Progresso Soups

We have tried quite a few soup brands and we finally decided the soups made by Progresso are the best. They taste like home made, which gives us a quick and rather inexpensive emergency-type meal. The soups by Progresso does not need extra fixing, but I still season them a bit, in my way.

We still haven't tasted all the soup kinds they make, we still have our favorite ones, though. The lentils soup is especially good when served with fresh corn bread.

Soups on Our Menu: Chicken Noodle Soup

Since we like having chicken noodle soup at weekends, I am sharing my way of making the soup.

What you need:

(yield: for two persons)

• 1 chicken breast cut into small pieces,
• 1 bay leaf + dash cracked black pepper,
• some onion - diced,
• a bit of oil to fry the onion,
• a few baby carrots cut into pieces,
• 1 can cream of chicken,
• 1 chicken bouillon cube,
• salt and pepper,
• some pasta,
• some dried parsley.

How to make the soup:

1.  Put the chicken breast pieces into a pot (not a very big one), cover with cold water, add the cracked black pepper and bay leaf. Cook the meat at 4 till it is done (usually it takes about 20 minutes or so).
2. Fry the diced onion for a few minutes (4-5), until it is soft.
3. Add the onion and the carrots to the pot with the cooked chicken pieces.
4. Cook it all till the carrots are soft.
5. Add the cream of chicken to the soup, stir it well and keep on cooking (at 4).
6. Add the bouillon cube, boil the soup. Season with salt and black pepper as you like.
7. Cook the pasta in a separate pot, according to the instructions given on the pasta package.
8. Drain the pasta. Put it into soup bowls, pour the chicken soup over the pasta.
9. Add/pour some dried parsley to each bowl/serving.
10. Serve and enjoy. 😊

Soups on Our Menu: Chicken & Dumplings

Although soups are a nice option to a meat only dinner, I do not cook them often. First of all, a soup does not last long: having had a soup, you rather quickly get hungry again. On the other hand, when we eat a bowl of soup, we are not able to eat any second course then.

There are only a few kinds of soup which we both like (3 or 4?) and which I cook every now and then. I thought I could try to expand our soup menu and look for some new (and maybe worth trying recipes). Every month I am going to make some new stuff and share my soup attempts with you. Since we fancy cuisine of various countries, I wish I could possibly find a variety of good recipes, so that we would have soups more often.

Here is our soup number 1: chicken and dumplings. I am happy to say, I finally managed to find my own way of making it. The soup which I cooked last time was my best ever. Mainly because I discovered the advantages of canned cream soup. Previously I made chicken and dumplings from  scratch - without adding cream chicken soup and, despite my tries and efforts, the results where not equally tasty then.

Chicken and dumplings recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 single chicken breast;
• 1 chicken bouillon cube ;
• 1 can cream chicken soup;
• 1 celery stalk - cut into small pieces;
• 1/2 small onion - chopped;
• 3-4 baby carrots chopped;
• about 1 TBS oil
• salt;
• pepper;
• 1 bay leaf and 3 grains black pepper (to cook the chicken breast);
• water;
• 1/2 - 1 TBS dried parsley;
• 2 flour tortillas cut into square stripes (yes, they make good dumplings!).

What to do with it all:

1. Place chicken breast in a pan (add black pepper grains and a bay leaf), cover the breast with cold water and cook slowly (at 4). Cooking does not last long - the breast is ready when it is no longer pink (inside and outside).
2. Take the chicken breast out of the pot, shred it with a fork, leave it aside on a plate.
3. Add cream chicken soup, chicken bouillon cube to the pan with the water in which the breast was cooked. Stir it and cook till the soup boils again.
4. Heat the oil in a frying pan, put the celery stalk and onion pieces in the pan - cook it for several minutes until the vegetables are soft. Stir frequently.
5. Add celery and onion to the soup.
6. Cook the carrots in a small pot (add some water) until they are soft enough to be added to the soup. Do not cook too long as the carrots will get mushy.
7. Add carrots and chicken pieces to the soup .
8. Season with salt and pepper - as you like.
9. Add dried parsley pieces - mix the soup with a spoon
10. Add tortilla pieces. (usually, after adding tortillas I need to season the soup with a bit more salt - somehow flour tortillas tend to make the soup bland).
11. Simmer the soup for about 15 - 20 minutes and serve.

Bon Appetit!

Cold Winter Front Ideas

Are you enjoying the winter? Maybe you do some winter sports or maybe you prefer watching them on TV only? Whatever you like, you can always enjoy a bowl of nice, hot soup and some sweet dessert.

Our ways to scare the winter away:

good soup

chicken soup & great beef stew

and sweet cinnamon donuts

Olympic donuts experiment results