Soups

Healthy, Soups

Fiery Roasted Tomato and Garlic Soup

First off, Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians! Today definitely feels like autumn. All the leaves are changed and have fallen on the lawn. We even had our very first snowfall of the season here in Winnipeg a couple days ago. It didn’t stay long – thankfully. Today is windy and rainy and it really made me want to stay inside, keep warm and make a nice hearty soup. Not to mention after all the turkey, cabbage rolls, stuffing and potatoes I ingested this weekend, I needed something light to start off the short work week.

I can confidently say that this soup that I’m featuring is by far the best soup I have ever made. It’s absolutely AMAZING. Rich and packed with so much flavour. The roasted tomatoes and garlic really do make a huge difference. Not to mention, it leaves your house smelling delectable for hours. The side of smoked gruyere cheese toast is also a great compliment to the roasted flavour. I was so happy I made this soup today that I raced to the computer to share it with you tonight. Delicious!

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Soups

Butternut Squash Apple Bacon Soup

I love soup. Especially in autumn. When I was given fresh garden butternut squash and leeks this Thanksgiving weekend, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them. I searched for inspiration on the perfect butternut squash soup. I combined my favourite elements from three recipes online and ended up creating this recipe. It’s savoury with a little hint of sweet from the cinnamon and nutmeg. Perfect flavours of autumn.

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Healthy, Soups

Hearty Soup

I’m not really a carboholic. I’m more of a sugarholic. I like sweets..the more chocolate in those sweets, the better. However, there is something to be said about the weather changing your eating habits. As the weather continues to flirt with below freezing temperatures, I find myself craving heavier foods. Casseroles and soups have been my addiction the past few weeks. I can’t get enough. Not to mention this is probably one of the busiest times for me professionally, so the easier that carb-loaded meal is to make, the happier I am.

Hearty Soup is probably the easiest recipe Claudia has in her cooking repertoire. It’s so easy that while my Dad watched me and Claudia make this soup for the blog, he proclaimed that even he could make it and continued to copy the recipe for his own meal arsenal for an upcoming hunting trip. Beats his pickled eggs recipe he currently has that’s for sure. This soup is so delicious, it leaves you wondering how something so simple can be so good.

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Healthy, Soups, Ukrainian Dishes

Borsch

Well kids, you don’t get any more Ukrainian than this. Borsch – i.e. Beet soup. Whatever you want to call it, it doesn’t change the fact that it’s one of the most traditional and delicious recipes my Mother inherited from her own Mother (my Baba).

Claudia typically makes Borsch mid-to-end of summer when there is an abundance of beets in our garden in Saskatchewan, and on every holiday occasion (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas). For a recipe that is relatively simple to make, there are so many variations around. I am pretty certain I’m biased, but this one is truly the best out there.

Growing up we always had meat in our Borsch – usually boiled chicken or pork. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never been a boiled meat kinda girl. So when I got old enough and decided it was time to throw a fuss, Claudia only served this vegetarian-style Borsch recipe to our family. Yes, I am a spoiled princess. But I’m still right – this rendition tops the meat varieties any day.

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Dinner, Healthy, Soups

Curryflower Soup

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Curry is not a typical spice in the Ukrainian chef’s arsenal. But this soup has been a great addition to Claudia’s cooking over the past few years. I didn’t really grow up having this dish, which is a good thing. Both me and my brother were pretty fussy kids growing up. If it wasn’t in the realm of BBQ hamburgers, perogies,  and my personal favourite – Cheese Whiz sandwiches (yes, believe it!), we weren’t eating any of it. So, if Claudia put this in front of us prior to 1996, we would have probably made such a fuss that she never would have attempted this dish again. That, in itself, would have been a tragedy.

Curry (and other Asian culinary influences for that matter), began showing up in our household well after us kids became adults.  Curryflower Soup is now one of the more “exotic” dishes  in regular rotation. Its mellow curry flavour and hearty vegetables are perfect for the rainy days of summer and the freezing cold temperatures of winter.

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