Marilyn Hagerty: Road kill soup draws attention at soup supper

Road Kill soup drew a fair share of attention when the annual October soup supper was held at Grand Forks Air Force base.

It was among 31 donations of soup that came in on Oct. 17. The winning soup was made by the family of Lt. Col. Brandon Cieloha, commander for the 348 ^th Reconnaissance Squadron. Their recipe was for Frankenswine Chili.

The soup supper has been around for 15 years according to Cheryl Anderson of the Airman and Family Readiness Center. This year, 352 people signed in to savor the soup.

Among the entries drawing most attention were Roadkill Soup along with a Potato Leek Soup. Their recipes follow.

Mark Arndt, now retired from the Air Force, works on the base. He and his wife Elizabeth live on a 10-acre farm at Emerado. They have four grown children.

He uses cubed beef, chicken breasts or Italian sausage for his soup. He dices the meat into half inch squares and browns them. He puts the meat into a crockpot with about six cups of water in it. He uses two packages of McCormick beef stew seasoning. He adds two 4-ounce cans of mushrooms. Then what he calls “a normal can” of sweet corn and another of diced tomatoes. Next into the crockpot is 29 ounces of homestyle vegetables in a product he calls Veg-All.

With all this in the crockpot, he puts in basil and rosemary for seasoning along with black pepper.

He winds it up with about a teaspoon of McCormick minced onion flakes for seasoning. And he says, “I like onions.”

Sometimes he adds garlic, depending on the meat he is using.

Arndt retired from the Air Force in 2001 and now works on the base. He says he wanted to stay in this area.

“I like the people here. I think they are more friendly.”

Some who tasted it, used the word “amazing” to describe the Potato Leek Soup made by Cassie Garber, who grew up in Pennsylvania. She’s a military wife of M/Sgt. Patrick Garber. With their children, they live on the air base.

She starts by melting about four tablespoons of butter in a pan. Then she adds chopped onion along with three chopped leeks and three diced potatoes.

“Stir them all together until they are coated with butter,” she said.

She then covers the pan and leaves it on medium heat. Next she pours in 3 ¾ cups of chicken stock.

“Cover again and let simmer about 20 minutes until vegetables are very tender. Scoop about a half of the soup and puree it in a blender,” she said. ‘’Then put it back in the pan. Add two-thirds cup of heavy cream.

“Salt and pepper to taste,” she said. “Heat for about five minutes.’’