Recipes, cookware reviews, and kitchen appliances in one cooking blog.

Category — Soup

Tasty Corn Chowder

by Top Chef

I made this crock pot corn chowder recipe yesterday.  It’s very savory; after a day in the crock pot, you can really taste all the flavors in this stuff!  It’s sort of a hybrid recipe- I read through several corn chowder recipes, and morphed them into one.  This easily makes enough to serve 4.

Crockpot Corn Chowder

  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 6 slices bacon
  • 20 oz. frozen whole kernel corn
  • 1/2 cup carrots, finely diced
  • 1 can creamed corn
  • 1 chicken bouillon cube
  • 1 cup of water
  • 2 cups potatoes, peeled and diced
  • 1 tsp.  Worcesterchire sauce
  • 1 tbsp. sugar
  • Pinch of garlic powder

Coarsely chop bacon, and fry in a large skillet until crisp.  Remove bacon from skillet, and set aside.  In bacon drippings, saute onion and potato for 3-4 minutes.  Discard bacon drippings.  Combine all ingredients in slow cooker.  Cook on high for 1 hour, then reduce temperature to low for 3-5 hours.

In the last hour of cooking time, scoop half of chowder into a blender, and pulse until smooth.  (Careful-very HOT!)  Place blended mixture back into crock pot, and stir.

Optional:  Just before serving, stir in a little butter, and about 1/2 cup of half and half.

November 10, 2008   1 Comment

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

by Top Chef

potato soup

Whenever I get the chance, I like to go to a local diner for a bowl of their loaded baked potato soup.  Occasionally, I even make my own, which I think comes in pretty close to the diner’s recipe. Some people use flour or cornstarch to thicken their potato soup, but I like to sprinkle in some instant mashed potato flakes for thickening it up when needed.

This is a very rich soup, so….uh make it when you’re not dieting.  Everybody has to splurge once in awhile, right?

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

  • 2/3 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 4 cups cubed, baked potatoes, peeled
  • 8 cups milk
  • 1/2 cup thin sliced green onions
  • 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup of sour cream
  • Several slices of bacon, cooked, drained, coarsely chopped
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in a large soup pot or Dutch oven, then little by little stir in flour until smooth.  Gradually add milk and stir over low to medium heat until thickened.  When mixture has thickened, add potatoes and green onions, and continue to cook until soup just reaches a very gentle boil.  Add remaining ingredients and serve hot!

There are a million ways to make this soup.  Here are lots more potato soup recipes.

October 26, 2008   1 Comment

Cream of Pumpkin Soup

by Top Chef

pumpkin soup

There are lots of ways to use up Halloween pumpkins, and here is one delicious option. This pumpkin soup recipe includes cinnamon croutons for topping.  You can even get creative with the croutons for making this a real Halloween treat.

  • 3 tablespoons soft margarine
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 4 slices whole wheat bread
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
  • 15 ounces of pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Spread butter mixture evenly over one side of each bread slice. Place buttered bread on a cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until bread is crisp and topping is bubbly. Cut each slice of bread into triangles, squares, or use cookie cutters to make Halloween shapes!

Then, saute onion in butter in a medium saucepan until tender. Add 1 can of broth and stir well. Bring to a boil and cover.  Next, reduce heat, and simmer mixture for 15 minutes. Transfer broth mixture into  blender or food processor, and blend until smooth.
Return mixture to saucepan or small stockpot. Add remaining can of broth, pumpkin, salt, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and ground pepper; stir well. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in whipping cream and heat through without boiling. Use a ladle and dip soup into soup bowls. Recipe source:  All Recipes.
Food Handling Tip: Remember to monitor the temperature of your refrigerator with a thermometer, especially when cooling a large amount of something that’s hot…like soup.  According to this article, the ideal temp for a fridge is between 35 and 38 F.  Did you know that your refrigerator will actually function more efficiently when it is full of food?  Check out these money-saving shopping and refrigerator tips at Green-Vaccine.

October 2, 2008   1 Comment