#15 Tomato Basil Bisque

Tomato Basil Bisque!

Dear Tiffany,
You know those premade soups they have at Safeway?  You know, in the little tupperware, or you can serve it yourself hot?  Someone brought a few of them to Phyllis's birthday dinner the other night, and the tomato basil bisque was amazing.  Everyone kept commenting on it, until there wasn't any left, and I went home determined to find out how to make it myself.  After scouring google, I found this recipe for a lightened up version.  The surprise ingredient?  Butternut squash.




Wait! Don't run away.  Or switch over to facebook and ignore this post.  Butternut squash is actually very simple to work with.  It doesn't have the super tough skin like other winter squashes, and it was easier than I expected to include in this soup.


What is a "bisque?"  (Or "beeeeesk" as someone called it the other night)  A bisque is simply a soup with milk or cream.  Not nearly so complicated as it sounds.  I mostly followed Carol's recipe, but I adapted it for my slow cooker, and went the less healthy route since I had cream from a previous adventure that I needed to use up.  I'll list both the high fat and low fat versions below.


The Basics: 
Prep time: About 30 minutes, plus several hours in the crock pot, OR a little over an hour (stove method)
Good for leftovers: yes.  If there is any left.
servings: 12 1-cup servings
cost: under $10


Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter or extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (1.5 tsp)
2 (24.5-ounce) can whole tomatoes, with liquid
1 can (6 oz) roasted garlic tomato paste
2 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2-2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 to 1 1/4 cups cream OR nonfat half-and-half or nonfat yogurt OR milk
Several dashes of Tabasco or other hot pepper sauce

Several shakes of red pepper flakes

The Process (Slow-cooker version)

Saute butter or oil, onions, and garlic until the onions and garlic are golden.  Add the butter first and let it warm up while you chop the onions, then add the onions and garlic (if you add the garlic without the onions, its really easy to burn your garlic! yikes!  For some reason the garlic does better at not burning when its not lonely).  Make sure to stir once in awhile!

While the onions and garlic are cooking, prepare your butternut squash.  Cut off the ends, slice it down the middle (if its really long you may want to cut it in half short-ways before slicing down the middle).  Remove the peel with a vegetable peeler, and dice the squash as you would any other veggie.  Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, broth, basil, thyme, butternut squash, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to the crock pot, and cook on low for 8 to 10 hours or on high for 4-6.

Puree the soup in a blender (or use an immersion blender).  Return soup to the crock pot, stir in cream or milk, and add Tabasco sauce to taste.  Cover and let it cook until soup is hot.  Serve with Parmesan or fresh basil or parsley as a garnish.

Stove-top Version

Same as above, but saute the garlic and onions in a large saucepan instead of a skillet, and just add the remaining ingredients to the saucepan once the onions are done.  Cover partly and cook for 30-35 minutes until the squash is fork-tender. Puree the soup, add cream or milk and hot sauce, and return to heat and bring just to a boil before serving.

Notes

In the Crock When I doubled this recipe, it filled my 6 quart crock pot.  Make sure your crock is big enough to fit the amount you want to make, before you start!

Freeze! If you made your own chicken broth and froze it, don't worry about thawing it before adding it to the slow cooker.  Just run the bag under warm water to loosen it up a bit, cut it open with scissors or a knife, and drop the entire ice cube in the crock.  It'll be ok, I promise.

To make it vegetarian: just use veggie broth instead of chicken broth.
Don't want to get a skillet dirty? Its probably ok to just dump your butter, onions, and garlic in the pot.  It won't taste quite as good (though still pretty yummy!), and you have to take the time to cut the squash anyways so to me it made more sense to get the skillet dirty.  But that's just me.

You might think this recipe has a lot of prep time, but think about how much you would spend for one of those little containers at Safeway.  You can make a whole bunch, and freeze or refrigerate the containers.

-joy

#9: Stretch your Dollar Chicken Broth (slow cooker, or not)

Dear Tiff,
Chicken broth at Safeway usually costs about $2-$3 for a 1 quart container.  You can use it in all sorts of things: soups, curries, casseroles, roasts, etc.  And I'm all for buying the shortcut (the store version) if you need it and its a good price.  But making your own is incredibly easy, and costs basically nothing: you're using something you would otherwise throw away.  With the bones from last night's roast chicken, I made about 5 quarts of chicken stock- which cost me nothing beyond what I had already paid for the chicken!  That would have cost me between $10 and $15 at the store, depending on the current sale price!  I actually could've made more if I'd used my giant slow cooker- or split this between the two smaller ones- but I didn't feel like getting any more dishes dirty.


Thanks to Trent from The Simple Dollar for reminding me about this great way to stretch your dollar!


Ingredients:
the chicken bones/skin/giblets from your latest chicken adventure OR you can also use the carcass from when you cheated and bought a precooked Safeway chicken :P
some veggies: an onion and a handful of baby carrots, maybe some celery or green onion if you have them on hand
Italian seasoning
salt (optional)
water


I did mine in the crockpot because I had no desire to babysit it on the stove all day...
In fact, if you cooked your chicken in the crock pot, don't even worry about pouring out the juices and stuff.  Be sure to pick all the usable meat off first, and then dump your bones, giblets, and skin, add the veggies, and fill your pot with water.  For a lower-fat version, leave out the skin.  Let it cook on low all day, or overnight.  OR you can do it on the stove for at least 4 hours.  But honestly, who wants to be chained to their kitchen for that long if it can be avoided?


Next, remove the pot from the heating element to let it cool, scoop out the bones, strain the liquid, and store in tupperware or freezer bags.  The crockpot lady suggests running it through the blender rather than straining it- then you don't waste any meat or veggie pieces in there.  But its not essential- I don't have a blender so I just strained it and it turned out fine.


Try to stack your bags flat in the freezer (or lay them on a baking sheet in the freezer) until they are frozen; this will keep them in a more manageable shape for storage.


You can look forward to a bunch of recipes that use chicken broth as I put all this good stuff to use!

#4: Slow-Cooker 15 Bean Soup

"²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  Matthew 6:25-27

Dear Tiffany,
Yes, I know I'm posting #4 without posting #3.  #3 is the sauce I made to go with Tuesday's spaghetti and meatballs, and I promise I will write it.  Soon.


About a year ago, I was looking for a bean soup recipe online, and I discovered a treasure trove: A blogger who spent a year using her slow-cooker everyday and shared her recipes, successes, failures, silly anecdotes etc with us all.   As you know, I am obsessed with my slow cooker(s) (yes, plural), and I was delighted to find both a kindred spirit and a great source for tons of new ideas or variations on old ones.  In fact, her blog is part of the inspiration for mine.  Have I ever met her/spoken to her/even commented on her blog?  No. I probably should, seeing as how she so greatly impacted my life :P.


As it happens, I didn't end up following the Crockpot lady's recipe exactly, so I'll post my variation here.  She posted two: the version that gave her her inspiration, and the version she actually made.  I ended up taking elements of both to make mine, and have fiddled around with it ever since.  Great for the economical housewife (i.e. YOU), this soup is a ridiculously good "bang for your buck."

The basics:

Prep time: 5-10 minutes, then in the slow cooker all day

Good for leftovers: yes!  If you have too much, freeze some.

servings: ...a lot.  The bag of beans says it serves 11.  With the right sides you can stretch this to 15 or more

cost: about $5 total.  yes. I mean it.
$$ saved: $25- a soup from the Safeway Signature Cafe usually costs between $4 and $5 for about 3 servings per container.

Ingredients:
1 bag of 15-bean (or 16-bean or whatever) soup mix
1 packet onion soup mix (such as lipton, etc)
1 onion
1 can italian style stewed tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons minced garlic
water
salt to taste

"Before" (but sadly, I forgot to take an "after" shot)

If possible, let your beans soak overnight, but if you can't it will be fine.  DO make sure to rinse them well either way.  Dump everything but the salt in a 5 or 6 quart slow cooker- fill the water up to about 2 inches from the top, less if you want a "beany-er" soup and more if you want a more watery soup.  Cook on low all day, and add salt to taste at the very end.  (For some reason the beans don't like to expand when you salt them at the beginning).


Today, I was out of stewed tomatoes (oh no!  As you'll soon discover, I use them in everything!), and I was trying to clean out my fridge, so I tweaked it a bit to adapt the contents of my kitchen :).  I quartered my last two tomatoes to replace the stewed tomatoes, and added a zucchini and a yellow squash (cut into small chunks) as well.  And, I had about half a carton of beef broth that I wanted to use so I used that in place of some of the water.


A few notes on soup in the slow cooker: 
1. Cast off your fear of leaving appliances on, just this once!  Soups, especially those with beans such as this one, chili, or split pea, will taste better the longer you cook them, so this is a good meal to put in the night before for a lunch, or the morning before a long workday.  It's not going to be ruined if you leave it in for 10 or 12 or 15 hours instead of 8.  Really.  I promise.
2. In general, you can do something for 4-5 hours on high if you don't have time to do it on low, but it will taste better if it cooks longer.
3. The world won't end if you have to leave out something like garlic, as long as you have the onion soup mix, water, and beans you'll be fine.
4. Make sure your crockpot is actually...uh...plugged in...before you leave the house/go to sleep/get in the shower.  I can't tell you how many times, today included, that I've forgotten to turn it on.


Variation:
This soup is vegetarian.  You can make it not so by adding a ham hock or just some leftover ham to cook with it, OR by adding really any kind of meat.  If you're using a really fatty meat though, such as ground beef, I suggest browning it before adding to the crock so all that fat doesn't end up in your otherwise healthy soup!


I totally remembered to bring my camera, but forgot to take pictures :(.  Sorry!  (I know that's your favorite part, Tiff :P)

#1: Manna Soup

Exodus 16:13-16

"¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.   Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’"

Dear Tiff,

I decided to call this soup "Manna" Soup for two reasons.  First, "manna" means "what is it?" which I thought was appropriate because this soup is pretty random, and you might have to look carefully to identify all the ingredients!  The second reason, though, is that I first made this soup when money was really tight, and in my efforts not to buy anything new, I went for whatever was already in my kitchen.  It turned out great, and is one of my favorites now, but I was reminded of how God provides for our every need, just as he did for the Israelites.

I've always loved tomato soup, but it bothers me that your typical tomato soup is just liquid.  It always felt like no substance, and leaves you hungry later.  I like a soup that can stand on its own as a meal, not just an appetizer.  So I like to add leftovers to mine (one of my favorites is Turkey Tomato Noodle Soup with the Thanksgiving leftovers).  But recently, I was craving tomato soup but didn't have any leftovers to add to it.  I made some pasta, but my diet is sorely lacking in protein, so I decided to drop in a few eggs as well.  Total experiment, could have resulted in complete failure...but then I wouldn't be passing it on, would I?  I loved it!  This recipe was very cost effective, simple and quick to create, reasonably healthy, and made fantastic leftovers.  The only issue is that the sodium level is pretty high, so if you eat a lot of other salty food, you might want to opt for low- or no-sodium options on the canned food items.

The basics:

Prep time: 20 minutes or less (you can cut it down to about 5-10 minutes if you use leftover pasta :)

Good for leftovers: yes!

servings: 4-8, if you need more you can add more eggs and water it down a bit

cost: under $10 total


Ingredients:
2 cans condensed tomato soup
water
1 can stewed tomatoes (I used "italian recipe" but original would work fine too)
1 can garbanzo beans
1 egg per serving (i.e. each individual serving should have an egg, so if you want to serve 6, you'll need 6 eggs)
2 cups cooked pasta
about 1/2 can pitted olives
Herbes de Provence to season (this is a blend of rosemary, oregano, basil, thyme, etc so if you don't have the blend, any of these will complement this soup just as well)
Parmesan and pepper to season
optional: fresh tomatoes and/or avocados


The Process: Cook the pasta first (or use leftovers!).  Add 2 cans of water to your two cans of condensed soup in a medium to large pot.  Turn on the heat and stir.  You may want to use a whisk to get rid of any clumps of condensed soup, and make sure it's well blended.


Add the stewed tomatoes (do not drain) and the garbanzo beans and olives (drained), shake in several shakes of your herb blend, and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally.  When the pot simmers, you want to crack each egg and dump them in one at a time (aim for different sides of your pot so they don't all cook together in one clump, you want a separate clump for each egg) and allow it to cook for another 4-5 minutes.  If done right, the yolk should be solid but not super hard like a hard-boiled egg- but if your egg is overdone or underdone it will be fine.  I've tried a few different ways and they were all good but the just barely boiled way turned out best. 


Remove from heat, stir in the cooked pasta, and serve.  Each serving should have an egg and a good deal of the rest of the soup as well. Top with some grated Parmesan and as much pepper as you like.  I also like to top mine with fresh chopped tomatoes and slices of avocado- if you do this, it will look better if you add them before the Parmesan and pepper.


Notes on pasta: any will do, but non-spaghetti types (shells, macaroni, bow-ties) will be easier to manage in your soup.  If you do use a long noodle such as spaghetti or fettuccine, you may want to cut the noodles into bite-sized pieces after cooking so they are better suited to using a spoon instead of a fork :)  I haven't tried it, but this might also taste really good with a cheese tortellini or ravioli, though that will bring your costs up a bit.


My dad would call this a "lycopene special" because of all the tomatoes.  Lycopene is supposed to help reduce the risk of cancer, but don't quote me on it because there's not a lot of research, and none of it conclusive.  Either way, it tastes pretty fantastic! I made this last night and I'm hoping to have the leftovers after my hike today, the idea being to avoid a major cooking/cleanup mess when I'm tired from the hike and have places to be afterward.  Let me know what you think!


I hope your Monday goes well, your students give you extra smiles, and you remember that you are a precious daughter of the King!
Love,
Joy


UPDATE 11/23:
I was visiting family and we didn't have any leftover pasta, but we did have a leftover blend of  brown rice and wild rice, and that worked great too.  I also added some canned mushrooms since I had them around.