My mom loves to recount how picky of an eater I was as a child. I had a gift at picking out every single diced onion (or bell pepper) from a dish that she made from dinner. I meticulously piled them on the edge of my plate. Thankfully, I’ve broadened my horizons and I’m not near as picky as I once was. I’m also more willing to try new things. One of the greatest things about cooking to me is that I can adapt a recipe to my personal taste. I still despise raw onion but if they are REALLY sautéed I don’t mind them at all. Both of these recipes have been modified slightly to accommodate my quirky tastes.
We are enjoying cooler temps here in the Midwest and soups are the perfect dinner for cooler weather. It’s really not uncommon for us to enjoy soup at least 2 nights a week during the fall and winter. I also love that soup yields leftovers, which are easy weekday lunches. Both of these recipes are Pinterest finds and I enjoyed them both immensely.
The first is a Jalapeño Cheddar Ale Soup recipe. This soup had some major heat and was surprisingly easy. I made this recipe close to the original. The big change that I made was that once I added the ale and chicken stock I used my immersion blender to blend the celery, onion, garlic and jalapeno. This really intensified the heat so if you don’t like heat add less jalapeno. I used 3 for this recipe. I really don’t like cooked veggies so I pureed them, which also thickens the soup. Save this recipe for a chilly fall evening.
(Insert pretty picture of soup here. It was an 8:30 dinner kind of night. Apparently I was too hungry to snap a picture!)
The second is a Lasagna Soup recipe. Oh my goodness! This soup was so good. If you are entertaining soon, keep this recipe in mind. It was also pretty easy to make, would easily be doubled or tripled, and has potential for beautiful presentation. As the writer of A Farmgirl’s Dabbles suggests, I cooked the pasta separately. I also pureed the tomatoes because I don’t like chunks of tomatoes in anything. Clearly, I am still a bit picky with my food.
We added the noodles to a bowl
Placed a dollop of cheesy yum in the middle
Ladled soup over the top
And topped that with Mozzarella cheese
Serve with your favorite garlic bread and enjoy. This was a crowd pleaser at our house!