Tag: plant based soup

Cream of Potato and Spinach Soup

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

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.

Ingredients

  • 1 medium yellow or white onion
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 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 cups 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 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
Serve with toasted egg free baguette slices or toasted Ezequiel bread cut into croutons
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!

Navy Bean Soup

With the drop in temperature to the chilly 60’s, rain and ominous dark skies I decided to bust out the big green soup pot and declare the official start of soup season. After all it is September and, according to some meteorologists, September 1st marks the start of meteorological fall.

Of all the soups I could possibly kick the season off with – why navy bean soup? Well – it was a special request from my mother in law. When the call came in for navy bean soup in I sprung into action and hurried on over for the soup delivery. Did she like it? She LOVED it and, in fact, ate it all and requested more!

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound dry navy beans
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 large Vidalia onion chopped
  • 2 large carrots chopped
  • 2 stalks celery chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 tsp. dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 5 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 cup unflavored almond milk

Directions:

  1. Place the dried navy beans in a collander and thoroughy rinse under running water.
  2. Put the 4 cups water in a large soup pot and bring to a boil. Put the beans in the pot and boil for two minutes stirring intermittently. Take the pot off the burner, put the lid on and let the beans soak for one hour. Pour the beans through a colander to drain the water.
  3. Saute the onions, carrots and celery in a small amount of water in the soup pot.
  4. Add the vegetable broth, beans, garlic, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves and black pepper and bring to a boil then reduce the heat and gently simmer for 1 hour and 30 minutes stirring occasionally until the beans are soft.
  5. Add the almond milk.
  6. Remove the soup from the stove and allow to cool down then puree using a hand held mixer or high speed blender.
Garnished with additional thyme and served with a Wasa cracker
Served with a whole grain French baquette. Most baquette’s have zero or less then 1 gram of fat in a serving.

Slow Cooker Split Pea and Red Potato Soup with Garlic Crema

Slow Cooker Split Pea and Red Potato Soup with Garlic Crema

With the high winds, rain and chilly weather, Wednesday definitely seemed like a soup day. It was also a work day so I didn’t have time to fuss for hours over the stove. During my morning shower I went through my refrigerator and cupboards in my head taking an inventory of what I had and what I could possibly make. I remembered the red potatoes and carrots that were getting a little soft and the dried split peas I bought bulk at Lucky’s Market over the weekend. I think I have an onion. No – I know for sure I have an onion way in the back of the crisper! Decision made – split pea soup – and I’ll throw it all in the slow cooker and hope it turns out.

So this recipe is kind of like the way so many things go in my life – “make it up as I go along.” But truthfully, once you get into the swing of plant based cooking it’s pretty easy to throw this, that, and the other thing together and make something fantastic. Inventing new meals anymore is kind of my registered trademark.

Well I put all the ingredients in the slow cooker at 12 noon (during my lunch break) and by 3:00 the pleasant aroma started permeating throughout the house. By 5:30 the most magnificant pot of cream of split pea and red potato soup was ready for consumption. The added bonus was eating it during the drama of a full fledge lightening and thunder-boomer storm!

Ingredients

  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 1/2 cups dried split peas
  • 1 carrot cut in pieces
  • 1 large unpeeled red skinned potato cut in pieces
  • 1 large onion chopped
  • 2 large garlic toes minced
  • 1 tsp. ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp. oregano
  • 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

For the garlic crema garnish (optional)

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1 tsp. corn starch
  • 1 tsp. garlic powder
Vegetable broth, dried split peas, carrots, red skin potato, onion, garlic, bay leaves, black pepper, oregano, cayenne pepper, almond milk (not pictured)

Directions

  1. Rinse the dried peas. This is important to rinse off any dirt PLUS, because split peas are hollow, without rinsing they will not cook properly. Rinse ever so quickly to prevent loss of nutrients.
  2. Add the first 10 ingredients to the slow cooker. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.
  3. Remove bay leaves. Puree mixture in a high speed blender.
  4. Transfer to a pot, add 1 cup almond milk and simmer for a few minutes
  5. In a small saucepan add 1/2 almond milk, cornstarch and onion powder. Stir constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens.
  6. Serve soup piping hot and garnish with the garlic crema.
Rinse ever so briefly to remove dirt
If you prefer a chunky style soup then omit the pureeing step (or just pulse 2 – 3 times)
The garlic crema adds a nice touch to the soup
Instead of croutons or bread, I served mine with pecan cranberry flax crisps. I will post this recipe soon.