Warm Wishes

Posted byTalleyPosted inInspired Living, RecipeTags:,

Dear Reader,

I hope you are staying warm this winter! I know so many of you miss all the other seasons! Take advantage of these extra cold weekends and cook something warm and comforting. This weekend, I chose to make Lasagna Soup.

I first created this soup last year during our annual “Souper Bowl” competition. We had clam chowder, taco soup, broccoli & cheese soup, and many more. Imagine a few tables pushed together full of hot soups, blended aromas filling the air, and all the power strips you can find! It was a fun gathering and hot soup is always a happy treat.

I have made this soup a few times since then. Each time the ingredients may change just a little, but the satisfying result is always the same. I hope this winter, maybe this weekend, you will make time for something warm and filling as well.

With warm wishes,
Talley

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
  • 1 can (28 ounces) petite diced tomatoes
  • 1 jar (24 ounce) pasta sauce
  • 1 carton (32 ounce) chicken stock
  • 1 cup cottage cheese
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons basil pesto
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • 12 ounces farfalle pasta
  • shredded mozzarella cheese for topping

Directions

  1. Brown the onion and ground meat in a large pot, season with salt and pepper to taste.
  2. Stir in the tomato paste, mix well.
  3. Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, diced tomatoes, pasta sauce, and half of the chicken stock.
  4. Stir in pesto and cottage cheese.
  5. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Undercook pasta by about 3-4 minutes. Strain noodles and add to soup.
  6. Simmer for about 5 – 10 minutes or until pasta is done.

Serve with shredded mozzarella cheese, crushed red pepper, and garlic bread.

Tips

As the noodles continue to cook, they will absorb some of the moisture from the soup. Add some of the remaining chicken stock as the soup thickens. Soups like this can have many substitutions. I have used broken lasagna noodles instead of farfalle. If available, I will dice and sauté carrots before adding onions and meat. Try including mushrooms and zucchini, or add 1/2 pound of ground sausage for extra flavor.

Share with us your warm wishes! Leave a comment.

Published by Talley

Talley is a teacher and a writer. She graduated from East Carolina University in May 2006, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education and has been a classroom teacher for over 15 years.

2 thoughts on “Warm Wishes”

  1. Talley, your lasagna soup recipe with the variations reminds me of the way my mother could make a meal from whatever she had in the fridge at the end of the week. Her vegetable beef soup was absolutely the best, and with seven kids, plus our friends, she knew how to stretch a meal. Mama told me that she learned this technique from her mother-in-law, my Granny Wells. When Mama was a young wife and mother, she remembered crying one day because she thought she had nothing to cook for supper and it was not Daddy’s payday yet. Granny dropped by and helped Mama take inventory of what she had in the pantry and the fridge, plus potatoes that my brother and I had been playing with, and VOILA! Suppertime! I cannot tell you how many times I have thrown together “Kitchen Sink Soup” to feed my small family. No two recipes are ever the same, but the one ingredient they all have is love!

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