So, I made soup for the first time on Tuesday evening, and it turned out pretty well!
Well, the first time not dumping the congealed contents of a can into a pan and warming them up, that is....
I combined two recipes, plus improvised a bit, and made a low fat creamy potato, cauliflower and broccoli pureed soup!
It ended up pretty thick and too bland - all those potatoes, once pureed, sucked up all the liquid; and adding so much unseasoned (duh) milk, plus all the veggies turned the soup base pretty bland.
It also made a ton, even though I tried to half the recipes, so we have had soup two nights in a row for dinner, and tonight, you guessed it, I am having soup! (I will make the boyfriend something else for dinner, though, since he so nicely ate my soup experiment for two days) And there STILL will be more leftover after tonight...oops.
BUT, it was pretty good and I want to make soup again soon!!
These are the two recipes I looked at, but I am not going to post my own Recipe, per se, since the quantities/measurements of everything weren't the best ;)
http://www.suite101.com/content/potato-soup-a11908
http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/lowfatsoups/r/cauliflowersoup.htm
But, I basically:
Sauteed half a shallot and a garlic clove (finely chopped) and sliced celery in a big pot with a bit of olive oil for about 5 minutes, stirring often so it doesn't burn, then added flour to create a roux for thickening. (It needed more oil at this point to absorb all the flour. And this ended up making it TOO thick) Then I added 2% milk and chicken stock and brought to a boil.
Then I added fresh thyme, broccoli and cauliflower, cut into small florets, and salt/pepper into the soup, turned down the heat to a simmer, put a lid on, and let cook for about 25 minutes, until the veggies were cooked.
Meanwhile (omg, is this the worst typed up recipe ever or what?! ;) ) I cleaned and pricked with a fork 2 big baking potatoes...or 3...I forget...yeah, I think 3. And that was too many!
But I baked them in the microwave, wrapped in a paper towel, for 8 minutes. Be sure to poke those holes or they may explode!
**This is an easy way to make baked potatoes, side note!!*
Then, I pulled the skin off the potatoes (and burned my fingers) and diced the potatoes.
Added the potatoes to the soup, cooked for 5 more minutes, then put the soup into a blender to puree. I did this in batches and only fill the blender about half full, or it wont blend nicely. (And it'll like explode or something...) **Leave the little middle part of your blender lid out, and just cover by holding a paper towel over the top hole...something about hot steam....it'll probably..say it with me...EXPLODE.**
I left a bit of the soup chunky for some texture....not sure if I ended up liking this idea or not.
The soup turned out pretty bland, as I said, so I would start with more onion, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, and use less potatoes...or something.
This soup also cools off, and thickens more, very quickly, so we all ate it fast, haha!
But I served it with some thick slices of a hearty fresh deli-baked whole grain bread on the side, and a sprinkle of cheese and dollop of sour cream in top of each bowl.
So...this probably was of no help to you, but congratulations if you read it the whole way though, and maybe you, too, will Google some good soup recipes and give them a try!
Next on the list will be Chicken Tortilla Soup...because the boyfriend so politely ate all of his creamy broccoli soup (two nights in a row!) even though he hates broccoli and does not care for creamy soups at all. And Chicken Tortilla is his favorite.
What a good man!
And Kylie liked the soup well enough, too, so BONUS!! (well, she liked putting cheese in it and eating the cheese out with a spoon, but she ate some soup along with those bites of cheese!)
So There.
