A Favorite Soup Recipe

I've been making Chicken Tortellini Soup for about 10 years. The recipe is adapted from one I found in Taste of Home's Quick Cooking mazagine. Don't be afraid to adjust it to your taste. This is probably what we'll have for dinner at my Friday night crop this week. Everybody loves it! I hope you will, too! Don't forget to visit the Recipe Carnival again this week for more great food ideas.

Chicken Tortellini Soup


8 cups chicken broth

1 14.5-oz. can diced tomatoes, plain or Italian

1 10-oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed

Salt and pepper to taste

Baby carrots, cooked separately (I buy a small bag of the mini baby carrots and steam them)

Cheese tortellini, cooked separately (I use a bag of frozen tortellini)

2 ½ cups shredded cooked chicken (I cook the chicken in the crockpot the day before I make the soup)

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Combine the broth, tomatoes, spinach, salt & pepper. Slowly bring to a simmer. Add the cooked carrots, tortellini and chicken and cook until everything is heated through. Add the Parmesan cheese to the pot just before servings or let each person add it to their bowl.

Makes about 8 servings.

Got Soup?

During the winter I like to serve soup for dinner at my crops. Here's one of my favorites:

Hearty Corn Chowder
(published in The Atlanta Journal Constitution)
16 servings
This quick-cooking soup is served every year at Marist School's Holiday Traditions festival.
 
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter or margarine

2 cups chopped carrots

2 cups chopped celery

2/3 cup finely chopped onion

6 tablespoons all-purpose flour

4 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon celery salt

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 (11-ounce) cans kernel corn with red and green peppers

5 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

2 (12-ounce) cans evaporated skim milk

1 pound smoked sausage, cut into 1/4-inch slices

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

In a large pot over medium-high heat, melt butter. Add carrots, celery and onion and sauté until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the flour; slowly add the water, stirring constantly, until thick and bubbly. Stir in salt, celery salt, paprika, pepper and corn. Reduce heat and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes. Gradually stir in cheese until it is all melted. Stir in evaporated milk. Add sausage. Cook, stirring occasionally, until warmed through. If desired, garnish each bowl with a sprinkling of parsley.

Note: the last time I made this I added a chopped red bell pepper. I also reduced the amount of cheese by 1 cup and it was still yummy!

Countdown to Valentine's Day: Day Four

You can't have Valentine's Day without chocolate, so here is a delicious and decadent recipe from Nigella Lawson's book How to Be a Domestic Goddess.

Molten Chocolate Babycakes

scant 1/4cup soft unsalted butter, plus more for greasing
12 ounces best bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
4 large eggs, beaten with a pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

6 individual 6-ounce custard cups, buttered
baking parchment

Unless you are making these up in advance, preheat the oven to 400 degrees, putting in baking sheet at the same time. Lay 3 of the custard cups on a sheet of doubled baking parchment. Draw round them, remove and then cut out the discs as marked. Press them all into the base of the cups.

Melt the chocolate and let it cool slightly. Cream together the butter and sugar, and gradually beat in the eggs and salt, then the vanilla. Now add the flour, and when all is smoothly combined scrape in the cooled chocolate, blending it to a smooth batter.

Divide the batter between the 6 custard cups, quickly whip the baking sheet out of the oven, arrange the little cups on it and replace in the oven. Cook for 10 - 12 minutes (the extra 2 minutes will be needed if the puddings are refrigerator-cold when you start) and as soon as you take them out of the oven, tip out these luscious babycakes onto small plates or shallow bowls.

Or............hop in the car and drive over to Trader Joe's. Check the freezer section for Chocolate Lava Cakes. Purchase. Bake as directed on the package.

In either case, serve with whipped cream, custard or ice cream. YUM!!