The Great Souptacular: {Let's Get Soupy}

Grab a stock pot and a ladle, girls – things are about to get hot around here. To me, soup is sort of like a dependable old car. You try out some newer, fancier rides (recipes), but when it comes to dependable transportation (or a satisfied crowd), you pull out the old standby, the ’75 Chevy of meal options – soup.

To kick off this post, I thought we’d start by listing a few of the great qualities of this seemingly un-chic culinary offering:

-It’s cheap. Unless your soup calls for white truffles or champagne infused beets (true story), you can feed one or fifteen people for lots of days. Without lots of dollars.

-It’s really hard to screw up. Soup has a versatility about it that comes in handy for those of us who like to experiment in the kitchen. Too bland? Add some cumin and sea salt. Too thick? Add stock. Too thin? Cornstarch, kids.

-It’s great if you take lunch to work. It’s portable in a Tupperware container. It’s typically calorie-friendly. Soup is also easy to heat up without offending your office mates with a horrid aroma. (Unlike salmon, which some chick at my old job would heat up every Monday, without fail. She had no friends.)

My favorite soup is White Chicken Chili. It’s my personal recipe, which resulted from combining about four various spins on this classic soup.

White Chicken Chili
by Leslie at A Blonde Ambition

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 packet McCormick White Chicken Chili seasoning
1/2 cup flour
1 cup butter
4 cups half and half or whole milk
2 cups of chicken broth
2 cans Great Northern (white) beans, drained and rinsed

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/8 cup chopped jalapeno peppers
1 ready-to-eat rotisserie chicken (I get mine at our Walmart deli)
2 cups grated Monterrey Jack cheese
1-2 tsp. of chili powder (depending how spicy you want it)
1 cup sour cream (optional)

Instructions:
Cook onion powder and garlic in a couple tablespoons of butter until soft, not brown. Set aside. Make a roux by melting the butter and whisking the 1/2 cup of flour in. Boil for 3 minutes stirring constantly. Add the onion and garlic to the roux.

Add the half and half and chicken broth. Simmer 3 minutes or until thick.

Pour mixture into a crockpot then add the white beans, black beans, pepper, chicken, cheese and all spices, including seasoning packet.

Simmer 20 minutes. Right before serving add salt and pepper to taste and sour cream (optional). Garnish with cilantro and more shredded cheese.

That’s it. Easy, quick and guaranteed to leave you satisfied.

Behold, I give you soup.