Soup for Every Occasion

If there ever IS a catastrophic emergency, fast food will be non-existent. You need to know how to cook nutritious, easy meals for your family. In addition to beans and rice, homemade pasta, and sprouts, an easy meal to make is soup. You can make tomato, vegetable, chicken, ham, mushroom, split pea, potato, squash, pumpkin, beet, lentil, cauliflower, roasted red pepper, carrot . . . and any number of other types. I’ve started making a list of meals that I can stash away so I don’t have to spend time thinking about meal options if and when the time comes. Each day of the week, we will have a different dinner meal. For instance, every Monday, we will have a bean meal. Tuesday will be a rice meal. Wednesday, pasta, etc. . . Thursdays will be soup day. In this list, I’m separating out potential non-meat meals by each of the categories listed above. My goal is to have 12 options in each category so we have 12 weeks of different meals, despite repeating categories on a weekly basis.

Essentially, all soups begin the same way, sautéing onions and/or vegetables in butter or oil, then adding meat or vegetable stock. You can easily make all your own stock by boiling your meat bones and fat in water with onions, celery, bell peppers, garlic, carrots, and any other savory vegetables you have. Tons of  flavor can be extracted from those bones and fat. After boiling for many hours, until the bones literally fall apart, strain the liquid and freeze it. This is your stock. If you like, once cooled, you can skim off the fat which will rise to the surface. I like to leave some fat in my stock. It adds calories and flavor to your soups. You can spray a plastic container with cooking spray and freeze your stock in it, then slide out the frozen block, put it in a baggie, label the baggie with your Sharpie, and stash it until needed for a fabulous homemade soup of your choice. The sautéed vegetables and stock form the foundation. To that, you add more vegetables (for vegetable soup), bouillon cubes, potatoes, pasta, mushrooms, or whatever else is needed for the type of soup you’re making.

For tomato soup, the type of tomatoes you use is critical. Marzano tomatoes are your best option. These can be a little pricey, so watch for sales. I found some for an excellent price at Costco. You start tomato soup the same as any other, sautéing onions in a little olive oil. Once translucent, pour in a nice chicken broth. Bring to a boil and reduce. Then add your cans of Marzano tomatoes and continue boiling to reduce. You can also add basil at this point. When your soup is the desired consistency, put through a blender until smooth. You can add cream, if you like, salt and pepper, and a little ground red pepper to add some zing. I like to add a little Worcestershire sauce to all my soups to add more depth.

Some soups need a little sugar to balance the savory. Some may pair nicely with a little ginger. Some need a bit of cream, others are better without it. I always keep heavy whipping cream on hand (it’s a staple at my house), but I’ve also started buying coconut milk to use in place of fresh milk or heavy cream in my cooking and baking. It’s canned, lasts WAY longer than cow’s milk, and stores easily on the shelf. When added to anything, it’s creamy and luscious and has a great texture.

Experiment a little with homemade soups. By and large, the biggest trick to making your own soup is cooking a long time, which evaporates more water and leaves behind more flavor. Deliciousness is simple when you’re working with good ingredients and learning to use what you have on hand.