Soups Du Jour

Last week, I posted about our plan to eat lots of soup during the month of January in order to clean out the pantry and to try to stay warm in these less than normal cold temperatures (It was 13 degrees this morning when I woke up! YIKES!).

Yesterday, we spent less than an hour preparing the next 2 soups in our line up. We try to do one stove top soup and one crock pot soup so that we can do 2 at a time. Both these soups are full of veggies and have pretty quick prep times.

We did a Country Beef Stew that filled our 6 qt. crock pot. We had enough for a couple of meals this week, and froze 2 gallon bags for later use. Other than peeling the potatoes and cutting the onions, this recipe is SOOOOO EASY!!!

Country Beef Stew

*3 lbs. stew meat, cut into ¾ inch pieces

*1 ½ baking potatoes, cubed

*3 onions, sliced

*1 ½ cans sliced carrots

*1 ½ cans peas

*1 ½ cans tomato soup

*2 cups water

*1 ½ tsp. salt

*1/2 tsp. pepper

*2 bay leaves

1. Layer first 5 ingredients in a 6 quart slow-cooker.

2. Combine remaining ingredients; pour over layered ingredients.

3. Cover and cook on HIGH for 4 ½-5 hours, or until meat and veggies are tender.

4. Remove and discard bay leaf before serving.

Serves 6.

This stove top soup is really as well and is especially good when paired with some cheese quesadillas!!

Turkey Tortilla Soup

*1 cup purchased red or green salsa

*2 14-ounces cans reduced sodium chicken broth

*1 pound ground turkey, browned

*1 large zucchini, coarsely chopped

* Lime wedges (optional)

*Sour cream and Cilantro (optional)

1. In a large saucepan combinesalsa and chicken broth; bring to boiling over medium-high heat.

2. Add turkey and zucchini; heat through.

3. Serve in bowls topped with tortilla strips, lime wedges, and cilantro.

Serves 4.

Hope you and your family are finding ways to stay warm! What are your favorite hot comfort foods?

-Sarai