Saturday, September 5, 2015

Soup when it is 98 Degree's?

I am simmering vegetables on the stove to make a batch of corn and potato chowder.  At 8:30 this morning it was already  hot and humid and is expected, temp and heat index, to make it feel like 98 degree.  Why in the world am I making soup? Several ears of leftover sweet corn, and a supply of potatoes, carrots, and celery nearing their end is my inspiration. Also, it is September in Minnesota, and while today it is hot and humid, by weeks end, we could have a reverse forecast and be looking for an extra sweater. My freezer will have a couple ready made meals and I am happy for that. I am also pleased that this will be a help towards limiting eating out as soup is a fan favorite of my family. I am also pleased that I am using up items that easily could end up in the garbage. This is still a battle I am not winning, but still giving it a good fight. 
My two ears of corn.


I tried Googling a recipe for it, but have you noticed lately how difficult it is to actually get to a recipe when you do a search?  Multiple screen loads, requests for my Facebook  log in or to create an account, sifting through yet more articles, and I gave up.  I really don't need a recipe-I've been whipping up batches of soup for decades, so will do what I always do, improvise with what I have on hand.  


My veggies are sauteing in butter.


Once the veggies are soft, I added two cups of chicken broth, triple strong made with a three to one ration of  chicken bouillon, simmer another 10 minutes, then stirred in three potatoes, diced up, and simmered until soft, but not mushy.  By now, my soup is getting quite thick, so I'm adding four cups of whole milk, more salt and pepper to taste, and the kernels from my two large ears of corn, cooked earlier in the week when our eyes for sweet corn were bigger than our stomachs. I'll simmer it all, taste testing to see if it needs anything more of anything. Delish.

Here is the finished product.  While too hot for soup, I still had to  taste test it and I proclaim it tasty. DD#1 had a couple bites as well.  This was just a small sauce bowl, but you can imagine  a nice big bowl with some crusty bread. I hope it thaws well-I've never frozen milk or cream based soups, but if t gets to thick, I can add a bit more milk or makeshift broth.  What about you?  How are you starting the seasonal transitions with your menu?  





14 comments:

  1. I love soup, but I'm the only one in my family, so I don't get to make it that often. Plus, the weather here (northern California) stays warm except for a few months out of the year. Your soup looks delicious!

    We have a pretty consistent menu year round, but use a lot more vegetables when our garden is producing. I picked the remaining peppers, zucchini & tomatoes today. Not sure how I'll use those up!

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    1. Perhaps a small batch, and freeze portions for yourself? I don't enjoy eating hot soup when the weather is too hot, so I understand you indow would be small. My son lives in southern CA, so not so much a soup guy anymore unless he is visiting us.

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  2. Not so much beginning the seasonal shift to Fall with the menu yet. I have an infection in my foot that requires me to NOT be on it, thus no cooking. Me and my stomach are at the whims of Hubs and his not too good cooking skills at the moment. Oh joy. Even more motivation to recover and quickly! lolz

    Your soup sounds good. I have been craving cheddar broccoli soup even though it hit 90F here yesterday.

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    1. This was just opportunity knocking, but with the heat, will wait to eat as a meal. I am sorry your not feeling so well these days. We would be eating ribs or frozen pizza if my husband was the regular chef.

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  3. Not made soup yet, Sam but I will be doing so soon. I'm still on with preserving stuff either as dried or frozen food. I had my heating on for the first time today. Oh dear!

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    1. Heat already-goodness. I try to hold out as far into fall ad possible, not before October.

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  4. That soup looks wonderful - husband & I are huge soup fans - kids, not so much, but only 1 lives at home & he is RARELY her since he is working 2 jobs, so we have soup quite a bit. We are in Northern Ca as well, but it doesn't bother me to eat soup when it's hot - especially when I make it in the crockpot! We just made a carrot, cabbage, & potato soup that turned out fantastic to use up the cabbage!!!

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    1. I love cabbage but never tried in soup. I may experiment. Thanks for the idea.

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  5. I love a chowder - well, all soups really, and homemade soups are the best! Yours looks great, and using up leftovers and having food read to go in the freezer is always a good idea. Can't believe your temperatures are still so high, it's getting chilly here now. xxx

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    1. Another sweltering day today, but thunderstorms off and on. It looked like it should be a soup day but not. The cream with the freshness of corn is so nice.

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  6. Oh looks wonderful!
    I giggle because our Michigan weather is very much like yours. We've had another hot spell here to but like you said it could be sweater weather any minute and I too was just making soup in this heat. Haha! And mine was to use a whole load of tomatoes that I didn't want to go bad or make MORE sauce with.
    Lovely!

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  7. Oh what kind? I'd love to try a fresh tomato basil.

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  8. You are SO lucky to have warm weather... here it's largely dull, damp and a slightly chilly 14 degrees. I call it 'non-weather' and it's best described as rather like living in a cloud!! I was hoping that our holiday destination was going to be wall to wall sunshine.... but the forecast doesn't look that brilliant. Oh well...!! Jx

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    1. Today wad petfect. High of 78 and sin, now a cooler night. Perfect for dleeping. We've had tons of rain but noy ruining hole days.

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