Penne-Chicken Soup

This for me, is truly comfort food. It's one of those dishes that I want to eat when I'm sad, or during bleak, rainy days. It wasn't really raining when I made this, I just wanted some hot, piping bowl of soupy goodness. 

On a side note, when my husband saw that I was adding evaporated milk to my bowl, he thought it was a bit strange. I tried to make him add milk to his bowl too, so he would know how good it would taste, and he did so but sparingly. Really, he missed out on a lot! The milk made the soup creamier and tastier. Do you add milk to your soup too? 


What you need: 

2 large chicken breasts
4 hotdogs, coined 
about 2 cups penne noodles
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
1 large carrot, diced
2 tablespoons of butter
3/4 cup evaporated milk (plus more for serving)
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
grated parmesan cheese (for garnish)


What to do: 

Boil the chicken in a pot with lightly salted water for about 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool, then shred. Save the broth.

In a separate pot over medium-high heat, melt the butter and saute the garlic and onions. Add the carrots and shredded chicken, cook for about a minute, then pour in about 5 to 6 cups of the saved chicken broth. Season with salt and pepper, according to taste. Add the penne and coined hotdogs, lower the heat to medium, and cook for about 10 to 12 minutes or until pasta is soft (not al dente). 

Remove from heat and add evaporated milk and dried parsley. Stir. Ladle to bowls and garnish with grated parmesan cheese and more milk. Serve hot.


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks: 

1. When boiling the chicken, make sure it is submerged completely in water.
2. Use pre-packaged chicken stock or water if you don't have enough saved from boiling the chicken.
3. Other types of pasta would also work for this dish.
4. I prefer the noodles a bit soft for this recipe. You may want yours al dente. If so, lessen the cooking time to about 9 minutes.
5. Add more evaporated milk for a yummier soup!

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Harry & David's Pasta Fagioli

"Pasta e Fagioli" literally means "pasta and beans". It is a traditional Italian dish that originated as a peasant dish due to the main ingredients being cheaply available. I have read that the base of the soup is generally olive oil, but this soup from Harry and David did not call for such. It was tomato-based, but I didn't have any complaints - the soup was easy to make, hearty and delicious!

This is soup from a pack, but next time, I'll try to make it from scratch. (FYI, this soup package costs $6.95 and made 8 servings!).


What you need: 

1 package (115 oz) Harry & David Pasta Fagioli soup mix
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
12 cups water


What to do: 

Rinse and pick through the beans included in the package. Combine beans and 6 cups of water in a soup kettle. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

Drain beans. Add remaining 6 cups of water, pasta, vegetable packet, spice packet, and tomato sauce to beans. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer an additional 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle on bowls and serve hot.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks: 

1. This soup is a bit tangy because of the tomato sauce. If it is too tart for you, add a bit of sugar, or lessen the tomato sauce that you will use.
2. Serve with garlic bread - yummy!
3. If you want thicker soup, use only 5 cups of water (instead of 6).

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Dashi Fishball Soup

Since we are in the mood for Japanese (again), I decided to make Dashi Soup. I used frozen fish balls for some "meat." The result was a very tasty soup that hubby and I enjoyed.

Dashi is the Japanese word for soup stock. It is made by soaking dried edible kelp, dried bonito flakes, and sometimes dried sardines or dried shiitake mushrooms in water. And since I can't possibly do that, I just used a ready-made dashi mix. ;-)


What you need:

• 1 pack (10 g) dashi soup mix
• 2 cups of water
• 1 package fish balls
• 1/4 cup julienned carrot
• 2 stalks green onion, sliced
• 1 teaspoon minced ginger
• 2 teaspoons rice wine
• salt, to taste
• bonito flakes for garnish

What to do:

In a small pot, boil 2 cups of water. Add the dashi mix and bring to a boil. Add the fish balls, carrots, green onion, ginger, and rice wine. Lower the heat and let cook for about 5 minutes. Salt to taste.

Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with bonito flakes. Enjoy hot!


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Add 1/2 cup of water if the taste is too strong for you.
2. Don't like fish balls? Use finely shredded salted ham.
3. Try sake instead of rice wine.

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Noodle Soup with Meatballs

I originally planned to fry these meatballs, but I found out that I was out of wonton skins so I decided to make soup instead. Hubby loved the gingery taste of the meatballs, and I loved the tasty broth. It turned out to be a win-win situation.


What you need:

• 1 pound ground pork
• 5 - 6 pieces dried Chinese mushrooms
• 1 carrot
• 2 stalks green onion
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon rice wine
• 1/2 thumb-sized ginger, peeled
• 1 1/2 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 2 bundles of vermicelli noodles
• 8 cups of chicken broth
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 of a large Vidalia onion
• 1/2 tablespoon Canola oil

What to do:

Soak the vermicelli noodles in water to soften them up a bit.

Re-hydrate the dried mushrooms by soaking them in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. Discard the stems afterward. Cut the mushroom caps, green onions, ginger and carrots in small pieces then put them in a food processor. Pulse for 2 to 3 seconds, until all the ingredients are chopped finely.

Thanks for making life so much easier, food pro!

Transfer the chopped ingredients in a bowl with the ground pork. Add the sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine, oyster sauce and pepper. Mix well with your hands. Get a heaping tablespoonful of this mixture and shape it like a ball using the palm of your hands. Continue doing so until you use up all the mixture.


Heat the Canola oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute the garlic and onion for a minute or two, or until onions are translucent. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Add the noodles and lower the heat to medium. Gently drop the meatballs in the hot broth and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve hot.


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. No food processor? No problem. Just chop the veggies finely.
2. Use water chestnuts instead of carrots.
3. Reduce the amount of ginger in half if you don't like the flavor.
4. You can use water if you don't have broth. Just add bouillon!
5. Garnish with chopped green onions or toasted garlic.

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Instant Soup for a Lazy Rainy Day

Red place mat for that Chinese ambiance. Haha.

It's raining outside (that's Florida summer for you) and I didn't really feel like cooking, but hubby wanted hot soup to combat the (semi-cold) weather we are having right now. So I reached in my pantry and got the perfect solution - instant soup!

I had to stop myself from singing the old Knorr Chinese Soup commercial jingle that was popularized circa 1980's so I don't drive hubby crazy. But I gave in to my whim afterwards and even searched for a youtube video of the jingle so I could sing with it.


♫ ♪ Knorr is one of a kind, best Chinese soup you can find. Knorr is easy to cook, just add one egg! Goodah! ♪ ♫

Anyway, I cooked the Knorr Corn and Chicken soup, but added more ingredients to it to make it tastier. The end product was great. Quick, easy and yummy for a lazy day.


What you need:

• 1 pkg Knorr Chinese Style Corn and Chicken Soup
• 4 cups water
• 4 eggs
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onion
• 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels

What to do:

(As per package instruction): Pour the contents of the soup packet in a bowl and dissolve with 1 cup cold water. Set aside. Meanwhile, boil 3 eggs for about 10 - 15 minutes, or until it is hard-boiled.

pre-cooked stage

Boil 3 cups of water in a pot over medium-high heat. Pour dissolved soup mix into boiling water while stirring. Add the green onions and corn. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the remaining (fresh) egg and stir gently with a fork until egg is well dispersed. After stirring, re-simmer soup for 2 minutes or until egg is completely cooked. Add the hard boiled eggs. Serve hot.


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Add some cooked chicken to make the dish just perfect!
2. Garnish with toasted garlic. (I am nuts for toasted garlic!)
3. Sing the jingle while eating. It will put you in a happy mood, I promise! (I recommend singing the line "There is nothing like Knorr Real Chinese Soup" in your highest falsetto voice!)

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Lomi Soup

I cooked this Lomi Soup on a hot summer day (which I think was weird) but we enjoyed it nonetheless. Despite the lack of traditional ingredients, it still tasted so yummy. I used tapioca vermicelli (the fat kind) because I couldn't find lomi noodles in our local Asian store.


What you need:

• 1 pound chicken breasts
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced in matchsticks
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 medium-sized onion, sliced
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• dash of ground pepper
• patis or salt, to taste
• 3 stalks of green onion (for garnish)

What to do:

Boil the chicken breasts for about 20 minutes, then let cool. Set aside the broth. Once the boiled chicken is cool enough to touch, shred or pull it.

In a pot over medium-high heat, saute the garlic and onion in 2 tablespoons of cooking oil. Pour in the broth and bring to a boil. Add the carrots and chicken, and once it boils again, add the noodles. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the noodles are al dente.

Season with patis (or salt) and pepper according to your taste. Remove from heat and pour in the beaten eggs in a thin stream while stirring. Add the sesame oil. Serve in bowls and garnish with green onions. Enjoy!


Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Traditional lomi has cabbage, que-kiam, and pork livers.
2. Add other veggies like snow peas or celery.
3. Next time I make this, I will add hard boiled eggs and fried garlic as garnish. Mmmm.

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Sausage and Lentil Soup (Carabbas' Style)

Lentils are one of the most underrated food. Probably because too much of them (as with all legumes) can cause flatulence (funny, but very uncomfortable), arthritis or gout. What we fail to remember is that these beans are very low in Saturated Fat, Cholesterol and Sodium. They are also good sources of Iron, Protein, Phosphorus, Copper, and an excellent source of dietary fiber, Folate and Manganese.

I grabbed a package of lentils and thought I'd follow the recipe written at the back, but decided to give it a little twist. Surprisingly, it tasted like Carabba's Spicy Sausage Lentil Soup. Only, theirs is spicier and the sausage that they use is different than what I used.


What you need:

• 1 package (14 oz) lentils, rinsed
• 1 (14 oz) Polska Kielbasa sausage, sliced into pieces
• 1/2 of a large Vidalia onion, chopped
• half a head of garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 medium-sized carrots, peeled and shredded
• 6 cups beef broth
• 1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon salt

What to do:

Make sure you sort and rinse the lentils. In a medium saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-high. Stir in sausage, garlic and onion, saute until translucent. Add in all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender and soup gets thick, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Add more broth if necessary. Serve hot!

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Add one or two stalks of celery (chopped) if desired.
2. You can also add pasta in it (such as pastina) for more texture. However, use 8 cups instead of 6 cups of broth. Put in the pasta about 15 to 20 minutes before removing the soup from heat.
3. Serve with Romano cheese sprinkled on top of each bowl. Mmmmm... yummy!
4. Eat with chips, such as this:

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Thai Vegetable Noodle Soup

We like trying new stuff, so when we noticed this College Inn Thai Coconut Curry broth, we bought it, not even sure how we'd use it. Luckily, the carton came with two recipes on the back, and we decided to try it. We needed more veggies in our diet, anyway. :-)

This recipe follows the basic recipe found on the back of the carton, but as usual, we tweaked it to suit our preference.

What you need:

• 1 1/2 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1 cup chopped Vidalia onion
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1/2 cup diced carrots
• 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 small bundles of vermicelli
• 1 carton (32 oz) College Inn Thai Coconut Curry Broth
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 cup coconut milk

What to do:

In a pot, boil a breast (or two) of chicken in lightly salted water. Set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, cook the onion, broccoli, carrots, ginger, curry and red pepper flakes in oil for around three minutes. Add the noodles, broth and lime juice. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.

Simmer for seven to ten minutes or until noodles are tender. Stir in coconut milk and diced chicken and heat through. Garnish with cilantro and green onions, and serve with lime wedges, if desired.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Fresh grated ginger works best, but you can always substitute it with powdered ground ginger. Use less, though, as the powdered ones are usually more concentrated.
2. Use thin spaghetti instead of vermicelli if you can't find the latter in your regular grocery store.
3. Want more heat? Make it a full teaspoon of red pepper flakes.
4. Experiment! Try adding other veggies like red potatoes or green bell pepper.
5. Squeezing a lime wedge on the soup gives it a bit of a kick!

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Corn Soup

Corn soup has been my favorite soup since as long as I can remember. I loved how my grandmother would cook it, with the wisps of egg white swirling on the bowl staring at me and inviting me to take a big heaping spoonful. She used to only make it during family gatherings, so it felt like a treat whenever we had it.

My aunt makes terrific corn soup too, and every person cooking it adds a different flair to it. This is my version of the soup, and nothing makes me feel better than a sip of this hot, steaming goodness on a cold winter day.

What you need:

• 3 pcs. chicken breast, boiled and shredded
• 1 can (14.75oz) Cream Style Corn
• around 5 cups of chicken broth
• 3 tbsp. rice wine
• 2 tbsp cornstarch diluted in 1/4 cup water
• 1 large egg
• chopped green onions
• hard boiled eggs (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste
• dash of sesame oil

What to do:

In a pot, bring to a boil the chicken broth, cream style corn and rice wine. Meanwhile, whisk the egg until frothy. Stir in the cornstarch mixture until smooth. Set aside.

When the broth is already boiling, add the meat and stir to make sure that the meat doesn't stick together. Lower the heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. Then bring the heat back up to medium and add in the egg mixture to the soup in a thin stream while stirring until well blended.

Taste and add salt and pepper according to your preference. Serve in soup bowls garnished with green onions, hard boiled egg and a splash of sesame oil.

Tips, Tricks and Tweaks:

1. Use ground pork or shredded crab meat if you don't like chicken. Make little meatballs if using ground pork.
2. Wash the green onions thoroughly, especially since you are gonna consume it raw.
3. Feel like it is too much egg? Skip the hard boiled eggs.

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