BBQ Bean Soup

I saw a recipe on A Year of Slow Cooking Blog for a baked bean soup that tasted like pork and beans but better. It sounded great but I didn't have all the ingredients and I wanted to mix it up a bit. I also didn't feel like dragging out my crockpot so I just made this on the stove top. This is a very versatile recipe. If you want to make this as a side dish to take to a BBQ just reduce the water.



BBQ Bean Soup
Inspired by A Year of Slow Cooking

1 lb dry pinto beans or 2 cans pinto beans
2 cans tomato sauce
6 cups water
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp garlic
1/2 onion
1 cup diced carrots
1/2 cup diced celery
3 strips thick bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Tbs yellow mustard
1 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Serrano pepper, finely chopped
1/2 cup Kraft Honey BBQ sauce


If using dry beans then rinse, boil, and let soak over night or use the quick method from the back of the bean package.

Toss all of the ingredients into a large stock pot and bring to a low boil for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. Or put all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low 10 hours or high 5 hours.

Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup
By: Me

2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup butter
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 cup cream


Bring chicken broth and squash to a boil. Simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is fork tender. Puree in a blender until smooth. Add back to pot and simmer on low. Add butter and stir until melted. Add nutmeg and pepper. Stir in the cream. Simmer for 5 minutes and serve.

Vegetarian Chili

This is a vegetarian and lower calorie/lower fat variation of my award winning chili recipe.


Vegetarian Chili
by Me

1 cans tomato sauce
1/2 c water
1 can Rotel
2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp onion
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne (more or less to taste)
2 oz Hershey's milk chocolate
1/2 c Dr. Pepper
1 can red kidney beans
1 can white northern beans

In a large pot, heat garlic and onion over medium heat until slightly toasted. Add all ingredients and simmer on medium low for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup
by Me

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
3 cups water
2 large sweet potatoes
1 cup chicken broth
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt

*Garnish with creme fraiche if desired - not included in nutritional information

Add water and coconut flakes to a large sauce pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 10 minutes. In the meantime wash sweet potatoes and pierce several times with a fork. Place in a microwave and cook 10 minutes on high or until soft. Strain coconut flakes from water, reserving water. Discard coconut flakes. Slice sweet potatoes in half and scoop sweet potato out of skin, discard skin. Add sweet potato and coconut flavored water to a blender. Blend until smooth. Add mixture back into sauce pan. Add chicken broth, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt to sauce pan. Simmer over medium-low heat for 10 minutes or until flavors are combined.

Black-Eyed Pea Gumbo

Black-Eyed Pea Gumbo
from allrecipes.com

1-1/2 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
2-1/2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup brown rice
2 (15 ounce) cans black-eyed peas with liquid
1/2 (10 ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1/2 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
*I also added carrots, cilantro, turkey bacon, and Cajun seasoning

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion, pepper, and celery until tender. Pour in the chicken broth, and mix in rice, black-eyed peas with liquid, diced tomatoes and green chiles, diced tomatoes, and garlic. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, or until rice is tender. Add water if soup is too thick.

Note to self: don't buy the Hot Rotel ever again. I like to think that I am more tolerant to hot peppers than most people but this stuff was HOT! I think I will stick to the regular Rotel and add cayenne to taste.

Christmas Leftovers Take 3

New Orleans Red Beans and Rice

2 cups dried red beans (kidney beans or small red beans)
1 ham hock
Cajun seasoning to taste
enough water to cover the ham and beans in the slow cooker
2 cups cooked white rice

Rinse red beans under water. Add ham hock and beans to slow cooker. Cover with water. Add seasoning. Cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or low 8-10 hours. Serve over rice. Sprinkle additional seasoning on top if desired.

Warning: this makes enough to feed an army. There are just two of us so we've been feasting on this for several days.

Christmas Leftovers Take 1

Ham and Lentil Soup
by Me

1 cup dried lentils
1 cup cooked ham
6 cups chicken broth
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse and clean the lentils. Place lentils and chicken broth in a large pot. Boil for 30 minutes. Add ham, salt and pepper and boil for 30 more minutes.

Spicy Vegetable Soup

The title of this blog is Spice N' It Up but it's been a while since I've made anything spicy. The weather is finally getting cooler in Arizona (sadly highs in the 80's is cool for us). So a bowl of hot and spicy soup seemed perfect.

Spicy Vegetable Soup
by Me

1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
1/2 cup broccoli, chopped
1/4 cup celery, chopped
1/4 cup cabbage, chopped
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1-8 oz can tomato sauce
3 cups beef broth
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbs hot sauce

I made this in the microwave using my Pampered Chef large micro-cooker. I cooked the carrots, broccoli, celery, cabbage, and water in the micro-cooker in the microwave on high for 10 minutes. Then I added the remaining ingredients and cooked for an additional 10 minutes on high, stirring every 3 minutes.

Beef and Barley Soup

Beef and Barley soup is probably my all time favorite soup. This is a recipe from my grandmother. Whenever I would go visit her I would always ask her to make it. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand. Some that work really well are carrots, celery, okra, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, potatoes, and cauliflower. Always use fresh veggies and never frozen or canned because it makes a huge difference in this soup.



Beef and Barley Soup

1 lb ground beef
1 cup pearl barley
8 cups chicken broth
3 cups fresh vegetables, chopped into bite size pieces
1-8oz can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
5 slices Kraft singles

Brown meat and drain fat. Rinse barley and add to a large pot with water. Boil barley for 10 minutes. Drain water. Add the meat, broth, and veggies to the barley pot. Bring back to a boil for about 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Reduce heat and add the tomato sauce, salt, and pepper. Add the cheese slices one at a time to the soup, stirring between each addition. Continue stirring until cheese is completely dissolved in the soup.

Creamy Tomato Basil Soup

I found this recipe on Good Eats n' Sweet Treats Blog. It sounded delicious so I gave it a try with a few modifications. It was perfect for a lazy weeknight dinner of soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

Tomato Basil Soup
from Cooking Light

4 cups chopped seeded peeled tomato (about 4 large)*
4 cups low-sodium tomato juice*
1/3 cup fresh basil leaves
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
Basil leaves, thinly sliced (optional)
8 (1/2-inch-thick) slices diagonally cut French bread baguette

Bring tomato and juice to a boil in a large saucepan. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 30 minutes.

Place tomato mixture and basil in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Return pureed mixture to pan; stir in milk, salt, and pepper. Add cream cheese, stirring well with a whisk, and cook over medium heat until thick (about 5 minutes). Ladle soup into individual bowls; garnish with sliced basil, if desired. Serve with bread.

8 servings (serving size: 1 cup soup and 1 bread slice)

*I modified this recipe by using (gasp!) canned tomatoes (1-14 oz can whole tomatoes and 1-14 oz can diced tomatoes) because I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand and was too tired to go to the store. This was enough for 4 servings. I also added 2 Tbs sugar and omitted the milk because 4 oz of cream cheese for 4 servings was plenty creamy (maybe a tad much). It still turned out great. This is the perfect comfort food.

Turkey N' Loaded Dumplings

It was kind of chilly in Phoenix today. It doesn't really get "cold" here but when the high is 70 that is cold to us. I was lazy today and sat around the house in cozy sweat pants and a sweat shirt. I felt like eating some warm soup too. We still have leftover turkey and lots of veggies that I wanted to use before they went bad. I created this little twist on traditional chicken n' dumplings. I called the dumplings "loaded" dumplings because I got the inspiration from a loaded baked potato. This turned out delicious!


Turkey N' Loaded Dumplings

6 cups chicken broth
2 large carrots, coined
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 cup turkey pieces, cooked
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbs green onion, chopped
1/4 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
2 pieces of bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 Tbs milk

Bring the chicken broth, carrots, and celery to a boil in a large pot. Simmer over medium until vegetables are tender. Add the turkey and reduce to low. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the sour cream, onion, cheese, and bacon. Stir to combine. Slowly add the milk and stir until a thick dough forms. Add additional milk if dough doesn't stick together. If dough is too sticky add additional flour. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into soup. Turn the temperature back up to medium and cover pot with lid. Cook for 20 minutes or until dumplings are done.

The Winning Chili Recipe

We had a chili cook off at work last year and my competitive side came out. I created a sweet and spicy chili with a few "secret" ingredients. I'm not very good at keeping secrets so I will share the recipe. All the measurements are approximate and you can add more or less to taste.



The Winning Chili Recipe

1 lb ground beef
2 cans tomato sauce
1/2 c water
1 can Rotel
2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp onion
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne (more or less to taste)
3 oz Hershey's milk chocolate
1/2 c Dr. Pepper
1 can red kidney beans

Brown beef and drain fat. Add all ingredients except the beans. Simmer on medium low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the beans and simmer for 10 more minutes.

My chili won the cook off and I got accused of having an unfair advantage because of my Texas heritage. Oh well, I still get bragging rights and that's what matters.