Nik's Pseudo-Minestrone

Credit for this one goes to.... Me!

Yup, I just whipped this beauty up an hour ago.

As I have mentioned before, I'm a nut for crock pot soup. Tomorrow is my husband's birthday, and he'll be working all day and sleeping away overnight, so tonight, I'm taking him out for dinner and movie (not in that order) to celebrate. I wanted to make a new soup today, but, knowing we will be eating in six hours or so, I made it for lunch. And, I "cheated" a little and cooked everything and then just heated it all together in the crock pot after.

I like to think of this creation as a type of minestrone, but there's no beans, so I am calling it "Pseudo-Minestrone."

Total cooking time for this one was about an hour, I guess? I didn't actually keep track.

Nik's Pseudo-Minestrone:

1 lb. ground sausage, cooked

1 large can condensed tomato soup + 3/4 can water

6 c. chicken broth

1 medium zucchini, cut into chunks

1 medium yellow squash/zucchini, cut into chunks

1 bag frozen stew vegetables

1 bag frozen California blend vegetables

1 bag frozen tortellini (I used tri-color cheese, it looks very Christmas-y)

1 T. minced garlic

pepper to taste

Italian seasoning to taste (I used a lot)

Original Blend Mrs. Dash to taste

• I started by browning my ground sausage and draining it.
• Pour tomato soup & the water into the crock pot, as well as the chicken broth. Add your seasonings and sample for flavor (my favorite part).
• Add the sausage.
• Cut your zucchini and zucchini (haha) into chunks. (see below, I used way more than one cup)

• In a large (I didn't have a large, so it was a tight fit) saucepan, place your zucchini and zucchini, and both bags of vegetables. I took out the onions, because I hate them. Add enough water to cover, and cover the pan with a lid. Boil/steam until done.

• In another saucepan, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. (Look how festive my tortellini is!)

• When everything's cooked, slowly add it to the crockpot.
• Heat thoroughly.

I topped mine with shredded mozzarella cheese, because I love cheese.

This is a less spicy soup compared to my usual regime, but it's pretty tasty, I think. Jake says it's "really good." Oh, correction, he just said, "I think you did amazing. This is really, really good!" Haha.

Turkey & Chick-Pea Chili

When it starts getting cold outside, I start going crazy over soups. I especially adore homemade soups. I really enjoy being able to make them in my crockpot.

I don't know if chili is considered a soup, but to me, they're pretty similar.

Today, I decided to make chili. Jake will be delighted when he comes home from work tonight and has a nice hot bowl of chili waiting for him. (Well, the chili will be hot, but he'll have to dish it himself, most likely.)

Here's how I make my chili...

Turkey and Chick-Pea Chili:

1 pound ground turkey, seasoned with garlic and pepper, cooked and drained

1 large can tomato soup + 3/4 can water

1 (or 2) can(s) Garbanzo beans, drained (chick-peas)

2 cans chili beans in sauce (or two cans beans of your choice, drained)

1 small can mushrooms, drained, or 1/4 c. fresh mushrooms, sliced or chopped

1 can diced tomatoes (I used tomatoes with peppers)

Chili powder (or seasoning), to taste (I use enough to make it "almost very spicy" so my husband will still eat it)

Cayenne pepper, to taste

1 tsp. (or so) minced garlic

• I brown my turkey, adding garlic and pepper, and drain it (if necessary).
• Then I dump it in the crock pot.
• I add the soup and the almost full can of water and mix it.
• I add my chili powder, pepper, and garlic now, stir it, and taste it. If I don't think it's spicy enough, I add more. I suggest using small amounts if you don't know how to guesstimate to your liking.
• Then, I drain the beans and the mushrooms and add those.
• I dump the tomatoes in, but I don't drain them, usually.
• I put the lid on the crock pot, and turn it on low.

When it's hot, dish it up and enjoy! It's also good with a dollop of sour cream and some shredded cheese. Or crackers, but we don't generally have crackers on hand.

I love having garbanzo beans in my chili. They add a fun texture (as in, I'm super odd and I like to eat them individually and bite them in half before actually chewing them... and I have no idea why).

This chili freezes pretty nicely. I think I made it five times last winter.

"Experimental Soup" (My husband says it's like Borscht...)

This recipe is all Nik. Yup, it's mine. (And that photo is the leftovers after being in the fridge. It tastes much better than the photo would lead you to believe...)

On Facebook, I made a quip about my husband being so awesome that he was about to get lucky with supper, as I was making him some "experimental soup."

What does that mean, exactly? It means I had no set plan and I was just going to experiment with what I had in the kitchen and hope for the best (which, when it comes to making soup, I must say, usually ends pretty well).

Much to my delight (and possibly Jake's relief), it was fantastic soup! In fact, when I had told my cousin about it via text message, she thought it sounded superb (I could have done a pun there, or a play on words, or whatever... you know.. "souperb" or "souper" (and I did it anyway...)) and she wanted to have some the next day for lunch.

Well, she loved it. And took extras for later.

I had some more last night, because it was stored perfectly well and was STILL tasty. Yum!

I decided I would share my "experimental soup" recipe (if it can be called that(I thought about calling it something else, like Nik's Borscht, but I think that the title I gave it originally is funny, as questionable as it may sound)). It's not exact measurements, so I hope you're not a person who hates that sort of cooking.

Here goes...

Experimental Soup:

1 can condensed tomato soup

6 c. chicken broth (I made mine from bouillon cubes)

1-2 large chicken breasts, diced and cooked (and seasoned with pepper and garlic and Mrs. Dash if you're me)

1 large zucchini, peeled (if you wish), sliced, and steamed

1 can whole potatoes (or five small ones), cut into cubes

1 can/cup cooked asparagus

1 cup cubed, cooked sweet potatoes

1 can whole kernel corn

2-4 cups cooked pasta of your choice (I used a random bag of multi-colored and multi-shaped stuff I found in the cupboard and just dumped some in a pan and cooked it)

1 can diced tomatoes (or a few tomatoes you diced on your own)

minced garlic to taste (I added a lot)

cayenne pepper to taste (I added a fair amount)

Italian seasoning to taste (I added a little)

• Dice and cook the chicken.
• Throw it (nicely) in the crock pot.
• Add the tomato soup and chicken broth.
• Prepare noodles (cook to your desire, mine were a bit over-done but it didn't much matter) and pour gently into the crock pot.
• Prepare vegetables (whether fresh or in the can (as in drain)) and dump (slowly, so as to not splash) in the crock pot.
• Stir.
• Add seasonings of your choice, or of my suggestion.
• Stir again. Taste.
• Cook until it's hot and serve.

If I had them on hand, I probably would have added carrots and celery too. But, I didn't. Like I said, this was a smorgasbord soup of random kitchen ingredients.

:)