Potato Soup and Rosemary Bread

I LOVE potato soup. Raised in Idaho, I grew up on potato soup in the winter and my mom makes some of the best stuff I've ever had. She never measures or keeps track of what she adds. I've kind of adopted the same tradition (unintentionally). The basics are boiling water and adding potatoes and a thickener. Anything else is for flavor and you can pretty much add whatever you want. This is the recipe I made the other day (as far as I can remember). You can add or take out whatever you'd like and it will still taste great. The best part is it makes a lot and is cheap! Also, I bought a bread machine at Goodwill a few months ago and am loving it. I need to write a French Bread recipe I've been making a lot...it's great. Anyhow, below is the rosemary bread I made the other night. I loved it.

Potato Soup

5-6 c. water

3-4 boullion cubes

6-8 potatoes peeled and diced

1-2 small onions

3 stalks celery

3-4 c. chopped broccoli and cauliflower

1/3 c. butter

1/3 c. flour

1 c. cream/milk or 1 small can of evaporated milk

salt and pepper to taste

Hormel bacon

Bring water and boullion to boil, add potatoes, onions, celery and broccoli and boil until softened (about 10-15 mins). When veggies are almost done cooking, in another pan make a roux with the butter and flour. Beat the cream/milk into the roux until thickened. Pour and mix into the soup until thickened. Add bacon, salt and pepper. Top with green onions, cheese, whatever!

Rosemary Bread (for bread machine)

1 c. water
3 T. olive oil
1 1/2 t.white sugar
1 1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. Italian seasoning
1/4 t. ground black pepper
1 T. dried rosemary
2 1/2 c. bread flour
1 1/2 t. active dry yeast

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer (I just added them from the top down). Select white bread cycle and light crust; press Start.

Mulligatawny Soup

I know it's the middle of summer, but I made this at the end of May when we had that freakish cold week. It was fabulous. Chad and the boys devoured it...no problem. I do love Indian food and this is a good recipe to start with if you're not sure. I used cooked rice that was left over from another recipe instead of waiting for it to cook in the recipe. Oh, and you have to cook the chicken ahead of time too...that's unclear in the recipe. Also, I don't think the cream added much to the recipe, so it's definitely optional.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, diced
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
1/4 cup white rice
1 skinless, boneless chicken breast half - cut into cubes
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch dried thyme
1/2 cup heavy cream, heated

DIRECTIONS
1. Saute onions, celery, carrot, and butter in a large soup pot. Add flour and curry, and cook 5 more minutes. Add chicken stock, mix well, and bring to a boil. Simmer about 1/2 hour.
2. Add apple, rice, chicken, salt, pepper, and thyme. Simmer 15-20 minutes, or until rice is done.
3. When serving, add hot cream.

Taco Soup

I'm not sure what your weather has been like, but it is still pretty chilly here. So I'm still making a lot of soup--I love it! I'm sure you all have a taco soup recipe and they're pretty much all the same, but just in case you've never tried it, here goes one. I like my food spicy, so I added cilantro, garlic, and some salsa verde to my soup. You can top with sour cream, cheese, and tortilla chips if desired. Also, as in all recipes ground turkey can be substituted without affecting the flavor too much for a lighter alternative.

INGREDIENTS
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can black beans, with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans with liquid
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, with liquid
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
3-4 cups water
2 (14.5 ounce) cans peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (4 ounce) can diced green chile peppers (opt.)
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning mix

DIRECTIONS

In a medium skillet, cook the ground beef until browned over medium heat. Drain, and set aside.

Place the ground beef, onion, chili beans, kidney beans, corn, tomato sauce, water, diced tomatoes, green chile peppers and taco seasoning mix in a slow cooker or in a pan on the stove if short on time.

Mix to blend, and cook on Low setting for 8 hours or until flavors are blended and soup is warm.

Pasta E Fagioli

This soup is so delicious, and although it looks like a lot of ingredients (and work) it really isn't too bad. I can whip this up in an hour--cooking time and all. It tastes so delicious with homemade rolls. On the kidney beans...I usually just either pick red or white since one can has two cups in it. Also, it isn't super important to be exact on any of the ingredients. It always turns out no matter what. If I don't buy fresh parsley I use dry too.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 teaspoon oil
1 pound ground beef
7 ounces carrot -- slivered or chopped
6 ounces onion -- chopped
7 ounces celery -- diced
24 ounces tomatoes, canned -- diced
1 cup red kidney beans
1 cup white kidney beans
44 ounces beef stock
1 1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons fresh parsley -- chopped
3/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
24 ounces spaghetti sauce
4 ounces dry pasta shell macaroni

Directions:

Saute beef in oil until beef starts to brown. Add onions, carrots, celery and tomatoes and simmer for about 10 min. Drain and rinse beans and add to pot. Also add beef stock, oregano, pepper, Tabasco, spaghetti sauce and noodles . Simmer until celery and carrots are tender, about 45 min.