Asparagus Soup

Ingredients:

1 bunch apsparagus
2 liter water
3 tsp salt
3 Tbs sugar
1/4 c butter
3 Tbs flour
1/2 c cream

Cut tips from asparagus and set aside.  Place stalks in a stockpot.  Add 2 liters of water, salt and sugar.  Lightly boil for 1 hour.  Remove asparagus stalks and discard.  In a small pot, melt butter with flour to make a roux.  Add to liquid and mix until smooth.  Add salt, pepper and sugar as needed to taste.  Add cream and sliced asparagus tips.  Cook 10-15 min.

Italian Sausage soup

This is another delicious soup my friend Elania made on Halloween!  She also added orzo pasta - it was tasty!

Italian Sausage Soup

Ingredients

2 pounds Italian sausage

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

4 (14 ounce) cans beef broth

• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes
• 2 cups sliced carrots

• 2 (14.5 ounce) cans great Northern beans, undrained
• 4 small zucchini, cubed
• 4 cups spinach - packed, rinsed and torn
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Original recipe yields 6 servings

Note: Recipe directions are for the original serving size.

Directions

• In a stockpot or Dutch oven, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 15 minutes.
• Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Cover, and simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.
• Remove from heat, and add spinach. Replace lid allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

Pumpkin Soup

We just ate this at a neighborhood Halloween party and it was so amazing that I HAD to get the recipe  (This recipe is courtesy of my friend Elania)!  It's the perfect way to use up those pumpkins after Halloween! :)

I only altered it a bit, with the "healthy heavy cream substitute" that I discovered here.  It turned out delicious!  This is definitely one of my new favorite recipes! 

Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients

• 6 cups chicken stock
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 4 cups pumpkin puree
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup chopped onion

• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 whole black peppercorns

Original recipe yields 8 to 10 servings

Directions

• Heat stock, salt, pumpkin, onion, thyme, garlic, and peppercorns. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes uncovered.
• Puree the soup in small batches (1 cup at a time) using a food processor or blender.
• Return to pan, and bring to a boil again. Reduce heat to low, and simmer for another 30 minutes, uncovered. Stir in heavy cream. Pour into soup bowls and garnish with fresh parsley.

Black Bean Soup

 Black Bean Soup
Recipe from Food Network, courtesy of Dave Lieberman

We have tried a LOT of black bean soups, and this is my favorite by far!  It is so rich and full of flavor, even without the bacon!

Ingredients
10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheddar, for garnish
Directions
Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with the garnishes.



Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/dave-lieberman/black-bean-soup-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback

Bea's Anti-Cancer Soup

A dear friend of mine, Bea who was recently diagnosed with cancer has been reading a book about 'anti-cancer' foods.  She and I looked through the book together and found several different pages listing the foods most likely to ward off various types of cancer.  One thing I noticed was that, while the lists varied somewhat, these 5 foods were at the top of nearly every list: garlic, leeks, kale, collard greens and spinach.  Though my family eats a moderate amount of these foods, I vowed to try to incorporate more into our diet.

Fast forward a few weeks to today - in a hurry, I googled 'fast, healthy meals' and found the following soup. I couldn't believe how simple and fast it was to make....and was even more pleased with how delicious it was!  All of my children - even Wiggles, my fussiest eater, gobbled it up and asked for seconds.  Wiggles remarked "I want to eat this whole pot of soup!"  So, I would say it's definitely a winning recipe and will frequent our menu plan!

Though I didn't create the recipe (I originally found it on "www.wholeliving.com"), I did tweak it a bit and have re-named it "Bea's Anti-Cancer Soup" since she introduced me to the book, and making it reminds me of her. :)

Bea's Anti-Cancer Soup

Bring 1 quart water and 1 quart organic chicken or vegetable broth to a boil.   Add 2 medium peeled and diced potatos, 8 minced garlic cloves, 4 sliced scallions (or onion), and 6-8 cups mixed chopped greens (I used a mixture of spinach, collard greens and kale.  You could also use chard or any other greens.)  Simmer until potatoes are tender, about 5 minutes (I diced mine small and they were done in just a few minutes!).  Using an immersion blender, blend a bit (the original recipe called for blending until smooth but I like a bit of texture so I did just enough to thicken the soup while keeping some chunks of kale)   and season to taste (I added about 1 tsp each of ground black pepper and salt.  The Mr. added a dash of hot sauce to his bowl which he says was perfect.)  Spoon into bowls and top with shaved Parmesan. Serves 6 as a main dish (made about 12 bowls).

Butternut Squash Chili

Our family LOVES butternut squash!  We enjoy it in soups, salads, and pasta dishes.  So I was thrilled to find this new recipe for Butternut Squash Chili (courtesy of citronlimette.com):

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon canola oil
• 1½ pound ground turkey
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chopped onion
• ½ cup chopped green pepper
• ½ cup chopped red pepper
• 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 teaspoon diced jalapeno pepper
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 teaspoon ground ancho chile pepper
• 2 teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon ground red pepper
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon ground coriander
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
• 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added kidney beans, rinsed and drained
• 2½ cups cubed peeled butternut squash

See more spicy recipes!

Instructions

1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray and add 1 teaspoon oil. Season ground turkey with salt and pepper and add to pan; saute 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat.
2. Add 2 teaspoon oil to pan and add onion, green pepper, red pepper and saute 2-3 minutes. Add tomato paste, garlic and jalapeno; saute 1-2 minutes. Add wine; bring to boil, scraping pan. Cook 2 minutes. Return ground turkey to pan.
3. Stir in ancho chili pepper, oregano, ground red pepper, ground cumin, ground coriander, diced tomatoes, kidney beans and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 1 hour.
4. Add butternut squash and simmer 45 minutes or until squash is tender.

Purple Cauliflower Soup (Vegan)

This is taken from "Andrea's Easy Vegan Cooking".  To see more of her great Vegan recipes (some of which I definitely plan to try out soon!), look here.













Fall weather always makes me crave creamy soups. Maybe it's because they're so comforting and I need reassurance to face the long winter ahead. Whatever the reason, my youngest son and I decided to cook together, and the menu was to be soup and sweet potato fries. Because we are eating from our CSA box, and because our farmer loves to grow purple cauliflower, that's what I used for the soup. I was more than a little skeptical about what it would look like—I'm used to creamy white cauliflower soup—but game. I cooked it in my pressure cooker, and even though I knew I was cooking a purple cauliflower, when I opened the pot I was still surprised to see deep purple liquid and lavender cauliflower pieces. I went at it with the immersion blender, and it blended into a nice shade of purple.



The next surprise came when I added fresh squeezed lime juice (we have a lot of limes from our CSA fruit share) and as the juice hit the purple, it turned a bright magenta. This was getting interesting. I tasted and seasoned and wrote down approximately what I did. We ended up with a great tasting pot of weird looking soup.

Jordan made our usual oven sweet potato fries, with the addition of spicy chipotlépowder, and they were superb. In fact, we ate them before I remembered the camera!

Creamy cauliflower soup (in the pressure cooker)

• large head of cauliflower (white or purple), separated into medium chunks
• medium onion, sliced
• one stalk celery, sliced
• 2 to 3 small white potatoes, peeled and cut up (for body)
• water
• one clove garlic, minced fine
• 1/2 teaspoon of either truffle oil, olive oil, chili oil or no oil
• one lime, juiced
• sweet white miso, to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• thinly sliced green onion, parsley or other green for garnish

1. Sauté the onion and celery in a small amount of olive oil in the pressure cooker until the onion is translucent.
2. Add the cauliflower and potato and enough water to come about 3/4 up the cauliflower.
3. Bring up to pressure, turn the heat down and cook at pressure for 4 minutes.
4. Run cool water over the lid to bring the pressure down. Open the pot and add the miso, lime juice and oil. Blend in the pot with an immersion blender, or in batches in a conventional blender. Stir in the garlic. Adjust seasonings. Garnish. I used baby arugula because that's what I had on hand.

Beet Soup

Beet Curry Soup

Note: Curry pastes differ, so start with a much smaller amount of curry paste, and add more if needed.

Beet Curry Soup
adapted from The NY Times
serves 6-8

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 large beets (2 1/2 pounds total)
4 tablespoons butter
1 medium sweet onion, finely chopped
2 apples, finely chopped
4 cups vegetable broth, more if needed
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 tablespoons curry paste
salt, to taste
yogurt or sour cream, (optional garnish)

• In a bowl, drizzle oil over beets, and toss to coat. Put beets on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for 1 hour, or until beets can be pierced easily. When cool enough to handle, peel beets and chop into large chunks.
• In a large pot, melt butter and saute onions until caramelized, about 10-15 minutes. Add apples, broth, ginger, curry paste, salt to the pot. Bring to a boil, and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes, or until apples are soft.
• Pour soup into a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Adjust seasoning and add more broth if too thick.
• Garnish with a dollop of yogurt or sour cream.

Buttercup Squash Soup

Last week, I acquired some buttercup squash from a friend.  I don't believe I had ever cooked to buttercup squash, so I decided to give it a try - but I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  So, naturally, I "googled" buttercup squash recipes.  Most links led me to recipes for 'butterNUT' squash - apparently a lot of people confuse the two.  But, one link (Dr. Ben Kim) actually led me to a recipe for Buttercup Squash soup.  I tried it - and it was a winner!  Even the kids gobbled it down!  So, it made it to my blog! (Only a fraction of recipes that I try actually make the cut!)  Without further adieu, here it is (courtesy of Dr. Ben Kim):

Here are the main ingredients: one buttercup squash, two sweet potatoes, two leeks, one yellow onion, two carrots, vegetable or chicken broth, extra-virgin olive oil, garlic, and sea salt and pepper.

Here's a closeup look at buttercup squash - it looks kind of like an acorn squash, but it's tastier than acorn by a country mile.

Chop butternut squash into quarters, the sweet potatoes into one-inch rounds, and roast in a baking pan or casserole dish at 400 F for a good 50 to 60 minutes or until squash and sweet potatoes are tender.

Next, you'll want to give your leeks a good wash to remove dirt that is typically embedded within its deeper layers. An easy way to do this while maintaining enough form to allow for easy chopping is to cut the leeks in half, then slice them lengthwise, and put them under running water for a few seconds. Here's how we do this:

Once your leeks are washed and ready to chop, dice up your leeks, carrots, and yellow onion, and saute in extra virgin olive oil over medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until everything is soft.

If garlic and/or ginger get thumbs up in your home, add as much as you'd like while the leeks, carrots, and onion are cooking down. This is also a fine time to season with sea salt and pepper to suit your tastes.

Once your buttercup squash and sweet potatoes are tender, peel their skins and add them to your leeks, carrots, and onions. It's easiest to wait until the squash and sweet potatoes have cooled down some before peeling their skins off.

Next, add three cups of vegetable or chicken broth. Transfer all ingredients to a blender or use a hand-held blender right in the pot to give things a whirl until you have your sweet and savory buttercup squash soup.

Though great as a stand-alone meal, if you want to add extra flavors and textures, try topping with fresh cilantro or avocado slices.

Pumpkin Bean Soup

Pumpkin-Bean Soup (courtesy of Better Homes & Gardens)

ingredients

• 1
  15-oz. can pumpkin
• 1
  14-oz. can unsweetened coconut milk
• 1
  15-oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1
  14-oz. can vegetable broth
• 1
  tsp. dried leaf sage, crushed
• Salt and ground black pepper
• Cracked black peppercorns, optional
• Fresh lime slices, optional
  
  
  

Homestyle Butternut Squash Soup

HOMESTYLE BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP

(courtesy of cooks.com)

5 tablespoons chopped white onions 1/2 clove garlic, ground 2 1/4 cup cubed butternut squash 3 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup vegetable stock 3/4 cup chicken broth 3 cups water 1/8 teaspoon ground thyme or basil 1 bay leaf 1/8 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper a pinch of ginger 1/3 cup light cream 2 potatoes, cubed Sauté onions and garlic with butter. Add squash, potatoes, vegetable stock, chicken broth, and water, and bay leaf. Stir in peppers and thyme or basil. Add a pinch of ginger, and bring to a boil for about 18-20 minutes. In blender, puree the soup with light cream and any additional ingredients you would like to add.

White Chicken Tortilla Soup
(courtesy of Erica)

Ingredients:
4 ounce can of diced green chili's (you can make your own if you prefer)
4 cups chicken stock
1 rotisserie chicken - I get mine from Costco. Remove meat and cut chicken in to bite size pieces( you can also use 2 lbs cooked boneless, skinless chicken).
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup diced yellow onion
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
2 cans Great Northern Beans (white beans)
1 cup sweet white corn (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to tasteDirections:
In a large pot saute onions and garlic in the EVOO over medium high heat for 4 minutes. Add chicken stock, green chili's, cumin, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, add chicken, sweet white corn and beans. Simmer for 10-15 minutes.

To thicken soup and add body: Add 3 tablespoons of cornstarch in a cup-sized container, mix as little cold water as possible to form a thin paste. Bring the soup back up to a boil; stir with 1 hand and pour the paste in slowly with the other. Continue to cook on high heat for a minute, then reduce to low. The soup will look cloudy at first but will clear up and thicken slightly. Remove from heat.

Add Cilantro and lime juice.

Garnish/toppings: sour cream, Mexican style shredded cheese, corn chips (you you can make your own - see below), lime wedges, chopped cilantro, chopped chives.

{As you can see I didn't add all the garnishings for the picture}

This soup is delicious and very easy to make (especially if you get the chicken like I do and use corn chips). It yields about 8-12 servings.