Soups on!

One of my favorite things about fall is getting back in the kitchen. We get some brutally hot summer days in the Midwest, so a lot of the cooking in the summer months is done on the grill. It's always nice to be back in the kitchen after the school year starts and put a cake in the oven while the kids are at school or make some good comfort food, like roasts or stews. I also love to make soups and it's that time of year again.

Last winter I made a lot of varieties - vegetable, pasta fagioli, chicken rice, chicken noodle, chicken vegetable, beef vegetable, broccoli cheese, potato, tortilla, tomato florentine.

This past week I made two. First was a pot of chicken noodle soup.

And here's my recipe:

12 cups water, 11 chicken bouillon cubes. Boil. Add about a teaspoon of garlic salt, oregano, basil, minced onion and two or three boneless chicken breasts, continue to boil about 20 minutes. Add about 1 - 1 1/2 cups sliced baby carrots, 4 sliced celery stalks. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until veggies are tender. Remove chicken and dice or shred. Return to pot and return to a boil. Add thick noodles (I get an Amish variety) - about 6 - 8 ounces. Boil another 10 minutes or so...or according to directions on package.

Next I made some stuffed green pepper soup in the crock pot:

Here's the recipe:

2 small cans tomato sauce, then fill can 4 times with water and add. Two large cans diced tomatoes. About a teaspoon of garlic powder, seasoned salt, pepper, oregano, basil, Italian seasoning, minced onion, 3 bell peppers, diced. One pound browned ground beef. Set crock pot to high for about 5 hours. I had boil-in-bags of rice, so I threw one on the stove top and boiled it and added it at the end.

What's your favorite soup recipe?