Instant Pot Taco Soup

I made this super simple taco soup with the kids. There's barely any work to it at all. I browned my meat separately but will not do that next time - I use a fairly lean meat so I might as well do it all the Instant Pot since it's so much easier. (But if you have a fattier meat you might want to strain off some of the fat.)

Feel free to add beans, chickpeas, whatever stuff you'd like - but my kids don't like it, won't eat it and thus we made this bare bones. For toppings, the kids used cheese and tortilla chips, but sour cream, tomatoes, cilantro, and avocado are also good options.

Instant Pot Taco Soup
serves 4-6

cooking oil
500 g minced beef
1 chopped onion
taco spice mix - you can use a ready-made one, or just add salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, a little chili, cayenne, cumin and coriander.
1 small can (about 200 g) corn
1 can - 400 g - crushed tomatoes
water - use your judgement to get this as soupy as you want. I used about 600 ml.

Put your IP on the sauté setting and add a little cooking oil. Brown the minced meet. Add the onion and fry for a few minutes. Press cancel.

Add the taco spice, corn, tomatoes and water. Seal and turn your IP to high pressure for 15 minutes. Do a manual release of the steam, and turn off the Instant Pot.

Chicken tortilla soup in crockpot

So, yet another recipe for chicken soup in crockpot. Nothing new, but this is mine. I prepared everything in the morning and then just let it cook all day. So comfortable. I always think I should use my crockpot more but I rarely get around to it. Do you have one? What’s your favorite meal to cook in it?

Chicken tortilla soup 

 1 yellow onion, diced
1 large carrot, grated
1 can of salsa (about 350 g)
2 jars of crushed tomatoes (each 400 g)
500 g boneless and skinless chicken thighs
cumin
chili powder
vegeta (or some other multi purpose spice)
One whole dried ancho chili

Toss everything in the crockpot. I happen to have a model that can fry, so I did pre-brown the onion a little bit, but no worries if you have a traditional crockpot. It doesn’t matter much. 

Add water - it should more or less cover the other ingredients. It’s soup, not stew. 

Cook for at least 6 hours on low. Before serving, fish out the ancho chili and discard. Also remove the chicken, shred using two forks, then add back to the pot. 

Serve with whatever toppings you want! Avocado, cheese, tortilla chips, some fresh tomatoes, sour cream, would all be very good. 

Chicken noodle soup

I improvised a quick soup for dinner, that turned out to be delicious. The whole family loved it!

Chicken noodle soup
1 onion

2 chicken breasts
1 garlic clove

Butter

1 liter water 

1 veg stock cube 

200 ml cream

1/2 red bell pepper, in thin strips

100 g sugar snap peas, sliced

1 tbsp ketjap manis

Fresh ginger, thumb-sized piece

100 g dried egg noodles, thin 

Fresh coriander

Toasted cashews

Serves two adults, two kids

Finely chop the onion and cut the chicken into smaller pieces. Mince the garlic. Cook the chicken in a little butter, until slightly browned. Add onions and garlic and fry for a few more minutes. Add the water, a vegetable stock cube, and the cream. Cook on medium-low heat for about ten minutes. Add the bell pepper, sugar snap peas, ketjap manis and ginger. Cook for about five minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to packet instructions. Drain. Divide between bowls, and pour the soup on top. Top with coriander and cashews. 

Carrot Soup with Cashews & Feta

Soup, especially puréed, is one of few dishes I can pretty much rely on my toddler to eat. He loves it - almost regardless of what goes in it, as long as it's not too spicy. And as long as he can't see it, I guess. We, his parents, are however not huge soup fans. His dad often complains that it's not filling, and I often find it plain and boring. But since Titus loves soup, I keep an eye out for interesting recipes and this one caught my eye at Ann-Louise's Swedish blog: Lilla Matderivén. Carrots are always good, and with the textural addition of cooked cashews and the zippiness of feta cheese... yeah. Good. Very.

I added a handful of lentils to pack some extra protein in there, and omitted fresh thyme since I didn't have any. I also added some toasted cashews to serve on top, for more crunch. Next time, I'll add some fresh cilantro on top, too. (Titus won't touch any toppings, by the way.)

Carrot Soup with Cashews & Feta
serves 4

3 shalotts (or 1 small onion), diced
1 tbsp neutral oil
700 g carrots, sliced
75 ml cashew nuts, raw (a large handful)
75 ml red lentils
1 litre vegetable stock
150 g feta cheese, divided
Handful of cashew nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Fry the shalotts (or onion) in the oil, on medium heat. When it looks transclucent, add carrots, cashews and lentils. After a few minutes, add the vegetable stock.

Turn the heat up to high and bring to a boil. Then, cover with a lid, lower the heat and let it simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. Check to make sure the carrots are soft. Crumble in half of the feta (reserve the other half for serving) and then use an immersion blender to purée the soup until very smooth.

Serve with the reserved feta, and some toasted cashews.

Potato Lemon Soup

Another basic soup - nothing terribly exciting, but hey, it tasted good. The original recipe had thyme - I had sage, so that's what I used - and I ended up puréeing the soup. You can leave the potato chunks whole, but I couldn't get past the fact that it's basically just potatoes in a creamy broth, and therefor, mixed mine until fairly smooth. But that's all up to you.

It's a good vegetable soup, but if you're so inclined, go ahead and serve it with some smoked ham or crispy bacon.

Potato Lemon Soup
serves 3

1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp butter
500 g potatoes, cut into 1 cm dice (if planning on puréeing, never mind the size)
250 ml cream (full-fat)
5-600 ml vegetable stock (or more) (from a cube is fine)
1 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
salt

Fry the onion in the butter, until softened. Don't let it color, though. Add the potatoes and cream. Bring to a boil, and simmer on medium heat (with a lid) for about 15 minutes. The potatoes should be fairly soft. Add the stock, bring to a boil again, and cook for a few more minutes.

Add the sage and lemon zest. Season with the lemon juice (don't add it all at once!) and salt. Pepper is totally optional, we skipped it.

Creamy White Bean Soup

This is similar to my "Italian Lentil Soup". The main difference, really, is that I was out of lentils and resorted to using a can of white beans instead. As it cooked, I suspected that the toddler wouldn't touch it as it was, so I puréed it until smooth. And voila! He scarfed down three bowls, and pronounced that he LOVED soup.

Brilliant.

Creamy White Bean Soup
70 g bacon
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
1 garlic clove
2 carrots
2 parsnips
2 potatoes
800 ml water
1 tbsp concentrated vegetable stock, or stock cube
400 g white beans, canned
100 ml milk
100 ml cream
1 tsp dried thyme
salt

Chop onion and garlic. Peel the carrots, parsnips and potatoes, and cut into coins and dice, respectively. Cut the bacon into strips.

Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until it's lightly browned. Add olive oil, and the onions, garlic, carrots and parsnips. Fry for five minutes, then add the potatoes.Fry for a few more minutes, then add water, stock, thyme and the can of white beans.

Cover and cook for about 20 minutes, until all the vegetables are soft. Add milk and cream. Purée the whole thing, ideally with a stick blender. Add more milk if you think it's too thick at this point. Season with salt.

We ate it with some stale sourdough bread that I sliced thinly, dipped in olive oil and baked at 200°C for about 10 minutes. Yummy!

Crock-Pot Minestrone Soup

It's cold outside. No wonder, perhaps, as I live in Sweden, but we've actually had a very mild winter this year. This week however, we're going through some sort of cold snap, and it's very chilly. Perfect soup weather, though. And always, perfect crock-pot weather. I really do like this "gadget", allowin me to cook while being at work. It's very handy. And the results are very tasty.

Crock-Pot Minestrone Soup

450 g minced beef
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2-3 carrots, diced
400 g tinned cherry tomatoes
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1 litre beef stock
200 g dried pasta (I use elbow macaroni)
salt, pepper

Brown the meat, onion and garlic, before adding to your crock-pot. Drain any extra fat.

Add carrots, tomatoes, oregano and beef stock, put your crock-pot on "low" and let it cook for 8 hours or so.

About half an hour before serving, add the macaroni. Put the crock-pot on "high" for the remaining half hour, or until the pasta is cooked through.

Season with salt and pepper, and serve with grated parmesan.

Recipe in Swedish:
Minestrone i crock-pot

Summery Tomato Soup

Summery Tomato Soup
serves 2

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 small red onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
½ red bellpepper, in small dice
400 g cherry tomatoes, tinned
3 basil sprigs
2-300 ml water
1 cube chicken or vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
50 ml cream
salt, pepper

Heat a little olive oil, and fry onions, garlic, carrot and pepper on medium heat, for about five minutes. Add basil and tomatoes and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add water and stock cube, and cook for ten minutes,



Blend the soup until smooth - I use a stick blender. Add the cream. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with more fresh basil if you'd like, and grilled cheese sandwiches. I made yummy ones with cream cheese as well as regular sharp cheese that melted when I fried them in a little butter.

Recipe in Swedish:
Somrig tomatsoppa