Tasty Tuesday, Vol. 2

Hello again, friends!

Yesterday evening, as I was watching the snow fall and staying as bundled as possible inside of my apartment, I was hit with the desire to make some soup! So for today's Tasty Tuesday, I bring you a sort-of "recipe" that I made up as I was going along, but it wound up absolutely delicious!

So, to start, I had a ham bone that my parents gave me, along with a huge bag of leftover ham. I started by putting the ham bone into my soup pot and covering it with water. I let it boil for a good while, tasting and adding salt a few times until I felt like I got all of the flavor I could out of the ham bone. While that was boiling, I chopped up about half of the ham meat that I had...my best guess would be that it was at least a couple of cups worth.

I took the ham bone out and skimmed for any pieces of fat that had come off of it, making sure that I tasted and salted the stock. After that, I added a can of Campbell's cream of mushroom with roasted garlic, and another can of their regular cream of mushroom. I also added the chopped up ham meat at this point. I stirred it a bit and covered it to let it boil and mix. After I let it boil for a bit, I stirred it again and tasted the stock I had so far: delicious! The mushroom and ham married together so well, I was really pleased.

I decided to add a cup of Harris Teeter's American Basmati Brown and Red Rice Blend with Pearled Barley and Rye Berries. It's a really great blend of flavorful rices that have a bit more texture to them than just plain old brown or white rice. This stuff takes a while to cook, so I gave it a good stir, then covered it and put the timer on for 45 minutes.

At around the 15 minute mark, I decided I wanted to add some veggies, so I tossed in a bag of frozen chopped broccoli and frozen sliced carrots. I didn't want to add too much more to the soup, and at this point I honestly didn't need to season anything at all.

So there you have it. It's delicious, and I don't really have a name for it other than ham and mushroom soup with vegetables and rice, which is a bit of a mouthful. Here's the breakdown of ingredients one more time:

• ham bone, boiled to create stock
• salt, to taste
• 1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom with Roasted Garlic
• 1 can Campbell's Cream of Mushroom
• 2-2 1/2 cups of chopped cooked ham
• 1 cup of H.T. Traders American Basmati Brown and Red Rice Blend
• 1 bag of chopped frozen broccoli
• 1 bag of frozen sliced carrots

It was super easy--the biggest thing was having patience for the stock to get flavorful before I took out the ham bone, and then waiting for the rice to cook. But now I have a big pot of soup to eat off of while the weather is cold and gross. What's your favorite cold-weather food? Share in the comments below!

Stay warm, and I'll see you tomorrow!

♥ Marlee