Chicken Vegetable Soup

Today’s recipe offering started with the need to use leftover roasted chicken and small bunch of kale.  Using up leftovers when there are just two of you eating often results in amazing pots of soup and those of you in large families who do not have leftover have no idea of what you are missing.

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked heirloom rice

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 cup chopped celery diced

2 large cloves garlic diced

1 onion diced

1 medium bunch of kale chopped

2 potatoes cubed

900 ml vegetable broth

900 ml mushroom broth

3 cups chopped cooked chicken

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon ginger

1 tablespoon dry basil

1 tablespoon ketchup

Directions:       

Prepare your rice as per package directions (we find the heirloom rice to hold its shape and texture in soup)

Chop all of your vegetables

In a frying pan sauté the onion, garlic and celery in the olive oil until the onion are translucent

In a large soup pot add the broth, all the vegetables, spices and cooked chicken simmer until the potatoes are tender

Add cooked rice and ketchup and simmer for 5 minutes

Serve.

From Our Table To Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2018twosnydergirls

Gluten Free Curried Pumpkin Soup

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2018 twosnydergirls

Curried Squash Soup Vegan

This soup is based on Curried Squash and Apple Soup from the free Milk calendar January 2014 and over the intervening years we have made this soup our own. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 3 teaspoons curry powder
• 6 cups of cooked mashed squash
• 4 apples peeled and chopped
• 3 carrots
• 2 cups warmed almond milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a large pot add olive oil and sauté onion and garlic
2. To this add the vegetable broth, curry power, squash, apple, and carrots and cook for until carrots are soft
3. Blend until smooth being careful not to burn yourself, we used an immersion blender.
4. Add the warmed milk, salt and pepper to taste

Serve.

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Chicken Squash Soup

We are getting ready to leave on vacation and so it was time to sort through the freezer and find a way to use the smaller containers we found there.  

What we found was pureed squash from Thanksgiving, spinach frozen from last years’ garden, cooked chicken slices ready for use in salads and chicken broth.

It was icy and Grandpa almost fell.

What to make was easy soup  and we have called this recipe 

Chicken Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken broth (we had 4 cups in the freezer) and used purchased broth to make up the rest.
• 2 cups cooked puréed squash
• 3 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 small cooking onion chopped
• Four bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1 heaping tablespoon ketchup
• 2 cooked chicken breast diced
• 2 finely chopped cups of spinach
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 4 bay leaves
• Cayenne pepper (always a good thing to add to a winter soup) to taste
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Cook pasta (the amount depends on how thick you want your soup we used 4 cups of cooked pasta)

Directions:

1. Add everything to a soup pot except for the pasta and simmer for 30 minutes.
2. Cook your pasta and set aside
3. Remove the bay leaves
4. Add pasta simmer for 5 minutes
5. Serve.

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2017 twosnydergirls

Fast Beef Vegetable Soup

Late fall is upon us, the rain today was thick with the promise of snow, the weather wet and cold

 and coming home to a cold house what we needed was a hearty vegetable soup.

However, time was in short supply and short cuts would required. 

Here is our answer Fast Beef Vegetable Soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 bay leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 6 cups beef broth (packaged)
• 10 new small potatoes cubed
• 3 cups of carrots cut into ¼ circles
• 3 cups chopped mushrooms

Directions:

1. Place the bay leaves and garlic in cheese cloth and tie off
2. Add all ingredients including the cheese cloth bag into the soup pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Remove the cheese cloth and serve.

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Turkey Noodle Soup

We are in between the Canadian and the American Thanksgiving and so it seemed like a good time to make Turkey Soup. 

We never throw out turkey or chicken bones, these go into a soup pot this celery, onions, carrots and enough water to cover everything.  This then sits on the back of the stove simmer for between 8 to 12 hours.  Then drain the turkey broth.  

The amounts of vegetables vary dependent on what is in the fridge. 

If we are not making soup the broth is poured into quart jars and frozen.

When you go to use the broth you adjust the favour.

Ingredients:

• 1-quart turkey broth
• 4 cups water
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 large onion quartered
• 6 bay leaves
• 3 cups of cooked turkey cut into bite size pieces
• 2 cups slices mushrooms
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 4 cups cooked pasta

Directions:

1. In a soup pot bring to a slow simmer the turkey broth, to this add the garlic, bay leaves and onion and simmer for 3 hours. 
2. Remove the garlic, onions and bay leaves
3. To the broth add turkey, mushrooms, peas and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add cooked paste, continue to boil for 2 minutes and serve.

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Horseradish and Leek Soup

Have you ever ordered a soup not because you necessarily thought it would be delicious, no more because the name of the soup intrigued you? 

That is exactly how we stumbled onto this soup.

We did not have high expectations and so we ordered a small bowl between the two of us and that did not work because it was delicious!  

Our waitress seeing our enthusiasm brought two more bowls it hopes that our praises would motivate other patrons to try it.

Now we were challenged to replicate the soup and so to the internet we turned where we found numerous soup recipes that had horseradish as an ingredient.  

We narrowed those down to soups that also contained cheese and beer, the other two ingredients the restaurant was willing to disclose their soup contained.

Here is the recipe that we came up with.  We replaced cream, flour and butter with a head of cauliflower without loosing any flavour, making our soup healthier so we can eat more.

We hope you try this recipe and enjoy it as much as we do.

Ingredients:

• 1 head of cauliflower broken into flowerets
• 3 large carrots chopped
• 3 cups of vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 can of dark beer
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 leeks chopped
• 3 garlic cloves chopped
• ½ cup creamy horseradish
• 2 cups sharp cheese
• Salt to taste

Direction:

1. Clean and chop the cauliflower and carrots.
2. In a large soup pot add the broth, water and beer and add the cauliflower and carrots, and bring to a simmer.
3. In a frying pan sauté the chopped leeks and garlic until the leeks are translucent
4.  Add leeks and garlic to the soup pot and continue cooking until the carrots are tender.
5. Carefully blend the contents of the pot to a consistency your family likes.  (we use a wand blender directly in the soup pot)
6. Add the cheese and horseradish blend until these are incorporated
7. Salt and pepper to taste
8. Serve

From Our table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Chia Beet Soup

Vegan, gluten and dairy free!

This wonderful refreshing soup can be served either hot or cold.  

The impetus for this weeks recipe was the need to use up last years beets because soon we will planting this year crop.  In the refrigerator we had homemade vegetable broth from Easter, and a small head of cauliflower so off we went to the stove.

As some of you will know Grandpa Snyder likes his soup thick and this is where we decided to use chia seeds to thicken the soup while adding extra nutrients.

We hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did.

Ingredients 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion chopped
• 3 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 1/2 inches of fresh ginger chopped
• 3 beets cleaned and chopped
• 1 small head cauliflower chopped
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar 
• 3 Tablespoons whole chia seeds

Directions:

1. Sautée the onions, garlic and ginger for 3 or 4 minutes
2. In a large soup pot add the sautéed mixture, chopped cauliflower, and beets
3. Cover with the vegetable broth and simmer until vegetables are soft
4. Purée the ingredients in the soup pot - we use a hand blender
5. Add the Balsamic vinaigrette one tablespoon at a time until you reach the flavour you like we stopped at 3 tablespoons
6. Salt and pepper to taste
7. To the still hot soup add one tablespoon of chia seeds at a time waiting 10 minutes before adding the next, stop when you read the thickens you enjoy.

From Our Table To Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Golden Turnip and Apple Soup

Call us old fashion we enjoy turnip!  We enjoy it raw cut into strips as you would for carrots, cooked, or mashed.  Did you know that the first jack-o-lanterns were made from turnips – they were. 

As with most of our soup recipes their origins spring from leftovers or what is on hand.  Last week we had apples, turnip and sautéed onions leftover from Christmas to work with and the result was what we are calling Golden Turnip and Apple Soup.  A rich, and hearty soup full of flavour and warmth.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups caramelized onions (we do large batches and freeze in 1 cup lots)
• 2 cups water
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 medium turnip cut into small cubes
• 4 apples (peeled, and cut into small cubes)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. Caramelize your onions in your soup pot.  You want to retain all of the flavour that the browning contains.
2. When the onions are done deglaze the pot with the water
3. Add the vegetable broth and cubed turnip and apples
4. Simmer until the turnip is soft enough to puree (we cooked ours for 2 hours)
5. Being very careful not to burn yourself puree all the ingredients
6. Add the turmeric, black pepper, nutmeg and salt to taste.
7. Serve

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2016 twosnydergirls

Ginger Chicken Soup

With the arrival of cold weather and snow our thoughts turned to chicken/turkey soup.  So this week as our American friends celebrate Thanksgiving I hope they have kept the bones and some leftover meat because this is a wonderful soup.

Ingredients:

Broth

• Bones and leftover meat of one chicken
• 10 cloves of garlic
• Five large onions
• Seven celery stocks
• 2 teaspoon salt
• Three bay leaves
• Water to cover

Soup

• 6 cups of broth
• 2 cups cooked chicken
• 2 cups frozen peas
• 3 teaspoons grated ginger (add more if you enjoy the flavour)
• 2 carrots finely julienned
• 1 teaspoon cumin

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot simmer all of the broth ingredients for three hours (freeze any left over chicken broth to use later)
2. Strain broth through cheese cloth and discard everything in the cheese cloth
3. Place all the soup ingredients in a medium soup pot holding back 1/2 cup of julienned carrots as garnish
4. Bring to a simmer and cook just long enough to cook the peas
5. Plate the soup and garnish with carrots in the centre

From Our Table To Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Sauerkraut and Sausage Soup

Sauerkraut was introduced into the North American diet by Pennsylvania German immigrants in the eighteenth century and Captain James Cook used sauerkraut to ward off scurvy on the Endeavour 1768-1771.  

In the Mennonite food tradition sauerkraut is used as a hot side dish, in casseroles, salads and cake.  

This weeks recipe features sauerkraut in a soup.

Sauerkraut  turkey sausage soup makes a wonderful base any vegetable combination that you might want.  Tonight we made this recipe with leftover vegetables from our Canadian Thanksgiving dinner.  We use approximately half a cup of sautéed mushrooms, one baked sweet potato, one roasted white potato and ½ cup cooked carrots, with good results so don't be afraid to experiment with the vegetables that you use.  The trick with leftover vegetables is to ensure you add them with just enough time left to heat them up and then do not freeze the soup. 

The recipe has been created to use carrots and potatoes vegetables that in our household are always at hand.

Ingredient:

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 pound of your favorite turkey sausage
• 1 pound of sauerkraut
• 4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
• 3 large carrots cubed
• 2 potatoes cubed
• 1/8 of a teaspoon of cardamom
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway seed
• 2 tablespoon apple butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cut the turkey sausage into bite size pieces
2. In the soup pot fry the sausage and sauerkraut in the oil stirring constantly to prevent burning.  You are finished frying when the bottom of your pot is covered with caramelized brown layer.
3. Deglaze the soup pot using the broth (there is no need to remove the sauerkraut and sausage)
4. Add carrots, potatoes, cardamom, cumin, and caraway seed.
5. Simmer until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is cooked through
6. Add the apple butter simmer for 5 minutes more
7. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve

From our table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015twosnydergirls

Roasted Carrot, Apple Soup

Apples are now abundant in our area both wild and domestic so we can only assume that the culinary desire to include apples in a hot soup comes from driving past so many apple trees.

In today's soup recipe we have roasted carrots, potato, shallots and garlic to deepen the taste of the soup. The garlic and shallots were brushed with olive oil while carrots were brushed with a mixture of all of olive oil and maple syrup.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 1/8 of a cup of olive oil
• 3 pounds of carrots peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 shallots
• 2 whole garlic bulbs with the tops come out to expose the garlic
• 1 large potato
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 3 sticks of celery chopped
• 2 Granny Smith apples corded and chopped into large pieces
• To bay leaves (these are removed before you purée the soup)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons fresh ground ginger

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F
2. Prepare the carrots, shallots, potato, and garlic place on a covered baking sheet
3. Brush the potato, shallots and garlic with olive oil and the carrots with olive oil and the maple syrup Note: the remaining maple syrup is added to the soup
4. Place the vegetables in a 400°F oven for 40 minutes.
5. In the soup pot add the vegetable broth, bay leaves, celery and apple let this simmer while the vegetables are roasting
6. When the vegetables are done roasting remove the bay leaves from the broth
7. Remove the roasted garlic for the paper outer layer and carefully place this and the other roasted vegetables in the hot soup pot 
8. Add the nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, and remaining maple syrup
9. Simmer for another 10 minutes
10. Carefully blend the vegetables in the broth creating a smooth thick soup
11. Salt and pepper to taste
12. Enjoy

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup Vegan

2015 will go down in the tomato growing record books at the Snyder home.  Grandpa’s seven tomato plants are still producing cherry tomatoes by the handful and it was this abundance of cherry tomatoes that sent us in search of a new recipe.

We both love the flavour of roasted tomatoes and the cherry tomatoes were exactly right for this method.  As usual the refrigerator revealed what else would go into the roasted tomato soup; carrots, celery and homemade vegetable broth.

Friends had recently shared a bag full of this year’s garlic so this recipe at it's base had roasted tomatoes and garlic.

Ingredients:

• Enough cherry tomatoes to cover a 9 x 12 in. baking sheet with sides
• 2 garlic bulbs (12 cloves of garlic)
• Olive oil
• Salt
• Balsamic vinegar  
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 stalks of celery chopped
• 2 carrots chopped
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground basil
• 1 can tomato paste
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup

Directions:

1. Cover the bottoms of a 9 x 12 inch sided baking sheet with parchment paper
2. Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of the pan
3. Roll the cherry tomatoes in the oil coating them
4. Cut the top off two garlic bulbs so that the top of the individual cloves are showing
5. Place these in a corner of the pan
6. Drizzle olive oil over the garlic
7. Sprinkle a generous amount of salt on the tomatoes and garlic
8. Drizzle Balsamic vinegar over top of the tomatoes and garlic
9. Bake for 1 ½ hours in a 350 °F Oven.
10. Remove from the oven and let stand
11. Drizzle olive oil in the bottom of a soup pot
12. Sauté the chopped onion and celery until the celery turns bright green
13. Add the vegetable broth, carrots, herbs, tomato paste and cook until the carrots are tender
14. Remove the roasted garlic cloves for the paper skins and add to the soup pot along with the tomatoes.
15. Simmer for 25 minutes.
16. Use either a food processer or a handheld blender being very careful not to burn yourself, blend everything that is in the pot into a smooth thick soup.
17. Add the maple syrup stir this in and serve.

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013 – 2015twosnydergirls

Asparagus soup Vegan

Many years ago on some food network the name of which has been long forgotten we learned that in preparing asparagus you bend each sprig until it breaks.  The breaking point is where the  asparagus is beginning to get tough.  And we could just not bring ourselves to throw the bottoms on the asparagus away for we froze them until we have approximately 6 cups.

This weekend we pulled the asparagus end out of the freezer and put them in a large soup pot to cook slowing for about 6 hours.  We then whipped the ends as best we could and strained everything through a sieve.  What you are left with is a very flavourful asparagus broth and this became the base for our soup.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups asparagus broth
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 small head of cauliflower cut into medium sized bits
• 1 lb fresh asparagus cut into medium sized bits
• coconut oil
• 6 shallots chopped
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• 1 lb fresh asparagus cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice
• salt to taste

Directions:

1. Clean all your vegetables 
2. Pour the vegetables broths into a large soup pot add the cauliflower and first lb. of asparagus cook until tender
3. While the vegetables are cooking saute the shallots and garlic in the coconut oil until they begin to caramelize (this flavour adds to the soup)
4. Add the shallots and garlic to the cooked cauliflower and asparagus and blend with a hand blender until you have a smooth soup (keep this warm on low heat)
5. Steam the second batch of asparagus until they turn bright green do not over cook
6. Add these to the soup 
7. Add the lemon juice stir well
8. Salt to taste

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Cauliflower Soup

Foodie Friday 

After a weekend of eating rich Easter foods soup seems in order and what did our fridge hold?

There was a head of cauliflower that did not make it onto the Easter dinner table, 4 shallots, 1 sweet potatoe, and celery.  We had the basic ingredients for a rich flavour full cauliflower soup. 

Ingredients:

• 4 shallots minced
• 3 large garlic cloves minced
• 3 stalks of celery chopped
• 1 large sweet potatoe chopped
• 8 cups of vegetable stock
• 1 head of cauliflower cut into medium size pieces
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley minced
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Sauté the garlic, shallots and celery for about 10 minutes
2. Add all of the ingredients and spices to the vegetable stock
3. Cook until the vegetables are tender
4. Puree in the soup pot.  Here you get to decide if you like a smooth or chucky soup
5. Put into soup top with parsley or your favourite cheese

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Curried Carrot Soup Gluten and Dairy Free

Foodie Friday

Gluten and Dairy Free

At lunch I often walk with a good friend who is a wonderful Indian cook and in our January Good Food Box there was a large bag of carrots, so I asked Navneet how she would make curried carrot soup.  

Navneet started to list the spices she would use and I stopped dead my tracks when she said “and one green banana”, I have never heard of adding a banana to soup let alone a green one.  

Determined to give it a try Paul and made Curried Carrot Soup and it is wonderful, a rich yet mellow curried flavour. 

Navneet has given permission for me to share this with you and while the ingredient list is Navneet’s she did not have measurement  she uses taste and aroma as her measuring spoons.  We had to experiment until we reach an overall flavour we liked.

Ingredients:

• 4 cloves of garlic pressed
• 1 inch of fresh ginger pressed
• 2 teaspoons Cumin
• 2 teaspoons Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 teaspoon cardamom powder (Navneet uses seeds I could not find seeds at our local grocery store)
• 1 small sweet potatoe chopped
• 1 small onion diced
• 7 carrots chopped
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 green banana chopped

Directions:

1. Sauté the onion, garlic, banana, and ginger until the onions are translucent
2. Add all of the spices to the frying pan and stir until well incorporated
3. In the soup pot add the sweet potatoe, carrots, vegetable broth and the contents of the frying pan cook until your vegetables are soft
4. Carefully using a hand blender blend the contents of the soup pot until it has reached the consistency you prefer smooth or chunky.
5. Add the can of coconut milk and heat until the soup starts to bubble

Serve

From our table to yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Vegetable Borscht

Foodie Friday 

Vegan Vegetable Borscht

January is soup month and so when our Good Food Box arrived and contained beets we decided to make Vegetable Borscht, this thick rich soup is full of flavour and wholesome goodness and is part of my Russian Mennonite food heritage.  This version is vegan, dairy and gluten free.

Ingredients:

• 3 beets
• 2 large carrots
• 1 large onion
• 3 talks of celery
• 3 small parsnips
• 2 tablespoons of minced dill
• 2 potatoes
• 5 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 teaspoon gluten free, Tamari Legere

Directions:

1. Chop all of your vegetables minus the dill
2. Place vegetables in a large soup pot and add your vegetable broth or water
3. Cook until the vegetables are tender
4. Add the Tamari (you can add more to suit your taste) and dill
5. Using a hand held blender blend the soup in the pot into a thick soup
6. Serve

From our table to yours 

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Wild Rice Chicken Soup

Foodie Friday

January 2015 seems like it has been one storm after another and bitterly cold, so please excuse me if yet again Food Friday is soup.  Now that being said January is National Soup month.  Today soup Wild Rice Chicken Soup is a hearty soup that is you thicken the broth could substitute as a stew.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked wild rice
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped mushrooms
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 chicken breasts 
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 3 pressed garlic cloves
• 2 large onions chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon chopped thyme
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 teaspoon oil (I use coconut oil)

Directions:

1. In a large soup pot to your vegetable broth and water add the chicken breast, bay leaves, thyme and cook the chicken breast skimming the broth as needed to remove any scum.  Note I use chicken breast with the bone in as I find this added to the flavour.
2. Remove the chicken breast and strain the broth to remove the bay leaves, setting aside both the chicken and broth separately.
3. In your soup pot add the oil and saute the onion, garlic and mushrooms.  Once the onion are translucent carefully return the soup broth to the pot.  
4. Now add the uncooked wild rice, and all of the remains vegetables.
5. While this are cooking shred the chicken into bite size pieces with a fork and place in the soup.
6. Continue simmering the soup until the wild rice is cook 

From Our Table to Yours

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls