Yummmm.... Soup!

I LOVE SOUP! Soup, chili, stew, chowder, whatever, it's like the ultimate comfort food to me. I'll be honest, there are some kinds I can live without. I don't like seafood, so that leaves out clam chowder, and I am not a big fan of tomato soup. And unfortunately, most creamy soups aren't my friend. But soup is still one of my favorite meals and starters.

Soup is one of my favorite parts of cool weather. It's only mid October and I've already made chicken noodle (twice), chili, chicken taco chili, beef and vegetable barley, and beef stew. Oh, and I'm in the processes of making Cheesy Vegetable Chowder as we speak. My favorite kinds of soups to make are the kinds where you chop a whole bunch of stuff up, toss it in the pot with some broth, boil, and simmer. It makes the whole house smell heavenly. I am willing to make soups that require more steps, but I do what I can to make the process as simple as possible. I'm going to share some of these tips with you!

Chicken at the Ready

I always try to keep a stash of diced (or shredded) cooked chicken in the freezer. Sometimes this is leftovers from a rotisserie chicken I picked up at the supermarket. Just pick the excess meat off the bones (if you've never done this before, you'll be surprised how much meat is hidden in there!) and put these pieces in a freezer bag and toss in the freezer. Other times this is an extra breast that I didn't need for dinner (why does fresh chicken breasts always come as 3 humongous breasts? I think it's for this express purpose) and then boil or grill, dice and stick in a freezer bag. If I have the foresight, I sometimes toss a whole bunch of frozen chicken breasts in the slow cooker and cook for a few hours, then chop or shred and freeze in one cup batches.

Frozen Celery

I buy celery to use in a dish and end up tossing most of the celery in the trash when it becomes rubbery and gross. After finding the tip on Pinterest about chopping and freezing green onions to have at the ready, I thought, why not do this with celery? It works! It saves money since you're not tossing all that wasted celery and it saves time since you already have the chopped celery ready to go! This celery also comes in handy any other time you need celery to saute for a dish.

Convenience Foods

Because I'm lazy, I use some convenience foods in my soups. I rarely make my own stock (too much work and I go through it like water) and prefer store bought. I hate chopping garlic, and although I'm getting better at using fresh, I like having the jar in the fridge. I also hate chopping onions, and don't really like eating cooked onions, but onions are essential in cooking most things. The are like the king of flavor. So for my chicken soup, I just add a whole (peeled) onion to my soup and remove it just before serving, after squeezing out as much broth as possible.

That's all the tips I have for you now. Happy Soup Season!