Soup’s On!

“Soup’s On!” contains 100 fast and flavorful recipes, with 75 that can be made within 30 minutes.  All of them use shortcut techniques to give you homemade without the hassle.

While working as a newspaper food writer for over 20 years, Valerie Phillips often heard from readers who wanted simple recipes for busy weeknights.  So she came up with soups that keep the prep work to a minimum. Her recipe for Salsa Chicken Soup uses a jar of salsa to avoiding roasting and peeling chiles or chopping onions. Loaded Potato Soup is ready in minutes with frozen diced hash browns and ready-cooked bacon.

The book’s huge variety of recipes includes Quick Tailgate Chili, Roasted Garlic Bisque, Minestrone, Root Beer Braised Beef Stew, Turkey & Wild Rice Soup, Lobster Bisque, Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup, Rosemary Potato & Corn Chowder, Thai-Style Peanut and Noodle Soup, and many more.

Phillips, an award winning writer, lived overseas for four years, and has visited 42 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Some of the recipes reflect those travels, for instance, she came up with a Fennel Bisque recipe after tasting a similar soup in South Carolina, and she learned gumbo-making technique at the New Orleans Cooking School.

Other recipes came from people she met while covering stories, such as Larry H. Miller’s Seafood Gumbo and the Biggest Loser Resort’s Roasted Red Pepper Bisque.  Her Quick Beef Borscht recipe came from Masha Kirilenko, as it was a favorite of her husband, former Utah Jazz star Andrei Kirilenko.

The book is available at some Wal-Mart stores, Seagull Books, Deseret Book, and Amazon.com.