Soups & Stews

We made this soup on a day that was apparently very popular for potato soup. A coworker of Corey's and my mom, Linda, both mentioned to us that they had made potato soup the day after we had this soup, which reminded us how much the weather and time of year dictates what we eat. We, unfortunately, did not think on our feet and capture the opportunity to post three potato soup recipes and reviews, but never fear, we actually quite liked the soup that we made (which we of course have to share with you). This soup was creamy, without much cream added, and was perfect for dunking bread or rolls (it also paired nicely with salad for leftovers). All around a fairly good soup that we both enjoyed. If you enjoy a chunky soup, we would suggest that you use a potato masher instead of a stick blender, in the final step of this recipe to maintain the chunkiness that we lost in our version. (Another word of advice, if you're sensitive to garlic and heartburn, you'll want to stay away from this recipe.)

One of the most interesting aspects of planning a weekly menu that is continually filled with new dishes is the sheer number of recipes we find that challenge our expectations of labels. This particular recipe is a prime example of this phenomena. Although labeled a chili, neither of us felt that the label actual corresponded with the taste. Although flavorful, there was a lack of cumin flavor or any sense of rich smokiness. The experience of this dish was by no means bad, it just was not what we expected. Best stated, it was a flavorful, meat and bean dish loaded with vegetables that was reminiscent of a chili but did not quite meet our expectations.

We are continually fascinated with the concept of creating dishes that traditionally take hours in a matter of 30 minutes or less. Clearly there is a trend in the United States of creating meals at home that are quick and accessible for the every day cook, which we are all for and believe is a wonderful idea when done correctly, but the concept of creating pot of chili in 35 minutes always seems too good to be true. This chicken chili, which we were partially drawn too because it used up some of stock pile of Autumn apples that we had sitting in our basement, capitalized on that quick cooking technique. The result here was indeed a chili that took relatively little time, although it was closer to one hour than the 20 minutes listed in the recipe. The product was tasty and definitely a departure from our "normal" chili experience, but truly not waist-size friendly. The method for creating a thick chili base in this dish was to add 2 cups of shredded cheese, which indeed created a thick chili. That said, the dish definitely had rich flavor and we would not discount it completely because the cheesy texture was, in fact, smooth and rich. We would just recommend that you not plan on eating this dish multiple days in a row and perhaps it would be wise to balance our weekly menu out with a salad the next day.

We stumbled upon this recipe in our search for new and interesting things to do with the mounds of apples that we picked at the orchard this Fall. In reality this recipe did not put much of a dent in our large pile of apples (it only calls for one apple!), nevertheless, we enjoyed this hearty and flavorful soup immensely; it will definitely make an appearance again next year.

When Leslie and I first started dating we started to use my slow cooker a lot. She didn't own one so using mine was a fun little adventure we could do together.  This recipe was one of the first we tried, and it came out with resounding success. It's simple, has some spice, and can feed a small army. When we cook this dish up, we will have it for a few nights, then we freeze the rest into single serving portions for quick lunches or dinners.