Soups and such

It's fall.  The cooler weather in the mornings (and if I'm lucky, the evenings) has me thinking of things like sweaters, hot chocolate, apple cider, and soup.  Ah, soup.  Food of the gods (if you believe in gods.  I don't recommend the plural).  Seriously, I would be just as happy to curl up with a bowl of soup as I would be with a warm cup of hot chocolate or even, maybe, a chai.  I don't think ambrosia is a fruit salad: it's soup.

There are a couple of soups on my list that I'm itching to make: my own chicken stock for one.  I saw a recipe for homemade stock on Barefoot Contessa, and I'm hankering to try it.  I've heard of putting onions and carrots and celery in your stock, but parsnips?  And the fact that you can throw them in unpeeled, everything unpeeled: onions, carrots, garlic, etc.  How fantastic is that.  And the broth is supposed to come out a beautiful golden color because you didn't.  Yes, fantastic.  I have plans for that broth.  I've seen nests of homestyle noodles at Dillons and I want to make homemade Chicken and Noodles.  I have a long list of soups to try: pureed vegetable soups, Italian Wedding Soup, etc.  But one I'd like to try I bet you may not be as familiar with: panade.  Yes, I want to make a panade.  Panade is apparently somewhere between soup and casserole (I also like casseroles).  It's layers of bread, cheese, and veggies, most popularly onions, ladled over with hot chicken broth.  Does it not sound good?  Everything melds together in the broth and is apparently thick and rich and inviting.  I don't know that I can convince Nick to try it with the onions and I haven't found a recipe without an onion base.  This may require some consideration.  But it's also related to another thing I want to try and doubt Nick would be willing to let me "stink up" the kitchen with: French Onion Soup.  It's been featured a lot on Food Network lately (my television of choice during the day) and I'm seriously wanting to try it.  But there's the onions.  Nick hates them.  What's a girl to do?  I may just have to try it and try to air out the kitchen as much as possible afterwards!