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Butternut Squash Soup-Janet Brocklehurst (Alex’s Aunt)

Ingredients:

  • 1 package butternut squash-cut up
  • 1 onion, cut into pieces
  • 2 big carrots, cut into pieces
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
  • 3 Tablespoons melted butter
  • 1 Tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1 Tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (I use more)
  • 1 teaspoon curry (I use more) (plus extra for after)
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 Apple, peeled, cored, and cut into pieces
  • 2 1/2 cup chicken broth, divided (plus extra)
  • 1/4-1/2 cup half and half (or 6 oz cream and 1/2 cup water) (plus extra)
  • 2 Tablespoons ginger (I don’t use that much. Can use ginger paste or ground ginger) (plus extra)

Directions:

Combine the first 4 ingredients (veggies) and toss with the spices and oils from melted butter down to lemon juice. Spread out on a sheet pan and roast at 425 for about 25-30 minutes. Let cool. Add one apple. Add it all to a blender with 1 1/4 cups chicken broth, blend until smooth. Pour it into a sauce pan. Add 1 1/4 cup chicken broth and 1/4-1/2 cup half and half. Add 2 Tablespoons ginger, then keep adding chicken broth, half and half, ginger, and curry until you’re happy with the consistency and taste.

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Hamburger/Veggie Soup-Janet Brocklehurst (Alex’s Aunt)

(I make this all the time)

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 boxes beef broth
  • 2 cans beef consume soup
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 3 celery ribs, sliced
    • (or I have used packages of frozen soup veggies)
  • 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, diced
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1 Tablespoon dried parsley
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Brown beef and onion, drain. Cook everything together until soft.

I usually make it in a big stock pot on the stove, but could put everything in a crock pot.

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Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup-Janet Brocklehurst (Alex’s Aunt)

I make this all the time! My “go to” chicken soup-Janet

Ingredients:

  • 1 Tablespoon butter
  • 1 small yellow onion-finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, thinly sliced or diced
  • 1 celery stalk, thinly sliced or diced
  • 2 Tablespoons minced fresh marjoram
  • 8 cups chicken broth
  • 3/4 cup orzo
  • 6 ounces baby spinach (I only use 2-3 oz)
  • 3 cups cooked chicken, shredded
  • salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 1 lemon

Directions:

Saute onion in butter until translucent (3-4 minutes). Add carrots, celery, and marjoram and saute until softened. Add broth and simmer about 5 minutes to blend flavors. Add the pasta and cook about 3-4 minutes. Add chicken and spinach, stirring until spinach has wilted and chicken is warmed through. Squeeze juice from lemon into pot. Season with salt and pepper.

I use rotisserie chicken (either herb roasted or lemon pepper will add a lot of flavor)

Sometimes I make it without the spinach

The key is really the lemon juice and marjoram.

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Avgolemono Soup (Greek lemon, chicken and rice soup)-Holly Morgenegg

Start the rice cooking first, good with leftover rotisserie chicken

  • 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 medium onion, chopped
  • 5 diced carrots
  • 5 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 3 cloves of garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)

Saute ingredients above for a few minutes. Add in:

  • 8 cups chicken broth (I like 1 tsp bouillon for every 2 cups of water or do 6 tsp bouillon)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons thyme
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • pepper

Boil for 20 minutes. In a separate bowl, whisk 3 egg yolks and 6 Tablespoons of lemon juice. Add 1 cup or so of broth to this mixture to not cook the eggs, then add to the pot.

Add in:

  • 3 cups cooked white rice
  • 3 cups shredded chicken
  • Dill to taste (I like extra dill on each soup bowl too)
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Chicken and Dumplings

Soup base

  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 4 cups chicken stock (Dad did 2 cups with chicken bouillon and 2 cups with chicken base)
  • 1 chicken breast (or thighs if you prefer)
  • 1 can cream of chicken soup
  • 2 cups carrots (however much you want)
  • Frozen peas (however much you want)

Put all the ingredients EXCEPT the peas in an instant pot (set to slow cooker). Cook for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours open and shred the chicken.

Add some peas.

Dumplings (dad doubled the dumplings)

In a bowl mix:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2TBS vegetable oil

Don’t over mix or it will get tough.

Open instant pot and turn it onto simmer.

Add the dough one spoon at a time.

Turn the instant pot back on slow cook and cover. Let cook for 15 minutes.

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Chicken Tortilla Soup – Andrea Roskelley (Crock Pot or Instant Pot

  • 1 1/4 lb raw boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3–4 Breasts)
  • 10 oz. diced tomatoes with green chilies
  • 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes (no salt added)
  • 1 cup frozen corn thawed (Andrea uses canned so that’s fine too)
  • 1 cup black beans (no salt added), drained & rinsed
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 1 jalapeno, diced (Andrea didn’t use because she didn’t have so whatever you have works)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 cups of organic, low sodium chicken broth or stock
  • 1 tsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. chili powder
  • 1 tsp. Himalayan salt
  • 1/4 tsp. black pepper

Tortilla Strips:

  • organic corn tortillas
  • olive oil cooking spray
  • Himalayan salt

Optional toppings – avocado, cheese, lime, Greek yogurt, cilantro

Instructions for crock pot

  1. Toss all the ingredients for the soup into your crock pot. Stir, turn on low, and go about your day. Check back in 6-8 hours.
  2. Before serving, shred the chicken.

To make homemade tortilla strips:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 and cut the corn tortillas into strips. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with Himalayan salt. Bake for about 10-15 minutes.
  2. Enjoy with toppings!

Instructions for Instant Pot

  1. Toss all the ingredients for the soup into your Instant Pot and give it a stir.
  2. Turn onto to manual setting for 15 minutes. It will take about 10-15 minutes to come to pressure. When the timer is up, carefully switch to quick release (I put a kitchen towel over the top to be safe). Once the the steam stops, carefully open the lid and shred the chicken with two forks.
  3. To make homemade tortilla strips:
  4. Preheat your oven to 350 and cut the corn tortillas into strips. Spray with olive oil spray and sprinkle with Himalayan salt. Bake for about 10-15 minutes.
  5. Enjoy with toppings!
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Baked Potato Soup

  • 3 russet potatoes (about 2 pounds)
  • 2 cups very small broccoli florets, if desired
  • 1 cup water for steaming
  • 3 TBS unsalted butter (I only buy salted so just decrease the amount of salt you add to the soup)
  • 1/2 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
  • 1 TBS flour
  • 1 tsp. mustard powder
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 cups vegetable stock (I never have vegetable stock so would use chicken stock)
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp. kosher salt, plush more to taste (less if using salted butter)
  • 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup sour cream, for garnish
  • 3 TBS minced fresh chives, for garnish
  • 2/3 cup shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese, for garnish
  1. Prepare potatoes. Peel the potatoes. Chop one into 1/2-inch cubes and the other 2 into 1- to 2- inch chunks. Set aside larger chunks.
  2. Pressure cook the potatoes and broccoli. Put the small (1/2-inch) potato cubes and the broccoli into a steamer basket. Pour the water into the Instant Pot and place the steamer basket inside. Lock lid into place. Select Manual; adjust the pressure to high and the time to 0 minutes. After the pot beeps, quick release the pressure. Unlock and remove the lid. Use tongs or a potholder to remove the steamer basket. Set aside.
  3. Prepare the soup. Pour the water out of the pot. Preheat the Instant Pot by selecting Saute and adjust to Normal for medium heat. Put the butter in the pot to melt. When it has stopped foaming, add the onion and cook, stirring frequently, until the onion pieces have separated and begun to soften, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the flour and mustard powder and stir to coat onions. Cook, stirring frequently, until the flour has darkened slightly, about 2 minutes. Add milk and stir. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook until milk is smooth and thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the stock, cream, large potato chunks, and salt. Stir to combine.
  4. Pressure cook the soup. Lock the lid in place. Select Manual; adjust pressure to High and the time to 8 minutes. After cooking, naturally release the pressure for 10 minutes, then quick release any remaining pressure. Unlock and remove lid.
  5. Finish the soup. Use a potato masher to break up the potatoes and thicken the soup. Add cooked potatoes and broccoli and let them simmer until warmed through. (Test a piece of potato first; if it’s not quite done, add the potatoes to simmer for a couple minutes before adding the broccoli.) Season with the black pepper and additional salt if necessary. Ladle into bowls, garnish with the sour cream, chives, and cheese, and serve.

COOKING TIP: Steaming some of the potatoes separately (as you’ll do in step 2) yields discrete pieces of potato, while the rest melt into the soup to thicken it. If you prefer, you can cook all the potatoes in the soup at once.

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Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

  • Serves 6
  • 2 pounds bone-in chicken breast halves, skinned
  • 3/4 cup dried wild rice, rinsed and drained
  • 5 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 medium carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup sliced fresh button mushrooms
  • 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/4 cup dry long grain white rice
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 3/4 cup whipping cream or half and half
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened and cut into cubes
  • 1/3 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

PREP: Place chicken and wild rice in Instant Pot. Pour broth over all. Secure the lid on the pot. Close the pressure release valve.

COOK: Select MANUAL and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. When cooking is complete, use a natural release to depressurize. Press CANCEL.

Transfer chicken to a cutting board, set aside. Add carrots, mushrooms, celery, onion, white rice, garlic, and thyme to rice mixture in pot.

Secure the lid on the pot. Close the pressure release valve. Select MANUAL and cook on high pressure for 5 minutes. When cooking is compete, use a natural release to depressurize. Press CANCEL.

Meanwhile, remove chicken from bones, discard bones. Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Add chicken, whipping cream, and cream cheese to the pot. Select SAUTE and adjust to NORMAL. Cook and stir for 1 to 2 minutes or until heated through and cream cheese is completely melted and smooth. Press CANCEL.

SERVE: Ladle soup into bowls. Sprinkle with parsley.

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Chicken Tortilla Soup

  • 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • 2 cans (14 oz each) diced tomatoes (undrained)
  • 1 small can mild green chilies, diced
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup chicken broth (may need up to a cup more)
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • salt/pepper to taste
  • 4 corn tortillas cut in 1/4” pieces (Grandma Morgenegg likes it better with tortilla chips instead of tortillas, the tortillas get soggy)
  • 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 cup shredded Monterey jack
  • 1 avocado, diced and tossed with lime

Cook chicken, tomatoes, chilies, onion, garlic, chicken broth, and cumin until chicken is tender enough to be shredded. Shred chicken. return to liquid and season as desired. Add tortillas and cilantro before serving. Stir well to blend. Serve with cheese and avocados.

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Italian Chicken Soup – Diana Berardi

  • Chicken
  • Celery, carrots, onions, cut up
  • Rice if desired
  • Tiny Italian meatballs, raw
  • salt and pepper

Boil chicken in a large pot until chicken is done. Add as much celery, carrots, and onions as desired. Add cooked rice as much as you want, and meatballs. Simmer until done. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can add chicken base if it isn’t flavorful enough with just cooking the chicken.