Need an image makeover in 2014? Make soup. Feed many. Pay your taxes.

What could an innocent bowl of soup and a murderous, bootlegging, tax-evading crime boss possibly have in common? A free lunch, that’s what! 

After the 1929 stock market crash, America plunged head first into the Great Depression. The Dirty Thirties got off to a gritty start. Millions of people lost their jobs and their homes. They had nowhere to sleep and nothing to eat.  In the 10 years preceding the crash, during the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition was in full force (the banned sale of alcohol in the US) and the underground economy flourished.  The illegal making and selling of liquor was rampant and many men became rich and infamous from their bootlegging exploits, including Scarface Al Capone.  

After the stock crash, while President Herbert Hoover mused over possible new economic strategies and hoped folks would just “suck up” the hard times like good Americans—Mr. Capone had another plan.  Capone had become a skilled opportunist and knew that timing was everything in comedy and crime. Since President Hoover wasn’t exactly stepping up to whet peoples’ appetites, Capone seized the moment to shed his crummy image as a two-bit gangster and began doling out free soup to hungry mobs on the streets of Chicago on a daily basis—sometimes, serving as many as 1,000 people a day! And this, my friends is the nefarious tale of how a feared gangster, bootlegger, and the fourth child in a family of nine children of Italian immigrants would become synonymous with the innocent bowl of soup…and the dawn of soup kitchens in America.

Now here’s an offer you can’t refuse...in 2014, when you’re looking for a way to reduce your lunch bill, your waistline and time in the cafeteria soup line, why not try making your own soups? And here's the good news, it's cheap and legal! Portion the soup into single servings in plastic containers, freeze and then reheat them in a microwave. Add a sandwich or a few cheese and crackers, some fruit and voila you’ve saved yourself time and given yourself a healthy meal option.

Steal a page out of Al Capone’s methodology and do the soup-job in a big way. Set aside a few hours and make several soups at once. Here are a few gadgets and inside tips to make your soup- making exploits a synch:

• If you have a slow cooker, make the soup in this so you don’t have to stay at home all afternoon watching over a simmering pot.
• Also, invest in a hand-immersion blender.  In my mind, it is unsafe, time-consuming and messy to be transferring soup from a hot pot to a stand up blender and then transferring it back to the pot to reheat. With a stick-style hand immersion blender, you simply insert the wand into the soup and carefully zap it to blend the soup into a smooth consistency. No mess…no flying hot liquids decorating your kitchen walls.
• Save time and energy…for hard-to-peel or finicky vegetables like turnip, squash or broccoli, asparagus-buy the ready peeled and chopped versions in the produce section or freezer section of your grocery store. Be sure to use these veggies right away since they do tend to spoil quickly.
• Purchase chicken stock and vegetable stock bouillon cubes. You simply add 1 or 2 cups of boiling water to each cubes, stir and… tada you have stock.
• Freeze the soup base without milk or cream in individual portions. To serve: thaw, reheat and then add a little milk or cream at over very low heat at the last minute. DO not let soup boil with milk or cream in it. It will curdle.
• Stock up on basic soup making ingredients: onion, garlic, celery etc. The method for soup making is always the same: sauté these ingredients in oil then add the vegetable of choice (carrots, squash, asparagus, peppers, turnips, sweet potatoes, etc.). Sauté for another 20 minutes. Stir in liquid vegetable or chicken stock. Puree. Add spices and additional flavourings as you wish.  
• Go wild and experiment a little…I add peanut butter, curry and orange juice to my carrot soup! As you know, I believe peanut butter goes with everything.

Give these recipes a try and let me know how what you think!

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup

2 large Sweet Potatoes – about 2 lbs

2 tbsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

1 small onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, minced

Dash of pepper

2 cups Chicken broth (chicken broth cubes are fine) plus 3 cups water

1 tbsp lemon juice

Peel and chop sweet potatoes into ½ inch cubes. Place in a large bowl and toss with 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Place them in a single layer in a rimmed, large, spray-greased roasting pan or baking sheet. Roast at 450F for about 20-25 minutes. Stir at halftime. They should be tender to a fork and lightly browned when done. Place in slow cooker.

In a large pot, heat remaining oil (1 tbsp) over medium high heat then fry onion, carrot, celery, garlic, pepper and salt. Cook until softened, stirring often. About 8 minutes. Place cooked vegetables in slow cooker with sweet potatoes. Add 2 cups broth and 3 cups water to the slow cooker. Stir well to combine all ingredients

Place lid on slow cooker and cook on low for 3-4 hours cook on High for 2-3 hours. When ready, add 1 tbsp lemon juice and blend well with a hand immersion blender. Ladle into hot serving bowls.

Optional: if you like Rosemary—add 1 tsp fresh rosemary or ¼ dried rosemary to vegetables when cooking.  Garnish each serving with fresh crumbled rosemary leaves.

Asparagus Soup

10-12 stems of fresh asparagus, trimmed

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 stalks of celery, finely chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and finely chopped

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock (the bouillon chicken cubes are ideal for this)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot combine asparagus, garlic, celery, red pepper and chicken stock. Bring to a boil and simmer until vegetables are tender. About 10-20 minutes. OR At this point, you can place the mixture in a slow cooker (without the stock), then add the stock and cook for about 2-3 hrs on High.

Next, puree with a hand immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Optional garnishes when serving: chopped Kale, shredded aged cheddar cheese or cooked crisp bacon bits

Red and Orange Pepper and Tomato Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

1 med onion, finely chopped

2 cups chopped sweet peppers, red, orange and yellow will do!

2 stalks celery, trimmed and finely chopped

1 19 oz. can fresh plum tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 ½ cups vegetable broth (bouillon cubes are perfect for this-available in at the Bulk Barn

1 tsp grated lemon peel

½ tsp salt

In a large pot, heat olive oil and sauté onion, peppers and celery over medium heat until tender. Add tomatoes and simmer uncovered for about 10 minutes.

At this point, you may place the mixture in the slow cooker, add the stock and cook on High for about 2-3 hrs. OR you may cook on the stove. Add the stock to the pot and simmer for about another ½ hr.

Next, puree with a hand immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add grated lemon peel.

Serve hot with garnishes of your choice: chopped Kale, parsley, breadcrumbs, grated cheddar cheese, cooked bacon bits.

Broccoli Soup

1 bunch of broccoli, chopped

1 med onion, chopped

2 large white potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 garlic clove

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cups chicken or vegetable broth (bouillon cubes are fine)

1 tsp orange rind

½ tsp dried thyme

Pinch hot pepper flakes

Pinch of pepper

Peel and chopped broccoli stems. Separate florets from stems and set aside florets.

In a large pot, combine broccoli stems, onion, potatoes, garlic, orange rind, thyme pepper and hot pepper flakes.

Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add broccoli florets and simmer, covered for about 10 minutes. At this point, you may transfer this mixture to a slow cooker, add the stock and cook on High for 2-3 hours OR on the stove, add the stock to the pot and simmer for another ½ hr on low heat.

When ready, puree with a hand immersion blender.

You have created the base for the soup. You may reheat portions and add ½ cup milk to each portion. Only add milk after soup is heated…do not boil with milk in it. If you choose, you may add shredded cheddar cheese to each serving for garnish.

Butternut Squash Soup

For the soup base:

1 ½ tbsp. olive oil

1 cup carrots peeled and chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

1 cup onion, chopped

8 cups peeled, seeded and chopped butternut squash

(Tip: you can buy peeled, seeded and cubed butternut squash in the produce section or frozen vegetable section of most grocery stores. It saves a lot of time if you use this!)

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

6 cups vegetable stock (the bouillon cubes are fine for this)

1 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp allspice

Pinch of nutmeg

When reheating the soup, you may add about ¼ cup per serving of milk, cream or half and half.

In a large pot over medium heat, heat the olive oil and sauté carrots, celery and onion until soft, but NOT browned. *Add squash and garlic and sauté until squash is soft.

*AS an alternative, you may toss the squash cubes with 1 tbsp of olive oil and roast in the over at 450 for about 25 minutes. After 15 minutes, stir the minced garlic into the squash and continue roasting the mixture for another 10-15 minutes.  Then add this to the carrot, celery and onion mixture. Continue with the recipe.

Place mixture in slow cooker and add vegetable stock. Cook on High for 2-3 hours. Or you may leave the mixture in the large pot and add the vegetable stock and simmer for 20 -30 minutes until squash is tender to a fork.

Puree with hand immersion blender. Add spices and stir well. At this point you may portion this soup base into plastic containers and freeze them. When reheating, heat until smooth and hot, then add milk, cream or half-and-half to taste.

Trout Chowder

While making the chowder, you can bake the trout fillets in the oven.

2 small plain or smoked trout fillets.  Brush with a little olive oil, sprinkle with pepper and bake in an ovenproof baking dish at 400F in the oven for 20-25 min. When done, flake the fish with a fork and add to the chowder base.

For the base of the chowder:

2 tbsp butter

Tip: Chop all veggies into ½ inch cubes

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 red pepper, seeded and chopped

2 tbsp flour

1 /2 tsp salt

3 medium size yellow-flesh type potatoes (Yukon Gold) cut into ½ inch cubes

¼ cup dry white wine

4 cups vegetables broth (if I don’t have leftover veggie water on hand, I use Bulk Barn Vegetable bouillon cubes; mix 1 cube with 2 cups boiling water)

1 tsp Herbes de Provence (Bulk Barn does it again!)

2 handfuls chopped greens such as: Kale, Chard and Spinach mixture (sold in a box by PC Organic greens)

2 tbsp parsley, chopped (for garnish when serving)

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, and pepper. Sprinkle with flour and salt. Cook, stirring frequently; until carrots start to soften, about 5 minutes.

Add potatoes, wine, broth and herbes de Provence. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low.

Simmer, partially covered until potatoes are tender to a fork. About 12-15 minutes. Stir in the cooked trout and Kale, chard and spinach mixture. This mixture forms the base for the chowder.

Add to the base when you wish to eat:

Milk, whipping cream or half&;half to thicken the chowder to your liking!

Heat but do not let boil!

I freeze the base into two-cup portions WITHOUT the milk, cream, etc. When I thaw a portion, I add some milk and whipping cream or half & half to thicken the chowder a little.

Sprinkle each serving with a little chopped parsley.

Take stock: Boost your savings with your own delicious home-made soups.

Yikes! The yo-yo stock market is hammering your portfolio and you’re looking for belt-tightening measures to increase your liquidity? Time to diversify. Skip the soup lines at your usual lunch joint, buy chicken, beef or vegetable stock and make your own hearty soups for your workday lunches. Guaranteed your piggy bank will fatten up in a hurry while you slim down—skipping the standstill line-dance ritual in favour of a vigorous run in the park. Vigorous, because you’ll be so darned giddy and energized with all the money you’re saving. No need for the Tummy Fat Savings Account (TSFA) now!

Your blue chip scheme will involve a weekly upfront investment; spending time with a large stock pot, employing a big, sharp knife and diversifying mutual veggies. Other one-time investments may include: outlay for glass containers to store and reheat your lunch shares, a hand-held immersion blender—the kitchen weapon of choice for quick and convenient soup making—and maybe a slow-cooker. Don’t bother blending your soups with a food processor or counter-top blender. They often overflow (spewing soup all over you and your kitchen walls) and compel you to transfer hot liquid back and forth between several pots—a messy, risky, inefficient venture in my books!

By Day Four of your new investment plan, you’ll begin to hear and feel a healthy Return on Investment; extra toonies jingling in your pocket and the need for suspenders to hold up your ever-loosening pants loaded down by a heavy wallet. By Day Five, you’ll go public and share your “secret” with like-minded stockholders. On Day Six you’ll be issuing soup dividends on the Toronto Stock Exchange. On Day Seven issue credit to yourself for launching a healthy, grassroots investment scheme and take your savings to the bank! Back to Day One again and you’ll hear about serious corrections in the markets; do not pass go, stick to your strategy, and try these delicious soup recipes.

Carrot Soup
3 tbsp butter
6-8 large carrots, peeled and sliced into thin circles
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 med onion, chopped
2 med potatoes, peeled and diced
1 litre chicken or vegetable stock
2 tsp chopped ginger
2 tsp smooth peanut butter
1 tsp curry
¼ cup sour cream or yogurt

Melt butter in a large pot, add carrot, garlic and onion and cook 2-3 minutes. Stir in potato, reduce heat to low, cover and sweat vegetables about 4-5 minutes. Pour in stock and bring to a boil. Season to taste. Reduce heat and allow soup to simmer, covered for 25 minutes. Puree soup with hand held blender. Serve in soup bowls, garnished with a spoonful of sour cream or yogurt. Garnish with herbs.

Tomatoe Soup
1 med onion, chopped finely
1 small carrot, finely chopped
3 tbsp butter
2 28 oz cans of diced tomatoes. Whole tomatoes are fine, but chop them up.
2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup heavy cream or half&half, room temperature
Salt and pepper to taste
Basil to taste
Heat butter in soup pot on med-low heat. Add onion and carrot, and sprinkle with salt. Sautee until onion and carrot are soft. Add canned tomatoes, including liquid. Turn up heat to med-high. Cook until most of the liquid is evaporated. Reduce heat and add flour. Mix well to get rid of lumps. Cook for two minutes. Add chicken broth, cook until soup is hot, not boiling. Using a hand held blender, blend soup until it is smooth in texture. Add some of the hot broth to the cream. Mix well, then pour cream into soup. Add basil. Cook until soup is desired thickness.

Cream of Mushroom Soup
½ cup butter
1/4 cup flour
1 med onion, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, finely chopped
1 pound mushrooms, roughly chopped
4 cups chicken stock or broth
4 cups half and half
1/4 cup sherry, port or Madeira or Riesling wine
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped or dried parsley and basil to taste.
Melt butter in soup pot on med-low heat. Add onions and salt. Sautee onions until they are soft. Add mushrooms, and cook for about 5 minutes. Add flour in a bit at a time, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. Add broth a bit at a time, stirring constantly. After enough broth has been added to make everything liquid, add the rest of the broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to low heat and simmer for about 5 minutes. The flour will thicken the soup a bit. Add cream, pepper, basil and parsley. Gently simmer the soup, without boiling for about ten minutes, to allow the flavors to mix. Add the sherry, port or wine; stir and serve.

Slow Cooker Sweet Potatoe Soup
*May also be slow-cooked for 2-3 hrs in a soup pot on the stove, stir every 15 min.
2 dried New Mexico Chili (mild) peppers
2 cups boiling water
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (optional) diced jalapeno pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp oregano
4 cups peeled, ½” cubed sweet potatoes
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
2 cups corn kernels, thawed if frozen
1 tsp grated lime zest (peel)
2 tbsp lime juice
2 roasted red peppers cut into thin strips (bottled are fine)
finely chopped cilantro
Soak chilies in boiling water for 30 min. Drain, discard liquid and stems. Pat dry, chop and set aside. In a skillet, heat oil over med heat. Add onions and cook, Stir until soft. Add garlic, jalapeno pepper, salt oregano, and reserved chilies. Cook for 1 min. Transfer to slow cooker pot, add sweet potatoes and broth. Stir to combine. Cover and cook in slow cooker on low for 8-10 hrs OR on high for 4-6 hrs. Purée with a hand-held blender in the slow-cooker pot. Add corn, lime, zest and juice. Cover and cook another 20 minutes until corn is tender. Ladle into soup bowls and garnish with red peppers strips and cilantro.

Red Lentil and Carrot Soup with Coconut Milk
2 cups red lentils
1tbsp vegetable oil
2 onions, finely chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp salt
½ tsp black peppercorns
a few drops hot pepper sauce (to taste)
1 28 oz can tomatoes, including juice
2 large carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 14 oz can coconut milk
optional: finely chopped cilantro

In a colander, rinse lentils thoroughly under cold water. Set aside. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and cook, stirring, until soft. Add garlic, turmeric, cumin seeds, salt, peppercorns and a few drops hot pepper sauce. Add tomatoes and bring to a boil, breaking up with back of spoon. Stir in carrots, lentils, lemon juice and broth. Transfer mixture to slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hours or on HIGH for 4-5 hours until carrots are tender and mixture is bubbling. Stir in coconut milk and cook on HIGH for 20-30 minutes, until heated through. When serving, garnish each serving with cilantro, if using.