How to Make Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

By Kimathi J Muchomba

Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water or another liquid. A basic tomato soup is simply tomatoes cooked together with celery, onions and carrots for flavoring. Other seasonings may be added, including salt, pepper, sugar, garlic and green pepper, and milk may be used to create cream of tomato soup.

Whether prepared from a can or homemade, tomato soup is a source of vitamin C, vitamin A and iron.

Canned tomato soup is low in calories but high in salt. One cup has 85 calories and 695mg of sodium. This represents 28 percent of the recommended daily value for salt, based on a 2,000-calorie-a-day diet. You'll receive 17g of carbohydrates, which includes 6g of sugars and no dietary fiber.

With only 2g of total fat, tomato soup provides 2 percent of the daily value for total fat. It contains no cholesterol, 0.36mg of saturated fat and 1.4mg of the healthier unsaturated fats.Here is a basic home made tomato and red pepper soup that is simple and less costly to prepare

INGREDIENTS

1 chicken stock

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil- to garnish

Extra virgin olive oil-to garnish

600g ripe tomatoes- quartered

400g tin chopped tomatoes

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion- chopped

2 large red peppers, seeds removed and roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic- chopped

METHOD

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan.

2. Saute the onion, peppers and garlic for about 5 minutes.

3. Add the fresh tomatoes and cook for another 3 minutes.

4 Add the tinned tomatoes, the stock and a cup of water. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.

6. Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or with a hand-held blender.

7. Strain through a coarse sieve and add a little extra stock.

8. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot, and garnished with the basil and a of drizzle extra

olive oil

Serves 4

NB;

1. Roasting the vegetables gives the soup a delicious flavor.

2. Halve the onions, tomatoes and peppers, place them on a lined baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and roast at 200ºC in oven for 60 minutes, turning the onions and peppers once before using them in the preparation of soup.

Name: Kimathi Jackson Muchomba

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Chicken Soup - Does It Heal?

By Julie E Lewis

They say chicken soup is good for the soul, but what about the body?

Let's take a look at chicken soup as a medicinal remedy for the common cold. Was Grandma right, if you eat chicken soup when you're fighting the common cold, will it help?

The chicken soup folklore has been around as long as people have, handed down generation to generation, along with the favorite chicken soup family recipe. The medicinal claims have never been proven, but from the time of the ancient Greeks, it has been used religiously to lessen the affects of a cold or the flu.

The ingredients in chicken soup include chicken of course, carrots, celery, water or broth and spices, always including garlic. The soup is served steaming hot, which is where I believe one of the medicinal claims stems from. Let's face it; whenever you're feeling stuffy, drinking anything that is steaming hot helps to open up the sinuses, which immediately helps you to breathe better, thus you begin to feel better.

If we take a closer look at the ingredients of chicken soup, one in particular stands out for its antioxidant benefits. Garlic is considered by herbalists to be one of the most useful herbs for medicinal purposes. Many cultures have used garlic for centuries in medicines, as it is a known antioxidant, used to treat many respiratory ailments including hoarseness, coughs and the common cold. The main compound in garlic, allistatin has antibiotic qualities used in some cultures to treat whopping cough, flu and other viral and bacterial diseases.

Anyway you look at it, a steaming bowl of hot chicken soup when you're feeling under the weather can't hurt, and if you add garlic to your recipe, it may help.

The recipes below should be individualized, use the ingredients that you and your family like, don't like carrots? Use turnips instead. If your family is partial to peas, add peas. Use rice instead of pasta, whatever suits your taste. Just be sure to add the garlic, as stated above, its medicinal attributes make it a great addition to any soup.

Basic Soup Recipe

Chicken broth

1 3 lb chicken, 3 quarts of water

3 large Carrots

3 stalks of Celery

Onion Salt and pepper to taste 1 bay leaf Fresh chopped basil.

Put all the ingredients in a large stock pot and simmer for 3 hours, skimming the surface often. Remove the chicken, remove meat from the bones, and put aside. Discard vegetables, and chill broth. After broth as chilled for a while, remove fat from the top. You are now ready to use broth in your soup.

chicken soup

2 cups chopped cooked chicken

8 cups chicken broth

Salt and pepper to taste

Carrots, chopped

Celery, coarsely chopped

Diced garlic to taste

Any small pasta

Simmer until carrots and celery are soft and pasta is cooked, about 10 minutes. Serve hot.

http://www.coolstuffforthekitchen.com

Julie E. Lewis, Owner
http://www.coolstuffforthekitchen.com

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Soups - Ham and Split Pea Soup

By Lynne Evans

There are many ways of preparing this soup and you can use split green peas or yellow ones, depending which you prefer, or which you have in your store cupboard. Personally I prefer the green ones and use the yellow ones to make fava, which is a dip rather like hummus. You can leave the soup chunky or puree it until it is thick and smooth; it is entirely up to you. I like to add cumin seeds and coriander seeds which have been dry-fried to bring out their flavour and a dried red chili, but you don't have to use these things. If you do want a spicier soup than usual, use a teaspoon of coriander seeds and 2 of cumin seeds, dry-fry them for a minute or two until they release their aroma and add them to the soup when you add the water. The dried crumbled red chili pepper can also be added at this time. This recipe is for the traditional green split pea soup with ham. I hope you like it!

Ingredients

750 gr of ham hock or knuckle, washed and rinsed

500 gr green split peas, cleaned to remove any dirt or grit

1 large onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, trimmed and halved

4 medium carrots, cleaned and thinly sliced

4 cloves of garlic, halved

2 large sprigs of thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme

8 sprigs of parsley either curly or flat-leaved

2 bay leaves, torn but still intact

10 black peppercorns

salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper to taste

4-6 allspice berries (optional)

sprigs of parsley to decorate each bowl if desired

Method

Put the ham hock or knuckle and peas in a large pan and cover with 2½ liters of water A and bring to the boil. Remove any scum which comes to the surface.

You can either fry the onion, garlic, and carrots gently in olive oil, or simply add them to the pan after the scum has been removed along with the herbs and spices.

Partially cover the pan and cook, simmering, for an hour and a half.

Check that the peas are cooked and if necessary cook for half and hour more with the lid on firmly.

When the soup ingredients are cooked, remove the ham hock and allow it to cool before removing the skin and then flake the meat from the bone with a fork. Return this to the pan and mix well, then blend the soup in batches until it is smooth.

Reheat the soup and serve in warm bowls and decorate with parsley sprigs if using.

Bon appetit!

http://www.herbs-treatandtaste.blogspot.com If you liked this recipe, why not find more on this site, along with information about food, herbs and spices which keep you healthy?

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Soups - 5 Ways to Make Any Soup Recipe Healthier

By Neema Malik

Soups are one healthy preparation that is made and enjoyed in every continent, from Europe to Asia and from Australia to South Africa. Only the flavour, the ingredients, the spices and the way of preparing it differs but it is basically the same everywhere; all the ingredients are cooked together to give a nutritious, filling, delicious, and in a way complete and healthy dish.

Each of us find many reasons to enjoy a bowl of soup; it take care of the solid and liquid needs of the body, can help in losing weight by making us feel full, helps in getting over fever or cold and a lot more. Whatever may be your reason to have the bowl of soup, enjoy it wholeheartedly, because here are a few tips to make any of your favourite soup healthier.

Use fresh ingredients

Many of your soup recipes will call for ingredients like canned tomatoes, ready to use vegetable broth and a lot more of those canned and preserved ingredients. But as all of us are aware; fresh is healthy, so you can always try to replace these bottled vegetables and preserved products with fresh and healthy substitute. Fresh and garden picked veggies and fruits have more antioxidants and vitamins in it and substituting these in your formula helps to make a healthier soup than your old canned version. Remember soup made from scratch is much healthier than the one made from bottled, canned and preserved ingredients.

Swap cream with milk

Your rich and creamy soup calls for the addition of fresh cream that not just makes your soup tastier but sadly put in a lot of calorie with it. If you prefer a healthier low calorie version of the soup, swap your cream with milk which just adds about 20 percent of the calorie coming from cream but gives you the same great taste.

Blot the fat

Many number of soup are butter based or have ample amount of fat in it, to remove the calories from the fat, you can skim off the fat from the soup after it is prepared. There are different ways of skimming off fat from soup; you can either refrigerate your soup for three hours and remove the top fat layer which will get solidified, or you could drop in some lettuce leaves to absorb the fat and take out the leaves after a short time. Blotting the fat with a piece of bread can also do the magic of making your soup healthy and fat free.

Use more of herbs and spices

An extra bit of herbs in your soup can help it to get a flavour zest and to increase the healing and antioxidant property of your soup. Coriander leaves, ginger, garlic or other spices like pepper can improve the taste and flavour of the soup and all at once, make it healthier. But don't overdo the spices and herbs as using more than the perfect amount can spoil the flavour of your soup making it spicier than you really prefer.

Make your soup a complete meal

You can include shredded chicken breast pieces, beaten egg or cooked chick peas in your soup preparation to make it a whole meal and to introduce more of protein into it. Balancing the amount of protein and the carb in your soup can help the 'One Bowl of Soup' to fill your stomach, refill your soul and to fulfill your diet requirements.

So here you are with a few more reason to enjoy a steaming bowl of healthy soup.

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Quick, Easy, And Tasty Soups: Roasted Chicken, Cream Of Spinach, Meatball Vegetable Stew

By Linda Carol Wilson

I am a soup person year-round but I know some people prefer soups in the Fall and Winter. Even though it doesn't feel like Fall here in North Texas with our 40 straight days of triple-digit temperatures, I know many of you will soon be having cool weather. In honor of your cooler weather and what we hope we will see eventually, this article is all about soup. Whether you like it to be brothy, creamy, or thick (stew), we are sure to have a recipe here to please you.

ROASTED CHICKEN SOUP
2 cups roasted chicken, shredded or diced (Can buy chicken in deli)
2 tsp olive oil
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
8 cups chicken broth
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
3/4 cup curly noodles

Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until they begin to brown, stirring occasionally. Reduce the heat to medium. Cook until the onions are tender and caramelized, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat.

In a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat, heat the broth, pepper, carrots, and celery to a boil. Stir the noodles and chicken into the broth. Reduce heat to medium and cook for about 10 minutes until the pasta is tender. Stir in the onions; soup is ready to serve.

QUICK AND EASY CREAM OF SPINACH SOUP
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
dash of ground nutmeg
4 1/4 cups milk
1 pkg (10-oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and water squeezed out

In a large saucepan melt the butter; add the chopped onion. Cook, stirring, over medium heat until the onion is tender. Stir in the flour, mixing well to avoid lumps. Add the salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Gradually blend in the milk while stirring. Continue to cook, stirring, for about a minute or two until thickened. Stir in the spinach and remove from the heat.

MEATBALL VEGETABLE STEW
If you love beef stew but don't really have the time to cook the beef and make the stew, try this recipe that uses meatballs.

4 cups water
2 medium russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium carrots, cut into 3/4-inch slices
1 large onion, cut into chunks
2 tbsp beef bouillon granules
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 medium zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch slices
1 cup frozen peas
1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 tsp browning sauce, optional

In a large Dutch oven, bring the water to a boil. Add the russet potatoes, carrots, onion, bouillon, bay leaf, thyme, basil, salt and pepper. Return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

While the above simmers, combine the ground beef, bread crumbs, egg, and Worcestershire sauce. Shape into 1-inch balls. Add meatballs to the Dutch oven along with the sweet potatoes and zucchini. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for another 15 minutes or until veggies are tender.

Discard the bay leaf. Stir in the peas. Combine the flour and cold water; stir into the stew along with the browning sauce, if using. Bring to a boil and cook and stir for a couple of minutes until thickened.

Yield: 6 servings.

For more of Linda's quick and easy recipes visit her blog at http://grandmasquickfixrecipes.blogspot.com She also has a large collection of old fashion recipes at http://grandmasvintagerecipes.blogspot.com

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How To Make Gazpacho Soup

By Richard Allen

Some like it hot some like it cold, well actually only the idiots like it hot as Gazpacho soup should be served cold, if not slightly chilled, as it is a great refresher on a cold Summers day.

It is a very simple recipe an only takes a few minutes to prepare. The basic ingredients you will need are as follows: -

1kg of Ripe Tomatoes - Peeled, deseeded and chopped into small chunks

½ A Cucumber - Peeled, deseeded and chopped

1 Green Pepper - Peeled, deseeded and chopped

4oz of fresh bread with the crusts cut off

1 small onion - Roughly chopped

1 garlic clove - Chopped or presses in a Garlic presser

1 Tablespoon of white wine vinegar

4 fluid ounces of Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste as required

4-6 Ice cubes, ideally crushed

Basil sprigs as garnish

So now you have assembled all of the ingredients then let us begin making the soup!

Firstly hold back a few of the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber as a garnish for the soup.

Then place all of the bread in a blender, and blend until the bread is in crumbs. Then add the rest of the tomatoes, cucumber and pepper. Blend until smooth, then add the onion, garlic, olive oil and again blend until very smooth.

The tomatoes should give the soup enough juice to make the soup into a nice liquid, but you can also add water if the soup is too thick. Often if it is too thick then it down to adding too much bread into the mix. Trial and error is the key to getting it right! Then season with salt and pepper as required.

To serve the dish (Which really is best served very cold, and not hot as a few famous celebrities have sent it back to the kitchen to be heated for!) divided into four serving bowls, add the crushed ice cubes to soup and still them well in.

Then place in the fridge for 30 minutes or ideally an hour. Then when it comes to serving the gazpacho soup lightly garnish with the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber that you held back. Lightly scatter a few basil leaves on top and then serve with some fresh crusty bread (French baguettes are ideal).

So there you have it the ideal recipe for gazpacho soup. This recipe takes just minutes to prepare and is a great appetizer on a hot Summers day.

For more great recipes and advice on How To Grow Tomatoes for gazpacho soup, then find out more about How To Grow Vegetables today.

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How to Make An Easy Cream of Potato Soup

By Dee Power

Why use a mix when it's easy to make fresh, tasty potato soup yourself? The salty bacon compliments the sweetness of the sauteed onions. Wrap it up all together with a little heavy cream and lots of potatoes. The trick is to mash some of the potatoes and leave some in chunks. Decrease the fat by substituting turkey bacon for regular bacon and skim milk for the cream. Because you're browning the onions in the bacon fat the soup will not be pure white but take on a beige color from the bacon and lots of flavor.

Cut three slices of low sodium bacon into one inch slices. Fry until the bacon browns. If you're on a low fat diet, drain the fat. Or use turkey bacon instead. Chop one medium onion into 1/2 inch cubes. Chop two slices of celery into 1/2 inch cubes. Sautee the veggies over medium heat until they're soft. That should take, maybe five minutes. Keep an eye on them. Onion contains sugar and they'll burn quickly at too high a heat.

Add one quart of low sodium chicken broth, or 4 cubes of low/no sodium chicken bouillon cubes and four cups of water. Let the mixture simmer for 15 minutes. No, we haven't forgotten about the potatoes.

Peel three medium to large potatoes and chop into 1/2 cubes. Add the potatoes to the soup and let simmer on low heat another 10 minutes. The potatoes should be soft and easily pierced with the tip of a knife. Remove about a cup of the potatoes and mash with a fork. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cream. If you're on a low fat diet add 1 cup of skim milk with 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir the flour into the milk, add the mashed potatoes and then add back to the soup.

Bring up to a boil. Turn off the heat and remove the pot from the burner. The flour will continue cooking as the soup cools.
Serve with a fresh fruit salad.

Leftovers are great the next day. If you don't have quite enough soup left, add 1- 2 cups more chicken broth, 1 cup of frozen corn, and one cup of little cooked shrimp.

It's easy to vary the potato soup by adding a few different ingredients. Add clams for clam chowder. Smoked sausage goes nicely with the potatoes. Or try chopped leeks and dill and leave out the bacon. Add chicken and peas and chopped parsley.

Make up a double batch and freeze half for another night's supper.

Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. Her hobbies include gardening and cooking healthy dinner recipes, and sharing her grilling tips. She lives with an Irish Setter and an English Springer Spaniel.

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Cod Fish Soup

By Sandra D.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 lb salt codfish, soaked
• 4 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, small
• a small piece of celery
• a small bunch of parsley stems
• a small sprig of thyme
• a bay-leaf
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 potato, medium-sized
• 2 tablespoons of dry white wine
• 1 cup of water
• 1/2 tablespoon of chopped-up parsley
• a good pinch of pepper
• salt
• toasted or fried bread, for serving

PREPARATION: 

1. Drain 1/2 pound of salt cod fish that has been soaked. Cut it up into medium-sized squares.
2. Put 4 tablespoons of good-quality olive oil in a saucepan. Take one small onion and cut into small pieces. Add to the olive oil. Cook onion over moderate heat, but don't allow the onion to become colored.
3. Add a small piece of celery, a small bunch of parsley stems, a small sprig of thyme and a bay-leaf. Let cool for several moments.
4. Skin two tomatoes, remove seeds and cut into slices. Add to the saucepan.
5. Peel one medium-sized potato and cut into slices. Add to the saucepan, together with two tablespoons of dry white wine and one cup of water.
6. Continue cooking until potato is half-cooked. Then add the codfish and remaining one-half tablespoon of olive oil.
7. Remove the parsley stems from the saucepan. Put in 1/2 tablespoon of chopped-up parsley. Season with salt and a good pinch of pepper.
8. As soon as the vegetables are completely cooked put pieces of toasted or fried bread in a serving dish and pour the soup over them. Serve hot.

Cod fish is a popular sea food with a low-fat content, mild flavor and a flaky, dense white flesh. Average mass of the Atlantic cod is 11-26 lb (5-12 kg), but some specimens can weigh up to 220 lb (100 kg).

Cod liver oil, made from processed cod livers, are an important source of omega-3 fatty acids, DHA and EPA, and vitamins like vitamin D, vitamin A, vitamin E. Cod meat is white in color and is flaky and moist when cooked. Atlantic cod is one of the main ingredients in fish and chips in the UK, along with plaice and haddock. It is also often consumed in Portugal and Spain.

Cod are currently at risk from overfishing in the United Kingdom, Canada and majority of other Atlantic countries. On the market you can find fish commonly known as cod which are unrelated to Gadus genus. This name confusion is partly market-driven. Some fish have names derived from cod, such as tomcod, codlet or codling.

Sandra D. is a blogger and owner of http://www.womensboatshoesbuy.com

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2 Great Zucchini Soup Recipes

By Martha McKinnon

Here are two great zucchini soup recipes.

I made the first zucchini soup the other night and was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. I'm constantly amazed by how the simplest easy soup recipes with the most basic of ingredients - like this zucchini soup recipe - can be so satisfying and delicious.

When you're in need of quick easy dinner ideas, why not think soup? It's simple, satisfying and can be served hot or cold (depending on the recipe), making it a great choice all year round.

I served it with grilled cheese sandwiches, for a quick and easy dinner.

The second one is for a cold zucchini soup that is on my "must try" list. It's from one of my favorite cookbooks of the moment and is full of some of my favorite foods - lemon juice, plain yogurt, pesto and basil.

Curried Zucchini Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

Coarse salt

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 1/2 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), sliced 1 inch thick

1 baking potato, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks

1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted, for garnish

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan or soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and 1 tablespoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and curry powder and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 1 minute.

2. Add zucchini, potato, and 4 cups water to the pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. In batches, puree soup in a blender (do not fill more than halfway) until smooth. Taste and add more salt if needed; serve immediately, or let cool, and refrigerate in an airtight container until chilled. Garnish with toasted almonds.

Variation Ideas: Skip the curry powder. Add a couple big handfuls of spinach into the hot soup right at the end of cooking and give it a few seconds to wilt. After pureeing, add a big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Cold Zucchini Soup Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Chill Time: 2 to 3 hours

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

6 medium zucchini

1 leek

1 teaspoon salt

5 cups water or vegetable stock

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1/2 cup pesto

1 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt

fresh basil leaves and extra yogurt for garnish

Directions

1. Slice the zucchinis thinly and the leek julienne style (skinny 2-inch long slices).

2. Place them in a soup pot add the salt and water or stock and bring to a boil. Boil for about 10 minutes and then turn the heat down to low and simmer another minute or two.

3. Allow the soup to cool, then add the lemon juice, pesto and yogurt. In patches, puree the soup in a blender.

4. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding salt, pepper and/or lemon juice as necessary. Serve soup chilled, with 1 teaspoon yogurt at the center and surrounded by leave of fresh basil as garnish.

Martha is a healthy weight loss coach, cooking coach and cookie lover, who loves to share ways to make cooking and eating simple, easy and delicious and help you stop dieting and instead discover the pleasure of happy healthy balanced eating, cooking and living. Her websites include http://www.simple-nourished-living.com and http://www.besteasycookierecipes.com. Visit today to Get your FREE copy of her Homemade Granola Bars e-cookbooklet.

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Pot Roast Soup With Vegetables and Oodles of Noodles

By Harriet Hodgson

I made pot roast two days ago. Everyone in the family loved it. This one-pot meal turned into two meals. After the second meal I still had a small hunk of roast and some sauce leftover. Instead of discarding this food I made a batch of soup.

Cubed meat and sauce were the base of my soup. I added chopped onions, celery and carrots for flavor. I also added frozen peas and corn. After the soup cooked for a few minutes I realized it needed more water. The amount of water depends on how much sauce you have left over and the size of the vegetables. If your soup is too thick add more water.

Any kind of small pasta will work with this recipe. You may use Ditalini (medium-size tube pasta) or Tubetti (tiny tube pasta) or even stars. Elbows would also be good. The pasta will thicken the soup.

The meat has already been cooked, so you don't need to simmer this soup very long. As soon as the carrots and pasta are tender the soup is done. I served it with store-bought sourdough bread, fresh from the oven. Garlic bread sticks are another option. Summer fruit -- juicy cherries, red and green grapes, or watermelon -- complete thi one-pot meal.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
2 cups leftover pot roast, cubed (more if you have it)
1 cup leftover sauce
4 cups water (or more)
3 tablespoons beef soup base
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 medium carrots, peeled and chunked
1 cup frozen petite peas
1 cup frozen corn
2 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 cup tube pasta

Method

Pour olive oil into soup kettle. Saute chopped onion in oil until soft. Add pot roast, sauce, water, soup base, celery, carrots, peas, corn, garlic, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer a half hour. Add pasta, cover, and cook 15 minutes more, or until pasta is tender. Correct the seasoning if necessary. Makes 8 servings.

Copyright 2011 by Harriet Hodgson

http://www.harriethodgson.com

Harriet Hodgson has been an independent journalist for 30+ years. Her 24th book, Smiling Through Your Tears: Anticipating Grief, written with Lois Krahn, MD, is available from Amazon.

Centering Corporation published her 26th book, Writing to Recover: The Journey from Loss and Grief to a New Life, a companion journal, and The Spiritual Woman: Quotes to Refresh and Sustain Your Soul. Harriet's latest book, Happy Again!, is currently in production.

She has two other new books, 101 Affirmations to Ease Your Grief Journey and Real Meals on 18 Wheels: A Guide for Healthy Living on the Highway, written with Kathryn Clements, RD and available from Amazon soon.

Please visit Harriet's website, click on the Blog tab, and share your thoughts with this busy author and grandmother.

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Chinese Soups: An Introduction

By Shibin Zhang

Although stir frying is probably the most well-known method in Chinese cooking, you might be surprised what an important role soups play in Chinese cuisine.

Chinese soups, however, are completely different from Western ones, and by this I mean both the actual soup and the concept. The first few times I tried butternut squash soup in England, it took my 'Chinese stomach' a while to understand what I just had.

Chinese soup is usually 'clear', never creamy. Although the soup obviously contains various ingredients, it rather looks like 'coloured' water. So, this kind of soup can never be like butternut squash soup as a 'main' on the table, it is not heavy enough.

The history of Chinese soup goes back to thousands of years ago. In those ancient times, rich people had soup on a daily basis. Some of the soups were supposed to keep you healthy, calm your mind, and give you a long life.

The most famous soups are the ones with the purpose of nutritious boost and medication, for example, chicken and mushroom soup is best for helping women achieve a speedy recovery after giving birth. And if you are not feeling well, lost appetite for food, people would normally suggest you to have some soup as it is easy to digest. These kinds of soups normally require hours boiling, and some of them can be very expensive.

In recently years, these 'nutritious' soups have again become popular in China. They can normally can be taken alone, without rice or any stable food. And according to their functions, they can be taken before the meal, for boosting appetite, or after meal, for digestion, or just in between the meals, and may even serve for medical purpose.

The 'nutritious' 'soup' tradition is still well-kept in Southern China, especially in the Canton area. In contrast, in the North of China, soup is still part of a typical meal. Soups normally accompany dumplings, bao zi (steamed bread with fillings), or bing (flat bread). Some of them are very easy to make. The most popular homemade soup is 'sour and spicy' soup. It sounds very similar to the 'hot and sour' soup you can get in the restaurants or takeaways in the West, but it is rather different. Northeastern 'sour and spicy' soup has tomato, cucumber and eggs with sour and chilli seasonings in a clear water base, without any thickening.

Another two popular soups are lamb soup and chicken soup. Lamb soup is believed to have originated within Chinese Islamic ethnic groups, but has become one of most popular soups in Northern cuisine. It consists of boiled lamb and viscera with seasonings. At home, we normally use lamb ribs, with bones to boil the soup, and with some ground white pepper and coriander.

About the Author

Shibin Zhang writes about Chinese food and Chinese culture. She specialises in the cuisine of North East China and in Islamic Chinese cuisine. On her website, you can find more information about Chinese soups.

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Vegetable Soup Ideas

By Edward Hezlet

You don't always require meat, seafood, or poultry to create soup. Actually, some of the tastiest and most popular soups are vegetable based. Whether you're a vegetarian or just trying to improve the quantity of vegetables you consume, eating vegetable soups will suit you either way. There isn't any denying that vegetables tend to be healthy in addition to being delicious- a winning combination. If you think vegetable soups can be a little bit bland, there are numerous different herbal treatments, spices as well as seasonings you should use to cheer them up much more.

There are a variety of vegetable soups you may make. You could make vegetable broth through simmering veggies past their own prime along with vegetable peelings within water. Throw in some of your favorite herbs as well as garlic and you'll have a wonderful broth in an hour or two, and all it needs is a quick straining.

To help to make your vegetable broth into a delicious veggie soup, you will have to add a few chopped veggies and simmer all of them until they're soft. Noodles, grain, potatoes, and lentils can be added to include another taste and sufficient texture to help make the soups satisfying as well as wholesome. Add these whenever you add the actual raw vegetables and they'll cook collectively.

Vegetables that make great soups.

There are numerous vegetables you should use to help to make soup quality recipes. If you have limited funds, just have a look for vegetables on special offer at your local grocery store and you can make soup from these. Stores will often discount vegetables that are reaching the end of their sell-by-date, so you could pick up bargain vegetables that are perfectly good enough for making soup.

Carrots, zucchini, eggplant, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, parsnip, pumpkin, tomato, red onion, potato and leeks are just some of the vegetables you could use in soup recipes. Some of these vegetables are seasonal and using ingredients within their natural seasons can lead to a more intensely flavored soup. However many are available throughout every season, and if not there are plenty of soups you may make in mass and then deep freeze.

Freezing soups is actually a really good idea, as they can be defrosted very quickly in a microwave, providing you with a nutritious and healthy meal within a short time period. One idea is to make double the quantity you require every time that you make soup, so that you can freeze half of the batch for the next time that you want it, without having to make the effort of starting from scratch again. Another option is to spend a day that you have free, cooking lots of different vegetable soups, freezing them all in order to keep you supplied for a long duration.

Whether you choose to make a soup to enjoy at the time or to freeze for later, just remember that vegetable soup is a fantastic way of enjoying a healthy meal. Taking the healthy option can sometimes seem less exciting, but by trying different recipes you might stumble upon a soup that you really enjoy. For example I am a massive fan of leek and potato soup, something I would not have realized unless I had experimented with a variety of vegetable soups.

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Chinese Soup: Bird's Nest or Hot And Sour? Benefits Of Chinese Soups

By Keiko Mendoza

Many of us have heard of many famous Chinese soups like Bird's Nest soup and hot and sour soup as well as the intriguing Buddha jumps over the wall soup. Do you know that the Chinese use soup for medicinal as well as food purposes? The Chinese believe in the balancing of the yin and yang or hot and cold forces of nature and this is the basis of the ingredients used in Chinese soups.

Aside from the nutritional value of the food itself, the Chinese use medicinal properties of the ingredients in the soup to maintain good health or to speed along recovery of sick individuals with these ingredients. Ideally, fresh ingredients are used and where possible, the best quality is also used. An example of soup valued for its healing properties is the Bird's Nest soup. In Mandarin, this is called the yan wo or literally Swallow's Nest.

These are edible nests of the swift or swallow. When mixed with water, the nests which are whitish become jelly like and believed to have many health benefits. Among the benefits include improving the immune system, and speeding up the rebirth of cells. The bird's nest could cost hundreds of dollars but when regularly consumed, it is believed to improve resistance to diseases in children by boosting the immune system, strengthen lungs and kidneys of men as well as improve the skin of women. Others believe it can help people suffering from asthma.

Meanwhile there are soups that are believed to relieve colds and bring down fevers. When one has a fever, the Chinese believe that drinking soup that has more yin will bring down the fever and when one has a cold, he will be given soup that had more yang to balance out the lack of yang forces in the body. Examples of these soups include the winter melon soup which is used to cool down the body and usually taken during the hot summer months. Chrysanthemum is also incorporated in foods to achieve the same purpose. For the cold months, ginseng and ginger could be used to warm the body that may be lacking in yang energy. The hot and sour soup is also said to be good for colds.

Many Chinese soups use herbs and plants with medicinal properties as ingredients. It is these ingredients as well as the balancing of the nutrients in the other ingredients that bring us a lot of benefits. It is all in the balancing of the different elements in nature as the Chinese believe. And if you feel out of sorts, why not take in some Chinese soup to balance out what's bothering you?

Keiko Mendoza loves to travel around the world in search of Asian cuisines that satisfies both her palate and her inquisitive mind. If you are in the Philippines check out Mack's Restaurant, an authentic family-owned Chinese restaurant at the heart of Calamba, Laguna Philippines.

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Delicious Homemade Soups For a Cold Winter Night

By Teri M Lemke

Vegetable Soup

(Buy beef soup/neck bones and/or sirloin beef at your local grocery store)

2 lb sirloin steak
1 14 oz can of corn
1 28 oz. can whole tomatoes
4 or 5 celery stalks
2 onions
4 carrots
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen okra

Be sure to leave meat in chunks when you are making broth.

Broth - In a large pot add water, bones and/or chunks of meat, leaves from celery stalks, chunks of onion, a few carrot tops and season with thyme, basil, and oregano.

Cook until meat is tender. Remove bones and take the meat off of the bone. Throw away the bones. Strain broth and freeze to defat. Put chopped up meat into a clean pot, add seasonings such as garlic, celery, thyme, basil, and oregano. You can add a can of beef broth to give the broth more depth in flavor. If you don't want to take time to make the broth homemade, you can use canned broth instead.

*Put in chopped onion, chopped celery and carrot, peas, okra, corn, and one can of whole tomatoes that you have chopped up. Cook until veggies are tender.

*Substitute any vegetables that you prefer. Black eyed peas, squash, zucchini are nice additions!

Chicken Noodle Soup

1 whole chicken
2 stalks of celery
3 carrots
1 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp pepper
1 tsp poultry seasoning
fresh parsley
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp rosemary
1/4 tsp marjoram
2 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
1 onion, quartered
2 cups noodles
1 can chicken broth

Boil chicken in a large pot with tops of carrots, celery leaves, the quartered onion and a garlic clove. When chicken is done, remove chicken to a large bowl to cool. Strain broth with wire mesh strainer into a large bowl. After broth cools, put in freezer to defat. Remove meat from bones of chicken. Discard bones, skin and chop up chicken meat. Remove fat from broth and return broth to a large pot. Add one can of chicken broth to give it depth. If you do not want to make the broth homemade, you can use canned broth. Put meat back in broth. Add chopped onion, carrot, celery, seasonings. Simmer until veggies are tender. Add noodles in, and cook until done. Enjoy with some homemade bread or cornbread!

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How To Make Spicy Tomato Soup

By Richard Allen

At any time of year but particularly in the depths of winter, you just cannot beat having a nice bowl of spicy tomato soup, yet most supermarkets and restaurants only serve plain tomato soup. And whilst it is great served with a swirl of cream on top of it and a large chunk of crusty bread, many of us crave for something will a little more "Bite" to it. So if like us you love spicy tomato soup but find it rarely on sale then why not try our recipe for spicy tomato soup?

When I started out first making spicy tomato soup at home all I actually did was use tinned soup and then add in sliced chilies to it before microwaving it. This actually gives good results if you are in a hurry, and it is a technique I still use today when I am in a rush. However if you have the time, then try the following, you will need:

1 or 2 Bird's Eye (Very hot) or Serrano (Hot) chilies depending on how spicy you like your tomato soup

1 red pepper cut into inch sized chunks - you can de-seed it or not, again this depends on how spicy you want it

1 tin of plum tomatoes

1 squirt of tomato puree

1 or 2 cloves of Garlic (Local organically grown is best) - peeled

1 large onion cut into small ½ inch pieces

1 tablespoon of Olive oil

1 vegetable stock cube

1 teaspoon full of dried mixed herbs

½ tablespoon of sugar

Pinch of salt and pepper to taste (As required)

To make the soup roast the garlic, pepper, chili and onion in an oven at 200 deg C for about 25 minutes with the Olive Oil.

Whilst they are cooking, use the vegetable stock cube to make up approx 1 pint of stock, adding in the tinned tomatoes, puree, herbs, sugar and salt and pepper. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes, then add in the roasted vegetables and simmer for another half hour.

Then place the contents of the pan in to a blender, and blend until you are happy with the constituency of the soup.

You can then serve immediately or just let it go cold and then you can freeze it in plastic containers if required. Enjoy!

Note: The "Spicy" element can be varied considerably by the choice of chilies that you choose to use, so experiment and enjoy, hot and spicy soups can be addictive.

If you like this recipe then why not find out more about How To Grow Tomatoes and learn more about How To Grow Vegetables on my site which is packed full of free tips and ideas as well as lots more recipes.

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