3 Healthy & Yummy Soup Favorites

I shared with you in “Let the recipes begin…Basic Chicken Broth” that we are a soup loving family. We often make a big pot of soup on Sunday night and eat on it all week long. So here are three of our favorite soup recipes.

Lentil & Veggie Soup

First I’ll begin with a lentil soup recipe that is healthy, hearty, and totally easy. I got the shell of this from Weight Watchers but added some of my own personal touches.

Ingredients
10-12 cups of my Basic Chicken Broth or a store bought Fat Free broth
1 pound dry lentils, picked over, rinsed, and drained
2 cups diced carrots
2 cups diced celery *including the celery leaves adds terrific flavor*
2 cups diced yellow onion
4 cloves of garlic minced
4 medium bay leaves
3 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 tsp ground pepper
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
28 oz of diced tomatoes including juice
4 fresh large tomatoes diced

Instructions
·         Combine the broth, lentils, carrots, onions, celery, garlic, bay leaf, and seasonings in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes. Add the diced tomatoes with tomato juice, fresh tomatoes, & the vinegar and simmer about 30 more minutes until desired thickness is reached & tomatoes break down. Remove bay leaves prior to serving. Yields 2 cups per serving. This recipe makes between 8-10 servings.
·         This is definitely a soup that gets better each day that you eat it. If it gets too thick after a day or two I’ll defiantly add another cup or two of chicken broth. It freezes well and is rich & flavorful!

Ground Turkey & Veggie “Yankee” Chili

Ingredients
1 Tbsp canola oil
1 ¼ pound raw extra lean ground turkey
2 cups diced yellow onion
2 cups diced green bell pepper
4 cloves of garlic minced
6-8 cups of my Basic Chicken Broth or a store bought Fat Free broth
2 cups diced & pealed carrots
2 cups diced celery
28 oz diced tomatoes with tomato juice
28 oz whole tomatoes with tomato juice
2 Tbsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp Italian herbs
2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp garlic salt
1 Tbsp ground pepper
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
*for extra spice add 1-2 tsp of chili paste
16 oz dark red kidney beans

Instructions
·         Brown ground turkey with oil, onion, bell pepper, & garlic. Once meat is cooked completely add carrots, celery, & seasonings. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add diced & whole tomatoes & broth. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours. Add the kidney beans and simmer for additional 10 minutes. Yields 2 cups per serving. This recipe makes between 8-10 servings.
·         I know everyone has a way to make chili and the foundation of this comes from the Betty Crocker cookbook. This chunky chili has an added boost of nutrition with all the yummy veggies. It has a “Yankee” flair and added protein from the kidney beans. We will often eat it over baked potatoes or angel hair pasta topped with fresh diced tomatoes & onion. It also freezes really well and tastes even better the next day.

Chicken Noodle Soup

*Did you read my blog entry “Let the recipes begin…Basic Chicken Broth”? I am going to use not only that broth but that cooking process for the chicken in this chicken noodle soup as well. As I mentioned in the previous blog you can use any type of chicken; whole, thighs, split breasts, or leg quarters. I am going to use leg quarters because that is what was on sale. The absolutely best way to infuse terrific flavor into chicken noodle soup is making your own broth. So if you don’t make the broth for anything else do it for this soup.

Ingredients
1 family package of chicken leg quarters - qty will vary based on package but there is usually 4-5 large pieces of chicken. Cook chicken according to the Basic Chicken Broth recipe. Allow to cool enough to comfortable debone and separate the meat. Once deboned I had 21 oz of chicken meat so that will vary based on the type of chicken you use and the size of the package of meat.

2 cups of diced onion
2 cups of diced carrots
2 cups of diced celery *including the celery leaves adds terrific flavor*
4 bay leaves
8 cups of my Basic Chicken Broth or a store bought Fat Free broth
4 cups of water
1 package of wide pasta noodles (egg or no egg doesn’t matter)
*chicken bouillon cubs or salt if needed

 Instructions

·         Combine the 2 cups of broth, onions, carrots, & celery and cook in a large stock pot on medium until the veggies start to get softened. Add shredded chicken, remaining 6 cups of broth, 4 cups of water & bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes. Taste to see if it needs salt or an additional chicken bouillon cube. The reason we use the water is to temper the salt if you like more salt you can replace the water with broth. Bring back up to a boil and add the package of wide pasta noodle. Boil with noodles only 5-6 minutes until noodles are just tender. Yields 2 cups per serving. This recipe makes between 8-10 servings.
·         If you plan to eat this over several days you’ll notice that the noodle will absorb broth and grow in size. It is best to reheat a bowl at a time instead of reheating the entire pot to limit the sogginess of the noodles. Additional broth can be added with reheating if needed. The basic simple flavors of this soup are great when you are sick or on a cold winter day.