Split Pea Soup

Where did fall go? Winter has taken over this month in full force for us Virginians. Temperatures in the low 40s during the day and 20s during the night. Flurries here and there, even school delays and closures for some counties! It's crazy. I really should be careful what I wish for this winter... I had said I wanted lots of snow days this winter, so much so that the governor would have to excuse all schools or whatever it is he does, but I guess I forgot how such cold temperatures feel when I have to be in it. For now, I will stay in the comfort of my nice, warm home with some of this nice, warm soup. It's definitely time to pull out my Dutch oven and my slow cooker for warm soup belly.



I love thick soups but have always found them difficult to make them just like the restaurants do. I have yet to find a good potato soup recipe or a chowder (so if you've got one, please share!). I have, however, found the perfect split pea soup recipe. Simple ingredients but still thick and chock full of flavor. I had posted a vegetarian version of this soup before but I realized that the bacon and the ham hock add so much flavor that I had to make it this way all the time. The meat pieces are great to bite into. You don't need a lot - just a handful to get a piece with every other spoonful. I unfortunately can't remember where I got this recipe from, so if this looks familiar to you, please let me know the source! I'd like to give credit where credit is due for such a wonderful soup.

Split Pea Soup

1 ham hock
1/2 cup ham chunks
1/2 lb split peas
8 cups chicken broth
2 slices bacon
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and chopped
1 medium onion, chopped

In a large pot, place split peas, chicken broth, bacon, and ham hock. Bring to a boil and skin off froth. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes. When ready, remove the ham hock. Bring back to a boil and put in all the vegetables. Reduce heat and simmer again for 15 minutes. Add ham chunks and cook for another 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Remove the bacon and meat. Puree the soup and return the meat to reheat. Serve and enjoy!

Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

It was quite blustery and chilly tonight. It made for a perfect night for warming soups, which is exactly what was on the menu at my cooking group gathering tonight. It's been a while since I attended an event so it was nice to see familiar faces and meet new people as well. It's always an interesting group of women that get along great.


I was a little worried about this event because I don't do soups. It's just not something that I frequently make so I'm not an expert on it. I know, it's soup - you just cut stuff up, add broth, let it simmer and it's done - but still, I was worried. I wanted to go for something really simple because I would have to make it on a weeknight and I didn't want to use my slow cooker. I decided on tomato soup because I wanted an excuse to make grilled cheese croutons! They've been popping up everywhere so I had to. There sure are a lot of different ways to make tomato soup but I'm so glad I came across this recipe. It cannot get any simpler than this. Very minimal work on your part - the machines do everything for you!



Do not use canned tomatoes for this, please. I would actually advise everyone not to use canned tomatoes at all, but I sometimes resort to them because of convenience. But since this soup's flavor comes from the tomatoes, they should be fresh and juicy ones. I was surprised at the end result of the soup as it had a lot of flavor despite being so simple, and I even used just water. You can make it as thick or as thin as you'd like by adding more bread or water, so it's very adjustable. I love dunking my grilled cheese into tomato soup so the croutons just eliminate getting my hands greasy from buttery bread. It's a unique way to serve up a classic.



Cream of Roasted Tomato Soup
From Family Style Food

3 tbsp olive oil

1/2 large white or yellow onion, sliced

2 lb small vine-ripened tomatoes, sliced in half

1 tsp salt, plus additional to taste

1/2 tsp sugar

1 clove garlic, thinly sliced

Freshly ground black pepper

2 or 3 thick slices peasant-style bread, crusts trimmed

3 tbsp grated Parmigiano Reggiano or Parmesan

1 to 2 cups vegetable broth or water

Heat oven to 425F. Pour olive oil into a baking dish or pan that will hold the tomatoes snugly. Scatter onion slices evenly over the bottom. Arrange the tomatoes cut side up over the onion and sprinkle with the salt and sugar. Roast for 20 minutes. Scatter the garlic over the tomatoes and roast for about 10 more minutes – the tomatoes and onion should be soft and golden and their juices bubbling. Season the tomatoes with the black pepper to taste and cool 10 or 15 minutes.

Transfer the tomatoes to a blender or food processor. Tear the bread slices into small chunks and add to the tomatoes along with the cheese. Add enough broth or water to barely cover the tomatoes – it will depend on how juicy the tomatoes are after roasting. Puree until smooth, in batches if necessary, adding more bread and/or liquid to achieve a consistency you like. Taste for seasoning.

For the grilled cheese croutons, melt some butter in a pan. Place a slice of bread in pan and let it brown. Set aside. Melt some more butter and place another slice of bread in pan. Top with 2 slices of your choice of cheese and the toasted slice of bread you set aside earlier. To flatten, place foil on top of sandwich and press down with another pan. Let go and let brown. Slice into 1-inch squares.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

I did so much cooking on Sunday. It's actually kind of ridiculous. But there was a reason for it all. I mentioned before that, once I get home, I'm literally too tired that I don't even feel like making myself a decent meal. Last week, I had some boring and not-so-great dinners. I decided that I needed to cook a whole bunch of something when I do have time (like during the weekend) to last me the whole week. It's great to be thinking on the drive home about what's waiting for me in the fridge. And it was especially convenient for a day like yesterday when the faculty meeting lasted until 6:15 and I got home at 7, way past food time!

I love soup because I can get a whole week's worth of dinners out of one batch, so that's exactly what I made. The enchilada sauce definitely adds more flavor so that it doesn't just taste like tomatoes and chili powder. The essential veggies and protein are in this soup: black beans, corn, and chicken, but you can mix in whatever else you'd like! I left out hominy because I didn't have it on hand. I also left out the masa harina. It's used to thicken the soup, but the soup was plenty thickened without it. I've read online that finely ground tortillas is a great substitute for masa harina if you do not have that on hand.



Chicken Enchilada Soup
From Babble

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
2 14.5-oz cans chicken broth
1/4 cup masa harina (fine corn meal)
1/2 cup water
1 cup enchilada sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp oregano flakes
1 15.5-oz can black beans, washed and drained
1 4-oz can green chilies, chopped
1 can white hominy, washed and drained (optional)
2 cups frozen sweet yellow corn
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp cayenne pepper sauce (like Frank’s)

Heat oil in large pot over medium heat and brown chicken breasts. Shred or cube and set aside.

To the pot, add onions and garlic; saute for 2 minutes or until onions are translucent. Pour in chicken broth.

In small bowl, combine/whisk masa harina with water. Add masa harina mixture to the onions, garlic and broth. Add everything else (except chicken) and bring to boil.

Finally, add chicken and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 30-40 minutes or until thickened. Add more water as needed. Serve with garnish (lime, cilantro, grated cheese, crumbled tortillas, sour cream) and cornbread.

Green-Pea Soup with Cheddar-Scallion Panini

The weather has been confusing lately. Last week, it was in the 60s and the sun was shining and I was driving with my sunroof open, blasting music. Then a few days ago, it suddenly got really cold in the morning and one day we even had flurries. Yesterday, there was wind that left branches all over our driveway and it was pouring rain that sounded as if the world was ending. And then all of a sudden, the rain stopped and the sun was shining so brightly. After 3 1/2 years of living with weather that can't make up its mind, I still find it strange.

I guess I made this meal because I secretly want spring to be here now. Everything green and bright. I don't mind winter, but we need a change of scenery around here. The soup wasn't my favorite. I thought I'd love it because I love green peas, but since there was nothing else in the soup but peas, I just liked it. Adding some shredded cheddar into the soup might boost the flavor though. The soup tasted great when I dunked the panini into it. The panini, I loved. The scallions is a new twist to the classic grilled cheese sandwich that I think I'll be making more often now.







Green-Pea Soup with Cheddar-Scallion Panini [Makes 4 servings]
From Martha Stewart

- 3 tbsp butter
- 4 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
- 3 boxes (10 oz each) frozen peas
- 1 can (14.5 oz) reduced-sodium chicken broth
- 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar (6 oz)
- 8 slices rye sandwich bread
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tbsp butter over medium. Add scallion whites, and cook, stirring, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add peas, broth, and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until peas are tender, about 5 minutes; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, toss cheddar with scallion greens. Make 4 sandwiches with cheddar mixture and bread.
3. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp butter over medium-low. Place sandwiches in skillet, and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes per side, adding remaining tablespoon butter to skillet to cook second side.
4. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth (filling blender only halfway to prevent spattering). If necessary, adjust consistency with a little bit of water. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Slice each panini into four "fingers," and serve with soup.

Miyukgook (미역국)

Besides dairy, my other favorite food group has to be seafood. As I try to incorporate more fish into my diet, I also try to add other items such as seaweed. A main dish that features seaweed is Miyukguk (미역국), one of my favorite soups. It's traditionally eaten on one's birthday, but you can also eat it whenever you'd like.

Whenever I tried to make Miyukgook, it tasted alright, but never like the way my mom made it, so I finally asked her. There was a secret step that I missed: sauteing the seaweed in sesame oil. It made all the difference and I was finally able to have a taste of home 400 miles away. I don't make this as often as I'd like as some do not appreciate the smell of seaweed as much as I do. But there are times when I really crave it, so I just turn the kitchen fan on high.

There are several ways you can make this soup. My mom always makes homemade beef broth and puts in pieces of beef into the soup. But you can also make it with mussels. Just toss in several cooked pieces per serving when you're sauteing the seaweed. And if you don't want any of that and want just plain ol' seaweed, then you can leave even the mussels out. I did it that way and it still tastes great. When dried seaweed has been soaked in water, it balloons in size, so even though 1/2 oz may not seem like a lot, look at it again after you have soaked it at least overnight. If you don't have access to a kitchen scale, just use two handfuls of dried seaweed and then determine if you'd like more or less the next time you make it.



Miyukgook (미역국)

- 1/2 oz dried seaweed
- 3 pieces mussel meat (optional)
- 2 tsp sesame oil
- 3-inch square dashi
- 5 cups water

1. In a bowl, soak the dried seaweed in cold water for at least 12 hours.
2. Drain soaking water and fill bowl with water again. Squeeze the seaweed a couple times to soften. Rinse and drain the seaweed 3 times. Cut long pieces of seaweed into shorter pieces.
3. Heat pot to medium-high heat. Add sesame oil, seaweed, and mussels and saute for a few minutes.
4. Add water and dashi and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes.
5. Discard dashi and serve!

Ddukgook (떡국)

Happy New Year! How is everyone celebrating? I'm celebrating with Ddukgook. As it is tradition for some to eat black-eyed peas on New Year's for luck, it is a Korean tradition to eat Ddukgook (떡국). Ddukgook consists of dashi and beef broth and thinly sliced rice cakes. Eating this soup on New Year's brings good luck in the upcoming year and adds a year to one's life.

I'm happy to say that I've finally learned how to make traditional Korean food. I have only watched my mom make everything, but with so many ingredients, I can't remember everything when I'm trying to make it on my own. I thought it was about time to write things down, so this morning, I followed my mom around in the kitchen with pencil and paper. It is very simple to make once you've got your ingredients. Unfortunately, there is no Asian market near my university so I can't get a hold of rice cakes. My first thought upon realizing this was that I should make my own rice cakes, so I googled for some recipes and I actually found one that seems somewhat promising! I bookmarked it because I know I will be making it some time in the future. For now, I am just going to take some frozen rice cakes back to Virginia with me. Hopefully, you will have more luck finding rice cakes. There are frozen rice cakes that are already sliced for you sold in the markets, like so:



But fresh is always better. Find ones that are shaped like rods about 3/4-inch in diameter. You can always buy a whole bunch and freeze them for later use. Actually, freezing them before slicing is probably the best idea as it'll be hard to slice through ones that are soft.



Just a few notes about the soup. The amount of rice cakes is really your preference. I don't like too many so my serving size would be probably 1/2 cup, so no need to follow the 4 cups. Want more? Just keep adding! Dumplings are also a tasty addition to the soup. My mom made some homemade kimchi dumplings, so we had those with the Ddukgook. Just add to the soup before serving. You can also garnish the soup with thinly cut pieces of dried seaweed. For the egg, you can opt to leave it out of the soup and instead make a plain omelet, thinly slice it, and place it on top of the soup with the dried seaweed before serving. Hope you enjoy and if you have any questions, I'll gladly answer them as I'm not sure I wrote the instructions very well.

Ddukgook (떡국) [Makes 4 servings]
From my mom

- 1/2 lb beef heel meat (don't know how available this is in regular markets, so try brisket or flank steak)
- Dashi, size of your hand
- 4 cups rice cakes
- 2 scallions, chopped
- Garlic powder
- Salt
- 1 egg

1. Place beef and 8 cups water in a large pot. Boil for 10 minutes, reduce heat to a vigorous simmer, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.
2. Add dashi and simmer for 20 more minutes. Discard of dashi. Remove the beef, chop into bite size pieces, and place them back into the pot.
3. Bring to a boil. Add some water if the broth has reduced too much. Add rice cakes. Cook for 5 minutes. Add scallions. Season the soup with garlic powder and salt to taste.
4. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Add to soup by spoonfuls and swirl to make ribbons. Turn off heat and remove pot from heat. Enjoy!

Split Pea Soup

Can you tell it's getting cold around here? Soup, soup, and soup. The weather in town has been a bit inconsistent as always, but it's now mostly cold and super windy and a mist of fog blankets the town late at night. I'm also just getting over a cold, so hot and steamy soup makes me feel better.

The first time I made Split Pea Soup, my dad thought I was making curry. As the soup was simmering, it left off a smell that did remind me of curry, but I told him they were just dried peas and I added nothing else but vegetables, broth, and a bay leaf. But it gave me an idea: why not add some curry powder? Since I'm not using ham in the broth as traditional recipes do, it definitely makes the flavor of the soup more exciting. Thanks Dad!

Number three from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection is filling and especially great with some crusty bread to clean up the bowl. Here's another idea: try putting in Cheez-Its. I love the strong cheddar flavor mixed with the soup. Real cheddar would probably be better, but I do love the crunch, crunch, crunch of crackers. This soup is so easy to cook, too. You just chop all the vegetables up, place all ingredients in a pot, and let it simmer while you do other errands.



Split Pea Soup

- 1 1/4 cups dried green split peas
- 3/4 cup carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups water
- 1 to 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
- 1 tsp salt

1. Put all ingredients in pot in order, split peas first.
2. Cook for about an hour.

Zucchini Garlic Soup

Last week, I had planned on making a ton of Zucchini Bread so I bought 3 huge zucchinis. Then classes and work started taking over my life so I found the time to make only one. Now I have 2 of those huge zucchinis left and I've lost the Zucchini-Bread-making desire. For some reason, when I have leftover vegetables, my mind instantly goes to soup to get rid of them. So I looked up recipes for zucchini soup and got this one. The soup looked delicious and creamy with no use of dairy!

This smelled amazing as it was cooking. I don't know why I've never cooked onions in butter before, but I should start doing that because it just smelled so good. Then adding the garlic and the chicken broth and the zucchini made it all smell even more wonderful. I currently have a stuffy nose, but this fought through that and let me smell this wonderful smell. Okay, I'm gonna stop saying the word "smell."

It was a bit too thin for me, so I would cut down the water by 1 cup. There was water coming out of the zucchini too as it cooked so with the added 4 cups, it was probably too much. Otherwise, very tasty and I will be making this again whenever I have a load of zucchini again.



Zucchini Garlic Soup [Makes 6 cups]
From The Kitchn

- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1 white onion, sliced
- 8-9 large cloves of garlic, sliced thinly
- 4 medium zucchini, about 1 1/2 pounds
- 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
- 1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
- Salt and pepper

1. Melt the butter in a heavy 4-quart pot over medium heat. When it foams, add the sliced garlic and onions and cook on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and translucent. Keep the heat low enough that the garlic doesn't brown; you want everything to sweat.
2. When the onions are soft, add the zucchini and cook until soft. Add the broth and bring to a simmer. Simmer at a low heat for about 45 minutes.
3. Let cool slightly, then blend with an immersion blender until creamy, or transfer to a standing blender to puree. Be very careful if you use the latter; only fill the blender half full with each batch, and hold the lid down tightly with a towel.
4. Taste and season with ginger, salt and pepper. Like most soups, this is significantly better after a night in the refrigerator to let the flavors meld.

Chickpea Tomato Barley Soup

Today I had my first day of classes! Well, more like class because I had just one, Abstract Algebra. I like my schedule this term because I have just one or two classes a day and I'm always done by noon. It's so weird to be back on campus as a senior. I walk around expecting to see seniors that graduated last year. There are a few familiar faces, but a majority of them are very new and it's like a new campus. Actually, there have been a lot of changes since I was last here so it actually is a new campus to me in many ways. I also have a car this year, so I can drive myself around instead of having to match all of my housemates' schedules.

I've been back in town since Monday. I was proud of myself that I was able to drive for almost half the five-hour drive and not have a major accident, considering it was my first time on the highway.

So, anyway, since my schedule allows me to be home for lunch, I decided to make myself a big batch of soup. I'm a big fan of soup and especially everything in this one. It's also great to freeze leftovers and eat them during the week when I don't feel like cooking sometimes or if I get too busy!

Chickpea, Tomato, & Barley Soup [Makes 4 servings]
Adapted from Buff Chickpea

- 1 cup barley
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 4 cups vegetable broth
- 1 can (14 1/2 ounces) crushed tomatoes
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, for garnish

1. Rinse barley clean under running water. Place in a medium bowl and cover with cold water. Let soak for 1 hour; drain. [I skipped the soaking since I used quick barley.]
2. In a large soup pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion and garlic. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add bay leaves, paprika, cumin, barley, and broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes or until barley is tender.
3. Add tomatoes and chickpeas and cook for 20 minutes or until flavors have blended. Discard bay leaves. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro before serving.



I left out carrots and celery because I didn't have celery on hand and I don't really like carrots in soup. This is actually more of a stew than a soup because there is very little broth. I purposefully left out an extra cup of water, so you can add it in if you prefer a soup. I actually really love these flavors together. Once they come together after 20 minutes of simmering, they taste fantastic. I love that the cumin is not overpowering because sometimes it can be, but it's more of a background flavor in this recipe.

Zuppa Toscana

Leftovers make the perfect ingredients for a soup. I didn't use all the Italian sausages when I made pizza a few weekends ago so I tossed them in the freezer. I decided on Zuppa Toscana because it's always been on my to-do list and I've never tried it before so I thought why not.

All the recipes I found online were very similar so I mixed a little bit of this and that and added my own preferences. Before I started searching for a recipe, I had in my mind that white beans belonged in this soup so I bought a can. But every recipe I've looked at so far uses potatoes! I used the beans anyway and left out the potatoes. A lot of recipes also have kale or other greens I'm not familiar with, but I'm not a fan of kale so I went with something I knew I would love: spinach.

Zuppa Toscana

- 3 sweet Italian sausages (Trader Joe's)
- 1 slice thick-cut bacon
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 15-oz can cannellini beans
- 5 cups water
- 5 oz frozen spinach, thawed
- 1/2 cup milk

1. Take the sausages out of their casing and place in saucepan over medium heat. Crumble up the sausages and cook until no longer pink. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same saucepan, cook bacon slice until crispy. Drain and set aside. Leave a little bit of the bacon drippings in the saucepan.
3. Cook onions and garlic in the same saucepan until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Pour in the water and the bacon. Bring to a boil and reduce heat.
4. Pour in cannellini beans, cooked sausage crumbles, and milk and let it simmer until heated through.
5. Add the thawed spinach and heat through again. Take off heat and serve.



The meatiest soup I've ever eaten in a while. Thank goodness I didn't season anything as I cooked or else it would have been way too salty to eat. With the bacon and the sausages, it was the perfect balance -- neither salty nor bland. I didn't really notice the milk in there. It's probably because I didn't put much, but I might leave it out altogether next time. Heavy cream will just make is too fat-laden for me.

Mushroom Beef Barley Soup

No matter how hot it may be outside, I'm still in the mood for a warm earthy soup. I had bought a pound of ground beef from Trader Joe's over the weekend, thinking I would put it on the Super Supreme Pizza, but never did. My mind travels from beef to barley to soup all the time, so that's what I went for on this 95-degree Tuesday.

I wanted to try this recipe because I loved that it uses dried mushrooms. The only ones we have in the house are shiitake mushrooms, but those taste great anyway. It's funny how just a few years ago, anytime my mom was making dinner with shiitake mushrooms, I would shut the door to my room and stay in there for the rest of the night. I absolutely hated the smell. Anything the mushrooms touched, I avoided. Now I am the total opposite. I actually love the smell.

I also had white button mushrooms left over from pizza on Sunday so I threw those into the soup. It's all mushroom anyway! My version is probably not as earthy as it should be because I had no beef broth so I used chicken broth instead. But it was still good and the addition of the ground beef made this soup even meatier and packed with protein.



Mushroom Beef Barley Soup
Adapted from The Kitchen Sink Recipes

- 3 oz dried mushrooms [I went for shiitake]
- 6 cups water, divided
- 1/2 lb lean ground beef
- 2 cups diced onion
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 8 oz white button mushrooms
- 1 quart (4 cups) beef broth [err, I had only chicken]
- 3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme [1 tsp dried for me]
- 1 cup barley

1. Boil 2 cups of the water. Pour it over the dried mushrooms, cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Drain and chop the mushrooms and reserve the steeping liquid.
2. In a large pot, cook the ground beef until no longer pink on the outside. Set aside on a plate. Drain the fat from the pot, leaving a little to saute the vegetables. Add the onion and garlic and cook for several minutes, until the vegetables soften. Add the flour add stir to coat the vegetables; cook one minute stirring constantly.
3. Add the beef broth, remaining 4 cups of water, steeping liquid, cooked ground beef, thyme and barley. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for about an hour, until the barley is al dente. Discard the thyme and add the chopped mushrooms, cooking briefly until the mushrooms are warm.

It always takes me a long time to eat barley. I have a strange desire to make sure that every piece needs to be chewed. Barley doesn't fall apart as easily as white rice does so even after an hour of simmering it still holds its shape. No hurry. Just as I sat down to scarf down this soup because I thought I'd be late to work, my boss called to tell me I can go into work an hour later. Sweet.

Tomato Bread Soup

This layout is temporary, just until I find what I like which will probably take me a while. I don't have Photoshop, but every computer at my school has it, so I'm gonna try to do something when I go back! That's in a month, so hopefully I'll have a semi-permanent layout up right after that.

Here is another from my Go-To Vegetarian Recipe Collection. I remember seeing this recipe and thought it should be a great one. First off, I love bread. And in a soup?! I mean, I eat bread with soup all the time so why not just combine them? I love tomatoes too. Especially when they are fresh and firm and sometimes sprinkled with sugar.

Up until now, I've been making this recipe another way. It reads that I should blend the tomatoes after cooking them until they are mushy. I didn't have access to a blender before, so I just diced the tomatoes into small pieces so that when they are mushy, I can squish them to look as if they had been blended or just eat it. With no blending, the soup has a clear broth with juices from the tomatoes. It was delicious and refreshing.

But since now, I do have access to a wonderful blender (Hamilton Beach Wave Maker!), I decided to follow the original instructions. While the clear broth was refreshing, I always prefer a nice thick, creamy soup. Blending the tomatoes gave this soup just that texture and I loved it. I added one cup less of water so it'll be thicker. This is really my favorite to make when I see tomatoes on sale!



Quality tomatoes are what will make this soup great. The Wegman's around here was having a sale on local Jersey tomatoes so I went for those. These were so easy to cut through and firm and sweet even without the sugar. Tomatoes I've bought from other markets never yield to my knife. For the bread, you can use any kind. I usually use whole wheat sandwich bread, but a nice crusty baguette or even Italian bread would be even better. I promise this is good, especially if you're a tomato fan.

Tomato Bread Soup [Makes 3 servings]
Adapted from Tasty Palettes

- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Pinch of red pepper flakes
- 1 1/2 lb tomatoes, chopped
- Salt, to taste
- Parsley
- 1 cup water
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cups bread, cubed

1. In a saucepan, cook the onion, garlic, and red pepper flakes under tender. Add the chopped tomatoes and salt and cook until mushy.
2. Take away from heat and throw in a handful of fresh parsley (or dried parsley flakes is what I used). Blend the mixture with an immersion blender or in a regular blender.
3. Pour back into saucepan and add the water. Bring to a boil. If you want to use the bay leaf, you can add it at this point. I like just a slight taste so I take it out after a minute. Lower heat to medium and add the bread cubes. Let the bread soak the juices and fall apart. Add more water if necessary.
4. Serve, garnished with grated cheese, black pepper, etc.

Egg Drop Soup

The third and final recipe I'd like to share from my Sunday night's Chinese dinner is Egg Drop Soup. A very classic dish with basic Asian flavors and a little protein from the eggs. I love to eat this when nothing else seems too appealing and I don't want to put much effort into cooking. It's probably best if you use something with a spout so that the eggs can go in slowly as a thin stream. Otherwise, when using a bowl, the eggs come out and head straight for the bottom of the bowl and the thin stream doesn't work quite as well. Maybe that's just been my experience. But this time I did use a spout and the soup had pretty thin ribbons of eggs rather than scrambled eggs. I should try this method when I put eggs in my ramen. I don't do it too often because it makes the broth ugly, but this might be better.

I didn't have mushrooms so I left that out, but I think it would've made the soup even better. I love shiitake mushrooms and those would be fantastic in this.

Egg Drop Soup

- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 4 cups broth
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 1/2 tsp minced ginger
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 3 scallions, chopped
- 1/4 tsp white pepper
- 3/4 cup mushrooms [omitted]

1. Reserve 1/2 cup of stock and mix it with the cornstarch until dissolved. Set aside.
2. Add the rest of the broth, the ginger, soy sauce, scallions, mushrooms, and white pepper into a pot and bring to a boil. Add the cornstarch mixture and reduce heat to a simmer.
3. Slowly add in the eggs while stirring the soup. Turn off the heat and garnish with more chopped scallions. Serve.

Creamy Carrot Soup

Last weekend, our church was serving Bibimbap for dinner so my mom was in charge of the stir-fried julienned carrots. Because they had to feed 60 people, she decided to buy A LOT of carrots and ended up using only half, which took up almost half of a small refrigerator. I had completely forgotten about them until the other day when I decided to investigate what was inside the plastic bag. Oh, right! The carrots. What to make with these?

My mind instantly went to soup. Fastest way to get rid of a lot of carrots. Then I tried to remember where our juicer is. It might have been too much of a hassle to take it out from wherever it was so I stuck with soup. I wasn't sure how I would like it though. Sometimes I can't handle eating something that tastes too much of veggies. So I searched for recipes that had dairy. I followed Pioneer Woman's Creamy Carrot Soup with a few variations of my own. I did not have lemon on me so I left that out. Instead of half-and-half, I used a 50/50 mixture of milk and yogurt. And before adding the carrots to cook, I sauteed chopped onions with the garlic. I realized that the size of my carrots were probably double that of Pioneer Woman's carrots because 1/2 cup of broth was not enough for my 4 carrots. Lastly, instead of a pinch of nutmeg, I added allspice. Overall, this soup exceeded my expectations and I'm surprised at how much I liked it. With bread on the side, it was a perfect quick meal.



As soon as I pressed the button on my blender, I gasped. It turned into a deep dark orange! Then with the addition of yogurt and milk, the soup became brighter. My eyes were wide open by this time. The picture does not do the color of this soup justice.

Creamy Carrot Soup [Makes 3 servings]
Adapted from Pioneer Woman

- 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 cups broth
- 1/2 cup yogurt
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Ground black pepper and allspice to taste

1. In a saucepan, saute garlic and onion until tender. Add carrots and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until carrots are tender.
2. Blend with immersion blender or in a regular blender. Pour back into saucepan and put on low heat. Whisk in yogurt and milk. You can definitely add more of either if desired. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

The first two years of college, I had a meal plan. My school requires us to live on campus dorms as freshmen and sophomores so we had no kitchen to cook our own meals. Scratch that. There is a kitchen in one dorm building, but I really didn't want to use it. My friends and I had dinner parties once in a blue moon and those were the only times I stepped foot in there. Fortunately, our school's cafeteria, or "D-Hall" as we call it, makes decent food. This was before I got into cooking so I got to eat things that I never would have dreamed of making myself. Mexican Wednesdays were my favorite and the baked potato bar and the salad bar and the cereal bar and the ice cream! Oh, and I loved the special dinners for Lunar New Year, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Diwali, etc (though, sophomore year we learned to eat elsewhere for those days because people from town would also eat and there is absolutely nowhere to sit). But my number one? The soups. I had a phase when all I ate was soup. I loved all the soups whether it was Potato Leek, Chili, Chicken Tortilla, French Onion, Broccoli Cheddar. The one exception is the Essence of Exotic Mushroom Soup. I've not tried recreating any of them because, for some odd reason, I felt that it would never turn out the same. But thanks to Foodgawker (my favorite site in the whole world), I found a keeper. This Chicken Tortilla Soup is pretty darn close to D-Hall's version!




Chicken Tortilla Soup [Makes 6 servings]
Adapted from Back to the Cutting Board

- 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
- 20 baby carrots
- 1 green pepper, diced
- 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
- 1 medium onion
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 4 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 10 oz frozen corn
- 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tbsp dried cilantro
- 3 oz feta, crumbled

1. Add tomatoes, carrots and green pepper to a blender or food processor and mix until blended, but still chunky. Set aside.
2. Cook the cubed chicken until it’s completely cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.
3. Remove from pan and place on a plate or cutting board. Using two forks tear apart each piece of chicken until all the chicken is shredded. Set aside.
4. Meanwhile, cook the onions and garlic until translucent, about 5-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
5. Put the onions, garlic and chicken in a large stock pot. Add in all the spices and cook over medium heat for one minute.
6. Add in the tomato mixture, chicken broth, water, corn and beans and cilantro. Simmer, partly covered for 60 minutes.
7. Serve with feta crumbles sprinkled on top.

The feta is reeeeeeeeeally great in there, by the way. It tastes even better the next day. I should really be calling this Chicken Bean Soup since there are no tortillas in this recipe, but Chicken Tortilla Soup sounds better. Plus, at D-Hall, tortillas were optional since we put the strips on the soup ourselves. Next time, I will try with one less cup of broth and a little Tabasco sauce? D-Hall had a clean broth with no blended veggies, but I like that so it's staying. You know, I could just ask the chefs for the recipe. But where's the fun in that?