My Big Fatgeek Recipes!

Archive for the ‘Stews and Chowders’ Category

So I had  a serious craving for my dad’s potato soup the other day. I’ve never made this soup myself, never served it to the family, and haven’t had it in years but I had a fairly good idea of how my dad made it. So I kind of had to guesstimate it, replace the bacon with TVP bacon and hope for the best.
1 large onion diced
3-4 large celery stalks chopped
1/2 cup TVP Bacon divided in half
2 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Mrs Dash Garlic and Herb
1 TBSP Mrs Dash original
5lbs potato peeled and diced
8 cups of non-chicken broth or vegetable broth (I made broth from the Better than Bouillon  No Chicken Base)
1 8oz can of coconut milk or about a cup of unsweetened unflavored non-dairy milk
salt and pepper to taste
So I took my big cast iron dutch oven, heated it to about medium, added a little olive oil (veg or canola would work too) then threw in the onion, celery garlic and half the TVP. Then I just let it do that sweating thing. Toss in the seasonings while you’re at it. This is when I stated the peeling and chopping of the potatoes and heating the water cooker to make up the broth. ~_^ Toss in the potatoes, remaining TVP and cover with the broth and let cook until the potatoes are tender. Then take a potato masher and mash a bit of the potatoes. Not to many. This is potato soup not mashed potato soup but this will thicken the soup without the need of thickeners. Mix in the milk, rewarm and serve.
I was out of vegan cheese so I didn’t get to try that yet, but I bet its fabulous! My girls liked it with a bit of earth balance and a little sprinkling of TVP for crunch. Hubs liked it with dairy sharp cheddar.

How fabulously yummy does that look? I’m the world’s biggest fan of soup. I was reading about a tortilla soup on Southern Plate and it got me thinking of a soup recipe that we kind of made up at our house that most adults have a huge preference for. We called it enchilada soup because we used a homemade enchilada sauce as the base. Today I fiddled with it again and I think we liked it better this time.

First I put some chicken (about 4 thighs) on to boil with a few ancho chilies, garlic, onion, carrot, celery, cilantro, Mrs Dash Extra Spicy and cumin.

When it was done I drained the pan into a colander over a bowl. I removed the chilies, pulled out the stems and put the chilies into a blender. I added about 2 cups chicken broth, and whizzed it up.

I removed the chicken form the colander and set it aside to cool, dumping the veg back into the pan but keeping the broth in the bowl. I used the same colander to strain the seeds and pulp from the chili liquid into the broth. Then I whisked in about 2 tbsp “Better than Bouillon” and an 8 oz can tomato paste.

I poured the broth back into the pot and added 2 cups cooked black beans, the shredded chicken form the thighs, a can of cream corn and a can diced tomatoes.

Mix all together, let heat through and serve with rice and or corn chips.