Soups have provided healthy and filling meals during my diet. Below are the ones I’ve made most often – Vegan Butternut Squash and Apple Soup, Vegan Split Pea Soup, and Tomato Garden Vegetable Soup. All three of these use vegetable stock, so I’ll start with that. (Of course, you can purchase low-sodium vegetable stock in your supermarket and save this step)
Vegetable Stock
In a large stockpot, add:
5-6 carrots, peeled and chopped
1-2 medium onion, chopped
5-6 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium tomatoes, quartered
a pint of button mushrooms, sliced
generous handful of parsley, rough chopped
Then fill your stockpot to the top with cold water and a little sea salt and some freshly ground black pepper. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower and simmer for about an hour, or until vegetables are tender. Taste and add more salt if needed. Drain and reserve the broth. I discard the onion, celery, tomatoes and parsley and keep the carrots and mushrooms for a quick and simple veggie soup.
Vegan Roasted Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and cubed (you can find this already done for you in the supermarket to save time)
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, smashed
3 carrots, chopped
2 apples, peeled and chopped
3 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
olive oil
1 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp black pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray and place squash flat on the foil. Roast until soft, about 30-45 minutes.
While the butternut squash is roasting, you can chop the onions, apples, carrots, and garlic, and add them to a large stock pot with 1 cup of the water and 2 cups of the vegetable stock. Bring to a boil over medium heat.
When squash is done roasting, add it to the stockpot with the remaining cup of vegetable stock and 2 cups of water. If you have a hand blender, slowly blend the ingredients together. Since I don’t have a hand blender (I need to remedy that soon), I used my stand blender and blend the soup in batches. Stir in nutmeg and serve.
Garden Vegetable Soup
5 1/2 cups vegetable soup
1 cup tomato puree
14 oz canned diced tomatoes
1 1/2 cups frozen sweet whole kernel corn
2-3 carrots, sliced diagonally into 1″ pieces
5 stalks of celery hearts, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp garlic salt
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
In a large stock pot, combine vegetable stock and tomato puree and stir. Make it come to a slight simmer over medium heat. Add diced tomatoes and juice and all the vegetables to the pot, as well as the oil and garlic salt. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about 30-40 minutes. How easy is that?
I posted a recipe for Vegetarian Split Pea Soup sometime last year. Here’s the link to that recipe. http://allthingsnext.com/2011/05/16/vegetarian-split-pea-soup/ Happy eating!