Comfort food

I always turn to soups in the fall it's my transition to roasts and stews and other winter comfort foods.

Some of my favorite soups are Corn Chowder from Bakery Lane Soup bowl Cookbook, and Lentil Stew from Jane Brody Good Food Gourmet, and there is nothing like a Chicken and rice aveglemo(egg and lemon)Greek soup..it's Greek antibiotics.

I am not a vegetarian but I love a good vegetarian meal and Lentil stew is one of those that you don't miss the meat in. I make a nice Potato Leek soup that has a chicken stock base that could easily be totally veggie, I just happen to like the flavor chicken stock gives to soups.

Potato Leek soup

5-6 potatoes water to cover
add 2 chicken or veg bouillon cubes
or you could cook the potatoes in canned or carton stock
I use knorr bouillon cubes because I like the flavor and I can easily keep them on hand, cook potatoes till soft in the stock
add pepper(usually there is enough salt in the stock if not add salt)
1/8 tsp of cayenne(optional)

saute 2 large or 3 small leeks chopped fine
in 2 tablespoons butter
add to potatoes when they are cooked, I use an immersion blender
and blend all together in pan, add a good handful of Cheddar cheese and add 2 cups of half and half, I have used whole milk also, if you use 2% it will be a lighter
thinner soup, I prefer not using that, I have used fat free half and half it's good just adds a tiny sweeter flavor, blend once more and it's all done.

I store all my soups in Ball(Mason)jars easy to pour out and clean and if you put them in hot they actually seal and stay fresh longer, that isn't usually an issue in my house because they disappear quickly,Ball jars also take up less space in your frig. But sometimes we make 2-3 on the weekend to have during the week, when my kids were little every Sunday we made 3 and had them ready to use when we walked in the door from work , it made life so much easier!



A quick way to make any of your favorite chicken rice soups taste extra yummy is to beat 2 eggs and the juice of one lemon in a bowl add hot broth a ladle at a time stirring constantly so you don't curdle the egg when you have brought the egg/lemon mixture to a hot temp add quickly to the chicken soup stir thoroughly at the end of cooking ,turn off heat, serve or store and reheat gently I am telling you if you are a lemon lover this will be your favorite soup. This works best in a lighter chicken soup I add onion,celery,saute add stock and chicken, carrots and add frozen peas last 5 mins, I add 2 teasp dried mint a pinch of basil salt and pepper dash of cayenne to taste, cook together and add cooked white basmati or Jasmin rice (you could use brown)but this is a light not overly savory soup.I always cook the rice or pasta separately from soup so that it doesn't absorb all the lovely stock and add at the end, just before I add the egg/lemon mixture.

Good eating please share any of your favorite's with me I am always looking for a new recipe.