Turkey soup

Ingredients

• 1 leftover turkey carcass
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 celery ribs, diced
• 1 cup butter, cubed
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup uncooked long grain rice
• 3-4 chicken bouillon granules
• 3/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Place turkey carcass in a soup kettle or Dutch oven and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour. Remove carcass; cool. Set aside broth. Remove turkey from bones and cut into bite-size pieces; set aside.
2. In a soup kettle or Dutch oven, saute the onions, carrots and celery in butter until tender. Reduce heat; stir in flour until blended. Gradually add 1/3 of reserved broth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
3. Add cream, rice, salt, bouillon, pepper, remaining broth and reserved turkey. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until rice is tender.

Christi's Cheesy Potato Soup

Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

Carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

Celery, cut up

Onion, cut up

Canned corn

Bacon

Butter

Flour

Milk

Sharp cheddar cheese

Seasonings: chicken boullion, salt, pepper, and parsley

Boil a large pot ¾ full of water and add chicken boullion (usually 1 cube per cup of water). When it is boiling add the vegetables (minus the corn) and salt and pepper to taste and let them cook until they are starting to soften (I pretty much have the vegetables fill the pot until they are just below the water level). Cook the bacon while the veggies soften

When the veggies start to get soft, start the white sauce. Use whatever bacon grease is left from cooking the bacon and add butter to it (for the amount I made at the Halloween party I used two sticks of butter) and melt the butter over medium heat. Then add the flour- generally it is the same amount of flour as butter, so two sticks of butter and one cup of flour, but if you like it thick, add more flour, I added one and a half cups to mine, but when there are leftovers they aren’t very soupy, more solid, so you end up adding water to the leftovers, so if you don’t like how thick that is, then only do 1 to1 ratio of butter and flour. Using a whisk mix together the flour and butter until it is almost a paste. Then add milk, I used about 1/3 of a gallon. Add a few cubes of boullion to this as well (I love the chicken stock base flavoring…) and grate cheddar into it- the amount on this depends on how cheesy you like it- I used a little more than half of a 8oz block…- mix on medium until cheese is all melted and there are no clumps to be seen anywhere.

Pour the vegetables into a large crock pot, then add the white sauce mix and the bacon broken into pieces and canned corn. Then sprinkle on some parsley and, if needed, more salt and pepper. Stir until well mixed and you are pretty much ready to go! This, like most of the stuff out of my head, is a very to-taste kind of recipe- sorry that there aren’t many measurements, but if you like a certain thing more than another, it is easy to tweak!

I made this recipe for a family Halloween party a couple of weeks ago and my Aunt asked for the recipe, so I wrote it up for her and thought I might as well just post it on here as well! Enjoy!

Zuppa Toscana (Tuscan Soup)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound bulk mild Italian sausage
• 1 1/4 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes
• 4 slices bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 5 (13.75 ounce) cans chicken broth
• 6 potato, thinly sliced
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 bunch fresh spinach, tough stems removed

DIRECTIONS

1. Cook the Italian sausage and red pepper flakes in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat until crumbly, browned, and no longer pink, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Cook the bacon in the same Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain, leaving a few tablespoons of drippings with the bacon in the bottom of the Dutch oven. Stir in the onions and garlic; cook until onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.
3. Pour the chicken broth into the Dutch oven with the bacon and onion mixture; bring to a boil over high heat. Add the potatoes, and boil until fork tender, about 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the heavy cream and the cooked sausage; heat through. Mix the spinach into the soup just before serving.

The result: We really liked this soup, although we didn't even bother trying to give some to the kids- if there aren't noodles in a soup, they inherently don't like it. Plus I got a *little* bit heavy handed with the red pepper flakes, so it was a bit spicy. Also, we did the spinach thing, but it didn't really add to the soup, nor have a strong flavor, so when I had leftovers, I didn't bother with it and they came out wonderfully. Will we ever have this again- you bet!!!

Cream of Asparagus Soup

Ingredients

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, combine asparagus, chopped onion, and 1/2 cup chicken broth. Cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat, and simmer uncovered until asparagus is tender, about 12 minutes. Process the mixture in a blender to puree the vegetables. Set aside.
2. In the same saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Whisk in the remaining chicken broth, and increase the heat to medium. Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture boils. Stir in the asparagus puree and the milk.
3. Put the sour cream in a small bowl, and stir in a ladleful of the hot soup. Add the sour cream mixture and the lemon juice to the soup. Stir while heating the soup to serving temperature, but don't allow it to boil. Serve immediately.

I made this because Shawn and I used to love the cream of asparagus soup that they served at the BYU art museum- we went there every week as freshman and loved the soup! It has been so long since then that I am not sure how close this is to it, but we both thought it was wonderful, and definitely will be making it again!