Garlic Leek Soup

Cold weather in November and too many hard frosts in a row made it necessary to pull out all the remaining leeks in our small garden. As it turned out, this was way too many leeks to use up fresh so I chopped and froze some for later. I did use a large number of them fresh, along with many heads of homegrown garlic to make this warming, healthy, easy soup. It freezes very well too, and for those who will eat croutons, that dresses things up indeed! We put chopped onion greens on top - or even a drizzle of olive oil if you eat that.

5-6 medium leeks, washed, chopped

4-5 heads of garlic (@25 cloves), peeled & smashed

1 zucchini- chopped

1-2 teaspoons summer savory

1-2tsp dry thyme

1tsp black pepper (add to taste)

1-2 tsp salt (can be added to taste)

3-4 creamy potatoes chopped - Yukon gold or chieftain or other variety 

6-8 cups water 

Prepare leeks - slicing lengthwise to rinse between the layers and get all the dirt out! Cut off the tough dark leaves and save for making some other broth. Chop the more tender white and pale green parts and toss in a large pot with all the peeled garlic, zucchini, potato, herbs, seasonings and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20-35 minutes until all is cooked thoroughly. Blenderize or use a wand blender until all is puréed smooth. That's it!

Sorrell soup

I think of sorrell as a tart lemony early spring green so I am delighted to see our little patch of sorrell rejuvenated by recent cooler nights. There could easily come a time in the next couple when the hard frost will banish that bright green for the winter. I broke off a couple good handfulls of leaves and headed for the kitchen with sorrell soup on my mind.  If you search for recipes you will find the French version and the Eastern European version, but every one calls for butter and/or cream. So here's my no oil, no dairy invention that was the centerpiece of a lovely lunch today and could easily be the start to a gourmet dinner. We ate this as a leftover with a heaping tablespoon of brown rice in the center, which was delicious and a bit more substantive.



SORRELL SOUP (serves 4)


2 handfuls (about 3 cups sliced) sorrell leaves
3 small potatoes with skins
1 medium red onion (I used half a huge torpedo onion)
1 medium green zucchini
4-5 cups water
1/2 tsp salt
fresh ground pepper to taste
dill sprigs (decoration & to eat)

1) Slice the onion very thinly and then chop it into bits. Cut the zucchini into small pieces (1/2 inch) and put all of this into a soup pot with about 1 cup of water. Let this simmer quietly with a little of the salt.

2) Cut the potatoes into slices and then rectangles and then little squares. Throw the potato pieces into the pot and add the rest of the water, deciding if you need a little more water in order to cook the potatoes and still have some broth. Cook this for about 10-15 minutes until everything is soft.

3) Wash the sorrell and break off the stem parts up
to the leaf --you can leave the stem part attached to the leafy part. Pile this up on a cutting board with the leaves all going longwise. Cut across into little ribbons.

4) JUST BEFORE SERVING, stir the sorrell into the hot soup, mixing and stirring until the sorrell begins to change color. Remove from heat and using a hand blender, puree the whole thing.

5) Salt to taste, serve into bowls, grind a little fresh pepper on top with a sprig or 3 of fresh dill leaves. This looks beautiful and tastes great. The subtle balance of substance from the potato with tang from the sorrell is blended with the sweetness of the zucchini and given depth by the onion. The dill gives a counterbalance to the zing of the sorrell. What could be simpler or more yummy Spring or Fall?

Minestrone Soup or Stew - Fresh Veggies

This is the season of garden abundance and even my little plot offers us whatever it can. Too much rain and many of the tomatoes split. Rain meant that I couldn't pick the beans either (terrible for the plants to handle them when wet) so my rejuvenated beans produced more succulent beans than expected.  Corn is best fresh off the cob, but it will taste nearly as marvelous if cut off immediately upon cooking and cooled, tossed in a freezer bag and frozen for mid winter.  What to do with a kitchen counter covered in harvested veggies? Make minestrone! When you add the al dente pasta it will absorb a good bit of the soup broth, so if you want it to stay soupy, add a little more water, and if you want to eat it more like a stew, cook down the broth a bit.

Here's my impromptu version.

Garden Plenty Minestrone - makes 2 quarts

2-3 cups of 1" green bean pieces

1 medium yellow squash cut into slices
1 large onion, cut fine or slices
1 can chick peas (or red kidney beans) or fresh cooked
2 small stalks celery chopped (with leaves if you like 'em)
3 cups chopped chunks of ripe tomatoes
2 carrots cut into pieces
1/2-1 cup corn kernels
3-5 cloves smashed and chopped garlic
1 Tablespoon dry oregano (or more if fresh)
1/2-3/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped roughly
1 tsp Bragg Liquid Amino
Springs of fresh parsley for garnish
4-6 cups water for soup
4 ounces firm tofu cut into small pieces (optional)
black pepper, grated fresh
dash of salt
1 cup brown rice pasta of your choice & water to cook it

1. Cut up the veggies into pieces you want to find in your soup -- though squash and tomatoes will soften and some of it will become broth.
2. Add all the veggies to a good sized pot, with 4 cups of water and bring to a boil, then turn it down and simmer with a lid on at such an angle that steam can escape.
3. In a separate pot, boil up 4-5 cups of water and add the 1 cup of brown rice pasta, cooking at a boil for about 5 or 6 minutes, drain in a colander and set aside.
4. When veggies are nearly all softened, remove the lid, add the tofu and either add liquid if needed to keep it soupy, or let the liquid cook down a bit. Turn the whole thing off, add the pasta and stir. Salting to taste and adding fresh ground pepper and a sprig of parsley.

COLD Spicy Thai Watermelon Soup

My husband and I bought a watermelon at a farm stand. Upon opening it, we discovered the interior was nearly in gelatinous format, deeply red, and profoundly sweet. We looked at each other and said, "this would make an amazing soup!" So the search began. The original of this was a cold watermelon crab soup -- and you know by now that we wouldn't be using the crab! This is how it turned out -- using a fraction of the melon -- and we were so grateful after hot mornings of heavy yard work, to come in and start lunch with this!

Cold Spicy Thai Watermelon Soup

(2 quarts)

5 cups chopped watermelon
1 stalk finely chopped lemongrass -- or 1 Tblsp grated lemon zest (which is what I did)
3 Tablespoons finely chopped onion (or shallot if you have it)
1.5 Tablespoon fresh grated or finely chopped ginger
1 small green chile (with or without seeds) finely chopped (I used half a jalapeno)
1 Tablespoon garlic finely chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice (at least)
Salt to taste

1) Puree watermelon, using a hand held blender is fine.
2) Cook lemongrass (or lemon zest) with onion, ginger & garlic for about 5 minutes medium low heat. Add about 2 cups of the watermelon and simmer 5 more minutes.
3) Blend the chili and lime juice in a big bowl, and add the hot mixture to it.
4) Add the rest of the watermelon puree, and pour it through a sieve it there are lumps in it -- otherwise you can just blend lightly with the hand blender.

5) CHILL and serve.

ADDITIONS: We had leftover tiny bits of sauteed spicy tofu from the night before that were perfect as a decorative central chewiness to stir in. Easy to make with little cubes of tofu, saute in a bit of Bragg Liquid Amino and a squirt of Sriracha with added garlic bits.   You could definitely use crunchy bits of onion or garlic, a dab of coconut yogurt, chopped chives and mango or ANYTHING that pleases you, including mint leaves.

Thai Spicy Watermelon Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (190g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 82 4% Total Fat 2g 3% Saturated Fat 0g 2% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 236mg 10% Total Carbohydrate 14g 5% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Sugars 10g 0% Protein 4g 8% Vitamin A 3% • Vitamin C 29% Calcium 4% • Iron 7% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Soup

Solid nutrition, definitely comfort food, and easily spiced up or sopped up, this soup evolved as the early spring temperature dropped and the rain became ice.  It is so simple, and the only attention required is stirring.

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Soup
serves 6

1 cup red lentils
1 medium large sweet potato
2 medium onions (I used homegrown Cippolini onions at the edge of sprouting greens)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp ground dried rosemary
1 dash cumin
1 tsp salt


Cook everything together, puree and eat!

Sweet Potato Lentil Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (300g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 156 8% Total Fat 1g 1% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 417mg 17% Total Carbohydrate 29g 10% Dietary Fiber 5g 21% Sugars 3g 0% Protein 9g 18% Vitamin A 16% • Vitamin C 7% Calcium 4% • Iron 15% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Kidney Bean Tomato Soup

Inspired by a vegetable soup that rescued me on a freezing cold day in Troy, NY, I wanted a hearty lunch soup to offset the snow cover that still clings to our little North facing slope upstate. This is where it is wonderful to have a pressure cooker, in order to turn organic dry beans into whatever quantity you want or need in half an hour! If you don't have a pressure cooker, you have to soak the beans and cook them much much longer, or resort to a can of organic beans - which I do, oh yes, I do, when that's the way to get what I want!  My freezer has a bag of whole plum tomatoes that I just literally threw in a plastic freezer bag last summer when they were $8 per bushel ... (I highly recommend doing this, and as soon as they begin to heat in a little water, the skins peel right off). I also have a couple frozen bags of sweet summer corn that I cut off the cob in the height of the season. Feel free to make this with store-bought frozen corn, and a small can of whole or crushed plum tomatoes. You can add chili peppers and more heat in all kinds of ways, but it was good just like this, with a dash of tabasco or other hot sauce to meet each person's tastes.

Kidney Bean Tomato Soup (makes 2 quarts)

1.5 cups dry organic kidney beans, cooked
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2-3 frozen, fresh or canned plum tomatoes
2 medium-large carrots, sliced diagonally
3-4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped
3-4 small stalks celery, roughly chopped
3 small onions, rough chopped diagonally
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp thyme (dry)
pinches of sage, rosemary, chili powder or whatever you like
1/2 tsp salt

1. Cook the kidney beans. I did this in a pressure cooker with a chunk of ginger, smashed garlic, a couple dried twigs of sage and rosemary. It amounts to at least 3 cups of beans, which you can get from a can too.
2. In a soup pot, bring to a boil about 2 cups of water, with the garlic, celery, onions, carrots, plum tomatoes,  tomato paste, and herbs.  Simmer this, with a cocked lid, for about 35 minutes, adding more water as it cooks down.
3. Add the kidney beans, the corn and the pepper flakes, plus salt, and cook another 10 minutes. Serve with an array of hot sauces if that's your thing, or even fresh chopped cilantro or onion.

I make a meal out of a pint, adding savory cornbread muffins and a salad. You can definitely eat less of this and have it with rice, other grain or potato based dishes. The large slabs of carrot give a nice color and texture alongside the dark red beans and bright yellow corn kernels. It is filling and pretty!

Red Bean Tomato Soup

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 pint (538g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	322	16%
Total Fat	2g	2%
Saturated Fat	0g	1%
Trans Fat	0g
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	644mg	27%
Total Carbohydrate	63g	21%
Dietary Fiber	14g	58%
Sugars	13g	0%
Protein	19g	37%

Vitamin A	19%	•	Vitamin C	41%
Calcium	11%	•	Iron	33%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.Courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Fast Cannellini Farro Soup

Changeable weather has brought a deep hankering for comforting soups, whether as an addition to dinner or a centerpiece at lunch.  A friend introduced me to a delicious cannellini bean soup with sage that she made from soaking the dried beans and making a stock with leek stems.  Frankly, I just haven't  had the combination of ingredients and time to try it for myself.  So today I took a shortcut using what I had in the house.  It's another argument for having a range of ingredients sitting around.


Cannellini Farro Bean Soup - Fast Version

large can (at least 2 cups worth) of unsalted cannellini beans
large onion (at least 2 cups chopped)
1/3 cup farro or barley
6-10 cloves garlic
3-8 sprigs fresh parsley
1.5 Tblsp dried sage
2-3 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
4 cups water (you'll need 1 cup of this for cooking farro)

1. Cook the chopped onion and garlic with the herbs in about 2 cups water in a stock pot.
2. Cook the farro in a separate small pot, at least 1 cup water.
3. Pour the beans and another cup of water into the soup stock when the onions soften, simmering for another 15 minutes. Puree this.

4. Add the cooked farro and any leftover cooking liquid from that. If you want it thinner, add a little water, if not, leave it viscous. The farro will be little chewy morsels in a luscious creamy broth -- good source of protein and fiber among other things!  Serves 6 filling bowls!

Cannellini Farro Soup Serves 4 Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (425g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 204 10% Total Fat 1g 2% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 651mg 27% Total Carbohydrate 39g 13% Dietary Fiber 9g 34% Sugars 4g 0% Protein 10g 20% Vitamin A 3% • Vitamin C 39% Calcium 14% • Iron 23% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.

Light Butternut Onion Soup

Guests coming for dinner and the weather had turned surprisingly cold. I felt the need for a soup first course but didn't have anything handy in the fridge. Wondering what I could pull together, I looked into the fridge and found a half a butternut squash waiting to become something. With a couple fresh sweet onions, that piece of squash brought a satisfying warmth before the rest of the meal.

1. Make a broth or use a good vegetable stock. I used mushroom stems, celery, onion, ginger.
2.  Steam the cubed squash.
3. With a cup of water in a pan, add the dry herbs and the marmite, all the onion in large slices chopped in half or quarters. Stir fry that until it begins to get sticky to the pan, then add the broth, straining out all the stuff.
4. Transfer to the bigger stock pot, add the squash (you can smash the squash ... leave it in chunks, or puree it before you put it in.)  Cook all together for about 10 minutes. I used a potato masher to smash the squash while leaving the onions mostly intact though quite soft and translucent. Add the frozen spinach -- it will thaw immediately!.  Cook more if you want, or serve just like that! Probably great with just a little parmesan cheese if you eat that...

Butternut Onion Soup Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 1 Serving (243g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 48 2% Total Fat 0g 0% Saturated Fat 0g 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 142mg 6% Total Carbohydrate 11g 4% Dietary Fiber 2g 7% Sugars 5g 0% Protein 2g 3% Vitamin A 14% • Vitamin C 20% Calcium 5% • Iron 6% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronomieter.com using my data.

Green Split Pea Soup

Cold days of February and the imminent arrival of house guests prompted me to consider cooking ahead so that there would be easy lunch or ways to extend dinners. What better than pea soup? Using staple kitchen veggies and organic green split peas from the bulk section of my food coop, this soup is a 15 minute prep, about an hour and quarter or less to cook, a quick puree.  It stores in the fridge for several days, and freezes well too. Makes about 5 pints.

Green Split Pea Soup
1.5 cups green dry split peas
7 cups water
1 onion chopped (medium-large)
3 carrots (chopped)
1 parsnip (chopped)
1 stalk celery (chopped)
5 sprigs chopped fresh parsley  (3 Tbsp)
1 medium potato (chopped)
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp garlic (fresh or use garlic powder)
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp salt


1. Wash and chop all the veggies. If you like a pureed thick soup, you can cut them in smaller bits and add an extra potato.  If you want to eat it country style chunky, keep the pieces larger.

2. Start with about 1/2 cup of water in the pan and put the onions, garlic, celery into that and soften slightly. Then add all the rest of the ingredients, including all the water, and bring to a boil UNCOVERED. Turn the fire down to a serious simmer, cock a lid on the pot so it is partially covered but there's good air circulation. Cook until everything is soft. Could be 45 minutes, or 1.5 hours depending upon how thick you want it, and how large the pieces are.  Add another cup of water if it cooks down too much too fast.
3. Puree and eat! Very nice with a little fresh pepper, or croutons if you are eating such things.

Split Pea Soup

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size: 1 Serving (342g)

Amount Per Serving		% Daily Value*
Calories	187	9%
Total Fat	1g	1%
Saturated Fat	0g	1%
Trans Fat
Cholesterol		0%
Sodium	37mg	2%
Total Carbohydrate	36g	12%
Dietary Fiber	12g	48%
Sugars	5g	0%
Protein	11g	21%

Vitamin A	9%	•	Vitamin C	27%
Calcium	6%	•	Iron	15%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. courtesy of cronometer.com using my data.