13 Bean Soup

I love Bob's Red Mill products and like to try as many different things in their line as I can.  I bought this soup mix thinking it was an all-in-one mix with stock/flavouring etc. but turns out it was just the beans - 13 types of beans, but still just beans (and a few lentils).

As instructed on the package, I soaked the beans overnight and for most of the next day to get them a little softer. I drained and rinsed the beans and then boiled them for 3 hours on low with 2 1/2 quarts of water and 2 chicken bouillon cubes.  Once they were quite soft I added more water to thin out the soup, tomato paste, garlic, onion, salt & pepper and the juice of 1/2 a large lemon.

Overall, the bean mix made a great starting point for this soup.  If you are looking for a way to get more fibre into your diet and/or a vegetarian source of protein, this is the way to go (but use vegetable bouillon instead!).

Ingredients: Serves 6-8

• 2 cups mixed beans
• 2 1/2 quarts water
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 1 onion, diced
• 15 oz can tomato paste
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• juice of 1/2 large lemon

Jamie Oliver's Real Mushroom Soup

I have a fascination with making soup and even though it is about 28 degrees I had to try this the other night. Fresh mushrooms from Ontario are all over the markets right now and I was able to get a couple of lbs for a great price.  What better time to make a "real" mushroom soup? My parents have just returned from the UK and made a point to stop in at one of JO's restaurants in London. I am now the proud owner of a Jamie Oliver's Italian jute (hemp?) tote bag, 4 white & blue cloth serviettes, 2 JO tea towels and a stolen appetizer menu (thanks to my Mum). In honour of Jamie and to make up for the stolen menu, I decided to try out his soup recipe!


Ingredients and Preparation: Serves 6
Recipe taken directly from Jamie Oliver's book "Jamie's Dinners".

• a small handful of dried porcini
• olive oil
• 600g (1.5 lbs) mixed fresh wild mushrooms (chanterelles, girolles, trompettes de mort, shitake, oyster), cleaned and sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
• 1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• a knob of butter
• a handful of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 litre chicken or vegetable stock, preferably organic
• a handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons mascarpone cheese
• 1 lemon
• optional: truffle oil

Place the porcini in a small dish, add boiling water just to cover, and leave to soak. Get a large casserole-type pan nice and hot, then add a good couple of lugs of olive oil and your fresh mushrooms. Stir around very quickly for a minute, then add your garlic, onion, butter and thyme and a small amount of seasoning. After about a minute you'll probably notice moisture cooking out of the mushrooms and at this point add half of your porcini, chopped up, and the rest left whole. Strain the soaking liquid to remove any grit, and add it to the pan. Carry on cooking for about 20 minutes until most of the moisture disappears.

Season to taste, and add your stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for around 20 minutes. I usually remove half the soup from the pan and whiz it up to a purée at this point, then pour it back in, adding the parsley and mascarpone, and seasoning carefully to taste.

You can serve this soup as you like, but there are a few things to remember when finishing it off. Mix together a pinch of salt and pepper with the zest of one lemon and the juice of half of it, then spoon a little of this into the middle of the soup. When you go to eat it, stir it in and it gives a wonderful flavour. Other things you can consider are little slices of grilled crostini put into the bottom of the bowls before the soup is poured over. Or you could even quickly fry some nice-looking mushrooms – like girolles, chanterelles or oysters – and sprinkle these on top of the soup. If I was going to use truffle oil, then I would use it on its own – a few drips on the top just before serving.

The Best Red Lentil Soup with Rosemary, Lemon and Feta Cheese

This is a delicious soup recipe chock full of protein and fibre. Lentils really are a super food and are a must have for any vegetarian diet. Also, a great change from the pre-race pasta dinner, lentils are amazing fuel for all you runners and triathletes out there! This recipe is from the Rebar Modern Food Cookbook - a great vegetarian cookbook from the owners of Rebar Restaurant, 50 Bastion Square in Victoria BC.

Did you know that Canada is the largest expoerter of lentils in the world? Most crops are grown in Saskatchewan and Southern Alberta.

Ingredients and Preparation: Serves 8

• 2 cups organic red lentils (PC brand is what I used)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 tsp salt
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 tsp cracked pepper
• 1/4 tsp red chile flakes
• 1 tbsp minced rosemary
• 2 tbsp minced oregano
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock if not vegetarian, but then reduce the extra salt in recipe)
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• juice of 2 lemons
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 tsp minced rosemary cracked pepper to taste

Rinse lentils thoroughly in a colander under cold running water. Set aside to drain. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat and saute onion with 1 tsp salt until translucent. Add garlic, carrot, pepper, chilies, herbs, bay leaves and remaining salt. Stir well and saute until the carrots are just tender. Add rinsed lentils and stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, partially covered until the lentils are soft and falling apart. If you like, the soup can be pureed or left as is. If you choose to puree, remove the bay leaves first!    Season the soup with lemon zest, lemon juice and more salt and pepper to taste (the lemon is KEY so don't skip this step!). Before serving, top with the feta cheese, rosemary and cracked pepper. 

This soup is SO good. Make sure to try it!

Roast Tomato Soup with Thyme

Caught a new (to Canada but originally aired on BBC 2) cooking show the other day on the Food Network by Sophie Dahl - granddaughter to famed Roald Dahl and thought this recipe looked amazing. Tomato soup is one of my favourite comfort foods so had to give this one a try. I also love that you do the cooking in the oven, leaving the stove top free for other culinary pursuits.

Ingredients and Preparation: (serves 4)

• 2kg/4½lbs large ripe plum tomatoes, halved
• 1 garlic bulb, cut in half horizontally
• 2 large red onions, peeled, quartered
• few sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp golden caster sugar
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 250ml/9fl oz vegetable stock (optional)
• 100ml/3½fl oz single cream (optional)
• few drops Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• few drops balsamic vinegar (optional)
  
  

Place the tomatoes, garlic, onions and thyme into a large roasting tin and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Add sugar (helps to caramelize the veg). Drizzle with the oil, and roast in the oven for 40-50 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Mash the garlic with the back of a fork, and discard the skin. Remove the thyme twigs! Tip the roasted tomatoes and onions into a food processor along with the mashed garlic, and pulse until smooth.

Before

After

  If the soup is too thick, pour into a large saucepan and loosen the mixture with either vegetable stock, or single cream. Add a little Worcestershire sauce or balsamic vinegar, to season, if you like.  I had to add stock and some cream to this soup as it was much too thick without...not the best tomato soup recipe (IMO) on the block but fresh and natural tasting.  I do have an ultimate favorite tomato and tarragon soup and will post about that soon!

Aother yummy recipe from this episode was the Twice Baked Potatoes with Goat's Cheese and Chives. I made them the other night and they were delicious.  Recipe here.

Cream of Tomato Soup

Long time no post...it seems time is flying by these days. As usual nothing was in the fridge or cupboard last night so I used some canned goods and cream from a dinner party the weekend before to make this yummy soup. Tomato soup is one of my favorites and always tastes good to me! This was my first time making it from scratch.

I used the basic concept of a recipe I found on epicurious and changed it to suit how I wanted the soup to taste. A good tip from this one...use some baking soda in the tomatoes before you put them in the milk so it won't curdle. Here is the epicurious recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Pure-Cream-of-Tomato-Soup-40044

Here is what I did.

Ingredients and instructions:

5 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, diced
5 tbsp flour
2.5 cups skim milk
.5 cup of heavy cream
1 cup vegetable stock
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1.5 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda (for tomatoes)
1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes in tomato puree (not water)
1 small can of tomato paste
2 cups of tomato puree (I use the Molisana brand in the glass bottle)

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and cook until soft. Add flour and let cook for 1-2 minutes or so. Slowly add all the remaining ingredients except the tomato items and the baking soda. Add the baking soda to your whole tomatoes in a separate dish. Now add all the tomatoes items to the soup. Stir and bring to a simmer. Take off the heat. Put the soup through a strainer (don't forget to catch it!), and use a wooden spoon to get all the liquid out from the tomato and onion bits. Save what is left and serve over some fried up polenta. I did this and it was very good! Waste not want not, right? Taste the soup and adjust flavour with salt/pepper/thyme to your liking. Reheat and serve.

No picture as it is all gone...the baby really liked it too (with some alphabet pasta mixed in)!

Vegetarian French Onion Soup with Sweet Vermouth

I love French onion soup - always have, always will. The only problem is 2 years ago we gave up the likes of beef broth (thank you Michael Pollan) so French onion has been missing from the menu.

I am on a soup kick this winter and have changed many recipes from chicken or beef stock to veggie so why would this be any different? Another change was a switch from Brandy to Sweet Vermouth and the results are divine! It really makes a subtle but very interesting change to the flavour of the soup. I have yet to perfect making a crouton and tonight was not the night to start messing around in the kitchen. The "croutons" are sub-par but still had a great taste - perhaps the result of a gooey mess of melty Swiss?

The key to this soup is taking your time with caramelizing the onions. This is the hard part. After that, it's a piece of cake.

The recipe is a compilation of many recipes including Chef Michael Smith, various home chefs from Allrecipes.com, random recipes on the Internet etc.

Ingredients and Prep:

For the Caramelized Onions:

• 6 medium sized yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 swirls of the pan of olive oil
• smidgen of salt
• smidgen of sugar

For the Soup:

• 6 cups of vegetable stock (traditional FOS calls for beef stock but this is a veggie recipe so we use that)
• 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (leaves only, no stems please!)
• 1/2 cup of sweet vermouth
• salt & pepper to taste
• bread of your choice cut to fit the bowls you are using, toasted (or grilled in the pan grilled cheese style)
• Swiss cheese, your choice on the amount! (Gruyere is often recommended but very expensive)

Add the butter and olive oil to your soup pot. Once hot and before the butter burns add the onions. Stir until coated. Add the salt and sugar. Turn the heat to medium low (more low than medium) and let them cook for about 1 hour. Stir periodically so they don't burn and add more butter/evoo if they need it. Once they are golden and caramelized, add the rest of the ingredients (not the bread and cheese though!) and simmer for 15 minutes.

Put the soup in your oven proof bowls, add the bread on top, then the cheese. Put them on a baking sheet under the broiler until bubbling and golden.

Bon Appetit!!!

Broccoli & Cheddar Soup

I am trying to be good and eat like Oprah tells me to eat (Afterall, she is the boss of advice). Wasn't her diabetes show scary? I can't imagine that 80 million Americans are living with pre-diabetes or diabetes. Crazy.

Anyway, I made this broccoli soup and have no idea what the glycemic index of it may be but it sounds healthy and there is no added sugar. I was inspired by the boss of food, Ms. Martha Stewart.

Original recipe from Martha Stewart - http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/broccoli-soup-with-cheddar-toasts

Martha Stewart's Recipe below:

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• 2 bunches broccoli (about 3 1/4 pounds), stems and florets chopped separately into 1/2-inch pieces
• 7 cups homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock (or veggie stock like I used)
  
• 1 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup skim milk
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, grated or crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
• 8 thin slices crusty baguette

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion, garlic, and broccoli stems; cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes. Add stock and salt; cover, raise heat to medium-high, and bring to a boil. Add broccoli florets; reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, until florets are just tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Remove soup from heat, and let cool, about 10 minutes. Fill a blender no more than halfway to puree soup in batches until smooth. Return soup to pot; stir in milk and cayenne. Cook over medium heat until heated through (do not boil).
3. Heat broiler. Divide cheese among bread slices; toast under broiler until melted and golden brown, 45 to 60 seconds. Divide soup among bowls. Top each bowl with a cheese toast, and serve.

Instead of making the baguette toasts with cheddar like Martha instructs, I added cheddar directly to the soup at the end of the process. I added approx. 1 cup of shredded extra old cheddar. Healthy? Maybe not in this case, but delicious? Of course!

Spinach & Tortellini Soup Recipe from Fresh365

I was looking for an easy weekday meal idea for a cold, gloomy January and happened upon Fresh365 - an amazing blog for vegetarians (it`s been in my bookmarks forever but I usually forget about visiting those sites). This recipe was Erin`s 3rd most popular recipe of 2009. Enjoy!

I made the soup and it was very good, very simple and very easy to prepare.

Here is the original recipe from Fresh365 - http://tinyurl.com/ygtnnrz

Tomato soup from a can - a recession proof recipe

Now, this doesn't sound fancy or even very good from the post title alone...but trust me, homemade soup has never tasted so good and been so easy to make! We were out for dinner the other night and paid $6.99 for a bowl of soup at a restaurant in our town. The soup tasted quite good and was homemade but I figured I could make the same thing for $6.99 and get about 10 times the quantity. The result? A perfect replica (just better)! And my costs were only $6.82 - Not bad.

Tomato and Black Bean Soup
Ingredients & Preparation:
Serves approx. 8-10 for a first course

• one 1.36L can of low sodium tomato juice ($1.49)
  
• one can of organic whole tomatoes, including juice ($2.69)
  
• one can of sliced carrots (.99)
  
• 1/2 large onion, diced (.30)
  
• 1/2 a can of black beans, rinsed ($1.00)
  
• Approx. 2 tablespoons of parsley, dried ($.05)
• Salt & pepper to taste (I used my Salish smoked salt for a little extra flavour) ($.05)
  
• olive oil (.25)

First things first - saute the onions in the olive oil until soft, add carrots and black beans just for a minute or two. Meanwhile, pour the tomato juice and whole tomatoes (including the juices and seeds) into a big pot. Smoosh the tomatoes with a potato masher or use a handheld mixer to break them up but don't puree. Add the salt, pepper and parsley. Next, add the 3 ingredients from the other pan. Mix together. Bring up to a low boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Delicious!

Pea & Basil Soup

Things have been really busy lately but I made this soup the other night and had to share! Love the vibrant green colour...would be great to serve at an Easter brunch once Spring arrives.

(This photo is from the Food Network site but my soup was much brighter!)

Ingredients & Recipe:

Recipe and photograph courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 pounds (about 4 1/2 cups) frozen peas
3/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
2 cups chicken broth, divided (I used veggie broth)
2 cups cream
4 to 6 very thin slices fresh mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup diced roasted red bell peppers (jarred is fine)

Place a soup pot over medium heat. Add the olive oil, butter, onions, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the peas and basil, and heat until the peas are thawed.

Place the pea mixture in a blender. Add 1 cup of the chicken broth and pulse until pureed, adding more broth, if necessary, to puree. Return the pureed mixture to the pot. Stir in the remaining chicken broth and cream. Return the pan to medium heat and cook until hot, but not boiling.

To serve, place the soup in bowls. Float a thin slice of fresh mozzarella cheese on top of each soup and sprinkle with the diced roasted red bell peppers. Serve immediately.
Enjoy with fresh bread!

Zucchini & Spinach Soup

I had another produce delivery on Wednesday - I don't think having our groceries delivered will ever get old for me! I had ordered quite a few items including spinach and zucchini. I thought I had ordered one of each. Turns out "one" means one batch or bushel. I think I received about 12 yellow & green zucchinis and 3-4 bunches of fresh spinach. My husband was out of town so I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all of that by myself. Soooo, I went looking for a soup recipe. Lucky for me the amazing and wonderful blog "101 cookbooks" exists. See "Blogs I love" for the link.


Based on a 101 cookbooks recipe I made the following soup. Heidi's recipe is perfect. I just added 2 ingredients only because I had them to use up and omitted one ingredient because my herbs haven't grown as much as I would like just yet. Her recipe is below with my 2 additions noted.


Hearty, warm, satisfying, healthy, rich...this soup has everything you need in one bowl!


Ingredients & Preparation (from http://www.101cookbooks.com/)
Serves 6

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2 medium onions, roughly chopped
• big pinch of salt (I used my Salish smoked salt and more than a pinch - about 1 tsp)
• 2 1/2 cups potatoes (2 medium) cut into 1/2-inch cubes (I used russets)
• 2 1/2 cups zucchini (2 medium), loosely chopped (I used 5 because they were smaller)
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• 4 cups fresh spinach leaves, loosely packed
• 1 cup cilantro, loosely chopped (did not use this as not available in my herb garden yet!)
• juice of one lemon
• 1/2 cup of cream (my addition; if you choose this add at the end of cooking)
• 6 sprigs of thyme, leaves only (my addition)

In a large, thick-bottomed pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. When the oil is hot (but not smoking) add the garlic and onions and saute for a few minutes along with pinch of salt - just until they soften up a bit. Stir in the potatoes and zucchini. Add the stock. Bring to a simmer and cook until potatoes are soft throughout, roughly 10-15 minutes.

Stir in the spinach, and wait for it to wilt, just ten seconds or so. Now stir in the cilantro. Puree with a hand blender until smooth. Whisk in a big squeeze of lemon juice. Now taste, and add more salt if needed. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil and serve.

Many thanks to Heidi at 101cookbooks for a new soup to add to the rotation!


Here are a few pictures of my humble, cute, front porch, herb garden.

Empty-the-Freezer Seafood Chowder

We are going away on vacation soon and I'm in the process of using up all the things in my fridge and freezer. This is going to be a week without a trip to the grocery store so I'm sure my posts will be sporadic at best!

Yesterday afternoon I thought I'd try and make a seafood chowder - without a recipe in sight! I had scallops and some cod and whipped up pot of chowder - I was truly surprised that it tasted so good! I had to use frozen scallops which is sort of a sin but they were in the freezer and had to be used up at some point! Use fresh if you can and have the budget for it. Let's see if I can remember what I did...

Ingredients & Preparation:

Serves 6 people or so

• 2-3 swirls in the pot of olive oil
• 1 white onion, diced
• 1 package of frozen scallops (I used a bag of bay scallops, which are the small ones and I can't remember the weight.)
• 2-3 fillets of cod, cut into small squares (mine was frozen so I thawed it ahead of time)
• 3 cups organic chicken broth
• 3 small Yukon gold potatoes (I used 5 piccolo potatoes as they were in the pantry), cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons of butter (this is not necessary but I added it for that decadence factor)
• 1 cup 10% cream
• 1 cup homogenized milk
• white pepper to taste (black pepper is fine too but white is my preference with fish dishes)
• fine sea salt to taste
• fresh parsley

In a large pot, sauté onion in some olive oil until translucent. Add scallops & cod fish and cook until done. As soon as the scallops are opaque they are cooked. Be careful not to overcook. Your fish should be done at the same time. Add the stock and potatoes and cook for another 12-14 minutes until your potatoes are tender. Add the butter, cream, milk, salt & white pepper.

Take half of your chowder and puree it in the blender until smooth (I added about 1 tablespoon of flour to make it a bit thicker). I pureed all of my potatoes as I don't like chunky chowder but this is up to you and what your preference is...

Add the pureed soup back in with the remaining soup in the pot and stir. Add some fresh parsley and serve with a big slice of crusty bread.