Pureeing Soup in a Blender: Kitchen Tip
If you have ever put soup into a blender only to have hot liquid come flying out when you turn the blender on, then this tip is for you. I haven’t actually tried it because I now have an immersion blender, but I recently read this, and it makes sense to me.
Before pureeing the soup remove the round center part of the blender lid and cover the hole with a folded dish towel. This allows air in through the hole and help prevent flying soup.
Have you tried this tip before? Does it work?
If you would like me to link to a kitchen tip on your blog, or if you have a tip you would like to share here, fill out my Kitchen Tip Form.
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Potato Soup with Bacon
My picky eater had to miss dinner the other night because of work. When I told him what we were having, he said that if I saved a bowl of soup for him to have when he got home, then he wouldn’t be tempted to eat so much junk food at work (he works at a concessions stand at university games).
Don’t you love it when your kids prefer real food to junk food? I do.
So I can say this soup is delicious and picky eater approved. After all, with potatoes and bacon, what is there not to love? Well, there is the vinegar. For some reason my kids and husband don’t like it. I left it out of the soup for them, but I like it with a little vinegar.
| Potato Soup with Bacon |
- 8 ounces bacon
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1 stalk celery, diced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 cups almond milk
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 6 medium to large gold potatoes, peeled and cut to bite size pieces
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1/8 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar (optional)
- Cook and chop the bacon.
- In a large pot, sauté the the onion and celery in oil until soft. Add the garlic and sauté one minute more.
- Add the milk and broth and heat to boiling.
- Add the potatoes, basil, thyme, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook uncovered until the potatoes are tender.
- Stir in the vinegar.
- Remove 3 cups of the soup and carefully puree on low in a blender. Return to the pot and stir.
- Serve with bacon on top.
Italian Sausage Soup with Tortellini
Black Bean and Salsa Soup
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free: Seasonal Soup Roundup
We had one week of really nice weather here in Maryland and then it turned cold again. We even had a dusting of snow last weekend. Overall, March has been a perfect month for enjoying soup, and I hope we all have enough cool (but not cold) weather to enjoy some of the recipes below during April. Without further ado, here’s the roundup.
Naomi of Straight Into Bed Cakefree and Dried is the creator of this fun monthly carnival. This month she submitted Seasonal Spring Soup Starts with Stock! Naomi is a wealth of information. If you do not make your own stock, you have to read this, but even if you do make your own, you might learn a thing or two like I did. She also includes a Hungry Gap Soup recipe which is pictured above.
Mary of Gluten Free Spinner submitted a Southwest Soup. Mary is passionate about cooking, entertaining, and photography. You need to visit her blog if you haven’t yet and look at her gorgeous food photography.
Tracee of Mrs. Ed’s Research and Recipes created a creamy Artichoke Bisque. Tracee comes from a household that deals with autism, food allergies, celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and more. Like her blog title says, she writes about research and recipes. Her recipes are free of grain, gluten, baker’s yeast, refined sugar, corn, potatoes, and are scant in lactose.
Megan of Maid in Alaska gets to watch the northern lights at night. She made a Vegan Ginger Carrot Adzuki Bean Soup. Megan has multiple autoimmune diseases which she controls through her diet. Her two young girls are also gluten, dairy, and mostly corn free.
Kate of KateAlice Cookbook started with a recipe from the Madame (you have to read her post to find out who that is) and adapted it to her liking. She is submitting a Pumpkin Quinoa Soup that is sure to taste great. Kate lives in Australia and eats gluten free because it helps her arthritis symptoms.
Raj of Flip Cookbook submitted this tasty looking Cauliflower Soup. Raj and Sonia are the authors of Flip Cookbook. They want to help people on restricted diets to create a healthy delicious culinary lifestyle. They do a great job of convincing you that special diets can still taste great.
Jennifer of Cottage Recipes didn’t get a picture of her stew, but you really should go read her post. She made Cholent – Jewish Sabbath Stew. If you are not already familiar with that type of dish, you might be surprised by one of the ingredients. I was. Jennifer’s blog is a way for her to keep track of her recipes and share them with others.
Jenn of Jenn Cuisine is a terrific photographer and cook. She is sharing with us this Sweet Potato Coconut Thai Curried Soup which is gluten free and vegan. Jenn blogs from Switzerland where she manage to find some sweet potatoes that she put in to this flavor packed soup.
Deanna of Stuff I Feed Brian made a Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup that includes ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg as well as a dash or cayenne. Deanna has celiac disease and eats gluten free. Brian is a hungry marathon runner who is vegetarian and refined sugar free. Deanna’s recipes reflect those diet restrictions, and many of her recipes are also vegan.
Catherine of 23 Days and Counting made a Pumpkin Dessert Soup (though she calls it Orange Dessert Soup for her husband). I’m not exactly sure where Catherine lives, but she is in the southern hemisphere where it is autumn and pumpkins/squashes are in season. Her post includes a couple of other pumpkin recipes also.
Kalinda of Wheat Free Meat Free submitted a Broccoli Chickpea Soup. Broccoli is in season in Illinois where Kalinda lives. She and Mike blog together. Mike has celiac disease and is vegetarian so Kalinda cooks gluten-free and vegetarian meals for them.
Heather blogs at Gluten-Free Cat. She submitted a Spicy Orange Sweet Potato Soup. Heather lives in Tennessee where CSA farmers have hoop houses that allow them to farm year round. Heather is a gluten free health and fitness nut.
Maria at Live 2B Gluten Free is sharing with us a Spring Carrot and Cumin Soup. Maria and Susan blog together. They are both former health communication specialists who help others find information about how to live gluten free and still eat delicious food.
Shirley of Gluten Free Easily came up with a Dairy Free Tuna or Seafood Chowder. I don’t know about you, but those chunks of shrimp look really good to me. Shirley blogs about how to live gluten free easily by eating naturally gluten free foods, rather than processed specialty products.
Valerie blogs at City|Life|Eats. This pictures shows the leftovers of her Tropical Black Bean Soup that she packed for lunch the next day. Valerie blogs about city living, life, and gluten-free, allergy friendly food. If you need gluten-free lunch ideas, she is full of them!
Sunny at And Love It Too! shares with us an Irish Beef Stew. Sunny lives in Texas and used in-season carrots, celery, and parsnips in this recipe. Sunny has celiac disease, and two of her children have food allergies (milk and shellfish). Sunny believes that regardless of life’s challenges we should have our cake and love it too!
Cami blogs at Gluten Free Shortcuts. She took a favorite soup from growing up which contained barley and made it gluten free. Her Vegetable Beef Soup with Quinoa looks like a keeper. Cami’s entire family is on a gluten-free diet and feeling much better for it. She hopes to offer others some shortcuts in gluten-free cooking.
I (Linda) made a Beef & Vegetable Slow Cooker Soup that uses carrots, mushrooms, and canned corn. I was enjoying the soup idea so much that I made a second soup too:
Winter Vegetable Soup that can be made with or without the addition of sausage. This soups uses carrots, celery, sweet potatoes, and regular potatoes, all blended together.
Thanks for everyone’s participation. It’s a terrific round up because of all of you! (In case you’re wondering I listed them in the order they were sent to me, except for Naomi who simply deserves to be first. And her information on homemade stock was a perfect way to start.)
Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free: Seasonal Soup Roundup originally appeared on The Gluten-Free Homemaker on March 31, 2011.
Potato, Lentil and Collard Green Soup
I am not a huge potato fan. But when Manifest Vegan posted this recipe I was inspired. With the addition of cumin and turmeric this soup is far from bland and boring.
Ingredients:
- 6 Yukon Gold potatoes chopped into 1 inch pieces
- 4 cloves of garlic chopped finely
- 1 cup sliced mushrooms
- 5 leaves fresh collard greens or kale
- 1 cup dried lentils
- 6- cups or water or vegetable broth
- 3 tsp cumin
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 1 tblespn dried basil
- drizzle of olive oil or other cooking oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- salt and pepper to taste, I used sea salt & white pepper
Heat oil in a large stock pot on medium heat. Add onion, potatoes, garlic, mushrooms, salt and pepper. Cook until onion is soft.
Add water, lentils and the remaining spices. Trim leaves of collard greens, discarding the stems. Cut greens into thin pieces and add to soup. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium low, cover and let simmer for 45-60 minutes, or until lentils are cooked to your liking.
Serve hot. Serves 6-8
Beef & Vegetable Soup (Slow Cooker)
I don’t know if I’m allowed to submit two recipes for this month’s Go Ahead Honey, It’s Gluten Free! carnival. But since I am the host I’m giving it a shot. The theme this month is seasonal soup. If you would like to participate, you have one more week to submit your link and photo by email.
This soup was really good. I went with carrots since root vegetables are a good choice this time of year, and mushrooms are easy to find too. I supplemented it with canned corn which my kids seem to enjoy in a soup.
The mushrooms were a bit of a risk because my husband does not like them. Sometimes I use them in a recipe where he can easily pick them out, but for this recipe I decided to chop them very small and hope he wouldn’t notice them.
It turned out that he did notice them, but since it is mostly their texture that he doesn’t like, he didn’t mind them. The soup was enjoyed all around!
Beef & Vegetable Winter Soup
- 2 1/2 lbs. beef stew meat
- 1/4 c. rice flour
- 1 tsp. chili powder
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 1/4 c. cooking oil
- 2 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 1/2 c. sliced carrots (~4 medium)
- 1 1/2 c. chopped baby Bella mushrooms
- 1 can (16 oz) whole kernel sweet corn, drained
- 1 qt. (32 oz) beef broth (be sure it is gluten free)
- salt & pepper to taste
In a large bowl or zip lock bag, combine the stew meat, rice flour, and chili powder until the beef is coated. In a large skillet (an electric skillet works well), heat the oil on high heat. Add the beef and onion. Keeping the heat high, brown the meat, stirring frequently. Turn off the heat and stir in the oregano.
Place the carrots, mushrooms and corn in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add the beef and onions on top. Pour the broth over all. Cover and cook on low for 4 hours or until the meat is tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Beef & Vegetable Soup (Slow Cooker) originally appeared on The Gluten-Free Homemaker on March 21, 2011.