The Soup Party was a hit!

17 years ago

Thought I better check in to let everyone know that our annual Soup Party was last night and it was a great time!

We had an absolutely gorgeous night, a beautiful bonfire and a lovely soup buffet. I made four soups and my sister brought a pot of chili. The soups I made were Cannellini Minestrone, Tomato Basil, Great Lakes Salmon Chowder and Kansas City Steak Soup.

I got some really nice breads from the local co-op and a fun little bakery I discovered in a nearby town. I served Sourdough, Spinach Parmesan and Savory Pumpkin breads.

We had a smaller crowd this year, only about 22 people (last year we had nearly 40!). Everyone had a great time and loved all of the soups!

Now to start planning the menu for next year's party! LOL

Linda

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Comments (19)

kathleen_li
17 years ago
Great! So I can still vote for New England Clam Chowder next year?? :)
Sounds like fun...we had torrential rains and high winds here, so lucky you!
Bet they all had a great time!
dixiedog_2007
17 years ago
Sounds like it was a super party. As Kathleen, we had heavy rains and winds too. Your menu sounded terrific. I would have loved to have been there!
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Ok, ladies of the gardens, (and kitchens), let's let it ALL hang out now and go for it! We've worked all spring, summer and fall, and now it's time to talk cooking! And enjoying the fruits, (or veggies) of our labors. Like the rest of you, fall is the time when I love to get in the kitchen and cook, filling the house with wonderful smells. That's one of the reason I love Oklahoma, the change of seasons. Fall just brings with it, a change in the feeling of things as we change from one mode to another. It's time for soups, and stews, and baking breads, pies, muffins and biscuits,( slathered with butter and jam or jelly of choice). Tonight, I'm making, more for DS than me, chicken and biscuits. Only I make the biscuits separate, so they don't get soggy baking in the oven with the liquid part of the concoction. Then, he splits them once done and ladles the chicken "gravy" over all. Of course there are a hundred variations on the theme, and I've tried most all of them at one time or another, but that's what's on the menu tonight. I came across this blog and started reading. Great stuff, you can tell these ladies, (and guy) know their way around a biscuit. The one moniker cracked me up, "Old ladies in Fist Fights". Anyway, they were discussing the pros and cons of biscuit making. I am making mine ala Carol's, by the BIG BATCH, with the exception that I use butter. I keep my batch in the fridge or even freezer to keep the butter cold and fresh. I do mine a little different that those discussed in this blog. I melt a large batch of butter in the microwave, and then cool and put it in the freezer til it's ice cold and solid. Then, I work in the cold butter bits, one half at a time, to coat the self-rising flour mixture, to prevent as much gluten from forming as possible. Everythings done with the lightest touch possible and the least mixing. When the biscuits are patted out and cut, in this case, "Cat Head" biscuits, I dip them in melted butter, and pop them in a preheated 450 degree oven til nice and golden. I always make buttermilk biscuits, buttermilk pancakes, buttermilk cornbread, and as often as possible. Carol's method makes this painless. I suppose we could make many of our standard quick bread mixes this way. Salute Carol! Ladies, start your engines, (I mean ovens)! Barbara Here is a link that might be useful: Joes's Biscuit Blog
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This is reeeeaally late but I want to thank everyone who responded to my initial post! I'd completely forgotten about it obviously, and only now discovered it (in the warm season when no one's making soup)! But it's a great thread to have that perhaps we can each keep adding to over time - though there are probably several other ones out there like it! These all sound so yummy (maybe I won't be able to wait till Fall)! And I appreciate all the storage suggestions too. I feel so bad about forgetting about this thread! I need to figure out how to get email alerts when I get a response however I'm a bit jaded about using the email I regularly use because I'm worried about viruses and spam. Anyway, I see there's a "check here if you would like post replies" box now so I'll be sure to do that now!!
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Wow that really is a lot of soup....they must have been hungry! I've never seen or heard of bread bowls over here. Do you eat them after you've spooned out the soup....or do you just leave them and go on to the next type of soup in another bowl? Wish I had been there! SharonCb
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Your soup night sounds fab! We did a nod to it being Christmas Eve with a beaded tree for a centerpiece. Ann T., avoid your eyes, and skip the rest. :) Soup was minestrone flavored stone soup. I think the caterer left as much food as was served at our big party, so there were a lot of celery and carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower and broccoli left. Those were all diced for the soup, plus a couple of onions, half a head of garlic, some yellow vine tomatoes, a bag of baby kale and a white cabbage. So I didn't have to go down to the garage, the base was what I had in the kitchen freezer. That's three cups of low FODMAP chicken stock and three cups of beefy cabbage soup. I added a can of crushed tomatoes, a small can of fire roasted, and a smaller can of tomato sauce, plus vegetarian no-MSG bouillion and a little jarred soup base, for the salt. :) Some pepper, Tabasco (because I was too tired to clean serrano peppers from the garden) and mostly red wine. The starter was salmon salad made from the cranberry mustard salmon skewers leftover, broken up and dressed with what I think was the remoulade from the fried chicken drummettes. It had separated, and was a thick mayonnaise consistency and very herby, with a good acid sharpness that went well with the fish (which hadn't gone fishy). That was served with the leftover tortilla chips and relishes: baby corn, spiced baby carrots, pickle chips, raddishes and mixed olives. I also made some kale chips for something light. :) The soup was served alongside a leftovers casserole: a layer of latkes on the bottom (I thought they'd make it easier to serve but they fell apart), then layers of jewel rice, butternut curry, chopped broccoli, then filled with a bread pudding made from dry, bready donut holes, a (new) pretzel baguette, the chicken from the drummettes, the Moroccan beef cubes from another skewer, a couple of sundried tomato chicken sausages I had in the fridge to add more meat, and a couple of (new) leeks sautéed with a packet of small diced pancetta. There was cinnamon on the donut holes, the flavor of which came up more in the custard than it had on the donuts, but it went well with the garlic pepper I seasoned it with. Dessert was a tarte made from a sheet of frozen puff pastry that needed using. It was brushed with leftover passion fruit sauce, topped with leftover crème anglaise, and leftover fruit. :) There were also everybody's favorite freshly baked Toll House cookies from the Toll House cookie expert and party colored Dutch chocolate half dollars (leftover). The pudding casserole could have been improved upon (custard in the bottom layer under the curry to glue it together--the curry was a rich paste so I thought it would do the job, but it just softened everything--and cut up the donut holes smaller so they'd stick better), but everyone liked it and ate well of it. I heard a few "stuffed"'s. :) My fridges heaved sighs of relief to see so many containers removed! Most of all, we had a delightful evening with loved ones who couldn't be at the big party.
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wizardnm
17 years ago
There's nothing like a bonfire when there's a little nip in the air and then to have such wonderful soups.... wish I had been there!!

Glad to read that it went well. I'll bet you weren't moving too fast today....:)) Probably good that there was no hot tub involved.

Nancy
debbie814
17 years ago
Soup parties are so much fun! I think our annual will be in January. Your soup choices are superb! Glad you had fun.
jessyf
17 years ago
Good for you, Linda! Glad it was a success.
blizlady
17 years ago
What a nice assortment of soups! I'm so glad you party went well, and the bonfire was a perfect touch!

In February, about 12 families around our lake have a chili cook-off. Not really a contest, but several families volunteer to make different chilis and the rest of us bring pot luck sides and desserts. We have the party outside on the beach, snow or no snow (we live in Wisconsin) with a big bonfire, ice hockey and ice skating on the lake. That is always a fun outing.
jimster
17 years ago
That is a wonderful report which will inspire many more soup parties. What could be more fun? And easier to organize? And more healthful? Cocktails, phooey! Let's have soup!

OK. Soup AND cocktails.

Jim
sooz
17 years ago
Linda, how lovely!!! Glad everything went well--and who doesn't like soup? What a great idea and I'm glad it was successful!
Smiles,
Sooz
rachelellen
17 years ago
Jim wrote:

OK. Soup AND cocktails.

LOL! Two of my favorite things!

I'm glad you had a great party Linda! As I said in the other thread, it's such a great idea for a party, to have multiple soups. Can't do a bonfire here, but we do have a fireplace, so I think a soup party is in our future...perhaps in February, when we're all sick to death of Winter.
eileenlaunonen
17 years ago
Good for you! I love my soup party and the guest just love it also...it always go over with great reviews!
Bizzo
17 years ago
Sounds awesome! I bet they looked Awesome too!
artsyshell
17 years ago
Sounds great, as does your menu!

Shelley
sheshebop
17 years ago
So, which soup was the most popular?
Sherry
annie1992
17 years ago
Linda, I sure wouldn't turn down a bowl of that Great Lakes chowder, and a slice of Spinach Parmesan, yum.

Of course, I'd need a little warm cider or hot chocolate instead of a cocktail, but that would just leave more for you, LOL. And Jim, of course.

Annie
doucanoe
Original Author
17 years ago
Sherry, If lack of leftovers are an indicator of favorite soup, I think the Minestrone and the Salmon Chowder were tied for first place.

Annie, Thank you for being so considerate of Jim's and my needs! LOL

Don't be silly, Nancy, I felt great yesterday! I made my Red Apple Sangria for the party. It was so good! Oh, and one of these days I will have that hot tub! (wink)

Linda
claire_de_luna
17 years ago
Linda, I was wondering about the most popular soup myself! Since I've been living in Kansas City, the Steak Soup is a local favorite, although I've often wondered how well it goes over in other places. I remember the last time I made it was for my MIL, who was sick at the time. It sounds like your efforts were a hit with everyone who came!
chancesmom
17 years ago
Sounds like a great time, and if I wasn't 5 or so hours away I would have joined you! Since I still haven't been to Minneapolis, maybe next year we could plan a get away around this event! LOL.

So glad you had good weather.

take care, Janet
doucanoe
Original Author
17 years ago
Oh, Janet, that's a "souper" idea! (sorry....it's early)

In fact it would be fun if a bunch of you cold come! The party is usually the weekend before Halloween, so if any of you would like to make a trip to MN in the fall of 2009 I'd be thrilled to have you!

Claire, I'd be interested to see your recipe for KC SteakSoup. The recipe I had was from Midwest Living magazine and I tweaked the he!! out of it! LOL It used ground beef and frozen veggies. I used steak (duh...) and fresh veggies. In fact, I think I have to post my adaptation for David.....

Linda
lakeguy35
17 years ago
Sounds like a great time Linda! Yes, I'm curious about your tweaking with that recipe and curious about Claire's too now that she also mentioned it. Like I said before the "steak" got my attention. Let me know here or via email. Thanks!

David

The Soup Party was a hit!

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