I make a big batch of bone broth/stock with reserved chicken and beef bones. Sometimes vegetable stock.

And from there, the sky's the limit.

I have a zillion recipes for soups and pottages. I swing towards vegetable genres like cream of Brussel Sprouts, Sauerkraut Soup, etc.

But to directly respond to your inquiry, I go back and forth for a Potato Soup, one from Jeff Smith (Immigrants) and one from Don't Eat Your Heart Out. I had real Irish bacon to both. A meal unto itself.

Some days though, it's pretty hard to top an old staple like Campbell's Tomato or Homestyle Chicken Noodle.

Loaded with ham or bacon onion and celery with Swiss or cheddar cheese.

Though it is hard to find. Some restaurants in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island serve it. Sometimes you can find it in cans at the supermarket. It is a treat when I find it.

Rocky Point Park in Warwick RI used to serve it but there are condos there now. Bliss Brothers in Attleboro, MA serves it sometimes but it is too far from where I live.

It is so good. It is a clear broth clam chowder whereas Manhattan clam chowder is tomato based and New England clam chowder is creamy. I should learn how to make it myself but I know it won’t taste as good.

RI clam chowder sounds wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Use dried black beans and take your time in soaking them.

With saltine crackers and San Francisco sour dough.

We used to make a sturdy fish broth with fish frames for real N.E. chowder, but they are as hard to find these days as hen's teeth. If you know a man who fishes you can get one. we have traveled the length of Maine looking for a fish market that sells them....no luck. So our chowder is usually a summer soup......anyway..still finestkind....as we say.

Very hearty and filling for cold weather. A woman from Ghana showed me how to make it. Found in the US from Virginia down to Georgia, and in the Caribbean.

NYC has a bunch of African restaurants Iwill find the right kinds countries for this sometime in 2026.

Carrots
Parsnips
Onions
Celery
Sweet potatoes
Yukon gold potatoes
Garlic
Salt
pepper
Veggie stock
Olive oil
Available fresh herbs

Chop, saute, bring to boil, reduce to simmer for 30 minutes. Blend with immersion blender. Leave a few chunks.

Crusty bread and butter.

It's always an adventure...whatever is in the fridge.

I’m always disappointed.

I do like homemade tomato basil soup, potato soup, Italian wedding soup …. vegetable …. Split pea ….As long as I make it myself.

Progresso Santa Fe Chicken
Pantry Soup; I make it using items from the pantry, hence the name:
1 can Kirkland chicken breast, crumble it up with your fingers and put the chicken and the broth in the soup
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes and chiles
1 can chicken broth
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn
Season to your taste. I like chili powder, cumin sometimes a pinch of cayenne. We like Yucateca Green Habanero Salsa which comes in a bottle and tastes wonderful in all sorts of dishes; sometimes I add in a few drops.
Bring it up to a boil and let it simmer until the flavors are blended.

Oriental Soups:
Pho and hot and sour

would love to have that again!

Cubed beef and tomatoes, potatoes, onions, celery, cabbage and barley, with salt, pepper, garlic, sweet basil and bay leaves. I start with simmering the beef in beef broth and tomato sauce, adding water as I add other ingredients but keeping it pretty hearty. Serve with French bread. If I use stew beef I'll cook it until I can shred it.
Also very fond of my homemade onion soup.

Deb, Lipton's still makes that Onion soup dip mix, they call it Beefy Onion Dip and Recipe Mix now. I got some the other day and it still makes that great dip we loved!

Beefy Onion dip. I am so glad they still carry it.

Market Soup.

Beef mushroom barley, chicken, or bean (with bacon, ham, or vegetarian.)

Serve with fresh bread, and it's a meal.

• Gumbo
• Baked French Onion
• Chicken Noodle with Sherry &
• Hot & Sour Soup with Tofu & Mushroom
• Corn Chowder
• Crab Bisque
• Creamy Tomato with Basil & Parmesano
If I just decide to make soup, I can't go wrong with any of those 7.
I have had requests for the recipes many times, but I don't have any.
Everything is by feel & spices by sight & taste.
I honestly don't know how much I use of any ingredient.

go to cooking school in your off time?

Just a Food Network junkie who is adventurous with spices, herbs, wine & liquors.
I made chili yesterday and after the onions were browned & the green & red peppers were cooked, I tossed in celery, the ground beef, browned the meat, then poured in 4 or 5 ounces of brandy. Once the alcohol was burned out, I added about 4 ounces of coffee and reduced. I finished it tomatoes, beans & cilantro.
I added more spices to taste.
I just experiment, but I taste, taste, taste as I go.
I used cumin, allspice, ancho powder, crushed red pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, and sugar.
I have no idea how much of any of those I added. I just added until it tasted like I wanted it to taste.

and available ingredient(s). Base is split pea - which thickens up nicely with cooking. 3-4 different kinds of rice and grain, mixed veggies, lentils, beans - and then seasoned to within an inch of its life. It's always interesting - and frequently near edible!

But nothing from a can compares to freshly made homemade soup. My favorite is my own turkey noodle soup, only available once or twice a year, after Thanksgiving and Christmas (because I use leftover roast turkey). About half dark meat and half white meat, with three boxes of turkey stock (hard to find except at this time of year) and the obligatory veggie trio of carrots, celery and onions.

Does chili count? That’s usually the first thing I think of when it gets cold. I also love a good minestrone (good use for leftover veg and things), a potato-y stew, or an earthy wild rice soup…

With an Instant Pot, we’re never more than an hour away from soup.

https://www.simplyveganized.com/post/wild-rice-mushroom-soup

But I like fresh ground pepper on it.

Canned soup is both tasteless and loade with sodium.

My wife makes both cabbage/kielbasa soup and Kentucky ham and bean, to honor her varied ancestry.

Whem I make soup, it is salmon chowder.

I add white beans to it. Amazing!
https://foolproofliving.com/crockpot-chicken-tomatillo-soup/#wprm-recipe-container-14968

Edit to fix link

Got me through college. Ham hocks, salt, pepper, spilt peas, beans, onions, celery, potatoes and carrots. A friend worked at the market and brought me 'spoiled' veggies and 'day old' bread. So good. Today I cook it with fresher ingredients.

CREAM OF POTATO SOUP
"Eat'n Park Potato Soup is a creamy, savory soup featuring potatoes, broth, heavy cream/milk, onion, garlic, butter, flour, seasonings (salt, pepper), green onions, and bacon bits............yum!

Last edited Tue Dec 30, 2025, 10:43 PM - Edit history (1)

I love sweet potato soup, haven’t made in awhile. I usually make vege soup.

from the local Chinese restaurant. Always makes me feel good.

Besides, dried day lily buds aren't something you pick up at Kroger's. (Our local Asian grocers carry them, but still ... too much trouble.)

It's to die for.

Provincetown MA. some of the best cuisine you will ever have. Anthony Bourdain and Howard Mitchem were well known chefs there.

I had family there and spent every summer in Truro and Provincetown. I so loved that place.

She did the whole bit except maybe a beef cube, but sautéed onions, toasted bread with melted cheese on top! And I think she bought dedicated heavy soup bowls with handles for that.

The Greek Easter Lentil soup.
Boil the heck outta potatoes, carrots, and ?celery. Push the very soggy veggies through a strainer into a mush. She may have added crumbled, thin toasted bagel slices.
She didn't put much garlic in it. (I would 😄 ) Of course - the lentils. It was thick and hearty!
Now even though I was starting to cook vegetarian, and beans I hadn't had that soup yet. I said - oh, my, that looks like "pebbles in mud". (nice, oy, lol )

These were later on.
As a kid we had Campbell's Tomato soup (no grilled cheese) but with Oysterettes - oyster crackers. Puffy, eight sided little crackers.

We get various good soups at our ALP: including Italian wedding, cheddar broccoli, minestrone, lentil, potato.

She makes it from scratch.

It's delicious, particularly when it's been in the refrigerator for a couple of days and is then reheated.

She hasn't made it this winter yet; I hope she will.

If anyone wants I will post recipe but too late to write it out to ight.

1 pound dried cranberry beans also called Berlotti beans, I order from Nuts.com as they are difficult to find outside of Appalachia.
12 oz aidells Cajun sausage sliced about 1/4 inch
1 large sweet onion diced
1 large russet potato diced
Minced garlic I use the garlic in a jar so a couple of heaping teaspoons
32 oz carton chicken broth low sodium
2 cans diced tomatoes
Large bunch of kale cut to bite size pieces
2 or 3 tablespoons of basamati vinegar
Add a little oil to soup pot and saute garlic, onion and sausage until onion is soft and sausage is starting to render its fat. Add chicken broth and pre soaked beans, diced potato and about 2 cups water.
Simmer until beans are done about 2and half hours.
Add tomatoes and kale and cook until kale is wilted 10 minutes about
Stir in vinegar and serve.

And freeze in single servings. Use chicken, turkey, or salmon, for the meat, add veges, spices, bone broth, wine, lentils, onions, garlic.

Eat for dinner most nights, eat bigger meal at lunch.

Campbell's Chunky Soup Wicked Thai style chicken rice and vegetables. A bit spicier than most soups but not too spicy for my tastes.

intake of salt. The soup is wonderful, I don't miss the extra sodium at all.

... Progresso is more than adequate. There are a couple of others, too.

... favorite.

you just added water and chicken. I would add thinly sliced carrot and celery to the mix along with 2 cups rotisserie chicken breast one packet would make 8 cups. The stopped

Split pea lumpy and bone in ham steak or a hock.

homemade split pea lumpy too.

by them fresh in a refrigerated Deli case plastic tub. Very tasty soup they only make during winter months.

I also make sourdough baguettes to go with it and bring out some cheese.

My favorite is usually what I made last, so cheddar broccoli (better than Panara) and cream of onion. I did not know cream of onion existed until a few weeks ago and it is delicious!

I would drink that shit by the gallon if I could.

When I'm on my restricted fat diet, which I should always be on, I add a pinch of cumin, black pepper, and garlic powder, a bit of ginger (usually from a jar), and coconut flavoring to Hearty Tomato soup. It goes great with a low fat curry and ONE frozen samosa from the grocery store.

But my favorite soup is my Mother's potato soup.

or Pacific Tomato and Basil. It comes in a box.

Last edited Thu Jan 1, 2026, 05:46 PM - Edit history (1)

beef vegetable soup w/ brown rice. cold is soup weather. chilis too. but gotta make pimped baked beans + bacon 1st.