Mardi Gras might be over a month away. But I was craving some Gumbo... also I had most of the ingredients in my pantry already. 
Is Gumbo a soup? I mean maybe its debatable since its served over rice some might call it a sauce... One could very easily eat it without rice though and then it would for sure be a soup.  I'm counting it as one. 
You can put many things in Gumbo.. I like andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp in mine and lots of okra. 

​Recipe below: 

Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1 cup all purpose flour
1 sweet onion diced
1 bunch celery (about 6 stalks) diced
1 red pepper diced
3 Roma tomatoes diced
2 Tbs minced garlic
4 chicken thighs chopped
4 andouille sausages sliced into coin shape
3 cups frozen sliced okra
6 large cooked prawns peeled and deveined with tails removed diced.
1 Tbs Cajun seasoning
1 Tbs Smoked Paprika
1 Tbs Tarragon
3 Tbs better than bullion chicken
1 Tbs better than bullion vegetable
2 Tbs tomato paste
5 cups water   

Make the dark roux. Cook oil and flour until the color of a penny or chocolate milk. About 30 minutes on medium heat .

Add the onion, celery and pepper (green is traditional but I like red better) cook till starting to soften

Add the garlic and raw chicken stir in and let cook a few more minutes. Add in the sausage and okra, spices, tomato paste and better than bullion. Mix thoroughly.

Add in the water. Cover and simmer a minimum of two hours. Stirring occasionally. A few minutes before serving add the cooked shrimp.

Adjust seasonings to your liking.

Serve with rice.
​Enjoy! 

Is it slightly similar to soup 5... In that it has a type of squash, coconut milk and curry... yes... but this one is actually much fancier and nuanced in flavor. It has a combination of squash Butternut and what I think was acorn...or some weird hybrid (it came from my garden). The apples add a lovely sweetness and instead of the thai red curry a japanese curry is used here.  

​Recipe below: 

Soup is such a comfort food. This one was especially comforting, I couldn't decide whether I wanted to do a loaded baked potato soup or a potato leek soup and so I created this hybrid of both. 
​I was sad when it was gone. 

Recipe below

There is a restaurant in seattle called Paseo. It has a sandwich that when I first tried it made me cry it was so incredibly good. This is going to be a longer post because it is a food of love and requires patience. It is worth it.  Over the years I've fiddled and fooled around trying to come close to the original and made it my own. 

I made this because one of my best friends had surgery just before christmas and I wanted to make her food to feed her (and her family) for a few meals so she didn't have to worry about it. Food is 100% my love language. I don't feel like I'm particularly good at giving gifts, Food, Music, Words of Affirmation and Acts of Service are my main love languages. My friends son (who is also my friend of course) said it was "the best sandwich he ever had"

You can serve this meat on a sandwich, or over rice or even make tacos. If you don't like garlic and onions just stop reading now. This had obscene sexy quantities of both.  Also I would put the sauce on everything. 

Without more jabbering click read more to see the recipe and steps: 

I'm going to be honest... I kind of failed on this one. I usually take copious notes while I'm inventing things so I can remake it again... this time I failed I was just sort of tired and on autopilot which is a shame because it turned out very tasty. (Though maybe not altogether pretty) 

Turkey Tortellini. This is one of those kitchen sink soups. Big key notes are:
About 5 cups of the turkey bone broth,
maybe 2 cups of turkey,
a package of dried tortellini,
a couple TBS of tomato paste,
1/2 Sweet onion onion,
1 leek,
1/3 fennel,
2 stics celery,
2 carrot,
1 red pepper,
paprika, cumin, bay leaves, red wine, better than bullion vegetable,Worcestershire-sauce, and salt and pepper (all these are to taste) 

My work gives us a Turkey every year for Thanksgiving. I still had my Turkey from last year and figured before crowding our little freezer with another Turkey I should cook the old one. I had a little friendsgiving with some of my friends. I used to get together with my college friends for Thanksgiving and it was always a better time than the ones I had growing up. As a result it Friendsgiving has become a favorite holiday. 

Having lived in and around Indigenous reservations the actual holiday has become to be somewhat problematic in my mind, but thoughts on that another time. Problems in origin aside, it is a time to be thankful for what we have and the people in our lives. 

Having made a big feast and roasted the bird ( a little dry alas). I then proceeded to do the thing I always do when I roast a turkey, chicken or duck... I make stock. I froze about half of it and about half the remaining meat. There was a lot (3 people didn't make much of a dent in a 16 pound bird. ) I saved the other half and made two other soups with it. This was the first.  A creamy turkey noodle soup. 

Recipe below:

Needing all the comfort next up was a creamy tomato basil soup with is mandatory to serve with a grilled cheese. I don't make the rules. This is a good tradition and should not be broken. I like a combination of fresh, canned and paste tomatoes, and a surprise red pepper for texture and flavor. I also use both half & half and cream cheese to make it creamy. 

It's really good. If I wasn't on a mission to make new soups each week I might just circle back to this one now that its February and I made it in November.  My back was not so happy the week that I did this soup so it too is a relatively easy effort . A little vegetable chopping but mostly just simmering.

Recipes below:  

Despite my injury and pain, having been through all this in 2009 I'm rather accustomed to just chipping away at things and taking many breaks. In montana the week and after of Halloween is the first big cold spell and often first snow. I wanted something hardy and Lamb stew is about as hardy as it gets.  Again, I add a bit more vegetables than many recipes call for.  The addition of Brandy makes it a bit more grown up. Some folk like beer .. guiness especially but I find I'm just not much of a beer person. The Brandy makes it a little elevated.  This made a huge pot and I ended up freezing several portions that I've been able to take out randomly and heat up quickly this winter for a tasty quick dinner . 

Recipe Below:

I ended up re-herniating the discs in my back the day after my mom left south for the winter.... picking up a cat toy.  Very aggravating. 4 months later I'm still recovering and in physical therapy and have gone through one round of steroid injections. Progress is slow but thankfully steady. 

This soup was the first soup I made after the injury and it is the most no muss no fuss recipe ever.  One could if you wanted (and aren't in tremendous pain)  Roast a fresh pumpkin and make your own nut butter etc.  This thankfully is pretty much just dumping cans of things into a pot and some spices and sauces.  Its not terribly pretty. This said, it's still pretty tasty and I used leftovers with some veggies and chicken to do like an actual time curry over rice later. 

​Recipe Below: 

​Another one of my favorite soups Split Pea with Ham.  Love of this soup also goes back to my childhood.  Its rich, filling, earthy and sweet. You can whirl it up with a blender if you like it smooth and add in the ham afterwards or do as I do and leave it rather rustic.  I use a few more vegetables than your average recipe calls for, which boost nutrition.

I made this soup right around Halloween... With the green and Orange its a very fallish soup in my mind. 

​Recipe Below: