Pasta e Fagioli (Bean Soup)

(Makes a LOT!)
2 large carrots, diced
1 celery stalks, diced
1 shallot, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
8 bacon strips, diced
16 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cans red beans, drained and rinsed
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ditalini pasta, or other small pasta
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
Salt & pepper

In a large stockpot, cook the bacon bits until crispy. Remove from pot and drain on a paper towel. Leave about 1 tbsp of the bacon fat in the pot. Melt the butter and olive oil together with the bacon fat in the pot. Add the carrots, celery, shallot, herbs and garlic. Season with salt. Cook until vegetables are just turning soft, about 5-7 minutes.
Carefully add the chicken stock, add a little more salt, and bring to a boil. Add the pasta and cook for about 7-10 minutes, or until pasta is soft. Add the beans and bacon and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes, just to heat the beans through.
Top with parmesan cheese and serve hot.

*This is a great soup to have on a really cold day. It's almost like a meal in a bowl (I can hear my cousin Josh screaming, "Soup is not a meal!") Well, this soup comes pretty close. The beans make it nice and hearty, and the bacon, well, we all know that everything is better with bacon! Try this soup, and make sure you are cuddled up with your favorite blanket when you eat it!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Ecclesiastes 4:11

New Jersey Clam Chowder

I apologize for not having a picture for this recipe! I was too busy eating the soup, I forgot to take the picture!

Just like the stuff from New England, only from Jersey!
*Makes about 5 quarts*

6-8 potatoes, diced
2 large celery sticks, diced
3 carrots, diced
1/2 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 strips bacon, diced
4 tbsp butter
4 cans clams, reserve the juice
1/3 cup flour
6-7 cups whole milk
1 cup half & half (or heavy cream)
Salt & pepper

In a large 6-qt stockpot, cook the bacon bits until crispy. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on a paper towel - set aside. In the same pot, melt the butter and add the carrots, celery, onion and garlic. Season with salt and cook for about 5 minutes, or until veggies start to become tender. Add the potatoes and cook for another minute. Sprinkle in the flour and stir to coat all the vegetables. Cook for 1 more minute.
Slowly add the milk to the pot and stir to get out any lumps. Cover and bring to a boil, stirring often. Once potatoes have softened (like for mashed potatoes), turn off the heat and add two cans of the clams. CAREFULLY blend the soup with an immersion (or, stick) blender, or in a regular blender. Leave some of the soup chunky.
Put the soup back on the stove over low heat and add the clam juice, half & half, bacon bits and the remaining clams. Stir until well combined and just heated through.
Serve hot.

*This is my favorite soup to make, but be warned - it does take some time. I recommend prepping all your ingredients first: chop the veggies, set out the milk, chop the bacon, have the butter and flour ready...you get the idea. Once you have everything set out, you can start making the soup. It's just so much easier that way, than to try and do things during the cooking process. When the NY Giants beat the NE Patriots in the Superbowl in 2007, I temporarily renamed this soup to "Big Fat Loser Clam Chowder." Then, I permanently changed the name to New Jersey Clam Chowder. It's pretty much the same as NE Clam Chowder, but I'm sure there are some true New Englanders who will tell me it's not "authentic" enough. So, this is the Jersey version. I usually make this soup for our church soup suppers, and it's always the first one to be sold out. Try it out for yourself...you'll see!

A man finds joy in giving an apt reply— and how good is a timely word! Proverbs 15:23

Chicken Chowder

2-3 chicken breasts
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 shallot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
4 medium sized potatoes, cubed
4 tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
Bacon bits (optional)
1 cup cooked orzo, or rice
4 to 5 cups whole milk
Salt and pepper

Season the chicken with salt and pepper. In a 350 degree oven, roast the chicken breasts on a cookie sheet until cooked through. Allow to cool and cut into small bite-sized pieces. Set aside. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the carrots, celery, shallot and garlic and saute until vegetables are soft. Add the potatoes and stir. Add the flour to the pot and stir to coat the vegetables. Cook for about 1 minute. Slowly add the milk, stirring to get out all the lumps from the flour. The milk should just cover the potatoes completely. Season with salt and cover the pot. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, and boil until potatoes are soft, like for mashed potatoes. Turn off the heat.
With a stick blender, or in a regular blender, blend the soup until it is slightly chunky, and thick. Add the chicken, bacon bits (if using) and orzo and stir to combine. Season with more salt and pepper to taste. Add more milk if the soup is too thick.
Serve hot.

*Yet again, I was left scratching my head for what to make with chicken. I was in the mood to make soup, so I decided to make a variation of my clam chowder with chicken. It worked pretty good! Believe it or not, I did not use the bacon, but adding bacon would give it a more smoky, hearty flavor. The orzo adds a nice texture to the soup and makes it more like a stew. One thing to note though, the soup thickens as it sits, so go ahead and add more milk if you need to thin it out. This is a heart warming soup that you will love as much as we did!


Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. Genesis 1:29

Aubrey's Best Chicken Soup

(Makes about 4 1/2 quarts)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
1 shallot, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 quarts chicken stock (homemade is best)
About 2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 bay leaf
1/2 box pasta (any shape: macaroni, orzo, ditalini, linguine, whatever!)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 small bunch fresh parsley, chopped fine

In a large stockpot, melt the butter with the olive oil over medium heat. Toss in the carrots, celery and shallot and season with salt. Sweat the vegetables until they just start to get soft, and shallot is translucent. Toss in the garlic and cook for another minute.
Slowly pour in the chicken stock. Cover, and heat until stock comes to a boil, stirring occasionally. Once it is boiling, add in the pasta and boil until pasta is soft - about 10 minutes.
Add in chicken, salt and pepper to taste, and cook for another minute or two. Turn off the heat and toss in the fresh parsley. Add more salt if needed.
(Don't forget to take out the bay leaf - or leave it in, and whoever gets it in their bowl has to do the dishes!)

*If there was one thing I could cook for the rest of my life, it would be soup. I love to make soup. The great part is that you can pretty much do anything you want with soup - from savory to sweet. Plus, making soup is so easy, you will never want to buy soup from a can anymore. That's why I like to make a huge pot like this and then freeze the leftovers to have soup anytime! Get the kids involved too by letting them help you put in all the different ingredients. Or, let them stir the soup once in a while. Making soup is a great way to get kids helping out in the kitchen!

Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him. Proverbs 30:5