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Friday, December 21, 2018

My New Favorite Soup

My freezer has been pretty good to the grocery budget lately. I'm currently on a mission to use many foods I had frozen during the spring. I don't want to have to pitch foods just because they find their way into the nether regions of the freezer and wind up with freezer burn. Some of the things I knew were in there but I am also finding odd bits and pieces that need to be used. This has required some creative solutions since I am on a mission to find ways to use them.

 For example, I found 1/2 cup globs of frozen canned pumpkinI stuck in the freezer after using just 1/2 cup when I first opened the can On of our local grocers makes their own sausage and every few days they have the unsold sausage marked down to half price. Whenever I see it I purchase it, bring it home, brown it and immediately freeze the browned sausage. I always have a few bags but the type varies. It might be andouille, Italian, Polish or just a basic sage sausage. (Note to self: start labeling the bags with the type of sausage instead of just the generic term "sausage" )

This pumpkin sausage soup was the result of one of those missions. I found the basics on a keto blog and used it as a starting point for soup. The following is what I actually did.

Shhhh! Don't tell this soup it's not pretty. It gets so many kudos for taste it forgot to care about it's appearance.

1 lb sausage (I used Italian hot sausage, because that was what was browned and frozen)
1/2 small red onion, minced (If you are not doing keto use the whole onion. I was just saving carbs)
1 pepper, diced. (I used 1/2 yellow and 1/2 green red bell peppers because I had both partially used peppers in the fridge)
1 clove garlic, minced (again of you are not doing keto try 2 cloves)
1 pinch salt
1 tsp  sage
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp red chili peppers flakes (optional, but because I used the hot sausage I did not add them, but have added it since when making it with a plain breakfast sausage. I like heat but if you don't, then omit it.)
½ cup pumpkin puree
3 cups chicken broth
1 bag frozen spinach
½ cup heavy whipping cream (If not doing keto use half and half to reduce the fat)
2 tbsp salted butter

The soup prep is pretty basic. Brown the sausage in a pan. (Mine was browned then frozen, so I added about 1 teaspoon of oil along with the sausage to wilt the onions and peppers, since I had drained the sausage prior to freezing it.) After the sausage loses it's pink tint  toss in the onion and pepper until it wilts but does not brown. As soon as they have wilted, turn the heat down and add the garlic, sage and thyme.  Give it a quick stir, letting it cook a little under a minute. You don't want  the garlic to brown or burn. Quickly add the pumpkin and the chicken broth and stir well to combine everything. Toss in the frozen spinach. Let it cook at a slow boil for about 5 minutes then lower the heat. Add the heavy cream and butter and bring the temp to serving temp without letting the cream boil (It will break and be grainy). Everyone else here topped theirs with corn chip crumbles, but I used crumbles pork rinds, as seen in the picture. Not as good as the chips would be but keto compliant and crunchy.

This is some seriously delicious soup. Everyone here really did like it and I have made it twice since the first time I tried it. I think this may become our go-to winter soup. Like most soups it is even better the second day. I am going to start making it the day before I intend to serve it, just for the flavor boost.


20 comments:

  1. Looking good is a bonus. Tasting good an essential.

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    1. It' s all about the taste, bout the taste, no trouble! Sorry I could not resist!

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  2. It also looks like a very hearty soup that could be served as the meal. An added bonus of no extra cooking.

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    1. When we have soup it is always as the meal, even thin watery soups become the meal. Except for Christmas night and we always have grilled cheese and tomato soup.

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  3. Mmmm soups are lovely in winter.

    I've been using up a stack of frozen meals. I'm a sort of 'out of sight, out of mind' person, so I didn't want too many things hiding in the freezer.

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    1. That is why I am eating from ours. Time to get rid of the loiterers!

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  4. Yum! I love a delicious soup, especially when you are moving things out of the freezer!

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    1. I love soup anyway, but this was like bonus soup. Plus it is really tasty!

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  5. I might give that a try. I just used up some cooked chicken from the freezer this afternoon and threw in leftover rice and at the last minute threw in what was left of an iceberg lettuce to make soup. It was pretty good too although I wish I hadn't thrown in the carrots - not keen on them. But I do like the idea of "sausage soup". Soup is very forgiving isn't it. Oh and I received your card - thanks so much.

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    1. Soup is the most forgiving meal you can make, but I will confess I have made some not very tasty soup before.

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  6. Great freezer soup! Today I am unthawing 1. Turkey for Christmas 2. 3 salmon fillets for Salmon Chowder on Sunday 4. 8 shrimp and 2 chicken breasts for stir fry with rice for tonight (feeding 4 on all meals). A friend lost power for 28 hours by Victoria due to that nasty storm so it frightened me - I absolutely need to clean out the freezer. Then, we will be buying a backup generator "just in case". Merry Christmas to you and yours Anne!

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    1. We have a back up generator strictly for our perishable food. I have both the freezer and a second fridge in the laundry room. If necessary I can move everything form the kitchen to the laundry room and keep from losing our inventory. About 5 years ago we lost power for over 5 days 3 different times during the year and I lost the content of everything each time. Now that we have the back up plan we have not lost power for more than one hour. Still it is a great insurance policy.

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  7. Replies
    1. You're quite welcome Cheryl. If you give it a try I hope you like it as much as we di.

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  8. Sounds savory and hearty and perfect for Minnesota weekends.

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    1. It is savory and so good! We added some shredded swiss to one bowl and it was great too!

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  9. I'm sorry, but I have to say it. Soup, you are not pretty. Not pretty at all. You will be even less attractive if someone has an upset tummy and you come back up.

    Anne, aren't you the one who mentioned Sister Schubert's frozen rolls? I found some at Costco--not the cinnamon rolls but regular yeast rolls. I bought them because of your praise (I think it was you). They are so delicious that I could eat nothing but rolls for every meal.

    Love,
    Janie

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  10. Yes I am the Sister Schubert fan. I love them and now that you mention them I need to run get some for Christmas brunch! And the soup is really unattractive, but insanely delicious.

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  11. It sounds like a nice, warming, filling soup! I am going to share the recipe with my daughter.

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