A full-bodied celebration of soups you can stand up your spoon in, “Soup’s On” is full of fifty recipes for soul-soothing, body-nurturing meals-in-one. From the heirloom Grandma Smith’s Tomato Soup to the richly regional Puppy Drum Stew: a Fish Chowder North Carolina-Style, these are soups to fill the belly and stick to the ribs, and their ingredients will please every palate – fresh meat, poultry, and seafood; garden vegetables; and dried beans.

Along with details on making soup stock (rather than relying on canned versions), Lembke gives cooking instructions both practical and irreverent, with absolutely no attention paid to matters of calories and fat content. Each soup is accompanied by lush photos and charming anecdotes of the recipe’s origin, the Latin roots of its main ingredient’s name, entertaining tales from her garden, or an enlightening personal vignette.

Among the fifty recipes are:

Butternut Squash Soup with Pancetta

Five Variations on Minestrone

Kick Ass Pea Soup

Sausage and Bean Chowder

Oxtail Soup

Cow Puncher’s Bullion

Chicken Noodle Picante

Crab Jambalaya

Shrimp File Gumbo

and a lively supporting cast including cornbread and dumplings.