Righteous Tomato Soup

I was inspired by Pink Peppercorns tomato soup a week back and have been toying with the idea of it ever since.

Then one day I went to grocery store & the clerk accidentally rang up 2 cans of diced tomatoes that belonged to the person behind me. I didn't notice until I got home & figured this was some sort of sign to go ahead and try the tomato soup.

I dug around online to find a recipe that included all of the ingredients I had in mind and came across this little beauty from The CD Kitchen.

And let me tell you

This soup is the bomb diggity! I'm in love & it's my new favorite, and best soup I've made yet. hands down! It's definitely in the OHMYGOD THIS IS SO GOOD!! category.

I make all my soups in my crock pot because I'm busy & have a very short attention span. So it's better for me to make soup slowly when I don't have to constantly keep watch on it. So I could smell this one cooking all day & I could barely stand it! As soon as it was done, I poured my self a big bowl & dug in.

And I ate every last drop. It was *that* good. Seriously.

So here's what you'll need:

1 stick of unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks of celery chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons unbleached whole wheat flour
4 cups vegetable stock
2 cans (14.5 oz size) tomatos
1 can of tomato paste
1/4 tsp of dried red pepper
2 bay leaves
fresh orgeno to taste
2 teaspoons of fresh basil
¼ cup of soy milk (totally optional. i usually leave it out entirely & don't notice a difference)
1/2 tsp of lime juice
kosher salt & cracked black pepper to taste

Put the crock pot on the "High" setting.
1. cut the butter into pats & place in the crock pot on to melt
2. While it's melting, chop up the onion, garlic & celery & add them to the pot.
3. Stir well & to coat the veggies with the butter
4. While they are simmering, chop of the fresh Oregeno & Sage and add to the pot.

This was the first time I've used fresh oregeno & it was wonderful.

5. Stir all ingredients well and add the red pepper, kosher salt & black pepper to taste.
6. Still well & cover pot. Switch the crock pot setting to "Low" and allow to simmer for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.

At this point, the mix already smelled so good I was practically drooling. I was very seriously considering eating this as is. Maybe over pasta or on bread. It smelled that good.


It should look something like this. All veggies should be coated in the butter and simmering .

7. Add the flour and stir well
8. Stir in the canned tomatoes
9. Stir in the can of tomato paste, and you'll have a nice happy mixture like this.
10. Add the vegetable stock and lime juice. Stir well and place lid back on pot.
11. Leave this to cook for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.
12. Put the soup in a blender until it comes out with a creamy consistency.
13. Pour in the soy cream and stir well.
14. Serve and devour!
I put some of this in containers in my freezer for work. But I also set some aside in my fridge because I know I'm going to want another bowl tomorrow.

Or maybe even later tonight...

Spinach Potage with Dill And Lemon

This is one of my new favorites. And yes, at first glance, the ingredients in this sound like an odd combination, but trust me, this really is delicious.

The best thing about this recipe, is that it's easy and versatile. You can play around with the consistency, the amount of spinach, lemon, and you could even add cheese if you were of the lactose tolerant kind.

I've made this both soupy and very thick with a whipped potato-like texture & have gotten rave reviews either way. Personally, I like this to be soup-like, because I don't liked my potatoes whipped. I found the original at BetterRecipes, and have of course, modified it to my own liking.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion, finely chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
  

• olive oil

• 6 cups vegetable stock
  

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 5 medium red potatoes, peeled and diced

• 8 ounces washed and ready to use fresh baby spinach

• 1 cup soy milk

• 1/2 of an 8 oz container vegan sour cream
  

• kosher salt & cracked black pepper
  

Method:

Turn the crock pot on to HIGH and cover the bottom with the olive oil.
Add the chopped onions and garlic and sprinkle with cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste. While the onions & garlic are simmering, wash, peel & chop the potatoes and add to the pot. Add the lemon juice and let this simmer for about 10 minutes stirring every few minutes.

Add the vegetable stock, and turn crock pot on the LOW setting, and let simmer for about 5 hours, stirring occasionally.

When the vegetables have softened, put the contents into a blender or food processor, and blend until smooth.

Stir in the vegan-sour cream and soy milk

Garnish with fresh dill and lemon zest & serve.

Sunshine Soup

I made this recipe for Carrot Ginger soup last weekend and it was good. But not perfect. It tasted fine, but it didn't have the creamy-like consistency that I had wanted.

I figured out what I did wrong, and made it again last night.

But this time, I did it right and it came out great!

As previously mentioned, my motivation for this is to have something quick, easy & healthy to eat at work. But I made it again this week so I could bring some to my stepfather. He, unlike my mother is NOT pathologically picky eater & likes really spicy foods. However, since my mom cooks for him, he hardly ever gets to eat anything he truly enjoys. So when I make something good and spicy, I like to bring it to him to enjoy. And to irritate my mom. Because she won't eat it.

However, right now my mom is on a missions trip with her church to a remote village in Malawi and won't be back home until next week. So my stepfather & bro have been left to their own devices & to fend for themselves.

So later today or tomorrow I'm going over to visit them & bring them some soup they'd never have otherwise.

And I must say, I'm pretty pleased with myself on how this came out.

I found the original at Andrea's Recipes and most of it sounded good.

Except for the whole curry part. I hate curry. It smells like dirty gymsocks to me. So I switched up the recipe a little & it came out really well. Plus, this is totally vegan & fat free so it's about as healthy as you can get.

One bowl of this stuff clears my sinuses, boosts my energy and warms me up all over. It's good stuff!

So without further ado, here's the recipe the way I made it:

Ingredients:

1 whole stick of butter (or, like me, I used 2 half sized Earth Balance sticks)

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 cup fresh minced ginger (no, the powered stuff will NOT work. fresh only)

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1 small red bell pepper

6 cups vegetable stock

6 big carrots

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 tsp chili poweder

salt & ground black pepper to taste.

Directions:

Turn the crock pot on high & put in the butter. While it's melting, chop the onion & add it to the butter & stir. Then chop the garlic & add that. While they are simmering, peel the ginger & mince. Add it to the crockpot. Then chop the pepper into small pieces and add to the pot. Let this simmer for about 30 mins stirring often.

While the veggies in the pot are simmering, wash & peel the carrots. Chop them into very small pieces and add them to the mix & stir. Let simmer for another 15 mins. Then add the vegetable stock, lemon juice, chili poweder, salt & pepper. Still well.

Turn the crockpot setting on to low & leave overnight.

In the morning, pour into a food processor or blender & blend until smooth.

Interjection: Be very careful for this part! Hot liquids will expand in the blender/processor! So I've found it's best to add a little bit at a time & hold the lid down while blending. Otherwise, the lid will fly off, you'll get soup all over your kitchen & probably sustain burns. So please! Be cautious!

If serving fresh, garnish with a scoop of vegan sour cream & fresh chopped green onions. If freezing, pour into containers & allow it to cool for several minutes before lidding & putting in the freezer.

As I said, this stuff is fantastic. It's wonderfully healthy & I felt so much better after having a bowl, that it was like having a bowl full of warm sunshine.

After posting this, I realized that I eat a LOT of orange food! I usually have a clementine every day and orange juice too. And yes, I love pumpkin food too.

White Bean Soup

Sorry, no picture.

Again, it's yummy, but fugly.

Since the Cuban Black Bean Soup was a success, I decided to try a white bean soup recipe.

Plus, I'm now officially on a soup kick. For several reasons.

It's cold and has been snowing. A lot. So, I need something warm and comforting & filling but not fattening.

My team at work is moving to a new facility, which does not have a cafe. Not that I ever eat there very much, but when I do, I can at least get something healthy & vegetarian. The facility that I'm going to only has sub shops and fast food joints in the area. Neither or which are healthy nor vegetarian.

Try going into Subway & ordering a sandwich, but hold the meat please, and see what kind of nasty looks you get.

I am NOT HAPPY about going to the new place. Really. Not. Happy. But, it's a job, and considering I'm in the financial industry, I'm just thankful I still have a job at all. So, I'm trying not to complain.

My solution to this little problem is to make several batches of soup, freeze it, and bring it into work for lunch.

Yesterday I made White Bean Soup, but I'm planning on also making a batch of Spinach Potato Soup & Ginger Carrot Soup this weekend as well. That way I'll have about 2 weeks worth of soup ready to go. And the best thing about it, is that soup is super cheap to make. Generally speaking, the ingredients are stuff I already have in my kitchen & usually only need to get one or two things. Plus, it makes several meals, so I feel like I'm really getting my moneys worth. It's definitely cheaper than buying a can of soup or two for the same price. Also, I know exactly whats in it. I made it, so everything in the soup is something good. No preservatives, no meat products and made totally to my own liking.

So heres the recipe I used & it came out great. Its a mish-mash of several different recipes but it came out very tasty. I made this in my crockpot & let is simmer over night. Then put it all in the blender when I got up this morning.

Ingredients:

2 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 a yellow onion
1 shallot
5 cloves of garlic
4 cups vegetable stock
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 stalks of celery
1 bag of dried white beans
1/2 cup water
salt, black pepper and red pepper to taste.


Turn the crockpot on High & cover the bottom with the olive oil chop the onion, shallot, garlic & celery and put into the crock pot add the red pepper and cook until translucent, stirring occassionally.

Add the vegetable stock and white beans.

Stir occassionally.

Cook until beans are soft, add the water, lemon juice, salt and pepper then blend on low
(if you have a food processor, then you can probably do this all at once, but I just have a blender so I had do it in small batches)

Garnish with thyme and serve
(or put into containers and freeze)

Cuban Black Bean Soup

My mother in law gave me a crock pot for Christmas, so I decided to break it in this week end. I've been dying to try to make my own soup utilizing a crock pot, but finding good vegetarian + crock pot recipes = difficult. I finally found a good black bean soup recipe which made me very happy. I love Progresso's black bean soup, but I really don't love the $4 a can price tag. And when I'm sick, that's the only thing I want. So I figured I could probably make it at home & have enough to last a month for the same price. And happily, I was correct.

So, I made soup for the first time yesterday & it came out great! yaay!

I don't have a picture for this one because...well...it's not pretty. even with garnish, it's pretty ugly. But it tastes good! Although, next time, I plan on spicing it up a little more. I like my black bean soup to be good and spicy.

here's the recipe :

Cuban Black Bean Soup

1 Tbs olive oil
1 yellow onion
1 red bell pepper
7 cloves garlic
1 pound dry black beans
5 cups water
3 cup vegetable broth
1 7-oz can diced green chilies
1 Tbs cumin
1 Tbs thyme
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cayanne seasoning
2 bay leaves

Method:

Add olive oil to crock pot and turn on highest setting. Chop yellow onion and stir into olive oil. Cover and let cook while you chop bell pepper into 1 inch chunks. Stir in bell pepper.

Using a garlic press, crush garlic cloves directly into crock pot. (i don't have a garlic press. so i minced the garlic into tiny pieces & this worked just fine)

Stir and cover.

Rinse black beans in a colander. Add to crock pot along with water, broth, chilies, cumin, thyme, salt, pepper, cayanne seasoning and bay leaves. Cover and cook on high at least 8 hours.

Before serving, partially puree soup with a blender.

Mix until thick, but still with chunks of beans, onions and peppers visible. Ladle into 6 soup bowls.

Optional Garnish:
Top each bowl with a dollop of sour cream (about 1 Tbs), 1 tsp diced red bell pepper, 1 tsp diced white onion, and a sprinkling of finely chopped, fresh cilantro (about half a tablespoon).

Personally, I just sprinkled a little bit of taco flavored shredded cheese.