Soups, Stews, & Chili

 Here is a great way to use up extra turkey.  We loved this soup for a light dinner or a substantial lunch.  Some crusty garlic bread rounds out the meal delightfully.

 Although my garden didn’t produce a single zucchini this summer, I did pick my own mint and cilantro to put in this soup.  Maybe next year.  In the mean time, I love this hearty and healthy soup for lunch and/or dinner.

This made a great staff dinner on a chilly spring evening, and I can picture making it often for the family during the winter.  It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken or turkey.

While visiting my parents in Michigan, I was leafing through my mother’s cookbooks and found this soup recipe.  We had all the ingredients on hand, whipped it up for lunch, and all enjoyed it very much.  I even used skim milk and was pleased, but it would be even better with richer milk.  Just not better for you!

 This hearty soup was a big hit with some of our holiday skiers.  Not only does it warm up your insides, but it also freezes well.  We like to make a big batch and enjoy it often. Serves 6.

This is such a healthy, tasty soup.  We love to have it for a light dinner.  The caraway adds a unique taste.

A truly light and tasty soup!

This recipe came from my Grandmother Anderson, and I’ve been making it for nearly 20 years.  It continues to be a favorite for my family even though it’s bright green and healthy!

I found this recipe in Cooking Light (10-09) and tried it for lunch on a snowy fall day.  Everyone thought it was delicious.  It’s very low fat and full of healthy vegetables.  I had some fresh spinach that wasn’t going to be good enough for a salad, but it was perfect in this soup.

I love serving soups for family dinners, and on this one I often double it so that there will be some left for lunch the next day.

This is a comforting soup that is healthy as well as filling.

I am a big fan of my crock pot.  When I’m making lunch, if I can prepare dinner as well and put it in the crock pot, I can almost take a vacation in the afternoon.  This stew requires no fancy ingredients but produces a wonderful aroma and lots of thumbs up around the dinner table.

This is Hannah’s current favorite soup, and none of the rest of the family complains when she requests it. Sometimes we have it for dinner with warm bread, but it’s really filling for lunch, too. I use smoked Italian turkey sausage when I can find it at the store, and that makes the meal quite low fat and healthy.

It’s not uncommon for me to serve the family soup for dinner a few times a week in the winter or in the summer for that matter.  This new recipe I found in the March 09 issue of Cooking Light got nods of approval all around the table.  It’s a perfect vehicle for left over poultry, pasta, and broccoli.

Here's the soup that goes so well with the tasty Cheese Bread with Spinach Pesto from Julie Andersen’s cooking instructor's book.  This soup and the bread make for a great dinner.