Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Easy Suppers



"Soup of the evening,

beautiful Soup!"



- Lewis Carroll



Making the next week easier may be as close as your crock pot.

There are few things as comforting as homemade soups and stews. There's no easier way to make them than in a crock pot. Most households have a crock pot. If not, then a big soup pot is somewhere in the cupboard.

I'm not suggesting labor-intensive soups that require a lot of preparation. I'm suggesting dishes that can be made in a few minutes in only one pot, making clean-up a cinch. And after all that rich food over the holidays, soup could be a welcome change.

You could have a soup week: a different hearty soup each night with whole grain bread, sandwiches, or baked potatoes. Not only is it easy, but it's simple -- giving your mind a break.

"What's for dinner? That's easy! Soup!"

Here are some of our family's favorites:

1. Chili made with canned (rinsed kidney beans), tomato sauce, spices and browned grown beef.

2. Beef or Chicken Stew. Brown the meat while adding the vegetables: potatoes, carrots, green beans, corn, or even mixed frozen vegetables.

3. Split Pea Soup made from dried split peas. Add leftover cooked noodles, corn, or potatoes.

4. Vegetable Soup. My recipe for it is here. It's delicious with grilled cheese sandwiches.

5. Pumpkin Soup. Use my recipe and serve it with leftover turkey or ham sandwiches.

6. Canned Clam Chowder. My kids have always loved this option. Sometimes we added macaroni noodles, corn, and carrots to it to make it more hearty.
________________________________________________-

What are your favorite "easy" soups? I'd love to hear your ideas!

7 comments:

  1. Found a fantastic one over at Pioneer Woman this week - or was it last week? oy. You knew I'd have to visit this post, didn't you? ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yummm.... I throw together a quick Chicken Tortilla soup with corn, black beans, enchilada sauce, chicken broth, chicken, and corn tortillas. All these ingredients can be kept in the pantry/freezer. When serving I add cilantro and cheese (and avocado slices if I'm feeling extravagant.) I could eat soup every night of the week!
    Hugs,
    Renee

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kelly,

    That recipe looks wonderful. White Chili! Now you have my brain spinning.

    Renee,

    Chicken tortilla soup sounds like one the kids would love. I've never tried anything quite like it before.

    Great ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have to confess I've been buying those large Cambells soups and dumping it in the crock pot. I do like to jazz it up with fresh vegies.

    ReplyDelete
  5. T. Anne:

    That can be a smart choice. Canned soups can be the base of a meal that is wholesome and easy at times when we don't, or shouldn't try to, have time for traditional cooking.

    I am all for options that work.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hands Up for Pumpkin soup! I LURVE that!

    I use my crockpots A LOT! My meatball soup is easy and thankfully the family doesn't tire of it in the winter... it's a variation of the Italian Wedding Soup.

    I use my crockpot nearly every Friday or Saturday taking the leftovers and turning them into either soup or stew based on the meats and veggies from the various dishes I cook during the week.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Some of our favorite soups are chili (which we may have this week or next), chicken-n-noodles (which we are having this week), chicken-n-rice soup, taco soup, and beef stew. We also enjoy beef-n-noodles, vegetable soup, potato soup, and a chicken broccoli soup.

    ReplyDelete

I love to receive comments from my readers, since you are the ones I am writing for! Please feel free to leave one.