How about a broccoli cheese?....just add steamed broccoli florets to this recipe....or leave out the broccoli....or a carrot soup?...or roasted red pepper...I think you need something with assertive color. Recipes included....scroll down.
Cheddar Cheese soup
1/2 cup onion chopped very fine
1/2 cup celery chopped very fine
1/2 cup shredded carrots
Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in a heavy pot and sautee veggies.
When they are no longer crisp but not brown, add
4 T flour
Stir and cook about 1 minute and add
1 qt chicken broth, slowly whisking so there are no lumps cook at a simmer 15 to 20 minutes.
Mix:
1/4 cup ( or if you really like a thick soup 1/2 cup) AP flour with
2 cups cold milk until smooth. Slowly add to cooking soup. Simmer for 5 or 6 minutes to thicken and cook the flour.Add:
1 Tsp worchestershire sauce
pinch cayenne pepper of a couple of dashes of Tobasco. Add:
8 oz grated sharp chedder cheese...and heat and stir until smooth...do NOT boil!
Serve!

LESLIE'S RED PEPPER SOUP
"My husband and I spent a weekend in Mendocino, and one evening out we were served a red pepper soup," says Leslie Cohen of Loomis, California. "Not being a red pepper aficionado, I was surprised at how delicious the soup was and vowed to replicate the recipe."
Active time: 1 hr Start to finish: 1 1/2 hr
6 large red bell peppers
2 onions, chopped
1/2 stick unsalted butter
8 cups chicken stock or low-salt broth
1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence
1 to 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh tarragon
Dash of cayenne
Accompaniment: sour cream
Preheat broiler.
Quarter peppers lengthwise, discarding stems, seeds, and ribs. Put skin sides up on rack of a broiler pan, and broil about 2 inches from heat until skins are blistered and charred, 8 to 12 minutes. Transfer peppers to a bowl and let stand, covered with plastic wrap, until cool enough to handle. Peel peppers and thinly slice.
Cook onions in butter in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderately low heat, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft. Stir in peppers, stock, and herbes de Provence and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes.
Pur�e soup in a blender in batches (use caution when blending hot liquids). For a smoother texture, force pur�e through a food mill into a large bowl. Return soup to pot and season with salt, tarragon, and cayenne.
Reheat soup. Cooks' note:
� Peppers can be roasted 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
Serves 6 to 8 (10 1/2 cups)

Gourmet
October 1999

Ginger Carrot Soup
2 tablespoons sweet cream butter
2 onions, peeled and chopped
6 cups chicken broth
2 pounds carrots, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
1 cup whipping cream
Salt and white pepper
Sour cream
Parsley sprigs, for garnish
In a 6-quart pan, over medium high heat, add butter and onions and cook, stirring often, until onions are limp. Add broth, carrots, and ginger. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until carrots are tender when pierced.
Remove from heat and transfer to a blender. Don't fill the blender more than half way, do it in batches if you have to. Cover the blender and then hold a kitchen towel over the top of the blender*. Be careful when blending hot liquids as the mixture can spurt out of the blender. Pulse the blender to start it and then puree until smooth. Return to the pan and add cream, stir over high heat until hot. For a smoother flavor bring soup to a boil, add salt and pepper, to taste.
Ladle into bowls and garnish with dollop sour cream and parsley sprigs.
*When blending hot liquids: Remove liquid from the heat and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes. Transfer liquid to a blender or food processor and fill it no more than halfway. If using a blender, release one corner of the lid. This prevents the vacuum effect that creates heat explosions. Place a towel over the top of the machine, pulse a few times then process on high speed until smooth.
Recipe courtesy Maxine Bonneau
Show: All American Festivals
Episode: Carrot Festival

Cream of asparagus?
Seems "special" for the celebrations and easy to make up the day before.

A mushroom barley soup sounds good with the chicken and green bean flavors too.

The menu sounds just a tad light on veggies and no grain/starch items. Barley would certainly round it out.
Or an artisan bread?

Deanna

We love Cream of Broccoli soup. The nice thing about this - you can add chicken if you like, use the Healthy Request brand of soups, use frozen or fresh broccoli, and use whatever type of milk you like. The Healthy Request canned soup keeps the sodium down, and either 1% or skim milk keeps the fat down too. No one notices the difference.

CREAM OF BROCCOLI SOUP

2 cans Cream of Celery soup
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
1 lb bag of broccoli florets (thawed out)
1 qt milk
1 cup diced cooked chicken (if you like; optional)

Dump the 4 cans of soup, the broccoli, and the chicken into the crock of a slow cooker, stir well. Add the quart of milk. Stir well again. Cook on low 4 - 6 hours.

Easy peasy, not too expensive, turns out yummy.

Donna

Well, I make a white bean, spinach and butternut squash soup that might fit the bill. It's a little unusual but very good if you like butternut squash and italian style stuff. I usually wing it but here's the general idea:

Saute a half of a red onion in a bit of olive oil until translucent. My favorite way to make the soup is with beet greens or chard, in which case I chop up the tender stems and also saute. If you don't want to use beet greens or chard, you can also saute a stalk or two of fennel or celery if you like. I have also been known to add about a half of a chopped red pepper for the snazzy color, but that's optional. Season well with garlic, italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste. (I'd say about 1.5 tsp. italian seasoning, 1 tsp. minced garlic (which is about 2 cloves, I'm a garlic wimp, feel free to add one more.) To this vegetable melange, add 5 cups either vegetable bouillon or chicken bouillon. Simmer until the vegetables are tender. Then add the chopped beet greens, chopped chard or chopped spinach. I'd say about 3 cups fresh greens. You can also use frozen cut leaf spinach (not chopped spinach) in which case use about a cup of the frozen. Cook until the greens wilt or are thawed out. Now add a 10 oz. cube of frozen butternut squash puree, and a can of rinsed cannelini beans. Ass more bouillon until it reaches the soup consistency you like. Simmer together for a few minutes to blend the flavors. Adjust the seasoning to taste. I often add a shot of lite soy sauce to this, and a shot of balsamic vinegar, but be very careful with the vinegar. Could also add a shot of dry white wine. This is good served with croutons and/or minced chives on top.

Oh, and it's much better reheated on the second day!! So perfect for make ahead.

Another soup I made very similar to the one above was spinach, artichoke and red pepper. Follow the sauteeing and seasoning directions at the start, except use a red pepper, spinach and a can of artichoke hearts for the vegetables, and whatever onion you like, I'd still use red for the color but white will do, or even scallions. Use the italian seasonings and garlic too. White wine would be OK if you like, but not necessary. Don't use the balsamic! Add the can of canelinni beans. The only difference is, don't add the butternut squash, instead add a cup of milk or cream. Top liberally with grated parmesean cheese and crumbled tortilla chips, with maybe a dollop of sour cream. Here's a picture of it. With this batch I added some chopped chicken, but that's just because I had it around to use up. Would be fine without, but don't skimp on the seasonings with just beans for savor.

Lentil soup?.. that is sort of beanish.

I make both straight lentil soup and a curry broth version.

Straight lentil (or bean or pea) soup is very easy. Pick over 2lbs of dry pea/bean/lentils by spreading a handful at a time on a clean newspaper. Sometimes there are small stones or dirt clods in dry beans... easy to spot. Put them in a strainer and rinse under running water. Then soak them in the pot with cold water for a couple hours (soaking degasses them). Drain the soak water and refill the soup pot (I use a 12qt) about 3/4 full of water. Add some meat.. ham is traditional but smoked chicken or sausage works. Dice up an onion or two. Some garlic optional. One drop of liquid smoke if you have it. For lentil soup I really like to toss in a handful of baby spinach.. oh yeah baby! Bring to a boil then turn the heat down and let it simmer 3-4 hours... smells so good.

My curry broth lentil soup starts with smoked chicken. I do a beer can chicken for sandwich meat and this is what I do with the skin, bones, and dark meat. After getting the breasts and wings off I boil the rest of the chicken for a few minutes. Then everything gets picked out of the broth and put on a plate so I can pick out the boiled clean bones and skin. Some fat in the thigh meat that I also pick out and treat the dog with. An amazing amount of meat comes off those bones... add some or all back to the broth. Lentils I cook in the microwave... dry lentils and about 2 cups of water... nuke for 10-12 minutes then add more water... nuke another 10 minutes. Test a spoonful to see that they are soft and done... if not make certain there is some water and nuke a bit more. While the lentils are cooking add a can of coconut milk or juice to the chicken broth. A spoonful of green curry paste, some ground cumin, a bit of hot peppers... all to taste... this can be flaming hot or very mild depending on your taste. Let is simmer awhile to blend flavors... add some mushrooms if you like. Spoon the meaty broth over the cooked lentils.. can be main course or a side dish. The lentils are not spiced themselves so they can also be served as a bland side dish.. bit of S&P and they make a decent side. If you don't want to do lentils the broth is also very good over rice.

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: )
lyra

It ended up being a dinner, so I went with a different menu which turned out great. I did make the lemon cake that has been posted several times - it was delicious - very moist and lemony - perfect! Thanks for all the posts and reviews.
Thanks for the recipes - I can't wait to try several of these soups.

Thanks for posting the results Legomom, it's always nice to hear how things actually turn out. Sometimes it takes me so long to implement an idea I get from CF, I wonder if anyone even cares anymore, lol! But I do eventually get around to trying them! Glad the meal went well, hope your day was fab!

so now I missed the lemon cake...
Glad your meal went well.
Linda C

Here is the link to the lemon cake I made. It was delicious - I think the leftovers were even better today!

Here is a link that might be useful: lemon cake thread