Soup Season's Started

Sweet Winter Squash Soup, garnished with Squash Seeds

I love soup!  Soup is comforting, healing, warming, and nutritious.  All summer long I pretty much go without soup.  I naturally get into more of a raw food -- tons of fruit and veggies -- mode, and soup just doesn't seem to make sense.  So, by the end of summer, I start my love affair with soup all over again.  For me, this has started to happen over the past couple weeks. 

Here in NH, we had a short stretch of cold, rainy weather a couple weeks back, and that was my excuse to make my first soup of the season: chard and ceci beans (chickpeas) in my homemade chicken broth {recipe #1 below}.  Last week, I found myself with an interesting new winter squash from the farmers market and some hand-picked apples from a local orchard, and that's when I made soup #2: winter squash-apple soup with kale, dulse, and pinto beans {recipe #2 below}.  And just the other day, I made soup #3: hearty lentil soup with swiss chard {recipe #3 below}.  It's so nice to enjoy these soups freshmade, but I also try to freeze half the pot in single-serving jars because it's great to have a ready-made meal on those nights when you come home tired and just don't feel like cooking.

So, get out your big soup pot (and some jars for freezing) and give one or all these recipes a try. 

Swiss Chard, Chickpea, & Chicken Soup (*veggie option too)

Ingredients:

• 8 cups chicken broth (*or veggie broth)
• 2 cups water
• 4 small sweet onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bunch swiss/rainbow chard, stalks sliced and leaves chopped
• 3 cups cooked chickpeas
• 1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• sea salt, to taste

Making Your Soup:

1. In a large soup pot, sautee onions in 1 TBSP olive oil, until soft and translucent.  Add some chicken (*or veggie) broth if the onions begin to stick.
2. Add garlic, chard stalks, celery, carrots, and 1/2 cup broth, and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Add remaining broth, water, and chickpeas.  Bring to a boil for 3-5 minutes.
4. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for ~10 minutes.
5. While soup is simmering, chop chard, parsley, and basil.
6. Add chard, parsley, and basil, and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes, until chard is tender.
7. Salt to taste.

Sweet Winter Squash Soup (with kale and pinto beans)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked winter squash (1/2 med-lg. winter squash) -- save your squash seeds.  rinse them, coat with olive oil and salt, and toast in oven.  set aside to garnish your soup.
• 2 small sweet onions, chopped
• 2 celery stalks, sliced
• 1/4-inch piece of ginger root, peeled and minced/grated (~1 TBSP)
• ~1-1/4 cup pinto beans, cooked (or, a 15-oz. can) -- could also use aduki beans
• 3 cups veggie/chicken broth (or water)
• 1/4 cup dulse (or other seaweed), cut into small pieces
• 3 med apples, cooked and chopped (or 1 cup unsweetened applesauce)
• 4 fronds kale (~1 cup, uncooked)
• sea salt, to taste
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil

Making Your Soup:

1. Sautee onion in olive oil for a few minutes.
2. Add celery and ginger, and sautee another 1-2 minutes.
3. Add 1 cup veggie/chicken broth and HALF the beans.  Sprinkle with salt and keep on medium heat another 2-3 minutes.
4. Combine cooked squash, cooked apples/applesauce, sauteed veggies/broth in food processor.
5. Add another cup broth and 1 TBSP apple cider vinegar to food processor.  Puree.  Salt to taste.
6. While soup is in processor, sautee chopped kale in 1/2 TBSP olive oil.
7. Return mixture to soup pot and heat with sauteed kale, remaining pinto beans and final cup veggie/chicken broth.
8. Simmer on low-med heat for ~10-15 minutes
9. Garnish with roasted squash seeds (or roasted edamame)

Hearty Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 med-lg sweet onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 celery stalks, sliced
• 1 bunch swiss/rainbow chard, slice stalks & chiffonade leaves
• 3-4 carrots, sliced thick
• 5-6 new potatoes or fingerlings (I used purple potatoes), thinly sliced
• 4 med-lg tomatoes, chopped (or 28-oz can diced/crushed tomatoes)
• 8 cups chicken or veggie broth
• 3-4 cups water
• 1-1/3 cups dry lentils
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• sea salt, to taste

Making Your Soup:

1. In a large soup pot, sautee onions, garlic, celery, and chard stalks in olive oil until onions are translucent.
2. Add potatoes and carrots. Sautee 2-3 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes. Cook another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add lentils. Mix with veggies over heat.
5. Add broth and water.  Bring to a boil.
6. Cover and cook at a soft boil/simmer for ~30 minutes.  After 15 minutes, add chard leaves.
7. Salt to taste.
8. Garnish with fresh-grated parmesan, if you like.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.