Week 47 -- Pumpkin Pie Soup

As promised, this is the first soup from my new kitchen!  I'm limited in ingredients and cooking equipment, but I managed to pull together a holiday-appropriate yummy soup. 

This is a sweet and spicy soup.  If you'd like it a little sweeter, add an extra 1/4 cup raisins or some date paste.  It's also hearty because it's full of lentils, so it made good lunches for work.

The onions get nice and sweet, and don't forget that anytime you eat onions with grapes (raisins) you get extra nutritional power due to synergy:  https://nutritionfacts.org/video/food-synergy/

This soup was even good when eaten at my dining room folding table.  

Pumpkin Pie Soup

1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup dry red lentils
4 cups water
1 Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp ginger
1 can (2 cups) pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp molasses
1 scant tsp apple cider vinegar

1.  Saute the onion in a little bit of water. 
2.  Add the raisins, lentils, and water.  Let simmer until lentils are soft (about 15-20 minutes). 
3.  Add the spices, pumpkin, molasses, and apple cider vinegar.  Let simmer about 5-10 more minutes to let the flavors blend.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 39 -- Apple Crisp Soup

I'm still working without my own kitchen, which is being a little challenge for keeping this blog going, but I did get one done for this week.  I didn't have time (or enough molasses) for the soup I was planning, so I threw this one together instead.

It doesn't really taste just like apple crisp, but it's sweet and cinnamon-y and it does have apples, and we had apple crisp earlier today so I have it on my mind.  Just use your imagination.

This is a terrible photo.

Apple Crisp Soup

1/2 onion, diced
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup raisins
1 cup red lentils
4-5 cups water
1 apple, diced
1 Tbsp cinnamon

1. Saute onion in a bit of water until softened.  Add raisins.  Cook until onions are translucent.

2.  Add lentils, sweet potatoes, and water.  Cook until sweet potatoes and lentils are tender.

3.  Add apples and cinnamon.  Turn down heat and let simmer about 10-15 minutes until apples are soft.  Add more water if needed.

Makes 3-4 servings.

Week 24 -- Carrot Ginger

I was in the mood for a carrot soup, and I had ginger minced in the refrigerator from a few days earlier (as long as I was mincing it for one recipe, I decided to get it ready for a future meal, too).  When mincing ginger, remember to cut against the grain first.  Then you'll have thin slices that are easy to get as small as you want.  If you cut with the grain first, it will be hard to get tiny pieces.

While I was making this, I was on the phone with my mom.  I said I thought I would add some raisins, because I really like carrots and raisins together.  Mom convinced me that the carrot and ginger would be flavorful enough and that raisins would compete.  I took her advice.

As I do every week, I ate one bowl and put the rest of the soup away for lunches.  On Monday, I brought a jar of soup to work and started to eat it, and, oh boy, was it hot!  The ginger that had been fine when I ate the soup fresh had plenty of time to really meld into the soup.  It was so strong I almost couldn't eat it.  The next day I brought some raisins and sprinkled them into the soup as I ate, and it was perfect.

The raisins are totally optional.  If you can handle some good strong ginger heat, you may not want them.  If you need a little mellower flavor, the raisins add a great contrast that keep the ginger from being overwhelming.

It looks so innocent.  You would never suspect how strong the ginger is.

Carrot Ginger

1 red onion, diced
1 1/2 inch fresh ginger, minced
2 lbs carrots, diced
4-6 cups water
raisins (optional)

1. Saute onion in a little water until translucent.
2. Add ginger, carrots, and half the water.  Simmer until carrots are tender.
3. Puree soup.  Add more water as needed for desired consistency.  Return to heat until warmed.
4. Garnish with raisins if desired.

Makes about 4 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.