Every time I ask about what I should write about next, there's always a request to chat about soup. Well Brendan, this quick and easy week goes out to you! Soup can take quite a while to prep, but if you're willing to skip the process of homemade stock, many soups can be very quick to prepare. Broccoli and cheddar soup can take a matter of a few minutes, with the issue of overcooking, and other soup like potato and bok choy are still under 30 minutes. Cooking up a pot of soup includes some easy tips we sometimes may not consider: 1. Buy a pre-made stock/broth - oh no the taboo of not being homemade. Sorry I don't have a lot of time so prepared bases are great! 2. Consider frozen or pre-cut veggies - matchstick carrots? Go for it! And frozen veggies will cook and soften quicker (I find anyways). 3. Prepare ingredients into smaller sizes - the smaller your potatoes or chicken are, the quicker they will cook! 4. Prep in advance - if you can make this happen, chop/dice/slice your ingredients the day before. It never hurts and that way you can chuck everything in the pot right away (or close to anyways). Lately I've been working on my own sick-day noodle soup. Now it's not your ordinary chicken noodle soup. In fact, I have yet to add chicken. I am a huge fan of noodles (ramen and udon soup are basically a staple dish I have more often than should). While the perfect broths take at least a day to be amazing, my quick and easy is making it darn delicious! Don't be thrown off by the bucket list of ingredients. Most of these ingredients you can use for multiple meals if you don't typically carry, and you'll still be done the dish in under thirty. Majority of the time is spent on the broth, with adding the noodles closer to the end of cooking time! If you are feeling something a little creamier, try making broccoli and cheddar or onion and cheddar soup. Both are incredibly easy to make, take about 10 minutes to cook in the pot and have fairly similar ingredients - easy to pick one or the other! I absolutely love making broccoli and cheese soup - it's a wonderful comfort dish, and perfect in those chilly months. aside from the two staple ingredients, milk and chicken stock (or vegetable) along with some other veggies will bring this together in a jiffy! If your taste buds feel like something different, opt for the onion and cheddar soup! It's quite possible many of you have never had bok choy. This wonderful Chinese cabbage is a great healthy addition as a side dish or in a soup. I've made both shrimp and potato bok choy soup, which are both wonderfully tasty. I added spiciness to the shrimp bok choy soup and incorporated more veggies and less spice to the potato soup. Your choice! Try both. The potato and bok choy soup takes a bit longer to allow time for the potato to soften, but both are wonderfully quick dishes! Sure, summer is upon us, but sometimes you just need a hearty bowl of soup! I admit I have canned soup at home, but if I can cook something fast enough.... well let's just say those cans are sitting up there longer than I expected. Whatever your reason, start with a soup base, throw in some vegetables, maybe some meat or tofu and don't forget to season with all your favourite spices and herbs! If you have extra time on your hands, try a butternut squash soup or puréed mushroom soup! Soup's up!
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