Copper Canyon Grill Tortilla Soup

When we lived in Maryland, our favorite local restaurant was a [kinda pricey] grill whose name changed with the seasons. Everything on its very short menu was absolutely delicious. When we went back for Travis's graduation, we ate lunch there with my mom (she convinced the waiter to seat us on the patio even though it wasn't officially open for lunch). I ordered a tortilla soup, and it was, of course, delectable (as Fancy Nancy would say). Then, a few months ago, back in Kansas City, I found myself craving said tortilla soup. Mind you, this place is not a chain restaurant and has changed owners as often as my daughters change tutus. I had no hope of finding a recipe. But, in desperation I googled anyway. Lo and behold. The restaurant actually has a minimalist blog where they share little tidbits of news, and occasionally, a recipe. Can you guess which one they chose to share??? I was in raptures! Here is the original recipe.

Sadly, I definitely did not have any cans of "condensed chicken and rice soup" on hand. What even is that? So I whipped myself up a basic recipe for "chicken and rice soup," that I pretty much made up (hey, if Campbell's can do it, I can do it!), and started there. Here is the abridged recipe:

Ingredients
2 Tablespoons butter
1/2 diced onion
1 carrot, chopped (or sliced or whatever you like to do)
1 stalk celery, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tablespoons flour
4 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 cup cooked chicken (or however much you want... or leftover Thanksgiving turkey, in my case!)
1 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
Tortilla chips
4 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese (or whatever flavor you like on your tortilla soup!)

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, melt butter and saute onion, carrot, and celery until softened. Add garlic and saute another minute or two. Sprinkle flour over cooked vegetables and stir, cooking for a minute or two longer. Add chicken broth, uncooked rice, cooked chicken, diced tomatoes, and tomato sacue (I have to say these measurements are all rough estimates. Just add however much broth you want to make the appropriate amount of soup! Keep in mind that 1 cup of liquid will be taken up in cooking the rice.) Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes until rice is cooked completely.

Place some tortilla chips in the bottom of an individual bowl and sprinkle cheese over the chips. Pour soup over the chips and cheese.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Okay, I know I should just call a spade a spade and consider this an official "SOUP" blog instead of a "recipe" blog with variety.

Anyway, when I was growing up my mom used to make a delicious broccoli cheese soup. Being a kid I wasn't a huge fan of broccoli. Or cheese. Or soup, for that matter (don't worry - I grew out of it), but this soup was an exception. It was totally delectable, as Fancy Nancy would say. This is not the same recipe my mom used (because I don't have it... hm, I should look into that), but it is definitely delectable all the same.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 medium chopped onion
1 cup carrot, grated
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups half-and-half cream (I use fat-free 1/2 and 1/2 and it is just the same! It's my dirty little fat-free secret)
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 lb fresh broccoli
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
8 ounces grated sharp cheddar cheese (have I mentioned how much I love Cabot's Seriously Sharp cheddar?)
salt and pepper

Directions:
1 - Sauté onion and carrot in butter until tender.

2 - Stir in flour and whisk over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Stir constantly and add the half & half.
3 -  Add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes.
4 - Add the broccoli. Cook over low heat until broccoli is bright green.
5 - Add nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and add cheese.

Fall Soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/2 cup apple juice or cider
4 cups beef broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 zucchini, cut into 1-in. pieces
2 red potatoes, chopped
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. Italian seasoning
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of baking soda
1/3 cup small shell macaroni (or any small pasta), uncooked
1/3 lb. ground Italian sausage, cooked (optional - if you want a vegetarian dish!)
1 cup fresh baby spinach 
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Saute onion and carrots in olive oil for several minutes; add garlic and cook for one minute longer. Add tomato paste and stir, over med-high heat. Add apple juice or cider and cook for a few minutes until slightly reduced.
2. Add beef broth, diced tomatoes, zucchini, potatoes, beans, Italian seasoning, and nutmeg. (I also added some basil and Penzey's "Forward" spice blend, which I nurse an addiction to and put on everything - fish, eggs, ice cream...) Add whatever seasonings taste like Fall to you. Sprinkle with a dash of baking soda to cut the acidity - add a little at a time because it will make the soup mad!
3. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for as long as you like - maybe even an hour, if you have that kind of time.
4. Add macaroni, cooked Italian sausage, and spinach. Simmer for about 15 min. Season generously with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with fresh Parmesan and serve with bread!

Tomato Bisque

I know. I've gone crazy about soup. We literally ate it every day last week. And for lunch too. But this one is fabulous.

Ingredients
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped,
1 carrot, finely chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup milk
3 cups beef broth
1 (14.5) can tomatoes, whole in juice or diced, seasoned or not, your choice!
1 (15-oz) can tomato sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 bay leaf
Around 1/2-1 tsp. Italian seasoning, basil, or whatever you like to use
Dash nutmeg
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

Directions
1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion, celery, carrot, and garlic until tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in flour and cook another minute.
2. Whisk in milk, cooking and stirring until mixture is thickened. Add tomato paste, beef broth, tomatoes, tomato sauce, sugar, bay leaf, Italian seasoning/basil, nutmeg, and salt & pepper. Bring nearly to boil and simmer 20-30 minutes.
3. Remove bay leaf. Pour soup into a blender in batches and blend until it's the desired consistency. Alternately, use a stick blender to puree the soup in the pan.
4. Return soup to pan and heat through. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and basil as desired.

Serve sprinkled with fresh basil, grated Parmesan, or a swirl of cream, and definitely with a grilled cheese sandwich. (You may or may not already know of my undying love for Cabot's Seriously Sharp cheddar.)

Shrimp Bisque

I found this one on Discovery Health, and although I didn't even come close to following it to the letter, it was still delicious. My only advice would be NOT to leave the ingredients from the stock in the soup (specifically the bay leaf & peppercorns; carrots - optional) because you think it will improve the flavor as it finishes cooking and you can just warn your family what not to eat. We all nearly killed ourselves accidentally cracking into those sneaky peppercorns... So probably, just follow the recipe. We served it with buttermilk cornbread, which recipe follows below.

Ingredients
• 12 ounces raw shrimp (30-40 per pound) shell-on
• 1 each onion chopped, divided
• 1 each carrot peeled and sliced
• 1 stalk celery (with leaves) sliced
• ½ cup dry white wine
• ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1 each bay leaf
• 3 cups water
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces mushrooms wiped clean and sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
• ½ each green bell pepper, chopped
• ¼ cup chopped scallions
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups low-fat milk
• ¼ cup reduced-fat sour cream
• ¼ cup dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground pepper to taste
• Dash of hot sauce

Instructions
1. Peel and de-vein shrimp, reserving the shells. Cut the shrimp into 3/4-inch pieces; cover and refrigerate.
2. Combine the shrimp shells with about half the onion, all the carrot, celery, wine, peppercorns and bay leaf in a large heavy saucepan. Add water and simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve, pressing on the solids to extract all the juices; discard the solids. Measure the shrimp stock and add water, if necessary, to make 1 ½ cups.
3. Heat oil in the same pan over medium heat. Add mushrooms, bell pepper, scallions, parsley and the remaining onion. Cook, stirring, until the mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook, stirring constantly, until it starts to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly stir in milk and the shrimp stock. Cook, stirring to loosen any flour sticking to the bottom of the pot, until the soup returns to a simmer and thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the reserved shrimp and cook until they turn opaque in the center, about 2 minutes more. Add sour cream, sherry and lemon juice; stir over low heat until heated through—do not let it come to a boil. Taste and adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and hot sauce.

Chicken and Gnocchi Soup

A while ago I was hunting for a really good gnocchi soup, so I combined copycat recipes from the Olive Garden and Romano's Macaroni Grill and came up with this little number.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 cups chicken stock
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
8 ounces potato gnocchi
1 ripe tomato, chopped
1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
1 1/2 cup fresh baby spinach leaves
4 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until onion becomes soft and transparent and garlic becomes golden. Be careful not to burn the garlic or it will taste bitter. Add chicken stock, salt and pepper, and thyme. Heat to boiling, then add the cooked chicken, gnocchi, and chopped tomato. Turn down to a simmer. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the cream and spinach. Simmer another 5 minutes until spinach wilts. Remove from heat. Serve sprinkled with generous amounts of Parmesan cheese and a little basil.

Leek and Jarlsburg Cheese Soup

Okay, here's the thing. I actually don't use leeks OR Jarlsburg in this soup anymore, but I kept the original title and noted where I changed the ingredients in case you are a purist and want to try the original. When we went to Disney World a few years ago, Travis's sister Christina (who knows all the ins-and-outs of Disney) introduced us to this amazing soup from the Norway Pavilion at the Epcot Center. Even Kate (8 mos. old at the time) gobbled it up!

Ingredients:
8 ounces of butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup flour
1 yellow onion, chopped (*If possible use SWEET onion instead!)
1 large leek, washed and chopped into ¼" pieces (*I tried it with the full amount of leek and onion and though it was okay, but way too onion-y for me. Usually I just leave out the leek altogether and go for the sweet onion.)
1/2 tablespoon Tabasco sauce (*This is a lot. Be careful if you don't like it really spicy!)
2 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
½ tablespoon onion powder
8 ounces of Jarlsburg cheese or cheese of your choice grated (*Usually I use aged Swiss)
2 cups milk
1 can chicken broth
to taste salt
to taste pepper
chives for garnish
*ALSO, I sometimes add some diced red potatoes (unpeeled) to give it a little more something.

1. In a large saucepan, melt butter on low heat.
2. Add onions and cook until translucent.
3. Add flour to make a roux.
4. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring.
5. Add cold milk and chicken broth, stirring constantly.
6. Add leeks, onion power, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce. (Also potatoes, if using)
7. Cook on medium heat until soup thickens. (This will take longer if you have potatoes - just keep going until they are cooked through!)
8. Remove from heat and add cheese, stirring until melted.
9. Season to taste.
10. Before serving, add chives for garnish.

Krista's Chili

This is secret-ingredient chili. You have to make everyone you serve guess what it is or they can't eat! (Okay, actually they won't guess. You can't taste it.) Also, it is high in fiber and antioxidants.

Ingredients:
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 lb. ground beef
2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne or chipotle pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/2 cup canned stewed tomatoes (I used the whole can
so I wouldn't have to save the leftovers!)
1 cup canned dk. red kidney beans (or whole can again)
1 cup canned black beans (yeah, throw in the whole can)
2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup chicken broth
2 Tablespoons shredded cheese

Directions:
Saute onion and garlic in nonstick cooking spray in a deep saucepan, about 30 seconds. Add ground beef; cook uncovered until it begins to brown (2-3 min. - med. heat), then drain. Add oregano, salt, cayenne, and black pepper and stir. Add tomato paste, stir well and cook 30 sec. Add stewed tomatoes and mix well. Add beans and cocoa powder; stir gently. Add chicken broth and reduce to med.-low. Cover and simmer 12-15 min. Top with cheese before serving.