Soup’s On & Company’s Coming (Giveaway & Online Study Announcement!)
Does the phrase “Company’s coming!” send you running for cover?
I can sooooo relate!
I married into a family full of interior decorators, caterers and Bed and Breakfast owners, while I myself could hardly boil water!
So, I set out to become skilled at “entertaining” to impress my new relatives. However, God quickly taught me the difference between entertaining and offering hospitality, a lesson I learned the hard way.
Entertaining places the emphasis on you and impressing others.
Hospitality places the emphasis on others and refreshing, not impressing, them.
In the month of March, I will be leading an online study of the book I wrote on this topic A Life That Says Welcome: Simple Ways to Open Your Heart & Home to Others
This book and study will help you to:
- Recognize the reason for offering hospitality
- Identify the top five excuses for not opening your home and apply simple solutions to combat them
- Arm yourself with cooking-for-a-crowd menu ideas, make-ahead freezer meals and kid-friendly favorites
- Acquire weekly speed cleaning strategies, a proven system for de-junking your house and simple, doable decorating tips
- Obtain creative concepts for living a life of welcome wherever you are
Watch for more details to come. And, if you want to join us and don’t have the book yet, go get a copy. (The last online study I did, all of the major retailers were back-ordered for weeks when it got close to the start date so you might want to be ahead of the game.)
The sign-up is simple. Just subscribe to my blog before March 19th when the study kicks off by clicking on the envelope icon in the top of the sidebar. Any new posts I write will be delivered automatically to your email’s inbox!
Now, for a little preview (and a little giveaway) here is a sneak peek at one of the recipes in the book perfect for a winter welcome for guests:
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup chopped, peeled carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup flour
6 cups chicken stock (or 6 cups water with bouillon cubes to taste)
6-ounce package long grain and wild rice
2 cups chopped, cooked chicken breast
3 tablespoons cooking sherry (optional)
In a large soup kettle, melt butter and sauté onions, carrots, and celery until tender. Stir in flour. Gradually add stock until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium low. Prepare rice as directed on box, omitting oil and salt. Add rice and chicken to stock and simmer 10 minutes. Add sherry. Serves 10.
NOW FOR THE GIVEAWAY:
I’ll give two copies of A Life That Says Welcome (one for you & one for a friend) so you can join us for the on-line study in March. I’ll also throw in a $5 Starbucks gift card so you and your friend can discuss the book over coffee.
Just leave us a comment telling us your very favorite soup to eat. And, if you leave the recipe, your name will be entered twice. Winner announced Monday (when I’ll also have another very fun announcement too!)
Hobo Stew
2 lbs stew meat
boiling water
salt
pepper
Invite your guests to bring a cup of veggies to go into the soup. Ask them to have the veggies cut into approximately 1-2 inch pieces. When the guest arrive, add their contribution to the stew pot. Don’t worry if there are duplicates of ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy your company while the stew cooks, about 20-30 minutes depending on the amount and type of veggies brought. Serve with crackers, cornbread or homemade bread.
My favorite is a type of soup. Brunswick stew! It’s my favorite as long as its made right (;
As a pastor’s wife, I’m looking forward to this study and then doing it with my church ladies. The people here are very reluctant about having people in their homes and I am hoping to encourage them and help them see that it isn’t as intimidating as they think it is. My recipe is below. Thanks!
Teresa
Crock Pot Chicken and Dumplings:
4-6 boneless skinless chicken breasts (Sandy used 4 very large ones)
2 tablespoons butter
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth (I use 2 cans)
1 onion diced
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 cans Grands flaky refrigerator biscuits. (Sandy actually only used 1 can & maybe 3 biscuits out of the 2nd can).
Place chicken in crock pot. Add butter, cream of chicken soup and onion & parsley.
Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
After cooking time has elapsed, take a fork and break up the chicken into pieces. If it doesn’t look like there is enough liquid, add more chicken broth.
Next, cut biscuits into 9 pieces. Stir into hot chicken and continue to cook for 30 minutes. (Add more chicken broth as necessary.) Serve hot!
I love beef dumpling soup. I would share my recipe but I do not use a recipe when I make it. It continues to be one of my families favorties. Blessings to you!
Chicken Tortilla soup…
I love your explanation of the difference between hospitality and entertaining! I have several friends that I know will love this study—cannot wait to share the info about it with them!!! MY favorite soup is HAMBURGER VEGETABLE. My sister used to make it often when we visited her. It is easy and hearty so we had more time to visit and yet felt we had had a wholesome meal!!!
Brown hamburger and drain grease from skillet and put hamburger in a large soup pot.
Add your choice of frozen veggies, a can of consume, dried onions to taste, a large can of tomato juice, and a table spoon or two of brown sugar.
Let simmer until veggies reach desired tenderness.
Brown rice or pasta of your choice is also good added to this. Serve with crackers and cheese or grilled cheese sandwiches!!!! Melting the cheese in the soup is soooo gooood!!!!
So many favorite soups, how do I pick just one? I think I could live off of just soups quite happily! A favorite that I always come back to is:
Harvest Squash & Apple Soup
1/2 c. chopped onion, 1 3/4 c. apple cider, 1/3 c. thinly sliced carrot, 1 tsp. instant chicken bouillon granules, 2 c. cooked and mashed acorn or butternut squash, or 1 can (16oz) pumpkin, 1 c. skim milk, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. white pepper, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, black pepper to taste and sour cream
In large pot, cook onions and carrot in cider, covered, for 12 minutes or until very tender. Do Not Drain! Add bouillon, lemon juice, ginger, and white pepper, and transfer to blender or food processor. Add squash or pumpkin. Blend until smooth. Return mixture to pan. Add milk and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer 5-10 minutes or until fully blended. Serve in a bowl, topped with fresh ground black pepper and a dollop of sour cream.
Sounds like a.wonderful study, and one that I desperately need to do haha!
My favorite soup has to be my gma’s beef.stew!
Beef stew meat
Tomato paste/sauce
Onions
carrots
Potatos
And whatever stock you like
Also brown the meat first.then cook in crock pot on low for 6-8 hours
Blue Zones Hot beans
Ingredients
1 pound dry black beans, soaked overnight
4 teaspoons diced jalapeno peppers
6 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce
Directions
Drain black beans, and rinse. Combine beans, jalapenos, and chicken broth in a slow cooker. Season with garlic powder, chili powder, cumin, cayenne, pepper, and hot pepper sauce.
Cook on High for 4 hours. Reduce heat to Low, and continue cooking for 2 hours, or until you are ready to eat.
I like to add a bunch of chiffonaded kale to melt some added nutrition and texture
I love my mom beef potato soup.
Take about 3 thin cut steaks and chop it up or just get the pre cubed beef and put Ina pots out 3/4 full of water and boil
Once meet is throughy cooked add chopped clubbed potatoes with a some cilantro chopped up and salt to taste.
Then once potatoes are cooked you have a fabulous beef potato soup! Serve with a side of rice and your done.. So simple but oh so yummy!
I would love to learn how to be a better hostess.
My favorite soup recipe is Easy Potato Soup:
2 medium potatoes, cut into small cubes,
1 large onion, sliced
2 handfuls egg noodles
1 can green beans or peas
Milk
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup butter or margarine
Boil potatoes and onion in a medium pot with enough water to cover them until partially soft. Add noodles and boil until done. Drain part of the water, add beans or peas, butter, and enough milk to cover soup ingredients. Heat until almost boiling. Add salt and pepper to taste. We like this with BLTs. :)
Chili is our family favorite.
2 lb. of ground beef
2 qt. of tomato juice
2 cans of chili beans
2 cans of kidney beans
2 cans of red beans
put all in the crock pot and let it simmer on low all afternoon or on high a couple of hours. This recipe is easy, the kids all love it and it is high in fiber and low in calories.
A friend and co-worker gave me this recipe years ago and I have used it and passed it along to others. It is always a crowd pleaser and make a big pot. I call it KM Soup (for Karla’s Mom) —
1 lb of hamburger, browned and drained
1 can Rotel tomatoes
1 medium sized can of Ranch Style Beans
2 cans of green beans
2 cans of corn
2 cans of sliced potatoes
Brown the hamburger and drain. Add other ingredients with their juices. Heat and serve with hot bread. I have also used cut-up chicken in this recipe and it is just as good.
I need to print off all of these recipes-they sound so delicious! My favorite soup growing up was my grandma’s potato soup. I’ve never been able to duplicate it, but it always made me feel so warm and loved when she made it. I think it was just milk, butter, and boiled potatoes…so maybe it was so good because of her love?
This would be fantastic book! Instead of marrying into that family…I come from that family. Everyone has some artistic bent…except me. I can’t even draw a straight line with a ruler! This would be so helpful…and I would give a copy to my mom. She taught me the fine art of throwing things into the nearest room when the doorbell rings…
I love a quick “soup starter” pkg of Tortilla Soup! It’s great for a quick meal, I sometimes add leftover roast or chicken to it, but the nice thing is, I don’t really have to. I just keep one in the cabinet for a quick serve meal. No recipe needed!
I would love to win the books and share them with 2 friends in FL(then I’ll have to get one and join in too) :)
Our “go to” soup is cheesy Broccoli. We had a recipe to start with, but we just kind of throw it together now. Here is the gist of it:
we just take frozen broccoli(or california blend) cover with water or broth (your preference)& season to taste). Simmer until veggies are soft. You can blend it with a hand blender or we usually mash the veggies with a potato masher (so it’s still chunky). we add a little milk and cheese(amount depends on what we have on hand). If we have left over rice or pasta, we throw that in. we thicken the soup with potato bud flakes or leftover mashed potatoes. All of my kids like it!
My favorite soup is Taco Soup:
2-lbs ground beef, browned & drained
2-teaspoons salt
2-cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic & oregano, undrained
2-cans kidney beans, undrained
2-cans whole kernal corn, undrained
2-pkgs taco seasoning
2-lbs Velveeta cheese, cubed
Mix all ingredients together in a large crockpot & cook on low all day. Serve for dinner (“supper” at our house!) and top with regular Fritos chips.
My favourite is beef barley. Yum!
My family’s favorite soup – a hearty chili that can be adjusted to be spicy or not so much. This recipe was given to me by a friend, and she adapted it from Southern Living’s Cook Off Chili recipe:
Cook together in a dutch oven until meat is browned: 2 lbs ground beef, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/4 tsp cumin. Drain and set aside.
Saute together until tender: 2 large onions, chopped; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped; 2 TBLS vegetable oil.
Add ground beef mixture. Stir in: 15 oz tomato sauce, 15 oz Mexican-style chili beans (undrained), 1 1/2 c water, 6 oz tomato paste, 1/2 c green chili salsa, 3 TBLS chili powder. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.
Stir in: 16 oz red kidney beans (drained), 1/2 tsp cumin, 2 1/4 oz sliced olives (drained), 1 TBLS brown sugar, 12 oz beer, tabasco sauce and salt & pepper to taste. Simmer 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
Serve with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, sliced green onion, and/or tortilla chips. (You can adjust the heat by changing the amounts of chili powder, cumin and hot sauce).
I just love cheddar Broccoli soup however I have never made it myself. I do however make chili and I use 4lbs ground beef, 2 cans of tomato juice, 2 cans of dark red kidney beans, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes, chili powder 2 tbl spoon depending on taste, and then 2 cans of water. Just boil everything together and then simmer for 2 hours.
I love any soup my husband makes……….which means I don’t have a recipe :( but I’m looking forward to this study.
I like plain and simple type foods. I like to peel and boil my potatoes (with salt to taste), and sometimes I eat that as soup, more of a potato broth with potatoes in it…or if I want something a little more creamy, I will add butter, and then make a thickening by adding flour to milk and shake it up before adding to the potato broth. Yummy!!!
My favorite soup is…
#1: Copycat Chicken & Gnocchi Soup(this IS NOT Olive Gardens recipe)
1/3 c. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces or store precooked bought rotisserie chicken
1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. shredded carrots or a bag of sliced carrots
1 stick celery, chopped
1/2 c. fresh chopped spinach
2 & 1/2 c. milk
1 & 1/2 c. heavy cream
3 chicken bullion cubes
salt & pepper to taste
17 oz. pre-made gnocchi
On medium heat, cook chicken and garlic in a large pot in olive oil until cooked through.
Stir in flour and mix well until the flour is cooked into the chicken.
Add the rest of the ingredients except for the gnocchi.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add gnocchi; cook for 3 to 5 more minutes till cooked through.
Buffalo Chicken Soup
3 cans cream of chicken soup
1 cup sour cream
1 cup jack cheese
1/4 – 1/2 cup franks red hot sauce (to liking)
1 cup shredded chicken
Heat in crock pot for 2hrs on high or 4th low
Love some Taco soup!