Tis the season for soup. What do you like, home and backcountry?

A bouillon cube in hot water is nice while setting up camp, a la Walkies.

I like Bear Creek soup for camping.

As for home, there are way too many I like to list them all off.

Here's the recipe of one quick and easy one though:

Mediterannean Chick Pea, Tomato and Pasta Soup
1 cup diced onions
1 1/2 cups of water
1 16 oz can of chicken or veggie broth
cumin
cinnamon
black pepper
1 can of chick peas, drained
1 can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup of uncooked ditalini (or any other small shape pasta)
fresh parsley

Cook onions in olive oil, add water and next 6 ingredients (water through tomatoes). Bring mixture to a boil, cover, reduce heat and let simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add pasta, cook until tender. Stir in chopped parley and serve. Yum!

Liptons Cream of Chicken cuppa soup - so easy to make, and a warm tasty treat at home or at camp (I tend to like salt rather than sweet)

Home - Boston Clam Chowder or Scallop and Lobster bisque
camping - Those safeway brand lowfat dried curry and lentil soups but I repackage them and leave the containers at home.

Trail: Lipton chicken noodle
Knorr oxtail

Home: Campbell's chicken noodle

At home I like a garlicky tortellini soup that came out of "The Best of the Best of Bridge" cookbook.

On the trail, here is one that is good for your dehydrator (just need to make sure the chicken pieces are really small so they dry all the way). (This is from The Leave No Crumbs camping cookbook).

Mexican Lime Soup
Ingredients:

• 10-15 unpeeled garlic cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 chicken breasts
• 10 peppercorns
• salt
• 8 cups water or chicken stock
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper, chopped
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large tomato chopped fine and mashed
• juice of 2 limes (1/4 cup)
• zest of 2 limes (4 teaspoons)
• zest of 1/4 grapefruit (1/3 cup)
• 3-4 serrano chilis, finely chopped
• 6 stale tortillas
• 4-6 cups of water to rehydrate

Preparation:
1. Heat an iron skillet or frying pan till it is very hot. Toss in the garlic and let the peels scald on all sides (about 5min) till they begin to blacken. Remove from heat and when they are cool enough strip away the peels. They should come off easily and the garlic should be soft.
2. Combine the garlic, oregano, chicken breasts, peppercorns and salt to taste in a large pot with the stock or water. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and then simmer until the chicken is tender (about 20-25min). Remove from heat and when the chicken is cool shred into small pieces and set aside. Reserve the broth.
3. Saute half the onions and all of the green peppers in 2 tablespoons of oil until they are soft (about 3min). Stir in the mashed tomato and cook 3 min longer.
4. Spoon the tomato mixture into the broth along with the shredded chicken, lime juice, lime zest, grapefruit zest, remaining chopped onions and chilis.
5. Puree half of the soup in a blender to thicken the soup. Then add it back to the main soup in the pot. (If the soup still looks too runny for dehydrating let it simmer on the stove for awhile to boil off some of the liquid.)
6. Spread on lined trays and dehydrate 10-15 hours until thoroughly dry.
7. Brush the tortillas lightly with the remaining oil and cut into strips. In a hot skillet brown lightly, 3-5 min or until just crisp. Dehydrate separately for 5-7 hours until they are the texture of jerky.

At Camp:
8. Rehydrate the soup with the water to cover; use more water for thinner soup. (For easier rehydration let it sit in the water for as long as possible). Bring to a boil and then simmer 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the tortilla strips just before serving.

This is the best backcountry meal I have ever had. Enjoy!