Soup/Stew | Hungry Poodle

Cabbage Soup

According to knowledgeable food forecasters, the vegetable of 2026 will be cabbage, the lowly vegetable that in the 1950’s became famous (and infamous) as the main culprit in the Cabbage Soup Diet. The Cabbage Soup Diet became popular as a fast way to lose pounds. Most recipes included dry onion soup mix (high in sodium) and lots of chopped cabbage. Dieters were instructed to follow the diet for one week, during which they could eat as much soup as they wanted. I'm pretty sur

Black-Eyed Peas, Greek Style

Eating Black-eyed peas on New Years is an old Southern tradition believed to bring good luck in the new year. Black-eyed peas symbolize coins or pennies and are said to guarantee financial prosperity. This recipe comes from MediterraneanDish.com and is seasoned with Greek spices such as cumin, oregano and paprika. Canned black-eyed peas are used for convenience, but you can use dry beans and cook them in a slow cooker (click on the link above for instructions). Black-eyed p

Pasta Fagioli

Pasta Fagioli is a hearty Italian soup made with pasta and beans. It was once eaten only by the poor and was also Dean Martin's favorite Italian dish. He even sang about it in his hit song, "That's Amore." He called it Pasta Fazool. On a recent snowy day, I made a big pot of Pasta Fazool. Due in part to the frigid weather, I would describe it simply as a "bowl of comfort." Actually, the warm temperature of soup sends signals to our brains that trigger a calming response. No

Simple Chicken Tortilla Soup

Smitten Kitchen's Deb Perelman adds the works to her tortilla soup. Make this your own with your favorites! I am a big fan of the Smitten Kitchen website, created by a young New York City woman who is married with two kids and has no professional culinary training. She is simply a brilliant cook with three best-selling cookbooks under her belt. I have to cherry-pick Deb's recipes because many of them are calorific. (Yes, it's a word.) In other words, Deb has way more fun cook

Winter Minestrone

Ina Garten is famous for her delicious recipes from more than a dozen cookbooks, as well as her TV show, the Barefoot Contessa. Her recipes are highly acclaimed for good reason: Ina loves butter and lots of it. Thankfully, not all of Ina's recipes are steeped in butter fat. Whenever she publishes a recipe that's healthy, you can rest assured that it's the best of its kind, as with this fabulous Winter Minestrone. She adds cubed butternut squash along with the usual vegetable

Instant Pot or Stovetop Hamburger Soup

Recently I invited a friend for dinner and told him that it wasn't going to be a gourmet dinner but more like what Grandma used to serve. He quickly replied, "Great! I love Grandma food!" Actually, I didn't get this recipe from my Grandma, who was an immigrant from Switzerland. A good friend gave it to me years ago, and I make it whenever I need something warm and comforting for dinner. If you're a Weight Watchers member, you know that WW has enhanced its Zero-Point food list