The winter months tend to be brutally cold for many people and warm foods are a great way to bring comfort during that time. One of the main warm foods that people gravitate towards during the cold season is soup.
Soup is versatile, easy to make and can be customized just the way you like it. I’ve found that many people have their own versions of soups that have been specialized in their families and have been passed down.
If you’re in need of an easy meal after work or looking to find something new to try, here are a couple of great soups that will warm you up on a chilly day.
For these soups, and usually many others, these ingredients can vary depending on preference and portion sizes. I personally was aiming to make smaller portions of these soups because it was just me eating it so I didn’t want to have way too much left over.
Creamy Tomato and Ravioli Soup
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 4 Roma Tomatoes
- 4 Cloves of garlic
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
- > half a white onion
- ½ – 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 cups vegetable stock
- 1 ½ cups of ricotta and spinach ravioli
I first started off by preheating the oven to 400 degrees. While the oven was preheating, I washed the tomatoes and cut each of them in half. I added the olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, onion, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to an oven-safe dish, then placed it in the oven for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, I took the dish out, added the vegetable broth and heavy cream then put the dish back into the oven for another 15 minutes.
While the main ingredients were in the oven, I started to boil water to cook my ravioli. I usually salt my water while it starts to boil, but that’s just my preference. Once the water was boiling I added my ravioli to cook for about 10 minutes.
Once the 15 minutes was up, I took the dish out of the oven and let it cool for just a minute then blended it all together. I used my Nutribullet, which is a little small, so I had to break the soup up into two batches to blend it all. I then added them back into the larger dish.
I added a portion of the soup into a bowl with the ravioli that I made, topped with parmesan cheese and that was it.
I’m not usually a fan of tomato soup but I loved this one! I’m definitely going to be making this again sometime soon.
Allyson’s White Chicken Chili
This soup is a very easy crockpot recipe for people who may not have a lot of time to make a whole meal.
My roommate Allyson, also an avid soup lover, made this soup from a recipe her mom had.
“I love how easy this recipe is,” Allyson said. “It’s so nice to put it all together in the morning before classes and have it be practically finished by the end of the day.”
Ingredients:
- Rotisserie Chicken
- Chicken Broth
- White Beans
- Green Chilies
- Onion
- Cream Cheese
- Italian
- Salt
- Pepper
- Garlic Powder
- Onion Powder
This recipe is all in how much you want and how you want it to taste. All you need to do is add the ingredients into a crockpot, mix and cook on high for four hours or on low for six hours.
This is great topped with cheese, sour cream or tortilla chips to make it more chili-like. If you don’t like to add toppings, it’s still tasty all on it’s own.
Soups are a great food to stay toasty when the days feel a little too dreary.
APN 