Chicken Enchilada Soup

1 Comment

After just a few days of chilly weather, we are ready to pack it in and fully commit to soup season. There is something so comforting about a big bowl of soup or chili waiting on the stove top come dinnertime. We particularly like soups that have enough components in them to count as a complete meal. This chicken enchilada soup is one of our favorites and checks all of those boxes. Ultra comforting and flavorful broth? Yes. Protein from chicken and quinoa? Yes. Loads of veggies? Yes again! This soup is a complete meal all in one bowl and is great for dinner as well as a meal prep recipe for weekday lunches. You can top it with any of your favorite enchilada toppings for a delicious savory and spicy dinner.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

  • Servings: 6
  • Print


 A comforting and filling soup that checks off all the boxes for a rounded, complete meal.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1/2 yellow onion, diced
  • 2/3 cup shredded carrots
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tbs tomato paste
  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 tbs taco seasoning
  • 1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups cooked quinoa
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • 1 1/2 cups enchilada sauce
  • 32 oz chicken broth
  • 4 cups packed kale
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, carrots, and garlic to the pan. Cook until the onions start to become translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the tomato paste to the pot and cook another 3 minutes.
  2. Season the chicken breasts on both sides with salt and the taco seasoning mix. Add the chicken to the pot and cook for about 3 minutes per side. Make sure that any of the taco seasoning that didn’t end up on the chicken ends up in the pot. Add the pinto beans, quinoa, corn, enchilada sauce, and chicken broth to the pot. Bring to a low simmer, cover, and cook for 20 minutes.
  3. After the 20 minutes, remove the lid from the pot and remove the two chicken breasts. Add the kale to the pot and cover with the lid. Use two forks to shred the chicken into bite sized pieces. Add the chicken and heavy cream (or half-and-half) back to the pot and cook uncovered another 5-10 minutes. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper.
  4. Ladle the soup into each of 4-6 bowls and top with your favorite enchilada toppings. We like shredded cheese, scallions, sour cream, or avocado.

Sausage, White Bean & Greens Soup

1 Comment

If you follow us in Instagram, you know that we started getting produce deliveries from Misfits Market a few weeks ago. We love picking different produce and challenging ourselves to find inventive ways to use it. Insert this soup recipe. When in doubt, soup is the easiest way to use up a bunch of vegetables and call it a meal. Everyone has eaten some variation of this soup in their lifetime, but what we like about this recipe is that we were able to utilize the full vegetables, like the chard stems, so that we didn’t just discard them. This soup is pretty dang healthy and makes a great meal prep recipe. We like to make a big batch and have it to ready heat up for weekday lunches. If you have eaters with big stomachs in your family, serve this with lots of grated parmesan cheese and a big chunk of crusty garlic bread.

Sausage, White Bean, & Greens Soup

  • Servings: 4
  • Print


A healthy, weekday soup that is packed with veggies and tons of flavor.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 2 carrots, peeled and diced
  • 1 large bunch of green chard, stems separated from the leaves and diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 stems thyme
  • 1 stem rosemary
  • 1/4 tsp red chili flakes
  • 14 oz turkey sausage kielbasa, diced (you can substitute with any other kielbasa you like)
  • 1 can white beans, drained
  • 1 large chunk of parmesan rind
  • 32 oz chicken stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • grated parmesan cheese for garnish, optional

Directions

  1. Heat a large Dutch oven pot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, carrot, and the diced stems from the chard to the pot. Stir to combine and let the vegetables start to caramelize. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until everything starts to brown… this is where a lot of flavor from the soup comes in, so don’t rush this part!
  2. Add the garlic, thyme, rosemary, red chili flakes, and kielbasa to the pot. Sauté another 3-4 minutes to brown the kielbasa.
  3. Add the white beans, parmesan rind, and chicken stock to the pot. Cover the soup and let it cook for 15 minutes on a steady simmer. While the soup is cooking, dice the chard leaves into small, bite-sized pieces. After the soup has cooked for the 15 minutes, remove the parmesan rind, thyme, and rosemary from the pot. Give the soup a taste and season with salt and pepper. Add the chard greens to the pot, cover, and cook another 5 minutes. Serve the soup hot out of the pot topped with a bit of grated parmesan cheese and crusty bread.

Tortellini Minestrone

Leave a comment

This recipe for minestrone soup has been in our winter rotation for almost a decade. Minestrone is something that we usually wouldn’t order at a restaurant because quite frankly, we are busy eating pasta and other Italian dishes we crave. We love to make this soup at home because we can pack it with vegetables and rich herby flavors. If we are watching our food choices, we usually make this soup with butternut squash. But to make it a little more kid friendly (and frankly more crowd pleasing for everyone) we have chosen to add tortellini. Who can say no to cheesy pasta being added to everything? The tortellini adds richness and decadence to the soup and makes it a favorite for everyone in the family.

Tortellini Minestrone

  • Servings: 4-6
  • Print


Our favorite recipe for minestrone, made kid friendly with cheesy tortellini!

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 small white onion, small dice
  • 2 stalks celery, small dice
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and small dice
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 2 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 15 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 24 oz chicken stock
  • 3 cups spinach, roughly chopped
  • 1 package pre-made cheese tortellini (about 16 oz)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish
  • sliced basil, for garnish

Directions

  1. Heat a large Dutch oven soup pot over medium-high heat with the olive oil. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic to the pot; saute for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions become translucent and fragrant. Add the rosemary, thyme, and cannellini beans; sauté another 3-4 minutes or until the rosemary and thyme are fragrant.
  2. Add the tomatoes and chicken stock to the pot. Bring the liquid to a boil and add the tortellini. Cover and bring to a low simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, or until the tortellini is cooked through. Uncover and add the spinach to the pot. Stir it around and cook a few minutes for it to wilt.
  3. Season the soup to taste with salt and pepper. Serve in large bowls with a bit of grated parmesan cheese and some fresh basil.

Potato and Leek Soup

1 Comment

We love soup pretty much all year round, but right after the holidays we have them on our menu regularly. Soup is great on a cold day, easy to make, and an ideal option for a healthy meal when we have our hearts set on January resolutions. The crunchiness of the leeks combined with the creaminess of the potato makes this soup taste indulgent without adding any dairy. You can have this soup as a full meal or pair it with a side salad or sandwich for a delicious lunch option during your workweek.

Potato and Leek Soup

  • Servings: 4 entree servings
  • Print


A healthy soup recipe to kick off January resolutions with easy substitutes for vegan and vegetarian food preferences.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 shallot, chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 5 leeks, chopped – whites and greens separated
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
  • 4-6 cups chicken stock (option to use vegan stock)
  • shredded cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, shallot and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.
  2. Add the whites of the leeks and sauté an additional 5-10 minutes or until the leeks start to soften.
  3. Add the potatoes, greens of the leeks, and 4 cups of the bouillon to the pot and bring the mixture to a boil. Simmer with the soup covered for 15-20 minutes or until you are able to easily poke a fork through the potatoes.
  4. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup to your desired consistency. We like to have about 1/4 of the mixture remain whole and blend the remaining. The different textures of the whole potatoes and leeks bring a nice crunchiness to the soup. Once the soup is blended, add additional stock if you prefer your soup a little thinner. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve the soup hot and top with cheddar cheese (if desired).

Butternut Squash Bisque

Leave a comment

We are the first to raise our hands and admit that packing in the veggies in the wintertime isn’t easy. Salads in the snow are a tough sell. Soup, however, is on the menu many days of the week. This recipe for Butternut Squash Bisque is one of our favorite healthy recipes that we make over and over again. Unlike most butternut squash soups, this recipe drifts more towards the savory side than the sweet side. We love how the licorice flavors from the fennel brighten up the squash; honey crisp apples adds a touch of sweetness and ras el hanout packs a savory curry punch. For those unfamiliar, ras el hanout is a North African spice blend that can be found at most mainstream groceries or linked here for online ordering. The result is a rich soup loaded with flavor, but not loaded with calories. It’s very simple, clean, and healthy; a great recipe to start the new year.

Butternut Squash Bisque

  • Servings: 4 entree servings
  • Print


A simple, healthy soup to make clean eating easy as we start the new year.

Ingredients

  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 yellow onion, sliced
  • 1 bulb fennel, stem removed and sliced
  • 2 large garlic cloves, sliced
  • 32 oz butternut squash, peeled and seeds removed
  • 2 honey crisp apples, core removed and sliced
  • 1 tbs ras el hanout + more for garnish (optional)
  • 32 oz chicken stock (you can sub vegetable stock to make this dish vegetarian)
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions

  1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, onion, and fennel to the pot. Saute for 4-5 minutes, or until the onions are starting to become translucent.
  2. Add the garlic, butternut squash, apples, and ras al hanout to the pot. Saute for another 10 minutes, or until the butternut squash starts to brown. Brown = flavor, don’t skip out too early or you will lose the best part of this soup!
  3. Add the chicken stock to the pot. Give everything a good stir, season with salt and pepper, cover, and let the soup cook for about 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and use an immersion blender to blend the soup until it is pureed and an even consistency. We like our soup on the thicker side, but if it is too thick for your liking you can thin it down with water, milk, or cream. Taste and season again with salt and pepper as necessary.
  4. Serve the soup in large bowls with an additional sliced apple and sprinkle of ras al hanout, if desired. A loaf of crusty bread will go a long way with this soup as well.

Minestrone: Spring Edition

Leave a comment

We love a good soup recipe just about anytime of the year, but particularly when it’s snowing and we are in quarantine. This soup comes together quickly and only gets better as it sits on the stove. We made this recipe last week and started it mid morning; it was perfect by the time we were ready to eat lunch. Making every meal at home during quarantine has been a challenge! We love recipes like these that are quick, easy, & healthy to help keep us on track during the week. 

Minestrone: Spring Edition 
Makes: 4 entree servings 
Prep Time: 20 minutes   Total Time: 1 hour 

Ingredients: 

  • 2 tbs olive oil 
  • 1 large leek, thinly sliced 
  • 1 cup shredded carrots (should be 2 large carrots, shredded) 
  • 4 stalks celery, diced 
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced 
  • 1 lemon, cut in half 
  • 2 cans cannelini beans, drained and rinsed 
  • 1 cup orzo 
  • 8 cups chicken stock 
  • 1 cup diced snap peas 
  • 3 cups shredded kale, stems removed 
  • 1/3 cup pesto 
  • 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
  • salt and pepper to taste 

Directions: 

  1. Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil to the pan along with the leeks, carrots, and celery. Saute for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are starting to caramelize. Add the garlic and squeeze the lemon juice from the lemon into to the pan. Add the entire lemon and cook everything another 2 minutes. 
  2. Add the cannelini beans to the pan. Cook for 4-5 minutes to give the beans a little color. If the vegetables start to stick to the bottom feel free to add another tablespoon or two of olive oil to the pot. At this point we like to season everything with salt and pepper to get the party started.  
  3. Add orzo to the pan. Saute for a few minutes to coat the orzo in all of the oil and aromatics. Add the 8 cups of chicken stock to the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, or until the orzo is al dente.
  4. Remove the lid from the soup and add the snap peas and kale to the pot. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes to wilt the kale. Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. 
  5. Remove the lemon from the pot. Serve each bowl with a spoonful of pesto and parmesan cheese. 

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup

Leave a comment

One of our favorite local restaurants for Chinese food is Shanghai Kitchen. For the untrained, Shanghai Kitchen is a good, standard Chinese restaurant. However, what most people don’t know is that Shanghai Kitchen actually has two different menus – one being filled with authentic Shanghainese cuisine. Throughout the years we have made friends with the restaurant staff and they have exposed us to new, amazing dishes. One of those dishes is the beef in chili oil. Our obsession with this dish inspired us to figure out how we can make new dishes within that same flavor profile. After experimenting a bit, we have come up with this spicy chicken noodle soup. Full of flavor and heat, this soup will warm you up on any cold night. We recommend making it in big batches as one bowl simply won’t be enough.

Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup
Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 20 minutes Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • 2 tbs vegetable oil
  • 1 small white onion, diced
  • 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
  • 6 stalks celery, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 large chicken thighs
  • 6 cups chicken stock
  • 2 cups chili oil
  • 1 lb noodles (we used shells for this recipe but prefer udon)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • scallions for garnish, optional

Directions:

  1. Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the vegetable oil to the pan along with the onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables are starting to caramelize. Add the garlic and cook another 2 minutes.
  2. Season the chicken thighs well with salt and pepper on both sides. Add the chicken thighs to the pan, creating room in the pan so that they have direct contact with the bottom of the pan. Cook for 4 minutes per side so that the chicken starts to brown and retains its juices.
  3. Add the chili oil and chicken stock to the pot. Bring the liquids up to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, remove the chicken thighs from the pot. Shred them with a fork or dice them with a knife and return the chicken back to the soup. Cook another 10 minutes covered and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  4. While the soup is in it’s final 10 minutes of cooking, bring a second pot of salted water to a boil. Add the noodles of your choice and cook according to package directions. Drain the noodles and add them to the soup. If you aren’t planning to eat the soup in one sitting, add the drained noodles to each serving of soup and top with chicken and broth. This will prevent the noodles from getting soggy if you eat the soup over the course of a few days. Top with chopped scallions before serving, if desired.

Avgolemono

Leave a comment

This soup has been a staple in our homes for quite some time. We love this Greek lemon soup because it is simple to make, has a ton of flavor, and has become a comfort food for us, especially in the winter. We like to serve this as a starter or alongside pitas and Greek salad. If you are looking to serve it as an entree, this recipe can feed 2-3 large sized portions.

The creaminess of the soup comes from tempering eggs into the broth. The technique of tempering is to dilute the eggs with warm broth, gradually raising the temperature, so that the eggs integrate with the broth and don’t curdle. If you still aren’t sure what we mean, the result of incorrectly tempering is egg drop soup. Fun fact – this technique took us a little bit of time to master. We have had many a night where our Avgo soup has floating egg whites and we still love it anyway! We will walk you through it in detail below but don’t be afraid if you don’t nail it on your first try. A little cooked egg never hurt anyone. 

Avgolemono Soup
Makes: 4 servings 
Total Time: minutes

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound orzo 
  • 8 cups water + 3 bouillon cubes (we used Bou)*
  • 3 lemons, juiced 
  • 2 eggs
  • dill 
  • salt and pepper to taste 

*Bou’s serving size is 1 cube per 2 cups of water. We like to add about 1/4 less bouillon than  suggested so that the soup isn’t over salted and season with salt and pepper at the end. 

Directions: 

  1. In a small pot, cook the orzo per the package instructions, al dente. We like to cook the orzo outside of the soup so that the orzo does not over cook if we don’t serve the soup right away. 
  2. While the orzo is cooking, put the water and bouillon in a large soup bot and bring to a boil. Stir until the bouillon is completely dissolved in the water. Add the lemon juice and bring the soup to a simmer.
  3. Temper the eggs. Start by scrambling the eggs in a bowl. While continuing to stir the eggs, use a ladle to add a bit of the broth to the bowl. Keep stirring until the broth is combined and repeat the process once more (stir, add broth, stir). After the second edition of broth, you are going to repeat the process but incorporate the eggs into your soup pot. Stir the soup and gently pour in your egg mixture. Voila! You now have a rich, creamy broth.
  4. Serve by adding 1 cup of orzo to a bowl and topping with the broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with fresh dill. 

Tuscan White Bean Soup

Leave a comment

After a pretty mild winter, we have been hit nonstop with snow in Colorado for the last few days. When the weather changes and snow starts to fall, all we want to do is eat a big bowl of soup and binge Netflix on the couch. We love this recipe for Tuscan White Bean Soup because the recipe is pretty light and super easy to make. Minus the proscuitto and mascarpone, you likely have most of the ingredients in your refrigerator already. It is great as is, but also can be amped up with the Garlic Mascarpone Toast if you want to serve it for a dinner party. The toast is creamy and so decadent. While our directions listed below call for one toast per person, Tuck’s dad encourages you to double it- you’ll want at least two for each bowl of soup.

Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes      Cooking Time: 20 minutes         Total Time: 35 minutes6

Ingredients for Soup: 

  • 6 oz pancetta, sliced thick and diced
  • 1 large vidallia onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 large carrots, peeled and grated
  • 2 stalks of celery, grated or diced
  • 2 cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1 medium fresh sprigs of rosemary, left whole
  • 2 medium fresh sprig thyme, left whole
  • 1/3 cup white wine
  • 32 ounces chicken stock
  • 1/3 cup mascarpone cheese
  • 1 tbs hot sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients for Mascarpone Toasts: 

  • 1 baguette, cut into 4 thick slices 
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced 
  • 2 tbs olive oil 
  • 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese 
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves removed. 
  • salt and pepper 

Directions: 

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
  2. Heat a large soup pot on low heat. Add the diced pancetta and cook for 3-4 minutes, until the fats start to cook out of the pancetta but it doesn’t brown excessively.
  3. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery to the pan. If it seems a little dry, add a drizzle of olive oil. Cook for another 4 minutes on medium heat, or until the vegetables start to become translucent and caramelized.
  4. Add the cannellini beans, rosemary, and thyme to the pot. Give the ingredients a big stir, and cook another few minutes.
  5. Deglaze the pan with the white wine. Make sure to use a spatula to really scrape the bottom if any of the brown bits have started to stick.
  6. Add the chicken stock to the pot and cook for about 20 minutes on medium-low heat. The broth should stay at a very low simmer and not boil.
  7. While the soup is cooking, make the mascarpone toasts. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil, garlic, and thyme to the pan. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the garlic is toasted brown but not burnt. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir the garlic and thyme oil into the 1/2 cup of mascarpone cheese. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Divide the mascarpone mix over each of the four baguette slices. Bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes, or until the bread is toasted and the cheese is melted. Remove from the oven and set aside until ready to serve. 
  8. Remove the rosemary and thyme from the soup. Add the hot sauce and whisk in the mascarpone to create a creamy texture.
  9. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving. Serve each bowl with a slice of mascarpone toast. 

French Onion Soup

1 Comment

We recently went to dinner at a friend’s house to see him after he had spent time abroad in Paris. Having visited Paris last year, it was so great to reminisce about all of our respective Paris memories, and we were quickly reminded that we hadn’t recreated any of our favorite dishes since we returned. Inspired by the French Onion Soup our friend Stryker made, Tuck’s mom set out to create her version of the classic soup. We can’t think of a better way to warm up on a chilly winter day than a bowl of French Onion Soup and insanely cheesy Gruyere toast.

French Onion Soup
Makes: 4 entree servings, 6 appetizer servings
Cooking Time: 2 hours

Ingredients:

  • 5 large yellow onions
  • 2 tbs butter
  • 2 tbs olive oil
  • 1 tbs Dijon mustard
  • 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
  • 3 springs fresh thyme
  • 3 tbs flour
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 6 cups beef stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 baguette
  • 2 tbs butter
  • Dijon mustard (optional)
  • shredded Gruyere cheese

Directions:

  1. Use a mandolin to slice the onions horizontally into thin slices. BE CAREFUL and always use the hand guard when using your mandolin!!
  2. Heat the 2 tbs of butter and 2 tbs olive oil in a large soup pot. When the butter is melted, add the onions to the pot. Sprinkle them with a bit of salt and toss well to coat them with the oil and butter. Now is the time to be patient. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the onions caramelize- this can take up to 90 minutes. Give the onions a good stir every 10 minutes or so, so that a new layer can reach the heat and start to brown. If the bottom of your pot is getting too brown, reduce the heat as necessary. The onions will be sweet and caramel colored when this step is complete.
  3. Add the Dijon, Worcestershire, and thyme to the pot. Add the flour and give everything a good stir, so that the flour gets incorporated with the onions. Increase the heat to medium and let the flour toast up and brown.
  4. Add the wine to the pot, stirring well until it is absorbed. Once the wine is absorbed, add the stock in batches, stirring between each until the liquid is completely absorbed. When all the stock has been added, increase the heat and bring the soup to a boil. Once the liquid is boiling, reduce the heat and cover.
  5. While you finish cooking the soup, turn your broiler onto high. Cut the baguette into large, thick slices. Lather each with butter, a pinch of salt and pepper, Dijon mustard (optional if you like mustard), and cover with the shredded Gruyere cheese. Place on a cookie sheet and cook under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and browned.
  6. Pour the soup into bowls and place a Gruyere toast on top. Serve immediately.