Comfort food for a cold winter's night!

I think we are all supposed to see a little of the "white stuff" tonight... the first for us here. It has been raining all morning, but as I write this, it is beginning to mix with snow. Dave did a Voting Booth on this topic not so long ago, but I though we would start our own thread, with recipes of course!

I love to make soups in the winter, and our all time favorite is Chicken Corn Chowder! I have finally tweaked this recipe until it is perfect for our family! As you can see in the recipe, seasoning is in the hands of the cook... I use salt, pepper, garlic, and adobo.

Give us your recipes... and enjoy! Stay warm and safe this weekend!

Picture is "Bonkers - The Crazy Snowman" by McKack... courtesy of freeart.com
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Chicken Corn Chowder

2 Tblsp. butter or margarine
1 c. chopped celery
1 c. chopped carrot
1 c. whole kernal sweet corn, drained (I use an 11oz. can of Green Giant Niblets)
1/2 c. chopped onion
1 4oz. can chopped green chiles, drained (I use mild)
1 12.5oz. can of chicken, does not have to be drained (I use white meat only)
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 32oz. container of chicken broth
1 15oz. can cream style corn
1 10oz. cream of potato soup
1 8oz. container cream cheese
Season to taste

I start by sauteing the celery, carrot, onion, and chiles in the 2 Tblsp of margarine, just to make them tender... maybe 10-15 min. Probably not necessary, since you bring it all to a boil and simmer later on, but that's how I do it. I season at this point with some garlic powder, adobo, salt and pepper, and the 1/4 c. brown sugar. I add the cup of corn and the chicken at the end of this saute. Next, add the container of chicken broth, and bring it all to a simmer. Simmer on low about 10-15 minutes. Add the cream corn and the cream of potato soup, stirring in well. Bring back to simmer. Add the container of cream cheese. Break the cheese into smaller pieces and stir frequently until the cheese is all melted into the soup. Turn off the heat and let sit for about 15 minutes. Stir well and serve!

Sounds good VWR. Soup has been a big part of my winter menu for years. I don't really stick with any recipes. I just open the cabinets, refrigerators and freezers and start cooking. Lots of times what I make is determined by a sale at the market on mushrooms, asparagus, clams, etc.

Last spring a friend gave me a giant ham. I cut it into almost 18 one lb portions and froze it. There will be lots of split pea and bean soups around here this winter.

I'm also a big fan of all of the Minestrone variations. They are truly the result of whatever produce is on hand. I'll often raid the marked down produce at the market to make a pot.

Rose,

Mmmmmm soup. Whenever I see recipes for soup I immediately want to go make some and once you've made a pot of soup or chowder or stew you're hooked. Suddenly you start seeing every tiny bit of leftover veg or meat as deserving of a soup all its own. I've put small pieces of Parmesan or Assiago cheese in my soup but never thought of using a container of cream cheese. I have a half container of Philadelphia Brand in my frigie right now.

Stormy,

Ham and split pea.....like an aphrodisiac! When you make Minestone, at what point do you put the pasta in and do you generally use elbows or Penne or what?

Pam, I also save the cheese rinds, and really hard pieces and put them in for flavor, then fish them out at the end with the bay leaves.

Pam, with the pasta, I try to use whole wheat pasta, so I usually end up with tiny elbows or tiny shells. If I'm going to serve a lot of the soup right away, I'll add half of the pasta about a half an hour before serving. I do this with canned beans too. The other half of the pasta, I will slightly cook and keep in a separate container and then add before warming the left over soup. I may take it to work for 4 or 5 days for lunch & don't want mushy pasta and beans I'll add them to the container before I leave for work.

If I use white pasta, I use Ditalini.

My thanksgiving turkey soup was kind of a turkey minestrone. I have read minestrone in Cooks Illustrated which called for putting the Parm rind in for plavor; the pasta e fagioli I had recently must have had some Parm in it; YUM.

Easy (but not low sodium!) Bean Soup
3 TB instant minced onion
2 tsp beef bouillon granules
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules
scant half-teaspoon garlic powder
scant half-teaspoon chili powder
scant half-teaspoon basil leaves
1 tsp parsley
can of diced tomatos

This seasons about two cups of beans/ three quart pot.. A pound bag of beans is just over two cups. Put these seasonings in a pot with water and beans, simmer a couple hours till tender, adding a can of diced tomatos when beans are near tender.

Some years I make jars of layered different dry beans and then a small bag in the top of the jar with the seasonings, and attach the recipe. Include black eyed peas and call it good luck for New Years Eve.

Sounds good, Sally. A lot of the stores that sell Artisan cheeses sell the cheese rinds in those deli pint containers. They usually charge about a dollar for a container, and it will last me an entire soup season. If they haven't been aged and dried enough, they can get mouldy.

Wonder if you could freeze them or dry them yourself, if they're just going to flavor soup-? Good tip for cheap gourmet!

We have some chili lovers here too. I now add barley for the last hour of simmer. I think 1/4 cup for a three quart pot..It thickens it and is nice and chewy. I used Morningstar Grillers instead of ground beef in some chili, and while nobody noticed the difference, it did sort of stick in bottom of the pot.

Sally, i use Barley in lots of soups. Also, now a lot of places have come down in price on some of the ancient grains, so I mix them together and add to the soups, particularly the spelt, quinoa, bulghur and millett.

I've tried drying the rinds myself, but they get mouldy. I have frozen some. Usually this time a year, I have a lot of them from get togethers. The dryer the cheese, like a cheese meant for grating, the less likely for mould to grow.

Those grains, are a whole nother thing to learn about. Do they all cook up in soup about the same? Some are just different types of wheat plants. I have a bag of sorghum grain in my cupboard to try out. It cooks like barley, acc to one recipe on the back. I strolled down one aisle in the big Korean market, and thought I was in a nursery!! All kinds of plant parts, things we know as ornamental!

Sally, some are gummier, like the rices are. Arborio is very gummy as you may know if you enjoy Risotto. Some are tougher like Bulgher, which needs a long soak or cook time. But I don't worry about that too much as my soups usually hang around a while either in the fridge or freezer. The fibers break down as they sit. If they absorb too much liquid, I just add some.

I use a lot of Buckwheat too. I love the Jewish dish of Kasha & Bowties. If you are looking for a clear broth soup, avoid the gummies. For a creamier, thicker soup, add them or Buckwheat or Barley. Adjust your other thickeners as the grain starches and also bean starches will mitigate the need for a lot of them.

Thx.
Last night I made a skillet chicken-gravy dish with broth from a roasted chicken, boneless breasts (They had none on bone, everything is going towards quick cook and less waste at home, Cut up squash pieces for 3-4 times the cost of a whole per pound). Those leftovers will be a great start on some chicken-corn chowder type soup.

Mmmmm... is right! You all are making me hungry again! Stormla... I started out my chicken corn chowder without a recipe... just adding this and that to taste and knowing what I needed from the grocery store. Then someone that had tried it wanted the recipe, so I had to go home and make it again and write everything down! LOL!

I also tweaked a really good chicken and wild rice soup the same way... I start out with the first nine ingredients as the CCC, except the chiles, letting that simmer up good, then I add a box of Uncle Ben's Original Long Grain and Wild Rice. If you don't want the soup to be too thick you can add some extra broth or water. Also very good!

Wanted to add that I have never done a bean soup at home, though I lke it.
What is the best bean to use in soups, or "all the above"?

VWR, All of the above. LOL

The small white Navy beans make a good soup, so do the large Great White Northerns, AKA Cannelini. Sometimes I use one of those bags of dried mixed beans. I often add some of those to Minnestrone or Vegetable soups. I under cook them as I like the beans somewhat firm. Again, as they sit, the flavors congeal and the bean fibers start to break down. I hate, when I nuke them for lunch, if the beans turn to mush.

VWR, I'm amazed that you could duplicate the recipe. Mine are rarely ever the same twice as usually the fridge rarely holds the same "Treasures". Do you leave the chilies in the chowder, or remove them at the end?

Stormy, I like using the mixed beans once in awhile. What I just love to use in soups are the Royal Blend Wholegrain Rices, especially the barley and brown rice. I really like it when you get the rice just poofed and not cooked to death.
Rose, in a pinch I've used the Bear Creek soup mixes when needed. I've made their Navy Bean with a # of fried bacon ends and a bag of Birdseye soup veggies and got compliments as though I'd really worked at it. LOL Ric

Ric, I'm not familiar with the Royal Blend rices. Do you get them in the Supermarket or specialty stores? I always keep a few of those upscale soup mixes on hand.

Sunday is usually my soup making day. If I'm out on a Sunday, those mixes, with the addition of a few chopped fresh veggies, turn out pretty tasty. I just try to be careful with their sodium content. I use Salt Pork, or bacon or sometimes Pancetta in the bean soups along with the ham. Those smoky flavors really enhance the soup.

Rose..............I never or very seldom found a chowder I did not like. This one taught me a new trick. I have never been aware of cream cheeze as a player. I must say I like what it does for your chowder. I used saved chicken and real chicken stock. I chickened out and did not use the chilies. There is no gall bladder in my body to deal with high spices. Instead I used a hot sauce I know about but still only used two or three drops. Cheated on my food control. Your chowder was a very good share.

I was introduced to fish head chowder at a black church Cub Scout Dinner in the Norfolk area. That one had some git up and go spices. Loved it then with a gall bladder to support such eatings.

I chickened out....... Doc, you crack me up!

When I do my bean soup mix, I have used a variety, whatever is pretty. Pretty much they all cook the same. But if you put too many black beans in, you get black bean soup. So if you like it pale, like the white bean soup my mom makes, no tomatos, don't use too many pink,red kidney, or black beans. A few of those make it more interesting to look at. Black eyed peas seem to have a harder 'texture".

Stormy, I fell for the Royal Blends a few years ago, I've seen them in a number of chain stores, maybe even, I'm ashamed to admit Wal Mart. I often steam them up with a veggie and butter sauce as part of the entree. Look for a 32oz, squarish plastic canister with a blue, brown and maybe red lid. Right next to the Carolina Rice, usually. As for the Bear Creek, they are hit or miss and I don't have any here to check the sodium content.
Well this thread did it! I had to make some chicken, brown rice and barley soup. Even went traditional making an EVO, onion, and flour rue to brown my chopped up chicken breast with caraway, cumin and celery seed. Simmered with 3 cups of stock, 11/2 cups of the barley rice and 1/2 cup of Reese's wild rice for 45 mins. Of course fresh soup requires something fresh from the oven, so the leftover crescent rolls found their way to a cookie sheet. LOL Ric
If anyone wants a taste stop over, there's some left.

Bean hole cooking was an early hunter and trappers continued use of a cast iron Dutch Oven. A hole was dug, live coals were tossed in under and all around the pot. If a critter tried to dig it up it got a hot foot or a burnt nose. Old writings call for salt pork, smoked pork or ham knuckles and beans. This pot never cooled it simmered 24/7. Each evening after the meal it was put back in the hole. When it was packed into the hole again any wild seed collected the day before went in. A whole rabbit might be added and considered a meal worthy of mention in the daily diary. The pot never went dry except when breaking camp to move or go home.

Doc, Our Boy Scout Troop has a notorious pot of chile that's been going to winter camp for years. At the end of the weekend it never seems to be empty, so someone takes it home and freezes it. I think it was like 3-4 years old the year I got the pleasure of bringing it home for the season. The year I got it though the pot was thoroughly scrubbed, and the leftovers were frozen in Tupperware.LOL Yes, the frozen beans get mushy by there Boy Scouts for cryin' out loud!
My own chile on the other hand is usually a 5 bean with corn, and 4 alarms! Ric

Geese............I'm forever catching the very devil for simmering a pot over night into the next day. I really like beef and home made thick chewy pot pie the second and the third day of working. In my opinion there never was a stew or soup that was not better the second day than the first. Our grandmothers always had a pot of something going on the wood stove. Sometimes she carried it to the fields for lunch. The horses needed that rest too rather than going to the house for lunch.

Doc, Maybe this was the forerunner of the crockpot!

Stormyla... the chiles I use is a small can of mild chopped green chiles such as Ortega or Old El Paso, so yes... I leave them in. As for chickening out docgipe, it really only adds to the flavor and very little heat. I am glad you tried it and liked it though! We can't get more than two meals out of a pot 'cause we keep going back for more when it is first cooked!

Rose, I never tried those. Maybe I'll get brave and do that. It's hard to remember that families often don't have a lot of leftovers. A lot of times it's just me eating the entire pot of soup. I'll freeze half of it right away, so I don't have to eat it for so long that I really get tired of it.

Family??? That's just me and hubby eating it! LOLOLOL!!!!

LOL!

doc, I like your traditional stories. I read some western book once, it seemed the only thing the guy lived off was beans, and maybe it was pretty much true! and I couldn't figure how he got them cooked, except what you say makes sense.

family VS one or two, LOL, me too, I can hardly get one serving leftover! Next hambone I have better go in the big pasta pot with 2 pounds of beans.

Occasionly a cast iron cook pot will be unearthed even to this day by treasure hunters right where the hunter or trapper left it. That's pretty rare now. Those burried pots were easy to find. There are gazillions of the modern day treasure hunters. Only a few pots were left in the ground by someone who did not return. In order to find a left pot one would have to be looking at the home base of someone who died for some reason. There was an unspoken code of ethics. The same hunter or trapper would use the same base camps year after year. Most of those territorial claims were honored. When they were not honored is when a pot might have been left by someone who did not make it back to camp. A second recorded reason was when game moved as seasons changed. A third reason was a guy getting caught theiving hides or meat while the owner was out hunting or trapping.

I made a pot of jambalya last night - it sure was good. Chicken, Spicy Sausage, Shrimp, Peppers, Onion, Rice, Stewed Tomatoes, Chicken Broth, and spices.

Approx Amounts:
Chicken - two packs of boneless chicken breasts (cut up in cubes)
Sausage - one pack of hot italian sausage (remove casings and cut up in cubes)
Shrimp - about 1 lb
Peppers - 1 ea red, yellow, orange (diced)
Onion - about 1/2 sweet vidalia (diced)
Rice - 1 1/2 cups (uncooked)
Spices - 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
Stewed Tomatoes - 2 cans
Chicken Broth - 2 cans

General Directions:
Heat 1 Tbs Olive Oil in Stock Pot
Saute chicken, sausage, peppers, and onion for about 5 minutes
Add rice and spices, Saute for 3 minutes
Add 1 cup of water, chicken broth, and stewed tomatoes, bring to boiling, cover and simmer for 15 minutes
Add shrimp and a dash of hot sauce, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes until shrimp is cooked

Recipe cooking time is less than 30 minutes, but the longer it simmers, the thicker it gets - Also better the next day!

We don't have a chilli or hot pepper in the house because my body will not handle them. We sometimes use very small amounts of hot sauce. I find the silly and sometimes onery labeled hot sauces in the Western airport tourist traps. Here I am not even permitted to quote the subject of some of those labels. They go over big time in our hunting camp.

More comfort on the way. I just finished brasing a 3# boneless rump roast and preping it for the oven, it already smells good. Mixed up some cold water, flour, cracked pepper,sea salt, dried mushrooms, thyme, and red wine for it to drip in with a med.chopped onion. In a couple of hours I'll throw in a # on baby peeled carrots and quatered "jacket on" taters. I just have to make more rolls!LOL Ric

Plain ol' beef pot roast tonight... chuck roast on sale this past weekend. Been sick the past couple of days and didn't feel up to being in the kitchen much.

Chuck roast in the crock pot.... salt, pepper, and a teensy bit of garlic... nothin' fancy tonight. Set on 8 hours low. Added redskin potoatoes, vidalia onion, and baby carrots about half-way through. Had to have biscuits with mine, cause that's how I grew up... pouring the beef broth over hot biscuits. Talk about comfort!

This message was edited Dec 8, 2009 9:39 PM

They both sound great to me.

Rose, Wanna swap leftovers??? LOL Ric

All your recipes are making me hungry! LOL I attended a Christmas party for the local Herb Guild on Monday night and there were 15 crock pots with an assortment of soups - Lentil, Brunswick Stew, Squash Garlic, Carrot Ginger, Chicken Spinach with Pesto, etc., etc. - YUMMY! Kitchen has been out of commission for the past week (new ceramic tile being installed) and after a full weekend of cleaning I'm anxious to try a few of your recipes and also find recipes for some of those the Herb Guild ladies made.

Doc, your comment brings back fond memories of my childhood :) Every summer my grandfather spent endless hours preparing his "bean hole beans" for a family reunion. I haven't been able to bake a "good" pot of beans since moving south because I can't find salt pork!!

This is an easy and quick way to cook a roast passed down from my mother - one of our "comfort foods" and essential for what I consider myself - a LAZY cook! LOL

A beef roast - I stock up on anything that's on sale and keep them in the freezer :)
Lipton Beefy Onion Soup
It's not even necessary to thaw the roast, just place it frozen in the crock pot and add water and pepper (there's enough salt in the soup mix!)
When it reaches the boiling point, turn to low and simmer all day. Late afternoon add potatoes, onions, celery and carrots and in an hour - Voila! Sometimes I also add Barley or wild rice but most of the time I'm just lazy :)

yum, debbie, I have had some satisfied customers with Beefy Onion stew too!
I have found salt pork around new years for hoppin john, in small maybe half pound vacuum sealed packs- maybe its stocked only seasonally, or I just have more salt pork users up here?? Had to look carefully, there weren't many. One store had a huge overflow of pork shoulder after Thanksgiving--I guess they expected a big run on that. Tee hee, I seasoned it, wrapped in foil in a roaster, baked four+ hours slow and browned at the end. MM mm. Two complete dinners, family of five, 6 bucks.

That's very strange about the salt pork. It seems to be sold everywhere. I'm sure that it's used in cooking in Memphis, Atlanta & New Orleans. I know friends in those cities who cook their greens in it. It's a staple in my kitchen.

My boss bought a 1/2 beef this fall and his wife asked me if I wanted the soup bones. She gave me a whole bag of them, individually vacuumed sealed. Took to out of the freezer today and cooked up a pot of beef barley soup, while I made Chocolate Chip Cookies.
The warmest spot in the house was the kitchen today. LOL

Doc, I really enjoy your posts. Hubby and I were just talking about our early child hood, coal furnace, Saturday Night baths in the warm kitchen in a galvanized tub. Root cellers. This younger generation just look at us like "You got to be kidding ! "