Hi Cathy- GREAT THREAD!
I'm a huge soup-fan... there's hardly one I don't like!
I love Minstrone, and also a basic chicken broth w/ tender cheese tortelini tossed in.
I love thick cream soups and chowders. A fav is corn chowder- I enjoy it plain, or with either smoked sausage, smoked salmon or chicken added in.
Also chicken-noodle and chicken-dumpling.
I love hearty bean soups from navy bean, to pinto-bean and balck bean... to split pea and barley.
I also occasionally buy canned soups and my preferred ones are: Campbell's Italian Wedding Soup w/ mini meatbalss and spinach... and Campbells Chunky chicken-corn chowder, and potato ham chowder.
Also, it's hard to beat a nice, thick, creamy New England Clam Chowder, in my book!
(FYI: it's 10 degrees below zero here tonight- what I wouldn't give for a bubbling kettle of rib-stickcing, soul-warming soup right now! When my graveyard shift is over, I'll head home and put a few ham hocks in the cock-pot along with some washed navy beans, mirepiox, water, a shake of dried thyme and a bay-leaf... A few hours later when I wake-up I'll throw together a quick box of Jiffy cornbread mix and voila- I'll be set! YUM!)