Beef Nacho Soup

In their most basic form, nachos are simply corn tortilla chips and melted cheese. This soup takes the seasoned beef, cheese, tortillas, tomatoes and chili peppers and combines them in a bowl of steaming yumminess. That is too a word.

Anyway, there is one version of beef nacho soup that seems prolific across the web. Everyone posts it and it seems that everyone "owns" it, but it's exactly the same recipe. Beef, taco seasoning, cheese soup, diced tomatoes with green chilies and milk.

I have an aversion to canned soups in recipes. I've done it. I mean, I have 7 kids, of course I use shortcuts! But, when it comes to a soup blog, I can't conscionably tell you to use a canned soup in the preparation of another soup. That even sounds weird.

So, rather than use a highly processed can of soup, I used a highly processed block of cheese. Yep, I used Velveeta. I often use Velveeta for macaroni and cheese (it's killer - trust me) and it ads the right creaminess without separation like real cheddar.

Here's the recipe, with baked tortilla chips on top - because I had to assuage the Velveeta guilt somehow -  and fresh cilantro, sour cream and black olives as well, although you can top this soup however you top your nachos.

Beef Nacho Soup
Printable Recipe
Serves 6
Total Time: 30 minutes

1 pound ground beef
1 Tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 clove garlic - minced
3 cups beef stock
1 can Ro-Tel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
8 ounces Velveeta - cubed
Salt to taste
6 ounces tortilla chips
Garnishes such as: sour cream, black olives, fresh Cilantro, salsa, shredded cheese or sliced jalapeños.

1. Brown ground beef in a medium soup pot and drain off fat. Add spices and stir well.
2. Pour in stock and tomatoes. Heat over medium-low heat for 20 minutes so flavors can meld.
3. Add Velveeta and stir until melted and smooth. Salt to your liking.
4. Serve in bowls with toppings.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

When I was growing up my mom made the absolute best stuffed peppers. As much as I love them, my kids don't so much so this soup combines the flavors I love and the texture and form that the kids will actually eat.

I debated putting rice in this because mom's stuffed peppers never had rice added to the meat mixture. I did add it, though because most people seem to be used to the meat/rice variety of stuffed peppers.

This turned out well and you can adjust the ingredient amounts to your liking without affecting the overall flavor very much. The consistency of this is closer to a stew than a soup. Adjust the stock to your liking to make it thinner.

Stuffed Pepper Soup
Serves 4-6
Printable Recipe

2  Tablespoons olive oil
1  small onion - chopped
1  clove garlic - minced
3 medium peppers (I use tri-color) - diced
1  pound meatloaf mix or lean ground beef
1 can crushed tomatoes - undrained (14 ounce)
6 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock
1/2  cup  uncooked rice
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
Kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste


In a large soup pot with a heavy bottom sauté onion, garlic, and green pepper in oil until tender. Stir meat into vegetables and cook until meat is browned, about 10 minutes, stirring often so meat is in small chunks. Stir in rice,  tomatoes, juice, stock, bay leaf, thyme, salt and pepper.  Cover and simmer 45 minutes or until rice is cooked. Adjust liquid if necessary.  Taste for seasoning and serve hot.

Manhattan Clam Chowder

I recently lost my step-father to a massive heart attack. The long and short is that we knew he had metastatic cancer but he fell and needed stitches so was transported to the ER via ambulance (nobody saw him fall and at the age of 85 it was precautionary). Once there, it was discovered that he'd had a rather large heart attack. Not quite two days later that heart attack was the cause of his death. Most of us were able to be with him when he passed and although he was not conscious I'm hoping he felt our presence with him.

He was very particular about his food, having been raised by English parents who moved here to the U.S. in the early 1900s. Mostly he was a "meat and potatoes" guy and there wasn't much he ate that fell outside the boundaries of that. Manhattan Clam Chowder was one food that he loved. Not New England as one would expect from a man with a blander palate, but the 'red kind'.

This is so close to the one he ate that there would be no telling it didn't come from his favorite soup maker - only it's a bit better ;) I know he'd enjoy it if he were here to do so.

Manhattan Clam Chowder
Printable Recipe
Makes 1/2 gallon
Ready in 35 minutes if using canned clams 45 if fresh

6 pounds clams scrubbed and rinsed (or two 10 ounce cans chopped clams - undrained)
chicken stock or clam juice as needed
2 slices bacon
2 cups chopped onion
2 stalks celery - chopped
1/2 green pepper - chopped
2 medium carrots - peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic - minced
1 bay leave
1 teaspoon dried oregano
3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 cups peeled and diced potato
3 cups peeled, seeded and chopped tomatoes or 1 (28-ounce) can chopped tomatoes with liquid
1/4 cup fresh parsley - chopped
Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt to taste

In a large pot bring 2 cups of water to a boil and add clams. Cover tightly and cook for 5 minutes. Stir clams and recover. Cook 5 to 10 minutes longer or until most of the clams are opened.

Put clams to a large bowl and strain the broth through a fine-meshed sieve or cheesecloth into a large bowl. You need about 8 cups of broth, if not add chicken stock or bottled clam juice to make enough. Once clams are cool, remove them from their shells and chop.

***If using canned clams, make sure there are 8 cups of liquid with the clams - bottled clam juice, chicken stock or juice from the canned clams should be used to make up the 8 cups.

In a large heavy soup pot add bacon and cook until crisp. Pour off all fat except 4 tablespoons and crumble bacon - set bacon aside.

Add onions, celery, pepper and carrots and cook until vegetables are softened - about 10 minutes. Do not brown.

Add garlic, bay leaf, oregano and thyme and stir. Add broth and bring to a boil. Add potatoes and cover. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until potatoes are tender - about 15-20 minutes.

Add tomatoes and continue to cook for another 1o minutes.

Remove the pot from the heat and chopped clams, crumbled bacon and parsley and season with pepper and salt, if needed. Let chowder stand, covered for an hour then reheat gently before serving.

Cool and Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Soup

Cool and Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Soup

Tomatoes are my very favorite food and this is another soup that is just plain good. Creamy and full of just-picked flavor, it's the perfect thing on a hot day.

It goes together quickly and easily with the use of a blender - no heat required! Choose an herb that you really enjoy, I like dill with the sour cream and cucumber in this, but basil would be lovely, too. Sriracha would also be excellent stirred into each serving. Use very ripe and fresh tomatoes for the best flavor.

Cool and Creamy Cucumber and Tomato Soup

Printable Recipe
Ready in 15 minutes

Serves 4 as a starter

6 large or 8 medium ripe plum tomatoes - peeled and seeded

3 medium cucumbers - peeled and seeded

1 small bunch green onions - tops and whites

2 cloves garlic - minced

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup sour cream (I like Mexican crema for this)

1 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 Tablespoon freshly snipped dill plus more for garnish (or whichever herb you like)

Pop everything into a blender and puree until smooth. Chill for several hours if desired or serve as-is topped with extra herbs and sliced green onion.

Pappa al Pomodoro

Pappa al Pomodoro

Pappa al Pomodoro is a classic Italian soup from Tuscany that is rich and velvety with a blend of tomatoes, garlic, basil and stale bread. The flavors are simple but the soup is anything but.

We are in the throes of a heatwave here and soup is the last thing on my table as of late, but with tomatoes bursting red-ripe this year after a terrible blight last summer, I can hardly contain myself when it comes to the many delicious versions of tomato soup available.

Give this one a try and I promise you'll get cravings out of the blue for it later on.

Canned tomatoes are the best for this and I prefer San Marzano, which are tomatoes grown near Pompeii in rich volcanic soil and are sweeter and more flavorful than others. I also like my own home-grown plum tomatoes, but when I don't have or can't find either of those, just plain old canned tomatoes will do.

The bread should be stale by 2 days minimum and very crusty. Although Parmesan is not the usual, I really like it on this soup.

Pappa al Pomodoro

Printable Recipe
Ready In 30 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 can (28 ounces) whole San Marzano tomatoes

3 Tablespoons olive oil

3 cloves garlic

30 basil leaves - torn or roughly chopped

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

3 cups two-day-old crusty bread torn into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup good quality shredded Parmesan cheese (optional)

Kosher salt to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a medium soup pot and add garlic and basil. Stir until fragrant and add tomatoes with juice and stock.

2. Reduce heat to a simmer and mash tomatoes with a spoon or potato masher. They don't need to be completely crushed. Cook for 15 - 20 minutes.

3. Add bread pieces and stir well. Let the bread soak up the juices and then stir until smooth an velvety. Salt to taste.

4. Serve with fresh basil and Parmesan atop.

Turkey Club Soup

Another delicious American institution is the Turkey Club. Smoked turkey, bacon, lettuce, tomato and just the right amount of mayo sandwiched between two slices of toasted bread. I think I ordered this one during my teen years more than any other and I have a few kids who order it when we dine out as, as well. As a soup it's just as yummy. Lettuce isn't all that appealing to many once cooked, so I used celery to add some color and green flavor to this and it worked really well.

Turkey Club Soup
Printable Recipe
Ready In: 30 minutes
Serves: 6

1/2 pound bacon - cooked crisp
2 Tablespoons bacon grease
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup celery - finely diced
1 cup diced tomato - I like grape tomatoes for their intense flavor
1 pound smoked turkey - diced large
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup cream
salt and pepper to taste
crumbled bacon, diced tomato and toasted bread squares for garnish

Crumble bacon and set aside.
In a medium soup pot, cook bacon grease and flour together briefly.
Add celery and cook for 3 minutes. Add chicken stock and simmer for 15 minutes.
Stir in tomato and turkey - cook for another 5 minutes.
Pour in cream and stir well - add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve with crumbled bacon, diced tomato and tiny toasted bread squares on top.

Chicken and Tomato Bruschetta Soup

This soup is a takeoff of a recipe I recently did for Family.com, Cheesy Chicken and Tomato Bruschetta Turnovers. They were fabulous, if I do say so myself, and I was so enamoured with the flavors that I had to make something else with it.

This goes together very easily, has few ingredients, but is big on flavor. I like a bit of red pepper flakes for spice, but you can make it mild and leave them out.

Chicken and Tomato Bruschetta Soup
Printable Recipe
Ready In 45 minutes
Serves 4-6

8 plum tomatoes - seeded and chopped
1 cup finely diced yellow or white onion
2 large cloves garlic - minced
1/4 cup fresh basil - minced
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 cups cooked chicken breast - chopped
4 cups chicken stock
red pepper flakes to taste
4 - 6 slices crusty bread - toasted
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

Combine tomatoes, garlic, onion, basil and salt in a small bowl. Stir well and let stand. This is the tomato bruschetta.
Heat chicken stock to boiling and add 2 cups of tomato mixture. Save any remainder for another use.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Add chicken and red pepper flakes and cook for another 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
Stir in 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan. Check seasoning and add salt if needed.
Top the toast rounds with Parmesan cheese and float on each bowl of soup.

I'm-Gonna-Slap-You-With-My-Whisk Tomato Bisque

Don't worry, I haven't gone off the deep end just yet - this recipe is one from the new cookbook by Coolio, Cookin' with Coolio, 5 Star Meals at a 1 Star Price, which I've reviewed in full on Cooking with Anne.

Funny stuff, and a really great, and fresh, recipe.

Don't even think about reaching for that d*mn can! I will bust your head like Gallagher busts a watermelon. I'll be g*dd*amned if I feed that much sodium to my kids or to myself. That doesn't mean you can't have tomato soup that reminds you of being a kid. Here's a great recipe to make your own at home. Serve this up with some mac n' cheese or a grilled cheese sandwich to really bring back those memories.

I'm-Gonna-Slap-You-With-My-Whisk Tomato Bisque

How long it takes: 15 to prep, 50 to cook
How much it makes: enough to make 4 people really happy

What you need:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 medium white onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
One 15-oz can whole tomatoes
4 fresh tomatoes, peeled and finely chopped
2 cups vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups whole milk or half-and-half
1 dime bag salt
1 dime bag pepper
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil

What to do with it:

1. In a large saucepan, heat up your olive oil over medium heat. Toss in the onions and garlic and cook them bad boys until they're nice and soft.

2. Pour in the canned tomatoes, followed by the freshly chopped tomatoes and all your broth.

3. Get the saucepan a rockin' by bringing it to a boil. Now, reduce the heat, cover, and let it all simmer and coagulate for 35 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Remove from the heat and puree.

5. Once it's lookin' like soup, drop it back to your saucepan and reheat on low heat.

6. Add the milk (or cream), give it a swirl, season to taste with salt and pepper, and carefully pour it into a nice vessel.

7. Garnish the top with some fresh basil and eat it up!

*Dime bag is equal to a tablespoon - have that much on-hand to season from - don't use the whole tablespoon!

Tomato Noodle Florentine Soup

I visited with my oldest daughter at college on Saturday and we stopped at a local diner for lunch. Part of our meal came with a choice of soup and I chose tomato noodle. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't anything I'd ask for again. It was a sort of combination of tomato soup and vegetable noodle, but lacking any real flavor. I vowed then to come up with my own, and this is it.

I use canned tomatoes all the time - it's one of those things that is sometimes just better or necessary canned, so don't feel badly about using them for this. Try to get fresh spinach, but if it's looking bad at the store or you just can't get it, frozen is absolutely fine, I've given measurements for both. As always, I prefer freshly grated Parmesan, but a quality pre-grated brand works fine, too.

Cut your prep time by making the noodles while soup is cooking and keeping warm until needed.

Tomato Noodle Florentine Soup
Printable Recipe
Serves 4-6
Ready In: 30 minutes

1/2 cup finely chopped sweet onion such as Vidalia
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic - minced
3 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
3 cups crushed tomatoes
8 ounces frozen chopped spinach or 1 pound fresh chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
4 ounces spaghetti or linguine noodles - cooked al dente and drained well
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat a heavy soup pot over medium-high flame and add olive oil. Once oil is shimmering, add onion and garlic. Lower heat to medium and cook, stirring often, until onion softens and begins to turn translucent. Be careful not to burn garlic.
2. Add stock, bay leaf, oregano and basil to pot. Turn heat to high and stir well. Once stock boils, add tomatoes.
3. Return soup to a boil and immediately reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4. Add spinach and cook for 5 minutes longer, until spinach is fully thawed or limp - depending on which you use. Add sugar and salt & pepper to taste.
5. Remove bay leaf and add cooked noodles and Parmesan. Stir well and serve.

Beautiful Soup: Gazpacho

Beautiful Soup: Gazpacho

Gazpacho is a soup that screams 'summer' like no other. Bright with flavor and cool to the palate, it pairs very well with sangria on a sultry summer evening. Alice B. Toklas refered to this as, 'Beautiful soup'. This version is adapted from the one we used regularly at the school's restaurant.

Feel free to spice it up with a jalapeno pepper or a dash of cayenne.

Gazpacho
Printable Recipe

Serves 8 as an appetizer or 4 for a light dinner

2 large very ripe tomatoes concassè (peeled, seeded and diced)

1/2 onion diced

1/2 large green pepper diced

1/2 large red pepper diced

1/2 large yellow pepper diced

1 cucumber peeled, seeded and diced

1 clove garlic minced

2 T red wine vinegar

1 T lemon juice

1 T lime juice

2 c tomato juice

2 c consomme or beef stock (cold any flavor of stock works)

Puree all together until smooth. Add garnish (below) and chill for several hours. Serve topped with fried croutons if desired.

Garnish

1 c tomato concasse (peeled, seeded, diced)

2 c peppers (green, red, yellow) diced

1 c peeled and seeded cucumber diced

1 c scallions sliced thin

1 T fresh dill minced

1 T fresh cilantro minced