Week 33 -- Black Bean Soup Powder

This is the last in the trilogy of soup powders.  Of course, you can make lighter soups, but for a filling travel meal I wanted really hearty bean-centered soups.

Usually I like black bean soups very chunky.  However, if I'm rehydrating soup with just hot water and I don't want to have to let it sit forever, I want powders that will turn back into soup quickly and without a lot of effort.  That's why this soup is pureed before dehydrating, like the split pea soup last week.

Because this soup contains already cooked ingredients (except the oranges), you can make it right in a blender, no need to use a pot.

Black Bean Soup Powder

3 cups cooked black beans (two cans)
2 oranges, peeled and tough membranes removed
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp carob powder
water (add just enough to make a smooth blend)

1.  Put all ingredients in a blender.  Add enough water to make it blend smoothly (this will differ with different brands of blender).
2.  Spread soup on line dehydrator trays.  Dehydrate until moisture is completely removed.
3.  Blend dried soup into powder.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 30 -- Orange Sweet Potato

I mentioned last week that I'm moving soon.  This week I'm using up things from the refrigerator.  I had a few oranges left from the winter (they're looking leathery but they're still good inside), and I didn't want to waste them.  Normally this would feel more like a winter soup, but it tasted good on a cool and rainy summer day.

This soup is delicious and simple.  It has just a few ingredients and comes together quickly.

Soup with a swirl of cinnamon.

Orange Sweet Potato

1/2 red onion, chopped

3 medium sweet potatoes, diced (cut off coarse skin)

2-3 oranges, peel cut off and tough membranes removed  (mine were small so I used 3)

water to cover

Optional: cinnamon to garnish

1. Saute onion in a little water.  

2. Add sweet potatoes and water to cover.

3. Add orange flesh.

4. When sweet potatoes are tender, turn off heat.  Blend in blender or with immersion blender.  Add water as needed to get desired consistency.

5. Top with cinnamon if desired.

Week 21 -- Orange Sweet Potato

After all the work of the wontons last week, and after coming home from a busy conference, I was ready for a simple and fast soup tonight.  This soup took about 15 minutes from start to finish and made just two servings (perfect for dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow).

This soup has few ingredients, which gives it a very simple flavor that is light and delicious, and they're probably foods you already have sitting around.

I lightly peeled my sweet potato, just getting off the thick rough patches and trying to keep most of the layer just under the peel so I didn't lose too much good nutrition.

There it is in all its delicious, fast, and simple glory!

Simmering soup with the allspice.

Orange Sweet Potato

1/2 red onion, chopped
1 large or 2 smaller sweet potatoes, chopped
1/2 cup red lentils
1 orange, peel cut off, sliced and divided into segments
3-4 cups water
1/4 tsp allspice, approximately

1. Cook the onion, sweet potatoes, and red lentils in 3 cups water for about 10 minutes until tender.  Add more water if needed.
2. Add the orange segments and allspice.  Let simmer another two minutes.  Then enjoy!
Makes two servings.

Week 7 -- Butternut Spice

This soup was a delicious experiment, and it turned out even tastier than I'd hoped.  It was wonderful on a winter evening, and the flavors are different than I usually use in soups.

It was a little time consuming to prep all the vegetables.  If you want to splurge, pre-cut squash would make this soup cook up much more quickly.  Also, the corn-free oranges I currently have are seedy with tough membranes, so it took a while to pull off just the good stuff.  If you have better oranges or you want to use a high-speed blender to pulverize them, that will save time, too.

I will say, though, that the time was well worth it.  This soup is so flavorful you won't miss salt at all.

The raisins sweeten this soup, but there is a special "magic" that happens when grapes and onions are eaten together.  The synergy between the antioxidants in these foods doubles their cancer-fighting power when eaten together.  (Combined, they can suppress breast cancer growth 70%.)  More about this magic is at Nutritionfacts.org in this video. 

My one regret is that I used cannellini beans because I was hoarding my chickpeas for roasting.  I would definitely recommend chickpeas (garbanzo beans) instead, but it was still amazing with the cannellinis.

I peeled and diced my butternut squash the night before.  To make it easier to peel and dice, I steamed it in the microwave for 5 minutes, then let it sit for a while.  It was still a chore, but didn't require as much force with a knife.

I love collard greens, but my local grocery store hasn't had them in a while.  I celebrated their return by buying two bunches.  This recipe used half a bunch and the rest are becoming chips.

To make collard ribbons, first slice out the center stem.  Stack the de-stemmed leaves (as in the other photo above), then roll them into a log and slice across (as seen here).  Then make one more cut right down the middle of the rounds so the ribbons aren't too long for soup.

Look at it all simmering in the pot!  It's beautiful!

This bowlful isn't as pretty as the picture in the pot because I packaged up my mason jars full first, then gave myself the stuff at the very bottom to eat tonight.  

Butternut Spice Soup

1 medium-large butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 large red onion, diced

2 oranges, peeled and membranes removed, diced

1/2 bunch collard greens, about 6 leaves, de-stemmed and sliced into ribbons

1/2 cup raisins

1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups (or 1 can) garbanzo beans (or other bean)

water

1. In a stockpot, saute the onion in a little water.

2. Add the squash, oranges, raisins, and collard ribbons.  Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables.  Let simmer until squash and collards are tender, about 15-20 minutes.

3.  Add the spices and beans.  Let beans heat up to soup temperature.

4. Enjoy!  Makes 6 servings.

Note:  I am severely allergic to cloves, but, if you are one of those lucky people who is not, feel free to add a little ground cloves. I think it would taste nice with this soup, if it wouldn't kill me.

Week 4 -- Black Bean Soup

This poor soup.  It tastes really good, but it looks awful.  Seriously, it looks like wet concrete.  Not even cement -- concrete.  This is probably not the soup to serve at a fancy dinner when you're trying to convince people that plant-based foods are beautiful.  Unless your party is in the dark -- then it's perfect!

It does taste wonderful, though.

I usually love my black bean soup really salty, but we all know added salt is not good for our bodies (it contributes to high blood pressure and stomach cancer).  I usually cheat and use miso, which adds salt but doesn't seem to contribute to these problems (thanks to the preventative power of soy).  But I didn't want to add miso to the soup every week.  What makes a great substitute for salt?  Acid -- citrus or vinegar.  The sour receptors on our tongues are near the salt receptors, so sour foods trick your brain.  If you try the soup but you really need more salty flavor, add a spoonful of miso mixed with some water at the very end of cooking.

Because of my allergies, I don't often have oranges.  I can usually only get safe-for-me oranges for a few weeks in winter, so I try to make the most of them!

A beautiful rainbow of ingredients!  For now...

I know, but it tastes great!

Safety first with avocados!  I recommend an avocado cutter.

I have one in my kitchen and one in my travel cooking bag.

It's hard to take a great photo when your mouth is watering!

Black Bean Soup

3 cups black beans (or two cans rinsed and drained)

1 purple onion

3-4 cloves garlic

3 small tomatoes or 1 large tomato

1/2 a large bell pepper

2 oranges

2 avocados

1. Chop the garlic and set it aside.  Chop the onion and saute it with a little bit of water.

Add the garlic when the onion is translucent.

2. Add the black beans and about 3 cups of water.

3.  Chop the bell pepper and tomato and add to the soup.  Cut the peel off the oranges, remove the seeds and some of the tough membranes, and chop.  Add oranges to the soup, too.  Let simmer for a few minutes so the flavors can meld.

4. Turn off the heat.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, leaving some chunks.  

If you don't have an immersion blender, put about half the soup in a blender, blend, then return to the soup pot.  Return to a simmer.  Add more water if desired.

5. Makes four servings.  Top each serving with half an avocado.

Note:  You can cook tomatoes as much as you want and still get all the nutrition.

This is not so for bell pepper.  It's in the soup for flavor, but you'll get almost no nutrition from it when cooked.  Eat the other half of the pepper raw as a snack to keep your body happy.

Soup 1 -- Dreamsicle

Do you remember Dreamsicles?  They were ice cream bars coated in orange sherbet.  We used to love buying them from the corner store.

This soup is not ice cream, but it does have a creamy orange flavor that reminds me of Dreamsicles.

It's also has a light and fresh taste that makes it perfect for after a week of holiday indulgences.

This is a five-ingredient soup.  That's not to be confused with those "five ingredient" soups that include cans and packaged mixes.  Nope, it's five whole food ingredients, plus water.

For this soup, all you need are carrots, oranges, cashews, onion, and fennel.

Seriously.  That's it.  Well, and water. 

I used 6 carrots, one small to medium onion, one medium fennel bulb, two oranges,

 and half a cup of raw cashews.

Here are the veggies, steamed.  I blend them with an immersion blender.  If you don't have an immersion blender, let the veggies cool a little and then blend in a regular blender.

After blending, I make cashew cream with 1/2 cup cashews and 1/2 cup water.  Add that to the soup, thin with more water to get the mixture to a nice soup consistency, then warm it all up again.

There's a beautiful bowl of Dreamsicle soup!

Recipe:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 fennel bulb, chopped, top parts included

6 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 oranges, peeled, chopped, and seeds removed

1/2 cup cashews with 1/2 cup water
additional water

1. Heat a small amount of water in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion and let it cook until slightly translucent.

2. Add fennel to onion.  Continue to add water slowly as needed to keep a thin layer at the bottom of the pan.

3. When fennel has softened, add carrots.  Add about 1 inch of water.  Cover pan and let carrots steam until soft.

4. Add oranges and make sure mixture is heated through.

5. Turn off heat.  Blend soup.

6. Blend cashews with water.  Pour cashew cream into soup.  

7. Thin soup with more water until you reach desired consistency.

8. Turn heat on and cook about 3 minutes until soup is hot throughout.

Makes 4 servings.