Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup

We all know how to butter bread, slice cheese and cook it in a pan, as well as follow directions on a can. :) Here's how we spice it up:

1-Add Ham to the grilled cheese

2-Instead of adding 1 can water to the soup, add 1/2 water, 1/2 milk, and add some dried basil.

-Lauren Smith

[colby's note: Genius!!]

Taco Soup

[This recipe is similar to the Taco Topper recipe. I like this one because it has a few less ingredients, so you could see what fits your pantry or tastes better.]

1 lb Ground Beef or 2 Cans Canned chicken

Taco Seasoning packet

Can beans (kidney or white-whatever your preference)

Can Corn

Can Stewed Tomatoes

Brown beef, then combine above in a pan on the stove until heated thoroughly. Top with grated cheese, Sour cream, Fritos, and...voila!

-Lauren Smith

Lasagna Soup

1 lb. Italian sausage

2 cups chopped onions

1 cup carrots, diced

2 cups mushrooms, sliced

2 T. garlic minced

4 cups chicken broth

1 can Italian-style stewed tomatoes, chopped

1 can tomato sauce

1 box small pasta

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 cup provolone cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese

Brown sausage in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and carrots; sauté 3 minutes.

Stir in mushrooms and garlic, and sauté another 3 minutes. Drain grease.

Add broth, stewed tomatoes, and tomato sauce, and bring to a boil. Drop in pasta and simmer until

cooked, about 10 minutes, or according to package directions. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted.

Place ¼ cup cheese into serving bowls and pour soup on top. Garnish with Parmesan and basil. Serve

with French bread.

-Rachel Freeman

Curry Beef Soup

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, chopped
1 pound cubed beef stew meat
6 cups beef stock
2 tablespoons curry powder
2 bay leaves
2 potatoes, sliced
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons salt

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Cook onions and beef cubes until beef is browned and onions are tender. (Original recipe called for 2 onions, I only used 1.)

2. Add the beef stock, curry and bay leaves. Cook over low heat for 30 minutes. (I cooked it more like an hour to make sure the beef got really tender. I also made stock with boullion and water since I didn't have any on hand.)

3. Add the potatoes, vinegar and salt. Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour until all is tender. Remove bay leaves and serve hot.

This recipe was so delicious. I added a little cornstarch and water to thicken it a little and served it over cooked brown rice. In the future I will thicken it a little more. You could also add cauliflower, broccoli, carrots or other veggies. Very easy and all the kids liked it! You could easily do this in the crockpot too.

Tomato Basil Soup

3 Stalks of Celery chopped
½ Cup Chopped Onion
1 Carrot Peeled, Diced
1 Red Pepper Peeled, Diced
1 Green Pepper Peeled, Diced
6 Fresh Basil Leaves Chopped or 1-2 Tsp Powdered
2 Garlic cloves, Minced
28 oz can Chopped Tomato’s
2 Chicken Bouillon cubes
1 Cup half/half
Sauté all veggies together (except for tomato’s). Add to blender with chopped tomato’s and blend. Return to pan with bouillon cubes and Half/Half. Great with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches!

-Alicia Warnock

Tortilla Soup with lots of veggies

1 Yellow Onion
1 Zuchinni Chopped
1 Can Black Beans, rinsed/drain
3 Stalks of Celery
1 ½ Cup of Frozen Corn
1 Can of Rotel (mild)
1 Can of Crushed or Diced Tomato’s
2 Chicken Bullion Cubes (with corresponding water, 2 cups) OR 1 can of Chicken Broth
Few sprinkles of Cumin
Little Salt to taste

Sauté in a pan the Onion, Zucchini, and celery for a few minutes to soften. In a large pot put your can of Rotel, Tomatos, Chicken Bullion cubes & water or just your 1 can of chicken broth, Cumin, and salt. Let that boil for a few seconds to get it warm then add everything all together in the pot. Great with Cheddar Cheese , Sour Cream, and Tortilla Strips over it!

Alicia Warnock

Crockpot Tortilla Soup

Did you know I was in Seattle and my friend was cooking for me all weekend? So this was our yummy sunday meal.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs cooked shredded chicken (kam puts frozen chicken tenders into a pot of boiling water for about 10 minutes)
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 14 oz green chile enchilada sauce
2 4oz can diced green chilis
1 15 oz can pinto beans drained
1 medium onion diced
2 tbl minced garlic
2 C water
15 oz can chicken broth
2 tsp each black pepper, cumin, chili powder, and salt
15 oz can corn drained
2 tbl chopped cilantro
shredded cheese, sour cream, avocodo, and totilla chips for garnish

combine all ingredients in crockpot except for cilantro and garnish. cook 6-8 hrs on low. stir in cilantro before serving.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

This is by far my favorite soup recipe!!! Don't let the name of it scare you off, it is delicious!

6T unsalted butter (to make it healthy I have used as little as 1T and I couldn't taste a difference)
1large onion
1/4 c finely chopped fresh ginger root
3 garlic cloves, minced
8c chicken broth
1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2inch pieces
2T fresh lemon juice
pinch of curry powder
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsely as a garnish

Melt the butter in a large stock pot. Add onion, ginger, and garlic and saute for 15 min. Add the broth, and carrots. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered over medium heat until carrots are tender, roughly 45 minutes. Puree the soup in a blender or food processor. Season with lemon juice, curry powder, and salt/pepper. Sprinkle with parsley if desired and serve it hot or chilled. Both are good. Serves 6. Also we dip bread like crazy into our soups here so don't forget the loaf of bread!

Creamy Chicken Tortilla Soup

This recipe doesn't have anything to do with Christmastime, except that it's so EASY and SO good that it will make any hectic holiDAY merry and bright. If you have a can opener, you can make this!

2 cans Rotel diced tomatoes and green chiles
2 cans chicken broth
1 can refried beans
1 can whole kernal corn
1 can black beans
2 cups shredded cooked chicken

Corn chips
Shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Combine all ingredients except corn and beans in a crock pot and cook for about 6-8 hours. Shred chicken and add corn and beans. Serve with tortilla chips and top with cheese.

Pumpkin Soup

This is a recipe I copied after seeing online. I keep thinking I'll try it one October or November, but i haven't mustered the courage. It's supposed to be great, pumpkin in soup just seems strange to me. Maybe if you try it and let me know how it tastes, I'll give it a shot.

Ingredients:

• 1 tbl extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbl butter
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 ribs celery with greens, chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• Slat and pepper
• 3 tbl all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp poultry seasoning or 2 tsp ground thyme
• 6 C water/6 boullion cubes (or 6 C chicken stock)
• 1 28 oz can cooked pumpkin puree
• 2 C milk (or heavy cream if you want it heavier)
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

Heat a medium soup pot over medium to medium hight heat. Add the oil and melt the butter. Add bay, celery, and onion. Season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook 6 or 7 minutes, until tender. Add flour and poultry seasoning and cook flour a minute. whisk in 2 C chicken stock and then puree the mixture in a blender. Put back in pot, add the remaining 4 C of stock and bring liquid to a bubble. Whisk in pumpkin in large spoonfuls to incorporate it into the broth. Simmer soup 10 minutes to thicken a bit, then add in milk and nutmeg. Reduce heat to low and keep warm until ready to serve.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2-3 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
1 diced onion or onion powder
1-2 cups sliced carrots
1 cup diced celery
2 diced potatoes
Eggs
Flour
Salt
Chicken Bouillon


Put the chicken breasts and diced onions (or onion powder) in a large pot of water and boil them until they are thoroughly cooked. Remove them from the water, leaving the water in the pot. Dice up the chicken and return it to the pot. Add the carrots, celery and potatoes and continue to boil.

Mix up your noodle dough. I don't have exact measurements for this, but I use 6 eggs, about 1/2-1 teaspoon of salt and about 2 cups of flour and mix it together, adding more flour as needed until it makes a dough that is only slightly sticky. Then sprinkle flour on a flat surface and knead flour into the dough until it is a good consistency to roll out. Roll it out like a cookie dough and then sprinkle more flour on top to avoid sticking. Fold the dough in half, then fold it in half the other direction and roll it up into a log. Slice it thinly on alternating angles to make the noodles. Spread them out, cover with a dish towel and let them sit to dry for a few minutes.

When you done with the noodles, make sure the soup is at a good rolling boil and sprinkle a few noodles at a time into the pot. Let them sit in the soup for a few seconds before stirring so they firm up a little. If you don't wait a few seconds, your noodles will make your soup a mushy mess! After you've stirred in a handful or two and the soup is at a rolling boil again, repeat the noodle drop process until you are out of noodles. You can also put in their extra flour to thicken up the broth.

Let it simmer for about 15 minutes or so and add chicken bouillon to taste. Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili

2 medium onions, chopped

1 Tbsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. oregano

2 Tbsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 small cans green chiles

4 cans Great Northern Beans

3 c. chicken broth

1 chicken bullion cube

4 c. cooked, shredded chicken breast

2 cans white corn, drained

1 Quart sour cream

4 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Saute onions in butter or oil until transparent. Add spices and all other ingredients, except cheese and sour cream. Cook over medium heat for 30-40 minutes. Add sour cream last 10 minutes of cooking. Pour into bowls and top with cheese.

[Editor's note: I do this to taste - my boys don't like "spicy" so I usually have to decrease the cumin and cayenne pepper. Other than that, its creamy, delicious and just that good....hope you enojoy! ]

taco topper soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 can stewed tomatoes
• 1 can corn (with liquid)
• 1 can kidney beans (with liquid)
• 1/2 C taco sauce
• 3-4 tsp chili power
• 1/3 tsp garlic

Directions:

Brown beef with the onion. Drain grease. Mix in large pot with other ingredients. Heat to boiling and then simmer for about 15 minutes. Top with cheese and chips (we like fritos with it). So easy. So tasty.

Cheesy Potato Soup

This is the soup that I made on General Conference weekend for those of you that tried it.

2 tbl Buutter
1/2 c chopped onion
4 medium potatoes diced
1 1/2 tbl salt
1 1/2 c water
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tbl paprika
1/2 tbl pepper
1 c sour cream
2 1/2 c milk
1 1/2 c shredded cheese

Saute onion in butter, add potatoes, salt and water. Cover and cook until tender. Blend flour, paprika, pepper, and sour cream until smooth. Stir into potatoes, Add milk and heat to boiling stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add chees and stir until melted. This will feed about 6 people. I don't usually add that much paprika especially if you are usuing smoked paprika, and of course I like more cheese then that.

Tortilla Soup

Bryan and I got this recipe when we got married and it is still one of our favorites. It's not what I normally think of when I think of tortilla soup-no beans or rice, not very spicy. But it's creamy and yummy.

Ingredients:

• 3 cans chicken broth
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 lrg. green pepper chopped
• 3 stalks celery chopped
• 3-6 chicken breasts (depending on how much chicken you want!!)
• 1/2 cup salsa
• cumin and pepper (to taste)

Soup Toppings (each one is optional!!)

• crushed tortilla chips
• chopped avocados
• chopped tomatoes
• chopped green onion
• shredded monterrey jack cheese

Directions:

Boil chicken and remove from water. Shred chicken and set aside. Saute onion, pepper and celery until barely crisp. Mix broth and soup in large pan. Heat until boiling. Add chicken, onions, peppers, celery, and salsa. Add pepper and cumin to taste.

To serve, place crushed tortilla chips in individual bowls. Add chopped avocados and tomatoes. then pour soup in bowl. Add green onion and top with cheese.