We have a few more weeks till Spring although mother nature is really teasing us. Temperatures in New York have been 10 to 20 degrees above normal. Then they take a nose dive into the teens. I woke up to a few inches of snow this morning which of course a freshly fallen snow is beautiful. Either way, when the cold weather hits I really enjoy making soup! I have been experimenting this season mostly with recipes from the website Food52. One of the many things I like about this website is that I can save my recipes to folders that I name. It can be meat, vegetarian, tomato based, seafood based, creamy or brothy.

I usually tweek the recipe a bit so I can use up something in the fridge or to cater it more to my daughter (nothing spicy or hot). Here are 3 of my favorite soups I have made this past winter. All recipes are from food52.com which I then as I said adjusted a bit.

Chicken Cilantro Soup, this soup is made with a bunch of cilantro which I love! However the final outcome isn't heavy tasting with cilantro. I also used 2 chicken breasts that I had instead of a full roasted chicken or chicken parts. Another addition was one red potato (to use it up before it goes bad) and a cup of garbanzo beans or chi chi beans, a Harper fave.

Number two is Lasagna soup. Indulgent and tasty! Perfect for a cold winter day. Once again I adjusted it. I did not use regular sausage, instead I substituted turkey sausage. Instead of fire roasted tomatoes I used regular canned diced tomatoes. And no lasagna noodles, I used whatever pasta I had on hand. One side note, my husband, daughter, neighbors and their one year old son all loved this!

Number 3 is Minestrone. The addition in this one was cheese tortellini. I feel sometimes soup isn't a meal and I wanted this to be a Sunday meal. After the soup is served I added a dollop of basil pesto and a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar to the top. These really take it up a notch. The balsamic vinegar my parents brought back from Italy (in the photo below) is thick and sweet. I served the soup with kalamata olive rolls. Quite tasty!

Happy Friday and happy cooking! Please share any winter favorite recipes you might have.

Tracey

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