Frontier Soups’ South of the Border Tortilla makes a fine vegetarian meal with a few simple changes to the recipe. Try either of these inventive variations!

Tortilla Soup Vegetarian Recipe #1:

• Leave out the chicken and substitute vegetable broth.
• Add the salsa and cook 20 minutes.
• Add 2 cups baby shrimp for the five minutes more of of cooking time.
• Serve with tortilla chips.

Tortilla Soup Vegetarian Recipe #2:

• Again leave out the chicken and substitute vegetable broth.
• Add the salsa and cook 20 minutes.
• Slice 2 ripe avocados and place slices in the bottom of each bowl.
• Ladle in the soup, top with chips and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.

A customer called needing a strict vegetarian version of our hearty bean soup to feed boy scouts on a camping trip.  We like the results as it is thick and chock full of veges.  It does not pack the wow flavor of the original recipe with the smoky meats added.  One of our tasters suggested the Tony Chachere’s Spice N’ Herb Seasoning or 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne.  But we think taste it first and enjoy this thick and chunky rice and beans soup for about 10 hungry boy scouts.

Ingredients:

• 1 package Minnesota Heartland 11-Bean Soup Mix
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup mixed rice blend (like a Lundberg rice mix)
• 1 large onion chopped (2 Cups)
• 2 cup celery, sliced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 green pepper, chopped
• 1 16-oz bag mixed frozen vegetables
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1/4 cup juice of 1 lemon
• Plenty of freshly ground black pepper, salt if needed
• 1 teaspoon oregano or (use a seasoning blend like Tony Chachere’s Herb N’ Spice Seasoning)

Recipe Directions:

1. Place contents of soup mix/beans in large bowl, cover with plenty of water and soak overnight. Save the bouquet garni for later.
2. In the morning, drain the beans, place into 4 quart pot with plenty of fresh water.  Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to low, cover, and simmer 1.5 hour.
3. While beans are simmering, put broth into large 6 or 8 quart pot.  Add the rice and the bouquet garni, and bring to boil, turn heat down, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Turn heat off until ready to combine all ingredients for soup, next step.
5. Prep all fresh vegetables: onion, celery, green pepper, and garlic.
6. Drain beans and add to soup pot with broth.  Add chopped veges to pot.  Cover and simmer 30 minutes.
7. Add bag of frozen vegetables, canned tomatoes, lemon juice, pepper and salt to taste, and oregano.  Simmer covered 15 minutes.  Serve with crusty wheat bread!

Soups are a great way to get extra nutrition into your family, including veggie-phobic kids. Since soups are the original “use up” food, it is easy to add leftover cooked or fresh vegetables for a nutritious boost. Greens of all kinds, like spinach or escarole, also make tasty and healthful additions.

Beans and lentils are nutritional powerhouses. They could easily be called a super food, and many of our soups include them because they also are delicious! They are satisfying because beans are loaded with protein, complex carbohydrates and soluble fiber along with calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, magnesium, folate, antioxidants, and alpha-linolenic acid. Beans can help protect against the damage caused be free radicals and can lower the risk of heart disease and some cancers.

For the heart of winter try these recipe variations for some casual meals at home.  Try our California Gold Rush White Bean Chili as sweet potato chili, or our Colorado Campfire Chicken stew for chicken pot pie!

New Sweet Potato Chili Recipe Variation:

Our California Gold Rush White Bean Chili mix is a mild, more savory chili with a touch of heat.  For a fun variation get one large sweet potato instead of the artichoke hearts.  Saute ground turkey or try ground chicken instead.  Peel and dice the sweet potato, add the soup mix seasonings and the soaked and simmered beans, per the directions on the package.

Makes a great meal, or could go vegetarian with it by substituting vegetable broth and leaving out the meat. Add 1 Tablespoon brown sugar and taste for salt, may need a teaspoon.

New Chicken Pot Pie Recipe Variation:

The essence of comfort food is a good recipe for Chicken pot pie.  For a great way to use leftovers and get 2 meals out of one soup mix, prepare the Colorado Campfire Chicken Stew per directions on the package.  Have soup for supper for 2 to 3, and save the remainder.

Refrigerate overnight.  Use Pillsbury refrigerator pie crust, two round crusts in each box.  Place first crust at bottom of pie pan.  Fill with leftover soup, now nice and thick from refrigeration.  Top with second sheet of pie crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees.  OR, Put the left over thick soup into an 8 x 8 inch pyrex pan and bake for 20 minutes in 350 degree oven.  Remove from oven, top with pop-open refrigerator biscuits (such as Pillsbury Grand biscuits) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes longer until the biscuits are golden.

This recipe comes from an elegant 91 year old lady who hosted a magnificent family Thanksgiving dinner in St. Louis for over 50 years.  You’ll see the southern influence in the ingredients!  She, in fact, referred to them as drunken sweet potatoes.  This recipe serves 6 to 8.  Double all ingredients to serve 12 to 16, and bake 1 hour.

Ingredients:

• 3 – 4 pounds sweet potatoes, boiled in skins and drained
• 1/2  cup butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Syrup Filling Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 ounces bourbon
• Half bag of marshmallows

Recipe Directions:

1. Peel and mash the sweet potatoes, add butter, milk and blend.
2. Spread in a buttered 2 quart casserole.
3. Scoop out a one inch hollow in the center leaving a 1-inch rim around the edge.

Syrup Filling Directions:

1. In the top of a double boiler stir and cook syrup ingredients until it thickens.
2. Pour syrup into the center of the sweet potatoes to form a lake.
3. Place marshmallows all around the outer rim.
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Or, prepare this recipe a day ahead, cover and refrigerate. Bake when ready 55 minutes.

This recipe is an Italian preparation, but we thank the Native Americans at the first Thanksgiving for making corn such a major ingredient in American cooking.

Ingredients:

• 6 cups whole milk
• 12 tablespoons butter
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces shredded Gruyere cheese
• 2 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 package Frontier Soups’ Roasted Corn Polenta Mix

Recipe Directions:

Follow directions on package for a 9 x 13 inch pan of white corn meal polenta.  Serves 10 to 12.

Prepare this recipe a day ahead, cover and refrigerate.  Bake when ready 45 minutes at 350.  There won’t be any leftovers, it’s that good!

For an appetizer course hostesses often serve this pumpkin soup in small bowls or demitasse cups for a fancy presentation during cocktails.  (Makes 12 6-oz. servings.)

Ingredients:

• 4 cups chicken broth
• 1 28-ounce can pumpkin (not pie filling)
• 2 cups heavy/whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 Package Frontier Soups’ Autumn Pumpkin Soup Spice Mix

Recipe Directions:

1. In a 3 or 4-quart pot bring broth, pumpkin, brown sugar, and half contents of Pumpkin Spice Mix packet to a simmer, stirring to blend.
2. Reduce heat and simmer on low 30 minutes.
3. Add cream slowly and continue heating on low for 15 minutes.
4. Ladle into small bowls and serve a beautiful appetizer soup.

May prepare this several days ahead and reheat to serve.  A sprinkle of sunflower seeds on top is a fun garnish!

Fall is the perfect time to stir up steaming bowls of homemade soup as an antidote to the cold. Filled with flavor, healthier than their sodium-heavy canned soups, and more natural without preservatives and MSG. Soup is easy to prepare in bulk and refrigerate for last minute meals and stretch the family budget, a varied roster of soup, stews and chili can be an invaluable weapon in any parent’s winter kitchen arsenal. Some children might not take to soup initially but using some of these tips will get your picky eater a soup lover.

1. Make it a Family Activity

Homemade soups usually require some preparation. This can be made fun by having the whole family participate in preparing vegetables and additions, measuring ingredients and stirring the soup. Many great family memories can be made in the kitchen making delicious soup for dinner when its cold outside.

2. Kids Respond to Smell and Color

When it comes to new foods, they respond to lots of the same seductive qualities that grown-ups do such as color, texture, and of course the smell of freshly prepared food.

3. Use Bread or Crackers for Dipping

Always serve bread or crackers with soup to make it a more fun eating experience. The action of dipping bread or breaking crackers makes eating soup an more unique activity. Try different types of bread such as cornbread so your children get to taste a variety of textures.

4. Immersion Blenders Work Magic

You can combine different fresh vegetables blended together that your children might not normally eat. Marialisa Calta, food columnist and author of the family cookbook, Barbarians at the Plate, says “kids will tend to accept vegetables — like broccoli, peas or even onions — mixed together in soup in a way they might shy away from if those same veggies were just sitting on their plate.”

5. Learn the Classics But Don’t be Afraid to Experiment

There’s no question that chicken soup is a kid favorite, but you shouldn’t be afraid to try new things. Use different variations or experiment from a cookbook or your own ethnic base. You could make a different version every once in awhile to keep it interesting. Try different soups based on what type of meats and vegetables your family enjoys.

Lastly, kids tend to be more sensitive to heat than adults so so serve your child’s soup slightly cooler than you might prefer. A quick fix: stir in a small, single ice cube to lower the temperature of a hot soup.

The LifeStitches project empowers HIV/AIDS women with children in Arua, Uganda to become financially self sufficient through the sale of beautiful cotton table products which the women stitch in a sewing workshop business. For more information visit www.lifestitches.org.

• The LifeStitches project directly supports a sewing workshop on the Arua Regional Referral Hospital grounds.
• These mothers who are not otherwise able to generate income need skills, materials and equipment to become financially self sufficient.
• The sale of beautiful cotton table products stitched by the women provides income to the individual mothers and their children, which improves their nutrition and contributes to schooling fees.
• A portion of all income from the table products is used by the Arua *PMTCT Peer Support Group to pay for outreach AIDS prevention education in the remote villages surrounding Arua.

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons corn meal
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• Kernels from 12 ears of corn
• 1/2 vidalia or other sweet onion
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 12 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 Package Frontier Soups Green Onion Dip Mix (or 1 tablespoon snipped chives and 1 teaspoon thyme)

Recipe Directions:

1. Butter the inside of a 9 x 13 inch Pyrex pan or other casserole and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of corn meal.
2. In a food processor combine 2 cups of the corn kernels, onion, Tabasco and salt and pepper. Process until creamy.
3. In a large bowl beat eggs, stir in the cream and the pureed corn mixture, all remaining kernels, grated cheese, corn meal and green onion seasonings.
4. Pour into the prepared casserole.
5. Can be refrigerated overnight, brought to room temperature and baked, or baked immediately in a 350 degree oven for one hour. (If using a deeper casserole, may need 10 more minutes until firm.)
6. Allow pudding to sit for five minutes then slice into squares and serve.