Favorite Fall Soups or Stews

I do a minestrone type inspired soup. The base is chicken broth and canned tomatoes undrained ( I LOVE to use my own canned tomatoes if I have them!!). The ratio is up to you, either half of each or 2/3 chicken broth (or veg brother) to 1/3 tomatoes. Then I add in pretty much anything!!! onion, garlic, peppers, summer squash, cabbage sliced small, mushrooms, green beans, frozen peas (add later), carrots - whatever veggies like that you have on hand. I also add in 2 kinds of canned beans - usually kidney and pinto or white northern or garbanzo. You can make pasta on the side if you like too - small shells or elbow, something like that. :)

We LOVE Pioneer Woman's Sherried Tomato Soup. You can google it or find it on Pinterest. We also like Wisconsin Cauliflower Cheese Soup, Corn Chowder with Potatoes and Bacon, classic lentil, black bean or beef barley with veges. If you go on Pinterest you'll find links to all of these and more.
Oh and white bean soup with ham too, love that one!

i do love a spicy butternut squash soup. which is good because crookneck squash seem to be the only thing i can grow any more.
i skin and chunk a big ol' squash and bake it soft. then i puree it, put whatever i'm not going to use into ice cube trays to freeze until later, then build a nice soup. sauteed onions and garlic and peppers, some chipotle and maybe curry, a good whack of salt and pepper, and whatever else i've got laying around that sounds good at the time. sometimes it's some leftover roast, or chicken. or if i want a veggie option i might add some cubed potatoes or yams, or broccoli florets, or leftover grilled marinated carrots.
it'd different every time, but reliably wonderful and very autumn comforting.
khairete
S.

Squash and apple soup is our favorite fall soup. You blend it so it is a thick, creamy soup. It is made by sauteing apples and onions in butter till very soft. You add baked squash, apple juice, some chicken stock (or veggie)...cook a while and then blend it. You can add a little cream too but we leave it out and it's so good. We serve it with crusty bread and a nice fall salad. Another favorite creamy soup is mulligatawny soup. Yum!

Potato soup.

I do a whole bag of red potatoes, peeled and cut into small squares plus an onion in a crock pot with salt, pepper, and 4 cups of chicken stock. Cook on high for 4 hours.

Near the end of that, make a rue with butter and flour, mix in a pint of heavy whipping cream (could be milk). Add in a container of sour cream until smooth. Then add in lots of extra sharp shredded cheddar. Once that is a nice cheese sauce, mix it with the potatoes and cook on low until ready to eat, or at least 30 minutes.

I serve it with sides of fresh crumbled bacon, scallions, and more cheese.

It's not the healthiest meal on the planet, but it's a nice soup for a cold day!

I make a veggie, beef with barley. Just brown hamburger with onion, fill a large pot with half beef broth. Dump in the meat, 2 cans corn (undrained), 2 cans green beans (undrained), barley, shredded carrots and shredded potatoes. Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Cook until everything is soft. I don't measure anything and just keep tasting it. I add different stuff like canned diced tomatoes or whatever else I want too or have in the pantry. Every year I do it different and it's always good.

Also, each year I have a soup-fest where everyone brings a crock pot of soup and you eat as much as you want of whatever you want. It's super fun and easy and everyone loves it. Last time we had 10 different soups and none of them were the same. I asked some of them to send me the recipe and I put them all together and sent them out to everyone. If you do that you'll have a lot of recipes and you've already tasted them! Good luck!

I save the bits and pieces of vegetables I trim or which are past their prime - celery tops and bottoms, mushroom stems, onions tops, garlic bits, carrot ends, jalapeno bits, wilted veggies, etc. Basically any vegetable excess which didn't make the initial dish or got shoved in the back of the fridge and wasn't rotting upon discovery. I save all these veggie bits in a freezer bag and freeze. I do the same with chicken bits and bobs resulting from cutting up whole chickens for roasting and grilling meals. I also save shrimp shells, crab shells and fish bones. When I am ready, I can pull these frozen bits out and make stock - chicken stock, veggie stock, shrimp/fish/seafood stock. I add the veggies to the chicken to make a savory chicken stock. Whatever makes me happy. If I have too much stock, I freeze it for later use. A rare occurrence but nothing breaks my heart more than wasting good stock.

With these homemade stocks, I can make any soup my heart desires. I tend to simple cream of soup numbers which I can whip up in under 45 minutes. Mushroom, leek and leek potato are very common for me. Sauté onion, garlic or shallot, veggies of your choice (leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, combinations thereof are suggestions) until tender. Add stock and bring to gentle boil. Puree in blender until smooth. If I desire a smoother consistency, I will strain the puree through a sieve. Pour back in the pot. Add heavy cream and heat through. I wing measurements but you can find tons of great recipes to guide your efforts more specifically.

Broccoli cheese and tomato basil are also house favorites. Tomato basil tastes best when it is fresh. For us all other soups are good leftover. Chicken and vegetable soups are easy too. For me once I have the stock I can make any soup my head thinks up.

We also enjoy a good coconut curry soup. Grate fresh ginger* in a pot, maybe add some minced garlic. Heat briefly and then add stock (chicken or veggie). Heat and simmer; add coconut milk and simmer again. Add mushroom slices and cook until mushrooms are slightly tender. Add tofu; I bake firm tofu for a crispy exterior but soft interior – press dry, chop into desired pieces, bake at 400F for 20-25 minutes. Serve with lime wedges and/or cilantro and/or jalapeno.

A true house favorite is jalapeno matzo ball soup. I follow Pati Jinch’s recipe (https://patijinich.com/recipe/post_1/).

We eat a lot of soup because I love the freshness of the end product, the ease of a lot of soups and being able to control what goes in and what the flavor is. Happy cooking.

P.S. I buy a root of ginger and freeze it in between uses so I always have it on hand. I don't bother taking the skin off but a sharp knife easily removes the skin when frozen. I use a fine grater and the skin is not noticeable at all.

P.P.S. How could I forget Brazilian fish soup! A summer staple for us. Buy a few tilapia filets and cut into even chunks. In a Ziploc bag combine lime juice to taste (3T is a good starting point), equal parts and paprika (1T each), minced garlic to taste (2-3 cloves), salt and pepper to taste. Marinade the tilapia in the lime mix for about 20 minutes. Sauté chopped onion in olive oil until almost tender. Add fish, marinade and a can of diced tomatoes (Rotel is my choice); cover and simmer until fish is cooked through (about 20 minutes). Top with cilantro if desired.

I make potato soup and add crumbled crispy bacon, butter, sour cream, extra sharp cheddar, and scallions to it.

I also make plomeek soup, which is basically root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, turnips, onions) cooked down and pureed.

Family Fondue Night - cheese fondue, followed by hot pot of broth for meat/veg, followed by chocolate fondue for dessert. Not exactly a soup but similar idea.

ETA: nice when served with a good wine for the chef!

1. One of my favorites is the Hard Rock Cafe's baked potato soup. The recipe is online, just type the title into google.

But the instructions tell you to bake the potatoes, then peel and dice them. I don't. I found another use for them.

Instead of just peeling them and dicing them, carefully slice them in half the long way. Scoop out the potato and proceed with the recipe. Then slice the two long halves into two more, so basically you have 4 long potato "boats". If they're really large potatoes, you could make 8 skinnier "boats".

Now use those to make potato skins the next day, or a day or two later. Just keep them covered and refrigerated until you're ready to use them.

When making the potato skins, heat the oven to about 400 degrees. Lightly spritz the skins with olive oil or lightly brush with your choice of oil. Lay them on a baking sheet and bake the skins until they're lightly golden brown and crispy.

Then top with your favorite potato skin toppings: shredded cheddar, blue cheese, sour cream, crumbled cooked bacon, chives, diced tomatoes, whatever you like on a potato skin - loaded up or just simple! You get two substantial meals out of a few baked potatoes.

2. Another cheap way to begin a vegetable soup: make corn cob stock. Strip the kernels off of several ears of corn (a great way to use those end of the season ears of corn that might not be so pretty as the ones you bought this summer). Get a large stock pot, fill it with cold water. Break the cobs in half and immerse them in the cold water (make sure they're covered). You can use plenty of cobs, and a big old pot of water. I use a 12 quart pot and about 8 large cobs. Of course, you can make a much smaller pot and use fewer cobs.

Boil them for about an hour. Then remove the cobs and compost them or discard them. Keep simmering the water until it's reduced by about half.

Then saute or roast chopped vegetables. Use the corn kernels, diced onion, sliced zucchini or summer squash, diced winter squash, sliced carrots, shelled edamame, cooked lima beans - whatever is available and affordable that you like; a little for a thin soup, a lot for a thick stew. Add to the corn cob stock, and if you like, add pasta and cook until it's al dente. You could also add small cooked meatballs, or cooked chopped chicken for a heartier meal. It's a really cheap way to make a healthy vegetable stew out of cheap fall vegetables, with no preservatives, artificial stuff or additives.

I did not see anyone mention chili. Ours usually consists of ground turkey or beef, onions, garlic, pepper, pinch of salt, black beans, chili beans, kidney beans, cumin, chili powder, and crushed/stewed/whole canned tomatoes. I use organic bpa free canned beans and tomatoes, undrained. Cook meat, onions, garlic, with all seasoning to taste, first in large stew pot and drain. Then throw in two cans of each kind of beans, along with two fourteen ounce tomato cans. Simmer until flavors all combine. Serve with cornbread and salad or over baked potatoes. We have enough leftovers for lunch and dinner the next day.

Ham and split pea soup in the crockpot....take 1 bag split peas, rinse, 1 ham bone, 1 ham steak chopped, a couple of handfuls of baby carrots, 2 large celery stalks chopped, 1/4 white onion chopped, fresh or powdered garlic, salt, and pepper all to taste. Throw it all in crockpot and fill it with chicken stock just below the top of the crockpot. The peas will soak up a lot of the liquid. Let simmer on low most of the day and enjoy when you get home.

Good question...I love soup so much when the weather gets chilly! There's not too many soups I don't like, but here's a couple that come to mind... We really like the Pioneer Woman's "Hamburger Soup" for cold winter days. It's pretty hearty and great on a snow day! Also, I tried making Zuppa Toscana for the first time last year and really like it!

Lentil soup is so good and so easy. Directions for the basic recipe are right on the back of the bag. I also make mock chicken noodle. I use chicken breast and chicken broth. Boil it up with carrots, celery and spices and serve over pasta. YUM!! Both are quick and very easy.

I always make my own stocks for my soups. It's not as difficult as one might think! I won't go into that right now. Our go to favorites are of course veggie beef with noodles and chicken noodle soup. But the one thing my son always requests when he comes home from the military is corn chowder. I use Ina Gartens recipe. You can find it online. I do tweek it a little bit. For instance, I make a stock with the cobs. Someone else on here mentioned how to do that. I buy the best corn I can find, and cut it off the cob. There is nothing like fresh corn on the cob! Happy soup making!

Alton Brown's leek and potato soup is killer! I also do a 30 minute minestrone that we love --it might be all recipe. Barefoot Contessa has an amazing cream of wild mushroom soup. Perfect for fall.

This potato-leek soup from Robert Irvine is wonderful and easy to make:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/robert-irvine/potato-l...

Go to the library and get the book "Stone Soup" and if they have different versions check them all out. Some are better written than others. Go find a rock that can take the heat. Ask a local rock and gem club or a science teacher or a rock hound. Usually a hard river rock will suffice but I don't want you to take me at my word, don't want an exploding rock to ruin your stone soup.

You can get the kids involved in this too.

Cook some hamburger meat with some chopped garlic and onions. Lots of them. Yum!!

Then when the meat is draining you have the book out and several cans of the following veggies. Drain them. Not the Ro-Tel but the canned stuff should be drained.

2-3 small cans of Veg-All. Using the smaller cans gets you small pieces AND a better mix. The large chunks just don't absorb the other flavors and when you bite into a huge chunk of potato that is all you taste so smaller pieces are much better.

1 small can of corn

1 small can of green beans

1-2 small cans of cut up sweet potatoes (secret ingredient for me). Small cans get small pieces and the flavor blends better.

1 small can of Original Ro-Tel Tomatoes

Some beef broth, maybe some V-8 juice or tomato juice. What you like as your liquid.

The STORY, sometimes is a group of soldiers and a village or 3 soldiers and a village or 3 soldiers and the older lady but I like this one version best. One on one.

As you start reading the book the soldier comes to the older lady's door and asks if she has any food to spare, she replies she has none so he asks the older lady for a pot and some water, she says she has no food to give and he says "I don't need those things, I am going to make Stone Soup". As his fire heats the water in the borrowed pan he puts the stone in it. He occasionally leans over and sniffs the aroma of the heating water. The older lady tells him that there isn't anything but boiling water and he says "Come smell". She does and agrees it smells nice. Maybe it would smell even nicer if she goes and takes the dog's bone to put in it. So the meat is added.

Story progresses and each additional food is just something else she remembers she has. When it's all cooking they come together with a pot of food that is a feast.

He's been off fighting and is on his way home. She's had so many soldiers come in and take everything and isn't being selfish but just trying to survive. He leaves her with the food so she has a feast for many days.

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