Two Tomato Soups

Typically, I would make the Martha Stewart version of tomato soup (below), but my sister sent me one that’s a little easier (for the days when you need things to be easy…)

Melissa’s Easy Tomato Soup

1 - 28 oz can San Marzano peeled tomatoes

1 - 14 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes

1/2 onion roughly chopped

4 tbsp butter (or olive oil)

1/2 - 2 cup vegetable broth, cream or vegan half and half

Salt to taste

Put into a cast iron pot on medium for an hour. Use an immersion blender (or a regular blender in batches) until smooth. Add salt to taste. Finish with the vegetable broth or cream - add just enough to bring it to the consistency you like (if you like a less acidic soup, add cream).

So easy and delicious!

Another great tomato soup adapted from Martha Stewart’s Tomato Soup

Martha got it right with this soup recipe. Once you make this simple soup yourself, you’ll agree that buying tomato soup in a can is a shame. Plus you get the added benefit of adding as much (or little!) salt as you like, but if you’re making it for nostalgic reasons, you might as well add all two teaspoons. Let’s face it – some of us were raised on the canned stuff (and we love it!)

If you want to feel good about your salt, try Celtic Sea Salt or this amazing Norwegian Sea Salt from Salty Provisions - Double the magnesium, nearly triple the potassium over other brands. Hand harvested from the crisp, clean Norwegian Sea. 

Try this soup with a delightfully simple gluten-free grilled “cheese”! Seen here with bread from Wheat’s End and vegan “cheese” from The Dill Pickle Food Co-Op.

New Development!

If you chill on the reheating of this soup, it makes a fantastic gazpacho. Top with some fresh basil and you're ready to go on a hot summer day!

Makes 6 cups

• 5 - 6 T coconut oil

• 1 medium yellow onion (chopped)

• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)

• 24 ounces jarred or canned plum tomatoes

• 3 cups veggie broth

• 1 - 2 t sea salt to taste

• 1/4 t freshly ground black pepper

• 1 t nutritional yeast (optional)

• dash turmeric (optional)

Melt oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add onion, garlic and turmeric, and cook (stirring) until onions have softened (about 15 minutes). Add tomatoes, veggie broth, salt, pepper and yeast, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook until tomatoes, onions, and garlic are soft (10 to 20 minutes).

Working in batches, transfer soup to a blender and puree until smooth. Return to saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until soup is heated through. If soup seems too thick, stir in some extra broth to thin. Let rest for 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Simple Udon Soup

This light soup with umami broth is a nice break for the stomach from heavier winter meals. Proteins can be added easily, and it can replace the classic Chicken Noodle Soup in your wellness routine.

You can adjust the salt to your liking if you use homemade broth. Homemade broth is an incredibly alkalizing food. It offers easily digestible nutrients and electrolytes.

Dulse {red seaweed} is a great source of complete protein amino acids and iodine, plus helps to remove heavy metals and toxins from the body.

If you don’t do wheat, you can replace the udon noodles with a variety of gluten-free noodles: buckwheat, kelp or NoOodles {made with yams}.

Serves 4

• 6 ounces udon, kelp or yam noodles

• 6 cups homemade veggie broth or broth of your choice

• 6 Crimini or Shiitake mushrooms, sliced

• 2 handfuls baby spinach leaves

• 2 handfuls cooking greens: kale, dandelion, chard, collard greens, bok choy

• Sea Salt to taste

• 2 teaspoon coconut aminos (or tamari)

• 1 Tablespoon dulse granules

• Coconut nectar (or sweetener of your choice) to taste {optional}

• 1 Tablespoon onion flakes or diced onion

• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

•  Garnish with toasted sesame seeds, black seeds or Gomasio (seaweed, sesame seeds and sea salt)

Cook udon noodles in salted boiling water until tender, about 5 minutes (if using yam or kelp, wait until the end to add). Drain and rinse under cold water until cool.

Place broth in a pot and bring to a boil. Add mushrooms, greens and onions or flakes and bring back to a boil.

Stir in spinach and oil and season with salt, aminos, sweetener and dulse granules to taste. Add noodles and cook just until heated through.

Let rest for 5-8 minutes for full flavor. Top with sesame oil and seeds. Enjoy!

Delicious Mushroom Soup

Mushrooms are a powerhouse of nutrients that support your immune system. They can even produce their own vitamin D when left in the sunshine before cooking.

Soups are a great way to use herbs and vegetables. Making a broth from your veggie scraps is also a great way to reduce kitchen waste.

Makes: 5 cups; serves: 4 to 6

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• ¼ cup diced onions

• 3 cups sliced white, portobello, or shiitake mushrooms (really any mushroom you like)

• 2 tablespoons chickpea flour

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder or fresh minced garlic

• a pinch dried thyme or poultry seasoning

• 1/3 cup vegan creamer (unsweetened) (I like to use Nutpods brand creamer)

In a 3-quart saucepan; heat the oil over medium-high heat. Cook onions with garlic until translucent. Add flour and stir. Add 1 cup broth ¼ cup at a time and stir until broth is thickened. Add the mushrooms and cook (stirring) until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in remaining broth, pepper, and thyme/seasonings. Cook, stirring constantly, until soup comes to a boil. Add the creamer and remove from heat, stirring until the cream is warmed. Enjoy!

Lentil Soup

This hearty soup is a must if you are traveling (and have access to a kitchen). With few ingredients and a low prep-time, lentil soup gives you the nutrition you need to keep up with those vacation activities. Lentils are a small but nutritionally-valuable member of the legume family. They are a great source of fiber which helps in managing metabolic disorders like diabetes.

Fiber can prevent blood sugar levels from rising after a meal, and has been known to lower bad cholesterol levels.

Lentils are an excellent source of molybdenum, folate, manganese, iron, protein, phosphorus, copper, thiamin and potassium; and they are low in calories with virtually no fat. A vegan superfood!

Makes 6-7 cups of soup. Enjoy with salad or bread.

• 2 cup red lentils

• 2 stalks celery (sliced)

• 2 large carrots (diced)

• ½ yellow onion (diced)

• 4 Shiitake mushrooms (sliced)

• *Optional ½ cup red or white beans (soaked and cooked)

• 3 Tablespoons oil

• 6 cups veggie broth or water (or combination of both)

• The juice from 1-2 lemons

• 2 teaspoons salt (or to taste)

• *Optional: curry, masala, Ras-El-Hanout, or lentil soup seasonings; cayenne pepper or paprika

Dice half of a yellow onion and slice the Shiitake mushrooms. Heat a deep pan and add oil when hot. Sauté onion and mushrooms until the onions are translucent.

Add sliced celery and heat until it is translucent as well.

Rinse and look for stones in two cups of red lentils. Add diced carrots and and red lentils to the pot. Heat for a few minutes.

Add the veggie broth or water (or a combination of both). Cook on high heat for about twenty minutes; then reduce the heat and simmer for over an hour or until the lentils have broken apart. Season while cooking.

After thirty minutes of simmering, add the soaked and cooked (or canned) red and white beans.Salt to taste as needed. Add the lemon at the very last moment and let the whole thing rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

Inspired by Dr. Lindner

This is an easy soup to throw together on a blustery winter day (or any day really). It’s so creamy and delicious, you won’t even notice it’s almost all veggies!

• 1 head cauliflower

• 2 leeks (white & light green parts, washed and chopped)

• 1-2 cloves garlic

• 2 T oil (I use olive)

• salt to taste

• dill (or thyme) to taste

• 4-6 cups water or veggie broth (depending on the size of your cauliflower)

• squeeze of lemon

Slice leeks and rinse between leaves; remove dark green parts and reserve for your next batch of veggie broth. Chop garlic and leeks, and sauté in oil in large pot for a few minutes until soft. Cut cauliflower into strips and add to the pot. Salt and warm for a bit, then add water or broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until the cauliflower is soft. Add salt and pepper to taste and squeeze in lemon. Blend with immersion blender or transfer in batches to a blender. Sprinkle with dill or other herbs. Let it rest for at least 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!

Tibetan Potato Soup

I’m not sure where I acquired this recipe, but I have great gratitude for whoever wrote it down. This is the most healing soup you will ever encounter…(Take a seat, Chicken Noodle). The capsaicin in the chili power and curcumin in the turmeric are anti-viral and super anti-inflammatory.

You can make it as spicy as you like and it traditionally uses ghee rather than coconut oil, but I feel the monolaurin in the coconut oil is important in boosting the immune potency of this soup.

You may wonder why I have so many soup recipes… to me, soup is spleen food. When you’re recovering from an illness like EBV or a degenerative condition like hyperthyroidism, you need to feed your spleen to heal. Cooking the soup helps break down the nutrients so your body has less work to do, allowing your spleen to build blood for your body.

Makes about 8 cups.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup coconut oil

• 1 tablespoon minced gingerroot

• 1 tablespoon minced garlic

• 1 cup diced onion

• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric

• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala

• 3 cups mashed potatoes

• 4 cups spring water or veggie broth

• 1 cup chopped carrots

• 1 cup spinach or chard leaves, chopped

• 1 -1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

• Dulse seaweed flakes to taste (red seaweeds help clean the body of heavy metals)

• 2 teaspoons Kosher and/or Sea salt

• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

• 2 tablespoons chopped green onions or chives

• parsley

Directions

1. Melt oil in large saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add ginger, garlic, onion and carrots and stir-fry over medium to medium-high. Heat for 5 minutes.

3. Add turmeric, chili powder and masala. Stir-fry 1/2 minute longer.

4. Add potato and mix. Cook and stir 3 minutes. (If you like a smooth soup, add water or broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly with wire whisk to prevent lumps from forming.)

5. Stir and add spinach.

6. Mix well and bring to boil. Add vinegar, dulse, salt and pepper.

7. Simmer 5 minutes. If soup is too thick, add water.

8. Add green onions or parsely and mix well.

9. Let rest before serving.

Rustic Soup

This soup is simple to make and the most hearty and warming thing you can eat during a cold spell. The one thing I am a stickler about is the carrot, celery and onion. The French call this Mirepoix (prounounced meer-pwah). ) It's classic and the most common French combination of onions, carrots, and celery, typically in a ratio of 2 parts onion to 1 parts each carrot and celery.) The flavors from this combination contribute to a satisfying and complex soup flavor.

Chopped Vegetables:

• Onion

• Carrot

• Celery

Choose from these or add your own:

• Broccoli

• Cauliflower

• Radishes

• Zucchini

• Celeriac

• Potatoes

• Mushrooms

Greens (whatever you have available; shredded or sliced into chuncks):

• Chard

• Kale

• Collard Greens

Chop enough to fill a stock pot midway.

• 1 Cup of Lentils, rinsed and soaked for a short time in hot water

• Olive Oil, Vegan butter

• Veggie broth (about 5 cups or so) You can find the recipe for homemade broth here or try Whole Foods 365 Brand of Vegetable Broth. It doesn't have peppers.

• Garlic (if desired)

• Dulse

• Sea salt (to taste)

• Black Pepper (to taste)

• Turmeric (as much as you can handle)

• Churna, Curry or Chili powder (just a dash)

• Lemon (optional)

After chopping veggies, add some oil to the pot and saute with the onions, garlic, mushrooms (if using) and drained lentils. Spice it up with turmeric and other spices and simmer for a couple minutes. Then add the carrots and celery. I usually stage all the veggies based on how long it takes them to cook and add them accordingly.

Pour broth over all the veggies and bring up to simmer. Season with salt, pepper and other spices until it tastes delicious. Cook for 20 min or so... When all veggies have softened to your liking, turn off the heat and let the soup rest. At the end you can squeeze some lemon (it makes the lentils taste a little bit like chicken), or top with olive oil or vegan butter (here are some good ones: Miyoko's and Nutiva's Butter Flavored Coconut Oil)

Enjoy! (Especially good with Simple Mills Almond Crackers)