Sweet Potato and Apple Soup

As much as everyone in Wisconsin is trying to fight it, fall is approaching, and quickly. As sad as it is that summer is almost over, I have to admit that fall is my favorite season! I love the weather, and more importantly, the delicious produce that comes with fall! Sweet potatoes and apples are among the most delicious of these. 

This soup is super easy and barely takes any time at all. Slow cookers might seem like a thing of the past, but they are incredible for people who have demanding jobs or school, or for anyone who would rather not spend hours every day slaving in the kitchen! All you have to do is pop the ingredients into the slow cooker, turn it on low and leave for work. Then, you come home to delicious smells and a dinner that took almost no work at all! It’s a beautiful thing. 

This is a very simple recipe, and I wanted to keep it that way to showcase the wonderful flavors of sweet potato and apple. However, if you wanted to make this soup a little more fancy, feel free to add more veggies or spices. 

Ingredients:

• 3-4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 large yellow onion, diced
• 2 apples, cored but not peeled, and sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
• Pinch sea salt
• 4-5 cups broth
• Pinch cayenne pepper (optional, for spice)
• Heaping scoop of grass fed butter or olive oil (do not be afraid of saturated fat — it’s good for you!)

Directions:

1. In a crockpot, add onion, sweet potatoes, apples, garlic, sea salt, broth and cayenne pepper. 
2. Turn slow cooker on low and cook for 7-8 hours.
3. Puree with an immersion blender until all chunks are gone, then add in butter or oil.

Enjoy!

Creamy Mushroom and Wild Rice Soup

For the longest time, I hated mushrooms. The smell, the taste, the texture; I just couldn’t bring myself to eat them. And the worst part was — I wanted to like them! Seeing that they are native to Wisconsin, have excellent nutritional benefits, and are relatively inexpensive, they seemed like the perfect food. After years of disliking them, I decided to buy a big ol’ bag of Cremini mushrooms from the farmer’s market a few months ago. I whipped up a Shepard’s pie with a sweet potato topping, and low and behold, I loved it. Since then, I’ve been trying to incorporate more mushrooms into my diet. 

This soup is very versatile and quite tasty. You can add additional veggies to it if you’d like, change up the grains, or remove them altogether. If you eat dairy, feel free to use cow’s milk cream or yogurt instead of the cashew cream.

Ingredients:

• Dollop grassfed butter, olive oil or avocado oil
• 1/2 lb Crimini mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4 lb Shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup wild rice
• 2 tbsp dry white wine
• 4 cups vegetable broth (make your own using my vegetable broth recipe)
• 2 tsp sea salt
• Pinch black pepper
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 cup cashews, soaked overnight and blended in food processor

Directions:

1. Start with the cashew cream. After your cashews have soaked overnight, blend them in a food processor. The consistency should look like yogurt or whipping cream. Add a touch of warm water if needed. Set aside.
2. In a large stockpot, heat butter or oil. Add onion, celery, garlic and mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes, until mushrooms are fragrant and onions are translucent.
3. Add rice and stir. Add dry wine and cook until the wine loses its bite.
4. Add broth, salt, pepper and thyme.
5. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer, covered, for 30 minutes, or until rice is cooked.
6. Add cashew cream and puree soup with an immersion blender. Make as thin or as chunky as you like.

Enjoy!

Balsamic-Chickpea Stew with Sourdough Croutons and Pesto

I know this title sounds crazy. So many words! Even though it’s obnoxiously long and a bit of a tongue-twister to say out loud, I think all of these words are necessary to describe the amazingness that is this soup!

The secret to making this soup really pop is to get some deep flavor in your chickpeas before incorporating them into the rest of the stew. As always, I recommend soaking your chickpeas overnight to reduce the amount of phytic acid. Once you’re ready to cook them, however, just add a touch of balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt and a little pepper to your cooking water, and your chickpeas will become infused with a rich and beautiful flavor that will really come to life when added to the stew. 

While it may seem like there are a lot of steps for this meal, they’re easy to prep ahead of time and throw together quickly for an easy and fast weeknight meal. I recommend soaking the chickpeas and making the pesto at night. By the time you get home from work and are ready to start making dinner, 50% of the meal will already be done! Gotta love that!

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• Drizzle olive oil OR dollop grassfed butter
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 6 cups peeled and diced tomatoes (check out my easy method for peeling fresh tomatoes) OR feel free to used canned ones (make sure the cans are BPA free)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 cups chickpeas (soaked overnight, then cooked on the stovetop in water, a dash of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper)
• 2 cups kale, shredded
• 4 slices sourdough bread, chopped roughly
• Drizzle olive oil (for the bread)
• 1/2 cup pesto (get my pesto recipe here)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Start with the chickpeas. Once they’ve soaked overnight, drain and rinse. Empty them into a stockpot and add enough water to cover the top of the beans. Add a pinch of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. Cook until tender, about 60 minutes. 
3. In the meantime, heat oil or butter in a large stockpot. Add onion, garlic, celery, and carrots. Saute until tender. Add thyme, oregano, basil, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, until the spices become fragrant.
4. Add in tomatoes and stir. Reduce heat and cover. Let simmer. 
5. Spread chopped bread onto a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and place in preheated oven. Cook for 10 minutes, or until crispy, then remove from oven and set aside.
6. By now the chickpeas should be ready. Empty them into the stew. Add nutritional yeast and kale. Stir well.
7. To serve, garnish with croutons and a generous dollop of pesto.

Enjoy!

Spicy Slow-Cooked Black Bean Soup

If you are someone who has a busy life but still likes to eat real, healthy, delicious food, your slow cooker is probably your best friend. With a little prep work in the evening before bed, or in the morning before work, you can come home to the wonderful smell of a home-cooked meal, while letting your slow cooker do all the work for you!

This black bean soup is pretty basic. That is not to say that it’s not tasty (’cause it definitely is!). As always, I recommend soaking your grains and beans ahead of time, preferably overnight. When I make this soup, I like to chop my veggies in the evening, soak my black beans and rice (together, if  I’m feeling particularly lazy) overnight, then toss everything in the slow cooker in the morning before I leave for work. I then come home to a big pot of deliciousness that just needs a stir and some finishing touches before it’s ready to devour!

This soup goes nicely with avocado, toasted sprouted tortilla strips, cilantro, or a few red pepper flakes.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups dried black beans (soaked overnight in filtered water and 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
• 1 cup white rice (soaked overnight i filtered water and  1 tbsp apple cider vinegar)
• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and diced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 3 cups veggie broth
• 3 cups water
• 1/2 cup favorite salsa
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 and 1/2 tsp sea salt
• Pinch black pepper
• Avocado, to garnish
• Sprouted tortilla, to garnish

Directions:

1. Drain and rinse rice and beans. Empty into crockpot.
2. Empty in onion, jalapeño, tomato paste, broth, salsa, and spices. Bring to high heat, then reduce heat and cook on low for 8 hours.
3. Puree with an immersion blender, keeping it as chunky as you like.

Enjoy!

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Creamy, Garden-Fresh Tomato Basil Soup

Tomato soup is the ultimate in nostalgic comfort foods. It is, in my opinion, the perfect year-round soup. In the summertime, beautiful tomatoes start sprouting up all over the place; providing the most important ingredient for this delicious soup. To enjoy this soup in the winter, these same tomatoes can be canned and preserved so that they can be enjoyed just the same, months later.

You can also feel free to buy diced, canned tomatoes from the store or farmer’s market. There are a few things to keep in mind when doing that, however. 1. Make sure there isn’t any refined sugar or preservatives added to the tomatoes (You’d be surprised). 2. Make sure the cans themselves don’t contain BPA.

I have a pretty easy and quick method for removing the skin from tomatoes. It takes almost no time at all and just a little bit of extra prep work, but it’s SO worth it. You won’t believe the difference between canned tomatoes and fresh ones until you taste it!

To peel your tomatoes:

1. Fill a large pot with boiling water.
2. Fill a large bowl with ice water.
3. With a small, sharp knife, make a small “x” in the BOTTOM of the tomato (not the stem-side). The x shouldn’t be too deep, just enough to surpass the layer of fresh surrounding the seeds.
4. Gently place the tomatoes into the boiling water. Remove after 10-15 seconds and immediately place in ice bath.
5. Skin should peel off very easily.
6. Dice them up and set them aside.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp avocado or refined coconut oil or butter (if you eat dairy)
• 6-7 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2-3 celery stalks, diced
• 2-3 carrots, diced
• 3 tbsp sprouted flour
• 1 tsp maple syrup
• 1/3 cup soaked or sprouted grain (rice, quinoa, etc.)
• 4 cups diced tomatoes (either fresh, using the method above, or canned)
• 3 cups coconut milk (any nut milk will do, or use cow’s milk if you eat dairy)
• 2 tbsp dried basil
• 1 bay leaf
• Liberal pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of black pepper
• Pinch nutritional yeast (for garnish)
• Chiffonade fresh basil (for garnish)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot. Toss in garlic, onions, celery and carrots. Saute for a few minutes. Add flour and stir. Add maple syrup and rice. Saute an additional few minutes, until the maple syrup becomes fragrant.
2. Add tomatoes, coconut milk, dried basil, bay leaf, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover. Let simmer for about 10-12 minutes and remove from heat. Remove bay leaf.
3. Garnish with basil and nutritional yeast.
4. Serve hot! Enjoy.

 

Ginger, Peanut and Coconut Stew

Ever have an idea in your head all day that you just can’t get out? Today was one of those days for me. The idea? To find a way to incorporate ginger, peanut butter, coconut milk, and kale into a cohesive dish that somehow ALSO included the many vegetables we needed to use up.

With all this beautiful produce popping up everywhere, Steve and I have found ourselves with veggies practically coming out of our ears! This soup was an attempt to utilize some of those veggies, while developing some rich flavor from the aforementioned ingredients.

I will never pass on an opportunity to use coconut milk in a stew. It’s thick, sweet, and wonderfully full of saturated fat. It also brings a creamy element to the stew that is unmatched in any other (non-dairy) ingredient.

Ginger and peanut have always seemed like a natural match, to me. Their flavors nicely compliment one another. I didn’t have any whole peanuts, as I tend not to use them in cooking or baking, but I did have a massive jar of crunchy, homemade peanut butter.

I also added broccoli and cauliflower to the stew, which may seem odd but actually worked quite nicely.

Feel free to omit/add/change up any of the veggie combinations or spice levels, as well as substituting brown rice noodles for the rice (which I totally would have done if I’d had any).

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Drizzle olive or avocado oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 2 cups cauliflower florets
• 2 carrots, roughly chopped
• Liberal pinch of grated ginger, or 1 tsp dried ginger
• 1 tbsp green chili paste
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup long grain rice
• 7-8 heirloom tomatoes, diced (you may also use canned tomatoes but make sure they come from BPA-free cans)
• 4-5 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 handfuls spinach or kale
• Juice from half a lime

Directions:

1. Heat oli in a large stockpot. Add onion and garlic. Saute until translucent.
2. Add broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, ginger, paste, cayenne and salt and pepper. Saute for a few minutes, mixing well as you go.
3. Add broth, coconut milk, rice, tomatoes, and peanut butter. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and then simmer, covered, for 25 minutes.
4. Add kale and lime juice and serve warm.

Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup with Fresh Corn and Lime

Nothing says summer like a big bowl of soup chocked full of some garden-fresh veggies! This evening, we are enjoying some deliciously flavorful tortilla soup, made extra special with the addition of garden fresh zucchini, tomatoes and bell peppers.

As I’ve mentioned before, I use avocado oil when cooking at high-heat temperatures. For sautéing or roasting, refined avocado oil is a great neutral-flavored alternative to olive oil, which is not quite as heat stable. Avocado oil has a smoking point of about 575 degrees, which means the majority of what you’re consuming is delicious, nutritious saturated fat and NOT toxins and carcinogens.

This soup goes great with some sliced avocado on top for a little richness, and a squeeze of lime juice at the end to brighten it up!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• Drizzle olive or avocado oil
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• Corn from one cob
• 5-6 heirloom tomatoes, diced
• 3 cups vegetable broth or water
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Pinch black pepper
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 large handfuls fresh spinach
• 4-5 sprouted grain tortillas, sliced thinly
• Drizzle olive oil
• Sea salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 avocado, diced
• Juice from half a lime

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large stockpot. Saute onion and garlic for a few minutes. Add bell peppers and zucchini. Saute a few minutes.
2. Remove corn from cob and add to skillet. Saute a few minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, broth, cumin, paprika, chili powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and let simmer.
4. In the meantime, turn your oven to the broil setting. Drizzle tortilla slices with olive oil, salt and pepper.
5. Spread them on a large baking sheet, then place in oven under broil setting. Watch carefully! Remove when crisp.
6. Return to soup. Add salsa, nutritional yeast and spinach. Stir well.
7. Ladle out spoonfuls into serving bowls, garnish with toasted tortilla crisps and avocado. Drizzle with lime juice if desired.

Tomato Vegetable Soup with Thyme and Tarragon

While I realize soup may seem like an inappropriate food choice in the middle of April, I feel I must remind everyone that this week it snowed in Wisconsin.

That’s right, SNOWED.

The best thing that can keep me sane on an unexpectedly cold day is the warming comfort of a hot, delicious meal.

This soup is simple but elegant, and very flavorful due to the spices (thyme and tarragon, specifically). Feel free to change up the veggies, as usual, and experiment with different textures and grains.

Ingredients:

• Drizzle olive oil
• Medium white onion, diced
• 2-3 stalks celery, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, diced small
• 2-3 Yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• Pinch salt/ black pepper
• 1 cup pasta or rice
• 2 cups tomato sauce, homemade or storebought
• 1 cup green peas

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Add onions, garlic, celery, carrots and potatoes. Saute until softened.
2. Add thyme, tarragon, broth, salt and pepper, pasta and tomato sauce.
3. Cover and let simmer for 30 minutes.
4. Add green peas, cook an additional five minutes.

Serve hot! Enjoy.

Roasted Sweet Potato and Cauliflower Chowder

Okay. Get ready for the coziest, heartiest soup you’ve ever tried! It does entail some slicing and dicing, which can be tedious; but I promise it’s worth it!

Roasting the vegetables is the key to the success of this recipe. The flavor you can extract from a vegetable, especially a root vegetable, from roasting it, is unmatched in any other cooking method! The vegetables become deep and rich and decadent, which makes the final product that much more delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion, roughly chopped
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 red potatoes, diced
• 1 head broccoli, chopped into florets
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
• Drizzle olive oil
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp dried sage
• Pinch coriander
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup vegetable broth

• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 carrots, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• Drizzle olive oil

• 3 cups vegetable broth

• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 cup nut milk
• 1 cup frozen or fresh corn

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Spread chopped onion, sweet potato, red potato, broccoli and cauliflower along the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with thyme, sage, coriander, salt and pepper. Mix well. Pour white wine and vegetable broth over the top. Set in oven and roast for 22-26 minutes.
3. Towards the end of the roasting process, start on the second portion of vegetables. Heat olive oil in a large stockpot. Add onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Saute for 6-8 minutes, until onion is translucent.
4. Check on the first batch of vegetables in the oven. When the veggies are tender and the wine has lost its bite, take them out of the oven. All the contents of the baking dish to the stockpot on the stove, making sure to get all the liquid and spices. Now all your veggies should be in one place. Add 3 cups vegetable broth and cook for about 5 minutes.
5. Using a handheld immersion blender, puree soup until it’s relatively smooth, leaving it as chunky as you prefer.
6. Add nutritional yeast, milk and corn. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve warm. Enjoy!