Vegetable Barley Soup

It’s official—I now have two teenagers. My son just turned 13, and I can hardly believe how quickly the time has flown! I know what you're thinking—she’s going to blog about vegetable soup to celebrate her steak loving kid’s birthday? Not quite.  He had prime rib on his actual birthday, but I did make this soup for the first night of his birthday party camping trip last weekend (along with these delicious sandwiches)

This was our third annual birthday camping trip celebrating my son’s birthday and Sandy and Brian’s twin sons’ birthdays. I was in charge of Friday night's dinner, and we’ve decided soup is a great way to start a camping weekend.  Nothing is better than a belly full of warm soup for a cool evening by the campfire.

This soup is a very flavorful vegan soup. It is an easy dinner to make for camping or on a busy weeknight.  I make sure to always have the ingredients on hand, and that is easy since the ingredients are either in the pantry or freezer. I love this soup! I especially love it the next day when the barley swells up and it becomes almost like a stew.  

Vegetable Barley Soup
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan

Printable Recipe
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried basil
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1lb bag frozen California style vegetables
1 14 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes
2 32oz containers of vegetable broth – I like Pacific brand for this
a few dashes of tabasco sauce
1 14 oz can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
½ cup uncooked pearled barley

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven and add the garlic. Cook the garlic for one minute, and then add tomato paste, basil, thyme, oregano, salt and pepper and cook until the herbs are fragrant, about one minute. Add the frozen vegetables, tomatoes, vegetable broth, tabasco sauce, garbanzo beans and barley. Bring the soup to a boil, and then reduce the heat and simmer until the barley is tender, about 30 minutes. Serve.

Surfer Soup

We are having a beautiful, mild winter here in Northern California.  I would enjoy the weather more if the specter of drought wasn’t hanging over our heads, but we have had beautiful days to hike, bike and enjoy the outdoors.  January and February are usually gray and drippy, so we don’t plan many camping trips or outdoor activities.  The weather in October is a different story. 

Northern California beaches are best in the fall.  The summer fog is gone, and the ocean water is a little warmer than in the spring, although less cold is probably a better description.  With the good weather of fall in mind, Sandy and Brian plan a beach camping trip for the beginning of October every year.   My son loves this trip!  We head to the beach campground on Friday, set up our tents, and hike down the cliff to enjoy the sand, water and a beautiful sunset before heading back up to our campground.  The kids go up without complaint because they know they will be spending all day Saturday in the water.

Then on Saturday, while I’m sitting on the beach under my umbrella, our friends Janet and Tony are usually decked out in wetsuits riding the waves on boogie boards with the kids.  This year, though, they roared into camp with surfboards strapped to the roof of their Yukon.  This raised their cool factor enormously. I’m sure my son wishes he had parents like Janet and Tony!  Never mind we never actually saw Janet and Tony surf.  They used the excuse that the waves were better at another beach, blah, blah, blah, but they allegedly surf.

Janet was in charge of dinner on Friday night, and she brought—you guessed it—Surfer Soup!  Janet’s soup was perfect for camping.  She calls the soup Surfer Soup because she makes the soup in the morning before they head to the beach.  When Janet’s family returns from surfing, they have a delicious dinner to help warm them up after a day in the ocean.

I made a double batch of the soup a couple months ago, so I stashed the leftovers in the freezer. I pulled the soup out for a quick dinner last night.  The soup tasted just as good, and maybe a little better out of the freezer than it did the night I made it.

Surfer Soup is a hearty, healthy, low fat soup perfect for when you’ve spent the day surfing the waves, or if you’ve only spent the day surfing the net. 

Surfer Soup 

PrintableRecipe 

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 pound ground turkey

½  yellow onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 15-ounce can petite cut diced tomatoes

4 cups chicken broth

1 15-ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1 6-ounce bag of baby spinach, chopped

Parmesan cheese

Tabasco sauce

In a large saucepot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, add the onion and cook until the onion is soft.  Add the turkey to the onions, and cook until the turkey is no longer pink.  Stir in the garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper, and cook for another minute.  Add the tomato paste, tomatoes, cannellini beans, and chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Turn the heat down to simmer, and simmer the soup for 15 minutes.  Taste the soup and add more salt and pepper if needed.  Add the spinach and cook for another 5 minutes.  Serve with Parmesan cheese and Tabasco sauce.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream

I’ve been on a butternut squash kick lately.  Les and my daughter loved the Winter Vegetable Stew with Moroccan Spices, and I made some butternut squash soup with the leftover squash. Then I bought another butternut squash from the store a few weeks ago.  I had intentions of making something new with it, but as sometimes happens, I didn’t get around to using the squash that week.  It sat forgotten and ignored on my counter waiting for me to use it.

I hate to throw out food, so I was glad when my boss told me about some butternut squash soup with chipotle peppers she’d had.  I was inspired!  I could use my sad and lonely squash, and I had everything else I needed in the pantry.  I could make dinner without going to the store.  I love when I don’t have to go to the store!

I made the butternut squash soup last Saturday night for dinner, and I don’t recommend the following technique (at least the part my husband helped with), but it's how I tested the soup.  I started the soup a little late Saturday afternoon, and after the step where I boiled the vegetables until they were tender, I took the soup off the heat, and and set it aside.  My son and I rushed off to mass where he was was altar serving that evening.  Les came home from work while we were at church, and I guess he was hungry, because when we got home he confessed he’d had a bowl of the soup that was on the stove.  Really!?!  The soup wasn’t finished.  It was really chunky, and it wasn't seasoned correctly.  Les said he liked the soup the way it was.  I completed the soup with his portion missing from the pot.  The soup was delicious despite the change.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream is silky smooth with rich flavor from the chicken broth and chipotle peppers.  I made the soup as written with chicken broth (it’s what I had on hand), but I think it would be delicious with vegetable broth too.  Les said he liked his extra chunky soup, but I know he liked the smooth, and properly seasoned soup better.

Butternut Squash Soup with Chipotle Sour Cream

Adapted from foodnetwork.com

Printable Recipe

3 tablespoons olive oil, divided

1 medium butternut squash, washed, halved lengthwise and seeded

Kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 medium onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 cups chicken broth, divided

2 teaspoons minced chipotle peppers in adobo

Chipotle Sour Cream

1 teaspoon minced chipotle peppers in adobo

1/2 cup sour cream

kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Arrange the squash cut side up on a baking sheet.  Brush the cut side of the squash with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Roast squash until browned and very tender, about 45 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a Dutch oven over medium heat add the remaining olive oil, onion, celery and carrot.  Season the mixture with a pinch of salt.  Cook the vegetables until they start to soften, about 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Using a spoon, scoop the flesh of the butternut squash away from the skin, and add it to the softened vegetables.  Add 4 cups of the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are very tender, about 30 minutes.

Take the soup off the heat and blend it with an immersion blender until it is completely blended and smooth.  Add the remaining chicken broth to achieve the desired consistency.  Mix in 2 teaspoons of the chipotle pepper and adjust the seasoning by adding salt and pepper to taste.

In a small bowl, mix together 1 teaspoon of chipotle pepper and the sour cream.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Serve the soup with a dollop of chipotle sour cream on top.

Lentil Sausage Soup

I can’t believe the holiday season has come and gone, and we are already in 2011! I’ve been de-Christmasing my house, and trying to catch up with all of the things I ignored over the holidays. And, the two weeks off were great, but I’m still trying to adjust to working, so I need something quick and easy to put on the table for dinner on during the week. I prepared this soup last weekend for a quick weeknight meal. I love when all I have to do is heat up  soup or chili to get dinner on the table.

I’ve seen a couple different lentil soup recipes lately, and I had a delicious Andouille sausage and lentil soup when I was up in San Francisco on business last month. The soup I had in San Francisco inspired this recipe, but I had to use what I had on hand (read: I was not going to the store again!) I’m happy with the results. The soup is thick and hearty with the sausage adding rich flavor. I will make this again, but I can’t wait to try it with Andouille sausage.

Lentil Sausage Soup
Printable Recipe
1 Tablespoon olive oil
3 links sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 leek, chopped
½ onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
1 ½ cups lentils
6 cups chicken broth

In a large pot over medium heat, brown the Italian sausage, breaking up the sausage into bite sized pieces. Add the leek, onion, carrot and celery and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the garlic, rosemary and thyme, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the salt, diced tomatoes, lentils, broth and water. Bring to a boil, and reduce the heat and simmer the soup for 2 ½ to 3 hours or until the lentils are soft. You can add up to 1 cup of water to thin the soup if desired.

Black Bean Soup

Here is the recipe for my black bean soup, as promised.  I have been searching high and low for a good black bean soup recipe.  I had a delicious bowl in a restaurant, and have been searching ever since.  A friend of mine served me her recipe, and I liked it, but it didn’t have quite the flavors I was looking for.  I’ve tried other recipes that were just too smoky with the amount of bacon they used.   I didn’t think I would ever find a recipe for my “perfect” black bean soup.  

I was craving soup on Saturday, and decided to make my own version of black bean soup.  This one is a keeper (if I do say so myself).  My black bean soup is slightly spicy with a subtle smoky flavor imparted by both the chipotle powder and the bacon fat.  Now, if you don’t drain your bacon fat into a small mason jar and keep it in the refrigerator, you can use olive oil, but you might want to add a little more chipotle powder or try some smoked paprika to add some smoky flavor (I didn’t test the recipe that way, so no promises).

Both the kids loved this soup, and wanted seconds, so I consider this a soup success.

Black Bean Soup
Printable Recipe
1 tablespoon bacon fat (or olive oil)
1 small yellow onion, chopped
½ sweet red pepper, chopped
½ teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon chipotle powder
4 14oz cans black beans, rinsed and drained
3 cups chicken broth
½ cup chopped cilantro
Juice of one lime
Salt to taste

Heat the bacon fat or olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and red pepper and cook until softened.   Add the cumin and chipotle powder, and heat for a minute, or until the spices are fragrant.  Add the black beans and the chicken both and bring to a boil.  Add the cilantro.  In a blender or using an immersion blender, blend the mixture until it’s smooth.  Add the lime-juice and salt (I added a ½ teaspoon of salt).  Serve garnished with sour cream, minced sweet red pepper, and cilantro sprigs.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Hibernation

Well, my hibernation is almost over, and I'll be going back to work tomorrow. I'm sad the season is over even though Christmas was bittersweet this year. For me, Christmas is always a joyous season filled with love and hope, and we were blessed to spend time with wonderful friends and family to help us celebrate. But, we also tragically lost a dear friend who will always be missed.

Even with my heavy heart, Christmas had to go on, but to make matters more difficult (especially for the kids) Les had to work on Christmas Day. Despite everything, we had a lovely Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And, lucky for me, everything slowed down right after Christmas, and I was more than ready for the slowdown.

At about noon on the day after Christmas, I finally stopped urging the kids to get dressed, so they stayed in their pajamas all day. We put together new Lego sets (or at least my son did), read our new books, and watched our new movies, and we did all of this in front of a roaring fire. I think we started a new “pajama day” tradition. We liked it so much we had a second “pajama day” on New Year’s Day to include Les who was working the day after Christmas.

With the exception of going to a New Year’s Eve party, we stayed fairly close to home during our time off after Christmas. So, what do you serve your family during hibernation? Well, if you're like me, you serve Pumpkin Black Bean Soup and Minestra with Sausage. Both of these soups are perfect for a quick meal whether you're hibernating or not. And, I had all the ingredients for the Pumpkin Black Bean Soup in my pantry, so I didn’t even have to leave the house. This soup is delicious with a creamy spiciness. I served simple grilled cheese sandwiches with it.
Pumpkin Black Bean Soup
Adapted from Rachael Ray at Food Network
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
1 14 ½ ounce diced tomatoes in juice
1 15 ounce can black beans, drained
2 15 ounce cans pumpkin puree
½ cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
3 green onions chopped for garnish

Add the oil to a soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add onions, and sauté until the onions are softened about 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, black beans, and pumpkin puree. Stir to combine and bring soup to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the cream, curry, cumin, cayenne and salt. Simmer 5 minutes and taste to adjust seasonings and serve garnished with chopped onions.

My son loves the Minestra with Sausage soup. He is a big fan of sausage, pasta and soup, so this soup was made for him. And I get some green vegetables into him, so I love it too. I’ve made this soup a couple of times. The first time, I used all spicy sausage, but it was too spicy for my daughter, so I adjusted the recipe to make it less spicy. Everyone loved the soup after I adjusted it.
Minestra with Sausage
Adapted from Everyday with Rachael Ray
2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 links of sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 link hot Italian sausage, casing removed
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 14.5 ounce can cannellini beans, drained
2 cups fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
Salt and pepper
Freshly grated nutmeg
6 cups chicken stock
1 cup mini penne pasta
Grated Parmesan cheese, for passing around the table

Add the oil to a soup pot or Dutch oven, and heat on medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook until browned about 5 minutes. Add the onion and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Then stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the beans and spinach; season with salt and pepper to taste, and then add a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. Add the chicken stock and 2 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Uncover the pot and stir in the pasta. Lower the heat and cook until the pasta is al dente. Serve and top with the cheese.

Here are a couple other soups for hibernation or just a quick weeknight meal...
Florentine White Bean Soup
Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

Florentine White Bean Soup

So, we have been back to our school routine for over a week now, and I realize now I was deluding myself when I thought my life would be easier once school started. One or both kids have something going on each night of the week, so I haven’t exactly been relaxing. I have managed to have a home-cooked meal on the table for the last couple of nights. Not a major feat, I know, but still comforting, and with any luck, I can keep it up!

Tonight I made these paninis with Florentine White Bean Soup. I have been trying to use up some of the food in my pantry, and I had a couple of cans of cannellini beans, so I knew I wanted to make a white bean soup. I have seen a few different recipes in magazines and on the web, but I chose this recipe from my William-Sonoma cookbook Food Made Fast: Soup cookbook. I was tempted by the 30-minutes from start to finish the recipe promised. The recipe lived up to its promise. The soup took me almost exactly 30 minutes.

I enjoyed the flavors of the soup, but what I enjoyed most was the smell. The only way I can describe the smell is to tell you it smells like my favorite Italian restaurant where you walk through the kitchen to get to your seat. My daughter and husband loved this soup. My son who usually loves soup didn’t even try it. The little bugger! At least he ate his sandwich.

Florentine White Bean Soup
Adapted from Food Made Fast: Soup from Williams-Sonoma

2 Tablespoons olive oil
4 oz pancetta chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 ½ Tablespoons tomato paste
6 cups chicken broth
2 cans cannellini beans
2 cups baby spinach, chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a large saucepan heat the oil and add the pancetta. Cook the pancetta until lightly browned about 5 minutes. Then add the onion and carrot and cook until soften about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and the oregano and cook until fragrant about 2 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste mixing well, and add the broth and beans. Bring the soup to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer and add the spinach. Cook the soup until the spinach is wilted about 10 minutes. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and serve.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

I love tortilla soup, but I haven’t found a recipe I liked, until now. I was trying to find a good soup to serve to some girlfriends last Friday, and since it was during Lent, I needed a vegetarian soup. I must have found five or six different recipes for vegetarian tortilla soup, but I couldn’t find one that completely appealed to me. So, I took the elements I liked of each recipe, and combined them into the soup below.

I did a test run of the soup, and fed it to my kids first. (This is not something I usually do, but since I wasn’t sure how spicy the soup would be, I felt I should test it first.) My daughter liked the soup, but said it was burning her throat. My son ate it, but only because dessert was hanging in the balance. I thought the soup might be just a little too spicy, but when I took it to work for lunch the next day, the spiciness had mellowed just a bit.

If you would like less spicy soup, you can reduce the number of chipotle peppers, but don’t eliminate them entirely since the peppers impart a nice smoky flavor to the soup. I really like this soup, if I do say so myself. It tasted fresh and smokey, and did live up to my expectations. My girlfriends said they liked it too, and they all had seconds, so I assume they weren’t just being polite.

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano – I used Mexican oregano
4 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped (use fewer chipotle peppers for a less spicy soup)
2 14oz cans of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can full of water
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
2 quarts of vegetable stock
12 ounces frozen corn
1 14oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Juice from 1 lime

Assorted Toppings
Tortilla chips
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sliced avocado
Chopped cilantro
Limes, Quartered

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion, red pepper and garlic and cook until softened but not browned. Next, add the paprika, cumin, chili powder and oregano, and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Once the mixture is fragrant, add the tomatoes, vegetable stock, water, chipotle peppers, corn, black beans and salt.  Simmer the soup for about 20 minutes. After the soup has simmered, add the lime juice and cilantro and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. This soup tastes even better the next day.

To serve, crush some tortilla chips and place in the bottom of a soup bowl. Top the chips with avocado slices, cheese and cilantro, and ladle the soup on top of the chips and toppings. This soup serves six with leftovers.