Soup Chick®

Creamy cream-free broccoli soup

Do you really want to know about this creamy broccoli soup that isn't packed with cheese and heavy cream, or do you want to know more about the beautiful coaster that's sitting under the soup bowl? (The coaster. I knew it.) Our granddaughter, age 10, who is into crochet big-time these days, and her talented mom gave me for Chanukah a bag of "props for soup", and I couldn't be more proud to show you the first one. Do you blame me for making a soup to match? A brief encounter with a parmesan cheese rind gives this soup its goodness without adding a lot of fat. (If you live near a good Italian market, you might be able to buy a bag of cheese rinds to keep in your freezer.) Even if you haven't loved broccoli soup in the past, please try this soup. It will make you happy.

Apple pie soup recipe

My husband Ted laughs when I tell him that I believe in signs, but when it comes to making soup, the universe often points me where it wants me to go. Last week, Penzeys included a free sample of apple pie spice with my order, and I happened to have a few apples left from a large batch of applesauce I made to accompany an equally large batch of latkes (potato pancakes). As I was looking through 50 Simple Soups for the Slow Cooker, I spied a recipe for spiced apple pie soup. A tweak here, a tweak there, and the result is a soup that's fun and unusual, not as sweet (or as calorie-laden) as apple pie but with all of the satisfying flavor. Here in New England, a traditional way to serve apple pie involves melting a large wedge of Cheddar cheese on top of each slice, so why not pair this soup with a grilled Cheddar sandwich?

Recipe for vegan roasted sweet potato and corn chowder

Two women whose soup-making skills I admire recommended a recipe to me a few weeks ago. Two women, unrelated to the first two, recommended Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn kernels to me. You know what they say: put two and two together, and you get... soup! This vegan and gluten-free sweet potato and corn chowder, the result of a serendipitous collaboration of women, tastes like the richest, creamiest chowder, yet it has not one drop of cream. And the roasted vegetables make it pleasingly sweet, without one drop of honey.