Soups

Mock "Cream of Broccoli Soup"

This soup doesn't actually have any broccoli in it, but when I tasted it, it reminded me of something.....cream of broccoli soup!!!!!

1.  Microwave a bag  of cauliflower until completely cooked.

You will need a food processor/chopper.

2.  In a food processor chop:

10 leaves of kale

1 red onion

6 cloves of garlic

3.  Place in a pot of boiling water and boil.

4.  In a food processor slice:

5 carrots

3 potatoes

5.  Place in the pan and  boil with the other ingredients.

6.  Once the cauliflower is cooked blend cauliflower and a can of drained garbanzo beans with 

1/4 nutritional yeast

2 T powdered garlic,  

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp of onion and herb Mrs. Dash

7.  Once potatoes and carrots are tender

add the cauliflower mixture to the soup.

8.  Then add:

1 bag of frozen peas.

The soup should be piping hot now, and ready to eat.  Enjoy!

Use it Up 

Pantry Chili

When I made this pot of chili, it was a cold snowy day and I just kept pulling things out of the pantry that sounded good to me.  I wanted a big pot with lots of beans, so first I started with....

1.  Preparing dried beans for cooking by

     a.  Filling a large pot with water and putting in a 1 lb. bag of kidney beans in the water.

     b.  Bringing the beans to a rolling boil and boiling for 2 minutes.

     c.  Taking the beans off of the heat and letting them sit for 60 minutes.

     d.  Draining the beans

     e.  Rinsing the beans

     f.  Putting them back in the pot and covering them with water, about an inch over the beans.

2.  Cooking the beans by

     a.  Bringing them to a rolling boil

     b.  Then turning down the heat and letting them boil gently for about an hour until they were soft.

3.  Draining the beans, rinsing the beans and then returning back to my large pot

To these beans I added....

2 cups of water

2 cups of left over Minute Rice/Quinoa combination that I already had made up.

1 40 oz   can of Mrs. Grimes Chili Beans ( a store brand would work, but these are awesome)

1/2 cups of dehydrated onions (remember I am grabbing things out of my pantry)

1/2 cups of dehydrated bell peppers

1 32 oz. can of crushed tomatoes

1 16 oz. can of Mexican Style Stewed Tomatoes

1/4 cup of ketchup

1  eight oz. can of tomato sauce

2 T nutritional yeast

2 T chili powder

1 t red pepper flakes

1 t garlic

1/2 t Mrs. Dash Onion and Herb

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t stevia

1/4 t liquid smoke

1/8 t garam masala (Yeah, really.  This is a pretty strong Indian spice, but I put a little bit in just to see and it was pretty good, but you can leave it out because it is hard to find.  I just had it in my pantry and I rarely get to use it.)

So far the chili is pretty soupy which is why I have it in my soup section.  Bring the chili to a low boil and then turn down to simmer.  Simmer for 2 hours.  Watch the pot to make sure it doesn't burn.  Stir occasionally.

I'm not expecting anyone to have or want to use all of this ingredients, but I thought I might want to write this down because chances are, I will continue to have these same ingredients on hand most of the time, and I want to be able to make it again.  

I'm sure you could customize it for what you may have in your pantry, like using a fresh onion instead of dehydrated, or regular Mrs. Dash instead of Onion and Herb, or a tablespoon of honey instead of stevia.  

Nothing like a bowl of chili on a cold day and this makes a really big batch that you can freeze for future cold days!

Smooth Carribean Penne Soup

Inspired by Lindsey S. Nixon's Cuban Black Bean Soup from her book Happy Herbivore Abroad, this soup has a pleasant taste and smooth texture.  

1 T dehydrated onion

1 t red pepper flakes

1 t ground cumin

2 15-oz cans of black beans drained and rinsed

3 c vegetable broth

1/2 c prepared salsa

2 t lime juice

2 cans kidney beans or black beans drained and rinsed

1 cup gluten free penne pasta

On the bottom of a large skilled pour about 1/2 cup water and soak dehydrated onions until tender.  Added spices and saute until onions are translucent.  If water boils out, add a little more.  Still in the skillet, add black beans (not the kidney or second two cans of black beans), salsa, and lime juice.  Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer about ten minutes.  After simmering, carefully pour ingredients into a high capacity blender and blend ingredients until smooth.  Return the mixture back into the skillet and added drained kidney or black beans, and penne pasta.  Bring back up to a boil, and then down to simmer again for 30 minutes, or until pasta is tender.  Serve with homemade tortilla chips, instructions shown in the Cum-in Over and Fiesta With Us Soup recipe.

Cum-in Over and Fiesta With Us Soup

This soup is adapted from the Taco Soup recipe in Lindsay S. Nixon's recipe book, Happy Herbavore Abroad.  I love Lindsay's recipes but I always have to down-spice them for the kids, and double or triple the recipe for our large family.  The major changes I made were doubling or tripling the vegetables and beans, and keeping the spices to the original amounts.  I also left out the paprika and cayenne.  The spice amount turned out to be perfect.  This soup has a very satisfying flavor, especially for a cold winter day.





2 14-oz. cans diced tomatoes
2 c vegetable broth
3 cans kidney beans
4 c frozen corn
1/2 c salsa
4 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 Tbl chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder.

Put all of the above ingredients in a large pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer and simmer for 30 minutes.  Serve with homemade baked tortilla chips.

To make the tortilla chips, I get a stack of about 7 corn tortillas, cut them in strips with a pizza cutter, and baked on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

Here's an idea for a snack the next day.  Before baking the tortilla strips, you can dip them in the soup mixture before it gets too hot and then place the stips on the cookie sheet.



Rainy Day Creamy Cheesy Soup for a Healthy Heart

This is a creamy heart healthy soup with no added fat, salt, or sweeteners. This soup was inspired by the recipe Not Your Mother's Oatmeal on the web site authored by a medical librarian (she doesn't publish her name)  who embraced a plant based diet for healing heart disease.  Her web site is  athttp://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/nitric-oxide/

The oatmeal and kale provide nitric oxide for accelerating the healing of the damaged endothelial cells.

1 box Kitchen Basics Vegetable Broth

1 head of orange colored cauliflower cut into chunks (white can be used, just blend in a jar of pimientos to make the cheesy color)

10 quartered small yukon potatoes

1 cup gluten free oatmeal (if not celiac you can use regular)

1/4 cup dehydrated chopped onion

Pour vegetable broth into a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil and add cauliflower and potato pieces, oatmeal, and onions.  Simmer until tender.

Once tender, using a large spoon, "fish" out all large cauliflower pieces and half of the potato pieces and put in a high powered blender.  Some liquid should end up in blender to help with the blending process.  Once mixture is smooth and creamy return it back into the pot.

Add the following ingredients to the saucepan...

1 additional cup of oatmeal

1 T Bragg's Amino Acids (this is to give the soup somewhat of a salty flavor, but for a heart healthy soup this is all of the sodium that should be added to the soup.  Others who don't have heart problems can add salt to taste later)

1/4 c nutritional yeast (heart patients, especially vegans,  need B-vitamins to keep homocystein levels down and this is an excellent non-meat source)

1 t Mrs. Garlic and Herb Dash (any type of Mrs. Dash will do)

2 fist fulls of torn into small pieces kale (not cooked)

1 cup frozen peas (not cooked)

The peas and the kale will have good bio-avaliabilty as the warm soup breaks down the outer cell walls somewhat, but doesn't kill all of their enzymes.

Let the soup sit for ten minutes, without being on the burner, before serving so the piece and kale have time to "process".

Again, if you aren't a heart patient feel free to add salt to taste to bring out a more cheesy flavor!

Warming Inflammation Fighting Red Lentil Soup

1 box of gluten free vegetable broth (add more water as need to keep the lentils covered during the simmering process.

2 cups red lentils

1 onion diced

1 small bag of the tiny baby carrots

1 pk Stevia

1 t cumin

1 t turmeric

Sea salt to taste

Fill a saucepan 1/3 with gluten free vegetable broth and bring to boil.  Add lentils, diced onions, and carrots to boiling water and turn heat to simmer and simmer until all ingredients are mushy consistence.  Add stevia l, spices, and add salt to taste.

Winter Comfort Soup

This soup is great for weight loss because of the water/fiber content.  Very filling.  It also has quinoa in it which contains all of the required amino acids making it a complete protein.

8 carrots chopped in 1 inch pieces

8 celery stalks chopped in 1 inch pieces

6 russet potatoes diced in 1 inch pieces

1/4 c dehydrated chopped onions

1 orange bell pepper diced in 1 inch pieces

1 sweet potato diced in 1 inch pieces

2 roma tomatoes sliced

1/3 c quinoa

1 bag frozen green peas

1 c cooked navy beans or 1 can of navy beans drained (pictured are garbanzos because I was out of navy)

1 t salt

1 T Bragg's Amino Acids or gluten free soy sauce

1 T red pepper flakes

1 T garlic powder

Fill a medium sized sauce pan half way with hot water.  Chop and dice all of the vegetables and put in the sauce pan.  Add quinoa.  Bring water to a boil, and then turn down to a simmer.  Simmer for 45 minutes or until vegetables are tender.  Add  frozen peas, beans, and remaining ingredients.  


Cream of Potato Soup 

This soup was inspired by Diane K. Smith's Potato and Kale soup from plantbasedcooking.com.  It was so good that my husband had four bowls the first time we tried it.  I readjusted amounts to customize for our large family and our tastes.

6 new potatoes diced
4 carrots sliced in thin pieces
4 celery stalks dices
1/4 c dehydrated onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 head of kale
1 1/2 cups almond milk
1 T cornstarch
1 t salt ( or add more to taste)
1 t parsley
1 1/2 t red pepper
1/2 bag frozen cauliflower (actually we used 1/2 c freeze dried cauliflower)
1/2 bag frozen broccoli ( we used 1/2 c freeze dried broccoli)
1/4 c nutritional yeast

Chop potatoes, carrots, and celery in small pieces and put in a med saucepan of boiling water.  Add dehydrated onions.  Microwave cloves of garlic in the microwave for 20 seconds.  Take off the skins and smash with a fork.  Break into small pieces and add to the boiling water.  Separate the kale from the stems and tear into small pieces and add to the water. 
Gently boil until vegetables are tender.  If you are using frozen cauliflower or broccoli add at the same time as the kale.  If you are using freeze dried broccoli and cauliflower at last.  Add the spices.

Once vegetables are tender take a soup and drain off enough of the brother to make the water level just barely cover the vegetables.  You can use this broth for another recipe that calls for vegetable broth and freeze it.  

In a separate container add to the almond milk the cornstarch and the nutritional yeast.  Once completely blended, pour in the soup.  

Simmer for 15 minutes.