soups and pies

I don't think there is a person on this great planet who doesn't like soup. It's the best comfort food no matter the contents and we've been having our fair share of it in the Voshell household. I've been having a crazy soup craving because of the cold weather and luckily John's not one to complain about dinner.

I love tweaking recipes, it's one of my favorite things. I don't think I follow any recipe to the letter, but I usually still consider it someone else's. It's not until I totally configure it do I consider it mine.

You'll remember this soup from a bit ago, I now consider it mine so go and enjoy it.

This next recipe John has consider one of his favorites now and I just added this and that hoping for the best.

One Pot Potato Hamburger Soup (makes 4 large servings)

1lb. lean hamburger
1 24 oz. Fire Roasted diced tomatoes
3 - 4 cups of water
2 large cloves of garlic
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley
salt & pepper
Tabasco sauce
2 large red russet potatoes
2 celery stalks
1 small onion 
1 14 oz cream of chicken soup
3/4 c fresh shredded cheddar cheese (optional) 

In a large pot brown the hamburger with the onion chopped up and the garlic cloves minced. Season with salt and pepper. Add a few dashes of tabasco sauce. Add in the diced tomatoes, water, oregano, basil and parsley.
Chop the potatoes and celery into bite sized chunks and add to pot. Add the can of soup and more water only if needed to thin to soup consistency. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour. Test to make sure veggies are tender. Add 1/2 cup of cheese and once melted and stirred in the soup is ready to serve. Garnish with remaining cheese.

I feel like this is a great soup to add anything you have on hand and need to use up veggie wise. I bet carrots and corn would be super yummy in it.

This next soup I can't take any credit for and I actually followed the recipe...for the most part. Lasagna Soup! I think this one is my fav from this list, but I do feel like it needs more liquid to be considered a soup so I added more water to thin it down. I also took her advice and cooked the noodles separate so they didn't get soggy, just coat them in a thin layer of olive oil so they don't stick together while being stored.

If you made this soup then I'm sure you'll have some ricotta cheese left over and you'll need a dessert so here's a pie to consume that cheese! It's another recipe that I hijacked to make my own, it wasn't getting positive reviews so I sweetened it up and it's like a custard.

Ricotta Cheese pie

1/2 - 1 c ricotta cheese (I always use part skim)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c milk
2 T cornstarch
1 8oz can of sweetened condensed milk (I use fat free)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 9 inch pie crust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Dissolve cornstarch in milk. Add condensed milk, ricotta cheese, sugar, cinnamon, eggs and vanilla. Mix until well combined and there are no clumps.
Pour into pie crust and bake for an hour or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.