Soups and Breads
One of my goals for 2011 is to assemble a dozen recipes each month, all that I’ve tested and have passed family approval. For January I’ve chosen a theme of soups and bread.
As the boys grew up a favorite time was an unexpected snow day – no school and an excellent reason to eliminate outside plans, to focus on home, family and fun. A simmering pot of soup and warm homemade bread were the perfect treat after sledding or snowball fights, followed by gathering around a board game.
Click on each name to go directly to that recipe.
Soups
Rich and decadent, not an everyday soup but one that always feels like a real treat.
A rich, creamy soup with the nutty flavor of wild rice.
This one comes from our good friend MVicki Zeigler. It was one of her favorites and I make it for her during her last year of battling cancer and kidney failure. Vicki didn’t include the bacon, believing two meats were excessive. I, of course, enjoy the addition of the bacon to this hearty soup.
A one dish meal full of veggies, pasta, sausage and flavor.
This recipe makes a BIG pot of soup, consider cutting in halve unless you’re feeding a crowd.
The leeks and cayenne pepper give this soup a lot more flavor than the potato soup I remember from my youth.
A taste from the past, reminding me of the lima beans my mother made almost every Saturday. Mother told us that when she was growing up on an Illinois farm her mother always had a pot of beans on the stove an after school snack.
An absolute staple in the Yackel family, a real favorite use for a ham bone. We think it’s a perfect winter meal with Baldpate Inn Cornbread.
Breads
I believe this is the best cornbread ever, our favorite accompaniment for bean soups. Baldpate Inn is a rustic, seasonal lodge south of Estes Park, Colorado and borders Rocky Mountain National Park. Their cornbread is moister and more cakelike than most recipes.
I like these with the German Bean and Sausage Soup. The caraway seeds add flavor and I claim they’re semi-healthy because of the whole wheat flour.
Savory scones, not sweet, nicely compliments a hearty soup.
This one’s for those who claim not to bake. Kids like to help put this one together.
Posted by Nancy Yackel 
