Easy Soups to Make | Frugal Cheap Soup and Meal Ideas | Winter Soups

I've come up with a few different types of easy yummy Fall and Winter Soups to make that will appeal to many people and are relatively easy to prepare.


A lot people, me included at one time, are inclined to think that soup is rather a difficult dish to make. However I've discovered that this isn't the case, and that making soup can actually be really enjoyable and have a delicious result.

It's easy to make soup from leftovers - a favorite is Stuffed Peppers Soup, or Golumpki soup made from my leftover Lazy Golumpki stuffed cabbage casserole recipe. I've even turned leftover Pot Roast into a soup for lunch or dinner.

Easy Soups to Make

A Crockpot is my best friend for cooking Fall and Winter meals.

First, we have an old favorite of Crockpot Slow Cooker Leek and potato soup. There are two ways you can enjoy eating this, either cream, or not blended, and each way has its own distinct merits. If you blend it, you'll truly enjoy the soft texture that this technique creates and it looks wonderful as well, perfect for serving up at dinner parties, or even enjoying while chilling out sipping wine around the fireplace in winter or playing cribbage or your favorite family board games. 

The ingredients also go very well when prepared as a cream soup too, so if you blend it, add in some of this and you'll have a meal of pure indulgence.

However you can also leave the soup unblended, allowing you to enjoy the textures of the leeks and the potatoes, as well as the broth it produces. This can be perfect for those cold winter nights when all you want is a hearty, warm dinner. 

Homemade soups are always a great dish to bring for someone who's under the weather, has a new baby in the house, or loss of a family member.  Ready-to-Serve, and bring along a gift-basket of colorful Handmade Dish Cloths from Moomettes Shops for easy kitchen clean-up.

Fall and Winter Vegetable Soups

Butternut squash soup can also be blended or not. The wonderful thing about butternut squash is that it's unusual yet yummy, and you can combine it with most of the same ingredients that you use to make leek and potato soup.

The basic principles of soup making are to chop up all the ingredients, saute them for around ten minutes and then add the stock. I like to use my homemade Chicken Stock from a roaster, or homemade scrappy veggie stock.  When I don't make stock from scratch, I buy boxed Chicken Stock or Beef Stock from the grocery store, whatever is on sale.

Boil until the ingredients are cooked and semi-soft, season with salt and pepper, any of your favorite seasons to taste, and blend if you prefer. 

Roasted Red Pepper soup or Tomato Soup is easy and satisfying! Serve with croutons or crackers and a artisan grilled cheese sandwich for lunch or dinner.

Traditional Cabbage Sauerkraut Kapusta Soup

Kapusta soup is yummy for Fall Oktoberfest, Christmas, Easter, or any winter day! 

Search my blog for other soup favorite for all seasons! 

Artisan bread is the perfect accompaniment to this type of dish, and the combination will satisfy you up, while making you feel warm and contented. Add some chunky homemade Sourdough bread, Dill Seed Onion bread or Ciabatta and sweet cream butter from Cabot in Vermont, and you'll have a meal to be proud to serve.

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Crock Pot Potato Leek Corn Chowder | Soup Recipe

Stay on track to achieve your weight management goals with Crock Pot Potato Leek Corn Chowder Soup. If in season, use fresh corn or canned kernel corn to help you  They´re a terrific addition to any meal and a delicious way to achieve better health this year.

Crockpot Potato Leek Corn Chowder

Fresh corn in the summer is our favorite, especially when picked up at our local farmstand!  Butter and Sugar variety starting in July in Connecticut is our corn of choice, and later in the summer Silver Queen is available.

I will buy fresh corn in bulk when on sale, cook it, shave it off the cob, and freeze for the winter.  I will use the leftover cobs to make corn cob broth.

Winters can be especially hard on us here in New England and I've been putting my slow cooker crockpot to good use making crockpot freezer meals, soups, chowders and stews.

With the high cost of produce, I planted container garden vegetables and grew Leeks this summer.  Preparing for winter, I harvested the Leeks which are part of the onion family, and flash froze them.  Then I bagged using my FoodSaver, and froze them to use in skillet meal dishes, soups and stews.

A big part of enjoying healthier eating is buying healthier foods, and that means making smart choices where it matters most – at the supermarket. Choosing the freshest, healthiest foods is an important first step toward making healthy and delicious meals your whole family will love.

Be thrifty and frugal in the kitchen and stretch your food dollars by using leftovers for your family meals.  Chicken can be used in a variety of ways. Mix it with rice to create a chicken casserole dish. Stir fry it with frozen vegetables and pasta. Make chicken salad for a light dinner on a busy night.

Other meats are just as versatile as chicken. Leftover beef roast can be used for stews and soups. Combine with egg noodles and sauce to create beef stroganoff. Slice thin and stir fry with vegetables for beef fajitas.

Easy kitchen cleaning with these crochet Handmade Dishcloths in my Moomettes Crochet Shop !

Check out my other delicious soup recipes here! You might enjoy our favorite  Butternut Squash Soup recipe

Crockpot Leek, Potato and Corn Soup or Chowder

6 slices bacon, chopped
5 cups shredded frozen hash brown potatoes
3 leeks, white and light green parts only, cut into 3/4 inch dice pieces
1 can (10-3/4 ounces) condensed cream of potato soup, undiluted
1 can (about 14 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 ribs celery, sliced
1 can (4 ounces) evaporated milk
1 package or can of corn, or a few cups of fresh corn from the cob (shaved)
1/2 cup sour cream

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp and browned. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towel-lined plate. (I choose to microwave my bacon rather than saute in skillet)

Set aside 2 Tbl. bacon. Combine remaining bacon, potatoes, leeks, corn, soup, broth, celery and evaporated milk in crock pot slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW 6 to 7 hours. Stir in sour cream and serve, sprinkling each serving with reserved bacon. 

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Sweet Potato Soup Recipe | Winter Soup | Crockpot Soup

This mouth-watering easy winter soup recipe is chock full of sweet potato puree and caramelized onions. Sweet Potato Soup is a healthy dinner idea for a cold fall or winter night or snow day! Vegetarian too!

Hearty Soup Recipe 

I like to cook plenty of fall and winter soups, whether in my crockpot or simmering on the back burner. Usually I make my soups on a Sunday and serve as a Sunday dinner.

Most times I always cook a big batch of soup to give away to my daughters. Check out all of my other easy soup recipes recipes to make

I try to cook the best soup recipes for the freezer. That way, there's always an easy meal available that can be served with a fresh loaf of homemade bread that I bake, such as my artisan Sourdough bread, or make in my breadmaker, such as my favorite Irish Soda Bread.

Easy clean up in the kitchen with Handmade Dish Cloths from Moomettes Crochet Shop !

Sweet Potato Soup

 4-5 Sweet Potatoes or Yams, peeled and cubed

1 lb. Bacon - cup up small and fried in separate pan

2-3 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and shredded

6 c. Emeril's Organic Chicken stock or Vegetable stock

1/2 stick Cabot Butter

2 c. Milk

1 c. onions, caramelized

In a large stock pot, cook sweet potatoes/yams in chicken broth and add carrots, celery and fried bacon with the grease to the soup. The flavor of the bacon is in the bacon grease.

Add butter and cook about one (1) hour on stovetop or on Low in Crockpot or Slow Cooker for 2-4 hours

Using a blender or hand-held immersion blender carefully puree the soup with the milk, a little at a time, in a food processor .

After blending all the soup, add sherry, salt and pepper to taste.

Garnish the soup with balsamic caramelized Spanish onions for added taste and texture.

Notes

Omit bacon, and use Vegetable stock for a vegetarian soup.

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Adapted from: Never Enough Thyme - American Hotel

Easy Cheese Potato Soup | Winter Soup | Homemade Soup Recipe

On a cold winter day nothing warms a body like a fresh pot of soup, and, nothing warms the cook’s heart like an easy dish to prepare! This delicious homemade creamy Cheesy Potato Soup recipe makes everyone happy.

Easy Homemade Cheesy Potato Soup

Winter Soups

As a frugal easy supper, I often serve my family homemade soups for dinner.  Add a loaf of homemade bread from scratch, such as my Dilly Bread recipe, or a loaf of bread made in the breadmaker and you have a nice easy, quick meal.

You can put soup in a crockpot to simmer all day or wait until dinner time and whip it up in a hurry.

Change the toppings in each person’s bowl to make this recipe their own. You might try spinach and onions or tomatoes and croutons and the kids will like extra bacon.

Easy kitchen clean up with these Handmade Cotton Dishcloths from Moomettes Crochet Shop !




Enjoy!

Easy Homemade Cheesy Potato Soup

8 medium potatoes
1 large or 2 small Vidalia onions
1 package of John Morrell center cut bacon
1/8 cup of Pillsbury all-purpose flour
1 (12 oz.) can evaporated milk
8oz Velveeta cheese
1 Tablespoon of Lawry’s seasoned salt
1 Tablespoon of black pepper

Heat a large pot on the stove over medium heat. As the pot is heating, cut the bacon into bite size pieces. Once the pot is hot, add the bacon pieces, stirring often until brown.
While the bacon is cooking, peel and chop the onion and potatoes. Make sure your potatoes are cut into bite size pieces. Set aside for later use.
Once the bacon is crispy, add the onions and stir. You want them to be semi-translucent and tender, not fried to a crisp.
When the onions are tender, add your flour and mix until the grease is absorbed; making a paste. This will help thicken the soup and ensure it has great flavor. If your bacon made a lot of grease, you may want to drain some of it off before adding the flour.
Pour the potatoes into the pot with the bacon, onion and flour.
Add just enough hot water to cover the potatoes.
Pour in the can of evaporated milk. This will help make your soup extra creamy. Add the seasoned salt and pepper and give it a good stir.
Depending on the size box of Velveeta Cheese you bought, you’ll want to cut about ¼ block of the large 32oz box of cheese or ½ of a small 16oz box into cubes. You can adjust the amount you use if you prefer a more or less cheesy taste.
Put cubes of Velveeta into a bowl with about 1 teaspoon of water. Microwave the cheese on high, stirring every 20 seconds, until it is creamy.
If you diced the cheese small enough, you could just add them directly to the soup, but I tend to use larger chunks so microwaving them first means they all melt completely.
Add melted Velveeta to the pot, and bring to a simmer. Let the soup simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over the top of each bowl before serving.

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Fire Roasted Red Pepper Soup Recipe | Tomato Soup

A satisfying simple meal for any season is to have a big pot of soup simmering on the back burner.  If you like roasted red peppers and or tomato soup, this Fire Roasted Pepper Soup will knock your socks off.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

A few years ago I took an adult-education culinary course at our local high school with one of my sister-in-laws.  We learned how  to roast peppers in the oven.  It's really easy!

Since I started on the Mediterranean Diet, this soup is certainly going to become a staple!

One of the culinary tips I learned was to place the roasted sweet peppers into a brown paper bag or sack for about 15 minutes to let them rest.  The skins will be very easy to peel off. You can make roasted garlic the same way.

I have another sister-in-law who enjoys roasting vegetables on her gas grill all year long.

Some of my favorite fall and snow day winter soups to make are split pea soup with ham and vegetable beef barley soup.

Try substituting some grated Asiago cheese in place of the Parmesan cheese, and add some carrots and celery to this easy soup recipe if you'd like.

This is a great recipe and it is fairly easy to make. If you do not feel like roasting your vegetables you can use canned. It will not be as delicious, but it will work in a pinch / time crunch.

Easy clean-up with Handmade Kitchen Dish Cloths from Moomettes Crochet Shops !

Check out some other yummy soup recipes!

Cabbage Kielbasa Sauerkraut Soup (Kapusta  Kapusniak Soup)

Golumpki Soup - Stuffed Cabbage Soup
Crockpot Potato Soup and Leek

Crockpot Sweet Potato Soup

Crockpot Spit Pea and Ham Soup

Fire Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

1.5 lbs of Red Peppers
l lb Fresh Tomatoes
1 large Onion
4 cloves Garlic
1 tablespoon Tomato paste
1 1/2 quarts Chicken stock
1 teaspoon Fresh Basil
1 pinch of thyme and 1 pinch of oregano
1/2 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil EEVO
Salt and Pepper

Cut the tomatoes in half, and do the same with the peppers, cut the onion into quarters, and remove skin from garlic cloves and brush all with olive oil.
Place all in the oven on a large metal grates for good air circulation and bake with the flesh side down. If you do not have the metal grates use a roasting pan, but remove the moisture from the veggies often so you will not braise them in the oven. Roast in a 200-250 degree oven for about 20- 30 minutes, if you are using larger vegetables it may take longer than the suggested time. Cook them until the tomato and pepper skins start to wilt and brown. If the garlic and onion start to get too brown remove them and let the tomato and pepper continue to roast.
Remove from roasting pan, and put the vegetables into a bowl, cover with saran wrap and allow to rest for about 10-15 minutes. The steam from the roasted veggies will make them easier to peel.You will want to peel and puree your roasted veggie mix at this time. An immersion blender works the best but a stand alone blender will work also. Puree the mixture well to end up with a better finished product.
In a soup pot you will add chicken stock, herbs, your pureed vegetables, and cook at a simmer for about 30-45 minutes to allow all of the flavors to bloom.
Before you are ready to serve add the grated Parmesan cheese and stir it to a smooth consistency. If you have fresh herbs you may add them for garnish when you place the soup into your serving bowls. You may serve hot or cold.
If you wish to serve cold chill for several hours in the fridge or create an ice bath to set your hot soup into to chill it down. You will need to adjust the seasonings regardless of how you serve them right before you serve yourself and or guest.
You may also add heavy cream and a pinch of sugar for extra flavor if you don't mind the calories.

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Source: Chef Shelley Pogue

Easy Turkey Soup Recipe | How To Make Turkey Soup

When Thanksgiving is over, what to do with all that leftover turkey?  Here's an easy turkey soup recipes using can chicken stock. Of course you can substitute chicken to make chicken soup.

You've spent all day in the kitchen cooking the bird and preparing for Thanksgiving, now whip up this cheater version of turkey soup in about 30 minutes!

Whether this is your first time making turkey soup, or you're a seasoned cook, even grandmom takes kitchen shortcuts sometimes!

A roasting chicken will also work with this recipe.  I buy roasters on sale, and use my crockpot.  Then I de-bone it, and place into freezer bags.

This satisfying comfort food soup also goes nicely with a slice of my homemade Dill Bread.

How To Make Turkey Soup

The family can enjoy easy homemade turkey soup for lunch or make this easy turkey soup starter as a side along with turkey sandwiches for dinner and serve with the leftover turkey sides and fixins' !

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TURKEY SOUP RECIPE 

1-2 cups leftover turkey, torn apart.  Use both white and dark meat

2 (32 oz) box or can chicken stock (or use 1 chicken bouillon cube per 1 cup of hot water)

1 onion, diced

2 celery stalks, diced

1 carrot, diced

salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

1 c. cooked rice or 1 c. Elbow macaroni or Ditalini pasta  (cooked separately)

In a sauce pan, bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Add rice or soup pasta as desired.

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