Baked Potato Soup

I didn't realize how many different kinds of potato soup recipes there were, but each of them are so good in their own right. This baked potato soup is amazing, but anything with bacon, cheese and potatoes has to be good - right? I got this recipe from a fellow American expat, Cathy, and fell in love with it.

Ingredients:

6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2" cubes (3 3/4 lbs)

1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)

3 (14 oz) cans chicken broth with garlic (42 oz water with XO cubes + 1 can cream of chicken soup)

1/4 cup butter

1 1/4 tsp ground pepper

1 cup whipping cream or half-and-half

1 cup (4 oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

3 Tbsp chopped fresh chives

1 (8 oz) container sour cream (opt)

4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Method:

Saute onion with butter in 5 quart soup pot until soft.

Add potatoes, chicken broth and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender.

Use a potato masher to mash up mixture until potatoes are coursely chopped and soup is slightly thickened.

Stir in cream, cheese, and chives.

Top with sour cream and sprinkle with bacon and shredded cheese before serving.

No-Potato Beef Stew

I thought it would be hard to make a beef stew without potatoes but I adjusted my mom's old recipe to make it "low carb" and it tastes amazing. The potatoes are usually what thicken up the stew with it's starchiness, but I mixed a little bit of corn starch and water for a thickener. The carrots are what puts this dish in Phase 2.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil

1 lb lean beef roast or casserole steak (450g), diced in 3/4 inch cubes

2 medium carrots, diced

3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cups beef broth

2 Tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Fry up beef in oil until browned. Add onions and continue to fry for 2-3 minutes until onions are slightly soft. Add carrots, celery, broth, tomato paste, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir until it boils. Turn down heat and simmer for at least 2 hours so that the meat is super tender. If stew needs to be thickened, mix together 1 Tbsp cornstarch with 1 Tbsp water and add enough until desired consistency is made.

Hamburger Beef-Vegetable Soup

A great soup to have on a cold day. The nice thing about this soup is that you can add about any vegetables that you like and use up any left over bits you have in your refrigerator.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb ground beef

1 cup celery, thinly sliced

1 cup carrot, diced

1/2 cup onion, diced

1 cup potato, diced

1/2 cup sweetcorn

1 cup canned green beans, cut in 1 inch peices

1 cup frozen peas

6 cups beef broth

1 small can tomato sauce or 2 Tbsp tomato paste

1 bay leaf

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp celery salt

Serves 6-8

Method:

Fry up hamburger in large stew pot. Drain off grease. Add in onion, celery, and carrot and cook until onions are soft.

Add green beans, potatoes, peas and corn.

Pour in beef broth.

Add tomato sauce or tomato paste. Next add bay leaf and salt, pepper, garlic powder, celery salt. Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce heat and let soup cook for 20+ minutes on medium low or until all vegetables are tender. Remove bay leaf before serving.

Squash and Corn Soup

Another great recipe that I found on the Taste of Home website. I made this soup for a fall luncheon with some fellow Americans with me in the UK and they love it. Comments made were that "it was very filling" and "you would never think that this was squash." The flavor is mellow but very tasty. It almost feels more like a stew since you end up chewing while eating this soup. A great meal to have on a nice cold fall day.

Ingredients:

12 bacon slices, diced

1 medium onion, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

2 Tbsp flour

1 can (14.5 oz) chicken broth

6 cups mashed cooked butternut squash

2 cans cream style corn

2 cups half and half

1 Tbsp minced parsley

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

sour cream for topping

Method:

In large sauce pan, cook bacon until crisp. Remove bacon to paper towels, but reserve 2 tablespoons of drippings in pan. In drippings, saute onion and celery until tender. Stir in flour until blended. Gradually stir in broth. Bring to a boil; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.

Reduce heat to medium. Stir in squash, corn, cream, parsley, salt, pepper and bacon. Cook and stir until heated through. Garnish with sour cream.

Roasted Squash Soup

I found this amazing recipe in a Better Homes and Garden magazine and just love it. Tastes great on a cool, crisp fall day!

Makes 6 (1 cup) servings

Ingredients:

2 1/2 lb butter nut or acorn squash, or sugar pumpkin

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups diced onions (3 medium onions)

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 small bay leaf

3 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 Tbsp honey

1/3 cup whipping cream

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C.

Wash the outside of your squash the split them in half lengthwise. With spoon, scrape out seeds and fibers from cavity. Season cut side of squash with 1 tsp salt; place flesh side down in lightly buttered baking dish or 15x10x1 inch baking pan lined with parchment paper.

Add 1/2 cup water to baking pan. Bake 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until skin is browned and flesh is tender when pierced with knife. Remove from oven; let rest until cool enough to handle.

Scoop out flesh; discard skin.

In large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat butter until foaming. Add diced onions and season with 1/2 tsp salt. Sprinkle thyme over onions. Add bay leaf. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until onions are tender and translucent (don not allow to color), about 10 minutes.

Add squash. Season with additional salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add broth; bring to simmer. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste. Remove bay leaf. Stir in honey. Cool slightly. Puree soup, one half at a time, in blender or food processor.

Rinse pot; dry. Return soup to pot; bring to simmer. Stir in 1/4 cup cream and 1/4 tsp grated nutmeg; heat through. Taste for seasoning; add salt, pepper, and honey as needed. Drizzle remaining cream; sprinkle nutmeg.

***Note: Convert this into a Phase 1 South Beach meal but using 1 Tbsp Splenda for the honey and use low fat half-and-half or low fat single cream instead of heavy whipping cream.

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

What a wonderful soup recipe that comes from the infamous Betty Crocker Cookbook with a few modifications on my part. To cut down on the time this meal takes, I like to cook up double the amount of wild rice and then I freeze the extra. Since this makes quite a bit of soup, I will make just a half batch for my husband and I to share so we don't have a lot extra (helps us to not over eat since it is sooooo good). It's easy enough to split up the rice into full and half batches when you go to freeze it as well.

Serves 5 - 1 cup servings.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter or margarine

2 medium stalks of celery, sliced (1 cup)

1 medium carrot, coarsely shredded (1 cup)

1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp pepper

1 1/2 cups cooked wild rice

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half (single cream or 1/2 double cream 1/2 milk)

1 Tbsp dried parsley

2 cups of cubed cooked chicken

Method:

Melt butter in 3 quart saucepan over medium-high heat.

Cook celery, carrot, and onion in butter about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in flour and pepper.

Stir in wild rice and chicken broth. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Stir in half-and-half or cream, chicken, and parsley. Heat until just hot (do not boil because the soup can curdle because of the cream just added).

Appalachian Potato Soup

This recipe comes from when my hometown church, Trinity United Church of Christ, did a production of "An Appalachian Christmas" where the meek of the world told the Christmas story in their own words. We invited the public to attend and afterwards they served this good ol' fashion Appalachian style potato soup. It has been a family favorite ever since then.

Ingredients:

6 potatoes - diced

1 carrot - finely diced

2 stems celery, diced

2 quarts water

2 Tbsp butter

1 onion, diced

6 Tbsp flour

1 1/2 cups milk

2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

dash of thyme

1/2 tsp celery salt

4 Tbsp butter

Method:

Cook potatoes, carrot, and celery in 2 quarts of water until potatoes are very tender. Drain, but save the water.

Saute 6 tbsp butter with the diced onion until onion is soft. Add flour and whisk around. Then add milk and cook until thick.

Pour over cooked potatoes, carrot and celery. Add salt, pepper, thyme and celery salt and the additional 4 tbsp of butter.

Stir in the water you saved until desired consistency.