Soup, made ahead, can be fast food.  Just put what want to save for later into jars, and either refrigerate or freeze. Don’t be afraid to make a lot. Soup gets better with age. A good side dish to this soup is fried Keilbasa polish sausage.Â
Bowl of Butternut Squash Soup without cream.
6 cups Vegetable or Chicken Broth
1 butternut squash cubed – about 6 cups
1 Ham bone or 1 Turkey Carcas
2 Tomatoes sliced
1/2 cup carrots
1/4 tsp of Cayenne Pepper or Red Pepper Flakes (Go easy. A little goes a long way.)
Bring to a boil, bring up to pressure and cook at pressure for 30-40 minutes
Blend with a stick blender.Â
After blending. If you want even smoother, strain it.Saving some Butternut Squash Soup for later. Refrigerate or Freeze.
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Just got back from vacation. We rented a boat in the Virgin Islands.Â
I made chili on one of the quiet days.Â
First 5 days aboard Fuego was peaceful. Then all of a sudden, we ran into a storm, ran aground, had to find our way into St Croix at night, lost the boat – she slipped her mooring, met Harvey who found our boat, and in the last hour of turning the boat back into the charter company, we fouled the prop! Over 100 years of sailing experience onboard, imagine if we were new at this! Life is always an adventure!Â
While in a safe harbor,made a bit of Chili
Ingredients:Â
2 Cans Chili Beans – (I know, you think I am cheating, but I was on a boat, and have you ever tried to boil beans on a small propane stovetop?)Â I like beans in my Chili, so I use canned, or at home, you can boil some in a pressure cooker – no problemo.Â
Leftovers: Diced onion, green peppers, chili peppers, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, steak cut into cubes from the night before. Â
Process:Â
In the stock pot, saute the onions and the other raw veggies that are hanging out in your refrigerator, add leftover meats making sure they are diced and broken into small pieces.Â
Then it is time to add the liquid ingredients: the cans of beans, can of spaghetti sauce or tomatoes – whatever you have on hand. You will need enough liquid to make it consistence of a thick soup and then allow it to simmer reducing down by at least a third.Â
Season:Â Chili pepper flakes, chili powder, cumin, thyme and salt and pepper.Â
Go easy on the heat until you are near serving time, and adjust as you like.Â
One of my friends used to call his Chili, refrigerator chili since he made it when he was cleaning out the refrigerator. Norris made excellent Chili!Â
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Enjoy on top of a hot dog, on the side of an open face hamburger or on its own with diced onions, cheese and corn chips. Hmmm good.
Split Pea Soup. You either love it or hate it. My daughter and husband love it, my oldest son hates peas!  I think it is comfort food at its best.  Jacque, husband’s mom made split pea soup. It has become a regular on the menu here at Sandy’s Kitchen.Â
Split Pea with Chunks of Ham and Carrots
Ham Bone
10 cups water or broth
1 bag Split Peas
1 stalk celery
2 onions diced
finely chopped carrots
nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 can of peas and carrots (or you can use fresh or frozen)
Boil in pressure cooker for 40 minutes at pressure.
Remove bones and puree in blender or food mill. Finely chop any ham left on bone and add back to pureed soup. Season to taste. I like to add a can of peas and carrots to my pureed mixture giving the mixture some texture along with the finely chopped ham.
Andersen's famous for their Split Pea Soup, Santa Nella & Buelton California
Daughter Denny and I are hamming it up at Andersen’s; famous for their split pea soup in Santa Nella and Buelton California. We love to stop here and have a cup of their soup.
Oh my, this is so good. Comfort food at its best! One of my gifts from my mother, she taught me to make soup.
Onion Soup – One of my favorites.
6-8 Yellow Onions or you can use white, but I like yellow
4 Cups Broth – Beef or Chicken
seasoning for Chicken Broth
2 Cups Wine – White. I like Chardonnay, so I use it.
1 tsp White Pepper
Salt to taste.
Seasoning if you are using Beef Broth
2 T Canadian Rub for Steaks
2 Cups Teriyaki Sauce
1 Cup Brewed Coffee (Great base note for this soup)
Optional: Beef or Pork cubes
Optional: Arugula or Kale or Flat Parsley
Optional: 1 tsp Herbs de Provence
Hot, steamy soup. Onion with browned cubed pork or beef. Hmmm. 1 tsp Herbs de Provence.
Chop yellow onions. Slice them in half from top to bottom and then slice top to bottom, not like making rings. This slice is so much nicer for this soup.
in 4 Tablespoons of stock to cook the onions in and let it cook off.
(Onions will not carmelize until all broth has cooked off). You want to get your onions nice and carmelized for the flavor and color.Â
In a separate pot, add the rest of the stock and wine and reduce by 1/3 while you are carmelizing the onions.
After onions have carmelized a nice rich color, add 2-3 tablespoons of flour. This will thicken with the onions, then add the reduction of broth and wine. Simmer until the broth
thickens. Add your seasonings.
Salt and white pepper for purists, or 1 tsp of Herbs de Provence.
To serve –
Place crouton on bottom of serving bowl
Top with onions
Add broth
Add cheese – asiago, parmesan, 1 tsp of blue cheese
broiler oven for 5 minutes.
OR
I love this soup, and sometimes I want to take it to serve my office. (They ate it all!) We don’t have an oven. So instead of adding the crouton and broiling, make cheddar cheese spread and serve with fresh bread alongside the onion soup.
Variation: If you have leftover roast beef or pork, cut into cubes, brown and add to the soup.
Don’t be afraid to add some arugala or kale to the soup an hour before you serve it. I like the green peppery kick.
Came home on Saturday night from a long day trip and in the kitchen within the crockpot my husband Dennis had browned some sirloin cubes and concocted the following broth:
2 C Teriyaki Sauce
1 C brewed coffee
6Â C Water
2 T Steak Seasoning Rub
After searing the sirloin strips, he added all parts in the crockpot and let it cook on high (He only uses high settings for everything he does), put the top on and left it alone.
When I arrived home, wow…the meat was tender and the teriyaki broth was sensational.
We could have easily served as is with rice.
Sunday morning, I gathered the meat out of the broth and added chopped carrots, onions and potatoes to the mix.
6 carrots chopped
6 potatoes diced
1 onion diced
Turned the slow cooker back on, added 6 cups of water and let it stew.
Perfect soup 4 hours later. Perfection. Boy, this guy can cook.
I also saved some of this broth and made the base for french onion soup. 2 soups from one both. Excellent.
I found this online at Food Network courtesy of Fiorella’s Jack Stack Kansas City Barbeque Restaurant.
Perfection. Kansas City Beans
Ingredients
1 (32-ounce) can pork and beans
1 cup chopped brisket
1 cup BBQ sauce (recommended: Jack Stack Original)
4 heaping tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 cup water
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a 4-quart saucepan. Over medium heat, bring beans to a boil, and then reduce to a simmer. Cook beans for 20 minutes or until a thick, soupy consistency is reached. Serve.
This recipe also works well on a grill, letting the great outdoors permeate and enhance the flavor of the beans as they cook.
One of the staples for dinner was Navy Bean Soup. With 9 kids, I mean 9 hungry kids and two adults to feed, Navy Bean Soup was seen a lot at our house. Being the eighth kid, it was always good. Mom would serve it with her freshly baked bread and fresh butter. One of my chores as a child was to shake a quart jar of heavy cream until it formed into butter.   My arms felt like they would fall off, but I learned to not complain. Just do it. I still love these beans. If we started to tire of the bean soup, Mom would convert them to Chili Beans and serve that up with corned bread. I remember having white rice served with our beans here and there also.Â
Ingredients
1 (16 ounce) package dried navy beans
7 cups water
1 ham bone
2 cups diced ham
1/2 cup minced onion
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
Directions
Place rinsed beans into a large stock pot. Add water and bring to a boil. Boil gently for 2 minutes; remove from heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.
Add ham bone, cubed ham, onion, salt, pepper and bay leaves. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until beans are soft. Occasionally skim service of soup while it is cooking.
Add carrots and celery, cook until tender. Remove ham bone, scrape any meat from bone and place back into soup and serve.
