What's your favorite soup recipe?

Manhattan clam chowder = Tomato paste, chicken/shrimp flavor cube, water, celery, whole tomato, whole onion, whole green pepper and either canned clams or frozen mussel meat with the juice and an extra cup or so of water with a bit of starch or roux to thicken. Pretty easy to add any kind of sour cream or evaporated milk to make it a bit creamier, but I don't think it needs it.

creamed shitake: Boil dried shitake mushrooms in water , add an onion, fat free sour cream or cream cheese and thicken with starch or roux, then puree with a blender adding 1 clove of garlic. and some parsley, black pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Surely this would work with those cheap-o canned mushrooms too, but i doubt they would be so flavorful.

I never put salt in my things until I'm at the table, because you never know how much you need to add.

I love this soup made with rotisserie chicken. Might be one of my favorite chicken soups. Well...I like chicken tortilla soup too. soupspiceeverythingnice.blogspot.com/2014/02/rotisserie-chicken-soup.html

I love Tyler Florence's Chicken Tortilla Soup.

Avgolemeno. A greek lemon soup. You can add chicken to it, sometimes I do, sometimes I dont. Chicken stock or broth (stock tastes a lot more rich) some orzo (up to 1/2 cup or so, depending on your caloric goals). Juice of 1 lemon wisked together with 2 eggs. Add a little bit of the hot broth to the eggs to temper it. Then add eggs to the soup to thicken it.

The key to a good fall/winter soup is a good stock. It's an extra day in the process to de-fat it but to me it's worth it. You'll need a big stockpot for a turkey (i.e. Thanksgiving) carcass, or you can use a half-picked over roasted chicken, etc. Throw in a few stalks of celery, a few carrots, a couple of quartered onions with a couple of whole cloves stuck in them, maybe a leek or two, a few whole cloves of garlic, a half dozen whole peppercorns, a couple of bay leaves, some parsley, a couple of Tbs cider vinegar then pinches of some spices (basil, thyme, rosemary, thyme, celery seeds, etc.). Cover all this with water (3-3.5 quarts), bring to a boil and then simmer for 2-3 hours. Discard the solids, let it cool down de-fat and NOW you're ready to make real soup.

For a hearty winter chicken soup things I like to add are butternut squash, parsnips, a 28 oz can of Muir Glen chopped fire roasted tomatoes, a couple of sauteed chopped onions, chick peas, french green beans, sauteed red bell pepper, and some chopped greens like romaine, chard or even mustard greens. Separately saute or grill some chicken tenders and store them separately and add at when ready to serve.

I love soup. Today my favorite is chicken tortilla. Had some tonight.

I make a big pot of soup once a week for lunches. Occasionally I'll find an awesome recipe online. I made Easy Thai Shrimp Soup from the damndelicious site last week...OMG. So good!
http://damndelicious.net/2015/02/18/easy-thai-shrimp-soup/

I love soupe au pistou. Boiled up some chopped veg including a chopped tomato and and a tin of white beans. Stir in a big dollop of pesto into each bowl. Delicious and dead easy.

Buy, cook and eat a spiral ham.
Simmer ham bone, with some meat remaining thereon, for several hours with chopped onion and garlic cloves.
Allow to cool somewhat, pour broth through a strainer into another pot, or heat proof bowl (make sure receiving bowl is big enough to hold broth).
Allow bones and meat in strainer to cool to touch. Remove non-fatty meat from strainer, chop and add to broth. Discard rest.
Put pot, or bowl, with meat and broth in a refrigerator for several hours, or overnight.
Skim off congealed fat from top.
Add grated carrots, diced onion and split peas (one or two pounds of peas) to meat/broth mixture
Bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer for several hours until the split peas break down.
Serve hot with crusty bread.

You can substitute a ham hock(s) for the spiral ham bone. You could also use a ham bone from a ham that was not "spiral cut".

This is one of my favourites. It is a healthier spin on cream of broccoli.

Broccoli and Cheddar Soup
1 full head of broccoli chopped
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of raw garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
4 cups of low sodium chicken or vegetable stock
(alternatively; sometimes I choose to do 3 cups of broth and 1 cup of low-fat milk)
1 cup of low-fat medium cheddar
(alternatively; you could choose to use sharp cheddar for a stronger cheese flavour).

In a large pot place the olive oil, garlic, and onions and cook until the onions are just turning translucent. Add the cubed potatoes and chopped broccoli, stir together and then cover the pot, letting the vegetables steam for a approx 3-5 mins. Stir once more and then add the broth (or broth/milk mixture). Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat and let cook for approximately 15-20 mins or until potatoes are tender (can be easily pierced with a fork). Remove pot from heat and using an immersion blender (i.e. hand blender), puree the entire contents of the pot. If you do not have an immersion blender this can also be done by transferring the contents of the pot into a standard blender, although this will likely need to be done in batches as it will not all fit in the blender at once. Once the soup is pureed, add the cheddar and stir until well combined.

Enjoy!

I love soups, especially in the winter, and these are my two favourite:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/GsKiki/view/chicken-tortilla-soup-4-servings-785291
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/GsKiki/view/creamy-mushroom-soup-784593

Enjoy

I make a ham and bean soup every time I have a ham bone. I just make one last week. It makes about four quarts of soup which is about 8 servings. I love thick, hearty soups, and this one works out to be almost a stew. It is so hearty, and it clocks in at around 280 calories per serving. It is a bit of a process, but the slow cooker does almost all the work.
1 lb of dried great northern beans
1 meaty ham bone
6 cups water
3 bay leaves
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 white potatoes, cut into about 1" pieces
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
salt and pepper to taste (salt all depends on how salty the ham is, really)

Pick through beans making sure there are no pebbles in there, and soak overnight, or at least 8 hours. (You can look up how to do the quick bean-soaking method using boiling water, if you choose. That'll take the process down to about 2 hours, I believe.)
Drain and rinse beans.
Add ham bone (and any additional bits of ham you'd like if you don't think there's enough meat on the bone) to a slow cooker.
Add beans, water, bay leaves, garlic, potatoes, carrots, celery, and onion. Cook on low for about 8 hours.
Remove ham bone, bay leaves, and any fatty pieces of ham floating around.
You can mash some of the beans if you want the soup thicker, though I have found that just poking around for random ham parts does a pretty good job thickening things up.

You can add red pepper flakes or other things to spice it up, if you'd like. I add a ton of black pepper, and that does a good enough job for me.

This soup is even better as leftovers, and it freezes really well. I usually freeze half of batch and keep the rest for a dinner or two and lunches for the week.

My grandfather used to make this after every Christmas and Easter. After he passed away, I started taking/keeping the ham bone to make it. He never had a recipe, so I improvised based on watching him and eating it my entire life. It might be a bit nostalgic for me, but my boyfriend, who did not grow up eating "bean soup" also liked this recipe.