I'm in the mood for some soup so what you got?

Potato and ham soup.

5 celery stalks diced
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 table spoons butter possibly more if needed
3.5 cups of diced potatoes 1/2 in cubed
1.5 cups cooked ham. More if you want, cubed
3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup of flour
1 box of chicken stock or enough to cover.
Heavy cream, half and half or milk

Saute onion and celery in butter till soft.
Add potatoes and ham and saute for a 5 minutes or so.
Add garlic till cooked through but not burned.
Add flour to make a light roux
Add chicken broth to cover. And cook till potatoes are done.
Turn the heat down low and add the dairy so it doesn't curdle.


I like to add a little sharp cheddar in my bowl. Plenty of pepper and salt to taste.



I smoke my ham for sandwiches. then leave the rest
To make this soup.

Italian Sausage and Lentil Soup

Brown some spicy Italian Sausage then onion and celery.
Add:
-carrots (I prefer just shredded to give it the flavor, but not big chunks - personal preference)
-zucchini
-diced roma tomatoes (canned is ok)
-chicken broth
-dry lentils
-lot of garlic (I like to reserve some to add near the end to give it more garlic flavor)

Season to taste with dried Italian spices
basil, oregano, parsley, thyme, ground black pepper, red pepper flakes, fennel seeds - again, it's all in what you like, add or omit as needed

bring to boil, simmer an hour or more
I usually never need salt, but salt to taste if necessary

Top bowl with shaved parmesan.

Sounds interesting

Thanks and beef soup

I don't have my recipes handy, but I will offer a soup-making tip: make your own stock. Keep the bones, skin, etc. of meats/birds you've cooked and simmer them in a pot of water for a long time; throw in some veggies or herbs too. Skim off the foam and any fat bubbles after it's simmered for a while. Use this base, and all your soups will be better.


My. "recipe" for soups is mostly preferred seasonings and ingredients and some technique, as the proportion of herbs & veggies:meat is never consistent, since soup is often made from leftover something. It's also east to adjust the flavor some with some seasoning after it's all in the pot.

Add 2 quarts of vegetable stock to a slow cooker and throw in a hambone. Cook on low over night.

Fish the bones out, shred the meat with an immersion mixer.

Add a bag of (rinsed) dried peas, three bay leaves, garlic, and some chopped carrots, celery and onion.  Cook all day on low. Enjoy with hot fresh crusty bread.

Thai chicken curry w coconut milk.

Most everybody in Southwest Louisiana cooks a vegetable beef soup.  They probably learned it from Maw Maw.  Each one is a little different.  This is how I do mine:

Brown about 3 pounds of beef chuck roast, cut into bite sized pieces, in a soup pot until its well browned.  Remove from the pot.  Add a medium diced onion (and maybe 1-2 stalks of celery diced fine) and cook until its translucent.  Add a can of tomato sauce and enough water or stock to fill your pot about half way up.  

Now its time for the vegetables.  I do the following, depending on what I have on hand:

Cabbage
Lima beans
Green beans
Carrots
Potatoes
Corn
Mushrooms
Canned Tomatoes
Okra

Cut them into bite sized pieces and add them according to how long it will take them to cook.  What I mean is, if you add the okra or potatoes at the beginning, they'll fall apart before the beef gets tender.  

For seasonings, I do salt, pepper, maybe a dash of hot sauce, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, a couple of bay leaves, and maybe some other herbs.  I don't measure anything, and at least once I've bought more vegetables than I had room for in the pot.  

If chuck roast isn't on sale, really any of the tougher cuts of beef will work.  Mom does a "quick" version that uses ground beef and more canned vegetables instead of frozen or fresh.

Big caldo guy. Sere up three-four beef shanks. Pull them and throw chopped onion into the pot for a minute or two. Beef stock (salted water is fine, plenty of beef flavor will be in there either way) and toss the shanks back in. Cover the shanks in water. Simmer for two hours. Add carrots and potatoes for 45 minutes. After that throw in a quartered onion and some sliced squash. Pretty much done, just need to toss in a halved cabbage and a few corn husks, after turning the burner off.

Chicken Mushroom Sweet Potato Kale Soup

One of my favorites.  Sounds odd and the only way to get kale in me.
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Epic soup.

Make traditional boiled dinner but replace the smoked sausage with a good chorizo sausage. Saute the onions like you wood French onion soup.

I'll just say that a jug of V-8 and about half a jar of beef Better than Bouillon makes a hell of a vegetable soup base.

ETA -- here's one of my favorite soup recipes:

West African peanut soup

•2 quarts low sodium vegetable or chicken stock
•1 large or 2 medium red onions, 1/4" diced
•4 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated
•8 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
•1 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
•3 bunches fresh collard greens, stems removed, cut to 1" dice and washed and drained
•1 ½ cups peanut butter
•1 cup tomato paste

Cooked brown rice for serving.

Sriracha, roasted peanuts (chopped or whole), and chopped fresh cilantro to top.

Bring stock to a boil, then add ginger, garlic, chopped onion and salt.  Cook on medium heat for 20 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine peanut butter and tomato paste.  Add three or four ladles of hot stock and then whisk until smooth.

Slowly add peanut butter/tomato paste mixture to stock and mix well.

Add collard greens to soup and cook covered on medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring often.

Serve over brown rice with chopped peanuts, sriracha and fresh cilantro.

I don't do a lot of cooking, but I love a good beef stew.  I generally use:

Stew meat (of course)
carrots
potatoes
onions
celery
beef broth
2 Tablespoons of red wine vinegar
1 cup red wine
3-4 bay leaves
Fresh thyme if I have it
Salt & pepper to taste

That sounds pretty good and I’m not even much of a lentil fan. Ever try it with cannellini instead of lentils?

This will absolutely change your soups!

I make regular homemade chicken noodle soup, with homemade stock and people lose their minds when I bring it to a pitch-in etc. It's nothing special, it's just really good stock, which is where the flavor is!

When I buy chicken wings, the wing tips go in the freezer for making stock. When I buy bone-in thighs and debone them, bones go in the freeze for stock. Then I make a big pot of stock, and make a big pot of chicken & noodles, and we all eat until totally stuffed...

I haven't. It's a copycat recipe from Carrabba's. If you look that up, you'll find a more detailed recipe than what I gave. I started there. I'm not sure you have to be a lentil fan to enjoy it. I only had one person critique it and said I added too much fennel seed, but, fuck that guy.

We made a big pot of chicken stock Monday, then I came down with a respiratory infection Tuesday, so already used a bit to make chicken soup. It definitely beats the stuff you buy off the shelf. Even being sick, I enjoyed it.

Just made a batch of chili tonight.  It's a stew.

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That's the best part of being sick, homemade soup.  And I've seen your cooking, so I bet it was good eating.

We really like this one. Highly recommend.

Agreed on the lentils. I made many batches of lentil soup without the meat and always found them to be lacking no matter what I did - lentils on their own just don't do it for me. Finally thought to add italian sausage and it was instant success.

Awesome,  man.  Glad you liked it.