cheesy vegetable soup

Today’s Tuesday To Do list is short and sweet because we’re living it up “Pura Vida!” style in Costa Rica: MAKE THIS SOUP!

It’s cheesy. It’s vegetables. It’s all yours.

CHEESY VEGETABLE SOUP

1 large package frozen vegetable medley

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1-2 cups stock (chicken or veggie)

1 can condensed milk

cheese(s) of choice, shredded

sriracha or other hot sauce

butter or olive oil

salt & pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Add 1-2 tablespoons butter to Dutch oven or large pot (I call mine “big blue!”) over medium-high heat.
2. Add diced onion and stir occasionally while onions soften.
3. When onions just start to brown, add garlic and stir into onions.
4. Dump bag of frozen veggies in and one cup of stock. (you may want to add more depending on size of bag — I used a jumbo bag and just added more liquid. You can also wait until veggies have cooked to decide if you want/need the second cup of stock.)
5. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook until veggies are softened, but not mushy.
6. Remove from heat. Either use an immersion blender (worth the buy!) to partially blend soup, leaving chunks of veggies OR allow soup to cool a bit then blend in batches until you’ve done about half of the soup and return to chunky veggie mix.
7. Pour condensed milk into pot and stir — remember you don’t have to use the entire can. It all depends on how thick you like your soup. You can’t really mess this one up!
8. Add CHEESE. I just grab a few different kinds (cheddar, pepperjack, etc.) and add a handful at a time until it’s as cheeeeeeesy as I’d like it. You can also skip the cheese, up to you.
9. Season to your liking with salt & pepper, add a little sriracha or other hot sauce, a few drops of lemon juice if you’d like (this really brightens it up!) and top with ANYthing you can think of: bacon, green onions, croutons.
10. EnJOY.

Sarah’s Notes

• Use regular milk if you do not have condensed milk — although I have not made it with alternative milks, you could substitute your milk of choice as well.
• The cheese is up to you, I like to use a couple handfuls, but I’ve also made it with a couple slices of cheddar when I was low, and that worked too.
• If you don’t have stock, you can use boullion as well, just prepare with water.
• ANY veggie combo works, but I like the one with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and squash.
• You can purée part of it like I do and leave some veggies whole for texture, or purée all of it for a smooth, creamy soup. (or purée none!)
• As with all my recipes, use this as a guide — you may like your soup thicker so you choose to use a bit less stock and/or milk. After you make it a few times, you’ll figure out just how you like it!

Potato Leek Soup & Jalapeno Biscuits: an evening with Ted Perry from Fox 6 News

Talk about interesting dinner guests — Fox 6 stopped by for dinner the other night!

WELCOME to those stopping by after seeing the story air tonight. If you didn’t get a chance to tune in, you can view the full video here.  I was thrilled to be part of the story and look forward to expanding our gluten-free community in Milwaukee! (I organize monthly GF Get Together events — stay tuned on my Facebook page, or here under the GF Get Together Events tab.)

Want to make a batch of the soup I impressed the news crew with?

Potato Leek Soup

1 ½ lbs potatoes, peeled and cubed (Yukon Golds work well)

3 leeks, washed well and sliced

1 medium onion, diced

5 cups chicken stock (vegetable works too)

2 tablespoons butter or oil

salt/pepper

Heat butter over medium-high heat, add onions and leeks and cook for 5-7 minutes, until leeks become soft. Add potatoes and chicken stock, season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes have softened.

Using a hand blender, puree until nice and smooth. I added a tablespoon of butter while doing this and more salt and pepper to round things off. Top with chives or bacon. (or both!)

 

 

Cheddar Jalapeno Biscuits

1 cup Gluten Free Flour Mix (I used Cup4Cup, if not using a mix, may want to add 1 teaspoon guar gum)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sugar or honey
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tablespoons Shortening
3 tablespoons Butter
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1 Jalapeno, diced (or use the ones in a jar)
1/4 cup milk

Combine: GF flour mix, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar/honey, guar gum (if used) Add shortening and butter. If you feel like getting messy (the way to to!) use hands to mix until dough forms. (a food processor works well too) Add cheddar cheese, jalapeno, sour cream and milk. Stir to combine all ingredients well, then drop by 1/4 cup size balls onto a baking sheet. A cookie scoop works well too. Bake for 15-17 minutes until golden on top, depending on size — the recipe makes about 6 biscuits, but you can make them mini-biscuits as well, these are pretty hearty.

Brush with melted butter immediately after baking them. (Ted Perry and the crew were impressed, you will be too!)

We call this “Tayden’s Mashed Potato Soup” in our family — I may or may not have tricked my nephew into eating two bowls of this hearty soup a few years ago by renaming it. Feel free to do the same with your kiddos. (they’ll never know!) 😉

What is YOUR go-to soup recipe to warm things up during this chilly time of year? 

 

This recipe is linked up with Gluten Free Wednesdays — go check out all of the other recipes!

 

Product Review: Kettle Cuisine Soup (YAHOO!)

Last week was my first week back after break. Monday was tough. I won’t lie. We have this nice extended vaca that starts a few days before Christmas and takes us right into 2010 without seeing the campus once.

We had eaten most of our left overs during the weekend. I had no ambition to cook on Sunday night.

Soup. In the freezer. The ones I bought at Outpost for days like these.

I was impressed. Although the bowls were a bit small, I was satisfied with the serving and piece of french bread. (from Molly’s Gluten Free Bakery of course)

Kettle Cuisine Soup

Yep. Two pictures. Two reviews. I didn’t feel like packing lunch on Tuesday either.