Yellow Split Pea Soup

Boil all ingredients, except carrots, slowly for about 4 hours or until peas are tender. Add carrots 2 hours before soup is done.

Easy Turkey Minestrone

Combine chicken broth, tomatoes, water, pasta, peas, and turkey in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook 5 minutes to heat through. Divide among 4 serving bowls and sprinkle each with Parmesan.

Carrot Soup with Orange and Tarragon (Makes 4 Servings)

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onion; saute until onion is soft, about 8 minutes. Add broth; cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat, uncover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes.

Working into batches, puree soup in blender until very smoth. Return soup to pot. Stir in orange juice, brandy, and chopped tarragon. Simmer 5 minutes for flavors to blend. Season to taste with slat and pepper. Garnish soup with tarragon sprigs and serve.

Creamy Kale and Pumpkin Soup (makes 4 servings)

In a large soup pot, cook bacon over medium heat until brown and crispy. Remove bacon from pot and drain on paper towels until it cools enough to handle. Crumble and set aside. Pour all but about 1 teaspoon from the pan. Heat olive oil in the same pan and add onion. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and start to carmelize. Add garlic and cook 1 minute or longer.

Pour 2 cups of broth into pan and stir to loosen browned bits on bottom of pan. Add potatoes, kale and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce hear and simmer 20 to 25 minutes, until potatoes are easily pierced with a fork and kale in wilted. With a hand blender, puree the potato mixture in large bowl. There will be flecks of green from the kale. (You can pour the soup into the bowl, but be careful, as the hot soup may splatter during blending.) Stir the remaining broth, the pumpkin, nutmeg and pepper into the soup. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Stir in the half-and-half and heat through, but do not boil. Ladle into bowls and garnish with crumbled bacon.

French Onion Soup

Place onion and butter or margarine in covered glass bowl and microwave on high for 10 minutes, or until onion is tendered. In the meantime, on the stove top, boil water and add boullion and soy sauce. After onions are tender, add onions to broth. Simmer 5 minutes.

In the bottom of each soup bowl place 1/2 french roll or grain baguette. Add generous amount of grated cheese. Pour boiling soup over top and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.

Leek & Potato Soup

Melt the butter and saute the leeks and garlic about 10 minutes, until very soft. Stir it all up frequently and keep the heat low enough so the garlic doesn't brown.

Add everything else except the milk and bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring now and then. Basically, you just want to make sure the potatoes are cooked. If you like, blend parts of the soup in the blender or using a handheld mixer, but you can skip this step and just have chunkier soup. When the soup has cooled just a bit, add the milk or cream, stir and serve.