This soup is hearty and so good.  I do believe Chad could eat the entire batch by himself!

Iowa Chowder

Ingredients:

1 cup onions, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1/4 cup butter
2 T. flour
2 cups water
3 cups potatoes, diced and cooked
1 – 17 oz. can whole kernel corn, drained
1/8 tsp. ginger
salt & pepper to taste
2 bay leaves
2 cups ham, diced
1-1/2 cups evaporated milk
8 oz. cream cheese

For the ginger, I don’t always have fresh ginger around and I like it so much better than powdered ginger.  This is what I use.  I can keep it in the fridge much longer than fresh ginger would keep.

Directions:

Saute onions and celery in butter.  Mix flour with water.  You can use the cooking water from the potatoes, or liquid from the corn.  Stir until flour is completely mixed and lumps are gone.  Add to onion and celery mixture.  Stir until thickened.  Add potatoes, corn, bay leaves, ginger, salt, pepper and ham.  Stir in milk and cream cheese.  Heat until cream cheese is melted.

Darlene’s hints:

I dice the potato before cooking and cook until just tender – do not overcook.
Sometimes I add more corn than is called for.
Do not over salt as the ham adds saltiness.
Keeps well for several days in the fridge or can be frozen.
Serves 6 – 10 depending on serving size.

My Hint:

Do not try to feed 6 – 10 people if Chad is eating at your house!

Start with a chicken! That part was easy, huh? This one was smoked in a Cookshack Smoker, which I highly recommend. Eat what you want, then pick the meat off the bones. You can leave a little meat on the bones if you’d like. Normally, I’d remove all the skin too but the skin has so much wonderful smokey flavor, I’m leaving it for the broth. It will mean more fat but I can skim that off. Depending on how your chicken was cooked, your broth will have different flavors for different batches. When the chicken has been smoked, the broth is great for beans, gumbo, etc. I sometimes roast a chicken with rosemary and lemons. The broth made from that chicken is great for Chicken Piccata and other pasta dishes. If your chicken was cooked with a definite flavor, you will want to note that on your jar so that you know what you’re getting. I wouldn’t want to use smokey chicken broth in a mild flavored dish, nor would I want lemon rosemary flavored broth in my gumbo.

Put the bones in a crockpot and begin adding whatever you want to add. In this picture I’ve added quartered onions (actually, it’s just half an onion because I had it left over from something else and it’s enough).

Here I’ve added carrots, celery, parsley, red pepper flakes, black pepper and bay leaves. Add whatever you want to add!

Fill the crock pot with water.

Cook on low overnight.

Tomorrow I’ll share the next steps in getting it into the jars and processed.

If I were making beef broth, I would start with some kind of bones. When we get half a cow, they ask me if I want the soup bones. Most people do not want them. I always say YES! And sometimes, I get some that other people don’t want. The bones are basically free because if I don’t want them, they don’t take anything off the price! Don’t you love the way I think?

So, I’d start with bones. I’d brown those bones in a little oil first. Then I’d put the bones in the crockpot, ad some chopped garlic to the oil and pan drippings and barely brown the garlic. Then deglaze the pan in order to get all that flavor. Pour the liquid, which will contain the garlic, into the crockpot. Add onions, celery, etc. Cover with water and simmer all night.

About the fat – I’ll mention it here again. If I’m making a small batch, I’ll put the broth in the fridge so the fat will harden and then I’ll remove it. If I’m making a big batch, I find it easier just to keep the fat because the broth has to be hot when poured into the jars. I just can it all and then before using a jar, I can stick it in the fridge and remove the fat at that point.

What we do tomorrow will be the same .. chicken or beef.

Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup

Thanks to Gina for sharing this recipe! It’s very tasty — robust as Chad would say!  We have this soup often and love it!

1 lb Italian sausage
1 T. Olive Oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, thinly sliced
6 cups beef broth
2 cups diced Roma Tomatoes (may use canned)
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 medium Zucchini, sliced
1 bag (1lb) baby spinach
1 large Carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry red wine ( Gina suggests drinking the remainder of the bottle!)
2 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoon oregano
1 1/2 cups purchased fresh cheese tortellini
Parmesan cheese, freshly shaved or grated if preferred
salt and pepper to taste, check for salt first.

Remove casings from sausage. Sauté Italian sausage in heavy pot over medium-high heat until cooked through, breaking up, simmer about 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer sausage to large bowl. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon fat from the pan. Add Olive oil,  onion and garlic to pan and sauté until tender & aromatic, about 5 minutes.  Return sausage to pot. Add beef broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, zucchini, carrot, spinach, wine, basil and oregano. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 45 minutes. Add tortellini to soup and cook until tender, about 20 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper, to taste. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese in individual bowls and garlic bread.

Shipwreck Stew

3 lbs. meat (can be ground beef, round steak, stew meat)
1 onion, chopped
4 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced 1/2″ thick
1 pkg. frozen cut green beans
2 – 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
2 – 8 oz. can tomato sauce
2 – 15 oz. cans pinto beans, drained
1/2 c. barley
1 can beef broth (have an extra can or two to add if the stew is too thick)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. salt

Brown meat, adding onion right before meat is finished browning.

Transfer meat and onion to crock pot, leaving behind as much grease as possible. Add all remaining ingredients. Cook on low for 8 hours. If the mixture looks too dry, add more broth, crushed tomatoes or water. Taste before serving and add more salt if desired.

This soup freezes very nicely.

Taco Soup

2 lb. ground meat, browned and drained
16 oz. frozen corn
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 – 2 cans crushed tomatoes (depending on your preference)
1 can chicken broth
1 cup water
1 package Taco seasoning mix
1 package Ranch dressing mix

Dump everything in the crockpot and cook 8 – 10 hours on low. Add more water if necessary to get the consistency desired.  Or, simmer on top of the stove for an hour or so.

We serve it with grated cheese and tortilla chips. I add a spoonful of sour cream to my bowl also.

That’s basically what I do to make my roux. They say to let it cool a bit before adding the chopped veggies but I don’t. I put the onions, peppers and garlic in while it’s hot so they saute. Don’t add the veggies until the roux is as dark as you want it. You have to get it pretty dark — cook it slow and stir it constantly.

Veggies:

2 onions, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
garlic, chopped (however much you’d like)

Add to roux and saute.

Add about 2 quarts hot water (can mix a little broth in here if you’d like). I usually boil my chicken a day ahead of time. Put the broth in the fridge so the fat can be skimmed off. Remove the chicken from the bones and chop it for the gumbo. I don’t measure but you can cook it down or add more water to get the consistency you like.

Add salt, black and red pepper to taste. If you want to add sausage to the gumbo, slice it and fry it to remove the grease before adding to the gumbo.

Add a couple of bay leaves. Simmer for a couple of hours. Before serving, add chopped parsley and chopped green onions.

Serve with a bowl of hot rice and file (spice you probably can’t find if you don’t live way down south . . can’t find it in Kentucky). But you can make your own file if you have a sassafras tree nearby. Here’s how you do it: http://generalhorticulture.tamu.edu/prof/Recipes/File-Sassafras/file.html

Never add the file to the pot . . it will get very slimey. Add it to your own bowl right before you’re ready to start eating.