Football season is in full swing, which means that fall is here. Fall is seriously the best season for eating soups. Nothing is more comforting than eating soup and a sandwich (or soup and some homemade bread) and watching an early afternoon game. GO BLUE!!

Tomato soup is a great soup to have when you go on a bender of have grilled cheese.  It is also a great soup to make when you have tired yourself out of making salsas, spaghetti sauce, etc. with your wonderful harvest. I, unfortunately, did not have a garden this year, thus no fresh tomatoes to can, etc. And once you see how easy this soup is, you’ll be amazed.

Michigan Ingredients: Spartan Products galore!! tomato soup, stewed tomatoes, Meijer half and half.

Now I know… I could have used fresh tomatoes and made stewed tomatoes myself or have someone give me stewed tomatoes… HOWEVER, this soup is super quick to make. And I know… tomato soup to make tomato soup. FAIL. So this is one of those Semi-from-scratch recipes.

This recipe comes from someone who I use to work with. She told me that it is called “Beach Bar Soup,”  and everyone in Jackson, Michigan loves it.

First things first, let’s get to dicing up your onions.

Start melting a stick of butter and saute  your onions. I know it may seem like it is quite a bit of butter, but this makes a HUGE amount of soup. Please trust me.

Once your onions are translucent, add the remaining ingredients (stewed tomatoes, tomato soup, half and half, cream cheese, and your seasonings: basil and garlic).

Bring the soup to a small boil. Once it starts to bubble, I would recommend removing it from the heat so that you can start the “lengthy” process of pureeing the soup. If you have one of those cool immersion blenders, by all means use that. BUT if you are like me and not super duper fancy, you can use either a food processor or blender.

It usually takes a few batches to process it all, but in the end it is worth it.

Return it back to the pan and bring the soup back to a slow bubble. Keep in mind that this soup has dairy in it, so keep a close watch.

You can serve your soup this way… or……

Serve with ooey gooey grilled cheese. Enjoy.

Homemade Creamy Tomato Soup

 

Author:

Michigan from Scratch

Recipe type: Soup

Serves: 8-10

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 30 mins

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A delicious soup to use up your tomato harvest!

Ingredients

• 1 quart of Stewed Tomatoes (32 ounces)
• 3 cans of Tomato Soup
• 12 oz of Cream Cheese
• 1 quart of Half and Half
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 stick of Butter
• 1 tablespoon Garlic Powder
• 2 tablespoons Basil

Instructions

1. Saute your diced onions in the melted butter until translucent.
2. Add the remaining ingredients to the pot and bring to a small bubble on low heat. Remove from heat.
3. Puree the soup using either a blender, an immersion blender or food processor. Return to back to the pot.
4. Bring soup to a small boil on low heat. Be sure to watch the soup to make sure it does not scorch. Serve with grilled cheese or shredded cheese and croutons.

Notes

Note: I would recommend eating or freezing this soup within a matter of 3-4 days.

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Soup season in Michigan usually is from September to May,  as Michigan weather never really knows what it wants to do. Sometimes we have a late April snowstorm; and luckily, this year, we had said snowstorm in early April as opposed to late April (#glassishalffull). Since Michigan hasn’t decided that it will be consistently warm, I thought I would slide this recipe in there for you before the “soup season” is over. Me personally, I can eat soups all year round, so long as I am in air conditioning during the summer months. Something about soups just give me comfort; especially homemade soups because usually they are made with love (*cheeseburgers* <– a.k.a. cheesy).

This potato soup recipe is a great “set it and forget it” kind of recipe. There isn’t a lot of prep work and there are minimal ingredients. I usually make this soup when I don’t use my potatoes up as quickly as I thought I would or my ambitious side gets the best of me thinking that I will use up two 10 pound bags of potatoes because they were ON SALE.

Right now, I am in the process of making this an even more “from scratch” recipe as to the canned soup aspect. I know, I know; how can it be “from scratch” when you are using canned soup? Well, when it comes to making recipes in the crock-pot, usually you add your dairy at the end as it can wreck havoc on the dish. Dairy products (usually milk) do not do well being heated for hours on end. I will be working on making a stove-top version of this recipe, so keep an eye out for that.

Michigan Ingredient: Red skinned potatoes

I usually prefer to use red skinned potatoes, but whatever potatoes (except sweet potatoes) that you have on hand will work.

First things first, chop up your potatoes and green onions; BOOM, hard work is done. The rest is just dropping the rest of the ingredients (minus the milk, sour cream, and cheese) into the crock-pot, giving it a stir and going about your day. Now you just need to make a decision as to if you want to use the high or low setting. Totally up to you, whatever your preference may be.

Do not be alarmed if you see the potatoes brown a little toward the top, as that is normal. I promise that it will taste just as great. (Imagine said picture here as apparently I was too lax in taking pictures ha!)

After your cook time (whether it be 4 hours or 8 hours) add your milk, sour cream, cheese (shred same now if you need to) and stir.  Set the crock-pot on high for 10 minutes. If you are adding sausage, this is when I would start to brown my sausage. I would recommend that you drain (not rinse) your sausage onto a paper towel lined plate to get rid of the excess grease; blot as much as you can of the grease so as to not make your soup appear greasy.  After your 10 minutes is up, add your sausage and serve with homemade bread and butter.

Spicy Potato Soup (Slow Cooker)

 

Author:

Michigan from Scratch

Recipe type: Soups

Cuisine: Soups

Serves: 6-7

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 8 hours

Total time: 8 hours 20 mins

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Potato soup is a classic soup that (in my opinion) is right up there with chicken noodle.

Ingredients

• 2-2.5 pounds of Potatoes (your choice) - peeled, and chopped
• 2 cans of Cream of Mushroom Soup (reduced fat and sodium)
• 1½ cups of Green Onion, finely diced - divided
• ¼ teaspoon of Garlic Powder
• ⅛ teaspoon of Red Pepper (Caynnne)
• 1½ cups/block of Pepperjack Cheese - shredded
• 1 cup of Sour Cream
• 1 cup of Milk
• black pepper to taste
• ½ to 1 pound of Spicy Sausage (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine your potatoes, soups, 1 cup of green onions, garlic powder, and red pepper in your slow cooker. Cover, cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.
2. Add cheese, sour cream, and milk; stir until cheese has completely melted. Cover, cook on HIGH for 10 minutes.If you are adding your sausage, brown same and add (be sure to blot the grease) to the soup. Season to taste with black pepper and garnish with remaining green onions.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Slow Cooker Bible

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