Two Fall Soup Recipes

Tis the season for soup! While my hubs and I were dating he decided he wanted to perfect soup! He only had one dud, but the rest of his soups have been incredible! My mom makes the best chicken soup. So, I decided I need to jump on the band wagon. With the weather changing and getting a little cooler, finally 61 degrees here in Arizona, we have had soup two nights in a row. Wednesday night was Butternut Squash and Apple Soup and tonight was a Chicken Vegetable Soup. The Butternut Squash Soup was adapted from the Barefoot Contessa’s recipe, but the Chicken Vege soup is thrown together. I hardly ever measure when I cook, so make sure to add things to taste.

Butternut squash tends to be sweet. Apples are definitely sweet. My hubs isn’t the biggest fan of sweet things. SO WEIRD!!!! I’m a sugar fiend. So… for him, I cut some of the sweet down a little in the recipe below.

Butternut Squash Apple Soup

2T unsalted butter

2T olive oil(I like Sam’s Club EVOO)

1 large yellow onion chopped

Just a little less than 1T curry powder(I use McCormick’s yellow curry)

5 pounds butternut squash(She says 2 large. I had one that was 5 pounds)

3 medium sweet apples(I used honeycrisp because I love them and I’m not a huge fan of apples. The textures are weird.)

1 tsp kosher salt

Black pepper to taste

2 cups water

1 ½ cup apple cider or juice

Heat butter, olive oil, and curry powder and sauté onions in a large stock pot uncovered, until onions are tender. Stir occasionally scraping the bottom of the pot. Peel the squash and apples. Scrape seeds out of the squash and core the apples. Then cut them into chunks, small chucks are nice because they cook faster. Add squash and apples to sautéed onion mixture. Your house will smell incredible right now. Pour the water over the top of the squash and apples. Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover and cook over medium heat until apples and squash are tender. Once they are tender you can pour into a food processor and puree, I used and immersion blender and blended it in the pot, less dishes to wash and works just as well. Once it is pureed, if you poured into a food processor pour back into stockpot, add apple cider/juice into pot. You can add water to make it whatever consistency you would like. Check to see if it needs any salt and pepper, and then you are ready to eat.

I made rosemary bread and breaded chicken to have with it. INCREDIBLE!!!!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts shredded chicken

3 quarts water

3 ½ T Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base(I LOVE this stuff. I use it WAY more than chicken stock.)

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks chopped

4 turnips peeled and cubed(Weird vege, I know, but my mom introduced me to it and I love it now. In my soups it tastes a lot like potatoes)

2 zucchinis cubed

1 yellow neck squash, cubed

1-2 T butter

1 onion chopped

About ½ tsp garlic

About ½ cup – 1 cup of Wild Rice (Devin says this makes the soup)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Kickin’ Chicken Seasoning to taste(Optional)

If you want to make your own shredded chicken, here is how I do it:

Heat 1-2T olive oil over medium high heat in a skillet with a lid, add chicken breast side down. Cook for about 5-7 minutes, until breast side is browned, turn over and add ½ c chicken stock and ¼ cup water, you could use ¾ cup water or chicken stock. This is what I had this time so it is what I used.) Cover and cook for 7-10 minutes or until chicken is cooked all the way through (160 degrees Fahrenheit). Make sure to not overcook or meat can get tough. Remove from heat and wait for chicken to cool slightly. Shred with two forks.

Saute onion and garlic in butter in a large stockpot. Once onions are tender add water and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling, add Better Than Bouillon and stir until dissolved. Add carrots, celery, turnips, zucchini, squash, wild rice, and shredded chicken to pot, cook over medium heat until rice, turnips and carrots are cooked. About 20-30 minutes. While the veges are cooking, add a little salt, pepper and kickin’ chicken seasoning. Once they are cooked check to see if you need any additional salt, pepper, or kickin’ chicken seasoning. Enjoy!

***Be careful not to burn your tongue! The hubs and I always do with this soup. Don’t worry, little miss didn't, we made sure all of her food was cool enough before she oinked it down.

 This soup makes a lot, obviously, but it disappears quickly. If you do have leftovers and you notice that there isn’t much liquid the next day, just add a little more chicken stock to it. Also, feel free to add whatever other vegetables you would like. I generally add potatoes, bell peppers, lettuce, spinach, whatever I have in the fridge I want to get rid of soon. It makes it fun and delicious! I should have made rolls to go with it, but I got lazy and didn’t. I have chocolate baklava, banana bread, and whipped body butter to make in the next day or two and people are coming over tomorrow, so rolls just seemed like to many extra dishes to deal with tonight. Also, little miss was in a please hold me mommy or I just might have a break down, kind of night. So, snuggle time took WAY higher priority than delicious rolls.

I hope you enjoy our soups as much as we do!

What is your favorite food in the fall?

What is your favorite soup?

Did anything take priority in  your life over dinner tonight?