Yes. In May.

I’m sorry. I know this would have been 62% more appropriate to post in January when we were all freezing (and when you were asking for the recipe!), but sometimes things just don’t work out the way we want them to.

And since I’m in charge of this here blog, I can do things like posting soup recipes in May.

So.

This recipe is sort of a highly (highly) modified version of a recipe I got from All Recipes.  I did try Cook’s Illustrated’s recipe for Clam Chowder, but after making it twice, I came to the conclusion that I just do not prefer bacon in my clam chowder.

Bacon is the bomb in Baked Potato Soup, but I cannot manage to love it in clam chowder.

So, this is a bacon-free clam chowder.

It is not a fat-free clam chowder.  In fact, it calls for a stick of butter and and a quart of half and half.  It tastes delicious, though, and really, if you’re looking for a low-calorie dish, clam chowder should probably not be on your radar.

I made this on a really busy day, so I don’t have step by step photos.  It’s not super complicated, though, so I think you’ll be ok.

Basically, you’re going to make two different pots of stuff and then dump them all together in a big pot with the clams.

Or, if you are more brilliant than me, you’lluse a big pot for one of these mixtures and save yourself a dish.

To make the first pot, saute celery and onions until they’re soft.  Add a minced clove of garlic and saute it for 30 seconds.  Stir in a bottle of clam juice plus the juice from two cans of clams along with 4 cups of potatoes (I use red potatoes.  Russets will be too mooshy.).  Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft.

To make the second pot, melt 1/2 cup of butter and stir in 1/2 cup of flour.  Cook and stir it until it’s bubbly, and then gradually stir in 1 quart of half and half.  Stirring regularly, bring it to a boil and boil for 1 minute.

Combine the potato mixture and the half and half mixture along with the clams.  It looks like it won’t come together properly at first, but if you gently mix it, it will turn into a lovely, creamy soup.

Add pepper to taste and salt if you feel it’s necessary. I usually find that the butter and clam juice provide plenty of salt, but your mileage may vary.

Heat the soup just until it’s warm. Of course, I think you should serve it with some good bread. Braided Cheese Bread was my choice that day.

Clam Chowder
Printable Clam Chowder Recipe

1 cup chopped onion
1 cup celery
1 tablespoon butter
1 minced clove garlic
4 cups peeled and diced potatoes
1 bottle clam juice
2 10-ounce cans minced clams, drained with juice reserved

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 quart half and half
1/2 teaspoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste

Saute onion and celery in butter until softened. Add garlic and saute 1 minute. Add potatoes, clam juice (include juice reserved from cans). If necessary, add enough water to cover potatoes. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

In a large, heavy pot, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in half and half, and bring to a boil, stirring regularly. Boil 1 minute. Add potato/clam juice mixture along with the sugar, black pepper, and reserved clams. Salt to taste. Heat to desired serving temperature.

Today’s 365 post:Bagless Shopping

Joshua’s 365 post: Baby Carrots

I love fall for a lot of reasons, but one of the largest is that I can make soup again.  I love, love, love a bowl of soup with some fresh bread, and this is one of my favorite soups.

I got this recipe from the a piano students’ mom way back when I was pregnant with Joshua, and I think she got it from one of those community recipe compilation books.

There are a number of baked potato soup varieties out there, and having tried a couple at restaurants, I can say that this one definitely leans toward the indulgent side.  It’s rife with dairy fat (the best kind!) in the form of milk, butter, sour cream, and cheese, which makes it super delicious and probably super caloric.

So, maybe just don’t eat this every week.

I wouldn’t say this is a super fast soup, but neither is it an all-day affair.

First, you’ll need to bake 4 russet potatoes.  You can do this in the microwave, but by the time you microwave 4 russet potatoes, the microwave is not a particularly large time-saver.  Plus, if you’re baking bread the same day, it’s not like the oven heat goes to waste.

When the potatoes have cooled, slice them open and scoop out the potato insides into a bowl (or measuring cup, if that’s what’s handy!).

Next, cook the bacon until it’s crispy and browned. Since the bacon is going to be chopped up for use in the soup, you may want to chop it up before you cook it. That way you don’t have to bother with flipping the bacon and can instead stir it around with a spatula.

On to the soup base! Melt the butter in a large pot, and stir in the flour. Stir and cook the flour/butter mixture for 1 minute.

Add the milk, stirring constantly, and cook and stir frequently over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. This process takes a while, so if you want to speed things up, you can microwave the milk before adding it to the pot.

Don’t be tempted to skimp on the stirring or to turn up the heat…a mixture like this is quite prone to burning, so a low heat and regular stirring are essential.

Once the milk mixture has boiled for a minute, stir in the cheese, bacon, green onions, and potato pulp.

To finish the soup off, stir in 1 cup of sour cream.  After you’ve added the sour cream, be very careful not to boil the soup, as that will cause the sour cream to separate, and your soup will have an odd texture.

Ladle the soup into bowls, and top with additional cheese, bacon, and green onions.

The bacon flavor in this soup gets better after a day or two, so if you’ve got the time, you may want to make the soup one day and then heat it up for dinner the following day.  If you go that route, I recommend leaving out the sour cream until just before you serve the soup. That way if you accidentally boil the soup as you heat it up, the sour cream won’t suffer.

Baked Potato Soup
Printable Baked Potato Soup Recipe

4 large baking potatoes
2/3 cup butter
2/3 cup flour
6 cups milk
3/4 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper to taste
4 green onions, chopped
12 slices bacon, crisp-fried and crumbled
1 1/4 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup sour cream

Bake potatoes until tender; cool. Scoop out pulp into a small bowl and break up into pea-sized pieces.

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat; stir in flour. Cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the milk gradually. Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, stirring regularly. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the potato pulp, 2 tablespoons green onions, 1/2 cup of the bacon, and 1 cup of the cheese. Cook till heated through.

Stir in sour cream (do not boil after this point). Sprinkle each serving with reserved green onions, bacon, and cheese.

Today’s 365 post: This is me.

I’ve been meaning to post this recipe here forever, but have not, for one reason or another, gotten around to it.  I made it again just the other day, though, and was freshly reminded that it really did need to be shared.

I got the recipe from my mom a few years back, and it’s been a staple at our house ever since.  It’s simple, customizable, and inexpensive if you can get the turkey sausage and tortellini on sale.

Tortellini Soup
Printable Tortellini Soup Recipe (ta-dah!)

1. Brown:

1 pound sweet Italian turkey sausage (I use Shady Brook Farms…my favorite!)
1 cup chopped sweet onion
1 clove garlic, minced

2. Add, and simmer 30 minutes:

5 cups beef broth (use homemade, canned, or reconstituted bouillon)
1 pint (2 cups) canned tomatoes
8 oz. tomato sauce
1 cup sliced carrots
1 medium pepper, chopped
½ teaspoon basil
½ teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon rosemary (I omit this)

3. Add and boil for 1 minute:

½ cup red wine or sherry
8 oz. fresh tortellini, or 4 oz. dry tortellini, cooked according to package directions

Want to see how easy this is?  Just brown the first group of ingredients:

Add the second group and simmer:

(I don’t really like my sausage to simmer, so I complicate matters by taking it out of the pot while I simmer the second group of ingredients.)

Although you can certainly use fresh tortellini, I’ve found the dry variety to be the least expensive option. I usually use Barilla.

It’s kind of like having fresh pasta, except that it’s much more shelf stable.

Add the cooked tortellini, wine (and the sausage if you decided to complicate matters by taking it out!).

I like to serve this with some homemade bread, like

• French Bread
• Honey Glazed Rolls
• Pull-Apart Garlic Bread
• Corn Bread

If you’d like some other frugal dinner ideas, take a peek through the Main Dish and Pizza categories.

“More frugal recipes!” was a collective cry when I asked you about what you’d like to see on my blog, and since I aim to please, here’s an easy, frugal main dish recipe for you.

I made this from a combination of Tortilla Soup recipes I found on AllRecipes, so I can’t exactly give credit to any one person. One of the recipes I got my inspiration from is this one, though. It makes for a lovely, quick meal, and it costs very little (way less than takeout for a family!).

The prep is really simple. First, saute chopped onions in a little bit of oil.  When they’re almost soft, add chopped garlic and saute for about a minute.

Mix in chili powder, cumin, tomatoes, chicken broth, and water, and simmer 5-10 minutes (longer, if you prefer).

Then stir in chicken, hominy, corn, beans, and chopped cilantro (naturally, if you’re one of the unlucky people to whom cilantro tastes like soap, you’ll want to leave that out), and once that all heats up, the soup is done.

Wasn’t that easy?

Now, if you want to make it tastier and more beautiful, you can sprinkled crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese (cheddar looks so much better than Monterey Jack, but alas, I had none when I made this batch of soup), and chopped cilantro on top, and finish it off with a dollop of sour cream.

Yum. This goes very nicely with a pan of cornbread or corn muffins.

Since soup-making is not as exact a science as baking, you can customize and modify to your heart’s content. If you don’t like hominy, use more corn instead. If you don’t like beans, you certainly don’t have to add them. If you like really spicy soup, you can add more chili powder. And so on, and so on.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1 small onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons cumin
1 28-oz. can of diced tomatoes
10.5 oz condensed chicken broth
1 1/4 cups water (alternatively, you can use 2 1/2 cups of homemade broth instead of the broth and water)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn kernels
1 cup white hominy
1 15 oz. can of black beans
1 4 oz. can of chopped green chilies (my kids hate spicy food, so I don’t add these)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 cooked chicken breast halves, cut into bite sized pieces (I grill mine, usually)

Toppings: crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, green onions, additional cilantro, sour cream

In a medium stock pot, saute onion in oil until soft. Add garlic and saute for one minute. Mix in chili powder, cumin, tomatoes, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and simmer 5-10 minutes. Add corn, hominy, beans, chilies (if using), cilantro, and chicken, and heat through. Add salt to taste (if you use homemade broth, you will need to add more salt). Ladle into bowls, and add toppings of your choice.