Fire-Spiced Tomato Bisque

Fire-Spiced Tomato Bisque

One of my family’s favorite weekend lunches is old-school grilled cheese sandwiches alongside a bowl of steaming hot tomato soup.  Most of the time, canned tomato soup is fine, especially when we’re short on time, but the flavor in canned soups just don’t come anywhere close to making it yourself.

So today, I took advantage of having a few hours of free time, picked up some fire-roasted tomatoes and colorful bell peppers and came up with this deliciously rich, spicy, and hearty bisque.  A little trick when making a thick soup like this is to use cooked rice.  It will add the luscious texture you’re looking for without adding the calories found in heavy cream.

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Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Chicken and Brown Rice

Roasted Red Pepper Soup with Chicken and Brown Rice

This recipe is another great use for the roasted red peppers I mentioned in my blog post on September 6, 2015. It’s also the perfect opportunity to use some of that leftover rotisserie chicken in your fridge and a quick, healthy, lunch on a cold day.

The primary ingredients are already prepared so all you have to do is incorporate them together into a soup pot, heat them up and it’s ready!

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Tuscan Chicken with Orzo Soup

Tuscan Chicken Soup

Have you ever found yourself standing in front of the open refrigerator, scanning the contents of your shelves, rejecting the lunchmeat and the salad, wishing you had something substantial enough to satisfying your craving for a lunch that’s both tasty and healthy?  If you just said yes, here’s your answer.  And the reason that I can say that is because I’ve found myself doing the exact same thing!

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Fire-Roasted Poblano and Red Pepper Bisque

 

Fire Roasted Poblano and Red Pepper Bisque

Think about a big steaming bowl of soup and then wait a moment as your mind begins to wander.  Are you having happy, comforting thoughts?  Maybe memories of being sick as a child and either your mother or grand-mother serving your favorite soup with a towering stack of saltine crackers?

Soup can be warm and comforting on a cold day, chilled and soothing on a hot day, the cure for the common cold or even good for the soul.  And it doesn’t take a lot of ingredients to make a really flavorful soup.  In fact, last weekend, I think I may have created my favorite soup ever.  While I was at the grocery store, I passed by a display of the most gorgeous, fresh poblano peppers I had ever seen. I couldn’t help myself.  Soon my cart was filled with poblanos, red bell peppers, fresh cilantro, carrots, onions and all the remaining ingredients to make my own version of fire-roasted poblano and red pepper bisque.

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Pork Meatballs in Parmesan Broth

 

Pork Meatballs in Parmesan Broth_finishedYesterday was one of those days where I just didn’t feel like leaving the house.  My primary goal was to publish my third book and get caught up on the house-work.  Then it started to snow about mid-afternoon, my husband lit a fire in the fireplace and that pretty much did it for me.  I successfully published my book – the house-work?  Yeah, that could wait! The combination of the beautiful snow, falling gracefully outside my window and the warm, crackling fire, set the mood for a hearty soup for dinner.  So I headed for the kitchen and started to cook.

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