The Gluten-Free Homemaker

Since Iris and Shirley both encouraged me to continue with a monthly challenge, I think I will.  I wanted to do a muffin challenge this month, but I need more time to come up with a basic recipe as a guideline.    I realize we just had a soup theme in November, but February is a great time to work on creating soups.  It’s so easy too!

The challenge this month is to create at least one soup, then come here and link to the recipe (or at least what you did) on  March 3rd.  You can start with a recipe if you want to give you basic amounts of ingredients, but get creative.  Soups are great for using up things you have on hand in your pantry or freezer, or for using leftovers.  You could also plan a soup with ingredients that your family enjoys.  At the end of this post are links to some of the soup recipes I have already posted.  Take a look if you need more inspiration.

I cook almost all my soups in my pressure cooker, but a slow cooker as well as the stove top are also good choices.  For that reason, I won’t give any cooking directions here.  Basically you want to make sure all your ingredients are cooked to desired doneness.  In the pressure cooker, I have to cook some vegetables whole because they get done so quickly.  In the crock pot, however, I sometimes precook veggies such as onions because they don’t get done as quickly.  Also, you might choose to use some ingredients that are already cooked.  Rice for example can be added raw and cook in the soup liquid, or you can use leftover rice and add it towards the end.

Here are suggestions for different types of ingredients you can use.  I am not giving amounts because it all depends on how much soup you want to make and how much of each particular ingredient you want to use.

Soups are pretty hard to ruin.  The two main problems I can think of are mushy veggies and lack of flavor.  As for the veggies, you just have to be careful not to overcook them.  As for flavor, make sure you taste it before you serve it, and add more seasoning of needed.  If necessary, put a spice blend on the table for people to add to the soup if they want.  One of my sons puts Old Bay seasoning on almost everything.

This list contains suggestions to get you going.  The possibilities are endless.

Liquid

• water
• chicken broth
• beef broth
• vegetable broth
• seafood broth
• milk
• cream
• milk substitute

Protein

• any meat, poultry, or seafood cut in bite size pieces
• beans, canned or precooked
• cheese, usually added at the end
• whole grains such as quinoa add some protein

Starch

• potatoes
• rice
• pasta
• quinoa
• millet
• corn
• other grain?

Vegetables

• green beans
• broccoli
• carrots
• celery
• zucchini
• onions
• peas
• leeks
• tomatoes

Seasoning/Flavor

• salt & pepper
• basil
• oregano
• curry
• cumin
• Old Bay
• garlic

Some previous soups:





Hamburger Soup










Potato Chowder




 



Creamy Vegetable Soup

Labels: monthly challenge, soup recipes