Friday's Recipes: Warming Soups

Love unlocks doors and opens windows that weren't even there before. ~Mignon McLaughlin

I've been fixing soups and stews to take off the chill here in the Michigan. We had wind chills below 0 degrees this week! Try a few of these recipes for your family, and keep warm.

Slow Cooked Beef Stew

Ingredients:
2 1/2 pounds lean beef-cut into cubes
1 pound baby carrots
2 1/2 potatoes, cut in eighths
2 1/2 sweet onions, sliced thinly
1 (15 oz.) can Italian-style canned, tomatoes, undrained
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2-3 tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. dried thyme, or 1 tsp. fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. dried basil or 1 tsp. fresh, minced

Brown the beef cubes in a large skillet, seasoning with salt and pepper lightly. Place a layer of the vegetables in the crock, and then a layer of the meat. Repeat until it's all layered. Mix the flour and the seasonings together. Sprinkle the mixture over each meat layer. Sprinkle with Worcestershire sauce as well. After layering, pour stewed tomatoes over all,cover and cook on low 10-12 hours. NOTES: I also like to drizzle with herb vinegar in place of the Worcestershire sauce. A good way to prepare this is to cut all the meat and vegetables the night before-placing the vegetables in one plastic bag or bowl and the meat in another. In the morning you assemble and it cooks all day long. A great busy day meal! This could easily be doubled and served for a crowd,or used as leftovers for lunches! Serve with corn bread. I also blend up the tomatoes because my kids don't like "chunky" things in their food.

Southwestern Corn Chowder

Ingredients:
1/2 pound of cubed ham
1 (16 1/2 ounce) can cream style corn
1 11 ounce can whole kernel corn
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
1 cup sour cream, lowfat is fine
1 cup milk, skim, 2% or whole

Combine ham, both kinds of corn and chilies. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture just comes to a boil. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, and stir in the sour cream and milk. Cook 3-4 minutes longer until heated through, stirring occasionally. 6 servings.

Slow Cooked Italian Sausage Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage
1 cup sliced carrots or baby carrots
1 large diced potato
1 garlic clove minced
2 15 ounce cans beef broth
15 can cooked northern or navy beans
14 ounce can diced tomatoes (Italian style is nice)
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 tsp. dried Italian seasoning
1 cup fresh green beans, cut into one inch pieces
Optional: 1 cup chopped cabbage or spinach
Parmesan Cheese

Brown the sausage, and at the end saute the garlic, careful not to scorch. Combine everything in the crockpot except the green beans and cabbage. Cook on low for 7-9 hours. Add the beans, and the cabbage or chopped spinach and cook 30 minutes more. Serve with the Parmesan cheese in bowls. You can also boil some pasta according to instructions and spoon a small amount in the bottom of each bowl, then top with the soup.

On OFL we have more soup recipes to warm you up:
http://www.oldfashionedliving.com/soups.html