Bulgarian Curried Soup

It will not stop raining, snowing, and being generally chilly here.  Last week I scrambled to get my flowers in on the one sunny day, and now I am worried about them freezing.  So I am still making soups for dinner and this one is my favorite easy soup.  I make it to use up leftover chicken or pork.  You can also throw in some peppers, onions, chopped potato... whatever you have leftover in your fridge.  I always make an extra pot of plain rice, because Ryan likes it more like a sauce, but the girls all love it as soup.  Rachel even packed it in a thermos for school lunch today.   Also, I usually just use milk instead of cream and use a touch more flour for thickening.  If you like hot curry, you can add some ground red pepper to the flour when you put it in.

      2 cups  minced Cooked Chicken
      1 cup  Cream
    1/4 cup  Butter
    1/4 cup  Flour
      1 TBSP  Curry Powder
      6 cups  Hot Chicken Broth
      2 TBSP  Rice
           Salt And Pepper
           Chopped Toasted Almonds


Combine chicken and 1/2 cup of cream.  Set aside.  Melt butter in a large saucepan.  With a whisk blend in flour and curry.  Cook 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add 2 cups of chicken broth all at once. Stir vigorously until thickened and smooth.  Allow to simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add remaining broth, chicken mixture, and rice.  Bring back to a simmer and cook until rice is tender.  Add remaining cream.  Taste for salt and adjust.  Service with chopped toasted almonds.

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Cream of Tomato Soup

Here's what we're having for dinner tonight, possibly with grilled cheese sandwich croutons.

5 T Butter Or Margarine
1 T Oil
1 cup Onion, Chopped
3 cups Canned Tomatoes
1/4 tsp Thyme
1/2 tsp Basil
Black Pepper
3 T Flour
2 cups Chicken Broth
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
Salt

[Note: from Mary's Bread Basket Cookbook]
Melt butter and oil in a large saucepan. Sauté onions until tender, about 10 minutes. If using fresh tomatoes (1 1/2 pounds), core and chop coarsely. Add the tomatoes, thyme, basil and a few grindings of black pepper to onion mixture. Bring to a simmer and cook 10 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the flour and 1/2 cup broth until smooth. Slowly add to the soup, stirring constantly. Pour in remaining broth. Cover and simmer 25 minutes. Put soup through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan. Add baking soda and stir thoroughly. Blend in the sugar and cream. Stir and heat, but do not allow to boil. Taste for salt and adjust. Serve immediately in warm soup bowls.

Chicken and Sweet Potato Soup with Thyme Dumplings

I am trying to use up all the sweet potatoes that my husband bought a couple weeks ago. The plan was to bake them, but we never got that done, so I'm putting them into new recipes. This soup was delicious, but a little on the spicy side- I will cut back on the red pepper flakes next time. I decided to try the dumplings just for fun, and my kids loved them!



Chicken and Sweet Potato Soup
2 Tb butter
1 Tb olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 shallots, thinly sliced (I left it out b/c I didn't have any)
1 diced red bell pepper
3 ribs celery, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced
8 cups chicken broth (I ended up using 10 so I'd have enough juice for dumplings)
4 cups shredded cooked chicken
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1/2 inch chunks
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp dried marjoram
3 bay leaves
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Saute onions and shallot in butter and oil. Cook 15 minutes over medium-low until softened. Add bell pepper and celery and cook 5 minutes longer. Add garlic and cook 2 minutes longer. Add broth, chicken, potatoes, and seasonings and stir until combined. Bring to a low boil, reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, about 1 hour until potatoes are tender. Prepare dumpling batter. Discard bay leaves and drop in dumpling batter by large teaspoon full. Cook uncovered 10 minutes and then cover with a lid and cook 10 minutes more. Serve.

Thyme Dumplings

3 Tb shortening
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking power
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup milk

Cut shortening into flour, baking powder, thyme and salt in medium bowl until mxiture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in milk until blended.

Park City Beef Stew

We are having this for dinner tonight. It's great and really easy. It's good in bread bowls or with cornbread on the side.

2 1/2 lb Beef Cubes
6 lg Carrots,Chunked
1 pk Dried Onion Soup Mix
1 can Cream Of Celery Soup
6 medium Potatoes,Chunked
2 Bay Leaf
1 can Cream Of Mushroom Soup
1 qt Tomatoes Or Juice


In a large pot or slow cooker make a layer of half of the beef,
half the vegetables and top with remaining beef and vegetables.
Sprinkle with onion soup mix, add bay leaves and top with canned soup and
tomatoes. Cover tightly and bake 250° F for 6-8 hours. In slow cooker,
8 hours with low temp for first 3 hours and then high temp for
remaining time.