Day Three Hundred Twenty Seven: Kale and white bean soup

As I was enjoying the (not so cold) winter weather on Sunday I decided to make Martha's Kale and White Bean Soup.  I figured the 70-degree temperatures shouldn't stop me from enjoying one of the best things about winter:  soup*.

*Soup is followed closely by:  the donning of cute boots and fashionable coats. 

This soup would be ridiculously healthy if not for the addition of country bread and parmesan cheese at the end.  If you leave that part out, you'll feel rather like a slim Caloric Angel.

I've never been very angelic.

Day Three Hundred One: Cold-Weather Chowder

It was chilly at my house on New Year's Day.  The weather practically begged for soup.  I conceded and made Martha's Corn and Butternut Squash Chowder.  It's a super-easy recipe, especially when you happen to have a bag of peeled, seeded and cut butternut squash in the freezer.  :cheater:

Even if your freezer isn't stocked with frozen veggies, this soup is still simply good.  Just cook the veggies then add the broth and simmer.  When everything is tender, blend half the soup in a blender.  This makes the soup thick and "chowderey".  I think I just made that word up.

After I made this soup, I rescued my daughter a princess from an evil dragon, staged a Star Wars battle with my son Luke Skywalker, and repeatedly chased my one-year old a monkey up the stairs.

It was a very busy day.  

Day Two Hundred Fifty-Six: Butternut Squash Soup

A few days ago I bought some butternut squash at the grocery.  It was already cut into little one-inch squares and it called to me from across the produce section:  Look at me!  I'm so bright and orange!

When I got it home, however, the package hid in the back of my refrigerator for days.  Saturday I rescued it from the back of the refrigerator and made Martha's Pureed Butternut Squash Soup.  Out of all the butternut squash soup recipes I've seen, this one is the simplest.  (Read: I didn't have to make a special trip to the grocery for ingredients.)  Five ingredients, half an hour and you're done.  As you might expect from a recipe with only five ingredients, it's not super flavorful, so make sure and add lots of pepper.  I added some cayenne.

If you are generous, this soup is mighty fine.

I planned to eat a few bowls of this throughout the weekend, but my husband ate it all on Saturday.  True story.  I had only one bowl before the Soup Bandit found it.

It was obviously better than I thought.