Spring is a little way off yet and there are still plenty of chilly days ahead. A bowl of soup is a great way to warm up on the inside and ward off the cold outside. Check out the suggestions below, which were taken from Recipes Remembered, a collection of readers’ recipes shared weekly in Our Town and the Star Journal over three decades.

We’re starting a new version of that tradition and will be posting readers’ recipes on starjournalnow.com. If you have a favorite recipe you’d like to submit for possible inclusion, simply email it to [email protected]. We’ll post new recipes each week, so check back often.

Black Bean Soup
1 lb. dried black beans
2 bay leaves
1 whole onion
1 whole carrot
1 whole rib of celery
2 garlic cloves
Sort and rinse black beans. Combine with remaining ingredients in 5-quart Dutch oven. Add water to cover. Boil and simmer until beans are tender. Take out whole vegetables and discard.
1 lb. kielbasa, andouille or chorizo sausage, chopped (opt.)
2 jalapeno peppers, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
Add vegetables and sausage to beans and water in Dutch oven. Cook until vegetables are tender about 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve. Garnish with dollop of sour half-and-half and sliced green onions. To reduce amount of fat, heat sausage in microwave or fry pan and drain thoroughly.
Sandra Frost

Onion-Potato Soup
6 slices bacon
4 med. onions (2 c.), sliced
2 lg. potatoes, pared and diced (21/4 c.)
1 (133/4-oz.) can chicken broth (13/4 c.)
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. salt
1 (141/2-oz.) can evaporated milk
2 T. fresh parsley
In large saucepan, cook bacon until crisp. Reserve 2 tablespoons of drippings. Drain and crumble. Cook onions in drippings until tender but not brown. Add diced potatoes, chicken broth, water and salt. Cover. Cook 10 minutes until potatoes are tender. Mash potatoes slightly. Stir in evaporated milk, parsley and crumbled bacon. Heat through. Serves 6.
Joe and Doris Kuehn

Spicy Thai Shrimp Soup
2 T. peanut oil
2 T. minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. dried crushed red pepper
5 c. chicken stock or canned broth
1 T. lime zest
1/3 c. long-grain white rice
3/4 lb. med. Fresh water shrimp or crayfish
6 lg. mushrooms, quartered
1 c. canned unsweetened coconut milk
1/2 c. chopped onion
2 T. fresh lime juice
4 green onions, chopped
Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add ginger and red pepper and saute until ginger is aromatic, about 1 minute. Add stock and lime peel. Bring to boil. Stir in rice, reduce heat, cover and simmer until rice is very tender, about 20 minutes. Add shrimp, mushrooms, coconut milk and onion; cook until shrimp is opaque, about 5 minutes. Remove soup from heat. Add lime juice. Garnish with green onions.
Don Kemmeter