Minestrone

Tags

carrots, celery, Garbanzo beans, minestrone, recipe, red kidney beans, shell pasta, soup, tomatoes, vegetable soup, vegetarian, vegetarian recipe, vegetarian soup, zucchini

Hubster asks how can I eat hot soup in the summer? With fresh vegetables at fingertips length, how can you not make a minestrone?

The zucchini was fresh from my neighbor’s garden.

Minestrone

Ingredients:
2 zucchini, 4 carrots, 3 celery stalks, 3 tomatoes, 2 c. dark red kidney beans, 2 c. garbanzo beans, 1 bag fresh spinach, 2, Tbsp., butter, 3 Tbsp. minced onions, 1 tsp. dried sage, 2 bay leaves, 1 tsp. thyme, pepper, salt, 1/2 lb. small shells, 6 c. water

Directions:
Dice the tomatoes, chop celery and slice carrots. Sauteé vegetables with butter. Add minced onions, herbs, bay leaves, salt, pepper and water and bring to a boil. Cut zucchini into half moons. Remove bay leaves and add zucchini and spinach to soup and continue to slowly boil until zucchini is tender. Add beans and pasta and boil for 10 minutes.

Top with fresh grated pecorino romano cheese and serve hot.

Serve with homemade crackers or bread. Mmm…

What hot dishes do you still like to enjoy during the summer?

Broccoli Cheddar Soup in Bread Bowl

Tags

bread bowls, broccoli cheddar soup, broccoli recipe, cheddar recipe, dinner recipe, recipe, soup, soup bread bowl, vegetarian recipe, vegetarian soup

The aroma of fresh-baked bread makes my mouth water. I decided to make homemade Broccoli Cheddar Soup and serve it in hot bread bowls. I created my bread bowl recipe based off of the two flops I experienced (following two different recipes). While the bread bowls were in the oven, I whipped up a batch of soup.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup in Bread Bowl

Soup Ingredients:
1/4 c. butter, 3 Tbs. minced onions, 2 tsp. garlic powder, 16 oz of frozen chopped broccoli, 1 grated carrot, 4 c. vegetable stock, 1 1/2 c. milk, 8 oz. shredded sharp cheddar cheese, salt and pepper

Soup Directions:
Melt butter over in soup pot. Stir in minced onions, grated carrot, garlic, pepper and salt. Stir in broccoli and broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. In a separate bowl mix flour and milk together. Stir into soup, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add cheese, remove from heat, stir until melted.

Bread Bowl Ingredients:
1 Tbs. yeast, 2 1/2 c. warm water, 1 Tbs. sugar, 2 tsp. salt, 2 Tbs. EVOO, 7 c. flour, 1 egg white, cornmeal

Bread Bowl Directions:
Mix together yeast, sugar and warm water, allow to stand 15 minutes. Mix in EVOO, salt and 1/2 of flour. Slowly mix in remaining flour (after breaking my electric mixer, I used my bread machine to mix the dough). Cover with a warm damp cloth and store somewhere warm. Allow to rise for 40 minutes. Sprinkle cornmeal on baking tray. Oil hands and roll dough into 6 equal balls. Set somewhere warm and allow to rise for 40 more minutes. Preheat Oven 400ºF. Brush egg whites on top and sides of bread and bake for 15 minutes. Brush bread with egg whites again and bake for another 15 minutes.

To Serve:
When ready to serve, cut the middle of the loaves out, leaving a 3/4″ wall. Pour soup in bread bowl immediately before serving. Enjoy!

*You can substitute chicken broth instead of the vegetable broth.

*If using fresh broccoli, steam before adding to soup.

*To help my dough rise, I set the bowl in the microwave with a cup of boiling water.

Potato Rivel Soup

Tags

potato dumpling soup, potato rivel soup, potato soup, seasonal recipe, Soup recipe, vegetarian soup

A local restaurant makes this soup (it’s the one item worth going there). I got this recipe from the Mennonite woman, whom which I purchased potatoes this summer.

Soup Ingredients:
8 medium potatoes
1/4 c. minced onions or 1/2 c. finely chopped onions
1/4 c. finely diced celery
2 Tbs. butter
salt
pepper
2 c. water (you could use vegetable or chicken stock instead)
1 can evaporated milk

Rivel Ingredients:
3/4 c. flour
1 egg
salt

Directions:
1) Peel and cube potatoes. Cook all soup ingredients together (except milk) until potatoes are soft. Smash about 1/4 of the potatoes and stirred soup throughly.

2) Mix together rivel ingredients and drop by the spoonful into the soup. Boil for five minutes, stirring constantly.

3) Add evaporated milk and simmer for a few minutes.

*Garnish with or stir in crispy bacon.

*Add scallions, leeks to taste (I swapped out the mince onions for finely chopped scallions).

*I made an extra large batch!

This is the perfect recipe to warm and fill you on a cold evening.