Christie Brinkley's Bean Soup
(Note: Christie Brinkley has been a vegeterian since she was 13 years old.)
Source: Fast and Healthy - September/October 1995

1 c. uncooked dry navy beans
2 T. olive oil
1 med. white onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 medium baking potatoes, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 large carrots, sliced
1 stalk celery, chopped
1-1/2 c. sliced cabbage
1 T. finely chopped fresh parsley
2 t. vegetable-flavor instant bouillon
1 ban leaf
6-8 cups water

Soak beans for 20 minutes in enough lukewarm water to cover.

Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until hot. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until tender.

Drain beans. Add beans, potatoes, carrots, celery, cabbage, parsley, bouillon, bay leaf and 6 cups water to Dutch oven; mix well. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer 1 to 1-1/4 hours or until beans are tender. If necessary, add additional water during cooking for desired consistency. If desired, salt to taste. (Yield: six 1-1/2 c. servings)

[Grainlady Note: I have also substituted chicken broth (canned or homemade) for part of the water for a non-vegetarian soup. This is one of my favorite soup recipes.]
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GREAT GAZPACHO
Finely chop and combine:
6 plum tomatoes
1 yellow pepper
1 cucumber
1/2 small onion
1/4 c. cliantro
1 garlic clove
1 jalapeno

Add:
1-1/2 c. vegetable juice (V-8 or Very Veggie)
2 T. red wine vinegar
2 T. olive oil
1 t. salt (if needed)

Puree a third, then stir back into soup. Chill.

This is excellent. Use the veggie stock instead of chicken.

Minestrone Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium-size carrots, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced thin
1 medium-size all-purpose potato, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 medium-size yellow or green summer squash (about 1/2 pound), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon dried basil, crumbled
1 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
2 large bay leaves
1 large can (28 ounces) crushed low-sodium tomatoes, with their juice
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1/4 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
4 ounces tiny shells or tubettini
1 can Great Northern white beans, drained and rinsed
Grated Parmesan cheese, if desired
3 tablespoons minced parsley

In a large heavy kettle, heat the olive oil over low heat for 1 minute; add the onions and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Raise the heat to moderate and add the carrots, potato, squash, basil, oregano, and bay leaves. Cook, uncovered, 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.
Add the tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil; adjust the heat so that the mixture bubbles gently and cook, uncovered, 20 minutes longer. Add the green beans, cover, and cook until the beans are tender but still crisp--about 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaves.

Add the pasta and cook until tender. Add additional water, if necessary. Add the white beans. Cook 3 to 5 minutes longer, until heated through. Ladle into soup bowls and sprinkle with the cheese and parsley.

This is very good too, again sub veggies stock for the chicken.

Cheddar Vegetable Chowder
Recipe Courtesy of Gourmet Magazine

Recipe Summary
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 3 1/2 cups
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup finely chopped carrot
1/3 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup red bell pepper cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 medium boiling potato cut into 1/4-inch dice
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or vegetable stock
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups small broccoli florets
1/2 pound extra sharp Cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 cup rye croutons

In a 2-quart saucepan heat oil over moderate heat until hot but not smoking . Add onion, carrot, celery, pepper and potato. Cook until onion is soft.
Add flour and cook over medium heat, stirring for 3 minutes. Add chicken stock, wine, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne and broccoli florets. Simmer, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes until broccoli and potatoes are tender.

Remove the pan from heat and stir in Cheddar , a little at a time, stirring until cheese is melted.

Season with salt and pepper

Serve with Rye Croutons

RYE CROUTONS:
2 thick slices dark rye bread

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut rye bread into 1/2-inch cubes. Place in single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake in oven for 5 minutes, or until dry Yield: 1/2 cup

This is two of my favourite soups. Use Vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

4 Red Bell Peppers roasted, seeded & peeled
2 TBSP Butter (Or Margarine)
1 Red Onion Chopped
2 Garlic Cloves Minced
4 Cup Chicken Broth (substitute vegetable broth)
1 Tbsp Lemon Juice
Salt And Pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic in butter until soft. Add red peppers. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Add broth cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Add lemon juice. Process in food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Place back on stove until ready to serve.

Note: Roast the peppers under the broiler in your oven until blackened on all sides. Place hot peppers in a plastic bag and tie closed. When cool, skin and remove seeds.

Leek And Stilton Soup

1 Tbsp butter
1 shallot chopped finely
1 cup leeks thinly sliced
1 cup potato diced
2 cups chicken stock (substitute vegetable broth)
1 to 1 1/2 cups cream
salt and pepper to taste
pinch nutmeg
few drops Lemon juice
2 oz stilton or other blue cheese

Melt butter, add shallot and leek cooking until soft but not browned.
Heat the chicken stock and add to the leeks, add the potatoes. Cook until potatoes are just tender. Cool and puree in the food processor.
Separately heat and reduce the cream. Stir in the blended leek mixture.
Bring to a gentle boil. Add seasonings and lemon juice. Pour into bowls and top each with 1/2 ounce crumbled Stilton. ( I add the cheese to the actual soup)

Our family liked this one from Jeannie Brand-Miller:

Thick Vegetable Soup

2 t. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
1 C. dried soup mix*
8 C. vegetable stock
14-oz can diced tomatoes
2 small zucchini, chopped
3 T. flat parsley, chopped

Heat oil in a large saucepan, add onion, carrot and celery. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes until onions have softened.

Add soup mix, stock, and tomatoes. Cover and bring to a boil then reduce heat to medium-low. Tilt the lid slighly and cook for 30 minutes. Add zucchini and cook for 30 more minutes until all ingredients are tender.

Serve sprinkled with parsley. I also added some fresh basil and parmesan prior to serving.

*The dried soup mix I used was Bob's Red Mill veggie soup mix with lots of lentils, barley, split peas, seasonings and some mini whole grain noodles.

I doubled the recipe using two stock pots and had enough leftover to POOF for 3 more meals!

Kari

This is my favorite lentil soup, from the Moosewood cookbook:

MoosewoodÂs Lentil Soup

3 c. raw lentils, rinsed
7 c. water or stock
2 t. salt
2 t. minced garlic
1 c. chopped onion
1 c. minced celery
1 c. chopped carrots
lots of black pepper
1-1/2 c. chopped, fresh tomatoes, or equivalent canned
2 T. dry red wine
2 T. lemon juice
1-1/2 T. molasses
1 T. wine vinegar, or more to taste

Combine raw lentils, water or stock, and salt and simmer, covered, for 3 to 4 hours. Then steam the garlic, onion, celery and carrots together in a saucepan, and add to lentils. Continue to simmer on low heat for about an hour. Add black pepper, tomatoes, dry red wine, lemon juice, molasses and wine vinegar about 30 minutes before serving. Sprinkle extra vinegar and freshly chopped green onions onto each serving.

And this is a really good Cuban black bean soup, from a cookbook I got in last fall's swap, from Andi:

Cuban Black Bean Soup
From "Dairy Hollow House Soup and Bread  a Country Inn Cookbook" by Crescent Dragonwagon

Pam cooking spray
2 cups dried black beans, washed and picked over
2-1/2 quarts any well-flavored vegetable stock or water
2 bay leaves
1 fresh jalapeno pepper, chopped with seeds (if you want the soup just a little hot, remove the seeds and white pith from the pepper)
½ to ¾ (if conscience allows) olive oil
3 large onions chopped
2 green bell peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped 4 to 6 cloves garlic, peeled and put through a garlic press or finely chopped
Salt to taste
1-1/2 to 2 cups cooked white rice, for serving
1 onion, chopped for serving

1. Spray a large heavy soup pot with the Pam and in it soak the beans in stock or water to cover overnight.
2. The next day add enough of the remaining stock or water to cover the beans by 1 inch. Add the bay leaves and jalapeno cover the pot, and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to very low and let simmer, partially covered, until the beans are tender, about 1-1/2 to 2 hours.
3. Meanwhile, in an 8- or 9-inch skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and green peppers and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook a few seconds more.
4. When the beans are tender, add the onion mixture to them and season with salt. Let simmer another 20 minutes. Serve at once, or, even better, the next day. Pass the rice and chopped onion at the table.

Serves 6 to 8 as an entrée.

VARIATIONS:
To make this soup with canned beans, pour 5 cans (15 ounces each) of black beans with their liquid into a heavy soup pot and add an equal amount of vegetable stock. Add th4 bay leaves, broken up a bit, and heat through. Then proceed as directed, adding diced jalapeno to the pepper-onion sauté.

Thank you so much for these soup recipes. They all sound wonderful, and I will try everyone of them. This week has made me think of soup it has been so cool. The canned soups have so much sodium.

Barb

Here's a recipe that was posted by Lynnalexandra back last November. I made it for Thanksgiving, using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth, and it was a hit.

Potato-Fennel Soup  Â

ROASTED-POTATO FENNEL SOUP (from Ina Garten, The Barefoot Contessa)
The potatoes are roasted first to give them extra flavor and Ina adds a touch of heavy cream at the end to give it a little richness (Lynn's note: I also add a little sherry at the end)

4 pounds red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered (Lynn's note: that is if they are the small red potatoes. If they are large, cut them into approximately 1 1/2 inch cubes/chunks)
1/4 cup plus 2 TBS good olive oil
1 TBS minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
1 TBS kosher salt
2 TSP fresh ground pepper
4 cups chopped yellow onions (4 onions - Lynn's note: 2-3 of my onions yielded 4 cups)
4 cups chopped fennel bulb (about 2 pounds)
3 quarts chicken stock or water
1 cup heavy cream
(Lynn's addition: add sherry to taste- ounce or so)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In a large bowl, toss potatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, until cooked through.
Saute the onions and fennel with 2 TBS olive oil in a large stockpot on medium heat until translucent, 10-15 minutes. Add the roasted potatoes (including the scrapings fromt he pan) and the chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until al the vegetables are very soft. Add the heavy cream and allow the soup to cool slightly. Pass the soup through the largest disk of a food mill or chop coarsely in batches in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Taste for salt and pepper. Reheat and serve hot.

Lynn's Notes: "I don't have a food mill and found that blending multiple batches in a blender was a royal pain and a big mess. I cook the soup in a 7 quart dutch oven because it is wider and not as deep as a stock pot. That way I could use my immersion blender to puree the soup directly in the pot. (In a large stockpot the immersion blender wouldn't reach to the bottom.)
Everyone I've served this to has enjoyed it (even my daughter though she'd like less pepper)"

Now Sally's notes: In general, if a recipe features vegetables but calls for chicken stock, I've substituted vegetable broth without loosing anything. This not only goes for soups but for other recipes, too. I don't let a non-vegetarian recipe stop me. I just adjust it as needed.

Sally