The Freshman Cook: “Make It Your Own” Soup Bar / #SundaySupper

 If you enjoy entertaining, a “Make It Your Own” Soup Bar may be something you would like to try. It is a lot of fun! It’s fun to plan the ingredients you will use, the way you will serve them, and the decor for the serving area. Once you get started in the planning, you will find you that there are a lot more decisions to make than you thought. 
The first thing I did when putting this Soup Bar together was to make a list of all the ingredients I wanted to have available for my guests. Once I was done with my list, I looked at it and knew I had to cross off a lot of items. I had way too many to choose from!They would all be very tasty in the soup, but this was one of those times, when less is more. So I scaled down my list to popular soup ingredients that I felt everyone would enjoy. 
“Make It Your Own” Soup Bar
(printable recipe at end of page) 

Chicken Broth

Chicken Breast
Shrimp
Red Onions
White Onions
Corn
Broccoli
Carrots
Celery
Mini Farfalle
Udon Noodles
Chow Mein Noodles 

The first thing to do is to heat your broth. Heat it on the stove, or in the crock pot. I used a packaged broth, and I doctored it a little. After I peeled and deveined the shrimp. I deglazed the pan, and put the drippings in the broth. Then I pan fried a chicken breast. While it was cooling, I deglazed the pan and poured the chicken drippings in the broth. Doing this gives the broth a deep, unique flavor.
I boiled the farfalle pasta. To prepare the udon noodles, brown some butter in a small frying pan. Let the butter come to a brown color, then add the noodles and a teaspoon of soy sauce and toss them as they are cooking. They will become covered in a delicious, nutty flavor that you will love. In between frying, deglazing, and deveining you will need to cook some broccoli, corn and carrots. Cut the carrots in to slices, then into quarters. Place in a bowl covered with water and microwave until done, about 1 minute. You can microwave the broccoli and corn, or cook them on the stove.
Chop the celery into tiny pieces and shred the chicken breast. Take the shrimp and cut it completely in half lengthwise. Then cut each piece in half.

To set up your bar, use serving dishes that are similar to establish a look of cohesiveness.I like using clear serving dishes for all the ingredients, except the broth. The clear dishes give a clean look.
As your guests go through the line, have them fill their bowl with all the items they want in their soup.
When they get to then end of the line, they can add their broth, which will heat all the other ingredients. Don’t forget to add your hard noodles at the end of the bar. They are a great garnish for the soup. Place napkins and utensils at the end of the line. There is no reason for your guests to have to worry about carrying them until they are done, and need them. That is pretty much all there is to building a “Make It Your Own” Soup Bar. It is easy to do, just be organized and you will have a great soup bar your guests will love.
A soup bar would be great for football parties, or birthday parties. You can substitute any type of soup as a base, like cream soup, or you could use a beef broth or a seafood broth. There are so many other ingredients to add also, like bread or cornbread. Just have fun!

We have lots of soup and stew recipes today! Scroll down to find some yummy ideas!

Comfort Food Soup and Stew Recipes #SundaySupper
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Author: The Freshman Cook

  • Chicken Broth
  • Chicken Breast
  • Shrimp
  • Red Onions
  • White Onions
  • Corn
  • Broccoli
  • Carrots
  • Celery
  • Mini Farfalle
  • Udon Noodles
  • Chow Mein Noodles

  1. The first thing to do is to heat your broth. Heat it on the stove, or in the crock pot. I used a packaged broth, and I doctored it a little. After I peeled and deveined the shrimp. I deglazed the pan, and put the drippings in the broth. Then I pan fried a chicken breast. While it was cooling, I deglazed the pan and poured the chicken drippings in the broth. Doing this gives the broth a deep, unique flavor.
  2. I boiled the farfalle pasta. To prepare the udon noodles, brown some butter in a small frying pan. Let the butter come to a brown color, then add the noodles and a teaspoon of soy sauce and toss them as they are cooking. They will become covered in a delicious, nutty flavor that you will love. In between frying, deglazing, and deveining you will need to cook some broccoli, corn and carrots. Cut the carrots in to slices, then into quarters. Place in a bowl covered with water and microwave until done, about 1 minute. You can microwave the broccoli and corn, or cook them on the stove. Chop the celery into tiny pieces and shred the chicken breast. Take the shrimp and cut it completely in half lengthwise. Then cut each piece in half.
  3. To set up your bar, use serving dishes that are similar to establish a look of cohesiveness.I like using clear serving dishes for all the ingredients, except the broth. The clear dishes give a clean look.
  4. As your guests go through the line, have them fill their bowl with all the items they want in their soup.
  5. When they get to then end of the line, they can add their broth, which will heat all the other ingredients. Don’t forget to add your hard noodles at the end of the bar. They are a great garnish for the soup. Place napkins and utensils at the end of the line. There is no reason for your guests to have to worry about carrying them until they are done, and need them.
  6. That is pretty much all there is to building a “Make It Your Own” Soup Bar. It is easy to do, just be organized and you will have a great soup bar your guests will love. A soup bar would be great for football parties, or birthday parties. You can substitute any type of soup as a base, like cream soup, or you could use a beef broth or a seafood broth. There are so many other ingredients to add also, like bread or cornbread. Just have fun!

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