Get Baked with Autostraddle: Bitchin’ Soup Edition

We have so many feelings about soup. I’ve made a list of our favorite soup feelings:

+ You can make a million pounds of soup at once and freeze the leftovers, which Future You will really appreciate.

+ Soup is incredibly easy to put together. You just like, put things in a pot and make them hot.

+ Soup is versatile! Do you want to add zucchini instead of corn? Okay no problem!

+ There is usually only one large pot to wash when you are finished making soup.

+ Soup is so inexpensive it’s stupid.

+ Bowls are nice.

I think this might be our largest collection of recipes in one edition of Get Baked. You guys, you could make a new soup every day for two weeks or something. Some of the soups even have animals in them! Also if you need some naan to go with your soup, Laura has you covered. And then you’ll probably want dessert, like Lemon Granitas or Triple Chocolate Brownies! I’m referencing articles within an article, do you like it? Is my hair shiny? Can we get a puppy?

1. French Onion Soup: Abby
2. White Bean and Kale Soup: Rachel
3. Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup: Stef
4. Potato Leek Soup: Taylor
5. Pumpkin Tortilla Soup: Rachel
6. Vegan Matzoball Soup: Stef
7. Miso Soup: Stef
8. Sweet Potato Black Bean Stew: Laneia

French Onion Soup

by Abby

I typically eat vegetarian when I can – but shhh – I cheat for this recipe! This is my most favorite soup recipe from culinary school.

Ingredients:
1/2 stick of butter (go on, make Paula proud)
4 large onions, sliced
¼ cup dry white wine
*are you under 21 and don’t have a wine-o for a parent? or you just can’t acquire the wine? use stock or broth its place, procedure stays the same
8 cups beef stock or broth
1 tsp peppercorns, crushed
1 medium bay leaf
½ tsp dried thyme
1 garlic clove, broken
6 sprigs fresh thyme (this presents a good opportunity for time/thyme jokes with your local grocer)
6 sprigs fresh parsley
Kosher salt
A baguette (sourdough, FTW)
Gruyere cheese (any hard-rind white cheese will work), grated
1 oz brandy (optional)
Extra virgin olive oil

Do you like lots of meat? Like, can’t go a meal without it? I’d suggest you add ground beef, cubed sirloin, or cubed steak when the onions are beginning to brown. Cook the meat all the way through prior to adding your stock.

Equipment:
Large stockpot
Large saucepan
Sauté pan
Sheet pan, if your sauté pan isn’t oven-friendly

Acquire all the herbs, peppercorn through parsley. The traditional way is to tie all of this up in a bundle with semi-porous cloth. If you happen to have cheesecloth on hand, you get brownie points. If not, you can just use string to tie up the fresh thyme and parsley and add the rest of the herbs to the soup, mkay? Mkay!

Use those killer knife skills and slice the onions. Ever wondered how to properly slice an onion? Watch. Are you crying? Put a piece of bread in your mouth or sharpen your knives, yo. For the best results, the onions should be as thin as you can consistently slice them (shoot for ¼-½”). Put the beef stock/broth in a saucepan on the back burner and let it get hot, but don’t let it boil rapidly.

Heat your stockpot on medium and add the butter. When the butter has melted, add the onions. Do you like to stir ALL the things? Cease that shit. The best french onion soup flavor comes from the caramelizing (technically Maillard browning, but whatevs) of the onions. This happens when you leave them alone. Wait until the onions acquire a light brown color, and then stir. (*Add beef here) Walk away, come back in like 3 minutes, and stir again. Stir – only occasionally – until the onions are deeply and evenly colored. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

Salt the onions. I’d recommend about 1 tablespoon. Add the white wine to the pan to deglaze, stir, and then continue to cook until the wine has reduced by half, but isn’t gone. Remember that stock/broth you put on the back burner and those herbs you tied up? You’re going to use these next. Get ready! Add all the stock at once and hang the bundle of herbs down the side of the stockpot, tying the loose end to the handle. Throw in the rest of the herbs, bring your soup to a boil and stir, and then lower the heat to a simmer for 15 minutes. While this cooks, we’re going to make croutons!

With some sort of serrated knife, slice the baguette on a bias, about ¼ to ½ an inch thick. Add enough olive oil to very lightly coat the bottom of your sauté pan. Heat your pan on medium and then add enough slices of bread to just cover the bottom of the pan. Once the bottoms have gotten lightly toasted, flip each piece over and turn off the heat. Transfer the sliced bread to a sheet pan (unless you have an oven-safe sauté pan), toasted side up, and pile them high with cheese, salt, and pepper. Repeat with your remaining bread, if necessary. Throw these in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until the underside of each piece has toasted and the cheese is melted.

Time to serve. Turn off the heat on your soup, remove your bundle of herbs, bay leaf, and garlic clove (if you can find it!). Adjust the seasoning, if needed, and stir in the brandy. Do you like to be entertained while you eat? How about you put some extra cheese in the bottom of the bowl. Serve, but wait to drop your crouton(s) into your soup bowl until you are ready to devour. Cheers!

RE: pic #5 – oops, someone had a few too many day brews and forgot her bread was toasting

*credit to my autobros Elyse and Kirsten for the pics and assistance in the kitchen

WHITE BEAN AND KALE SOUP WITH QUINOA

by Rachel

I have no recipe for this. I just had a bunch of kale I needed to use up. But this turned out delicious, so, LUCKY ME.

Ingredients:
2 carrots
1 large onion
2 tbsp olive oil
4-5 cups vegetable stock
1 bunch kale
1.5 cups uncooked quinoa
1.5 cups cooked white beans
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1 tsp dill
1 tsp smoked paprika (regular if you don’t have it, but Jesus Christ smoked paprika is good)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1. Chop up the onion and carrots into small pieces. I used baby carrots because that’s what was in the fridge. You don’t have to use baby carrots. Heat the oil over medium heat in a soup pot, and when it’s hot throw them in there. Stir them every once in a while.

2. While they soften, chop up the kale. You probably don’t want to use too much of the stems because they’re kind of hard and woody, but using some is fine. I don’t know, mostly I just don’t have the patience to devein every piece of kale.

3. When the carrots and onion are soft, after 6-8 minutes, add your vegetable stock. You can use water if you want but vegetable stock will make it taste better. Turn up the heat a little at this point if you like. Stir this until it’s heated through, and then add your pieces of kale.

4. While that stuff cooks, get out your quinoa. Quinoa is delicious and also like a nutritionally perfect food BUT you have to rinse it. It’s covered in weird bitter stuff that will make it taste bad if you don’t rinse it first. So, you know, do that.

5. Once the quinoa is rinsed, add it to the pot. I added another cup or so of water to make up for the liquid that the quinoa will soak up as it cooks. Now you have a few minutes to doodle around, but keep an eye to make sure the quinoa isn’t overcooking. You want the soup to come to a boil, and then turn it down to a simmer.

6. Get out your white beans and spices; you can stir them in when everything else is basically done. Another school of thought re: spices says that you should have stirred them in at the beginning, with the onions and oil; normally I am of this school of thought, I think I just forgot that seasonings were a thing until it was almost done.

7. You’re done pretty much! Taste it and see if it needs salt or pepper. It probably does. Also, I’m not gonna pressure you, but stirring in some red wine vinegar just before serving is a fucking fantastic idea.

OTHER IDEAS:
1. Some sourdough croutons or a nice slice of multigrain bread would be pretty great with this, I think.
2. This soup could also be kicked up a notch into more of a dinner and less of a lunch with the addition of some vegan sausage; I recommend Field Roast or Soyrizo. (You can also use real meat if you’re gross.)
3. Another potential non-vegan riff: some Parmesan grated into the bottom of the bowl before serving, or a Parmesan rind added into the broth while it cooks.

Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup

by Stef

In wintertime it’s really difficult to convince me to leave my nest, which is easy because I work less in the winter, and also tough because I am constantly hungry. The secret is SOUP, my wintertime favourite being this Rustic Tomato Lentil Soup from a great cookbook called How It All Vegan (Arsenal Pulp Press). It’s super cheap/easy to make, as well as hearty with a little kick to warm you up. I am never leaving my house again.

Ingredients:
as much garlic as you can stand, minced
1 medium onion, diced
3 medium carrots, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
6 cups vegetable stock
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes (including juice) or 5-8 diced fresh tomatoes + 1/4 cup water
2 cups cooked lentils
cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 cup dry pasta (any short kind)

1. OK first of all I’m really poor so I bought the $1 package of not-too-sad-looking carrots, store brand elbow macaroni and dry Goya lentils. Do you know how to cook lentils? It’s a lot like cooking rice, really, and doesn’t take long. First, put your dry lentils in a strainer and rinse ’em off, cos usually there’s a lot of weird stuff in the package. Next, pour them into a pot with just enough water to generously cover them (maybe 2 cups of water per 1 cup of lentils?). Bring to a boil, then simmer until the water’s gone. I usually make/use way too much, which is totally fine.

2. Pour olive oil into your soup pot, and sautee your garlic, onions and carrots over medium heat until the onions are translucent.

3. Add your celery, veggie stock, tomatoes, lentils and cayenne pepper. Turn the heat up and bring the soup to a boil, then simmer on low for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. Add your pasta, and simmer another 10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through and the carrots are soft. Serve hot.

Potato Leek Soup

by Taylor

I was going to contribute this Poblano Corn Chowder I made this summer that is the best thing I’ve ever eaten, but since I didn’t alter the recipe at all really, that might be plagiarism, I don’t know, I don’t make the rules. Anyway, that corn chowder is so good it kind of makes you cringe thinking back on it, like Ecstasy. Also it’s a huge pain in the ass to shuck all that corn and fuck around with a food processor, but by god it’s delicious, so try it some time. Instead I will contribute a Potato Leek Soup recipe that Kelsey and I have already made two times this week alone, because we are sick and leeks are awfully pretty when you cut them and we found some at the farmer’s market. We featured this soup on Things to Cook Later, which is a Tumblr cooking collective in theory, but really just a Tumblr with maybe 10 posts in practice. This is adapted from a Creamy Potato Leek Soup recipe on Allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:
8 potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 cups faux chicken broth
3 leeks, sliced
olive oil, some
garlic, a clove probs
1/2 cup low fat milk
1/2 cup heavy cream

In a large pot, bring potatoes and (faux) chicken broth to a boil. Cook until potatoes are tender if you fork at them. Sautee the leeks in the frying pan with olive oil and garlic.

When the potatoes are tender, stir in the fried leeks, heavy cream and milk. Stir to blend and remove from heat. Serve hot.

Top with shredded cheddar cheese and fresh cut chives or just serve plain. Yom!

Pumpkin Tortilla Soup (Vegan!)

by Rachel
originally featured at the kitchn

HEY are you guys tired of pumpkin yet? Too bad, because I’m not. Actually though don’t be alarmed either way, because this is not a pumpkiny soup at all; I wouldn’t have guessed it was there at all based on flavor. Really it just serves to make a really thick, dinner-serving soup instead of something that’s traditionally more brothy. And if you happen to have like ~20 inches of snow on the sidewalk outside that you need to shovel within the next 4 hours or else get fined by the city (AHEM) then that sounds pretty good, no?

Ingredients:
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas (I used like 8.)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup finely chopped cilantro, plus more sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Chile pequins, other dried hot peppers, or cayenne pepper to taste (I used aleppo chiles? It’s what I had?)
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
5 cups unsalted vegetable stock
1/2 teaspoon salt
Vegetable oil for deep-frying
1-2 ripe avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed

Cut 6 of the tortillas into 1/2-inch squares, or just kind of tortilla confetti. Heat 4 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat and add the onion, garlic, cilantro, and chopped tortillas and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft. The tortilla will fry a little and get crispy and delicious. You will be tempted to just eat what’s in the pot now, and no one can judge you for that.

Add cumin and crushed peppers or cayenne and sauté for another minute. Then add pumpkin, tomatoes, vegetable stock, and salt and stir to combine. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer. The original recipe says one hour, but that sounds like crazy talk to me. I simmered it for maybe half that long and it was still super thick and hearty. Really, it’s about what your heart tells you. You do you. You do your soup.

While the soup is simmering, cut the remaining tortillas in half and then into 1/4-inch-wide strips. Heat a thin layer of vegetable oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until very hot but not smoking. Fry tortilla strips in two batches until crisp and light golden (about a minute). Using a slotted spoon, transfer tortilla strips to towels to drain.

To serve, ladle soup into bowls and garnish with tortilla strips, avocado, and cilantro. Stop and savor the fact that this soup is so thick your tortilla and avocado can easily rest on top of it like a delicious caloric raft. Refrigerate or freeze the rest, but maybe think about keeping some more stock handy to add when you reheat, as I think it will thicken even more the next day.

Vegan Matzoball Soup

by Stef

My friends and I are huge proponents of having our own veganized versions of holidays, and because most of us have been chastised so much by our Jewish grandmothers for our veganism (“You can’t drink milk, it makes you sick, I understand, but a piece of BRISKET?!?!?!”), we go especially hard on the Jewish holidays. We made this matzoball soup on a whim one afternoon about two years ago and have been dreaming of it ever since.

Matzoballs
2 tablespoons oil
1 tbsp ener-g egg replacer
4 tbsp water
1/2 cup Manischewitz® Matzo Meal
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons soup stock or water

Stock
4-6 cloves garlic, diced
1 red onion, diced
3 large carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, diced
8 cups vegetable stock
salt + pepper to taste
whatever spice you’re into

1. In a large bowl, mix egg replacer and water until they are of a vaguely egg-like consistency. Add matzo meal and salt. When well blended, add veggie stock/water.

2. Here is where the vegan matzoball recipe differs from your general Manischewitz fare – while the recipe on the matzo meal box tells you to refrigerate your mixture for twenty minutes, egg replacer doesn’t really work that way; it’s time to boil those bad boys NOW.

3. Using a two or three quart size pot, bring walted water to a brisk boil. Reduce the flame, and start dropping in balls of your mixture. You’ll know they’re just about done when they float up to the surface. You want to make sure they’re cooked all the way through, but if you cook ’em too much they’ll fall apart. Set matzoballs aside; they can be refrigerated or frozen if you’re not making your soup right away.

4. As for the soup part, this is pretty open to discussion. We decided to start by cutting up a lot of garlic, red onion and carrots and sauteeing that in the bottom of my dearly departed great aunt’s HUGE industrial soup pot, because making giant pots of soup in that thing makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. So you know, if you have one of those, use that.

5. When the onions are translucent, add your veggie stock, celery, salt and pepper. Now’s the part where you can get crazy with spices. We decided to heavily flavor our stock with rosemary, because rosemary is delicious, but you can use anything! You can use thyme! You can use sage! You can probably use the mysterious spice in my spice rack simply labeled “savory!” T.I. told me you can use whatever you like. Just taste it while you go, and don’t be too heavy handed; you can always add more flavor, but it’s tough to remove it.

6. Bring your soup to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. When you’re ready to serve, put the matzo balls directly into your soup bowl so they stay fresher longer. Enjoy at your grandma’s seder.

Miso Soup

by Stef

Miso soup is super easy to make for one person or large groups, really fast and really easy, JUST LIKE ME.

Ingredients:
1 pkg wakame or other/comparible dried seaweed
1 pkg miso paste
1/4 block tofu, cut into small cubes
diced scallions? mushrooms? get creative

1. Fill your saucepan with as much water as you plan on making. Miso, you’re so versatile! Heat your water over a medium flame, but make sure it never boils.

2. As your water heats up, gently sift miso paste into the water with two spoons until you have the desired consistency. You’re gonna keep tasting the soup until you’ve gotten just enough miso.

3. Add your tofu, wakame and whatever else you feel like adding. Stir gently.

4. Serve. No, really, that’s it.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Stew

by Laneia
originally published in Dec/Jan issue of ReadyMade magazine

This issue of ReadyMade has four different soup recipes, so if this post isn’t enough for you, get your hands on a copy. You’ll be like, “BITCHIN’ SOUP. BITCHIN’ SOUP” And all of your friends will love you and you’ll win the lottery and never get another hangnail.

Ingredients:
1 T canola oil
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, diced (I usually get bored about 3/4 of the way through an onion and just stop cutting, so 3/4 of an onion is fine, too.)
1 red pepper, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 jalepeno, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 c vegetable broth
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can diced tomatoes, not drained
1 c (or more) frozen / fresh corn
1/4 c chopped cilantro
1/4 c lime juice that you squeezed from an actual lime
shredded cheddar
cooked brown rice (if you want to serve this over brown rice)

Did you decide about the rice? If you want it under your stew, you should start cooking that now. Heat the oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat and add sweet potatoes, onion, red pepper and jalepeno. Sautee this for about 5 minutes, adding the garlic after 2 or 3 minutes. I get nervous about burning garlic.

When the onions and peppers are a little soft, add the chili powder, cumin and cayenne. I misread the measurements and added a tablespoon of cumin instead of a teaspoon. If this happens to you, apparently nutmeg is the answer. Stir everything up. Lower the heat just a little bit and cover so the sweet potatoes can cook. This will take around 7 or 8 minutes. Obviously you need to stir it a few times while this is going on.

Now it’s time to add the broth, beans and tomatoes. You’re very excited about this step because now this looks like soup. When everything is stirred up and boiling again, add the corn. Put the lid back on that mother and simmer it on low for about 15 minutes or until you can’t take it anymore.

Before serving, stir in the lime juice and cilantro oh my god it looks so good right I KNOW. Now put it in a bowl and top it with cheese and a little bit of cilantro. There are variations on this recipe in the magazine but I’m not going to share them with you because I want you to buy your own copy.

Now you can stay in and cook soup until spring! Which is only a few weeks away really. What’s your best toppiest most favorite soup recipe? Share in the comments!

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lnj

lnj has written 310 articles for us.

80 Comments

  1. Wait, Get Baked is a weed reference?? I though it was referring to Get Naked but then they were clever and put a B. I’ve been pronouncing it as Bay-kid in my head.

  2. Woooo! Making soup is one of my favorite Funemployment activities. If you do it right, it can take up the whole day and cost basically zero dollars. Plus it makes you warm and happy inside.

    For all my lazy sistas, I would like to make the following PSA: Trader Joe’s frozen French Onion Soup and Instant Miso Soup are the bomb. Microwaving is cooking too.

    Also, Pro Tip: If you are making clam chowder, pour some beer in it. Like a half cup-ish. Dark beer is best, but even PBR works. Makes it super tasty.

    • Trader Joe’s is one of the things I miss most about the lower 48. Alaska, why do you deprive me?

  3. Best. Post. Ever. Also there is a a picture of my hand. Also I ate abbys soup and it was unbelievable. Also congrats abbs I am super proud of you, autobro. Also the sweetwater glass.

    • Autobro, you are hilarious. I couldn’t have done it without you. Also, i think your intake of day brews affected your photography skills, just sayin’.

      • Ahhh…look at that banter. Also that soup was delicious. Good job bro.

        I wish I could cook because now I want to make all the soups.

  4. Suggestion for the “get baked” alternative for soup: get wet. A little gross, but kinda works.

  5. Oh my gawwwwd I am excited about the vegan tortilla and matzoh soups. It’s like you looked straight into my chilly, soup-needing little vegan heart.

        • If you’re not a super hardcode vegan, you could just soak the cat for a while and then take it out again. Gives you most of the flavor with only a bit of the cruelty.

      • Yes, thank you for that also, but I have this (possibly totally irrational) apprehension re: quinoa. But I know it’s super good for you.

  6. I’ve been looking to add some soups to my repertoire, and so this came at just the right time. These all look delicious, I’mma try ’em all.

    Also props to Stef for wearing a “Spice” Girls shirt while cooking. Punny.

    • Now that I have my composure back, I’m definitely buying all these ingredients so I can make soup and survive the impending snowstorm in the DC area. Wish me luck!

      • SO MUCH SNOW. So many branches destroying my house and power lines- oh there goes one in the street. Hoping I won’t die in my sleep from a tree going through my window.

  7. I just want to eat all of these soups right now.
    I’m a poor college student in a dorm with no stove. Who wants to send me some!?

  8. Once, when I, um, was having a somewhat altered series of mind thoughts and suffering from let’s call it “cotton mouth,” I had this revelation while eating soup.

    SOUP! IT’S SO MOIST, AND YET STILL A FOOD! IT IS THE MOISTEST FOOD THERE IS! OH MY GOD HOW DOES IT DO IT? SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOUP!

    Thanks for this. Go soup.

  9. o.m.g. these all looked so amazing! i dont cook, so i will be handing these recipes off to my baked friends.

  10. So this one time I made soup for a souper (ha) lady, and I froze it in individual serving sizes. I delivered it with some instructions on reheating. I told her to take it out of the freezer x amount of time before she wanted to eat it and microwave it for y amount of time. Then I told her that if she had a “soup emergency” she could just take it out of the freezer and microwave it for z amount of time. She made fun of me for saying “soup emergency” but called me when I was driving home to inform me that she was indeed experiencing a soup emergency at that very moment. Sometimes I slip and refer to soup as soup emergency/ies. People get confused. I don’t know why I’ve told you all this. You’re really pretty. So, thanks for giving me some more soup emergency recipes is basically what I’m trying to say.

    • Similarly, my friend had a wonderful/crazy boss this one time, an older lady, who confided that she always kept a jar of peanut butter in her car just in case she ever had a “hunger emergency.” Now this has become a cornerstone of my food-related vocabulary and I frequently forget that not everybody understands this useful concept.

  11. Soup is the. best. Especially in months that suck, like January. For Christmas my mom got me like 8 different kinds of soup mixes from Frontier Soups (http://www.frontiersoups.com/), which are amazing because they’re relatively healthy/hearty/delicious but don’t require this poor college student to go out and buy a jillion different spices/ingredients. AND one package will feed you for like a week!

    Also, is soup a Lesbian Thing? My friend and I have been getting together lately specifically to eat soup at each other’s apartments. But maybe it’s just winter.

  12. I have a habit of making food whenever people come over, usually food I’ve never made before ever which has had some disastrous results in the past, but last week I made some cheddar ale soup for the first time and it was AMAZING. Words cannot describe.

  13. zomg, I can’t wait to try that french onion soup recipe. I’ve always wanted to but was too scared. This one’s totally do-able. Abby, you my gurl.

  14. guys it’s literally been like -17 degrees in Massachusetts (like, totally it was 5 degrees and i cheered because at least i wouldn’t cry on my way to class this time) and soup has basically been the only thing on my mind. ANYWAY, the point is that i love you. and I am such a fan of the eerie autostraddle-knows-what-i’m-thinking-all-the-time thing you have going.

  15. unf.
    i love soup so much. there’s this sweet potato italian sausage soup that my brother and i make. heaven in a bowl.

  16. OMGOMGOMG

    This just totally made my day! <3

    I love soup so much. In the winter there is absolutely nothing better to eat (specially for lunch in a cold office!) and while I just made a very yummy soup I always want to make more!! (And since I am down to one bowl left in the fridge its about time!)

    Love getting new recipes! and I love how simple soup is and how easy it is to make it your own. I can't wait to try these out. (Potato Leek is like my favorite!)

  17. This is quite timely, as I was just contemplating making chilled cucumber-yogurt soup, which sounds so strange to me it has to be good.
    The only time I’ve made soup it was kale & sweet potato and was very, very delicious.

  18. I wish I had read this before the thundersnow hit.

    I would have spent all night making soup. But now I’m afraid to leave my apartment to get ingredients, as there is currently hail that sounds like it’s trying to break in. Don’t want to go outside in that, no way.

      • its like a thunderstorm, but instead of rain, its snow. and obviously hail… and its one of the best things ever to behold.

      • The first time I heard thundersnow (which was earlier this year), I was all, “OMG THE WORLD IS ENDING WTF”. Now I’m just, “eh, thundersnow. nothing new”.

        Guys, this global warming thing is no joke. In my 26 years of living in New England/Mid-Atlantic, I’ve never heard it before. This year? It’s practically every freaking week.

  19. Soup! Perfect for winter<3
    Except that it's 71 degrees Fahrenheit here.
    Fail.
    I will still be making delicious soup though.

  20. I am a meat eater.

    Thus, I crave my mommy’s lentil-sausage soup. *cry* for being in a dorm 6 hours from home. sigh.

    In my head, I imagined myself making all of these soups futuristically in my apartment next year, while my housemates fawn over me and tell me what an awesome chef I am. (It could happen, okay?!) Especially that french onion soup. NOM

  21. I love soup, I can make a mean white bean soup and potato soup and good clam chowder is the food of the gods

  22. Oh how I wish it was winter here so I could make all the soups. Also french onion is my favourite kind of soup and when I became a veg I was sad that I couldn’t eat it any more but then I found vegan beef style stock and my life was complete. My point is you can make vegetarian/vegan french onion soup with it (obviously swapping the butter for oil and the gruyere for soy cheese if you’re vegan).

    • My friends make fun of me because I will eat soup in the middle of summer. There is no wrong time or wrong season for soup. Especially french onion.

  23. autostraddle, you read my mind. I am all about making soup right now. Ok, maybe it’s not just a coincidence that both you and I are making soup at the end of January, but still. Thanks for giving me more to add to my list ;)

  24. I used to make this really good cabbage soup, you make some vegetable broth and then you throw in a bunch of onions, saute garlic and put that in too, then let that sit

    On the other burner you saute cabbage a little, then put that in the broth, then you put in some potatoes and carrots and other vegetables and some sambal sauce which is something I used in europe but see if you can find it, it’s like crushed red peppers. Sriracha will work in a pinch/for everything.

    Then wait for the vegetables to be soft and eat it with a slice of baguette and mozzarella cheese, it’s so good.

  25. This is the most super awesome great Get Baked yet! I can’t really cook anything other than soup–I think I was cursed by the Witch of the Waste–and thus I always celebrate the finding of new recipes. Pulling out my lentil stash <3<3<3

  26. you guys. i didn’t even know that cheese on the bottom of the bowl was a thing. i wish i could accurately express my excitement re: cheese on the bottom of the bowl.

  27. I have been making soup all morning. I’ve sat down to eat my soup and decided to catch up on all the Autostraddle articles whilst i ate. Now i’m going to make more soup. =]

  28. After years of adding cheese to just about every soup I eat, I was surprised I didn’t come up with that on my own and I can’t wait to try it out either!

  29. SAOTO SOUP EVERYONE, SAOTO SOUP!!!

    Sorry, didn’t need to yell, but I have a lot of feelings about Saoto soup. SAOTO SOUP.
    Also, love the soup inspiration..
    I’m totally making the vegan matzoball soup, looks kind of amazing. Or maybe that’s the Spice Girls tshirt.

    Anyway: SAOTO SOUP

  30. loove white beans, esp in soup!! smitten kitchen recently posted a white bean and chard stew that i made last week and topped with a poached egg. i dont know about you, but there is LITERALLY NO FOOD (except maybe the perfection that is pb&J) that is not improved by the addition of a poached egg.

    im planning on making a lentil stew (well, it’s a soup recipe but i usually overdo the lentils and it turns to stew) this weekend, and you can bet your behind im adding an egg to that one.

    ps nothing like making dinner in a spice girls tee!

  31. I think linking to this page is might be the best way to come out! “Yes I’m gay, if that upsets you at least try the soup recipes they may win you over”

  32. if i could spend my life with a blog post, in a non-platonic, life-partner, true love forevs kind of way, i’m pretty sure it would be this one. I want to give you guys a recipe for soup now! I’m hoping to someday soon meet a beautiful lady for whom i can cook pots upon pots of delicious soups…

    Cheesy Corn & Potato Chowder:
    (this isn’t exact because i rarely use a real recipe, i always add and subtract and fail to measure properly. I’m an artist, soup is an art… right?)

    2 or 3 yukon gold potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes
    1 bag of frozen corn (i like the sweet kind, myself)
    2 tsp of rubbed sage (or more; i tend to add more, i love it)
    1.5 tsp salt
    bay leaf
    1 chopped onion
    olive oil
    1 cup broth (i used a vegetarian fake chicken broth because i don’t like veggie broth, but either will do, i’m sure)
    1 cup of milk
    1/3 cup heavy cream
    1 tbsp butter
    2-3 green onions, chopped
    1 tsp cumin
    1/2 cup chopped flat leaf parsley
    paprika
    black pepper
    4 oz sharp cheddar, grated (i use more than that; the cheese makes it SOO good. ok, and fattening. but SOO GOOD)

    Scrub the potatoes, cut them in 1/2-inch dice, and put them in a large soup pot with 3 cups water, the bay leaf, the sage, and a teaspoon of sea salt. Bring the water to a boil, lower the heat, and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes.

    Meanwhile, chop the onion coarsely and saute it in the oil and butter with a pinch of salt over medium heat, stirring often, until it is translucent and browning in spots, about 15 minutes. Add the onion to the soup, along with the milk, broth, cream, corn and sliced green onions. Bring the soup back to a simmer and let it bubble for another 6 to 7 minutes.

    Add the cumin, parsley, a pinch of hot paprika, and some black pepper to the soup. Taste the soup, and add more salt if needed.

    Keeping the soup at just below the simmer point, slowly stir in the grated cheese, allowing it to melt smoothly into the soup. From this point onward, you cannot let the soup simmer or boili, as that would curdle the cheese. If you need to reheat it, do it carefully, watching and stirring.

  33. oh that’s weird; i had edited that to say that i found the recipe online, it was from a book called Love Soup that my exgf had. I was just going to attempt to remember all of the ingredients (hence my line about soup being an art), but then i searched the interwebs and found the recipe. But my edited version didn’t get posted. Well anyway, this soup is effing awesome. One of the best things I learned from my ex!

  34. I am going to bogart the chicken carcass from my Dad’s roast tonight purely so I can make stock to make like five of these soups tomorrow (although, obviously, they won’t so much be vegan or vegetarian anymore). Soup is The Best Lunch Ever, especially because it’s a good excuse to make bread to go with.

    I really, really want to make the French Onion recipe though. Where will I get beef stock? No idea (I am a Stock Snob), but I want to try cutting onions like that dude.

    • Homemade stock is the best. Although, there are some pretty decent beef stocks at the grocery store! I always look for ones that aren’t loaded with salt, etc. Best of luck, my friend.

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