Soup – The Weekday Chef

Turkey Chili

We had Thanksgiving a week early to celebrate my son’s birthday. So here is a leftover turkey recipe that my family likes. Turkey chili is also a good low calorie meal, filled with lots of healthy veggies.

Turkey Chili…great for leftovers….

My husband got me some “skinny” cookbooks at the DI the other day. He’s been on a kick recording big cassette tape sets on his computer. He’s got everything from “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” to “Earl Nightingale”. It’s fun to be able to surf the net while listening to an excellent talk tape. Anyway, I looked up veggie chili in all 3 of these books. I still like mine better.

Weight Loss Cookbooks….do you think just buying them will help? hmmm……

Ingredients for Turkey Chili

1 can navy beans
1 can garbanzo beans
3 cups chicken stock (or make your own with a few cubes of chicken bouillon)
2 tablespoons butter (to saute and caramelize the onions)
3/4 cup diced onion
1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup diced carrots
1 small can diced green chills
2 cups of leftover turkey, diced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 tablespoons lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoons red pepper flakes
a shake of garlic salt
1/2 to 1 teaspoon Lawry’s or Johnny’s Season Salt
If you don’t like certain seasonings, substitute for ones you like (oregano, chili powder, parsley etc.)

A great base for Turkey Chili…..Chicken bouillon cubes…..

Directions

I start with the onion and butter for any stew or soup I make, saute it for 7 minutes or so turning constantly. Then I chop up all the veggies; carrots, celery, and then the turkey, dicing it nicely.

I only had 1/2 a white onion, so I added a little purple also…it will add more color to my veggie stock! .

I LOVE my new cutting board…cute “Give Thanks” motto….

Then I pour in water and 2 bouillon cubes for the chicken stock. You could add cans of Swanson chicken stock instead. Add the veggies and let them boil for 10 minutes. Then add the turkey cubes and start spicing it with pepper and spices.

Here are the Bouillon cubes….they are easy to make a flavorful stock…

Here is the turkey leftovers from my son’s birthday, turkey dinner...

I chopped the turkey for my Turkey Chili into small cubes….well…..sorta…I’m a messy chopper!

I add everything and then taste it. Sometimes I will actually add a few teaspoons of sugar. Sometimes it just evens out all that salty taste. I will usually add a few more shakes of Lemon Pepper and Lawry’s at the end. Then lastly add the beans. If you add them too soon they will turn to mush. My turkey chili is very dense with veggies, not a lot of broth.

I added a little bit of all of these spices…shake and taste…that’s my style….

I didn’t have garbanzo beans on hand…these are canned white beans…..I coulda used another can of beans…

I happened to have leftover mashed potatoes so I added a big dollop of those to add to the broth. And I had leftover gravy so I added a big tablespoon of that also.

My great photog skills…! Here’s the mashed potato leftovers…add them to soup stock to thicken it a bit and add some texture…..and flavor!

And here those leftover potatoes…..they are making a much richer stock for me and my Turkey Chili!

Little dollop of turkey gravy adds to the flavor too…but not necessary….

It doesn’t need it but I wanted to use them up. I do that lots of times to make a richer sauce. Use what you have on hand as leftovers to spice up your next dish. So here was the recipes from the “skinny” cookbooks. They seem to be slim on ingredients but heavy on spices. What do you think? I’d much rather have a variety of yummy veggies!

cookbook chillis

Turkey Chili….yummy

Turkey Chili is GREAT with some nutty or chewy breads or rolls….

It’s snowing outside…but we are all warm and toasty here…

Great Harvest Bread….My Favorite!

We had some white rolls and some Great Harvest 12 grain bread so I made some buttered toast and toasted a bread roll to go with my turkey chili. I love that GREAT HARVEST! The nuttier the bread, the better I like it!
Happy Thanksgiving Everybody!

Clam Chowder

Clam Chowder Soup New England Style

It started SNOWING OUTSIDE this week! It is only the first week in October! Man that is soooooo not fair I said to Mr. Weatherman! What the heck! So I had to get out my umbrella because when it wasn’t snowing it was raining. That means one thing to me. Let’s make some hot soup and homemade bread! Perfect thing when the weather gets COLD! brrrr…

Snow on October 5th! Well…at least it melted off by day’s end….

I always start any soup I make with a half cube of butter and chopped onion in a frying pan. Then when the onions are tender and caramelized I add a few tablespoons of white flour and mix that up with the butter for a few minutes to cook off the “flour” taste. Then I pour in about a 1/3 cup of milk and make kind of a roux mixture. This helps to thicken my soup. When it’s almost done I add a few cups of milk.

Chopped up an onion

Then I let that thicken up for a few minutes while I add spices. I like Johnny’s seasoning, lemon pepper and some parsley. Then I cut up some red potatoes into diced pieces and shuck the corn from 2 cobs of corn.

Last of the summer corn on the cob…..sigh…..

Shuck it up!

I just get minced clams for Clam Chowder Soup….2 cans are tastier than just one….

In another pan I add my diced new potatoes (red potatoes) and 2 stalks of celery in some water to boil.. Then when those are tender (about 10 minutes I dump them into the roux mixture and add a can of cream of chicken soup and a dollup of sour cream. the cooked and diced bacon, the corn (fresh or frozen or canned), and the minced clams. It’s almost done now. Just taste it and season salt and lemon pepper it. Let it simmer 5 more minutes.

Recipe
8 new potatoes not peeled, diced up
2 stalks celery
1 diced onion
can of corn or a frozen corn or 2-3 ears of corn shucked
2 pieces of bacon cooked and diced
1 to 2 small cans (tuna size) of minced clams
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk
2-3 Tablespoons flour
Johnny’s seasoning salt, lemon pepper & parsley to taste.

Great soup seasonings…Parsley…Johnny’s Season Salt (get it from Costco)….I add lemon pepper too….it’s a good all around seasoning….

Here’s a close up of my veggies & the thickened Clam Chowder soup…..

And now it’s ready to eat! Don’t ya want a bite? Soup makes a great meal on a cold, rainy day!

And ya gotta have some hot bread too…just keep some in your freezer…Rhodes Rolls are so easy!

It is a delicious, hearty Soup and it is so easy too. It takes less than 30 minutes start to finish, even chopping up veggies. It’s great on a cold day. It just warms everybody up.

Tortilla Soup

Fresh veggie Tortilla Soup…so good for you!

One of my favorite soups is Tortilla Soup. They used to make it at a restaurant in Lakewood, California that I loved. It was a little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant. I tried and tried finding recipes that made it just like I used to love it. But I could never find one I loved. So I recreated the recipe tweaking it here and there so it is pretty close. And it’s a great way to use up your zuchinis from your garden. It’s a really easy and filling soup too!

Tortilla Soup Recipe

The base is chicken broth mixed with sweet Prego spagetti sauce believe it or not! I usually make this soup the day after I’ve made spagetti and I use up any leftover sauce. Or if I have made mexican rice I might add the leftovers to this soup to make it even more robust and spicy!

I got this corn at the roadside stands cropping up all around Utah

1/2 large jar from Costco of Prego Spagetti Sauce
1 can Swanson chicken broth (or use 2 chicken bullion cubes and 3 cups water
1 diced sweet white onion carmelized
1 cup celery
1 cup corn (fresh off the cob or frozen niblets is best)
1 1/2 cups baby carrots or sliced carrots
1 medium zuchini sliced and quartered
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, boiled and diced
Season with 1 teaspoon cumin seed, parsley flakes to taste, 1/2 teaspoon sweet basil , Lawrys or Johnny’s season salt to taste, dash of pepper.
Sometimes I have added leftover spanish rice and it’s great.

Dice up some fresh zuchini and carrots for your Tortilla Soup

Boil up the veggies for the Tortilla Soup! I LOVE adding the fresh corn….so yummy!

I boil the chicken while I’m chopping veggies. When chicken is nearly done I dump the celery and carrots and corn into the water to soften them up…15 minutes tops. Then drain your veggies and dice your chicken and cut corn off the cob. Carmelize your onion.

Cut the corn off the cob for your Tortilla Soup…

Then make up the sauce with the broth and Prego and season it up. Dump all your veggies and chicken in. It is very hearty and thick with veggies and a thick tomato broth. The cumin is the flavor you taste more than any other seasoning.

Tortilla Soup is seasoned with cumin seed, (be sure it’s CUMIN SEED) basil and parsley flakes…

Cook the veggies and chicken in the same water for Tortilla Soup

Top with crushed tortilla chips or the thin strips if you can find them at the store and shredded mexican cheese from a pouch in the cheese section, or just cheddar cheese. I’ve also added a few slices of avocado to the top for looks when I have company. It adds a beautiful look to the soup. It feeds a big crowd of 10. Very hearty and filling and mmmmm good.

Dump it all together, add broth, more water if you don’t like your Tortilla Soup a little thick….

Add grated cheese and tortillas to the top! Or you could slice thin some fresh tortillas and fry them in a pan
That always makes your soup look super professional! But alas….I just crush up tortilla chips….it’s just as good!