Soup's on! Make a big pot at home — and crackers from scratch

Brrrrr. It's cold outside.

But it's Houston. You could be sunbathing by Sunday.

Until then, there are healthy ways to stay warm and Campbell's is not the answer. A few weeks ago, I told you how to make warm oatmeal for cold mornings, and now comes a better dinner than a can of soup and stale Saltines. 

Homemade soups are great winter meals for many reasons. First, a big pot lasts a long time. It will either feed a family of four easily or it will feed you four meals. They're great for lunch and dinner and they travel well in Tupperware to work. You can freeze them for another day or share immediately.

They are also hard to mess up. The basics are the "veggie trifecta" --onions, celery, carrot.

Add some garlic, water or broth, even more vegetables, and some kind of starch, like pasta or potatoes.

Blend in some spices, let boil,  and you're good to go.

Here are two recipes I've used a lot this winter, and one bonus recipe to wow your family: Homemade crackers in under an hour. No rising yeast involved.

Easy Vegetable Minestrone Soup:

Ingredients:

• 4 C chicken stock or broth
• 15 oz tomato sauce
• 1 C water 
• 5 baby potatoes, washed and chopped
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 6 carrots, diced
• 6 celery stalks, diced
• 1 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1 small can corn
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp each salt and pepper
• 2 T extra virgin olive oil
• 1tsp each sage and rosemary
• dash of cayenne pepper for extra kick

Instructions:

• In a large soup pot, add 2 T olive oil and let heatover medium on stove.
• Add onion and garlic and stir to make sure it doesn’t burn. Let cook together for about five minutes until they start to get translucent.
• Add celery and carrots and let cook about five minutes together. Add potatoes and stir together.
• Add zucchini and corn.
• Then add broth and tomato sauce and stir well.
• Add all spices – salt, pepper, cayenne, bay leaves, sage, rosemary.
• Let soup simmer together for 30-45 minutes before eating, but it can also simmer on very low heat or no heat and covered for a few hours too. Just make sure the carrots and potatoes are fork tender for best soup.

Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients (makes 3.5 cups of soup)

• 1.5 C cooked butternut squash, peeled and cubed
• 3/4 C milk
• 1/2 banana
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp ginger
• 3/4 C ice 
• drizzle honey
• 1/2 packet Truvia sweetener

Instructions: 

• Peel and chop butternut squash. Roast on 450* for about 30 minutes or until fork tender. This can be done ahead of time and used throughout the week in different dishes.
• In a blender, combine squash, milk, banana, vanilla, and nutmeg. Blend until smooth. Add ice, honey, and sweetener and blend again. 
• Transfer to a soup pot to heat up. This soup can be served chilled if you want a cold soup or hot. It would be pretty garnished with a green herb.

For step by step instructions of the soup with pictures, click here.

Parmesan Rosemary Crackers

These crackers are easy to make and look more complicated than they are. Crackers are not something you usually make at home, but with simple ingredients, go ahead and try. 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C whole wheat flour
• 3/4 C all-purpose flour
• 4 oz warm water
• 1 C parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 C chopped rosemary

Instructions:

• Combine flours, salt, and baking soda and mix in electric mixer.
• Add olive oil and cheese and mix again.
• Add water and mix until starts to mold together. Add rosemary and mix one more time.
• Roll out as thin as possible with rolling pin. (really important to roll very thin)
• Place on baking sheet and score with a fork.
• Add salt and pepper and press down.
• Use a knife and ruler to make checkerboard of cracker sizes.
• Bake at 400* for 17 minutes. Baking time will vary, watch closely so it doesn’t burn on edges.
• Remove and let cool. Break into cracker pieces.

For step by step instructions of the crackers with pictures, click here.

Marci Gilbert writes a daily food and fitness blog at www.marcigilbert.com.