Well, I think I had a similar sickness as you are describing. Hoping you feel better soon TG!

I can only describe whatever I had as a cold that mimicks asthma (my good friend has asthmsa as well) lasting for over a month and a half now. Several people I know have the same weird virus too! Finally this week it is letting up. I'm not coughing every time I start talking or take a deep breath anyways.

Sorry I do not have a great recipe to post. Although I am eagerly awaiting some fabulous recipes to try,,,,..:-)

Oh man, I've just spent the last 3 weeks recovering from pneumonia. So an enormous fist bump of solidarity to both of you! It is ridiculous how tiring it is to have compromised lungs.

I have a couple soup recipes that I love. My favorite is something called pistou soup from a cookbook my parents got me on Prince Edward Island. It's got an amazingly flavorful base (tomato paste, garlic, and other stuff).

Unfortunately, I currently have a cat blissfully asleep on me, so by all the laws of nature and man, I cannot get up right now.

I'll post the recipe later.

My favorite soup recipe is Tomato Basil. I usually add some chicken and some ziti, and green beans. It takes a long time to make, and you are on your feet a lot stirring, pureeing, etc, but is worth all of the effort ... very thick and satisfying. Make it on a Sunday, or on a day when you are going to be home all day. I use Martha Stewart's recipe. I don't add any cream. It's not necessary. Hope that you feel better soon.

So sorry to hear that you've been sick! If I were there, I'd make soup for you!

My go-to in cold weather is Chicken and Sausage Gumbo. Typical Cajun style, with a roux, the trinity (onions, celery, and green peppers), and andouille sausage, which I sometimes make and smoke myself. I smoke a lot of chickens (it's about the only protein we can afford these days), and we save the carcasses in the freezer. Once we build up a supply, we simmer them all day in a huge pot of water. This makes a wonderful stock with a hint of smokiness. This liquid gold is the base for the gumbo, but we also use it to cook rice and any other recipe that calls for stock. Sometimes we serve the gumbo over rice, but more often I like to make a huge loaf of country French bread for dunking.

I need to come up with ideas for pumpkin soup (or pumpkin anything) I still have 3 large pumpkins left over from autumn decorating, and I hate to waste them. I'm going to try a slightly sweet cold pumpkin soup, and I'd also like to work up a spicy hot pumpkin soup; maybe Thai influenced?

So sorry you've been sick, I enjoy these threads even though I don't often post in them. To help you mend, my favorite comfort food when not feeling up to par is graham crackers in milk, or cream of wheat cereal if I feel like heating the milk.

For general comfort food, beef stew. A really simple one with a can of tomato or mushroom soup, a spoon of beef broth concentrate ("Better Than Bouillon"), half a packet of Lipton onion soup mix, an onion, and one carrot, celery stalk, and potato per person.

Favorite soup is Laughing Cow soup. Just grated zucchini, onion, chicken stock, cumin, Vache Qui Rit, Boursin or cream cheese. Creamy, pretty, easy, soothes the senses.

Oh, mushcreek. I want (again) to come live with you. I LOVE anything gumbo or jambalaya. mmmm...

Try making any butternut squash soup recipe with pumpkin instead. It's very good both hot or cold. I LIVE for butternut squash soup. Among a bunch of other soups. LOVE me some good soup! Vichyssoise, Cheeseburger Soup, Chicky Noodle, Veggie soup, you name it. I can drink it until I explode.

T_G, I'm SO sorry you were so sick. It's frightening not to be able to breathe. Restrict your breathing and your heart rate increases, which can be more frightening, creating a vicious circle. I do hope you're really feeling better and stay on top of this. The last thing you need is for it to come back and damage your lungs.

Recently, I defied all logic, sense and distaste and made a knock off Carrabba's Spicy Sausage & Lentil soup. Until I ate that by mistake at Carrabba's, you couldn't have paid off my house to get me to put a lentil in my mouth. Texture thing. That said, I ate one by mistake and LOVED the soup.

Proportions are up to you and my methods are probably not sanctioned by any chefs, anywhere. But it works for me:

Chop up a pound of spicy Italian sausage. Put it in a plastic colander and it into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave a minute at a time until thoroughly cooked and as much grease as possible is cooked out. Break the sausage up after each minute. Rinse, chop thoroughly, and put into a big soup pot. (I hate the old grease flavor lots of traditional Italian dishes have. I get as much oil out as possible.)

Add some chopped onions, sauteing until translucent with the sausage. I found I didn't need to add any oil or butter, still. You can add some chopped garlic at this point.

Add
2 cans of low sodium, diced or chopped tomatoes and their juice.
1 diced zucchini
a bunch of chopped celery
grated carrot
a bell pepper
16 oz package of lentils
some kind of broth

Figure out what the liquid requirements for the lentils are, and add them to the pot. I used chicken broth. Follow the cooking directions on the lentil package.
Just before serving, add a bunch of oregano, red pepper flakes, (I added rosemary) basil and/or marjoram. All of this is to taste. I only did oregano, rosemary and red pepper flakes.

Here's where I deviated. Brown lentils make brown soup and required 20 minutes boil/cover/simmer. I pickedup some pink/red lentils and they made the prettiest soup! I used a yellow bell pepper, too. But not reading the package fully, they only needed 10 minutes boil/cover/simmer. So, they disintegrated. They made the most delicious soup, though! Much more appetizing than the brown lentil soup. But I'm a lentil novice.

My sister ate most of this soup cold this weekend. Oh - T_G - both my sisters are recovering from the EXACT same symptoms you're describing. In Michigan. One saw the doctor and even then took 3 weeks to heal. The other's still hacking away. Of course, I was staying with her. Arrrrghhh!!!

Anyway, I've always LIVED for a cheddar cheese soup recipe, beef stew, and believe it or not, the cabbage soup from the Cabbage Soup Diet. NUMMY!

Our favourite soup is just a basic hamburger soup. But we love ground beef and this soup is so comforting, and also very easy to make:

Best ever Vegetable Beef Soup

1 lb. lean ground beef (or
more)

2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup thinly sliced carrots

6 cups water

3 Tbsp. beef bouillon powder

1-28oz. can of tomatoes,
un-drained and cut up

1-17.5 oz. can of tomato
sauce

½ cup macaroni or pasta of
choice

2 tsp. chili powder (or to
taste)

2 tsp. basil

½ tsp. black pepper

2-14oz. cans cut green beans
and their juice.

In a large heavy soup pot
brown the ground beef. Drain off any
excess fat. Add onion, celery and
carrots. Stir and cook for 5
minutes. Add all remaining ingredients
except for the green beans. Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 50 mins. Add the green beans and juice. Cook until soup is hot and pasta is tender.

You can add salt but I find
that the bouillon and tomatoes usually make it salty enough.

My 8yr old grandson had the virus before, on, and after Christmas Day--what rotten luck for a kid to be sick during Christmas vacation. Sorry to hear you had it, too.

I love all kinds of soup, except those made with a cream base. (ETA, after reading CEF's next post, especially the creamy green ones.) The one exception is potato soup, which I make nice and thick--more potato than milk. I've been known to drop a few lentils into any kind of soup, even substituting them for meat in spaghetti sauce.

I never use a soup recipe, though--I just start with things we like, and add more things we like. ;)

I have a different soup story!! ME!! Me!!

Back in the Dark Ages, before God created the Cuisinart, when one made Cream of XXX soup, you had to cook the crap out of it and push it through a strainer to make it creamy.

In collage, I was just starting to be able to tolerate broccoli. My sister asked her if I'd make her some Cream of Broccoli. Being the Queen of All Things Soup, I replied, "Sure."

Well, I learned later, that the physical response I was having to pushing that green slime through a strainer was gagging. I just couldn't figure out what was WRONG with me!

To this day, I tell waiters that if there is even broccoli juice on my plate, I will know and it's going back. Cannot tolerate pretty much the very sight of it. A whiff? It's all over. Sad. It's such a beautiful veggie.

And here's my story - we made the most delicious mushroom bisque ever (from the New York Times cookbook). It was so delicious, we couldn't eat another bite of the huge Thanksgiving dinner we had prepared. So it was a Thanksgiving of soup, and leftovers!

I have a few soup recipes I love. one of my favorites, I got on here (maybe from Jean?).

Italian Sausage and Pasta Soup

Ingredients

• 1 lb. hot Italian sausage (I actually use sweet Italian sausage because my DD doesn't like spicy anything)
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 64 oz. (2 cartons) low sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14 1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 T. dried basil
• 1 cup dried shell-shaped pasta
• 6 oz. fresh spinach
• Shaved Parmesan cheese for garnish

directions

• 1

  In a large pot, sauté sausage over medium-high heat, stirring often and breaking apart with spoon, until browned and crumbly, about 8-10 mins. Spoon out meat and discard all but one tablespoon of fat from pot.

• 2

  Add carrots, onion and garlic to the pot and sauté, stirring often until onion is limp and translucent, about 5-7 mins.

• 3

  Add broth, tomatoes (including juice), beans, basil and bring to a boil. Return meat to the pot and bring to a second boil.

• 4

  Add pasta, adjust heat to a gentle boil, stirring occasionally, until pasta is just tender to bite, about 10 mins. Skim and discard any fat.

• 5

  Add spinach and cook until it is wilted, about 30 seconds.

• 6

  Ladle soup into bowls and top with a few shavings of Parmesan.

A friend gave us one squash plant this spring -- it did quite well:

Note the yardstick in the foreground for scale

I have made several attempts at a squash soup recipe that has turned out really well.

It started from a recipe posted in the cooking forum by gardengrlz.

Thai Curry and Coconut Cheese Squash Soup

1 large Long Island Cheese Squash (like 20 lbs large)
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp red curry powder
1 large sweet onion (chopped)
1 large red onion (chopped)
2 red jalapeno peppers (chopped fine)
1 Tbsp ground ginger paste
1 1/2 teaspoons Thai red curry paste
4 cups water
2 Tbsp Better than Bouillon Vegetable base
1/2 tsp salt
ground black pepper
ground white pepper
2 cans unsweetened coconut milk

Cut squash into wedges, scoop out seeds and cut off tough outer
shell. Place in large baking pan, lightly coat
with olive oil, and curry powder, and bake in a convection oven at 400
deg F for 45 min to 1 hour

In large stock pot, saute onions and jalapenos in little olive oil
until
tender. Add ginger paste and continue to stir and cook for another
minute or two. Add cooked squash, coconut milk, red curry paste,
vegetable base and water. Puree carefully in pot with an immersion
blender, and bring to a simmer. Simmer soup for about
15-20 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and white pepper to taste.

The amount made nearly filled a 6 quart crock pot.

Oh, I'm so sorry to hear so many of you have been sick. Please take care of yourself and get well soon.

I wish I had a soup recipe to share. I make soup at least once a week but it's always a clean-out the fridge soup where I just throw things in that need to be eaten, add different beans or rice or noodles depending on my mood, or make dumplings, and then I play with seasonings. I have no recipes. I've made some masterpieces which I've tried to replicate without success. They're always good but always different.

My comfort food when sick tends to be unhealthy stuff. I know, not what I need. Diet Coke, orange sherbet, and bowls of the type of cereal we never usually buy like Captain Crunch, Cocoa Puffs, and Lucky Charms. Yup, when sick, I become a child.

Wishing you all better health in the days to come!

Texas: I wouldn't want you trekking out in this weather to grab ingredients you don't have. Is your pantry fully stocked, or are you willing to venture forth? :) I'm travelling now, but will see if I can access my recipe archives somehow for ya!

Hope you have made a full recovery .. gosh sick in December is rough.. Here are two soups and three recipes that I think can be a cure-all:

Becky's Birthday Chicken and Sausage Gumbo (with Taso and Green Chile)

• Make and reserve pecan colored roux with
• 6 Ounces of Flour
• 4 Ounces KerryGold Pure Irish Butter
• 2 Ounces Chicken Fat
• Saute
• 2 oz butter
• 2 chopped Yellow Onions
• add
• 2 Cups chopped Celery
• add
• 2 Chopped Bell Pepper
• add
• 1/4 Cup of Chopped Garlic
• add
• 1 Tablespoon of Kosher Salt
• 1 seeded diced Jalapeno Pepper
• 1 seeded Thai Chile Pepper
• 1 seeded Szechuan Chile Pepper
• 1 cup roasted Hatch Chile
• Deglaze with
• 1 cup Baron d'Arignac: 2012 Moelleux (sweet white wine)
• Add
• 1/4 Teaspoon crushed red pep
• 1 Fresh Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Teaspoon Fresh Ground Cayenne
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Onion
• 1 Teaspoon Ground Celery
• 2 Tablespoons Dried Parsley
• 6 thumb sized bay leaves
• 12 Ounces Richards smoked Beak/Pork Sausage
• 12 Ounces House Made Taso
• 5 cups Rich Chicken Stock
• 2.25 Pounds of Chicken Thighs (cut in half to expose marrow)
• boil 3-5 minuets
• Simmer 20-45
• stir and taste until chicken is stringy
• Skimming fat as needed.
• add roux
• boil 3-5 minuets
• add
• 2 Tablespoon Fresh Ground File
• 1 Tablespoon Fresh Tyme
• 2 Ounces of Louisiana Gold Green Sauce
• 12 Ounces chopped okra
• Simmer 20-45

Tasso Split Pea Soup

• Sautee
• 1 or 2 huge chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Until onions are clear
• add 1 pound chopped tasso
• 4 bay leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped garlic
• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper
• Cook until garlic is soft
• Add 1 pound rinsed split peas
• cover in chicken stock
• Bring to a boil for 5 min
• 1 tablespoon of ground savory
• Simmer covered one and quarter hour stirring and tasting regularly
• Add stock as needed

My Tasso by Paul Roberts

• 5 lbs Pork butt cut in 1/2 inch strips of a length that fits your smoker and storage
• 1/2 cup + 1.5 tbls worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup ground cayenne pepper (24 grams)
• 1/4 cup cracked black pepper (34g)
• 1/4 cup kosher salt (60g)
• 1/2 cup garlic powder (72g)
• 3 tbls paprika
• 3 tbls onion powder
• 1/2 tbls crushed red pepper
• Mix together and rest 1/2-6 days.
• Smoke 190-200 about 6 hours.

Sorry to hear about your illness, hope you'll soon feel better.

Here's a very easy soup recipe you can try if you like yogurt.

Sorry to read you were feeling so bad.

I make soup a lot too..often with no recipes. The base is usually homemade stock, which I think makes any soup taste/feel richer. Otherwise I buy organic broths in a box.

I make an Olive Garden Zuppa Tuscano knock off, broccoli cheese, chicken noodle (usually orzo or stars), chicken pot pie, creamy beef and potato.

I don't do low fat. :)

if any sound interesting, just tell me and I'll type out some semblance of a recipe. :)

Pumpkin and Tomato Soup

4cups bite sized cubed pumpkin

2 16 oz canned crushed tomatoes

1 qt chicken stock

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp garam masala

1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste

1/2 tsp fresh ground cardamom

2 tbsp ginger garlic paste

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup yoghurt

Fresh or dried mint leaves

Place butter in large stockpot and melt over medium heat. Add ginger garlic paste and cook for 1 minute. Add spices and cook for 2 minutes. Add brown sugar and cook until partially caramelized. Add canned tomatoes, chicken stock, and pumpkin. Cook until pumpkin is soft but not mushy. Ladle into bowls and serve with a dollop of yoghurt and chopped mint on top.

I'm making lentil and sausage soup tonight. it's kinda a ''clean out the fridge soup''. Just sauté garlic and the two small onions that are starting to sprout in butter, add 1 cup black lentils and toast. Add 1 quart beef stock and simmer. Brown 1lb Italian sausage in skillet, add to pot at end and deglaze skillet with 1/2 cup leftover whatever is in the fridge wine. throw the glazing in the pot. Add some chopped spinach from salad greens not aging gracefully, and top the bowl with the rest of the French fried onions hanging around in that partial can and maybe some grated hard cheese.

So many of these sound so good!

Christine- yes, the heart racing thing, when they checked my o2 sats it was 95 but my pulse was 115. When I asked about getting something to stop the cough so I could sleep the doctor said if he gave me something I would definitely sleep, but I might not wake back up as my coughing was forcing air into my lungs. Eek!! Nothing quite like a doctor telling you a common medicine could kill you because your lungs are that bad right now!!

Funky- I think I turn into a child too. I had spaghettios the other day and all my kids were asking what it was!! They've never had canned pasta of any kind.

Javiwa- I have a very large and extremely well stocked pantry due to the holidays and the blizzard. Plus a hubby that can cook. ;)

Jillus- where is that pistou recipe?

Terry- would love your knock off zuppa tuscano. I don't have exact recipes either, usually any recipe I write down is just a list of ingredients. :)

bob_cville- That pumpkin soup sounds exactly like what I had in mind! I can't wait to try it.

123 Remodeling- Wow, that's some gumbo! Mine is similar, but much simpler.

So many great recipes! We lived in FL for 30 years, and kind of got out of making soup because it's rarely cold enough. Now that we're in SC, and have a bit more winter, it's time to fire up the stock pot.

I remember my first job at 16, working as a stock boy in a local market (they weren't 'super' back then). I had a bad cold, and this sweet little old Italian lady told me how to make chicken orzo soup, which is just chicken noodle soup with an Italian leaning. Lots of garlic! It worked magic on my cold, but I think having someone who loves you (Mom) make and serve you soup is really what makes you feel better.

Sorry to hear you're sick. I had pneumonia two years ago, and it kicked my butt.

I love soup and especially love to freeze the leftovers as individual lunches.

Here's one of my many favorites -- it's chock full of vegetables:

Italian Bean Soup

Chop onion, celery, carrot, zucchini and yellow squash; saute in soup pot.

Add several cloves of garlic, then rosemary, thyme, and red pepper to taste -- I go kind of heavy on the red pepper.

Add large container of vegetable stock, 2 cans cannelli beans and 2 cans petite diced tomatoes. Add 3 cups kale (remove stems), chopped finely. Add a spoonful of sugar and a good splash of white wine vinegar. Cook 'til everything's well done and has kind of meshed together.

When it's done, use your immersion blender to smooth it out into a creamy soup ... but leave a good bit of sold chunk in the mixture.

Hope you feel better, soon! I had something like that, but thought at first it was all the paint fumes from painting...then I thought I somehow got bronchitis. My husband MADE me go to bed for three days and I felt much better.

So many lovely soup recipes! All I have to contribute is chicken dumpling with tiny carrots. Use the whole chicken (including the giblets) and boil it down to a nice broth. Take out chicken, cut up giblets very small and return to pot with chicken meat. I add dill and pepper, but garlic would be good, too (upsets my tummy) and then chop carrots into tiny pieces. Like Campbell's Chicken &Stars tiny pieces. Then simmer until carrots are tender. Drop in biscuit plops and cook 10 minutes with lid on and then 10 minutes with lid off. So yummy :)

Biscuit recipe (makes about 10-12 dumplings)

2 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

(Sift together into bowl)

Add 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter or margerine

(Soften a bit if needed before adding and stir together until crumbly.)

Add 1 cup milk and stir together with fork.

Drop into broth and cook as directed above :)

For biscuits...drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet and cook @425 for 10-12 minutes.

Also can roll into pizza dough, add toppings, cook @425 for about 20 minutes.

Texas! I hope you're feeling better soon! And the others who have been sick as well, I hope you're feeling well. Being sick is never fun. :(

I follow recipes (except for chili) and since finding Mitchell's Soups at Coombs, I often have some bags in the pantry and will cheat. :) www.mitchellssoupco.ca They are Canadian (yay!) so I'm not sure how outrageous the shipping would be to the US, but for me, it's an awesome option to have for a short notice dinner idea, and I love that they make extra so I can freeze the leftovers and eat them for lunches when I didn't plan ahead. LOL

Some online recipes I use for soup regularly are Gimme Some Oven Chicken Enchilada Soup. Fast and yummy, though I do use the slow cooker version, so not that fast. http://www.gimmesomeoven.com/slow-cooker-chicken-enchilada-soup-recipe/

Pioneer Woman Corn and Cheese Chowder, which my younger son didn't like based solely on looks despite the fact he likes each individual ingredient "just not altogether." LOL http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/corn-cheese-chowder/

20 Minute Bean Tomato and Spinach Soup: http://eatineatout.ca/20-minute-bean-tomato-and-spinach-soup/

My sister LOVES this Minestone Soup: http://www.heartandstroke.com/site/c.ikIQLcMWJtE/b.3484309/k.5841/Recipes__Minestrone_soup.htm

Skinnytaste Chicken Pot Pie Soup. ANYTHING from Skinnytaste is really good. http://www.skinnytaste.com/2011/01/chicken-pot-pie-soup.html

Well, I am very late (don't know how I missed this earlier in the week) but I want to say that if you are not considerably better now, then you need to go back to the doctor. I can't tell you how many times I have cared for people at death's door who were told they didn't have pneumonia, except they did. And your story (sick with virus, better, then much worse) is so typical of the onset.

Lavender Lass, Chicken and Dumplings made by my grandma was my favorite birthday treat! but I never make it now, for some reason.

Anyway, right now my favorite soup is a chicken vegetable based concoction that I came up with a few years ago. Essentially, I started out to make basic chicken vegetable from a roast carcass -- after making the stock, added mushrooms, greens, corn, broccoli etc. I had some pumpkin (from my supply of frozen that I put up every fall) so I threw that in. Then I added some diced cooked bacon. Decided that I wanted more protein but didn't have more chicken so I tossed in a codfish filet. Lastly, on a whim, I added jerk seasoning.

Sound bizarre, doesn't it? But it is so good! I think that it is the pumpkin and jerk seasoning that takes it to the next level. I made it after Thanksgiving with the turkey remains.

My other favorite soups are my "walk down the vegetable aisle and get one of everything" vegetable soup -- don't skip the tomatillos! -- Cincinnati-style Chili, and a multi-bean soup that DD's kindergarten teacher helped them make in class:

Thanksgiving Soup

2 cups mixed beans, washed, soaked overnight and drained

2 quarts water

1 ham bone

bring to boil & simmer 2-3 hours

Add: 1 large onion, chopped, 1 large can tomatoes chopped, 1 teaspoon chili powder, juice of 1 lemon, and salt/pepper to taste

Simmer about 20 min.

I think that I will make the chili today, come to think of it.

Happy New Year to all! (and Get Well Soon!)

Just finished reading the whole thread. They all sound so good! But since I am a pumpkin lover and have so much put up, I am definitely going to try SophieWheeler's and Bob_Cville's soups.

Mushcreek, this fall I have made pumpkin mac-n-cheese (with swiss/gruyere blend) and pumpkin bake with sausage, greens, and cornbread stuffing mix. Pumpkin has such a mild flavor, I find that I can stick it into many standard recipes.

PS my dog absolutely adores the pumpkin peels removed after baking.

I bake my pumpkin with the skin on. I cut it in half, scoop out the seeds, and bake until it gets soft. I have 3 big pumpkins- that's a lot! I might bake one or two tomorrow than get them in the freezer for future projects.

TG I hope you are feeling better! For me there is nothing like Chicken Noodle Soup with the egg noodles. My mom makes them but I buy the frozen homestyle ones. They are not the same but they are close; close enough for this girl!

So glad you came up with this topic (but not glad you're not feeling well).

About 15 years ago, I read an article about a family that hosted soup night in an open house sort of style one night each month. I've always wanted to do it, but haven't really been able to make the commitment, but now that we are back in the house and our space is so much better set up for entertaining, I'm planning on starting this month.

My go to soup is an old recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook. It is very basic, but sooooo good. Potato Cheese Soup

But I adore Bobby Flay's dumplings so I will make chicken soup just to have these. Yummy dumplings!

"I can't tell you how many times I have cared for people at death's door who were told they didn't have pneumonia, except they did."

it's a bear - I've had it 2 or 3 times in the past 33 yrs. I spent a month sick last yr from Thanksgiving week thru NY eve dodging it again. I got thru it, but it scares me especially since I'm older now. Bad to have it, really not good for older folks.

autumn.4 - nothing like Chicken Noodle Soup with the egg noodles. My mom makes them but I buy the frozen homestyle ones. They are not the same but they are close; close enough for this girl!

I love home made noodles - that's what I was raised on. I remember my mom making them and spreading them all over the DR table to dry. I don't make them anymore, I buy the Reams brand in the frozen food section. Not as good, but pretty close.

Years ago I had a roommate - a young girl about 20. I made noodles while she was out and put them on cookie sheets on the main bathroom vanity to dry. I could shut them in there away from the dogs - I put a note on the door that said 'Things in here drying'. I went to bed, she came home and was afraid to open the door - she thought the note said 'Things in here dying'. Poor thing! she woke me up whispering 'Steph, what's in there dying?'

btw, the noodles were never in 'danger', we had another bathroom.

desertsteph yes! I would come home from school and see those noodles drying out on the counter and it would be an excited YES I can't wait for dinner! Reams is also what I buy. They are a pretty good knock off. :D Funny story. I bet she was nervous. Good for you for making them. I have never tried but I think I should get a tutorial from my Mom while I still can!

What a yummy thread!

My favorite go-to is lentil soup with a lot of cumin. I stopped referring to the original recipe and just eyeball it now. So I am not sure of the precise amounts. I start with beef broth and lentils, bring that to a simmer, and then add tomato paste (or other tomato products), chopped carrots, small bits of sweet potato (or regular potatoes), and then cumin (tablespoon, or more), pepper, coriander, and italian spices. Since I don't measure, I am not sure how much I add -- just add things until you like what you have. :p

If it is very cold, another favorite is chicken broth + white beans + kale + sausage.

Our niece sent us a package of Gluhwein spices for making mulled wine. I guess I could consider that to be soup....