More Soup Recipes

More Favorite Soup Recipes

I depend on soups for easy nutritious lunches. I've only included hot soups, but there are many good cold soups you might try for summer. Look at my other soup recipes if you haven't already.

Red Lentil Soup

This soup was inspired by my friend Helena who simply cooked red lentils and garlic in water and thinned the mix to a soupy consistency. You can make it this way, but I like my soups to be balanced meals, so I've added vegetables and grains. You could use split peas or regular lentils instead of red lentils, but red lentils are delicious and digestible. (I get them at my local health food store.) Usually I double this recipe so that my husband and I can eat it for lunch a number of days. It freezes best if you leave out the potatoes.

1 tablespoon olive oil	1 bay leaf
1 onions, chopped	1-2 teaspoons salt
3 cloves garlic, chopped or finely sliced	1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 diced carrots	1/8 teaspoon of cayenne (optional)
1/4 cup brown rice	1 large chopped potato (optional)
1 cup red lentils	2 cups chopped spinach, chard, or other greens

Saute onions, garlic, and carrots in olive oil. Add a 6 cups of water, barley, red lentils, bay leaf, salt, and black pepper. Cook about 30-45 minutes until rice and lentils are softening. Add more water as needed. Add potatoes and if you're using greens that take time to cook like kale or collards, add them now and cook until the greens and potatoes are done, about 30 minutes more. If you're using spinach or chard, add them after the potatoes are cooked. Adjust salt and other seasoning, and add more water if the soup is too thick.

Barley and Bean Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil	2 large potatoes
1-2 large carrots, diced	1 can kidney beans
1 large onion, chopped	1 can Great Northern or other white beans
2 cloves garlic, chopped	2 cups chopped kale
1/2 cup barley	1-2 tsp. salt
1 bay leaf	1/4 tsp. black pepper
3 tablespoons soy sauce

Saute carrots, onion, and garlic in olive oil. Add 2 quarts of water, barley, bay leaf, and soy sauce. Cook 30-45 minutes until barley is softening. Add potatoes, beans (I use Eden organic beans), kale, salt, and pepper. You can also use other vegetables you like. When it's all cooked, adjust the seasoning to your taste. You may need more water.

Kale-Potato Soup

This is one of the few soups I make that require 2 pots and slightly more complicated preparation , but it's worth the effort. This soup is rich and creamy because of the blended white beans and potatoes, but it is low in fat.

2 tablespoons olive oil	1 large carrot, chopped
1 onion, chopped	2-4 cups finely chopped fresh kale
6 cloves garlic, chopped	3 tsp. salt
6 large potatoes, chopped	1/4 tsp. of cayenne or black pepper (I like it hot!)
1 bay leaf	2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
2 cans white beans

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in a large pot. Add about 2 quarts of water (you'll have to adjust water to the consistency you like at the end), 4 of the potatoes chopped, bay leaf, and 1 can of white beans, and kale.

In a smaller pot, cover 2 chopped potatoes and the carrot with water and cook until soft. Cool a little and blend in a food processor or blender until smooth. Also blend one can of the beans with this mix. You'll likely have to blend it all in two batches, adding enough water to get a smooth mix.

When the larger pot containing kale is well cooked, add the potato-carrot-bean puree to the pot. This will give you a creamy soup with a great color. Add 2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast at the end of serving. Adjust salt, pepper, and consistency by adding more water if needed.

Cream of Tomato Soup

A creamy soup without cream or milk.

1 tablespoon olive oil	2 teaspoon salt
1 roughly chopped carrot	1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 roughly chopped onion	1/2 teaspoon oregano
3 cloves garlic	1-2 tablespoon fresh basil (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
8 cups tomatoes--fresh peeled or canned	2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 cans white beans	1 cup cooked brown rice (optional)

Saute carrot, onion, and garlic in olive oil. Large pieces are fine, because you're going to puree the whole recipe. Add 1 cup water, tomatoes, beans, and dried spices. Cook about 45 minutes. Cool a little and puree in a blender along with the whole wheat flour. Return mix to the large pot, adjust seasoning and amount of water, add cooked brown rice if desired, and add finely shredded basil for the last few minutes of cooking.

This makes a great creamy tomato base for other soups. You can go Italian by adding zucchini. I always like adding greens.