One of the best things I like about cooking and eating, is soup. Drop dead easy, and knee-knocking good. There must be twenty jallion recipes for soup, and about 19 jallion of’em are great. I’m not going to add any, but I will kick around some ideas for how to modify almost any soup I fix.
If a soup is watery, I add some powdered milk to make it more appealing - and healthy. Estimate about how much broth you have, look on the milk package for how much powder to add to match the volume, and add. This works with even beef or chicken broth based soups. In my opinion, it improves them.
If the soup lacks substance and is too thin, I add some instant mashed potatoes. This will go nicely with the powdered milk, and makes it comfortingly thicker. If you get it too thick, add more water. Left over rice goes in well too.
Add vegetables. You can add almost any vegetable, and it can be fresh or dehydrated. Niblet corn kernels will add sweet, little nuggets of flavor. Sliced cabbage will sweeten up soup very nicely. Cabbage is a great vegetable to carry along, as it lasts a week or so without refrigeration. Good in salads, great in soups. Onions and garlic are a MUST for any soup. And, onions are the most nutritious vegetable out there. Okra is OK if you can just forget the word mucous. Celery is a standby; so are carrots. Tomatoes in any form add to soups - sauce, puree, paste, ketchup, dehydrated. Potatoes - either fresh or instant - add both flavor and bulk to soups. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Add meats. Canned chicken is a standby of mine. Canned clams too. Fried bacon or sausage adds piquance (flavor, too) to almost any soup, and especially to potato soup. Can be traditional breakfast sausage, hot or sweet sausage, or smoked sausage. Freshly caught fish go into the stock pot and make it sing.
Leftovers go into soups well too. Meat & veggies are naturals. Probably, pancakes aren’t.
A hot bowl of soup at the end of the day, or as an evening treat, is a welcome benefit. Enjoy.
What soups do you guys and gals cook up?
If a soup is watery, I add some powdered milk to make it more appealing - and healthy. Estimate about how much broth you have, look on the milk package for how much powder to add to match the volume, and add. This works with even beef or chicken broth based soups. In my opinion, it improves them.
If the soup lacks substance and is too thin, I add some instant mashed potatoes. This will go nicely with the powdered milk, and makes it comfortingly thicker. If you get it too thick, add more water. Left over rice goes in well too.
Add vegetables. You can add almost any vegetable, and it can be fresh or dehydrated. Niblet corn kernels will add sweet, little nuggets of flavor. Sliced cabbage will sweeten up soup very nicely. Cabbage is a great vegetable to carry along, as it lasts a week or so without refrigeration. Good in salads, great in soups. Onions and garlic are a MUST for any soup. And, onions are the most nutritious vegetable out there. Okra is OK if you can just forget the word mucous. Celery is a standby; so are carrots. Tomatoes in any form add to soups - sauce, puree, paste, ketchup, dehydrated. Potatoes - either fresh or instant - add both flavor and bulk to soups. Etc. Etc. Etc.
Add meats. Canned chicken is a standby of mine. Canned clams too. Fried bacon or sausage adds piquance (flavor, too) to almost any soup, and especially to potato soup. Can be traditional breakfast sausage, hot or sweet sausage, or smoked sausage. Freshly caught fish go into the stock pot and make it sing.
Leftovers go into soups well too. Meat & veggies are naturals. Probably, pancakes aren’t.
A hot bowl of soup at the end of the day, or as an evening treat, is a welcome benefit. Enjoy.
What soups do you guys and gals cook up?