Thank you for all of these recipes! I LOVE SOUP!

I surely miss Claire. What a nice tribute to her. Yes, she was quite the cook!

Claire was such a bright light on CC. She is sorely missed. Thank you for sharing her recipes to current readers she would have really loved that!

yummmmm will have to try ALL these out

My favourite soup is a fat-free version of Roasted Red Pepper. You simply roast bell peppers under the broiler in the oven until the skins blacken, let them sweat in a ziplock bag in the fridge, and then peel them. Meanwhile, you sweat some onions, garlic and celery in a pot with vegetable broth. Add the roasted peppers, puree with a hand-held blender, season to taste, et voila, there's your soup. Lovely delicate flavour.

I remember 40 years ago my mother gave me a $100, mind you this was 1975. I went straight out to the store and bought a $75 stockpot, a dream of. The cost was about 10% of my monthly salary so that helps put the cost into perspective. For the first 20 years I must admit I used it maybe once a year. Now I use it monthly for stocks, soups, and braising. It us a must for any cook, well worth the investment. BTW I purchased a Farberware brand at the time. Next time you need to give a wedding present, I am sure the bride would appreciate it. It is not something a bride usually ask for. She may not appreciate it at first, but with a few personal recipes she will love it.

Please repalce aluminum stock pots and any other aluminum pots with stainless or crockery.

I was very sorry to read this morning of Clairelaine's passing. Obviously, I've been on Calorie Count inconsistently in the past 6 months or I would have heard of it before today. Claire taught me how to make a fabulous Thanksgiving turkey without needing to slather it in butter.  Her method has always been a hit with our family and I think of her every time I use it. I was sure to write to her, after our first try, and thank her for her help, too, and let her know that we loved it! I will truly miss her, but I'm thankful I have her turkey recipe. (If anyone else would like to have that recipe, too, pls. feel free to send me a message.)

In getting back to the original post, I love making and eating homemade soups, and am thankful to see that you have published some of Claire's soup recipes for all of us! I will definitely be checking these out myself. Thank you so much for sharing them with us! 

Here's to Claire's helpfulness, and to healthy eating! 

I have several 'stockpots'.  Not all are huge. In fact, having several pots that fit the discription you give means you are more likely to use them.   They are all stainless steel.  I bought all of them while I lived in Britain. Two are smaller ones approx. 4 qt size ones that I use daily for virtually all my cooking. They are actually bases for my two steamer sets (each holds two steamer inserts.)  They are perfect for making a couple qts of stock, a small pan of stew for two, chilli for two etc.  They happily hold that small chicken carcass that is left after I've carved all the meat.  My larger one is a Pasta pan I  use occassionally (remember, I'm basically cooking pasta for two!) for the purpose but it is great for that turkey carcass or for making very large quantities of veg stock. 

They all have encapsulated bottoms for even distribution of heat and allow you to cook at a very low heat. Unless you are a VERY experienced cook beware of copper bottom pans.  You need to cook at a very low heat or things can burn or stick very readily.  I did invest in an additional mid range pot from IKEA when I purchased larger steamer inserts (I didn't have a base pan that would work with them).  It is a stock pot but is made in China... it has a 'hot spot' in the base.  My others I mention above are of European construction... you can tell the difference!

Awww, Jan, what a wonderful lovely blog entry today.  Claire is sorely missed here and it's really nice to see a sort of tribute to her now and again.

Regarding the stock pot: I do have one and it is most useful!  That and the crockpot are the items I absolutely can't do without.  My stock pot is stainless.  Most of my other pans and such are cast iron (because it never ever needs replacing). 

As part of my lifestyle change, I gave up most canned items, so if I want soup I pretty much have to make it.  (Random sidenote: I had a few bites of my husband's canned stew the other day and it was SO salty and disgusting!)  At first, making my own was a chore, but gradually it became a joy, and now I make soup once or twice a month!

Thanks for sharing all the recipes!

Wonderful blog, and wonderful recipes! I'll definitely be trying some of these.

I thought "Cream of anything" was overloaded with calories and fat?

I have reduced sodium a long time ago. I can't eat canned soup because they taste waaaay too salty for me. I make my own soups and stews in the crock pot. In fact yesterday I made a delicious beef and vegetable stew without using any broth at all. I used the juice from (no salt added) canned tomatoes, and I punched up the flavor using lots of herbs and spices. I also added a lot of beans and veggies.

I love my crock pot, my fiance gave it to me for Christmas and I have already made Split Pea Soup, Lentil Soup, Chili Stew, Turkey Kielbasa and White Bean Soup, Beef Vegetable Stew, and tonight I'm making a New England Boiled Dinner (Corned Beef, Potatoes, Carrots, Onions, Cabbage).

The upside of winter, that even though you can't get outside to exercise often, you can make lots of soup!!!! I loooovee soup, any kind , any way, any day!!!!

Thanks for the recipes!!!!

I too have the old enamel stock pots.  I store them in plain sight since I live in a colonial styled home and have them sitting on the fireplace mantle.  My favored soup to make is the old navy bean soup with cabbage, onion, carrots, a few herbs and of course the beans.  My biggest dilemma is what to store all that stock in, between batches of soup.  I've gotten so used to eating very low sodium foods and pretty much only use pepper, herbs, spices for flavoring.  Dicing up a little ham seems to add minimal sodium.

Sincronicity... I keep the tall plastic containers I get my peeled & cored pineapple in from the super market. They are tall, slim and clear.  They already have a label on them and I just print what's in it and freeze. Helps keep it out of landfill plus I get the food values from my own stock!  Veggie stock I usually make either the day before or on the day I need it.  I prefer making my own stock... you control what goes in and like you, I try to keep the unnecessary sodium to a minimum when cooking.