By Tara Richter…
This winter has been one of the most brutally cold (and long) winter’s that I can ever remember. When I hear my parent’s say the same thing, I know it has to be one of the coldest on record. The bitter cold makes me want to stay home, cuddle up with blankets, watch movies and hibernate. I must say one of the things that provide comfort in this cold is a great bowl of hot soup. Even in the spring, there’s something so satisfying about a warm bowl of soup, don’t you think?
I was super excited when I received the beautiful cookbook Great Homemade Soups: A Cook’s Collection by Paul Gayler. This cookbook has dozens of wonderfully crafted, yet easy to make soups. I love the full-page color photos of the soup and the easy to follow instructions. The first 16 or so pages of the book provides some really great general information on soup including; classifications of soups, garnishes, toppings and how to make homemade stock. The remainder of the book is split into categories based on the type of soup which includes broth, smooth & creamy, hearty & wholesome, traditional favorites and wild & exotic. Depending on the type of soup you feel like making, that categorization definitely helps narrow the choices down to a handful of recipes.
While flipping through the cookbook trying to decide which soup to make, I landed on page 106 and immediately knew it was the one. The picture itself made my mouth immediately water, and I knew with the title of Farmhouse Soup that it was a definite winner. The photo alone brought back memories of being on the farm with my great-aunts and their own farmhouse soups. Mostly though, it made me think of my mom and her delicious homemade soup. The great thing about making soup, is that it allows the cook to put his/her own spin on it by adding favorite seasoning or ingredients. I tossed in few of my own favorite ingredients including soup noodles, kernel corn, and cut up baby potatoes.
The final product was picture-perfect and the aroma that filled the house was incredible. My son and I sat down to a hot bowl of soup for lunch with a side of toast while the snow and wind blew outside. It was so delicious we both helped ourselves to a second serving. The great thing about soup is that it keeps incredibly well in either the fridge or the freezer. I filled enough containers with the leftovers to take for lunch every-day that week at work. With every passing day the soup seemed to take on a new taste as all the flavors from the ingredients more thoroughly blended together.
I’m looking forward to more of the recipes in the Great Homemade Soups this spring. I can hardly wait to try some of these unique recipes including borscht made with beef and sausage, carrot soup with 7 spices, or the roasted red pepper and aubergine soup with saffron aioli.
If you are a soup lover, you’ll definitely want to get your hands on this cookbook with a title it definitely lives up to. If you are not a fan of fish in soup, like me, don’t let the cover photo with fish scales throw you off. You will most definitely find dozen’s of recipes in this book to please your palate.
tomato soup for sure!!!
My favorite soup is potato broccoli.
Cleaning out the fridge soup, ham and green bean, lentil, pumpkin…… I can’t chose, it is like asking which child is your favourite!
Potato bacon!
Ham bone and bean soup.
can’t choose, so its a tie between corn chowder and broccoli cheese
I love a carrot pesto one I make!
Potato!
I like homemade chicken soup with wild rice, veggies, mushrooms and sometimes lentils.
my beef and barely soup.1 pound or I just use 1 package of ground beef (cooked) I can of tomato juice, fill can with water, 1 cup of celery, 1 cup of celery leaves, 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of potatoes, 1 cup of yellow beans, 1 cup of green beans, 1 cup of green pepper, 1/2 cup of pearl barely. tbs of oregano, tbs of thyme, tbs of basil. tbs of parsely, tsp of Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp or tbs of garlic powder, pepper to taste. cook together bring to boil and put in barely stir often.
pea and ham soup by far my fave. of all time! I do love chicken noodle and turkey rice etc.. I love soup! lol
my all time favourite is beef and cabbage plus all the other veggies that go into it, but I’ll eat any homemade soup it’s only the best and better for you
Leftover turkey soup is my favourite.
chicken noodle soup
Tuscana soup, italian sausage, kale, potatoes and wee bit of cream. I could eat the whole pot!
Italian wedding
I just love me some good old homemade chicken noodle soup. Im actually making some right now 😀
I’ve been making a lot of lentil soup this winter
My favorite home made soup is roasted garlic and tomato soup!
I love my homemade can’t cauliflower soup
I love beef barely or cream of cauliflower.
Beef barley
Zuppa toscano.
My favorite homemade soup is borscht, closely followed by corn chowder and French onion soup. With a cold winter as we’ve had here in Saskatchewan this year, all soups are good (*read: warm!!)! 🙂
my favorite is chicken corn chowder
broccoli cheese soup
I love so many soups it is hard to name a favorite. Pho is one favorite. My son in law makes it for me so that is an extra treat.
My husband especially loves home-made soups! Would love this book would be great to try new recipes!
Swiss Potato Soup — really delicious and quick to prepare.
I love my homemade corn chowder, and Italian mussel soup.
I love making broccoli cheddar soup!
My favorite is my mom’s homemade Hashbrown Potato Soup amongst sooo many others. We love trying new soups.
My husband makes a baked potato soup that is so good. Or his french onion-yummy
I like beef barley soup
Homemade chicken soup with veggies!
It would be great to win a copy of the cookbook
Great Homemade Soups:A Cook’s Collection by Paul Gayler.
My favorite homemade soup is chicken soup with noodles and vegetables.
Thank you for having this giveaway!!!!!!!!!
Creamy tomato soup