Stuffed Pepper Soup

One of Shawn's all-time favorite meals is stuffed peppers. And its specific to who makes them. They have to be Cheryl's stuffed peppers. I will side with him that they are pretty darn good. Ok...they are awesome. There!

So I was cruising through the food section on the app that I am addicted to these days (you know the one) and saw a recipe for stuffed pepper soup from The Country Cook's blog. I was inspired but knew that I could make a few changes to it to make it my own and more in line with the stuffed pepper flavor that our family loves.

I got all the ingredients ready and started making it and could tell that by the smell of the kitchen, that it was going to be darn tasty. And it was!!! I even took some over to my dad for dinner that night (because he hadn't' eaten and he wanted to see the new car Shawn and I bought). He was very hesitant of a soup inspired by a meal but yesterday I got a text that said "Soup was TASTY! Share the recipe please". Well Dad, you got it!!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. As written below, it is for a stove top, but can easily be adapted into a crock pot method. At the end of the recipe will be how to do it in the crock pot.

Stuffed Pepper Soup

1 lb. Ground Beef

1 small red onion, finely diced

1 medium green bell pepper, diced

1 medium red bell pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can (29 oz) fire roasted diced tomatoes, preferably seasoned with garlic and oregano

1 can (14oz) tomato sauce (or Italian Sauce)

1 - 14oz can beef broth

2 cups cooked rice

1 T. white sugar

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp dried oregano

1 T. dried minced onion

salt and pepper, to taste

shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream for garnish (optional but strongly suggested!!)

1) In your large stock pot, brown your beef for 4-5 minutes. Add your peppers, onion, and garlic and continue to cook until cooked through.

2) Drain off grease and put back into the pot.

3) Add in garlic powder, oregano and minced onion.

4) Stir in canned tomatoes, beef brother and tomato sauce.

5) Add sugar and salt and pepper and bring to a light boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to cook for two hours.

6) Add in your rice during the last 15 minutes and serve.

You can choose to cut the cooking time down but I believe that a good flavorful soup comes from allowing it to cook on low for a few hours. If you choose to make this a quick soup, add in your rice with the tomatoes and cook for 15 minutes and serve.

*To make this in a crock pot, follow the directions as written through step 5. You'll put all the ingredients into the crock pot set on low and cook for 4-6 hours. When you come home, add in the cooked rice and turn on high for 30 minutes or so. Then serve.

I garnish mine with a good pinch of cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream.

Dinner is served!

*recipe adapted from www.thecountrycook.net, photo courtesy of www.ziplist.com)

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Lightened Up Corn and Potato Chowder

When it comes to soup, I like very much prefer broth based soups over its cream based competitors. I love the comfort of soup but I don't think you need to load a soup with calories and fat for it to be delicious. This is the reason I've never had a love affair with cream of _____  or  _____ chowder or ____bisque....you get my drift.

But I was inspired by a lightened chowder recipe that I got in one of my Weight Watchers Weekly's that I got from a meeting last fall and thought I'd use it as a starting point.

I made it my own by switching up a few things and the end result was a delicious, hearty soup that didn't add inches to my waist line. That's a win-win in my book!!  (Picture courtesy of this website)

Fall Harvest Skinny Corn Chowder

2 medium potatoes (for ease, I opted for the microwavable ones)

1 medium sized Zucchini

1/3 cup chopped onion (i used a Vidalia onion but white would work too)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 c. Roasted Red Bell Peppers, diced

1/3 c. celery, chopped

1 Bag frozen corn (regular sized bag)

6 Strips thick cut bacon, diced

2 C. Skim Milk

1 c. low fat chicken broth (more or less depending on how thick/runny you like your soup) 

Sea Salt and Pepper, to taste

Hot pepper sauce or cayenne pepper, to taste

Grated Parmesan cheese, for garnish

1) Microwave potatoes per directions on the package. If you use regular potatoes, pierce them with a fork and cook in the microwave on high for about 8 minutes, or until tender. Move on to step 2 while this is cooking.

2) Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Cook bacon until it is crispy. Place on paper towel to allow oil to drain off of it. Drain oil from the skillet but reserve 1 T or so to cook vegetables in. Place celery, onion and zucchini in skillet and cook in oil until tender but slightly crisp. Add frozen corn and roasted red peppers during the last two minutes to bring to temp.

3) In a soup pot on medium heat, pour milk, chicken broth, garlic, bacon, cooked veggies, salt and pepper, and hot sauce. Cut cooked potatoes in spoon-sized chunks (really a preference thing). Reserve 5-6 chunks, and add the remaining potatoes to the pot. Mash the reserved potatoes and add mash to the soup pot. Simmer for 30-40 minutes to allow all the flavors to marry. Do not bring to a boil (you don't want to ruin the milk).
4) Bowl it up and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh parmesan cheese and enjoy!!

(soup is so hard to judge how much it makes because bowl sizes vary. This recipe makes 3/4 of a normal size pot)

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