Soup recipes shared for Empty Bowls

By Published On: March 4, 2020

The third annual Empty Bowls fundraiser is set for this Saturday, Mar. 7 at the multi-purpose building in Pittsboro from 5-6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $20 at the door. Assorted soups and desserts, bread and water will be available.
Pottery bowls made and donated by Matt Allen, formerly of Bruce; Anna Hamilton Collums and Sheryl Hamilton Collins, will be available at the event.
All proceeds go to Our Daily Bread Food Pantry in Bruce.

Sandy Smith

“About 30 pots of soup are donated for the event,” said Theresa Dye.
“I love to see anything new. I’m always looking for a new recipe myself and we have some amazing cooks right here in our sweet community,” said Theresa.
Among her favorites are Paula Jeffery’s potato soup and Amy Poynor’s taco soup.
“Crockpots of soup line the counters of the kitchen,” said Sandy Smith.

She has made sausage and shrimp gumbo (a recipe of her late husband Charles) each year for the event.
When she heard about the first Empty Bowls she knew she wanted to help out with it.
She makes the gumbo a couple of times of year, including for Souper Bowl Sunday at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.

Sandy’s favorite soups include steak, taco and vegetable.
She also likes to make Chicken Noodle, a favorite of one of her granddaughters in Colorado, who also loves the gumbo.
At her granddaughter’s request, Sandy made a cookbook of all her recipes, noting that she “makes every recipe her own” because she always tweaks them.

Sausage & Shrimp Gumbo
Sandy Smith
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 quarts water 1 cup oil 1 tbs Worcestershire Sauce 1 stick margarine Tony Chachere’s Seasoning 1 cup chopped onions
2 lbs peeled shrimp
½ cup chopped green peppers 1 pkg. Polish kielbasa ½ cup chopped celery 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 cups chopped okra
Make roux with flour and oil. (Basic roux: 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1 cup oil or margarine
Heat oil in heavy pot or Dutch oven. When oil is hot, gradually add flour, stirring continuously until well mixed. Lower heat and continue stirring until chocolate brown. When roux is chocolate brown, remove from pot and set aside. If roux remains in the pot, it will continue to cook and get too dark.
Always use warm water to dissolve roux. Set aside). In a large Dutch oven saute onions, celery, green bell peppers, garlic and okra in melted margarine 10 minutes. Add to roux, water and Worcestershire sauce and season to taste. Cook 1 hour. Add all other ingredients and cook another hour. Serve over rice.

Steak Soup
Sandy Smith
2-1/4 lbs. stew beef
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 (1-oz.) envelope dry onion soup mix
8 cups beef broth
1 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 cups uncooked medium egg noodles
Tony Chachere’s seasoning to taste
Combine beef, flour, salt and pepper in large ziplock bag. Seal and shake to coat beef. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove beef from ziplock bag, discard any excess flour mixture. Sauté beef until browned, about 5 minutes. Place meat into slow cooker. Add onion soup mix, beef broth, tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. Cook on low 8 hours, until beef is tender. Add noodles to slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 15-30 minutes, until noodles are tender.

Grammy’s Chicken Noodle Soup
Sandy Smith
2-32 oz. boxes chicken
broth
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 rotisserie chicken
3 ribs celery finely chopped
1 small onion finely chopped
Approximately 2 cups egg noodles/dumplings
Bring broth to slow boil and add celery and onion. Cook on medium heat about 20 minutes until tender. Add shredded chicken, cook additional 10 minutes. Add noodles, boil additional 12-15 minutes until noodles are tender.

Olive Garden Style Chicken and Gnocchi Soup
Theresa Dye
3-4 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
4 cups chicken stock
2 cups half and half
1 stalk celery, diced
1 garlic clove, chopped
1/2 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, diced
1 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. thyme
Salt and pepper
16 oz. potato gnocci
1 Tbsp. cornstarch (optional)
Saute onion, celery, garlic, carrot in oil over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add chicken, chicken stock, half and half, salt and pepper, thyme. Heat to boiling, then add gnocchi. Gently boil four minutes, then turn down to simmer 10 minutes. Add spinach and cook another 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted. (Heat to boiling and add cornstarch dissolved in 1-2 Tbsp water at this point if you want a thicker soup.)

Lemon Pound Cake
Sandy Smith
(Louise Smith’s recipe)
Preheat oven to 325°
Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
1 pkg. Instant Lemon pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 cup water
1/3 cup oil
Combine all ingredients. Beat at medium speed two minutes. Pour into greased bundt pan. Bake 60 minutes.
Glaze
Mix together:
½ cup sugar
3 Tbsp. butter/margarine
2 Tbsp. water
Bring to boil. Pour over cake while still in pan. Let stand 20 minutes before flipping cake out. I usually pour about half on the bottom and when I flip the cake I pour the rest on top.

Double Cheese Chicken Noodle Soup
Paula Jeffery
10 oz. pkg. elbow noodles
2 cans chicken broth
1 can cream of cheese soup
1 large can cream of chicken soup
1-2 Tbsp. diced tomatoes with chiles (Rotel)
1-2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
10 oz. can chicken drained
1 cup milk
Cook and drain noodles. Combine all ingredients. Add water if needed.

Share This Story!