Lentil Soup

Super flexible, try different veggie combinations depending on what you have on hand, add some fresh herbs if you have any. The parmesan rind adds a pretty awesome depth of flavor, but this is great without it.

1 T olive oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 c celery, sliced
1 c carrots, sliced
2 c mushrooms, sliced
4 c kale, torn
9 c vegetable broth (or water and bouillon)
optional: one parmesan rind or .25 cup nutritional yeast
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
4 oz tomato paste
2.5 c brown lentils
2 heads garlic, diced
a drizzle of your best olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot. Saute onions in oil until almost translucent. Add celery, carrots, mushrooms, and kale, saute for five minutes. Add broth, diced tomatoes, the tomato paste, the parmesan rind if you're using it, and the lentils. Bring to a boil and simmer until lentils are almost done, about 30 minutes. Add garlic for the last 10 minutes of cooking (add it earlier if you want a less intense garlic flavor). Remove the parmesan rind. Serve bowls of soup with a drizzle of olive oil and vinegar.

Butternut squash - red lentil dal

This is a perfect soup for cold January evenings. The butternut squash is blended to create a thick, slightly sweet broth with just a hint of curry and the red lentils give it a hearty and creamy texture. It is good over rice or served with garlic bread.

1 large (3 to 3.5 pounds) butternut squash, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped (about 2 cups)
8 cloves garlic, diced or put through a garlic press
1 T fresh ginger, grated
4 c water
4 c broth
1 T Indian curry powder
2 c red lentils
salt to taste
cilantro or parsley to garnish (optional)

Combine butternut squash, onion, garlic, ginger, water and broth and simmer until squash is very soft. Transfer to a blender or food processor, or use an immersion blender, and puree until smooth. Return to pot, add curry powder and red lentils. Simmer until red lentils are soft, about 20 minutes. Add salt to taste and serve garnished with finely chopped cilantro or parsley.

Variation: increase curry powder to 2 T, add .5 c roughly chopped cashews during last 10 minutes of cooking, and serve with a generous garnish of finely chopped cilantro.

Chickpea soup with rice is nice

A cheap, easy, yummy, balanced meal in a soup pot.

1 large onion, chopped
1 c celery, sliced thin
1 c carrots, sliced into thin half moons
1 c mushrooms, you guessed it, sliced thin
1/2 head garlic, peeled and diced
3 c water
3 c broth (or water with bullion)
3 c cooked brown rice
4 c cooked chickpeas
2 T braggs
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4 t poultry seasoning
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee onion until soft. Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, and garlic. Sautee for five minutes. Add water and broth. Simmer until veggies are soft. Add braggs, nutritional yeast, and seasonings. Add chickpeas, bring back to a boil. Add rice, cook until heated through.

Tomato soup with ginger zest

It is February/March soup time in Hawaii. We are having cool, overcast and rainy weather, something like California in late April, which is great for soups to warm the tummy. This made a fantastic hot delight in a single sauce pan: saute red onion and sliced, peeled, chopped fresh ginger in a little olive oil. Add in the sliced and chopped end stump - not head - of a nice organic head of brocolli. While that simmers, slice up a long narrow japanese egglant, salt it and let it release its tanic acid in a plastic colander. Then wash off salt and add to pot. While that begins cooking, cut the broccoli head into individual small flowerettes and then add that. Let it cook until onions get a little carmely and so do the flowerettes. Then add in tomato soup (I watch for the boxed kind to go on sale to get organic at a better price than chem-laden campbells types) and cook on low heat together until soup forms a little bit of a skin. While that is all simmering, heat up some left over brown rice and slice up and toast some multi grain whole wheat bread. Add the rice to the soup as it is served and mix well. Put a non-trans fat spread on the toast. Serve in bowl on plate with toast tucked beside it. Great! It is the ginger that takes it over the top - especially when it sinks to the bottom of the bowl and is a surprise at the end.

PS - adding in tofu cubes that soak up all the yummy flavors adds a nice dimension to this - tried it in the left overs and should have done it from the start ..

Check out the updated Costa Rica recipe cards below- I got the backside instructions posted.

Cream of Celeriac Soup

4 peeled celeriacs
2 small potatoes.
2c soy milk
.25 c butterlike substance
.5 t soup bullion concentrate
.5 medium onion
.5 head garlic
1T olive oil

Boil a pot of water, then put in 3 celeriacs and the potatoes. When forkable, remove and mix with milk, butter, and bullion in a blender.

Meanwhile, sauté onion and garlic in a little oil in a big pot. Add the above mixture, then thin or season as desired. Add the remaining celeriac, diced. Cook for a minute or an hour.

Glazed celery garnish:
2 stalks chopped celery
1c water
2 T butter substitute
1-2 T honey or raw sugar
Sauté for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with these scones or other soup bread.