Almost Instant and Totally Healthy Cup of Soup

You might remember a while back I posted about making soup in a mug with my freeze dired food.  When my family makes it we just wing it, throwing a little of this and a little of that in. It always turns out great but when we find something we love it is pretty hard to duplicate it.  . 

  

Kay from Kay’s Kaleidoscope is here today to talk about using your freeze dried food storage to create Almost Instant Healthy Cup of Soup.  

Take it away Kay...

Having cooked with Thrive myself for over a year and working with others, it seems that the biggest fear is that cooking with Freeze Dried food is a little different so people tend to fall back into familiar habits that usually take longer, are not as nutritious, and in a lot of cases cost you more money.

So my friend Judi Stull, came over and we were "Thrivin' It Up" all afternoon.  We wanted to create some basic cup of soup recipes feature freeze dried ingredients. 

Almost Instant and Totally Healthy Cup of Soup--The Basic Recipe

printable recipe

Ingredients:

2 T Freeze Dried Meat

1 ½ T. Thrive Sauce Mix

1 t each basic veggies (freeze dried onions, FD celery, dehydrated carrots)

¼ t. Thrive Chef Choice Blend

1/8 t Thrive Peppercorn blend

1 T. Instant Rice, Instant Beans, Freeze Dried Potato Dices or Egg Noodles, choose one.

1 T each of 3-5 freeze dried veggies to total ½ of a cup

6 oz. boiling water.

Instructions:

Layer ingredients in an 8 oz. cup.  Add about 6 oz. boiling water and stir well.  Put lid on the cup and “steep” for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy. 

Thrive is so forgiving - if it is a little thick, add a little water - a little thin, add a little more sauce mix. Most ingredients will rehydrate in 10-15 minutes.  Bigger & thicker pieces, obviously, will take a little longer. 

Here are the recipe for two of our favorites

Almost Instant and Totally Healthy Cup of Soup : Chicken Rice Veggie Soup

printable recipe

Ingredients:

2 T freeze dried chicken slices, broken

1 ½ t. Thrive Veloute Sauce

1 t. Freeze dried onion

1 t Thrive freeze dried celery

1 t Thrive carrots

1 t Thrive mixed bell peppers

1 T Thrive freeze dried asparagus

1 T Thrive freeze dried mushrooms

1 T Thrive freeze dried spinach

1 T. Thrive Instant Rice

¼ t. Thrive Chef Choice Seasoning Blend

1/8 t Thrive peppercorn seasoning blend.

Instructions:

Put ingredient in an 8 oz. cup.  Add 6 oz boiling water and stir well. Coer and “steep” about 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

Almost Instant and Totally Healthy Cup of Soup:  Shepard Pie Soup

printable recipe 

Ingredients: 

2 T Thrive Freeze Dried Ground Beef

1 ½ T. Thrive Béchamel Sauce mix

1 t 1 t Thrive freeze dried onions

1 t Thrive freeze dried celery

1 t Thrive dehydrated carrots

2 t Thrive freeze dried potato dices

1 T. Thrive freeze dried peas

¼ t. Thrive Chef Choice Seasoning Blend

1/8 t Thrive peppercorn seasoning blend.

6 oz boiling water

Topping

1 T Thrive Potato beads plus a little more boiling water.

Instructions: 

Put all of the ingredient except the topping into an 8 oz cup.  Stir well. Put potato Beads on top and add boiling water a little at a time smoothing to make the mashed potato topping.  Cover and steep 10-15 minutes. Enjoy. 

Kay Curtiss Guest Contributor: 

Kay Curtiss worked in the LDS Book Industry for over 20 years. During that time she was a Regional Manager of 4 Independent LDS Bookstores in Washington, DC; Houston, TX; Atlanta, GA & Chicago, IL. She served on the LDS Booksellers Board of Directors for over 7 years. Most recently She managed the LDS Books & Things Catalog/Magazine used by Independent LDS Bookstores. She originally got involved with Thrive Life to see how it could help these independent bookstores. Last summer She retired from the LDS Book Industry and is enjoying "retirement" doing genealogy, spending more time with my family and starting to build my own Thrive business so I can enjoy a more Thrivin' Life.

 

You can check out all of Kay’s printable Recipes including the soups from this post here - or click on the Soup names above for a link to the individual recipes.  You can also shop from Kay’s Thrive Life store.  

Meals In A Jar Monday: Baked Cauliflouwer Pasta

Baked Cauliflower Pasta
Printable Recipe
2 cups pasta, elbow, ziti, or other small tube pasta
1 ½ cups Freeze Dried Cauliflower
½ cup Freeze Dried Sausage
1 tablespoon garlic
¼ teaspoons red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
 

Add when cooking: (you could add these to the jar if using freeze dried but I prefer to add them later).
1 can petite diced tomatoes, don’t drain
1 cup or more, Mozzarella Cheese, grated.

1. Bring a large Dutch oven, or other oven safe pot, of water (6-8 cups) to a boil. Add pasta, freeze dried cauliflower, and sausage. Cook until pasta is chalky but almost tender. Drain. Return to the pan.
2. Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Bake 20 minutes at 400 degrees.

Monday Meals in a Jar: Hamburger Soup

Today I’m starting a new feature.  Each Monday I’ll be sharing a meal in a jar. 


Why do I like meals in a jar?

·         It is a great way to use your food storage, and keep it rotated.

·         It makes food storage fast food. –Usually all you have to do is dump and add water. 

·         It helps me know what my family really likes to eat from our food storage.  This way when it is time to stalk up I’ll know what we like. 

Hamburger Soup
My kids (even the picky eater) loved this soup.  It was filling and delicious.
This soup uses a combination of freeze dried and dehydrated veggies.  So when you are cooking it you’ll want to make sure that the dehydrated veggies are completely rehydrated and cooked.  They always take longer than the freeze dried.
 Be sure to watch the water level I often end up adding a little more water at the end to make it the consistency I like.

Hamburger Soup
Printable recipe

In a quart jar:

1 cup instant red beans

1/3 cup dehydrated carrots

1/3 cup freeze dried peas

1/3 cup freeze dried corn

1 cup Freeze Dried Ground Beef

1 Cup dehydrated potato chunks/dices

¼ cup freeze dried onion

Seasonings I shake down into the jar:

½ cup tomato powder

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon Lawery’s Seasoning Salt (or similar)

1 T beef bullion.

It will fit if you shake it really well. 

If you are storing for a for a long time be sure to add an oxygen absorber or seal with a food saver, if you plan to use in the next month and live in a dry climate you will be fine just putting it in the jar.  

To prepare Hamburger Soup:

In a gallon pot, combine stew mix with 8 cups water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer 20-30 minutes.  Check water level,  I often add more water to make it the consistency I like. 

Just before serving add 2 Tablespoons butter.  Stir in until melted.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.