Back to School with Home Made Soup

The school Bells are ringing again and it's time to talk about those easy and filling fall soups.  When I went to school, children came home for lunch and then ran back to school just in time for the bell to ring you back into afternoon classes.  Lunch in the winter at our house was always some type of soup and a half sandwich (because it was split with my younger brother for his lunch).

Since so many go to school on buses today and eat their lunches at school, there is nothing wrong with making a pot of soup for when the children return home from school and need a pick-me-up to get ready to do homework.  A cup of soup when you first get home takes the edge off the hunger pains and isn't too much to spoil a good supper.  For those children who play sports and have evening activities, it's just enough to get them going again for whatever needs to be done.

In the past we have talked about some of the soups made with tomato base.  Today I want to start with one of America's favorite soups, Chicken Soup.  First, we are going to talk about Chicken Dumpling Soup.  You can make many varieties of chicken soup, but when you add that little dough ball, your soup takes on a whole different consistency that tantalizes the pallet.

Chicken Dumpling Soup

Basic Chicken Soup can be made and so many other starches can be added to it such as noodles or rice.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken noodle soup or chicken rice soup start with the basic soup recipe that you have from the Chicken Dumpling Soup, but when the soup has simmered for awhile, you add your noodles or rice and let it simmer a while longer.  If you lose too much broth, you just add a little chicken broth or water.

Bean Soup with Ham

When I was a chat room monitor on a popular bingo site, the subject of Bean Soup with Ham came up.  I offered my recipe in the chat room, line by line and the person who originally asked came back several days later to tell me how good it was.  I make this recipe less often than the others, but my Mom made it after she had  ham for dinner.  One way to stretch a piece of meat into several dinners or lunches.  I found this recipe in my mother-in-law's recipes.  I never really had a recipe from my Mom even though she often made a pot full of one soup or another for the family supper.

Favorite Fall Baking Treats

Fall is right around the corner as we get close into the end of September.  As we make our way through the street fairs, flea markets and carnivals in these the last days of summer, we need to start thinking about our Fall baking treats and things we can make to send to school with the children.  I know that most school have cafeterias but there are still those mothers that prefer to send their children to school with something special from home.

As I think about some of my favorite Fall treats from my childhood. the one that springs into my mind first is Gingerbread.  My Mom would make this quite often in her square 9" cake pan.  A lot of people make this in a loaf pan but in our house you were served a square piece of cake sprinkled with powdered sugar.  Whipped cream was and extravagance when I was growing up and something that we normally only had for Thanksgiving with our pumpkin pies.  On rare occasions, the gingerbread was served with a small dob when there was leftover whipped cream from Thanksgiving.

Gingerbread with a dab of whipped cream

My mouth waters every time I think about this cake.  Also, when my brother and I went trick or treating there was a family a couple of block down who invited everyone in for a drink of apple cider and a piece of gingerbread.  You can't beat the old favorites.

A&P Spanish Bar

My Dad's favorite was a spice cake and he would buy a loaf at the A&P store that was a spiced cake with raisens in it.  It was baked in a loaf and was called a Spanish Loaf.  I found this recipe on the internet for making a Spanish Bar Cake.

A&P was a family owned grocery chain that closed up its stores in the Pittsburgh area.  I found a store in Erie when I traveled north.  They carried the main staples for our household and my Uncle Bill worked for them for years as a butcher and then produce manager.

A lot of people I know buy their treats and cakes from the local supermarkets instead of baking their own.  My personal favorite from Giant Eagle is their  Carrot Cake that is iced with cream cheese icing and decorated with icing carrots on top.

Carrot Cake from Supermarkets

This year they are making it in a loaf pan with the same carrot decorating on top.  Since I prefer the spice cakes such as carrot cake and gingerbread, I tend to look for these more in the Fall of the year when the days are warm but air is turning a bit cooler at night.

Carrot Cake Loaf with Cream Cheese Icing

While the recipe for carrot cake from scratch is simply delicious, you can cheat and bake a box carrot cake.  Icing the cake with cream cheese icing can be a simple as spreading it on or taking the time to pipe decorations with coloring added to the icing.

Baked Apple with Cinnamon and sugar

Another favorite was nothing fancy.  It was a baked apple that my Mom would just peel and core and pop into the oven with cinnamon and sugar poured into the middle.  I'm sure you have seen these with pie dough wrapped around them, but in our house it was the simple things that I remember the most.

Baked Apple with Pie Crust

This style baked apple can be served in a deep dish with warm cream poured over it; or as my Mom used to do, she served it with a slice of cheddar cheese on top for a selective flavor treat.

Apple pie served with cheddar cheese

I've had a hankering for some of these favorites and in the next couple of weeks I'll probably be making some of these on a small scale since I'm a widow who recently lost the son who was living with me.