegetables.
• If you are using pasta, add the pasta.
• Simmer for another couple of hours.
• Add salt and pepper to taste to your individual bowls.

Amazing Tomato Soup

I love soup for lunch when the weather gets cooler. When we lived in Boston, I improvised a tomato soup very loosely based on a recipe from Food & Wine. This is a quick soup and is ready in less than an hour from start to finish. It makes four to five servings as written.

Here’s a tip—you don’t need to peel your garlic cloves before you put them through your press. In fact if you don’t peel them, your press will be a lot easier to clean up.

Finally, I almost never add salt and pepper while cooking something. I prefer to add them at the table.

Ingredients:

1 T butter
1 T olive oil
1 small or ½ medium white onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, put through a press
2 t smoked paprika (it makes a difference to the taste so get smoked paprika)
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes (I prefer fire roasted tomatoes)
3 T tomato paste
1 ½ C water
1/3 C light cream
1 sprig of thyme or about ½ t dried thyme
1 bay leaf

Directions:

• Melt the butter and oil together in a pan large enough to hold all the ingredients.
• Add the finely diced onion and garlic to the pan and sauté until tender and translucent, about five minutes.
• Add the paprika and stir well.
• Add the tomatoes with their juice, the tomato paste, the water, the thyme and bay leaf.
• Stir well and simmer for about 15 to 30 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir in the cream.

Lentil Soup

Looks like mud but tastes oh so good

This lentil soup isn't spicy-hot; I'd categorize it as spicy-flavorful. If you're worried that it will be too hot for you, you can always cut the cayenne in half. But I think you'll miss the flavor. As made, I got eight servings of soup from this recipe.

Ingredients:
16 ounces lentils
2 carrots, peeled and coarsely diced
2 celery stalks, coarsely diced
8 cups water or broth, or a mixture plus more water if needed
2 T olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, put through a press or otherwise mashed
1 16-ounce can chopped tomatoes
½ C minced cilantro leaves
½ t cayenne
1 t ground cumin

Directions:

• In a large stock pot, combine the lentils, carrots, celery, and water or stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low.
• Cover and cook until the lentils are done, stirring occasionally. My lentils take about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet and sauté the onions and garlic until soft.
• Add the cayenne and cumin and stir well. Cook for about a minute.
• Add the tomatoes (including the juice) to the skillet, and cook for a few minutes.
• When the lentils are done, add the mixture from the skillet to the large stock pot and stir well (this is where you may want the extra water or broth).
• Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. We prefer a fairly smooth texture; if you like your soup chunkier, just blend a little bit.

As made, I generally get about nine or 10 servings. Nutritional information is here.