Creamy Thai Carrot 🥕 and Chicken Soup with Basil

I harvested our carrots and beets yesterday and decided to make some soup today.  I found a recipe online but I don't always follow recipes, I usually put my own spin on it by tweaking the ingredients. So here's my own take for a Creamy Thai Carrot and Chicken soup with Basil.  

Ingredients:

• Carrots (from our  backyard garden)
• 5 cups of water
• 3 slices of chicken breast (I used leftover rotisserie - this is optional)
• 1 cube Thai seasoning (optional)
• 1 shallot
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 teaspoon salt
•  5 fresh basil leaves

Procedure:

• Washed and sliced the carrots.  You can choose to peel it but I left mine as is since I brushed it with my vegetable brush.  One good thing about homegrown veggies is that, you can confidently use it without worrying about what's in it since you're the one who grew it.  Nothing beats organic produce. 

• Pour the water in a pot, add the carrots, chicken, shallot, garlic, Thai seasoning cube, and salt.  Bring to a boil until the carrots is soft enough to blend.

• Put everything in a blender and add the cream cheese and basil.  

This turned out so good.  The color  looks more like a pumpkin or squash soup because of the cream cheese and chicken but it's delicious.   You can probably eliminate the chicken and  Thai flavoring but I can tell you that it really made the soup very tasty.  The Thai flavoring gave it a little kick and a really unique twist to an otherwise ordinary carrot soup.  I am not sure why while I was typing  carrot soup, the carrot cake keeps popping up in my head lol.  I had some amish  carrot cake a few weeks ago and it was delicious.

Chicken 15 Bean Soup Recipe

The beans is one of the most  nutritious food that you can eat that is high in protein.   According to the US Dry Bean Council, beans are naturally low in fat, are free of saturated fat and trans-fat, and are a cholesterol-free source of protein compared to meat-based proteins. Research shows that a diet including beans may reduce your risk of heart disease.  Because of its natural source of  antioxidants and phytochemicals, beans can reduce  the  risks of certain cancers, according to research.  You can read more about health benefits of beans here.

Anyway, I sawe thi  15 bean soup pack  at the store and thought of trying it since I love  beans.  Recipe below by Hurst's Hambeens.

Ingredients

• 20 oz 15 bean soup
• 1/2 to 1lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, cubed
• 1/2 to 1 lb smoked sausage, sliced (I did not add this to mine)
• 1/2 cup onion, diced
• 1/2 cup celery, diced
• 1/2 cup carrots, diced
• 1-2 cloves of garlic
• 2 tbsp butter

Procedure:

• Rinse the beans and put it in a large pot, cover with 8 cups of water.  Allow beans to soak overnight.  Drain the water after soaking  the beans.
• Add 8 cups of fresh water.
• Bring beans to a boilm reduce heat,  and simmer covered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• After simmering the beans, in a large skillet, melt butter.  Saute the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and chicken over medium  heat for ten minutes.
• After beans have simmered, add sauteed ingredients, sliced sausage and contents of seasoning packet to the beans.
• Cover and simmer for another 30 minutes or until  beans are tender.  Salt and pepper to taste.

I am telling you, it is delicious.

We ate it with the scones that my daughter made. After I ate, I was ready to take a nap lol.

I also  baked some Reese's Peanut Butter and Chocolate rolls.  I love this kind of soup especially during winter season. It can really warms you up.  I am going to try the beef flavored one next time since my husband has been hinting for me to make another pot of this delicious   soup!

Tomato Soup

I picked all of the tomatoes in my garden.  There are so many greens but they are starting to ripen up now.  I have a medium sized basket full of ripe cherry tomatoes so I decided to make a tomato soup.  This is something that I have never made before but I am giving it a try  as I don't want to waste the tomatoes.

You need:

1 medium size white onion, diced
1 stick butter
2 quarts chopped cherry tomatoes
10 tablets of NuStevia sweetener (you can use sugar if you prefer)
3 chicken cubes
1 tsp of black pepper
1/4 cup  mirin, optional
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 tbsp dried  basil
1 tbsp parsley

3 quarts of water

Hawaiian Seasalt (to taste)

Crushed  Riceworks chips

Grated Cheese

Procedure:

• Put the chopped   tomatoes in the wok or pot.  Add the water.
• Add all the ingredients except the half and half  and let it  boil.  Lower the  heat to medium high and let it cook for   about one hour.  
• Using a spider skimmer or strainer, scoop up the tomatoes and put it in the blender as shown below.

• Blend it till everything turned into a sauce.

• Put the   tomato sauce back to the wok and let it cook for  another 30 minutes.  This time add the half and half.  When the  creamer is  incorporated,  cook for another 30 minutes in low heat.  The longer the soup cooks, the better.  .  

Serve it with crushed riceworks chips or any  kind of chips that you prefer.  Add some cheese and  fresh parsley.  Sliced french bread slightly toasted is so delicious to dip  in the soup.

The soup turned out really delicious!  I am planning to  make  some more  when the other tomatoes ripen up and freeze it so we will have some for the Winter.  

Corn Soup

When my three angels got sick a couple of weeks ago, I made this crn soup to warm them up. They had a cold so I knew that soup would help them out. I had left over corn on a cob and a pack of corn and crab soup mix so that is what I prepared for them. I also added an egg to it.

My daughter loved it so much!

Just remember....

that a little bit of this

and a little dash of that

makes a sumptuous life...

so Spice Up Your Life.