5 Soups Friday!

I love soup. I could literally eat it every meal, all year round.  In fact, when I was pregnant with Jones, I craved it all.the.time. I had some sort of soup at every meal for MONTHS. (Until I ordered a gag inducing soup at a Mexican restaurant and then didn’t eat soup for months…)

Anyways, when I saw that the Friday Five topic from Cynthia, Courtney, and Mar was Favorite Fall Foods, I yelled “SOUP” and started cheering.  Ok, maybe I just thought to myself, “oh, I have some favorite soups”. Whatever. Same thing.

[Tweet “Yummy + healthy soups to get you through the winter. #fitfluential #healthychoices #crockpot”]

1. Potato Leek soup – This soup is soo good and very healthy.  You can’t go wrong with potatoes, carrots, and leeks (plus a few other ingredients) topped with fresh ground pepper and Greek yogurt.

2. Vegetarian Tortilla Soup (or chicken tortilla soup if you prefer) – One of my friends gave me this recipe when Jones was little and I’ve been modifying it each time to make it just a bit easier.  It is now the simplest, most slow cooker friendly soup I make.  Top it with avocado or cheese or Greek yogurt along with the tortilla chips and it’s super yummy.

3. Split Pea Soup – My college boyfriend’s mom gave me this recipe so that I could make it for him.  Luckily, it was so good that I was completely on board with cooking it for him (’cause really I was cooking it for me.)  Now I make it with ham and both Beer Geek and I love it.  This is the one time I recommend non-whole wheat noodles (egg noodles or spaetzle work best) as the starch thickens it.  I also recommend making it a day in advance – it’s one of those soups that tastes better as it ages.

4. Turkey Sweet Potato Soup – This is the perfect Thanksgiving leftovers soup. Like most of the soups I make, the recipe is just a general guide. I make it all the time, but the best version I’ve ever made was when I used leftovers from a turkey I basted with maple syrup.  So good!

5. Five (or more) Bean Chili – I make the best chili ever.  No, really. I have yet to make a pot that people haven’t loved. I always make a huge amount and I seldom have leftovers. But I have no recipe. No pot is the same as a previous pot.  But I did my best to write down my process with the last pot and will share it with you. I think the key thing is that you use variety of beans. I keep meaning to make it with one of those 15 bean packages, but I never seem to manage prepping dried beans.

Ingredients:

1-2 pounds meat (I prefer grass fed ground beef, but I’ve done it with steak or ground turkey or leave the meat out and increase the beans)
1 large onion, chopped
2 Cloves garlic, chopped
1 T chili powder (I always add more)
1 tsp cumin (I always end up adding closer to 1 T)
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cocoa (I often forget this)
2-4 cans diced tomatoes with chilis
5 cans of different types of beans (or more), drained and rinsed

Cook meat, onions, and garlic until meat is brown. Drain if necessary (depends on your meat). Add to slow cooker or big pot. Add in everything else. If using crockpot, put on high until warmed through and then on low until you need it. (If you are going to be out all day, just put it on low for 8 hours.) If using pot, bring barely to a boil and then cover and let simmer on low until you need it. I usually like at least 5 hours. (Increase spices to taste – we like things hot. Add extra tomatoes to create the consistency you like. Add mushrooms and peppers if you want, especially if you’ve omitted the meat.)

 What are your favorite soups?  I’m always looking for new recipes!

 

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