Soups, Stews, and Chowders

Roasted Tomato Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

We have been ALL ABOUT THE SOUP in our house this last week.  Know why?  Because IT IS OCTOBER and fall weather is finally starting to arrive.  Okay, it’s Mississippi, which means cooler nights, and days still in the 80s, but we take what we can get after  a brutal summer of 100+ temps.  Fall, for me, means roasted vegetables (among other things).  And tomato soup was exactly the ticket.  This makes 4  1 1/2 cups servings at 120 calories and 3.7 grams of fat.  It’s marvelous with a grilled cheese or some focacia.

Ingredients:

  • 2 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes
  • 1 packet beef flavor boost (This is a new product by Swanson that I just had to try)
  • 1 tbs Herbs de Provence
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 1 sweet onion
  • 1 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Drain off liquid from tomatoes and reserve.
3. Peel and quarter the onion.
4. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and add the tomatoes and onion.
5. Drizzle with olive oil.  You’ll probably use more than a tablespoon but you won’t be dumping the whole contents into the crock pot after roasting.
6. Sprinkle with Herbs de Provence, salt, and pepper.
7. Roast for 25-30 minutes.
8. Scoop the tomatoes and onions into your crock pot.
9. Add the wine, flavor boost, and reserved tomato juice.
10. Stir and cook on low for 4 hours.

Printable version.

Gluten Free Friday: Cheesy Chicken Corn Chowder

Published on by Kait Nolan

I love corn chowder.  I love chicken corn chowder.  I love cheese.  You can see where I’m going with this.  Marrying all the flavors I love was an inspiration.  A spicy one.  Big yum.  If it’s too spicy for you, you could get mild rotel or cool it down with some sour cream.  I loved it exactly as it was.  Makes 3 servings at 390 calories and 10.8 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

  • 1 chicken breast (boneless)
  • 1 cup frozen corn
  • 1 can rotel, undrained
  • 1 can cream corn
  • 1 cup chicken stock
  • 1/2 onion chopped
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp  black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 2 tsp olive oil
  • 4 oz 2% Velveeta, diced

Directions:
1. Cut your chicken into small bite size pieces.
2. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
3. Add the chicken, onion, and spices to the oil and saute until chicken is no longer pink.
4. Add the frozen corn and saute until it begins to caramelize (about 3-5 minutes).
5. Add the rotel, cream corn and chicken stock.  Stir until well combined.
6. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
7. Add the Velveeta cubes and stir until melted and well combined.

Printable version.

Chicken and Black Bean Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

After a week away from home eating marvelous but not good for me food, I needed something veggie filled and delicious to reset my system to healthy.  I was going to make a straight up black bean soup, but hubs is a carnivore, so that demanded the addition of chicken.  I thought it was a lovely soup, not too heavy, not too spicy.  Hubs thought it needed chips.   I was happy as is or with a small dollup of sour cream.  This makes 5 servings at 488 calories and 20 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

  • 14 oz. rotisserie chicken, shredded
  • 4 cups black beans
  • 16 oz. salsa
  • 2 poblano peppers, diced
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 1 tbs cumin
  • 4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 tbs olive oil

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat.
2. Saute the onions and peppers for about five minutes or until just softened.
3. Add everything to your crock pot and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Printable version.

Mexican Butternut Squash Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

You all know I’m nuts about mexican flavors, and I really wanted some kind of soup that was lighter in calories but still filling and heavy on the flavor.  Using the last giant butternut squash I had n the fridge, I decided to make a soup.  It’s thick and hearty and wonderful.  And at 144 calories and 5 grams of fat per 1 cup serving, this soup absolutely fits the bill.

Ingredients

  • 3 lbs butternut squash peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 cups chicken broth
  • 2 Tbs olive oil
  • 2 tsp chili powder
  • 1 tsp Ancho powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2  tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp  cayenne pepper
  • 2  tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Peel and deseed the squash.

2. Cut into 1 inch cubes.

3. Toss with olive oil.

4. Sprinkle with salt.

5. Roast at 400 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until caramelized.

6. Add to large stock pot.

7. Add stock.

8. Add spices.

9. Simmer for 20 minutes.

10. Using a potato masher or an immersion blender, mash up or puree the soup.  CAREFUL!  It’ll be really hot!

11. Serve with a dollup of sour cream.

 

Servings: 7

Yield: cups

 

Nutrition Facts

Serving size: 1/7 of a recipe (10.8 ounces).

Percent daily values based on the Reference Daily Intake (RDI) for a 2000 calorie diet.

Nutrition information calculated from recipe ingredients.

 

Amount Per Serving

Calories 144.12

Calories From Fat (30%) 43.11

% Daily Value

Total Fat 4.85g 7%

Saturated Fat 0.78g 4%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 880.75mg 37%

Potassium 808.22mg 23%

Total Carbohydrates 24.29g 8%

Fiber 4.44g 18%

Sugar 4.7g

Protein 4.3g 9%

Printable version.

Sausage Corn Chowder

Published on by Kait Nolan

This dish was a result of my saying “I want to use this ingredient…now what can I do that’s different?”  The ingredient in question was Conecuh Hot and Spicy sausage.  I love this stuff.  It’s so so tasty.  Rather than the usual cajun dishes I make with this, I opted for a spicy kick to a favorite savory corn chowder.  I’ve made the chowder with chicken or just straight corn and love both.  This variation with sausage was delicious as well.  I didn’t actually get around to calculating the nutrition info for this one, but it serves 3.

Ingredients:

  • 8 oz. Conecuh hot and spicy sausage, cut into small chunks
  • 1 can creamed corn
  • 2 cups whole kernel corn
  • 1 tablespoon minced, dried onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 can rotel tomatoes
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 cup chicken stock
  • 1 tablespoon masa flour

Directions:

  1. Add the chicken stock, minced garlic and onion to a 3 quart pot and heat to simmering.
  2. Add the rotel, corn, cream corn, sausage and spices.  Bring to simmer and turn heat to medium low.  Cook for about ten minutes.
  3. Take the masa flour and mix it with about a quarter cup of cold water.  Stir until no longer lumpy.
  4. Add to the chowder and stir until well incorporated.
  5. Simmer until thickened (about 10 minutes).

Printable version.

Thoughtless Thursday: Cock-A-Leekie Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

When I studied abroad in Scotland, there was a tea room up the road from my flat that served THE BEST cock-a-leekie soup.  It’s a classic Scottish dish that has as many variations as there are clans.  Many traditionalists use prunes, but I couldn’t bring myself to put something sweet in this soup.  The version I like didn’t use them, so I didn’t as I made this up today.  The end result is light, healthy, and delicious (if a little bit early to be served as a Burns Supper–that’s not until the 25th).   It comes in at 4 servings at 365 and 6.4 grams of fat.  Serve with a good crusty bread, like Irish Soda Bread.

Ingredients:

  • 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 6 leeks, washed and diced
  • 1 large Yukon gold potato, diced
  • 1/4 cup pearled barley
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
  • 6 cups rich chicken stock (homemade is best)

Directions:  Dump it all in the crock, stir well and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8.

Printable version.

Thoughtless Thursday: Italian Chicken and Rice Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

As you all know I was sick last week.  It ended up not being such a bad time to be so, as I’d already batch cooked a bunch of chicken to make the stock for Thanksgiving dinner.  That made this crock pot soup a breeze to throw together, even though I felt lousy.

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups pre-cooked chicken
  • 1 box chicken stock
  • 2 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
  • 2 teaspoons Herbs de Provence
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 tsp fresh ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup arborio rice

Directions:

  1. Add everything but the rice and cook on low for 3-4 hours.
  2. Turn the crock pot up to high and add the rice.
  3. Cook for another hour.
  4. Serve with crusty bread.

Printable version.

Spicy Butternut Squash Sweet Potato Soup

Published on by Kait Nolan

One of my favorite foods is sweet potato fries, something I discovered only last year.   I just really dig the play of the faintly sweet of the potatoes against the chili powder.   That flavor combo just really works for me.  So I set out to try to duplicate that combination in a soup since I had a lone sweet potato and a butternut squash hanging out needing to be used.  The end results were delicious, with just enough heat to make me happy.  Makes 5, 1 cup servings at 205 calories and 6.8 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 1 medium onion
  • chicken stock
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo, seeds removed
  • olive oil
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Peel and rough chop the sweet potato, squash, and onion.
  3. Toss them lightly in olive oil and place in a 9×13 baking dish.
  4. Roast for 30 minutes.
  5. In a large dutch oven, add the chipotle pepper (no need to dice, you’re going to be pureeing this in the end), garlic, roasted veggies, and enough chicken stock to just cover the veggies in the pot.
  6. Add the salt and chili powder.
  7. Simmer on medium low for 1 hour.
  8. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup until smooth.

Printable version.

Chicken Corn Chowder 2

Published on by Kait Nolan

My first attempt at Chicken Corn Chowder was such a hit, I thought I’d try a slight variation on one without tomatoes that took advantage of poblano peppers, which are a recent favorite of mine.  This one is a bit heavier on the calories, as it’s got more corn, does not use fat free cream cheese, and has that pat of butter, but I think it’s worth it.  Makes 4 servings at 433 calories and 14 grams of fat.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • 2 cups cooked chicken (I made 4 bone-in chicken thighs in the crock pot and got my stock while I was at it)
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 medium poblano pepper, finely chopped
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups frozen corn kernels
  • 1 can creamed corn
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1 heaping Tbsp masa flour
  • 4 oz. Neufchatel cheese

Directions:

  1. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan.
  2. Add the onions and poblano peppers.  Cook gently for about 5 minutes.  You’re sweating the flavor out.
  3. Add the garlic.  Cook for another couple of minutes.
  4. Add the salt, pepper, paprika, cumin, and oregano.
  5. Add the chicken stock.
  6. Add the corn, chicken, and creamed corn.
  7. Stir well.
  8. Simmer over medium low for 20 minutes.
  9. Mix the masa flour with about a quarter cup of water, stirring until there are no lumps.
  10. Add mixture to the chowder.
  11. Cook for another 10 minutes.
  12. Reduce heat to low.
  13. Add the Neufchatel cheese and stir until melted.
  14. Serve with a good crusty bread.

Printable version.

Mexican Corn Chowder

Published on by Kait Nolan

This is a slight variation on my usual Spicy Corn Chowder, made “Mexican” only by the addition of a packet of Sazon.  It was a tasty if subtle difference from the original.  This could totally benefit from some poblano peppers or possibly a chipotle pepper (in which case I’d leave out the Rotel).

Ingredients:

  • 1 small onion, diced
  • 1 10.5 oz. can chicken stock
  • 1 can rotel
  • 2 cups corn kernels
  • 1 can creamed corn
  • 4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
  • 6 oz. plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 packet Sazon
  • 1 tbsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp paprika
  • fresh ground pepper

Directions:

  1. Add the chicken stock, onions, and corn kernels to a medium sized pot.  Bring to a boil.
  2. Simmer for approximately 5 minutes.
  3. Add the spices, creamed corn, and rotel.  Stir well
  4. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes.
  5. Remove from heat, add the yogurt and cream cheese.
  6. Stir until melted in.
  7. Serve with a nice crusty bread.