Soup Weather

We're nearing the shortest day of the year, and it's just cold outside. That means soup to me. I decided on making a soup I hadn't made before. Like all of my "test" recipes I made a huge pot full of soup. I might be a touch braver in the kitchen than most. Here's what I made.

Spicy Vegetable Soup

1 good sized Organic leek
6 stalks of Organic celery
6 Organic carrots
10 Organic Mushrooms
2 quarts Organic Vegetable Stock
16 oz water
1 can Organic Garbanzo Beans
1 Can Organic Diced Tomatoes
1 Tbsp Organic Turmeric
1 pinch Red Chili Flakes

1 Batch of Truroots Organic Bean Trio (1 cup beans cooked per instructions)
1 Batch of Truroots Organic Quinoa and Sprouted Rice Blend (1 cup mix cooked per instructions)

Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Chop and saute the leek, carrots and celery in olive oil in a large pot for 2 - 3 minutes on high heat. add tomatoes and cook for a minute or 2 more. Add the stock, water, garbanzos and sliced mushrooms. Bring to a slow boil and reduce heat to medium low. salt and pepper to taste.

Prepare the Bean Trio and Quinoa/Rice blend per instructions. This will take about 1/2 hour to complete. When the beans and rice are done add the turmeric and red pepper flakes to the soup and then add the beans and the quinoa.rice blend and stir in. Allow to cook for at least 5 minutes before serving to allow the last ingredients to incorporate into the soup.

This makes a bunch of soup. Soup freezes well. If you choose to freeze some allow it to cool to room temperature, get as much air as you can from the container - ziplock- you are freezing it in and freeze away.

This soup has no animal product in it so it qualifies as vegan. You could switch the stock for chicken stock if you are offended by eating vegan soup. If you do reduce the salt you add. You could add green beans, corn, peas, etc as well. Only you know what your pallet wants.

The turmeric and red chili flakes give it a nice spicy - maybe light curry - flavor. It has a nice rich medium yellow color. You could also go more southwest and switch the turmeric for curry. If you wanted to go more Italian skip the turmeric and add lots of basil, oregano, thyme, and parsley.

That is about 6 soup recipes now.

The sprouted beans and the Quinoa sprouted rice blend are available at Costco - at least they are at my Costco. The brand is Truroots Organic. They can be found online as well at Amazon.com and others.

Stay warm and remember we are only a couple of weeks away from when the days will begin to get longer for a while.

More soon....