Recipes From The Heart: soup

Welcome To Recipes From the Heart

The old adage 'necessity is the mother of invention' was certainly true as I raised my children. When they were preschool age, my husband's company conducted a reduction of work force resulting in the loss of our only income. Have you ever read a recipe and had all the ingredients except one? Everyone has. So what do you do? Go to the store and buy the ingredient? That wasn't an option during those lean years. I learned to recreate recipes and create my own. I learned to enjoy opening the pantry and putting things together to make a new dish. I have kept the dishes through the years and still use them today. This site will feature my tweaked recipes and some I created on my own. Each of my adult books include recipes. I would love to know how you tweak my recipes for your family's taste or the supplies in your pantry.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Broccoli Cheese Soup

This is a very simple, but delicious, Broccoli Cheese soup. I cook this in the slow cooker because cheese is so bad about sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Saute one chopped onion in 1 Tbs. of butter. (Add to slow cooker)

Add one small can of Cream of Mushroom soup.

Add one small can of Cream of Chicken soup.

Add one soup can of milk.

Cut 2lbs of Velveeta into 1 inch cubes. Add to mixture in slow cooker.

Add one can of canned milk.

Add one pkg. of chopped broccoli. (I use a large pkg. because I like more broccoli than most people.)

Add one can of Rotel Tomatoes (Be careful. It can get too hot.)

Add enough milk to desired consistency.

Cook on low for about two hours.

Serve with crackers.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Cream of Tomato Soup

A pot with colored vegetables in the background

One year my husband's garden produced more tomatoes than we knew what to do with. We had given away tomatoes, eaten them every way I could think of, and still they kept producing. I decided to try making Cream of Tomato Soup. I didn't have a clue how to do it, but just did what seemed logical. It was wonderful. Below is the process I used. If you change anything, please let me know the results. I am always looking to upgrade my recipes.

Wash tomatoes.
Boil water in a big pot. Drop tomatoes in boiling water for one minute. Immediately pour into ice water. (This will allow you to simply pull the skins off.) (You can use canned tomatoes if desired. I have and the results were similar.)
In frying pan, cook desired amount of chopped bacon, onion, and bell peppers until bacon is done. This adds a lot of flavor so the specific amount is up to you.
Put peeled tomatoes in large pot and begin cooking on a low heat.
Add cooked bacon, onion and bell pepper to pot.
Once tomatoes have cooked down, season to taste. I used salt, pepper and a little sugar to cut the acid.
Add cream to taste.
If you want the mixture complete smooth, blend in blender until desired consistency.

This is extra work, but well worth the effort. Besides, impresses the socks off the in-laws.