BBQ Chicken Soup with Cornbread Croutons

Soup with a twist and a secret ingredient...I LOVE secret ingredients! 

 I've never heard of BBQ Chicken Soup until I had it at SODO Kitchen, a lovely restaurant located in the Seattle Starbucks Headquarters building. The food is fresh from local Farmers and the staff is lovely! The Catering Manager was nice enough to share this recipe with...Thank you Laura! 

 This has turned out to be one of my all time soup faves and I love me some soup so that says alot.

So, what is that secret ingredient??  It's a cup of brewed coffee and of course I used Starbucks...I got a few pounds of it hanging around.

NOTES:

• This soup is as good as the BBQ sauce you use...so be sure and use one you like.
• Perfect recipe to use grocery store purchased Rotisserie Chicken!

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Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Soup

I love secret ingredients!  Something that makes a recipe really different and stand out.  The secret to this soup is... a bottle of beer!  Beer instead of broth, now that's my kind of recipe! (especially if you throw this together in the morning and take a little taster before dumping it in the pot..who doesn't like a little beer breath in the morning?).

You can't really 'taste' the beer but it does add a certain depth of flavor.  If you don't drink alcohol, you can substitute chicken broth...but try the beer, the chances of any alcohol being left after 5 hours in a slow cooker are pretty slim.

You can also substitute kidney beans for chili beans, regular canned diced tomatoes instead of those with green chilies, I  think you could go with just about anything you got in your cupboard on this and not mess it up too bad!

 

 

 

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Top Fab 4 Fall Soups!

The top 4 favorite soups of the last year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

 

 

I know, another soup recipe!  But I got a hankerin' for some soup. It's fall and we had a longer than normal summer and I'm ready for winter food!   I've been making this soup for years, it's adapted from an old Cooking Light recipe.  ( FYI: old Cooking Light recipes are the bomb...new ones?... not so much).

 

The secret ingredient...are you ready?  It's Light Velveeta cheese...oh you shut up you cheese snob, you know you love Velveeta! Who doesn't?...and it's LIGHT cheese, yup, it's healthy. Who knew?  :)  

 (secret: if you can't find Velveeta Light Cheese or the $7.00 per block price tag is a bit high.  You can either: a.) use the full blown fatty stuff or, b.)  substitute 12 slices of American light cheese.  (ie: 2% American cheese slices).

My husband says he can tell when I cheat and use the slices...so be warned.  He has a cheezy palate so he might be right. (who can resist a cheezy joke?)

 

Trader Joe's carries a wonderful, precooked wild rice.  It's what I recommend for this recipe.  But in a pinch you can use a blend like Uncle Ben's Wild Rice, but don't add the seasoning packet.  

 

Oh, and this would be another perfect recipe to use grocery store Rotisserie Chicken. Love that!

 

 

Ingredients

 

1 cup uncooked quick-cooking wild rice (or a rice blend in a pinch, see note above)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Thyme (fresh or dried)
3 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups cubed peeled baking potato
3 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
10 ounce light processed cheese, cubed (such as Velveeta Light)
2 cups chopped chicken (Rotisserie chicken from your grocer works great!)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley (optional)

 Directions

Cook rice according to package directions,
Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with olive oil.
Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Add Thyme.
Add broth and potato; bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until potato is tender.
Combine milk and flour, stirring well with a whisk.
Add the milk mixture to potato mixture; cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.
Stir in rice, chicken, pepper, and salt.
Garnish with parsley, if desired.

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Lasagna Soup!

I know, this looks like every other soup I love to make...but this one is different.  It' has a secret....a yummy, gooey secret.  Shhhh, come closer, let me whisper in your ear...it's called YUM!  A scoop of yummy, gooey goodness lies underneath the quiet tomatoey exterior and it is heaven my friends.

I can hardly wait wait for my fellow soupateer Jamie to try it.  She is hooked on my Gnocchi "crack soup" but I this might just become her new addiction!  Let me know Jamie!

So what exactly is this secret yum you ask?  It is a scoop of ricotta cheese that has been mixed with parmesean,  a bit of oregano, salt and pepper. (make your own ricotta if you have an extra 10 minutes).  You add a dollop to the bowl, ladle the soup over and top with mozzarella! 

What kind of pasta?  For this photo I used broken up lasagna noodles and it worked pretty good but you might find it easier to use a rotini type pasta...up to you, you still get the same results.

I recommend boiling the pasta separately then adding to the each soup bowl. Normally, I'd say...whatever... just dump it all in the pot, but this soup is pretty thick and it's hard to get the pasta too not get mushy. 

Here is to fall and soup...I love you both!  (oh and the yum...I do love the yum !)

Ingredients
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
16 oz chicken sausage
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced red pepper
1/3 cup parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons dried basil
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesean
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 cups (uncooked) rotini pasta or broken up lasagna noodles (which is what I used)
pinch of salt and pepper

Directions
Brown and crumble chicken sausage in large dutch oven .  Remove from pan and set aside.  Boil water for pasta.
Heat olive oil to the same pan you cooked the sausage in and add onion, red peppers and saute until onions are soft.  Add garlic and parsley, saute for another 2-3 minutes.  Add the crushed and diced tomatoes, along with basil - cook 5 minutes.  Add broth and cooked sausage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes before serving. 
Add pasta to water and cook until al dente.  Drain and rinse. (rinsing will keep the pasta from sticking together until you are ready to serve)
Meanwhile back at the yum station.  Mix together the ricotta, Parmesan, garlic powder, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.

Add a dollop of yum to the bottom of a soup bowl, add  your pasta and ladle the soup over it.  Top with mozzarella and serve!  Yummmmmm!

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Chicken Sausage & Vegetable Soup with Cheese Crisps

Anywhere but here (Seattle), most folks are bustin' out the grills and lemonade this time of year, but not in the Pacific Northwest, we are still craving soup and red wine...well I am anyway, well I always am, actually. 

After my 'cancer fighting soup' disaster...lowest blog view numbers ever.  (Apparently people don't make recipes that start with the word 'cancer' and I need to work on my marketing skills.)  Consider this a 'make up' recipe.   I promise you will have this recipe for a long time, because you are going to live forever, and ever, and ever...how am I doing?  Marketing 101?.

This is like a minestrone only with sausage instead of the traditional lean pork and bacon. You can clean out your pantry and a fridge making this soup. Throw in whatcha got and you will still have a great soup....but start with the sausage, it really makes the soup.

NOTE: When I make soups with pasta, I always cook the pasta separate and ladle the soup over it.   You will find the pasta so much better tasting and won't get mushy when you have leftovers the next day. 

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Slow Cooker Bolognese Sauce via risataspotola.com!

Maybe I should change the name of my blog to risataspotola.com?  That's laughingspatula.com in Italian!  Now you know what I did with my morning :)

Is there anything you can't find on the Internet?

This sauce was so rich and flavorful.  With only a few ingredients and your trusty slow cooker you can make a big old batch of some of the most tasty Bolognese I have ever had.  Use an immersion blender to create a very smooth sauce, or leave as is if you prefer a chunkier sauce.  Eat half then freeze half for another time. 

I added nutritional information for this, but it will vary greatly depending on the fat content of your beef.  I used 15%.  I think any less and you will miss out on the real beef flavor that it develops while slow cooking.  I buy my ground beef at a local butcher shop.  Ground chuck, really flavorful compared to mega mart beef.  I know, I know, not everybody has the time to go find a butcher...but if you can, you won't be disappointed...and I do love supporting the small business man/woman/person...it's so hard to be butcher PC anymore!

Servings - about 20

Serving size - 1/2 cup

Calories: 146

Fat: 8.7

Carbs: 6.8

Fiber: .4

Protein: 6.7

WW Points+: 4

Ingredients

4 oz pancetta, chopped (or center cut bacon)
1 tbsp butter (or olive oil)
1 large white onion, minced
2 celery stalks (about 3/4 cup), minced
2 carrots (about 3/4 cup), minced
2 lb 95% lean ground beef
1/2 cup beef broth
2 - 28 oz cans good crushed tomatoes 
salt and fresh pepper
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup half & half cream

Directions

On medium heat, saute  pancetta until lightly brown and all fat has been rendered.

 Add onion, celery and carrots.  Saute for about 5 minutes or until tender.

Add ground beef and saute until cooked.  Drain all but one tablespoon of fat.

Add meat and vegetable mixture to slow cooker.  Add tomatoes and beef broth.  Stir well. Cook on low heat for 4-5 hours.

Add cream and parsley.

Serve over your favorite pasta!  Mangia!

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Slow Cooker Pork Posole

Must be winter in Seattle!  Everything I post latley is hot and in a bowl! 

Posole is a hearty stew from Mexico.  Traditional accompaniments include chopped lettuce, cilantro and lime, but a dolop of sour cream would'nt hurt either.
An unusual ingredient in this dish is hominy. Hominy is corn that has been processed to remove the hull and germ.  When ground, you get grits!  So if you are a grit or polenta lover, you will love this stuff!   It adds a great deal of flavor to this stew and although you can substitute corn if you prefer, you won't get near the same results.

Servings: 6

Serving size: heaping 1 cup

Calories: 260

Fat: 12 grams

Carbs: 16

Fiber: 4

Protein: 22

WW Points+: 7

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless pork, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
1 large onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves
1 chipotle en adobo, minced plus 1 tablespoon adobo sauce (*see note below)
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 15 oz can hominy, rinsed and drained
Chopped romaine, radishes and cilantro
Lime wedges

Chop pork and sprinkle with salt.
Heat olive oil in skillet on medium high heat.  Add half the pork and cook, turning occasionally, until browned, about 5 minutes.  Transfer pork to 6 quart slow cooker and repeat with remaining pork.

*(For those not familiar with Chipotle: Chipotle are smoked jalapeno peppers that have been cooked in a thick sauce.  Personally I like the sauce more than the hot peppers themselves.  If you don't like a lot of heat, remove as many of the seeds as possible.  Remaining Chipotle can be kept frozen for several months. In a pinch, a decent substitute for Chipotle is smoked paprika.)

Add the broth, onion, garlic, chipotle, adobo, chili powder, oregano and cumin; mix well. Top with tomatoes and then the hominy in even layers.

Cover and cook until the pork is fork tender.  4-5 hours on high or 8-10 on low.

Serve the posole in soup bowls with the lettuce, radishes, cilantro and lime wedges on the side.

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Stewfato (Chicken Stew)

A simple to prepare Italian chicken stew with a middle eastern flare...huh?  Italian and mid-eastern?  Crazy Kathi has lost her foodie mind!  I'm not sure how they both work, but they just do!  Stewfato is an Italian name but the couscous, a slap of cinnamon and some crumbled feta are definitely mid eastern!  Just take my word on this, it's easy, quick and very tasty.  Low in calories and WW points.  You can throw this all in a crockpot and get the same results.

The nutritional info does not include couscous or feta but I find a 1/3 cup of whole wheat couscous and 2 tablespoons of crumbled feta is plenty and that would add 3 WW Points+ (oh, and don't use fat free feta...yucko!)

Servings - 6

Serving Size - 1 1/4 cups

Calories - 261

Fat - 11.9

Carbs - 17.7

Fiber - 3.6

Protein - 17.5

WW Points+ - 6

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Gnocci, Sausage and Spinach Soup

We started calling this 'shut up soup', because we took one bite and said "Oh shut up!, that is so good!". 

I am a soupateer, a soup savant, a master of the broth!....(you could say, I love soup :) and this soup is a 5 spoon award winner.   It is flawless, it has a deep flavor and isn't to heavy.  Very simple to make with not too many ingredients.  Soup perfection....ahhh.

I based it on a recipe I saw on Pinterest.com (my new addiction, right after soup :).   Here is a link:  Cinnomonspiceandeverythingnice.com  The only change I made is I added a bit of tomato paste because I love the flavor of tomato and cream and wanted to intensify that. I would also double the batch. Serves about 6 the wasy it is and it's even better the next day so double up!  Serve with Spedini Bread!

If  you are not a big gnocchi fan, I am sure you could substitute a thick pasta like rotini or penne and it would be very good!

Ingredients

1 yellow onion, diced

1 roasted red pepper, diced

2 tablespoons olive oil

 salt and fresh black pepper to taste

1 pound Italian chicken sausage (bulk or removed from casings)

4 cloves, garlic, minced

3 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon dried basil

32 ounces low-sodium chicken broth

1 pound gnocchi

2 cups fresh baby spinach leaves, rough chopped

3/4 cup half & half or heavy cream  (I used half and haf and got a great result)

 Parmesan cheese, fresh grated

 In a dutch oven or soup pot,  saute onion and red pepper in olive oil over medium-low heat until tender. Season well with salt and pepper. In a separate, large skillet brown the sausage, breaking it apart as it cooks. Add garlic and tomato paste to onion mixture and saute until fragrant.

  Drain sausage and add to onion mixture along with the basil and chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper, simmer for 20 minutes.

  Add gnocchi and spinach, bring to a simmer and cook until gnocchi puff up and start to float, about 10 minutes. 

Add half & half and fresh basil, bring to a simmer for three or four minutes. Serve with Parmesan cheese and Spedini Bread.  Yumbo!

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Pasta Fagiloi

Tired of turkey leftovers?  Need to lighten up a bit? ...this soup will cure your turkey burn out blues!   I have been making this for years and called it minestrone...  It's actually called Pasta Fagiloi which translates to "pasta and beans".  Traditionally it is a meatless dish but Americans being the carnivorous dudes that we are, threw meat in it at some point.  I chose chicken sausage but beef or even chicken would work...heck, if you got some left over turkey you are not sick of...that would work too!
This makes a big batch, enough to freeze some for later or share with a neighbor.  I served it with my 'one rise' easy sweet rolls.

1 package italian chicken sausage (I used Iseniro's) if in casings, remove
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves chopped
1 tablespoon italian seasoning
28 oz can diced tomato (undrained)
15 oz can kidney beans (drained)
15 oz can cannelli beans (drained)
2 cups beef broth
2 cups chicken broth
28 oz can tomato sauce
5 oz pasta - small size works best (Barillia Piccolini shapes work well)

In dutch oven or soup pan cook sausage.  When brown remove sausage.  Leave any drippings in the pan and add onion, carrot, celery.  Cook until vegetables are tender, add garlic and italian seasonings and cook another couple minutes.
Add diced tomato, drained beans, beef and chicken broth along with tomato sauce.  Simmer for 25 minutes.  Add pasta, cook until al dente according to package directions.
Serve with grated parmesean and fresh bread!

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Quick Chicken and Corn Chowder

Ahhhhh, just in time for the wet weather here in Seattle!  This is so easy and so darn good.  I was so glad the photo came out, 'cause I just ate the last bowl for lunch!

Use a cooked rotisserie chicken from your local mega mart to make it even easier to prepare. Top with grated cheddar, sour cream or even bacon bits and of course...hot sauce!  A side of cornbread would be mighty nice too.

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Crockpot Turkey Chili with Sweet Potatoes

Great start on a Sunday morning when you know you won't feel like cookin' on Sunday evening! The sweet potatoes add a punch of flavor but can be excluded if you prefer. Chili is a dumping ground for your fridge...if you've got some carrots, zucchini or most any other vegetable that has seen better days ...throw them in the pot! For those of you who like to cook using exact recipe's this one will work without any changes every time. Basic, flavorful and feeds about 8. I served it with the left over Bacon, Cheese and Onion biscuits I made the other day. Yumbo!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey (ground chicken or beef will work as well)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pepper chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded, deveined and chopped
• 2 cups chopped sweet potato
• 2 16 oz can's of kidney beans
• 2 15 oz can's of chopped tomatoes
• 1 15 oz can tomato sauce
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar or molasses
• 4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons cumin p
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 teaspoons pepper

Heat olive oil in large non stick frying pan. Add ground turkey, onion, pepper and jalapeno. Saute until meat is cooked through and vegetables are tender.

Pour into crock pot. Add remaining ingredients, stir well and cook on low 5-6 hours.
Serve with your favorite toppings...sour cream, grated cheese or over a bed of rice or noodles .

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Tortilla Soup

I know, I know, there are hundreds of variations of this recipe, all just a little different. But I think what knocks mine out of the park is to saute chopped up tortilla's with the onion...it gives a depth of flavor that enhances this soup ten fold. Give it a try, let me know what you think!

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, thighs or a combination of both
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 teaspoons chopped garlic
• 3 corn tortillas, chopped in roughly 1 inch pieces
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (or in a pinch 1 small can of roasted green chili's)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 15 oz can of chopped tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste
• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of frozen corn kernels
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 teaspoons fresh lime juice

Preheat oven to 375. Bake chicken until fork tender, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly, shred with a fork and set aside.
In a large dutch oven or soup pot, add olive oil, onions, garlic and chopped corn tortillas. Saute until onions are translucent and tortillas are soft.
Add jalapeno, salt, cumin, chopped tomatoes and tomato paste. Cook for about 5 minutes until all flavors merry.
Add remaining ingredients and heat throughly. Top with your favorite toppings below and serve!
Suggested Topping's

• cut 3 corn tortilla's in strips and bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 5-10 minutes or until crisp but not brown.
• 1/2 cup sour cream mixed with 2 tsp minced chipotle in adobo sauce
• Fresh avocado
• Fresh grated cheese

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