Easy Soups from Scratch with Quick Breads to Match: 70 Recipes to Pair and Share

by Ivy Manning, Dina Avila (Photographer)

Nothing is more comforting at the end of the day than a hearty bowl of homemade soup accompanied by freshly baked bread, and this book shows home cooks how to do it in under an hour. Easy Soups from Scratch with Quick Breads to Match makes it simple to create delicious, nourishing soups and warm, toothsome breads for any day of the week with straight-forward, time-saving recipes. With 70 soups and breads to mix and match, soup lovers can choose from cozy classics like Farro Minestrone with Roasted Garlic Focaccia or international flavors like Barbecue Pork and Miso Ramen with Flaky Green Onion Pancakes. Readers can rely on helpful troubleshooting tricks and get-ahead tips to make these winning combinations come out perfect every time.
Formats

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction, Food, Reference, Adult, Food and Drink

176 pages, Hardcover

First published September 12, 2017

About the author

Ivy Manning is a Portland, Oregon-based freelance food and travel writer, food stylist, and author of The Farm to Table Cookbook. Her work has been featured in Cooking Light, Sunset magazine, Fine Cooking, ediblePortland, Food & Wine magazine and on Culinate.com. Additionally, Manning is a regular contributor to the Oregonian FOODday section with her Vegetarian Flavors column.

Her most recent book, The Adaptable Feast: Satisfying Meals for the Vegetarians, Vegans, and Omnivores at Your Table (Sasquatch Books, 2009) guides readers through the uncharted territory of cooking for mixed-diet families. Mannings book shows busy home cooks how to make delicious meals that feed everyone in the family, from meat eaters to vegetarians or vegans, without dirtying every dish in the kitchen.

Manning attended the Western Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon, followed by an externship at the award-winning Paleys Place restaurant. Ever since, Manning has been cooking, writing, and teaching culinary classes.

Mannings interest in writing and cooking has led her to travel the globe studying the cuisines of every country she visits, including cooking trips to Thailand, Italy, France, Mexico, and the South Pacific.

When her bags arent packed, she is writing; blogging (ivysfeast.blogspot.com); cooking for her vegetarian husband, Gregor (the photographer for her books); and petting her retired greyhound, Mini."

Reviews

[LD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I frequently told people,before reading this beautiful cookbook, that I was a soup expert. Boy, was I wrong!

Ivy Manning begins this beautiful cookbook with tools, tricks, and tips for the perfect pot of soup, and I was surprised at how much subtle flavor information was missing from my life. Photographs aren't included for every recipe (1 out of 3), but I don't find it obstructive. The descriptions are sufficient enough to envision the final product.

The recipes are straightforward, the directions are easy to follow, and ingredients are simple enough to source in nearly any grocery store . The Fruilian Bean and Sauerkraut Soup was the first recipe to spark my interest. As an granddaughter of Italian and Polish immigrants, I've always felt that my two separate heritages don't quite blend. This cultural anomaly of a recipe is now my most favorite soup and is easy to make. I've already flagged 10 other recipes to try and am looking forward to Fall.

Additional touches really make this a lovely cookbook, such as two place-marking ribbons. While I don't have any diet restrictions, most recipes include variations for restrictive diets, such as vegetarian, vegan, and/or gluten-free, making this truly an inclusive experience.

While I haven't tried any of the breads, and I'm not much of a risk-taker with baking, I'm confident that Ivy Manning will help me through the journey.

[Cindy (BKind2Books) · Rating 4 out of 5]

When cooler weather comes, my mind turns to soups and this little jewel is chock full of some interesting new ones along with some nice bread to go with.

Examples:

Roasted Cauliflower & Paprika
Spice-roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Bacon Crumbles
Cajun Red Beans & Rice
Broken Pasta & Bean
Thai Coconut Chicken
Spicy Sweet Chicken Curry
Creamy Wild Rice & Turkey

With lovely breads like:

Flaky green onion pancakes
Featherlight herb dumplings
Blue corn & maple skillet bread
Beer & cheddar bread
Pimento cheese drop biscuits

A lot of these are done in 60-90 minutes. Yum.

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I was hoping for. I’m looking for basic hearty soups using everyday ingredients, and true quick bread recipes that don’t require yeast.

[Trace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite a few soups in this book that I will be trying. Chock full of tips for more flavorful soups as well as make-agead instructions. Really enjoyed this cookbook!

[Justin · Rating 5 out of 5]

There’s a lot of books on soups and breads, respectively. This is the first example where I have come across them intentionally paired. Oh, and they’re reasonably easy to make; you don’t have to be a chef or speak French to accomplish any of these recipes.

I like to make soups for dinner but I often find that soups are a subsection of cookbooks and being vegetarian that limits the options even more. I also have the problem that I feel the need to have bread with my soup because, let’s be real, only monsters eat them separately. You can imagine how relieved I was to see that Ms. Manning had done a lot of the work for me and created a while book for soups AND breads. What’s great too is that she recommends which breads pair well with specific soups, providing two bread options. This makes it even more user-friendly because you can switch things up and keep life interesting. Ms. Manning also gives options for making most of the soups vegetarian, vegan, or some of the breads gluten-free.

Overall it’s a great cookbook for soup and bread lovers that has mouth watering recipes to satisfy most tastes. I’m looking forward to actually trying some of these recipes.

[Kimberly Mccune · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love the premise of this one but honestly the recipes fail to deliver. Tried several soups that were underwhelming and the none of the breads turned out properly despite following the recipes exactly.

[Andy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winter, especially one as cold as this one, calls for soup and lots of it. Easy Soups provides plenty of recipes for the season, and a fair number of cold soups, too.

The books assumes its reader is capable in the kitchen, but not an expert. It opens with a helpful chapter on ingredients and tools, explaining the value of each item. The friendly and informative tone continues through the entire book.

Each recipe is accompanied by a gorgeous photograph or two - the phrase "food porn" came to mind - and a short written piece about the end result. More than a simple set of instructions, Easy Soups is an enjoyable read.

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.)

[Naori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very innovative recipes with a lot of vegetarian content, which is important to me. One unique component to this book is that they devoted a large section to breads and savory pastries at the end of the book, to accompany the soups. They even suggest pairings with each one. I however will simply be drooling over the Featherlight Herb Dumplings and Spinach & Sun-dried tomato scones because I can’t bake anything beyond a pillsbury dough biscuit without burning it...ok sometimes I burn those.

Now if you’re someone like me you love a cookbook with pictures and the ones in this are beautiful. I just like to see how the creator of the recipe imagined it. It also helps when I’m making my own and thinking, I don’t remember their soup being red? Plus it gives you nice ideas on how to make it look more aesthetically pleasing if you decide to serve it to company. (And I think my partner checks the pictures to make sure it’s not supposed to be red too ;)

So if you live somewhere like me that is about to start in on a long winter, this is a beautiful way to keep something bubbling on the stove and stay warm. And if you are at all handy with baking and are making the side dishes, I’ll be stopping over :)

[Sarah Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book, found so many great recipes I want to try. I often feel like most cookbooks have the same soups over and over, but this has a few of those and lots of twists on the traditional or whole new ideas for me to try out. I like a few soups, but my son loves loves loves soup so really I got this book so I can try lots of new types of soups out for him. He was very pleased to see me flipping through this book and can't wait for me to try these. These are mostly soups that you make for dinner on the spot when you want them but I think I have enough cooking knowledge that I can alter these for the crockpot with success. She also gives recommendations on freezing, which soups are good to freeze and for how long. The second half of the book is breads, which I might not use as much since we are trying to cut these back...but there were some good flavor combinations I have not used before so I did copy a few of those to try out for when we do have our occasional bread splurges.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok, everyone knows I am a dyed-in-the-wool soup girl. I loves me some soup! So it's no wonder that I really love this book! I do wish it had more pictures, but the few it does have, are simply lovely. Here's a list of the recipes that I look forward to trying out:

Roasted asparagus soup with cashew cream
Winter melon soup with smoky ham
Pumpkin, pancetta, and arborio rice soup
Crab buttermilk bisque with sweet corn and bacon
Smoked salmon and celery root chowder
Egg and lemon soup with toasted orzo and kale
Soulful chicken soup
Italian meatball and greens soup
Creamy wild rice and turkey soup
Beef barley soup with lots of veggies
Sausage gumbo
Fast Irish stew

Then there's breads too!!
Roasted garlic focaccia
Spinach and sun-dried tomato scones
Zucchini, feta, and dill muffins
Quinoa, apple, and cheddar muffins

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually love the idea of soup and bread recipes paired together! There were a few soup recipes that I marked to try and this weekend made the Smoky Tomato Soup and the suggested side of Pimento Cheese Drop Biscuits. The tomato soup was pretty straight forward, but really tasty and is a keeper. I splurged and did the fancy imported San Marzano tomatoes, but since you roast them before adding them I think I will probably do a cheaper variety next time. I loved the drop biscuits too and I think they would go with a lot of things. The cheese was just the right amount and the jarred pimentos and paprika made them a pretty orange-red color and gave them a bit of sweetness.
I am up for trying the Roasted Asparagus with Cashew Cream next, though I hate bringing out my food processor so I have to plan ahead on that one. I'm happy for new things to try though.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won a copy of this book from Goodreads giveaways. I was not required to give a favorable review. This is a wonderful cookbook and is going to be a great gift for my niece for Christmas. I think she will love all the ideas for soups and breads. A great add to a cookbook collection.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good points for a good amount of pictures to go along with the recipes. With each recipe, there is an eye catching side note that tells servings per recipe, active time and total time to make. I love that. What I did not love was the over abundance of ingredients in each recipe. That is what you run into with most soup recipes. Truthfully I don't think that I would buy this for myself, however I would take the time to make these soups because they sound so delicious. I know that is a contradiction but it is true. If you have alot of to time to spare (because you are going to be doing alot of chopping) this is a great book for cooking therapy.

[Sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

Admittedly, I am a delicate (read: picky) eater. That said, I also prefer hearty, down-home comfort foods. Yes, I was born and raised in the south. I don't swear by butter, but it helps, and usually meat and potatoes, cozy soup in winter, and stick-to-your-ribs food is my preference. I just don't like recipes with ingredients like the ones in this book.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not really easy, so misleading.

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love soups so always looking for new ones to try. These were all out there soups. Was expecting ones that we comfort soups. Very disappointed .

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thought I was getting some good new recipes, but these soups are all bizarre, not my cup of soup...

[Catherine]

When a library patron returned this book, I thought it seemed right up my alley. I like to make soup and fresh bread once a week in cooler weather, but if I don't have time to make a yeast bread from scratch, I usually toast some sourdough.

The only recipe combo I actually tried was the Smoky San Marzano Tomato Soup with Beer and Cheddar Bread. The soup was a winner, but the bread was just not right. It was dense and the flavor was just okay. The books says, "This bread is best if it's not piping hot; in fact, the flavor improves with age, and it's wonderful toasted." I tried toasting it for breakfast the next day, but it still wasn't that great. I made grilled cheese sandwiches to go with the rest of the soup, which tasted much better with less work.

The Spicy Roasted Poblano and Potato Chowder and Smoked Salmon and Celery Root Chowder both sound tasty, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to trying them. As for the breads, other than corn bread, I think I'd rather put in a little extra time and make a yeast bread.

[Toni NB · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve highlighted so many recipes to try that it’s clear I might as well start from the beginning and just make each recipe with the accompanying suggested bread/muffin/roll.

I love the variety of soups and stews and global flavors. I tend to eat this way anyway so for me it’s a great fit. What I especially like are tips, short cuts, ingredient substitution suggestions and little bits of food anthropology scattered among the recipes.

That said, if your pantry is fairly well stocked, it should be no problem to do the majority of the recipes. However, a few specialty items will have to be sourced and purchased (eg: I have two kinds of miso in my fridge, but no teff flour or fenugreek).

And lastly, I wish a picture for every recipe was included.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

While none of the recipes really enticed me to try them, this is a very nice cookbook. It is well laid out, with easy to follow directions and great photos. In each pages margin, the estimated prep time, how many the dish serves, and total cooking time are given. In the bread section, each bread is paired with a suggested soup to complete. There are 65 delicious combinations guaranteed to get you thru the coldest winter.

[Melindeeloo]

I've only tried one recipe so far, the Cheese Beer Bread and it was good, but the best thing was the suggestion to make a half loaf in a smaller pan - so only 30 minutes to cook instead of 60. This makes it so much more doable. At 60 minutes I need to plan to make a loaf, at 30 it is done just about the time the rest of the meal is coming together.

[Naomi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am a lover of soup. I was excited when I saw this book on overdrive. When I got into the book, my excitement dissipated. I could count the number of recipes I would eat on one hand (ok maybe 2). This was a 400 page cookbook and I’d only eat 10? Not a winner cookbook in my eyes!

[Jene · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm pretty picky about cookbooks, preferring to find recipes online and make my own. This is a keeper though. Great recipes, well laid out.

[Brianna Sowinski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love soup and bread. This one's a winter duh.

[Liz Busby · Rating 3 out of 5]

The concept of this book appealed to me, even though some of the recipes are too adventurous for my kids (or me). Worth checking out as she has a few new ideas on soup

[Lisa Daleiden-Brugman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A couple of recipes to try...

[Abi M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely photos! I can't wait to make some of the soups!

[Janet · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. Not very accessible recipes.

[Shauna Morrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic soups and breads! Love every recipe we have tried so far.

[Saima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Includes daal and sambar recipes.