A Thousand Soups! Mini Challenge

Hey There! So I was looking for recipes for various soups because I wanted to do a mini soup challenge. When I looked up the recipes, a blog named a thousand soups came up and I instantly fell in love with her blog. Anne has an awesome blog with amazingly delicious soup recipes. How do I know? Ive tried some and none of them failed me. We had soup for 4 days and OMG was it good. The green chili was absolutely amazing. I served it with corn muffins. The Asian Soup we had egg rolls with it, and that stew and broccoli soup were amazing all by themselves. So go ahead and check out her tasty blog. Its sure to please. Her pics are waaaaaaay prettier but I wanted to show that I made em =]

These recipes belong to A Thousand Soups and My Goodness They Are Delicious! 

Day 1:  Green Chili with Chicken (http://www.athousandsoups.com/2009/09/green-chili-with-chicken.html)

Green Chili with Chicken
Serves 8

2 Tablespoons neutral oil - such as vegetable
2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast - cut into large chunks
1 medium white or yellow onion - diced
1 green bell pepper - seeded and diced
1 bunch green onions - sliced - green and white parts
4 cloves garlic - minced
2 large stalks celery - diced
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 (16 ounce) jar salsa verde
1 small can diced green chiles
2 cans (or 3 cups) cannelini beans - drained
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste

1. Heat oil in a large soup pot and cook onion, green bell pepper, green onion, celery and garlic until fragrant and starting to soften.
2. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink.
3. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft and chili is thickened.
4. Remove bay leaf, adjust seasoning and serve with sour cream and shredded cheese.

Day 2: Moroccan Spiced Beef Stew With Sweet Potato Dumplings(http://www.athousandsoups.com/2008/11/moroccan-spiced-beef-stew-with-sweet.html)

Moroccan Spiced Beef StewServes 6-8

2 Tablespoons oil

2 pounds beef stew cubes

2 large sweet potatoes - peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 large white potatoes - peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes

2 large carrots - peeled and cut into 1 inch lengths

1 medium onion - cut into chunks

8 cups beef stock

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons sweet paprika

1 -2 teaspoons cayenne pepper - this depends on your tastes

2 teaspoons salt

1. Heat oil in a large heavy soup pot and brown beef cubes well.

2. Add stock and simmer for 30 minutes.

3. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for another 30 minutes, or until vegetable are tender.

4. Thicken with flour and water now or wait until dumplings are done cooking.

Sweet Potato Dumplings

Makes 15 - 20 small dumplings

1/2 cup mashed sweet potato

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Combine sweet potato, milk and egg and stir until smooth.
2. Mix together flour, salt and baking powder and add to wet ingredients.

3. Stir well until a sticky dough forms.

4. Bring stew to a simmer and drop dumpling dough by teaspoonful onto hot liquid. Lid the pot.

5. Simmer for 10 minutes with lid on until dumplings are puffy and cooked through.

6. Thicken stew now, if desired.

Day 3: Cream of Broccoli Soup with bacon and cheddar( http://www.athousandsoups.com/2010/02/cream-of-broccoli-soup-with-bacon-and.html)

Cream of Broccoli Soup with Bacon and Cheddar
Ready in 30 minutes
Serves 6

1 large head broccoli
4 cups water
1 small onion - chopped
1 clove garlic - minced
2 cups half and half or milk
6 Tablespoons butter or oil
6 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 slices bacon - cooked crisp and crumbled
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
salt and white pepper to taste

1. Clean broccoli and remove florets - cutting into bite-sized pieces. Cut stems into chunks and set aside.
2. Heat water in a large pot until boiling. Drop in broccoli florets for 2 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Add broccoli stems to boiling water with garlic and onion - reduce heat to a simmer and cook until stems have softened - about 15 minutes. Remove stems to a food processor and puree until very smooth. Add back into cooking water and strain through a fine mesh sieve. Discard any bits of stem that are caught in the strainer.
4. Cook butter or oil and flour together briefly in the bottom of the soup pot and slowly add in broccoli mixture. Pour in milk or half and half and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.
5. Once soup is properly thickened, add broccoli florets, bacon and cheddar. Heat through and season with salt and white pepper. 

Day 4: Asian Dumpling Soup(http://www.athousandsoups.com/2011/01/asian-dumpling-soup.html)

Asian Dumpling Soup
Hands-On Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 6

Ingredients:

24 Asian dumplings such as gyoza (I used frozen)
6 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups shelled edamame
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 Tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:

1. Heat stock to boiling and drop in dumplings and carrots. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Add in edamame and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir in soy sauce just before serving.


Hope you try these like I did! You wont regret it =]