Classic beef and tomato macaroni soup

 

http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-beef-tomato-macaroni-soup/

photo and recipe from Karlynn Johnston at the Kitchen Magpie

Soup #3 - Classic Beef and Tomato Macaroni Soup

Yesterday was a bit of a crazy day. Marty had to go to the doctor for a follow up on his injured hand (keeping the details clean because nobody wants to hear about that on a food blog.) Since both kids had medical issues they also needed to see the doctor about, Marty decided (or maybe I guilted him into, it's hard to remember all the details! So HAZY! :D ) taking the kids and making one big day of medical fun. Let's just say two of the three cried, and two of the three needed referrals. On top of everything else, Elizabeth has a cold (or if you ask her, it is SARS) and feels awful. I knew dinner was going to have to be something quick and easy, and when Elizabeth said that this soup was what she was craving, it seemed simple enough.

If I had actually read the recipe.

Instead, I gave the ingredients a quick perusal, knowing by the looks of it, that this soup is basically what we call goulash, and told Marty what to pick up at the store.

It wasn't until I got HOME that I realized this recipe is actually a crock pot recipe. Oops!! I didn't have 8-10 hours... I barely had 8-10 MINUTES.

So, Elizabeth browned the hamburger meat while I started chopping.

Side note - we have been buying fresh ground American only hamburger meat at the butcher instead of buying the pre-packaged Mexi-Canadi-Japan hamburger mixture at the local store. The difference is amazing. More flavor and less fat! We just don't eat it as often because it is a little more expensive.

Anyway, after chopping and browning, we basically threw everything in a pot and hoped for the best. I did eliminate about a cup and a half of the beef stock since this wasn't going to be simmering all day. I also probably should have waited a few minutes before throwing the uncooked pasta in, because it wasn't AS firm as I would have liked. (Marty tried to warn me but I quickly reminded him that obviously *I* am the cooking expert since *I* am the one with the blog.)

This recipe called for a couple of things I have never put in goulash - brown sugar and Italian seasoning. I don't know if that is what made the difference or not, but it really tasted good. Better than I expected for sure. The only thing I would change, if you are making it on the stovetop, I really think one can of tomatoes (either the chopped or the whole) would be plenty. I love tomatoes but it really seems like a LOT. This might not be an issue in the crock pot version.

Scoring:

Elizabeth: 7 - It's really good. I'm really sick. Do I have fever? I need a blanket.

Mom: 7 - Good southern comfort food. Very flavorful.

Colby: 0.01 - All. The. Tomatoes. I will try it because of your blog but just looking at it makes me gag. Ok yeah, it's awful. This is just horrible. I can't. I can't.

Marty: 7.5 - I will not be able to eat this because of my acid reflux but I will try a bite for your blog. Ok, two bites. Hang on, let me try one more bite. This is really good. I think I will take another Prilosec. I need a bowl.

Panera Copycat Broccoli Cheese Soup

http://www.averiecooks.com/2015/01/best-broccoli-cheese-soup-better-panera-copycat.html

Soup #2 - Better than Panera Broccoli and Cheese soup

Photos and recipe from Averie's website above.

I have never been a big fan of Broccoli Cheese soup, but I tried a bite of a friends from a local restaurant a few weeks ago and couldn't stop thinking about it. So I thought that might be a good try for our second soup. On the day we made the soup, it was SUPPOSED to snow. It sounded like a catalog day! Snow on the ground, red cheeked children, gleefully enjoying a day off of school, coming in with snowy lashes and wet gloves to enjoy a hot, thick bowl of soup.

Instead, it didn't snow, and I had two grouchy children, grumbling around with homework and sadness, trudging through the leaves we haven't raked.

This soup was not super hard to make, especially with sister helping me. She sautéed the onion while I made the roux (my FIRST ROUX!), and then she stirred the soup while I chopped the veggies. She still isn't keen on chopping.

It is a very pretty soup. Lots of colors, and very photogenic. I used Kerrygold imported butter simply because it called for unsalted and the only unsalted butter the grocery store had in stock was in a big value pack. And we usually use salted butter. Also, Averie was insistent on good cheese so we used Tillamook Extra Sharp.

All said, the recipe was not hard at all, a bit more complicated than I am used to, but I think I was mostly nervous about the roux. There was a lot of "Does this look thick? No really, when I push it, it takes a minute to fill the gap, do you think that is thick enough?" Keep in mind I am asking a 16 year old who is just a beginner cook, whose only experience with a Roux is the little baby of Kanga in Winnie The Pooh.

In the end, the soup was fine. Someone that LOVES Broccoli and Cheese soup might be a better judge of this recipe. It WAS some of the best B & C soup I have had in my limited samplings, so there is that!

Scoring

Mom: "It's fine! I give it a 7."

Elizabeth: "I am a firm 5. I can't decide if I like it or not. I would love it if the broccoli were potatoes instead."

Colby: "I give it a 4 or less. It leaves a weird taste in my mouth. My mouth feels weird. Have I eaten enough to have some cereal?"

Marty: "I love it! I give it a 6.5!*"

*I questioned how "I love it!" equaled a 6.5. Marty said he thinks of it like the pain scale in the hospital. "Basically a '10' is literally unconscious with the soup flavors. I bet nothing gets a 10. Because I will be unconscious with flavor."

Zuppa Toscana

http://www.alaskafromscratch.com/2014/10/28/zuppa-toscana-creamy-potato-kale-soup-italian-sausage/

(photo from tsgcookin.com)


Soup #1 - January 15, 2015.
Olive Garden Copycat Zuppa Toscana

This one was sort of a cheat, since we make this often. Dare say, it is one of our favorite soups. (except Marty) But I figured since we were behind in our challenge, this was a good one to start with.

I didn't take my own pictures, but will try to do that in the future, at least of the finished product. My kitchen isn't very pretty so don't expect Pinterest-worthy photos!

The recipe we use is from Alaska From Scratch - linked above. There are several different versions, and even some crock pot versions, but we like this one the best. I do add more red pepper flakes because we like this soup with some heat. Some creamy, beautiful heat. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I also do not peel my potatoes. That's a whole lot of time wasted, because the peel cooks down where it isn't really even noticeable. Just scrub them good and call it a day.

ALSO, I don't put my kale in until the end. About 5 minutes before your soup is finished, and before you put in the cream, put in the kale. Otherwise, to me the kale becomes lost. Almost too stringy and disappears. I like the bites of kale in my soup!

We also serve this soup with fresh garlic bread. And when I say fresh, I mean - buy a loaf of soft French bread from the store, take it home and slice it long ways. Brush on real butter and at least three cloves of garlic you have pushed through the garlic press. Bake in the oven at 350 until it is crispy and smells like you want to lay your face in it and take a nap.

One warning about this soup... It is VERY FILLING. If you eat a bowl and you MUST HAVE MORE, wait about 20 minutes. Otherwise you will do what my friend Jennifer and I did one night... She needed a designated driver from the soup. We were both so full we sat around in pajama pants and moaned for like, three hours.

The scores:

Mom: 9. "I love this soup. I want it to be a person so I can marry it."

Elizabeth: 8. "This is probably my favorite soup. I never want anything else."

Colby: 10. "This is the best soup I have ever had. I love this soup."

Marty: 4 "I don't like Italian sausage. I am making nachos."

Once upon a time...

My 16 year old daughter Elizabeth and I are obsessed with soups. If there were a Soup Rehab, we would think about going, but would probably not actually go, because we aren't ready to admit we are powerless over soup.

She is very interested in cooking and I am NOT. To me, it is such a chore! But since she will probably need to be able to feed her self someday and might want something besides her beloved French Toast, we have been working in the kitchen together a bit.

The problem with any meals in my house is that the stuff Elizabeth and I LOVE, my 11 year old son HATES or it gives my 42 year old husband acid reflux. *eye roll*. So dinner is a constant battle of, "Oh I am so excited!" and, "Are those tomatoes???" and, "Can I have cereal?"

One frustrating day, I said something along the lines of, "As God is my witness they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this and when it's all over, I will find a soup everyone will eat! And they will never be hungry again!!" (said in my best Scarlett O'Hara voice...) And Elizabeth says, "We should make a new soup each week and we can all rank it!" and another friend of mine said, "You should BLOG about it!"

So here we are. 52 Soups in 2016. As it is already January 25, we have some catching up to do!

We decided each of us would rank the soups on a 1-10 scale on nothing but flavor. I could rank the ease of making or the cost of the soup, but that seems a little overwhelming. If a soup is particularly complicated or insanely easy, I will try to mention it.

And let's be honest. We will start with all the easy stuff and work our way up to October or November (or seriously, June even) and we will be grasping at straws. We might even try a Peanut Butter and Jelly soup. Well, no, probably not. But we are going to do our best to try new things like tofu and other things we aren't really used to eating. It will be a Foodventure.

Soups on!