Tortellini Soup

This is my NEW FAVORITE FOOD! It is beyond delicious AND beyond easy. You can either put it in a crockpot or can cook it on stovetop. I love it’s versatility. I love how it’s delicious the next day for lunch and dinner:) I just love it, OK! You will agree with me in saying it’s your favorite meal as soon as you make it. 

1 lb Jimmy Dean Sausage

16oz package frozen tortellini

1 small package fresh baby spinach

2 cans Italian style diced tomatoes

4 cups or 1 box chicken broth

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

Brown sausage and then put all ingredients into the crockpot or soup pot, chunking up the cream cheese. If using the crockpot, cook on low for 3-4 hours. If doing stovetop, cook on med-low for about an hour or so, until tortellini is tender. ENJOY!!!

* From Little Fellows

Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

This soup is the perfect fall dinner. It's so hearty, yet light. The flavor is to die for and it's easy-peasy to make. It might be my new favorite dish:) If you want to warm up this winter, try this soup.

2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
4 stalks celery, chopped
4 whole large carrots, peeled and cubed
6 cups chicken broth
¾ pounds chicken breasts (cubed)
1 box Uncle Ben's Long Grain And Wild Rice (6 Oz.)
1-½ cups milk

1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper to taste

In large pot, heat butter and olive oil. Sauté onions, celery and carrots on medium low heat for 10 minutes to soften. Season vegetables with salt and pepper.

Pour in chicken broth and cubed raw chicken. Raise temperature to medium high heat to poach chicken in cooking liquid. Once chicken has cooked and become opaque, pour in rice and the seasoning packet that came with the rice. Cover and reduce heat to simmer lightly for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a small bowl, whisk cold milk with flour until smooth. Pour into the soup pot and reduce heat completely to low. Cook 10 minutes or until rice is softened completely and soup has thickened slightly. Taste and season accordingly. Serve hot.

* From Tasty Kitchen

Taco Soup

This is the most perfect meal when you have nothing in the cupboards and no time:) The best part is that you don't sacrifice flavor here. It's the perfect medley of flavors and the ultimate comfort food. I like to serve it with a great recipe of cornbread and a bowl full of tortilla chips. In fact...have you had the Roasted Garlic and Black Bean Tortilla Chips from Tostitos? Buy them, eat them and realize all is well in the world. They're delicious. I like to eat this soup with those chips. Perfection. Enjoy!

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey (I won't lie...I've converted to ground turkey and I'm not turning back! In my opinion though, the only good ground turkey is Foster Farms. It's the moistest, most flavorful and almost melts in your mouth. If you're not a ground turkey fan, ground beef can definitely be substituted here.)
1/2 onion, diced small
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes
1 (11 oz) can Mexicorn
1 (15 oz) can black beans
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1 (15 oz) can kidney beans
1 taco packet
1 (1 oz) Ranch dressing packet
2 cups water
Shredded cheese and sour cream to serve

In a large skillet, brown ground turkey with onion. Add half of the taco seasoning packet to the meat. In the meantime, add the diced tomatoes, Mexicorn, black beans, diced green chilies, and kidney beans to a large pot NOT DRAINED. This adds a great flavor when all juices are added together. Add browned meat, the remaining taco seasoning, ranch packet and water. Stir to combine. At this point you're ready to eat if you like. Personally, I like the soup to simmer for a good 20-30 minutes so that it thickens and the flavors meld. Either way you won't be disappointed. Top with cheese and sour cream. Enjoy!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

To me this is the ultimate comfort food! Oh so good! This just hits the spot and isn't too involved to make. Definite keeper!

1/2 pound bacon
3 T flour
1/2 onion, finely diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
6 whole large baked potatoes
2 cups milk
3 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Instant potato flakes, if needed for consistency
salt and pepper to taste
green onions
sour cream
extra shredded cheese

If you have baked potatoes already done, you're ahead of the game! If not, wash and pierce with a fork and place in the microwave in 5 minute increments until they all are fork-tender. This took about 12-15 minutes for me...with 6 large potatoes. Remove from microwave and allow to cool till they are cool enough to handle.

Fry up bacon in a large, oversized skillet. Remove to a papertowel lined plate to drain.

Drain all but 2 T of the bacon grease. Over medium heat saute onions and garlic until translucent. While those are sweating, remove the skins from the potatoes and cut into quarters (the skins should be pretty much falling off of the potatoes if they are done.) Use a potato masher to break up the potato pulp. It shouldn't be mashed smooth, but broken up pretty good with some good size chunks still.

Sprinkle flour over onions and cook about a minute. Whisk in milk and bring to a simmer. Simmer gently until thickened or until it coats the back of a spoon.

Whisk in chicken stock and spoon in potato pulp. With pot over medium heat, heat soup through without bringing to a rolling boil. Check consistency. If you desire a thicker soup, add instant potato flakes until desired consistency is reached. I added about 2 T.

Stir in shredded cheese and bacon.

Top with more shredded cheese, bacon, green onions and sour cream. Now just sit back with a nice fluffy blanket and indulge!!

*Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Mexican Chicken Corn Chowder

1 1/2 c boneless, skinless chicken breast
1/2 c chopped onion
1-2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T butter
2 chicken boullion cubes
1 c hot water
1 t taco seasoning
2 c half and half
1 1/2 c cheddar cheese
1 (16oz) can corn
1 (4oz) can diced green chilis
1 medium tomato, chopped
cilantro
tortilla chips

Cut up chicken into bite-size pieces. In a large skillet, brown chicken, onion, and garlic in butter. Dissolve boullion cubes in hot water. Add to pan, along with taco seasoning; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add cream, cheese, corn and chilis. Cook and stir over low heat until cheese is melted and heated through. Remove from stove. Garnish with tomatoes and cilantro. Serve with tortilla chips. Enjoy!

*I've made the chicken several different ways: the way it says, leftover chicken, rotisserie chicken from Costco, and canned chicken and it's ALL delicious. Make sure you don't cook the soup on too high of heat otherwise the cream will curdle a little bit. Keep the heat low and remove it immediately after cheese has been melted and incorporated.

*From the Grandma Angie Lyman Family Cookbook

Chicken and Dumplings

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
water
chicken boullion
2¼ c. Bisquick
2/3 c. milk (approximately)
Salt & pepper to taste
1 cup milk
2 T flour

In a large pot, add enough water to boil chicken breasts (about 8-10 cups.) Add enough chicken boullion for the amount of water (usually 1 teaspoon or 1 cube per cup of water.) Boil chicken for about 30-45 minutes or until completely cooked. Remove chicken from pot and shred. Next, mix the Bisquick and milk until a manageable ball of dough is achieved. Roll the dough out until VERY thin then cut into ¾ inch wide strips. Gradually drop full strips of dough into boiling water that chicken was cooked in (now basically chicken broth.) Fold in shredded chicken. Add salt & pepper to taste. To thicken the sauce, mix 1 cup milk with 2 T flour and whisk into pot. Allow to simmer to thicken.

* Don't worry about cutting the dough into small pieces, just drop the full length strips into the boiling water and then stir. They will just divide up themselves. You can also use straight up chicken broth instead of boullion and water if you want...just whatever you have. This is SO easy and SOOOO cheap!!

*From Jami's Recipies

Minestrone Soup

3 T butter
4 minced garlic cloves
½ c sliced onion
½ c diced celery
½ c diced green bell pepper
½ c diced carrots
½ diced zucchini
1 can drained and washed kidney beans

Heat butter in large pan. Add above ingredients and sauté about 10 minutes.
Add 1 can Italian style diced tomatoes and sauté another 5 min.

3 c chicken broth
3 c beef broth
2 c cooked, diced chicken

2 t Worcestershire
2 t Italian seasoning
1 t salt
2 c cooked pasta
1 c cooked barley

Add all ingredients together (except pasta and barley) and simmer in low heat for several hours until vegetables are tender. Right before serving, add pasta and barley. Top with fresh parmesan cheese and/or asiago cheese.