While growing up Cream of ____ soups were always just something to make casseroles with — but not anymore! Wow, this was tasty! I tweaked it a little from the original by adding garlic, thyme, hot sauce and mushrooms and I was so pleased with the results. This is definitely what is going to happen to some of our leftover turkey and turkey stock next weekend. In fact, it’s a great recipe for that as I’ll probably have leftover cream, veggies and everything else. So will you, so you should definitely make this soup.

I cooked the mushrooms in a separate pan because I didn’t want them to soak up all the butter and I didn’t want to add more butter. I’m not sure you have to do that, but that’s the way I did it.

Cream of Chicken Soup
Adapted from a recipe by Food Network Kitchens
6 tbsp unsalted butter
1 white Spanish onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 leeks, cleaned well, white part chopped
3 medium carrots, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
12 cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup AP flour
7 cups chicken broth, homemade or low-sodium canned
4 sprigs parsley
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 3/4 cups cooked, diced chicken
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp dry sherry
1/2 tbsp kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
A few dashes of hot sauce
Parmesan Cheese
Optional: 1 cup cooked brown rice

Roasted Chicken with Rosemary-Orange Butter — leftovers of which, became this soup! I highly recommend the roast chicken recipe too.)

Melt the butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion, leeks, garlic, dried thyme and carrots. Cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 12 minutes.

While those veggies cook, in a separate pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the mushrooms with a pinch of kosher salt for 10 minutes or so, over medium heat, until they give off some liquid. Set aside.

Add the flour to the larger pot of veggies and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 2 minutes more.

Pour in the broth and bring to a boil while whisking.

Tie the parsley sprigs and bay leaf together with a piece of kitchen twine and add to the soup.

Add the mushrooms. Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat.

Whisk the heavy cream, sherry, and salt into the soup. Taste and adjust salt and season with pepper and hot sauce to taste. Remove and discard the herb bundle.

Add the cooked, brown rice if desired. Divide among soup bowls, sprinkle the top of each soup with the chopped parsley, Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.

This is a great, quick meal. I found this recipe online, at Bigoven.com when I was looking for something to do with frozen halibut steaks.

Sometimes I make this at night (not even for dinner) and we take it for lunches the next day. It reheats well and is always tasty. Plus, best of all, it is a great use for the wild, frozen halibut steaks that they have at Trader Joe’s. Thus, it qualifies as a Cheap Fish Project.

If you do use steaks, just cut the skin off if you prefer (I do) and defrost if your fish is frozen. You could of course, use fillets here but it works just wonderfully with the steaks.

Mediterranean-Style Baked Halibut Steaks
Adapted from a recipe on Big Oven
1 tbsp olive oil + more for baking dish
1 small zucchini, chopped
1/2 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried thyme or oregano
1/4 cup white wine
1 small tomato, diced
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
salt & pepper
2 6-oz halibut steaks

If your halibut is not defrosted, you can do that in some cold water. Just submerge the package for 15 or so minutes and that should do it.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking dish.

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add zucchini, onion, thyme, and garlic. Cook and stir 6-7minutes, or until tender and getting some color.

Add the wine, and tomatoes and mix to combine. Stir in the feta. Salt & pepper to taste.

Arrange halibut steaks in a single layer in the prepared baking dish.

Spoon equal amounts of the vegetable-feta mixture over each steak.

Bake 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until fish is easily flaked with a fork.

This was an experiment that I took to work for a Halloween party last week. It was an extra fun cake to make, as I had just bought myself a new bundt cake pan in honor of National Bundt Cake Day coming up on November 15!

Where did I learn that bit of trivia? Why here: Food Librarian’s ‘I Like Big Bundts’ extravaganza! Now that is an awesome task right there. While I am not delightfully crazy enough to make a bundt a day, I did make one — this Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt with a Streusel-y inside.

The recipe is from Libby’s (the makers of canned pumpkin), although I used a can of Trader Joe’s Organic canned pumpkin. The cake turned out so well! I added orange zest, pecans and a few more spices to the streusel and I also used a chocolate ganache as a glaze, rather than a traditional powdered sugar icing.

Sour Cream Pumpkin Bundt Cake with Streusel
recipe adapted from Libby’s
Streusel
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp orange zest
2 tsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans
Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
Glaze
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 oz dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp orange zest
Optional: 1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 12-cup Bundt pan.

For streusel: Combine brown sugar, spices and zest in small bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly. Add pecans.

For batter: Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat granulated sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla extract; mix well. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

To assemble: Spoon half of batter into prepared pan. Now, here after making this once, I think it would be easier if after you put half the batter in the pan, you take a spoon and make a little indentation around the middle of the batter for the streusel.

So, you can try that and then carefully sprinkle streusel over batter, not allowing streusel to touch sides of pan.

Top with remaining batter. Make sure batter layer touches edges of pan.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in cake comes out clean. Mine baked for 60 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes in pan on wire rack. Invert onto wire rack to cool completely.

Make Glaze:
Place chips and zest in a bowl. Heat the cream in a pot until it just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour oven chocolate and orange zest. Let sit for about 30 seconds then stir until, all the chocolate is melted. Let cool for a few minutes.

Set cooled cake over a wire rack set over a baking sheet. Drizzle glaze over cake and sprinkle pecans over top. Let glaze cool and harden.

Eat.