Make great soup using a few basic ingredients!

Did you know that soup is one of the easiest low calorie main dish meals you can make? All you need are some basic ingredients and you can make a delicious almost fat-free, gluten-free meal!
Over the past four years, I have come to realize that a you only need to keep a few basic ingredients on hand.
Pantry:
1 quart of chicken broth or a chicken broth cubes
I quart of beef broth or a jar of beef broth cubes
1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes
Rice or a small box of you favorite pasta (bow ties, orzo, ditalini)
Seasonings like salt, pepper, dried or minced onions, garlic salt, oregano, sage, bay leaves, and something spicy like cumin, creole, or cayane pepper.

Vegetables
Onion
Celery
Carrots
Garlic
1 10-oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables

Meat and Poultry (I keep frozen)
Chicken
Any kind of ground meat (beef, pork, turkey)
Any kind of sausage ( sweet, hot, andouille, smoked, chorizo)

Here is a good basic recipe:
1 cup each diced onion, celery, and carrots sautéed in a tiny bit of olive olive until onions are translucent. If using ground meat, add to the onion mix and cook till browned. Add 1 qt. of broth and diced meat (chicken, or pre-cooked sausage). Add seasonings to taste, bring to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes till meat is heated through or if using chicken-is cooked throughly.
Add pasta during the last 10 or so minutes ( check package for recommended al dente cooking time)..

Some basic combos:
Chicken soup- onions, garlic, carrots, chicken broth, chicken, rice or pasta
Beef vegetable. - onions, garlic, celery, carrots, ground beef or small cubes of bottom round, beef broth, diced tomatoes, mixed veges, bay leaf.
Spicy soups- onion, garlic, celery, peppers, ground meat or spicy sausage, diced tomatoes, cumin or creole seasoning

I have made some great variations using other items that I happen to have on hand:
Fresh spinach (you just want to wilt it so add right before serving)
Yellow squash- diced
Zucchini- diced
Potatoes- peeled and diced
Beans- any kind! Chick peas, red kidney, navy, butter, black, you-name-it!  (Rinsed and drained)
Grated cheese- add to top when serving.
Frozen ravoli and  tortellini

Serve with bread and salad and you'll have a great meal or two. Freeze left overs for another easy meal.
Have fun- taste as you go!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Purple, green, and gold! Mardi Gras here we come! Well, only Arlene is really in NOLA, but the rest of us are there in spirit. This week we celebrated with Jambalaya Soup (thanks to Food Network!), corn bread, salad, and King cake! Thanks to Erica and Mark for doing the shopping for this week's soup.

Barbara, our salad chef, came up with a new take on salad tonight. I think she is determined to infuse me with 'southern'. Instead of a traditional salad, she prepared a tray of stuffed (aka deviled for my friends up north) eggs, pickles, black olives, celery stuffed with pimento cheese and potted meat. Potted what? Barbara explained that potted meat was a staple in her home growing up in TN. It tasted like a ham spread - in case you want to give it a try.

Taylor used the time to distribute the Girl Scout cookies and I can't for the life if me figure out why I didn't order a box of Thin Mints!!!! I guess I'll finally have to defrost the box (or eat them frozen) that I have stashed away.

To the soup!
It's a little different take on traditional jambalaya but everyone thought that it was the best soup yet. There were a lot of second helpings so I guess it was a good thing that we has a less-than-full house. Of course I made some changes that I will note as I go along. If you make it, and it got a two thumbs up all around, please let me know how you liked it.

Jambalaya Soup
3 TBS olive oil
8 oz. sweet Italian sausage. Par-boiled, cooled, halved lengthwise then sliced
8 oz. andouille sausage. Halved lengthwise then sliced
4 scallions chopped. Separate white from green. White goes into the soup, green goes on top when serving
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper ( there is a story about male and female red pepper- but I'll leave that for another day!)
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
4 cups of long grain white rice
4 cups chicken broth
11/2 cups water
1 14-oz can of diced tomatoes
1 bay leaf ( remove before serving)

Heat oil in a large soup pot and brown sliced sausages until golden. Remove sausages and reserve to later. Add the scallions, pepper, celery to the remaining oil in the pot and cook till soft about 2-3 minutes. Add garlic, Cajun seasoning, chicken stock, water, rice, tomatoes, and bay leaf.
Bring to a simmer and cook until rice is done, about 15 minutes. Return sausage to the pot and heat through. Season with salt it taste. Remove bay leaf and serve. Top with green scallions and serve with cornbread.

Enjoy! Come back next week for New England Clam Chowder!