Easy Tomato Soup

I've been sick a lot lately.  I can't get over one thing before the next hits.  My immune system has taken a big hit this year due to severe allergies and the first year being in the schools so much.  Everyone tells me that every new teacher is sick the first year while their bodies build up immunity to everything that all of the students, families and coworkers bring in.  I rarely got sick when I worked in an office of ten people but now I'm in multiple schools with hundreds of people in each school.  Anyway, I've had to find some foods that are easy to make and easy on the stomach.  I really needed a soup but I hate eating canned soup.  Have you read the labels on those things?  There are some crazy ingredients in those little cans.  And I have recipes for big soups but they take longer to cook and prepare.  I was sick enough a few times that I couldn't stand for more than a few minutes without getting sick again.  So, I found this soup and modified it to my own taste.  It uses canned tomato sauce which has fewer ingredients.  You could, of course, use homemade tomato sauce which I hope to have plenty of in a few years when I am able to get my garden really going.  But right now, the tomatoes at the store are horrible.  I also typically try to use canned foods with low sodium or no added sodium but I don't on the tomato sauce.  The low sodium tomato sauce has other unnecessary ingredients, one of which is a corn product.

Ingredients:
½ tsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. butter
1 cup tomato sauce (no cans for corn free)
¼ tsp. dried basil
Pinch of dried thyme
Pinch ground black pepper
1 cup chicken stock
Handful of parmesan cheese (optional)
Saltines (optional)

Directions:
In a small saucepan, mix tomato sauce, butter, chicken stock, herbs and spices.  Bring to a simmer.  When soup is warm through turn off the heat and add the parmesan if desired.  Serve warm with saltines.

Beefy Potato Soup

This is my favorite soup and comfort food.  I can even eat it cold.  It is easy and great leftover.  Now I know the original recipe came from a newspaper or magazine from a long time ago.  I don't know exactly because it was just a clipping in my grandmother's recipe stash.  It seems like a strange recipe when you read it but give it a try.  Really!

Ingredients:
1 lb. lean ground beef
4 cups cubed, peeled potatoes (I always use a little more potato)
1 small onion, minced (I've also used dried minced onion)
3 cups tomato sauce (no cans for corn-free)
4 cups water
2 tsp. salt
1½ tsp. pepper

(Note:  The original recipe also included ½-1 tsp. hot pepper sauce.  We don't like hot stuff so we leave it out.)

Directions:
In a large soup/stew pot or dutch oven brown the ground beef with the minced onion.  Drain if needed.  Add the tomato sauce and water to the beef and onion and mix together.  Add salt and pepper.  Bring to boil then turn down to a simmer.  Simmer for 1 hour, stirring regularly, or until potatoes are tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste if needed.

And again, I forgot to take a picture.  I made this while I was sick so I didn't have the blog on my mind at the time.  I will be making it again at some point during the winter.

Chicken Noodle Soup

I love to have good soups for comfort and easy slow cooker meals.  The base of this soup could easily be made ahead and frozen to easily dump in the slow cooker on a busy morning before work. I did this soup in a slow cooker but you could do it in a big pot on the stove too.  This also freezes well in freezer safe pint sized jars.  We did that with several soups this year and the frozen pints made perfect lunches for work.

Ingredients:
2 handfuls of carrots, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, minced
2-3 boxes chicken stock (watch ingredients)
10 chicken tenders, thawed and diced (2-3 breasts or whatever chicken you prefer can be used.  Shredded is fine too)
1 bag egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste
pinch of rosemary
pinch of celery salt
pinch of thyme
pinch of oregano

Directions:
First, slice carrots, mince or slice celery (I prefer minced because I don't like large chunks) and dice chicken.  Dump the veggies and chicken in the slow cooker and cover with chicken stock.  In a small cup, combine flour and chicken stock to make gravy.  When combined, stir into the mixture.  This adds a little bit of thickness to the soup.  Add seasonings and cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Twenty minutes before eating, add the noodles and more chicken stock.  You could also add other veggies.  I think it would be great with peas but J doesn't like peas much.  Don't over cook after the noodles are added or the noodles will completely disintegrate.

Tomato Basil Soup

Since our daughter cannot have corn, that means no canned soup in this house.  So, we have to make our own.  So far, she loves soups and stews and they are easy to do in a slow cooker so I try new ones now and then.  This one was not made in a slow cooker but was easy and quick.  The original recipe is HERE.  I didn't really deviate from this ingredient list other than the coconut milk.  It worked fine.

Ingredients:
4 cups crushed tomatoes (To be corn-free, this must be home canned or home crushed.  All cans in stores contain citric acid which is a corn product.  The only safe brand of canned tomatoes is Eden's.)
12 fresh basil leaves
1 cup canned coconut milk
1 stick unsalted butter (for dairy free you can use oil instead but use less; or you can leave this out altogether and just add a little bit more milk)
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Blend all ingredients together in a blender/food processor.  Pour in large saucepan and simmer for about thirty minutes.  Serve.  Our toddler actually ate two small bowls full of this.  And she is a VERY picky eater.  You could easily use this as a lunch on the go or serve it with a favorite bread or crackers.  This recipe filled 3 pint sized mason jars.  I put one in the freezer for later.