Simple Chicken Vegetable Soup

Less than fascinating business times prompt you to look for ways to save on the grocery bill, while hectic days encourage you to have a little stockpile of meals that may be brought quickly to the table. 

One of the easiest paths to satisfy both objectives is to spend a Saturday making 2 quarts each of two or 3 easy soup recipes.  Portion the soups in individual or family size servings to freeze for future cheap, quick-to-fix and tasty meals. 

Here are 2 such simple soup recipes to get you started.  These recipes can be followed precisely as given, but they are also generic recipes.  Substitutions give a similar texture and body, but with different flavors.  Idea for alternate ingredients follows each of these simple soup recipes. 

One uses a cream base while the other uses a broth.  You can be stunned to find how a few minor changes to each recipe can supply many clearly different easy soup recipes. 

Straightforward CLAM CHOWDER SOUP

three Tb.  Butter
three Tb.  Flour
6 cups milk
2 massive potatoes, cooked until virtually done, diced in 2-inch cubes
two 3.5-ounce cans clams, with juice
1 15-ounce can corn
3 large mushrooms, sliced
one large onion, chopped
three green onions, chopped
one tsp.  Thyme

Melt the butter in a giant shallow pan.  Employ a whisk to mix in the flour.  Cook over low heat till the roux thickens.  Steadily add the milk, stirring consistently.  Add the leftover ingredients and cook over gentle heat, stirring often, for 30-45 minutes, or till soup takes the thickness you prefer.  Garnish with fresh parsley if you like. 

instead of, or in addition to clams, try shrimp, crab, Krab (, crawfish or catfish nuggets.  Substitute celery, water chestnuts or spinach for any of the plants.  Chives are good in the place of green onions.  Use a teaspoon of tarragon or [*FR3] cup fresh cilantro in place of the thyme. 

simple CHICKEN vegetable soup

eight cups chicken broth
2 chicken fillets, cooked and sliced in 1-inch cubes
1 15-ounce can green beans
1 15-ounce can corn
one large red bell pepper, diced
1 massive onion, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, chopped thinly
1 tsp.  Sage
two tsp.  Minced garlic
A pinch of cayenne

Drain the canned veggies.  Mix all ingredients in a big frying pan over middle heat.  Stir occasionally.  Cook for 45 mins. 

Turkey, sausage or chopped ham works just as well as chicken.  In the place of the green beans, try fresh, chopped zucchini added to the soup just five mins before serving.  Substitute one orange and one yellow bell pepper for the beans and corn for a colourful and tasty soup.  Rosemary, thyme or marjoram can replace the sage. 

once you try these simple soup recipes, you will see how flexible they are.  Use your mind.  Remember to use any left-overs from the frig.  In just some hours, you can have many lunch or dinner servings good to go in minutes!

How much time do you spend cooking each day? For some easy recipes you can use daily to create some of the best meals, visit cooking101.org and have a look at easy brunswick stew recipe.