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A Reader Recipe: Lemongrass Chicken Soup

Fit Community — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:19:06 PST

Chilly Winter weather calls for body-warming soups. Reader CheesePlease whipped up this Thai lemongrass chicken soup using easy-to-find ingredients. She posted a pic in our Healthy Recipe group.

This flavorful lemongrass soup gives you a taste of an authentic Thai or Vietnamese recipe, but without using all the hard-to-find ingredients.

Find the full recipe at the blog Cheese Please and don't forget to post your own recipes in our Healthy Recipe group!

7 Popular Chowders Across the US

YumSugar — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 04:23:30 PST

Traditionally, "chowder" is considered a catch-all word for a variety of seafood and vegetable soups, but several regions have their own spin on the classic dish. Here's a rundown of the most popular chowders across the US, from classic New England clam chowder to San Francisco's Cioppino fish stew.

Boston - New England Clam Chowder: Made with chopped clams, potatoes, and onions, this classic chowder is known for having a heavy cream base. For a healthier clam chowder recipe, use almond milk, rice flour, and celery seeds.
New York - Manhattan Clam Chowder: For this variety of fish stew, tomatoes replace the milky cream base. There are also no potatoes, so the seafood sits in a much thinner vegetable broth.
Rhode Island - Rhode Island Clam Chowder: In addition to its traditionally clear broth, quahogs (hard clams) and bacon set this chowder spin-off apart.

Keep reading for more types of chowder.

Soup's On: Baked Potato Soup

Lauren Hendrickson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:32:31 PST

There's nothing as comforting as a big bowl of soup on a cold Winter night, especially one that tastes just like a baked potato! If you happened to be baking a couple potatoes for dinner already, throw a couple more in the oven so you can make this amazingly delicious soup.
Once you have your potatoes baked (I find it easiest while the potatoes are baking to bake the bacon in the oven at the same time), it takes no time to put the soup together, just caramelized leeks and a blender to smooth the texture. You can blend the whole potato and the skin, but I like to cube about a quarter of the potato to add a little more texture. Top your soup with all of your favorite baked potato condiments like chives, sour cream, cheddar cheese, and bacon bits. Each bite will warm your soul, so keep reading for the recipe!

6 Ways to Take Your Soup Up a Notch - Without Adding Actual Cream

Camilla Salem — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 11:25:13 PST

Clear-broth soups are delicious in their own right, but sometimes we just want something a little heartier and more indulgent. Cream-based soups are pretty simple to put together, but you can incorporate different elements - grains, lighter dairy products, or cruciferous vegetables - and end up with a delightfully creamy soup that doesn't actually contain a pint of cream.

Add a cup of almond milk to your recipe, as seen here with this lighter take on clam chowder.
Toss in some steamed cauliflower and mash or blend everything together.

Four more different ways to thicken up your soups, when you keep reading.

A Lighter Take on New England Clam Chowder

Susannah Chen — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:35:34 PST

You know what they say: if it's too good to be true, then it probably is. For a while, the weather was unseasonably warm, and I started to think there might not be a Winter in the Bay Area. But then this week hit, and boy, was I wrong. Not only is it cold, but the sky's poured rain incessantly, and the bleak forecast continues all week. So I did what I'm wont to do in cold weather: I made clam chowder.
I'm partial to the New England kind, the traditional version that calls for copious amounts of salt pork and more heavy cream than you want to know about. It tops tomato-based Manhattan and broth-based Rhode Island versions as my favorite, but recently I spotted another creative take on the soup that I just had to try.

Keep reading for the most creative clam chowder recipe you've seen yet.

10 Meatless Soups to Start Your Week

Lizzie Fuhr — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:19:42 PST

While we are certainly meat lovers over here, we're also big proponents of Meatless Mondays. Not only does it help out with our carbon footprint, but sometimes it's just nice to switch things up a little bit, especially at the start of a week. We've shared our favorite meat-free recipes in the past, but with the arrival of National Soup Month, hot soup is definitely on my mind. Here are 10 delicious meat-free soups that are sure to fill you up and not let you down!

Savory Sight: Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

Yum Community — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:35:24 PST

It's still National Soup Month, and we're really thankful to hayleysf for posting this colorful, flavorful soup recipe.

This soup is a one-pot meal that's healthy and great for leftovers. Pair with a salad for an easy weeknight meal.

For the recipe, visit her blog. Then come back and upload your favorite soup recipes into our Savory Sights community group.

Winter Warm-Up: Black and White Bean Soup With Sweet Potatoes

Jenny Sugar — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 02:36:49 PST

Old man Winter has blown in and brought with him an insatiable desire for warm, savory soups. This black and white bean soup with sweet potatoes is a twist on the classic black bean soup recipe, and it's under 300 calories a bowl.

Keep reading to see this simple recipe and find out how much protein and fiber is in one serving.

Top It Off: Unexpected Soup Garnishes

Lizzie Fuhr — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 08:43:40 PST

This month, we're celebrating all things soup. While there's nothing more I crave than a giant pot of yummy homemade soup, sometimes during the work week, the timing is just not there. And after a long day of work, there's nothing easier than putting up some canned soup on the stove.

In order to make it feel like a more elevated supper, over the years, I've gotten pretty crafty with the garnishes and toppings I've tried on my favorite soups. Take a chance and stray away from the typical shredded cheese and crumbled crackers. Mix things up tonight with these more unexpected soup garnishes that you probably have on hand already! For some ideas sure to bring a new sense of life to a seemingly bland weeknight meal, read more.

Bring on the Borscht!

YumSugar — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:45:27 PST

Until I watched Anthony Bourdain order green borscht from a restaurant in Ukraine, I had only ever thought of the soup as bright purple and made of beets. Considering it's National Soup Month, I set off on a culinary mission to learn as much as I could (in a couple of hours) about borscht. Here's what I learned in a nutshell.

Borscht originated from the trimmings of Winter vegetables, particularly beets, which were stored in a kettle outside during the cold months. They were then cooked up and turned into borscht after the first Spring thaw. The most popular rendition of borscht is a purple, beet-based soup that hails from Ukraine, although it's quite popular in many Eastern European countries. There are, however, several variations on the soup, including recipes that don't include beets at all! Orange borscht is tomato-based, and green borscht's main ingredient is sorrel leaves.

Borscht can be served both hot and cold. Hot borscht can feature hearty vegetables, like potatoes and cabbage. Meat may or may not be added depending on preference. Cold borscht has a creamy appearance because it is mixed with sour cream or kefir during its preparation. It's traditionally served with black bread (also called rye bread).

Do you have a favorite type of borscht?

Source: Flickr User Istelleinad