Cream of Mushroom Soup (Pressure cooker or not)

Okay, you don't need to cook this in the pressure cooker - it's perfectly fine on the stove, simmering in a pot, but the pressure cooker speeds up the process of getting the soup tasting more like mushrooms and less like mushrooms floating in chicken stock.

The pinch of salt here is to help the vegetables release their moisture. Don't add too much, particularly if your stock has salt in it. I don't add salt to my homemade stock, but store-bought can be salty, depending on the brand.

The wine is also optional if you don't happen to have any on hand, but it does add a little something extra. Sherry is particularly nice, but a white wine would be fine, too. Red could work, but I'm not sure what it would do to the color of the soup.

You don't actually need the Better than Bouillon, but it adds more mushroom flavor to the soup. If you omit it, there's no need to add a substitute. Just carry on.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 tablespoon butter
1 shallot diced
1 pound crimini or button mushrooms (or your favorite), cleaned and sliced
Tiny pinch of salt
Generous grinds of black pepper
1/4 cup wine (white is nice; sherry is awesome)
1 tablespoon Better than Bouillon mushroom stock (optional)
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock (home made is best, but packaged is fine)
Leaves from 1 sprig of thyme
1 cup heavy cream

Melt the butter in the electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot or other brand), then add the shallots, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the shallots are soft.

Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring as needed, until they're soft and they've given up liquid and they're simmering.

Add the wine and mushroom stock and continue cooking until most of the liquid is gone, stirring as needed.

Add the vegetable stock and thyme and give the soup a stir. Put the lid on and switch to high pressure. Set the timer for 15 minutes. When the time is up, release the pressure. Stir in the cream, taste for seasoning, and add more salt or pepper, if desired. Serve hot.

Note: The leftovers will separate into layers of stock and cream, but don't fret. Just stir it, and it will come back together, just like it was before.

Summer Corn Soup from Healthyish #AbramsDinnerParty

Yes, I know it's not summer.

I got Healthyish by Lindsay Maitland Hunt as part of my participation in the Abrams Dinner Party, where I'm getting a bunch of cookbooks from that publisher.

When I looked through the book, the corn soup sounded really good.  And I love corn any time of the year.

Fortunately, the recipe doesn't require fresh corn (although it would probably be better with fresh summer corn), so I grabbed frozen corn and I was good to go.

This is meant to taste like Mexican street corn, with lime and chilies and cotija cheese, and that's pretty much what it was. Except it was very very smooth. Except of course the corn garnish and the cheese.

Oh, an if you're wondering why it's kind of orange, that's from the chili powder.

So there we go.

This was also super-simple to make, so it gets bonus points for that. The one glitch I had was that I didn't like the texture I got when I blended it with my stick blender, so then I transferred it to my Vitamix blender to get it smoother. Silky smooooooth.

Summer Corn Soup
Adapted from Healthyish by Lindsay Maitland Hunt

1 stick unsalted butter
2 onions, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoons chili powder
8 cups corn kernels from 8 cobs or the same amount frozen
2 russet potatoes (about 2 pounds) peeled and cut into 3/4 inch pieces
8 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
4 ounces cotija cheese, crumbled
Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish (I forgot to buy this, so I skipped it. But it would be a good addition)

Heat the butter in a large pot (keep in mind you're going to be adding all that stock) over medium heat. Add the onions, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring often until the onions are translucent and soft.

Add the garlic, cumin. and chili powder and cook for about 30 seconds, until it's fragrant.

Reserve 1/2 cup of the corn for garnish and add the rest to the pot along with the potatoes and stock. Cover, bring to a boil. then reduce to strong simmer. Cook, stirring as needed, until the potatoes are completely soft.

Puree the soup (I suggest using a blender, but be careful when blending hot soup!) Stir in the lime juice and an additional 1/4 teaspoon salt (or salt to taste at this point, keeping in mind that the cotija cheese is salty.)

Serve the soup garnished with the cheese, cilantro, and corn kernels. Add a grind or two of pepper, too, if desired. Serve hot.

This reheats really well, so it's fine to make extra!

I get free cookbooks and swag for participating in the Abrams Dinner Party, but I am not paid to participate.

Do you need an Instant Pot? And here's some soup.

The Instant Pot sure as heck has become popular these days. But do you really need one?

First, let's clarify a bit. Instant Pot is a brand name. And it's a brilliant brand name. Who wouldn't want instant food?

The Instant Pot that most people talk about is an electric pressure cooker. There were electric pressure cookers on the market long before the Instant Pot arrived. But for some reason, the Instant Pot folks made an old appliance popular.

Because there were stovetop pressure cookers long before there were electric ones. Your grandmother might have even had one.

Now, the company has branched out and they're making other cooking devices as well. But we're not going to talk about them, okay?

The Instant Pots have a bunch of different buttons for poultry, meat, yogurt ... a newer model has a button for cooking eggs. Those buttons are all shortcuts for foods that people cook a lot. But you don't really need those buttons. I seldom use them. Instead, I use the slow cook mode, the pressure cooking mode, and the saute mode. Then I set my own time.

Easy peasy.

But do you really need one?

Maybe.

First, pressure cooking is not magic. Some people try to use the Instant Pot for everything, and then they end up with some recipes that don't turn out well, or they take just as long to cook as they would in the oven or on the stove.

You don't need a pressure cooker for foods that cook quickly. Like fish. And a chicken cooked in a pressure cooker isn't going to have a lovely brown crisp skin, like you'd get if you roasted it.

But it's great for cooking things that take a long time, like tough cuts of meat or dried beans. One of my favorite things to pressure cook is corned beef. It turns out tender and juicy. Never dry or stringy. It's great for making pot roast and beef stew in a fraction of the time it would take on the stove.

Since I work from home, I usually don't find myself in that position where I have a short time to cook something before dinner. So, I'm less interested in that sort of 30-minute hurry-up cooking than I am in making things that turn out better in a pressure cooker.

Besides tough cuts of meat, I love making cheesecakes in it. And it makes a wonderful rice pudding.

Sometimes, though, speed can be a plus. Like this soup I made. I started with a rotisserie chicken carcass, used the Instant Pot's slow cooker feature to make a broth, then I strained that and added some sliced carrots and diced onions. I let that cook on slow cooker mode while I went out to run some errands.

When I got home, the vegetables were almost cooked, but not quite. But I was getting hungry. So I set the Instant Pot for pressure cooking mode for 2 minutes. Just a guess on the time, but it was a good guess.

I added a can of corn, a small can of tomato puree, and some leftover rice and peas that I had in the fridge. After it was all mixed, I gave it a taste. Then I added salt, pepper, and lime juice.

So, yeah, sometimes it's good for speeding up cooking a little bit.

But do you need an actual Instant Pot, or will any brand do?

Tough call there.

Instant Pot has popularized the concept, and they've got an active online presence as well as a Facebook group. But there are other Facebook groups that talk about electric pressure cookers made by any brand. And some of the electric pressure cookers out there are made by companies that have a longer track record in the market than Instant Pot.

So ... do you need an electric pressure cooker?

Maybe.  I love mine and I use it often. Only you know if you'll want to use an electric pressure cooker, though.

Does it have to be an Instant Pot? Not really, but so far I love mine, and I've put away my previous one that was another brand. If you're thinking about buying an Instant Pot, keep in mind that they've been coming out with new models pretty regularly. So be sure you shop around to make sure you look at all those options.

One other thing that can make your pressure cooking more successful is a good cookbook. I happen to like The Great Big Pressure Cooker Book, but there are others. Make sure the book covers electric pressure cookers, though. The timing and methods are different than when you're using a stovetop model.

Simply Tomato Soup

I love soup, and one of my favorite soups is tomato. Sometimes I like it with rice, sometimes I like it with noodles, and sometimes I even add carrots. I love tomato soup so much that I even like the stuff that comes in the red and white cans. And it makes a nice companion for a grilled cheese sandwich.

When I found a tomato soup recipe in a book called The Quick Six Fix, I had to give it a try. I mean, it's tomato soup. It would have been crazy for me not to give it a try.

The concept of the book is that there are pantry ingredients that you should have on hand at all times, and you should need no more than six additional items to make any recipe. Also, you should be able to do the prep work in six minutes or less, and the cleanup should also take six minutes or less.

Most of the recipes also cook quickly - 30 minutes or less. Some take longer, but it's generally hands-off cooking. And ... there are cleanup tips within the recipes. Like, if you've just emptied a pot in the middle of a recipe, it might tell you that you ought to soak the pot now for easier cleaning when you're all done.

As far as on-hand ingredients, most of us have things that we keep around at all times because they're the ones we know we like enough to keep them in the pantry or fridge.

What you keep in stock is probably different from what I have on hand, but there are probably some things that most of us have. The basics of salt, pepper and olive oil (or another cooking oil) are pretty obvious, but this book has a more comprehensive list of "must have" and "nice to have" items.

I agreed with most of it, except perhaps the coconut milk (I don't like coconut) and the heavy cream. I don't use heavy cream often enough for it to be something that's always on hand. I buy it when I need it for a recipe, then I find something else to do with the rest.

On the other hand, my list of must-have items is probably longer than what's in the book. I have more spices, for sure, and several types of cheese. And tortillas. And bread flour, whole wheat flour, semolina flour, dry yeast ... but that's just me.

If someone was starting a new kitchen, they could take his list to the store and have a good selection of food to work with. Of course, eliminating things that they don't like. If someone doesn't like olives, there's no reason to buy them right?

So anyway, when you get to recipes in the book, the non-standard items are in bold print, so if you actually follow the concept, you'll know right away what you need to buy. In this recipe, there were only two non-standard items: the baguette and the basil leaves.

I decided not to make the baguette toast, and I substituted a few other things. I always have tomato products on hand, so I used what I had and didn't go looking for San Marzanos. I knew it would be an annoying search to find exactly the tomatoes listed in the recipe. I know for sure that I can find whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes, but I've never seen diced ones at the stores I go to. I'll look for them next time I'm raiding the tomato aisle, though. But I always have at least a few cans of other types of diced tomatoes.

And then I used some frozen basil that I had, rather than going out to the store for fresh. While fresh basil is great, this was getting stirred into a hot soup, so I didn't think it would make that much different. So I made this without needing to go shopping at all.

I'd suggest that if you make this, you add the chili flakes, salt, and pepper to taste. Particularly the chili flakes. Those can be fairly mild or they can be raging hot. So add as much as you like, keeping in mind that this is soup and not salsa. When it comes to salt, I usually start with about half of what a recipe suggests and I add more until it tastes right to me. Sometimes I don't need as much as a recipe suggests, and sometimes I need more.

A nice garnish for this soup is a little dollop of Greek yogurt. Or with crackers and some blue cheese, if you don't feel like making parmesan toast. Just my suggestion.

Simply Tomato Soup
Adapted from The Quick Six Fix by Stuart O'Keeffe

For the soup:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon dried chili flakes, or to taste
2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
2 28-ounce cans diced San Marzano tomatoes
2 cups vegetable stock (I used chicken stock)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
10 basil leaves, torn

For the toast:
3/4 cup shaved parmesan
14-inch length of baguette. sliced diagonally into 1-inch slices

Heat the oil over medium heat in a pot large enough to hold all the soup ingredients. dd the onion, garlic, chili flakes, salt, and pepper. Cook for until the onions have softened, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, vegetable stock and sugar. Simmer on medium for 10 minutes, then turn the heat off.

A couple notes here. First, I used chicken stock, because that's what I had. Also, it comes in 1-quart (4 cup) boxes. I measured out 2 cups to set aside, but my tomatoes were really thick, so I ended up using the whole 4 cups. And last, it took a while for this to come up to a simmer. So be prepared for that. Oh, and really last, you can let it simmer longer if you like.

Sprinkle the parmesan on the bread and toast under the broiler until the cheese has melted. Watch carefully. It goes from nothing to char pretty quickly. Timing depends on how close your oven rack is to your broiler.

Puree the soup, along with the butter. You can use a stick blender, or pour the soup into a blender.

Return the soup to the pot (if you used a blender) stir in the basil, and serve warm with the toast.

I received this book from the publisher at no cost to me.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup with Mixed Grains

This soup is sooo good. And so easy, particularly if you're starting from leftover, like when you buy that giant cauliflower from the farmer's market and you have a lot left.

Of course, you can steam or roast the cauliflower just for this soup.

But ... here's the other thing. You could make this with a different vegetable, or even a mix of vegetables, as long as you like them together. Which means this is great whenever you have leftovers. I'm all about finding good uses for leftovers.

The rice mix I used here was actually a new mixed grains medly from Minute Rice - they sent me samples and I've been having some fun with it. It has several types of rice along with quinoa, and is meant to be cooked as a side dish, either on the stove or in the microwave, but I figured it would be fine in this soup. And it cooks fast, which means that this soup was ready to eat really quickly.

Creamy Cauliflower Rice Soup

3-4 cups cooked cauliflower
1 quart vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup instant mashed potatoes, for thickening (if needed)
1 packet (about 3/4 cup uncooked) Minute Rice Multi-Grain Medly
Salt and pepper, to taste

Combine the cauliflower and chicken stick in a blender and puree until smooth, then transfer to a saucepan. You could also but both in a saucepan and use a stick blender to puree it.

Heat on medium heat. Add the minute rice, stir to combine, and cook until the rice is cooked through. If you prefer a thicker soup, add the instant potatoes and cook for a few more minutes.

Taste, and add salt and pepper to taste. I happen to like creamy soups with a generous amount of pepper.

If you like, garnish with some chopped herbs, or a complimentary vegetable, shredded or diced. I happened to have some brussels sprouts, so I used that.

I received samples of the Minute Rice Multi-Grain Medly at no cost to me. I wasn't required to use it in a recipe, but it worked really well here. And yes, I'd buy it again. It's handy to have on hand. And I'm kind of a fiend for rice.

Asparagus and Leek Soup with Poached Egg

I love soup, particularly when the cooler weather comes calling. From early fall though late spring, it seems like I've always got some kind of soup simmering on the stove or tucked away in the refrigerator for a quick meal.

Much of the time, soup is a spur-of-the moment creation, based on what leftovers are available and what vegetables aren't reserved for other uses.

It's not that often that I make deliberate soup, where I start with a recipe and end up with exactly what I had planned. Nope. Most soups here are pretty haphazard.

Which is why I was interested in the book Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst. With book in hand, I could shop for ingredients and make purposeful soups.

The one I chose for the online book tour I'm participating in was an asparagus and leek soup. It intrigued me. I love potato leek soup, and I adore asparagus. It seemed like the perfect transitional soup, with asparagus still very available while the weather was just starting to turn cooler.

This recipe uses asparagus in three different ways. And then, to add some richness, it's served with a poached egg on top.

I'll admit that I didn't make this recipe exactly as written. I didn't weigh the asparagus, for example. And I used fried egg rather than the poached egg that was called for. I think fried eggs are easier, and it was my dinner, so I was fine with that.

This was a lovely light soup that is also rich because of the addition of the egg. Quite tasty. And although the instructions seem long, it's pretty simple. Now that I've made it once, I could make it again with barely a glance at the instructions. Or just wing it.

Asparagus and Leek Soup with Poached Egg
Adapted from Soup Swap by Kathy Gunst

2 1/2 pounds asparagus (I had 2 bunches, unweighed)
1 large leek
7 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 scallions, trimmed, white and greed sections very thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest (I used lemon juice)
1 egg per serving

Cut the tips off the asparagus and set aside. Snap the stalks where they naturally break, or cut off the tough ends. Put the tough ends in a saucepan and set the tender part aside.

Cut off the tough green part of the leek and chop it roughly. Rinse off any dirt or grit. Put the dark green parts of the leek in the saucepan with the tough asparagus ends. Add the vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer. Cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes.

Halve the tender remaining leek lengthwise - this should be just the tender pale green section and the white. Rinse it under cold water to get rid of any dirt or grit. Slice the leek crosswise into thin pieces.

Cut the middle part of the asparagus into pieces about an inch long.

Put 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a stockpot over medium heat. Add the tender leek slices and the chives along with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes. Add the asparagus pieces (those middle parts you cut; not the tips) and cook for another 5 minutes. Turn the heat to high, add the wine, and bring to a boil.

Strain the stock from the saucepan into the stockpot. Discard the tough leek pieces and asparagus ends and bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low. Cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat and let it cool for 5 minutes before blending it in batches in a blender. You could also use a stick blender or food processor. Blend until you have a smooth puree, then return the soup to the pot.

Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon (1 1/2 teaspoons) of olive oil in a skillet. Add the scallions and cook for 4 minutes, or until they are golden brown. Add the asparagus tips and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, or until the asparagus tips are almost tender.

Poach or fry one egg per serving of soup.

Ladle the soup into bowls, top with the egg, and garnish with some of the asparagus tips and scallions. Serve hot.

As part of the book tour, I received a copy of the book, a Chef's Choice Pronto Pro Diamond Hone knife sharpener, a Zeroll ladle, and a Zeroll slotted spoon.

Watermelon Gazpacho

Spouts, one of the food chains in this area, has started a monthly blogger get-together, and the second one I attended was at a cooking school called Cook Street School of Culinary Arts. And I've got their Watermelon Gazpacho recipe for you.

This is a view of where we had our class.

The theme was pizza. 

Pizzas are baking!

Here's another shot of the pizza oven. Isn't it great?

Needless to say, I rocked it with the dough-making, kneading, and shaping. Maybe I showed off a little bit. Diego, the sole Sprouts representative at the event, seemed like he had a lot of fun even though his pizza wasn't exactly round. He was a good sport!

We also stretched mozzarella, which was fun. They suggested that you can buy mozzarella curd, but you can also make your own - I've actually done it, and it's fun. (Why haven't I blogged about it? I have no idea!) To make it easier, you can buy a kit for making the cheese from scratch. Or actually from milk. But you knew what I meant, right?

They gave us a bunch of recipes to take home, for pizza, sauce, green goddess dressing, and a basil pesto, but the one that really intrigued me was the watermelon gazpacho. Which was one of the few things we didn't have our hands on. It was served to us as a little starter as the people from the cooking school introduced themselves and told us about what we were going to be doing.

Here's my finished pizza. And yes, that's a glass of wine.

The thing I thought was most interesting about the watermelon gazpacho was that it really didn't taste like watermelon. The tomato flavor was much more pronounced. What the watermelon added was a freshness and lightness. It wasn't like drinking pureed tomatoes.

And then there was the dollop of cheese on top - a blend of creme fraiche and feta that I wanted to steal off of everyone else's glass. I didn't know what it was, but I have to say I was pleased it was so simple. I can imagine using it as a dip with the addition of some herbs or as a dressing on fresh tomatoes and cucumbers.

I usually don't publish other people's recipes here, but I liked this so much I wanted to save it to make later. The recipe makes quite a bit, but it should be easy enough to cut this in half or even make just 1/4 of it.

Watermelon Gazpacho
Courtesy of Cook Street School of Culinary Arts

5 cups watermelon, small dice
4 tomatoes, cored, small dice
1 English cucumber, small dice
1/2 cup red onion, small dice
2 Fresno chiles, roasted, peeled, seeded, and brunoised (a really small dice)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds, toasted and finely ground
2 ounces feta
1/2 cup creme fraiche
Salt, to taste

Puree half of each of the watermelon, tomato, cucumber, onion, and chile with the vinegar, oil, and cumin in a blender until smooth. Taste and adjust the salt and vinegar, as desired. If it's too thick, add more cucumber or tomato.

Fold in the remaining watermelon and vegetables.

Puree the feta and creme fraiche.

Serve the gazpacho with a small dollop of the feta mix.

Thanks to Sprouts and Cook Street School of Culinary Arts for sponsoring and hosting the event. Some photos are courtesy of Sprouts; photos with captions are mine.

Pressure Cooker Cream of Tomato Rice Soup

I've been on a tomato kick lately. Seems like everything I make has tomatoes in it - fresh tomatoes in salad, tomato sauce in a side dish, diced tomatoes in something else. I've been craving pasta with tomato sauce, but haven't made it yet.

So, when I made some baby back ribs by starting them in my Instant Pot, I saved the resulting broth and decided I should use it to make soup. Pork stock and pork broth don't seem to be very common, but my mom ALWAYS started her tomato soup with pork stock.

So, of course ...

I made tomato soup.

In the Instant Pot.

It was sooooo easy, it was ridiculous. I mean, I'm used to soups that simmer forever on the stove, but this was done in no time. Even the rice.

You might wonder why I use evaporated milk in this recipe. There are actually two reasons. First, it's thicker and creamier than if I used regular milk. More milk, less water, basically. Second, it's less likely to curdle than regular milk.

If the milk does curdle, it's not going to kill you. It doesn't actually taste much different. But you end up with little tiny milk bits that give the soup a less-smooth texture.

Curdling happens because you're mixing milk with an acid. It's what you do on purpose when you're making something like lemon cheese or a fresh farmer's style cheese. But it's not what you want to happen when you're making tomato soup.

Make sure you're using evaporated milk, and not sweetened condensed. If you use sweetened condensed, this will probably be awful. And then you will hate me and send me strange emails about your weirdly sweet inedible soup.

Pressure Cooker Cream of Tomato Soup

4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled diced
1 teaspoon salt (to taste - consider whether your stock is salty or not)
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut in thin coins
1 quart stock*
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (tomato puree is also good)
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
1/4 cup long-grain rice (I like jasmine rice)
1 12-ounce can evaporated milk (NOT CONDENSED!)
Fresh herbs, for garnish (optional)

*I like pork stock for tomato soup, but chicken or vegetable stock is fine - homemade or your favorite store bought. In a pinch, you can use water.

Melt butter on saute setting in the Instant Pot (or other brand of electric pressure cooker). Add the onion as soon as you have it diced. Add the salt. Cook, stirring once in a while. Add the carrots as soon as you have them sliced. Continue cooking until the onions are softened and no longer have their harsh flavor.

Add the stock, crushed tomatoes, and diced tomatoes. Stir to combine. Sprinkle the rice on top. Close the Instant Pot and set for high pressure, 15 minutes.

When the time is up, release the pressure. It will be boiling furiously. Let it cool down a bit, then pour in the evaporated milk slowly, while constantly stirring the soup. Taste for seasoning and add more salt, if desired.

Garnish with some thinly sliced basil leaves, or other fresh herbs of your choice, if desired.

Vegetable Soup - Easy to make vegetarian or vegan!

It seems like every time I get a new gadget, I make a million recipes in it. When I got my Vitamix, I had smoothies every morning for breakfast. And maybe for lunch. And blended cocktails. And  ... well, all sorts of blended things.

I didn't post a lot of recipes because, well, it was smoothies. Lots of bananas disappeared, but I wasn't being particularly creative.

Now that I have an Instant Pot, I'm having fun pressing buttons and seeing what it can do. One night, I was thinking about soup. I had chicken stock, canned tomatoes, fresh vegetables. It was 10:34 and I seriously wanted to make the soup that late at night. But then I decided it would be just as easy to make the soup the next day for lunch.

So that's what I did.

To make this soup vegetarian, simply swap in a vegetable stock for the chicken stock. To make it vegan, omit the butter or use olive oil instead. It might sound a little odd to add butter or oil to a soup, but this soup has no meat that would normally provide fat. It's not necessary, but it adds a little bit of richness.

The mild Hatch chilis don't add heat to the soup - if you prefer a spicy soup, use hot chilis. Or you can pass hot sauce or sriracha at the table for those who like it hot.

Vegetable Soup

1 quart chicken stock (I use Kitchen Basics if I don't have homemade)
2 14.5-ounce cans petite diced tomatoes
1 14.75-ounce can creamed corn (or corn kernels, your choice)
1 4-ounce can mild diced Hatch chilis
1 cup sliced carrots (about 3)
1 cup sliced celery stalks (about 3)
1 medium onion, diced
1/4 cup jasmine rice
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt

Place all the ingredients in the Instant Pot and give it a little stir. Set on "soup" setting and turn time to 12 minutes. When the time is up, release the pressure. Serve hot.

I received the Instant Pot though 37 Cooks in order to create a post on that site. I'm not obligated to continue posting about it.

Chilled Beet Soup from Le French Oven

My buddies and I over at Virtual Potluck loved the cookbook Le French Oven so much, we decided to do a group post about it. AND we've got cookbooks to give to you. AND something else.

Do you know what a French oven is? You might have one, and not even know it.

According to some definitions, Dutch ovens are made from uncoated cast iron, but similar coated pots are French ovens. There are of course, French French ovens - coated cast iron pots made in France.

The book Le French Oven focuses on cooking in different types of French ovens, from large ones to individual ones. I have at least a dozen pages bookmarked, with recipes I want to try. And I've made a few.

But for this post, I decided to make beet soup. Because I love soup and I love beets, and this recipe is completely different from my usual.

I usually make beet soup similar to what my mom made - a clear soup that's a teeny bit tart. Then sour cream is added at the table. Mom's beet soup could be served hot, warm, cool, or chilled. And I pretty much liked it every possible way.

This soup is designed to be served chilled, and it's blended with buttermilk. A lot of buttermilk. The result it a very pretty pink soup.

I had to make one little change to the recipe. It called for using beet greens as a garnish. The beets I bought at the farmers market were end-of-season beets, and the greens were really beat up. They weren't really appetizing either as garnish or in the soup. So, while I made the rest of the recipe according to the book's instructions, I made a different garnish.

While I didn't make the garnish this time, I do like the idea of floating a "salad" on top of the soup. I might give it a try next time I have pretty beet greens.

If you have pretty greens, this includes those instructions, but I'll include my variation as well. Just in case.

Gorgeous Chilled Beet Soup
with Beet Greens Salad
Adapted from Le French Oven by Hillary Davis

8 beets, with good looking leaves
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 quarts buttermilk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt, divided
2 cracks freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon white or wine vinegar

Wash, trim, and peel the beets - wear rubber gloves if you don't want to stain your hands!

Place parchment or wax paper on your cutting board if you don't want to stain it. Coarsely shred 2 beets and set aside. Slice the remaining beets into large pieces.

Pull the leafy part of the leaves off of the thick stems and discard the stems. Finely chiffonade the greens so you have a tightly packed 1/2 cup. Use any remaining greens for whatever you like.

Place the sliced beets in the French oven with enough water to cover. Add the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook the beets until they are tender - about 40-60 minutes. Drain the beets.

When the beets are cool enough to handle, put them in a food processor or blender, in batches if necessary, with the buttermilk, sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt, and pepper. Blend until very smooth. Pour the finished puree back into the French oven.

Taste for seasoning and add more salt and/or pepper, if desired. Cover the French oven and refrigerate until the soup is chilled.

Just before you're ready to serve, whisk together the oil, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and vinegar. Toss in the grated beets and the beet greens. Mix well to coat.

Serve the soup in bowls and top with the beet salad.

Note: Since my beet greens weren't edible, I garnished with peeled and julienned cucumber pieces instead.

All of the participating members of Virtual Potluck received a copy of the book from the publisher as well as a serving item from Le Creuset; I got the soup tureen shown in the photos. The publisher is providing books for the winners as well as an oval Dutch oven for one winner.

Giveaway is over.

Slow Cooker Chunky Potato Leek Soup #SimplyPotatoes

This post brought to you by Simply Potatoes. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Cookistry.

Potato soup is one of my ultimate comfort foods, and what's better than comfort food that's easy to prepare? This one is made in a slow cooker, so you don't need to watch it, stir it, or worry about burning. Slow cooking is one of my favorite methods for busy days.

This was my first time using Simply Potatoes, and I have to say that I enjoyed the convenience. Just rip the bag open and go. In case you haven't seen them yet, Simply Potatoes are fresh potatoes, not frozen or dried, so you'll find them in the refrigerated dairy section. Since they're peeled and prepared, they're easy to use. And they're made from real ingredients. You know - potatoes.

I found a number of different varieties at the store, including hash browns - and how convenient it that? No grating in the morning when you're sleep-cooking!

In the end, I decided to use two different types of Simply Potatoes - the traditional mashed and the chunks. I used the mashed because I wanted a thick, creamy soup, and I used the chunks to provide texture in the soup to match the other vegetables. It was the perfect choice.

The rest of the vegetables in this soup can be prepped ahead of time if you like. Unlike potatoes that brown when cut, the carrots, celery and leek can be cut ahead of time and refrigerated until needed, so when you're ready to cook, you don't need to do much work at all.

This is a thick, stick-to-your-ribs soup. If you prefer something thinner, add more stock or water to achieve your desired consistency.

Slow Cooker Chunky Potato Leek Soup

2 carrots
1 stalk celery
1 leek
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 quart chicken stock (more as needed)
1 24-ounce package Simply Potatoes Traditional Mashed
1 20-ounce package Simply Potatoes Diced Potatoes with Onion
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Crumbled potato chips for garnish (optional)

Peel the carrots and slice them into thin rounds. Cut the celery in half, lengthwise, then slice into pieces about the same size as the carrots.

Trim the tough green parts off of the leek, and cut off the roots, if they're still attached.

Cut the leek in quarters, lengthwise, then slice into thin pieces. Put the leek pieces into a colander or strainer and rinse well. Leeks usually have dirt or sand trapped between some of the layers, and you want to make sure you remove all of that.

Heat the butter in a saute pan (or in your slow cooker, if it has a bottom-cooking function) and add the carrots, celery, and leek.

Add the salt, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables have soften a bit. You don't need them cooked through, but you do want to give them a head start.

Add the vegetable to the slow cooker along with the chicken stock and mashed potatoes.

Turn the heat to high and stir until the mashed potatoes are mostly mixed into the stock. It's fine if there are a few bits.

Add the potato chunks and stir again. Cook on high until the vegetables are cooked through - about 2 hours depending on your cooker and how thinly you sliced your vegetables. Taste and add more salt or pepper, if desired.

Serve hot.

Garnish with crumbled potato chips, if desired.

Thanks to Simply Potatoes  I gave away one slow cooker to a lucky winner (giveaway is now over).

If you're looking for more Simply Potatoes Recipes check out their website or follow Simply Potatoes on Pinterest.