Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Delicious Fresh Garden Soup

Even though it's kind of hot this time of year (kind of?), a good soup is always welcome in my house. 


If you're a nutritarian (or vegan, or vegetarian), you already know that soups are a mainstay. (Typically, when adhering to the plan 100%, a person will have a smoothie in the morning, a salad in the afternoon and soup at night -- so soups are important.)

Our garden is starting to explode, so it seemed like a good a time to harvest some vegetables for a fresh garden soup. If you have a garden just about any vegetable will do, from broccoli to kale to spinach to carrots. Be creative! Vegetables are good for you.

I'm going to tell you right now: this soup is delicious.

Keep in mind that not everyone in the house is nutritarian. It didn't matter; everyone who tried the soup loved it. Try it and tell me what you think!

Ingredients:

4 quarts of water
2 T Better Than Bouillon (or less or more, according to your salt tastes) (another vegan alternative is Not-Chick'n Bouillon Cubes --- use 1 or 2)
2 heaping T organic tomato paste (no salt added)
1 15 oz can organic diced tomatoes, or tomatoes from your garden
3 carrots, chopped
1 cup broccoli florets
1/2 a white onion, chopped
6 - 8 cloves of garlic, minced and left out for 45 minutes before use in soup**
2 cups spinach, cut or chopped
2 cups kale, cut or chopped
1 cup corn
1/2 cup black rice
1 15 oz can kidney beans
1 15 oz can pinto or black beans (really, any beans you love)
1.5 cups Bob's Red Mill Vegi Soup Mix (contains green and yellow split peas, barley, lentils and vegetable pasta)

Directions:

Add 4 quarts of water to pot and set to boil.

After all fresh vegetables are chopped, add to water, along with all beans, diced tomato, tomato paste and bouillon. Do not salt. Do not add garlic at this time. Once at a rolling boil for fifteen minutes, reduce heat to simmer (though not too low).

Cook this mixture approximately 1 to 1.5 hours. Once vegetables are cooked, add Vegi Soup Mix. You might like to bring up the heat on the stove if you've had it low, to aid in the cooking of the mix.

Wait an hour and then add rice and cook one more hour.

At the beginning of last hour of cooking, dice garlic and let sit for 45 minutes.** After this time add to soup and let cook for 15 - 20 minutes, or until soft.

This makes a thick, hearty soup. Some might like to add more water according to their desired consistency. Serve this soup alone or along side a spring salad or whole grain bread of your choice.

It really is amazing!

**A report by Science Daily explains that if raw garlic is first chopped and then allowed to sit for 45 minutes, it can produce allicin. Once allicin is produced by this raw garlic preparaton, the garlic can be cooked with minimal loss of allicin. According to this report, cooked garlic prepared in this manner is similar in its anti-cancer effects to raw garlic. Source 

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