Tag: comfort soup

Healthy Creamy Potato Spinach Soup (Vegan, Dairy Free)

“This creamy potato spinach soup is a healthy, whole food plant-based recipe made without dairy or oil. It is rich, comforting, and perfect for a quick vegan meal or cozy weeknight dinner.”

Fall is soup season for me. And … there’s no greater joy than unfurling my big green pot and crafting a healthy soup on a crisp autumn day. The goal was something simple and to use only the ingredients I had on hand at home. So I rescued a bag of potatoes starting to sprout and spinach beginning to wilt and transformed them into this wonderful soup. The beautiful thing about soup making is it is very forgiving and easy to prepare making it a practical comfort food for busy autumn days.

Soup is forgiving and easy to prepare making it a practical comfort food for busy autumn days

Ingredients

  • I medium yellow or white onion
  • 2 cloves minced garlic
  • 3 large carrots peeled and chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh spinach
  • 3 – 4 large potatoes peeled and cut into chunks (I used Russets)
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup raw unsalted cashews
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened unflavored plant based milk
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions

  1. Soak the cashews in warm water for at least 4 hours (or overnight)
  2. Sauté the chopped onions and carrots in a small amount of water until the onions are translucent (about 10 minutes)
  3. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 – 60 seconds
  4. Add the vegetable broth and potatoes and simmer until the potatoes are soft
  5. Prepare the cashew cream by blending the cashews with the plant based milk in a high speed blender for about 1 minute
  6. Add the cashew cream to the soup then blend the soup using a hand or immersion blender
  7. Add the spinach and spices and cook for an additional 10 minutes
Served with toasted egg free baguette slices or toasted Ezequiel bread cut into croutons
Soaking the cashews is non- negotiable. If they are not soaked long enough the cream will be gritty or grainy and lack the desired creamy and velvety texture. On the other hand, soaking for too long (over 12-24 hours) will cause them to become overly soft, slimy, and develop a bitter taste due to fermentation.
This is what the cashew cream looks like all whipped up! It is an excellent dairy-free alternative to cream, sour cream, or cheese sauces. It can be used in soups, stews, curries, mixed in mashed potatoes, as a topping over roasted vegetables, as a dip by adding herbs, spices or garlic. The possibilities are endless!
Fall colors to inspire culinary creativity
Happy autumn!

Creamy Potato Leek & Tarragon Soup

There is no better comfort food then a steamy bowl of soup especially in the thick of Autumn. It really warms the heart and soul. This recipe is one of my favorites. I whipped up a batch last year for new nurses during their orientation. I really took a chance on this one seeing that none of them were whole food plant based eaters that I recall. It was either going to be a home run or I was going to be benched the rest of the afternoon. It turned out to be a home run! We even had leftovers the next day.

Not only is this soup comforting and delicious but it is loaded with antioxidants. And as my CDE dietician friend commented when I first put this recipe on Facebook, “Hail to antioxidants they rule the country!” Well said Maryellen. I couldn’t agree more.

So it’s 32 degrees today in Northeastern Ohio and I have this soup on my mind. As I’m preparing the ingredients it is snowing yellow and orange leaves outside my kitchen window. The wind is gusty. My tall purple Monkshoods are swaying in breeze. Yes, it’s November and they are still in bloom. The dark clouds are rolling in. It won’t be long before my entire kitchen will be filled with the aroma of this healthy and hearty soup. It’s things like this that make me so happy!

Creamy Potato Leek & Tarragon Soup

Ingredients

  • 6 – 7 potatoes (peeled and cubed)
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 can cannellini beans (rinsed)
  • 2 cups leeks cut in small pieces
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 2 garlic toes minced
  • 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar (more or less to your tasting)
  • 2 tsp. ground tarragon
  • 2 tsp. black pepper
  • 2 bay leaves
Potatoes, vegetable broth, leek, onion, garlic, cannellini beans, tarragon, black pepper, bay leaves (not pictured) and apple cider vinegar

Directions

  1. Cut the roots and the green parts of the leek off. The parts you want in your soup will be white or very pale green. Thoroughly rinse the leeks under water to remove the grit and sand. Cut the leeks lengthwise and then make crosswise cuts. I prefer to use kitchen sheers for the crosswise cuts. Then place them in a collander and rinse, rinse, rinse. Use your hands to agitate the leeks in order to dislodge the debris that tends to stick to them. Tip: Hold on to the dark green parts of the leek. They are great to add to other vegetables when making homemade vegetable broth.
  2. Sautee the leeks, onions and garlic in a small amount of water
  3. Add the vegetable broth, potatoes, cannalini beans, terragon, black pepper, bay leaves and apple cider vinegar. Bring to a boil then simmer on low stirring occasionally until potatoes are soft (approximately 20 minutes).
  4. Place the mixture in a food processor, small batches at a time, and puree on high. Place back into the cooking pot and simmer on low for 10 more minutes. Classic potato leek soup is thick but, if you prefer thinner, adjust by adding more vegetable broth or water. Feel free to add more black pepper or apple cider vinegar according to your liking. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Soup is on! Did you know potato leek soup is a classic French soup. They call it Soupe Vichyssoise. It is served warm in autumn and winter and cold in spring and summer.