I'm not a big winter fan - cold and snow - and living in Michigan both are unavoidable. BUT, one thing I do love about winter is that it is most definitely soup season. Here are two homemade soups we recently made and absolutely loved - Broccoli Cheddar Soup & Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup!
1. Broccoli Cheddar Soup
This was amazingly delicious - have never had a better broccoli cheddar soup. The addition of noodles completely transforms the soup. I mentioned it in last week's Friday's Favorites (here), and am going to share the recipe with you this week. It's, of course, another recipe we found on Taste of Home.
It's about a 10-minute prep and a 30-minute cooking time. Yields: 12-16 servings
The only thing we did different was halve the ingredients, so we had about 6-8 servings. The next time we make this, instead of using 3 bouillon cubes (recipe halved), we will try only 2 to lessen the salt in the soup.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 cups chopped onions
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 6 cups hot water
- 6 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 8 ounces uncooked pasta
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 6 cups frozen chopped broccoli
- 6 cups milk
- 1 pound process cheese (Velveeta), cubed
Directions
- In a Dutch oven or soup kettle, saute the onion in butter until tender.
- Add water, bouillon and garlic powder; bring to a boil. Stir until bouillon is dissolved.
- Add pasta and salt; cook and stir for 3 minutes.
- Add broccoli; cook and stir for 3-4 minutes or until pasta is tender.
- Add milk and cheese; cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted.
2. Roasted Parsnip and Pear Soup
When my husband first picked out this recipe, I wasn't sure about trying this one out - I'd never had parsnips before. But I am so glad we tried it because it was delicious! One thing that I did and would suggest to you is to chop up as much as you can prior to (leeks, celery, shallots) because there is a lot of chopping involved! Also, don't worry about chopping the parsnips too coarsely, you will eventually be pretty much be turning it into a puree. It looks like a lot of ingredients - but it was a very inexpensive soup to make!
Prep time is about 1 hour, 20 minutes. Cook time is about 45 minutes. Yields: 9 servings.
Ingredients
- 1-1/2 pounds parsnips, peeled and coarsely chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg (we substituted with ginger)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
- 3 medium pears, peeled and chopped
- 3 medium leeks (white portion only), thinly sliced
- 2 celery ribs, chopped
- 3 shallots, chopped (we substituted with green onion)
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Garnish
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon ground coriander (we left this out)
- 2 medium pears, thinly sliced
Directions
- In a large bowl, toss the parsnips with oil, nutmeg, salt and pepper.
- Transfer to a greased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in baking pan. Bake, uncovered, at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.
- Stir in chopped pears; bake 20-25 minutes longer or until parsnips are golden brown and tender, stirring occasionally.
- Meantime, in a dutch oven/pot, cook the leeks, celery and shallots in butter over medium heat for 4-6 minutes or until tender.
- Stir in the broth, maple syrup, bay leaf, thyme and parsnip mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes.
- Cool slightly. Discard bay leaf.
- In a blender, process soup in batches until smooth. Return all to dutch oven/pot.
- Stir in cream; heat through.
For Garnish: (we originally weren't going to do this, but it definitely adds to the soup!)
- In a large skillet, heat the butter, sugar, cumin and coriander until sugar is melted, stirring occasionally.
- Add pears; sauté for 2-3 minutes or until crisp-tender. Arrange over servings of soup.
I hope you enjoy these soups as much as we did!
What are some of your favorite winter-time homemade soups?
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