Cream of Celery Soup

Celery, onion and garlic cooking.

















Soup pureed.
















Our pantry is getting mighty bare and I may not be able to get to the grocery store until the weekend. I still had some celery that was getting just a little limp so we're having Cream of Celery Soup tonight, without the cream, of course. I also baked a fresh loaf of caraway-rye bread to go with it.

I'm thinking this soup may even be better without the garlic so as not to overpower the delicate celery flavour. I have a bad habit of dumping garlic into everything.

I made this up ahead of time and will reheat it tonight. It should thicken up some more for a nice creamy texture.

1 large onion, chopped
5 stalks celery, chopped (about 2 cups)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions, diced
1 large potato, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
½ tsp celery seed
freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste

Steam fry the onion, celery and garlic with a little water in a soup pot for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables soften. Add a little more water to keep from sticking if necessary.

Add the remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.

Puree in batches in a blender, taking care to vent the steam. Add salt to your own taste before consuming.

Curried Red Lentil Soup

This is a really simple and cheap soup to make. It's based on a McDougall recipe which I have modified slightly.

2 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
7 1/2 cups water
1 tsp turmeric
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 1/2 cups red lentils
2 medium potatoes, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
1 tsp red wine vinegar
2 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley or cilantro

Saute the onion and garlic in 1/2 cup of the water in a large pot until the onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add the seasonings and cook for 1 minute. Add the lentils, potatoes and carrots and the remaining water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for an hour. Stir in the vinegar and garnish with parsley or cilantro before serving.

Potato Cauliflower Soup

This delicious soup recipe is from The New McDougall Cookbook. In its original form, the recipe actually calls for double the ingredients listed here. Since I only usually cook for hubby and myself, I make the smaller quantity which requires half of a cauliflower. That leaves me with the other half to use in other dishes.

I am a fan of pureed soups and this one looks at lot like the soups I've already posted on this blog, except for the colour.

1 large onion, chopped
1/2 medium head cauliflower, chopped
2 1/2 cups peeled and chopped potatoes
4 cups water
1 tsp dried dill
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp soy sauce
fresh ground pepper to taste
chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

Place the onion, cauliflower and potatoes in a large pot with the water. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, add the dill, cover and cook over medium heat until the potato and cauliflower are tender, about 30 minutes.

Remove from heat and puree in batches in a blender or food processor. Return to the soup pot. Add the bay leaf, soy sauce and pepper. Cook over low heat for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to blend. Remove the bay leaf and garnish with chopped fresh parsley before serving.

Split Pea Soup

I got this recipe off the Internet years ago. It wasn't exactly like I've posted below but this is the way I have modified it and like it. You could omit the step to puree the soup and serve it chunky if you prefer. Also the original recipe called for 3 to 4 Tbsp of red wine vinegar, however that's too much vinegar for my taste.

2 stalks celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 onion, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp thyme
1 1/2 cups dried yellow split peas
8 cups water
1 medium potato, peeled and diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped or 2 Tbsp dried parsley
2 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Saute onion, celery, carrots and bay leaves in water until soft. Add marjoram, thyme, split peas and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-high and cook until the split peas are soft, about 50 to 60 minutes. Add extra water if needed. Add potatoes and parsley and cook another 10 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Remove from heat, puree in batches in a blender. Add vinegar, mix well, salt and pepper to taste and serve.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Ingredients simmering in the soup pot:

















Carrot Ginger Soup Pureed:

















Another simple pureed soup but oh so tasty.

3 large carrots, chopped
1 medium potato, chopped
1 medium yam, chopped
1 onion, chopped
6 cups vegetable broth or water
grated fresh ginger - 1"x2"x1" piece
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste
fresh cilantro or parsley (optional)

Saute the onions in some vegetable broth or water for about 5 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, except the cilantro or parsley. Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer until the vegetables are soft.

Puree the soup in batches in a blender until smooth and creamy. Taste and add a bit more seasonings according to your taste, if required. Note that I do not add the salt while cooking. I will add some salt once it's dished out in my bowl.

Garnish with fresh cilantro or parsley, if using. Serve hot. Also great reheated.

This is so good with some fresh whole wheat bread.

Black Bean Soup

I got this recipe from a message board back in 2002 and have been making it ever since. The reason it's red is because it has tomatoes in it.

vegetable broth or water for sauteeing
1 onion, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp chili powder
dash cinnamon
2 Tbsp Sucanat (sugar)
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
28 oz can diced, stewed or crushed tomatoes
3 cans black beans (or 4 1/2 cups cooked)
3 to 5 cups vegetable stock or water
lime juice

In a heavy soup pot, saute onion for 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, chili powder, cinnamon, Sucanat and half of the bunch of cilantro. Saute 2 or 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and beans. Saute 2 - 3 minutes. Add stock or water and bring to a boil. Blend 1 or 2 cups in a blender and then return it to the pot. Add a splash of lime juice and the rest of the chopped cilantro.

The above is what the recipe calls for. Here's what I do differently. I puree the whole soup so I don't both mincing the onions and garlic. I chop the onion coarsely and crush the garlic cloves.

I use whatever canned tomatoes I have on hand. If I use the diced or stewed tomatoes, I add less water or broth. If I use the crushed tomatoes, I use a bit more water.

This soup really has a lot of interesting flavours going on from the cilantro to the lime to the cinnamon. I didn't like cilantro the first time I tried it but have since acquired a taste for it and now love it.

Soup For Julia

This blog was set up for the purpose of sharing my cooking with my good (long distance) friend Julia. Julia is a great cook from whom I have learned many things, the most important being, it's OK not to follow a recipe to the letter. Julia's cooking is mostly vegan while mine is 100% vegan.

This blog is public. You never know who might stumble across here and find something of interest.



















For the first post, I thought I'd start with a picture of the soup I made for lunch today. I have no recipe to share because I couldn't tell you everything that went into this soup. I started with about a cup of leftover Cauliflower Dahl (from the January 2008 McDougall Newsletter). To that, I added (approximately):

2 cups water
1/2 carrot very thinly sliced (for fast cooking)
3/4 cup coarsely shredded cabbage
1 small potato, diced
2 cremini mushrooms, sliced
1 ring pickled jalapeno, very finely chopped (for some heat)
1 Tbsp dried parsley flakes (I like to throw in parsley flakes in almost everything)
1 Tbsp tomato paste
1/2 bay leaf (it was already broken)

I also see some peas and corn floating around in here. I must have added those in to the first batch of leftover cauliflower dahl.

I brought the soup to a boil, lowered the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes, I think. It's done when the potatoes are done. I salt and pepper my dishes to taste AFTER they are cooked.

Hubby hates anything with cabbage in it so I made this just for myself. Although I have been successful in getting him to eat raw cabbage when shredded with other raw veggies in a salad.