Day 20 of "25 Days of Angels Baking Christmas Memories!"
This is a “Take a Break from Holiday Treats” Soup. It gives you a much needed break from all those delicious sugary treats you’ve treated yourself to throughout December.
If you’ve been feeling sluggish from eating all those sugary treats people bring to work, over drinking minty Christmas lattes, or splurging on treats you are teased with at family gatherings and holiday parties…this vegetable soup does a body good. It cuts that relentless overeating of sugar and replenishes your body with good vitamins, and tasty goodness. What’s more, you can choose what vegetables you want to include. The ones I’ve listed are what we like, but your favorites can certainly be easily substituted. Plus, it doesn’t take long to cook.
Start by sautéing 2 slices of bacon. This will be used sparingly as a delicious garnish, adding a big flavor without all the salt and fat.
Break open that vegetable drawer in your refrigerator and pull out those veggies you’ve been ignoring. Clean them up and dice them. Sauté them in the bacon fat after you’ve taken the crispy bacon out of the pan.
I actually sauté everything in the same saucepan that the soup will end up in. That way I only have one pan to clean up after all the soup has been enjoyed. It’s that easy!
Sprinkle a little flour on top of the sauteed veggies and bacon fat and stir in so there are no lumps, to make a roux, or thickener for the soup. Then add about a cup of water and simmer a few minutes. Add the Brussel Sprouts and cook a couple of minutes. After that you add your liquid, water or chicken broth to finish off the soup. Add your herbs, salt and pepper to your taste.
When I serve the soup, that is when I add some shredded cheddar cheese and crispy bacon on top for garnish. Croutons add a little crunch. They all add more flavor without a lot of calories.
Serves 4.
Prep your pan:
I use a medium saucepan on top of the stove at medium heat.
Ingredients:
2 Bacon slices, cut up
1 Carrot stalk, cleaned and diced
½ Onion, small, peeled and diced
1 Celery stalk, cleaned and diced
1 Potato, small, cleaned and diced
1 Garlic clove, peeled and diced
1 T Flour
3-4 C Broth of your choice or Water
5-6 Brussels Sprouts, cleaned and rough chopped
Herbs and spices to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
1 Pat Butter (optional)
½ C Cheddar cheese, shredded for garnish
Get cooking:
- Sauté the chopped-up bacon until crispy. Set aside in a bowl.
- In the bacon fat, sauté the diced onion, celery, carrot until the onion is translucent. If you need a little more oil, add just a little extra virgin olive oil.)
- Add the diced potatoes and garlic clove sautéing until potatoes are still a little crunchy.
- Sprinkle the flour on top of the saluted veggies and stir in so there are no lumps.
- Add the water or broth and stir in. I use water since I don’t like the added salt from the broth. Stir and the soup should be just a little thick.
- If you want it thicker, in a separate bowl stir together a tablespoon flour with 2 tablespoons water until there are no lumps. Stir in slowly to get the consistency you like – you may not need all of it.
- Add the Brussels Sprouts or any other veggies you prefer and cook until the veggies are done, but still firm. -
- Add the butter pat last if you like. This is completely optional.
- Taste and add any other herbs or spices you like or more liquid at this point, depending on how you like your soup - thick or brothy.
Serve it up!
- Ladle your soup into bowls or mugs, garnishing the soup with sprinkles of cheddar cheese and bacon "crispies."
- Sometimes I add a few homemade herbed croutons for a little added flavor and more crunch.
- Make this a whole meal or pair it with a special sub sandwich or grilled cheese. Or, just a slab of cheese on homemade bread. Yum!
This is another recipe that’s easy to involve the kids. Let the little ones help wash the veggies. It’s a good time for the not so little kids to learn some knife skills, like how to dice veggies, with safety. Remember, safety first. It’s never too soon to “Bake your own Memories!”