Recipe: Sweet Onion Soup With Baked Croutons

Onion soup, with its classically simple roots, is an easy one to turn into something fancy. This recipe is a great example. Caramelized sweet onions, some good crusty bread, and melty Gruyere cheese are all you need for a classic but classy bowl of delicious soup!

Sweet Onion Soup With Baked Croutons
(Make 4 servings.)

Ingredients:

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

4 pieces crusty bread (like French bread) cut into small cubes
1 tsp olive oil or good cooking oil spray
2 Tbsp butter
3 large sweet onions (like Vidalia or Walla Walla)
6 cups rich chicken stock
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese (or aged Gouda, etc.)
fresh chives, chopped, for garnish

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put the bread cubes on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil or spray with cooking oil and stir around with your hands. Put in oven and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, turning once, until golden brown; remove and set aside.
• Put the butter in a large soup pot over medium-low heat, add the onions, and cook, stirring often, until transparent, soft, and golden brown (about 20 minutes).
• Add to the pot the chicken stock, salt and pepper; and bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
• To serve, ladle soup into warmed bowls, add the baked bread cubes on top of each serving, the sprinkle the cheese on top, and add a few chives. Serve hot.

Recipe: Roasted Cauliflower & Herbed Goat Cheese Soup

This easy twist will take a classic cauliflower cheese soup to a whole new level! With just a few simple ingredients, you can elevate these humble soup beginnings into something fancy enough to grace the table at the most elegant soiree. Roasting the cauliflower brings out the natural sweet and nutty flavors of the vegetable, while the creamy goat cheese adds richness and a touch of acidity to balance it out.

Roasted Cauliflower & Herbed Goat Cheese Soup
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 Tbsp olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, grated
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 cup of crumbled herbed goat cheese

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees and get out large baking sheet.
• Put cauliflower on baking sheet, drizzle on 1 Tbsp olive oil, then sprinkle generously with salt and pepper and spread around with your hands. Bake in preheated oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, using a spatula several times during cooking times to turn cauliflower pieces over; remove when fork tender and set aside.
• In a large soup pot, add the onion with a Tbsp of olive oil, put over medium-low heat and cook until the onion softens, then add the garlic and cook 1 minute longer.
• Add the roasted cauliflower into the pot, scraping all the oils off the baking sheet along with the cauliflower.
• Continue cooking over medium-low heat for about 2 minutes, stirring the cauliflower into the onion mixture.
• Stir in the vegetable broth, turn heat up and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, loosely cover pot and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat and let cool slightly.
• Ladle soup into a blender and puree until smooth, then return to pot over low heat.
• Slowly stir in the goat cheese, continuing to stir until cheese completely melts.
• Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.

Simple Soup Twists That Turn Classic Into Classy

We all enjoy a good classic soup recipe, right? It's so comforting to dig into a favorite soup with all the ingredients we know and have grown to love. But, sometimes it would be nice to kick up these classics and make them a little classier. Perhaps you'd like to serve soup as a starter for a special dinner, and that soup needs to stand out a bit. Or maybe the soup is the star of the meal and needs to really shine.

Let's take a look at a few classic soup recipes and see what you can do to turn up the class.

Tomato Soup

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This basic soup is well know on lunch menus everywhere. It's an easy soup to make and very comforting, especially when served with a grilled cheese sandwich, right? What if you took those flavors and combined them into one glorious, cheesy soup? Start by roasting the diced tomatoes to bring out the garden fresh sweet flavor, adding onion and garlic to the roasting pan if you wish. Then, once the tomatoes are roasted, pour into a soup pot along with the broth, and simmer slowly. Want more magic? Create a cheesy, creamy soup by stirring Bleu cheese or goat cheese or any soft, rich cheese into the tomato soup. Then toast some bread cubes with a little butter and garlic, and sprinkle the croutons on top of the cheesy roasted tomato soup. Add a pinch of freshly chopped basil and the meal is complete, and fancy enough for a special occasion!

Cheesy Cauliflower Soup

For this classic favorite you only need to add one ingredient – curry. The classic soup stands on its own quite well, but the addition of curry makes the soup more substantial and noteworthy. You may want to use a stronger Cheddar cheese in order to complement the curry, and use cream instead of milk when you puree the cooked cauliflower. Serve with a dollop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of chopped chives for a pretty, and delicious, classy soup.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

French Onion Soup

Even though we sometimes want our soup fast and easy, in order to turn this classic soup into a classy soup, you'll need time. The trick for getting this soup 'ready for the runway' is caramelizing the onions. This is the process of very slowly cooking onions until the sugars develop and the onions turn a light golden brown and become quite sweet. Slice the onions thinly and cook them in a big heavy pot over very low heat with some butter, but no salt, for a good twenty minutes or more. Once they are soft and sweet, you will be adding some very classy ingredients – red wine and balsamic vinegar – before you add your vegetable or chicken stock. Simmer this slowly until fragrant and you are ready for the classy finish. Ladle the soup into broiler proof bowls, then top each with a piece of cocktail rye bread and a good amount of Gruyere or other very rich cheese. Finish the soup under the broiler just long enough for the cheese to melt, then sprinkle fresh thyme leaves over the cheese and serve hot. By just slowing down the onion cooking process, and bumping up the level of ingredients, you have moved from ordinary to extraordinary with this formerly simple soup.

Soup can be a simple, classic, even humble meal. Or, you can tweak the preparation and ingredients and turn just about any simple soup into something quite special. Try these ideas, and the next time you call “soup's on,” watch the surprise, and delight, on the faces around your table!


Find More Delicious Soup Recipes Here:
  

Recipe: Tangy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder

If your kids love cheese (and who doesn't?), this creamy, cheesy soup will win them over - and get them to eat their broccoli! Not only that, but the adults will love it too. Packed with plenty of flavor and nutrients, this is a warming, tasty soup that will fill you up on a frosty evening - or pretty much anytime. :-)

Serve with some whole grain crackers or whole grain bread and butter for a healthy lunch, or a light supper.

Tangy Broccoli Cheddar Chowder
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

(Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

2 Tbsps olive oil
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 large gold potato, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, grated
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
6 cups chopped fresh broccoli, florettes and tender stems included
1 to 2 cups grated medium-sharp to sharp Cheddar cheese
2 tsps Dijon mustard

Directions:

• Get out a soup pot, add the olive oil and onion, and put over medium heat; cook until onions soften slightly.
• Add the diced potato and cook, stirring, until the potato softens, then add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, stirring constantly.
• Pour in the broth and bring mixture to a boil, then add the broccoli, stir, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer broccoli until just tender.
• Remove the pot from the heat and let soup cool slightly.
• Ladle soup into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, doing this in batches if you have to, removing each blended batch to a clean soup pot.
• When all the soup is blended, put pot on medium heat and bring temperature back up until it is hot, but not boiling. 
• Now, slowly add in the cheese, stirring until melted. Add as much cheese as you like, then stir in the Dijon mustard. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed.
• Ladle into bowls and serve hot.

Recipe: Green Bean Parmesan Soup

 If you have trouble getting your kids to eat their vegetables, try this creamy soup. It's tasty, super simple to make, and creamy and cheesy so even the kids will eat it! If they object to the color, just tell them it's what "The Hulk" eats for breakfast. :-)


Smooth Moves Green Bean Parmesan Soup
(Makes 4 servings.)

Ingredients:

8 oz fresh young green beans, trimmed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, grated
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup cream or half-and-half
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large soup pot, add the beans and olive oil, place over medium-high heat and stir until beans start to soften; about 3 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium and add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.
• Add the stock and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until the beans are tender.
• Let cool slightly, then put into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
• Return the soup to the pot over low heat and stir until heated through again.
• Add the Parmesan cheese and cream and stir until cheese melts.
• Taste and add salt and pepper as needed; serve hot.

How to Create Healthy Harvest Soups Even Kids Will Love

Digging into a big pot of hearty vegetable soup might seem like the perfect meal to end a busy day, but not necessarily of you're a kid. It seems a kid's taste in soup is often limited to chicken noodle soup out of a can. When it comes to serving healthier soups, kids don't always appreciate your delicious creations.

Feeding kids a healthier bowl of soup can be tricky since most nutritious soups have a fair amount of vegetables in them. And picky kids tend to turn their noses up at vegetables, so it's pretty hard to get them to even try a bowl of soup that contains more than broth and noodles. Let's take a look at a few tricks to create a nutritious soup loaded with nutrients that even the fussiest kids will try.

Ranch Style Soup

As most parents know, dipping vegetables in creamy Ranch style dressing usually results in the kids ingesting at least some nutrition. Why not use this trick to serve a whole bowl of soup filled with vegetables? Cook up a batch of broccoli, for instance, then throw it in the blender and puree it until smooth. Now, sprinkle in a little bit of dry Ranch style dip seasoning and some milk, and puree again. Crush some whole wheat crackers into the bowl for a bit of crunch. Your kid may think they are eating a whole bowl of Ranch style dressing, but you know better. This trick works with any vegetable you can puree. However, if you prefer a chunky soup, just simmer chopped vegetables in broth until tender, then add Ranch style seasoning, milk, and stir. It's the flavor of the seasoning that will grab, and keep, a kid's attention.

Vegetable Noodle Soup

(Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

If chicken noodle soup out of a can is the only soup your child will even consider eating, why not give in – sort of.  To make the leap to a more nutritious option, begin by making chicken broth at home with lots of fresh garden vegetables. Simmer a variety of vegetables to get the most nutrients you can right in the broth itself. Use carrots, celery, onion, parsnips, kale, turnips, collard greens, broccoli, cauliflower, peas, zucchini, yellow squash, beans, corn, sweet potatoes, and anything else you can pull or dig out of the garden. Simmer these vegetables until they are completely soft, then strain and set the solids aside to puree later for another soup. Use the super-vegetable broth to make a more nutritious chicken noodle soup. Add even more nutrition by choosing whole wheat, spinach, or sun-dried tomato noodles. Your child gets the beloved chicken noodle soup, and you get the satisfaction of knowing it's loaded with nutrition.

Sweet Surprise Soup

Take a dessert or sweet side dish and turn it into soup. Pumpkin is a good example of a vegetable that most kids equate with dessert. Use plain canned pumpkin and flavor with spices and a pinch of sugar to taste. Or, you can dice a cooking (sugar) pumpkin and simmer until tender, then puree until smooth. Add a swirl of heavy cream to the top of the bowl for a pretty soup presentation, and sprinkle with cinnamon or allspice. You can also use sweet potatoes in the same way, mimicking a sweet potato casserole. Add a generous sprinkling of crushed pecans to complete this nutritious soup that also happens to be just sweet enough to please a picky eater.

Look at your kids' eating habits right now. No matter what they like to eat, you can usually find a way to re-create those eating habits into new healthier habits. It takes a bit of imagination and, let's admit it, a bit of trickery, but it's all worth it. Soon you'll be feeding your kids healthy soups they will actually eat, and enjoy!

Recipe: Smooth & Creamy Root Vegetable Soup

They go together like....carrots & parsnips?  This perfect pairing is packed with earthy fall flavors and healthy antioxidants - plus it's super simple and simply delicious! With just a few simple ingredients, you can make a creamy and tasty fall soup that goes great on the side with a fall veggie salad or sandwich.

Smooth & Creamy Root Vegetable Soup
(Serves 2-4.)

(Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

Ingredients:

3 medium size carrots
3 medium size parsnips
6 cups vegetable broth
kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 tsp marjoram or 1/4 tsp thyme

Directions:

• Peel and dice the carrots and parsnips, then put in a big soup pot with the vegetable broth; add salt and pepper to taste.
• Turn heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until vegetables are very tender.
• Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
• Ladle the mixture from the pot into a blender and puree until smooth. Add only enough cooking liquid as you need to make the soup a nice consistency, to your liking. Return the puree to a soup pot, stir in the lemon juice and herbs, then put over low heat and bring back up to temperature and serve hot.

Recipe: Turkey Cabbage Soup

This is a warm, brothy soup that will hit the spot on a cold day! Simple and easy to make, yet tasty and satisfying, this is also a good one if you're feeling a little under the weather. Turkey and fresh veggies make this the perfect healthy and delicious fall soup.

Turkey Cabbage Soup
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
2 celery stalks, diced small
1 medium size yellow onion, diced
1 can (15 oz) petite diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 medium head cabbage, shredded fine

Directions:

• Put oil and turkey in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Cook the turkey until no longer pink, breaking into pieces as you stir.
• Add the celery, onion, tomatoes, and broth to the pot, stir, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low.
• Add the cabbage, cover pot and simmer slowly for about 15 to 20 minutes or until cabbage is tender.
• Serve hot with crusty bread.

Create Quick Harvest Soups With These Kitchen Staples

Have you ever had a quick and easy soup recipe become slow and difficult? It's usually not that the recipe is more complicated than you thought, but that the kitchen is missing a few ingredients. Yes, those simple soup recipes are often written by folks who assume the cook has prepared their kitchen with the basics. But unfortunately, too many of us have not.

In order to make simple recipes work, there are some basic ingredients you'll need to keep in your kitchen. Let's take a look at kitchen staples that will help you speed through any simple soup  recipe and make it even simpler.

Broth

(Image courtesy of Apolonia via FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

This ingredient seems almost like a given, but some cooks still have not gotten used to having chicken, vegetable, or beef broth on hand at all times. You can, of course, get by with water as a base for your simple soup recipe, but broth adds so much flavor it would be a shame not to take advantage of this kitchen staple. You can buy canned or boxed broth, but you may want to make your own to save money - it's so easy to make, and it tastes better too! Plan a day to simmer chicken, vegetables, or a beef bone for hours and you'll have a rich broth ready when you are. Then cool, strain into freezer-safe containers, and freeze until needed.  If standing over a pot doesn't thrill you, just throw the ingredients in your crockpot and let it cook all day. Either way, creating big quantities of broth and having it in the freezer is a big help when it comes time to make your quick soups and stews.

Chopped Vegetables

Soup making time can be cut drastically when you prepare at least some of the vegetables ahead of time and store them. These vegetables would include the ones we use most often as the basis for any soup – onion, celery, carrots, etc. As soon as you get home from the grocery store, wash and dice these vegetables, then store separately in zipper food bags either in the refrigerator or in the freezer. Then, when the recipe calls for the standard “saute onion, celery, and carrots” step, you are ahead of the game. Stopping to chop these basic vegetables takes time, which is something we are trying to avoid by making simple soups to begin with. This is a kitchen staple everyone needs to keep on hand. If you're harvesting them from your garden and you have a lot of them, you can also dice and freeze in freezer bags for winter.

Seasoning Blends

It doesn't matter what the blend is, having a favorite pre-mixed seasoning blend of any kind or flavor helps the busy cook with the creative process. Instead of stopping to search, measure, or think about substitutions, grab a seasoning blend you like and sprinkle it in the soup. It's like decorating a house; if you buy the styles you like, the house will look nicely decorated. That's because we all tend to lean toward the same styles over and over, making the house unified and pleasing to your taste. Likes and dislikes in flavors and seasonings are the same. Use seasonings you find tasty and your soup will please you, too. Once you find a seasoning blend you like, or several blends you like, stock up - or make your own. Now when you are following a recipe that has a list of spices as long as your arm, you can skip the frustration and grab your favorite seasoning blend and move on.

Any Starch

A quick and easy soup recipe can sometimes be on the watery side. Part of this may be because there just isn't a lot of cooking time involved, or a lot of ingredients, or both. Some recipes solve this by turning the soup into a blender to puree. This works just fine, but there are soup recipes you might want to serve chunky. Keep potatoes, pasta, and rice on hand to add body to your soup. These starches will thicken the broth without adding a lot of extra work. Both pasta and rice can be added to the soup raw or cooked, but raw will provide a little more thickening power.

These kitchen staples are particularly helpful when making simple soup recipes. Be sure to have the basics on hand in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer and you can have your soup on the table quickly and easily, just like the recipe says!

Recipe: Hearty Root Vegetable Stew

This recipe is the essence of fall in a pot! It makes a great side dish, or a vegetarian main dish, and is a quick and simple way to use up some of those fall and winter root veggies you just harvested.

Serve hot, with crusty bread and a fall salad like the one we shared on Wednesday, and you'll have a perfect meal for a cool fall evening!

Hearty Root Vegetable Stew
(Serves 4-6.)

Ingredients:

1 sweet potato
1 white potato
1 small rutabaga
2 onions
3 parsnips
4 regular carrots
6 cups vegetable broth
Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Peel and dice all the vegetables, then add to a big soup pot with the vegetable broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Put pot over medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, lightly cover the pot and simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are fork tender, then serve hot.
• You may put this soup in the blender and puree for a creamy soup instead of a chunky soup, if you wish. Sprinkle chopped fresh flat leaf parsley on top of each serving if you wish.

Recipe: Red Cabbage Salad With Broiled Butternut Squash & Pear

Think the start of fall means salad season is over? Think again! Fall is a great time to rethink salads. Instead of tomatoes and cucumbers, instead, think beets, cabbage, and squash. Add apples or pears, and some toasted nuts, and you have a hearty, gorgeous, healthy fall salad like this one!

Red Cabbage Salad Tossed With Broiled Butternut Squash & Pear

Ingredients:

1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound)
2 firm ripe pears, washed
1 Tbsp butter, melted
3 cups finely chopped red cabbage
1 small Granny Smith apple, chopped
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup raspberry or regular vinaigrette dressing

Directions:

• Get out broiler pan and spray with cooking oil.
• Peel the squash, cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and discard.  Cut squash into 1/2 inch slices, crosswise.
• Cut pears in half lengthwise, then into 8 wedges, then cut out core and seeds from wedges.
• Brush squash and pears with melted butter.
• Preheat broiler. 
• Place squash on broiler pan; place pan on rack about 3 inches from heat and broil for 3 minutes, remove from oven and turn each piece over.
• Now add the pears to the broiler pan; put on rack and broil 3 more minutes or until squash is tender and pears are hot.
• Place chopped red cabbage on a large platter or salad bowl.
• Top with hot squash and pears.
• Add chopped apple and walnuts, then drizzle vinaigrette dressing evenly over entire salad.
• Toss and serve immediately.

Fast & Fresh Meals From Your Garden

Planting a vegetable garden is work – often a lot of work. Depending on the scale of your operation, you'll probably have your hands full during the growing season. What with planning, tilling, planting, weeding, watering, and more weeding, and more watering, there doesn't seem to be much time left over to relax and enjoy the results!

After all that work, when it's time to harvest, you want to get to the eating part fast! Let's look at a few ideas for dishes you can quickly prepare from both your summer garden and your fall garden.

Summer Garden Soups

You don't have to wait for the fall harvest to create soups! The summer garden provides ample opportunity to serve up big pots of satisfying soups. Cold soups are a great time saver, and so delicious and refreshing after a hot day spent in the garden. Pick ripe tomatoes, cucumbers, and green onions and you have the basis for a cold soup such as gazpacho. Blended sweet pea soup is another favorite. Get out your blender, or invest in an immersion blender, and throw your summer vegetables in to make creamy cold soups that are filling and ready in minutes.

Summer Garden Salads

(Image courtesy of Apolonia at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

Of course, salad ingredients are there for the picking right under your nose. But, don't forget some of the less obvious choices in your garden. Pea vines are becoming very popular in salads. They have a very delicate flavor and are so economical, and prolific! Also, those zucchini don't have to get gigantic before you can eat them. Pick tiny zucchini, and the blossoms, too, and use them in salads for a delicious and pretty addition to your meals. Walk around your summer garden and you'll find tender greens, blossoms, and all sorts of young sprouts to quickly pluck and add to your salad; ingredients like baby broccoli buds, tiny beets clinging to their tender greens, and itsy-bitsy radishes. Just wash them up and toss them into a salad. Cucumbers can also be the star of a salad, not just a bit player. A big bowl of young cucumbers, sliced and marinated with fresh herbs, vinegar, and olive oil is a wonderful treat on a hot summer day! Or try my favorite - dice a few ripe tomatoes and crunchy cucumbers, toss with fresh, snipped dill, olive oil, and balsamic or red wine vinegar, then sprinkle on some crumbled feta cheese and sliced black olives. I could eat this every day!

Fall Garden Soups

When the season changes and nights start getting colder, you need a nice bowl of hot soup to finish off the day. But, you don't have to stand in front of the stove for hours to make a soup that's satisfying. When the vegetables are right out of the garden, the flavors will do the magic without hours of cooking. Harvest an armful of squash, onions, beans, carrots, rutabaga, potatoes, and any other vegetables you can pick or dig, then scrub and dice them. The trick here is to roast them for a few minutes to sweeten and intensify the flavor, then throw them in a big pot with water or broth and simmer for just a few minutes. When the vegetables are tender, it's time to dig in. It's delicious simplicity at its best!

(Image courtesy of Apolonia at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

Fall Garden Salads

It may seem like summer is the time for salads, but not when you have such lovely fresh fall vegetables to choose from! For a delightful cold salad, cut beets in half and roast them just until knife tender, then peel them, dice them and refrigerate. Once they are cold, toss the beets in a bowl with chopped onion, vinegar or salad dressing, then top with some crumbled goat cheese or feta cheese. Any fall vegetable such as squash, sweet potatoes, or even pumpkin can be diced and roasted and then tossed with tangy oil and vinegar dressing for a filling salad. If you have the end of the season tomatoes still hanging on, you can blend those, strain the juice, and create lovely creamy dressings. And check your pepper plants! You may be surprised with a few that have turned a gorgeous red color and are just waiting to be chopped up and tossed in with a big bowl of shredded cabbage.

Walk around your garden any season and think about what you could do with your harvest without spending a lot of time in the kitchen. It's really quite easy to turn your fresh produce into delicious soups and salads without fussing with lots of ingredients or preparation. A well tended garden will always provide satisfying meals in minutes – all it needs is your imagination!

Recipe: White Chicken Chili

It's hard to believe it's October already, but fall is definitely in the air - and you know what that means! Chili!  :-)  Fall is my favorite time of year for cooking - with tons of fresh ingredients still coming in from the garden, and cool fall nights perfect for hearty soups and stews.  It's the best of all worlds, when it comes to cooking up good food!

This recipe is a great one for a cool fall evening - packed with tasty flavors of spices and chilies, along with chicken and white beans to satisfy your hunger. You can also cook dry white beans for this instead of using canned - soak 2 cups white beans overnight in cold water, drain, rinse, and cook for about 45 minutes before adding to the rest of the ingredients.

White Chicken Chili

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 can green chilies, drained and minced
4 cans white beans
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken meat, shredded
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

• Add olive oil, onion and garlic to large, unheated soup pot or dutch oven. Turn to medium heat and sauté onion and garlic until soft (about 10 - 15 minutes).
• Add cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper and stir well. Add green chilies, chicken broth, shredded chicken, and 2.5 cans of beans, rinsed and drained. Simmer uncovered 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, puree remaining 1.5 cans of rinsed and drained beans in blender or food processor, along with 1/2 cup of water or chicken broth. 
• Add to soup to thicken. Simmer 5 more minutes. 
• Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted. 
• Serve warm with crusty french bread.