Friday, November 3, 2023

Soup's On!

Fidelity manages our retirement savings, and this has required plenty of meetings since John retired. We meet with Joe and Chad once each quarter, sometimes at their office in Princeton and sometimes over Zoom. I kind of like the office meetings because afterward we go across the street to Olive Garden and have soup, salad, and breadsticks for lunch. 

John made an appointment for the end of November but he chose a Zoom call. I was a bit disappointed because that meant I wouldn't be enjoying chicken gnocchi soup and breadsticks, so I decided to make some myself using this recipe. First, I chopped the onion and carrots.


I didn't use celery because I didn't have any, and I also used shallots instead of garlic. John grew shallots in the garden this year and I have lots of them to use up. Next, I sautéed the vegetables. 


Then I added the chicken broth and chicken, brought the mixture to a boil, and added the gnocchi. I didn't make my gnocchi from scratch because I don't have a potato ricer and it sounded like more work than I wanted. The gnocchi from the grocery store worked just fine, and I doubt that there is a chef in Olive Garden's kitchen making their gnocchi by hand. 


I decreased the heat, added half and half (I didn't have heavy cream but the half and half worked), spinach (I used frozen chopped spinach because that's what I had on hand), thyme, salt, and pepper, and voilà, soup!


It was pretty good and made enough that we are having leftovers tonight. Next time I think I'll use garlic instead of shallots and rough chop fresh spinach instead of using frozen. It would also be better if a waiter brought me unlimited breadsticks, but I'll make these the next time I make soup. 

I enjoy making soup in the fall and winter and I'm already perusing recipes for what I'm going to try next. What's your favorite soup recipe? 

11 comments:

  1. That looks and sounds so good! My Dad and I used to enjoy soup, salad and breadsticks at Olive Garden a lot (I always got the Zuppa Toscana and my Dad usually got the chicken gnocchi). I may need to drag Fletch out one of these days! I like making a vegetable beef soup in the crock pot. I just use stew meat that I cut up smaller and a big bag of frozen mixed veggies along with some onion, potato and tomatoes.

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  2. Mmm, that looks and sounds delicious! I love a big pot of soup this time of year. My favorite is my grandmother's recipe for mushroom barley, but I rarely make it because my kid refuses to eat mushrooms, and it's a lot of work for something that only only 2/3 of us will eat.

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  3. Oh yum, Bonny! It is soup weather... most certainly! Thank you for that link, I am going to add it to my November List!

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  4. That looks delicious, Bonny! I love gnocchi, so I think I'm going to give that recipe a try! I make a lot of soups in the cold weather months, and have quite a few favorites. This weekend, I'm planning to try a new soup recipe (I think it has tortellini in it) that I saw recently in the NY Times. (And I think I'd be in big trouble if I had ready access to Olive Garden's unlimited bread sticks, because YUM. They are so easy to eat!)

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  5. any excuse for a lunch out is wonderful! I don't mind meeting with retirement people. Now when I meet the accountant....well that's less fun. I love soup but my husband doesn't like much unless it's chicken noodle.

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  6. Mmm, I love gnocchi! The Sweet Potato Chowder (https://www.howsweeteats.com/2019/10/sweet-potato-chowder/) that we recently made is a new favorite! We make a lot of chicken soup in the winter, because I love a good roasted chicken and that's a good way to use it all up -- it's different every time because we don't use a recipe anymore & the seasonings/herbs are always changing. I have some standby "quick" soup recipes, too -- minestrone, tortellini. Don't forget chili! (That counts as soup, right?)

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  7. Bonny, I found a sliver of time to check in this morning, and it was like you read my mind! That happens a lot with you. Soup is actually my favorite meal, and this recipe sounds great. I am on the hunt for soup recipes, and your post was incredibly timely. I hope you and yours are doing well, and I hope to make time for daily visits soon. I miss your posts and your lovely reasonableness. :)

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    1. I don't know why I suddenly anonymous, but I hope you know it was Becky. Been gone too long, I reckon.

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  8. I like soup and I'm not sure I could pick a favorite. I do like a good lentil vegetable soup, minestrone, a white bean Italian soup, and a tomato chickpea farro soup.Yours sounds delicious. Sometimes meeting with the financial planner makes my head spin. I always feel like it takes me about half way into the appointment to feel on top of the lingo although I'm not afraid to ask for clarification.

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  9. I love soup and that looks fabulous! My favorite is probably chicken and rice but I also regularly make one with smoked sausage, cannellini beans & spinach (that's Dale's favorite) as well as fish chowder and 15 bean. We usually get a loaf of crusty bread from the grocery store or I'll make sourdough or biscuits to go with.

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  10. Anonymous Becky here, Bonny. I made this soup this weekend, and I thought it was very good. Used bought gnocchi, but fresh spinach. Thanks for the recipe!

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