bean – Discover Healthy Food

Creamy Tuscan White Bean Soup

Creamy Tuscan White Bean Soup
Makes: 4 servings

Some of my friends are wonderful cooks. I love when they share healthy and yummy recipes with me… I especially love it when they cook for me! Thank you, Jacque, for sharing your cooking talents with me. I love you, my friend!

This is an immensely flavorful and filling soup featuring lots of smooth beans, lots of kale, a healthy dose of sun-dried tomatoes plus a few herbs and a creamy base courtesy of cashews.

Ingredients:

Drizzle of olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried basil
1½ tsp dried sage
¼ tsp salt
3½ cups vegetable broth
3 cups white beans, such as Cannellini or Great northern
1 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
½ cup raw cashews
½ cup water
5 cups shredded kale
Salt & Pepper
Optional: Roasted red pepper flakes

Optional Garnishes:

Fresh basil
Fresh sage

Directions:

Soak cashews in water for 6-8 hours (or in hot water for 1-2 hours). Drain, rinse and set aside until ready to make the soup.
Drizzle a little olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, and sauté until translucent. Add the basil, sage, salt, broth, beans, and tomatoes. Simmer, covered, for about 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine the soaked cashews and water in a blender and blend until smooth.
Add the cashew cream and kale to the soup and mix to combine. Cover and turn the heat off. Let sit for about five minutes. Soup is ready to serve once the kale has started to wilt.
To serve, spoon the soup into individual bowls and sprinkle with extra salt and pepper, as well as red pepper flakes, fresh basil and/or fresh sage, if using, to taste.

Notes & Tips:

(1) Make the recipe oil-free by sautéing the onions and garlic in a little water instead of olive oil.

(2) I like oil-packed, herbed sun-dried tomatoes (drained, of course). If using dried, be sure to reconstitute in water first.

Recipe: No Cheese Nachos

Before going nutritarian, I was a sucker for nachos and all the cheesey gooey goodness. So here’s my version of no cheese nachos!
Ingredients:
Rice/bean chips
Diced tomato
Vegetarian chili
Cubed avocado
Chopped cilantro
Salsa

Just as good as the real deal!

Recipe: Vegan Bean Enchilada Casserole

Easy to make, a ‎vegan bean casserole is delicious and any meat lover I’ve served this to, is impressed! I make for left overs and freeze in individual serving sizes.

Ingredients:
6 cups bell pepper, roasted 15 min 350 degrees
1 large yellow onion, diced
4 clove garlic, diced
2 15 oz cans corn, drained and rinsed
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 28 oz can tomato sauce
1 10 oz can Rotel
1 tablespoon no-salt seasoning
2 teaspoon cumin
1 package corn tortillas

Directions:
Using a high powered blender, mix roasted peppers, tom sauce and Rotel until smooth. Set aside. (You’ll probably have extra, I use for other sauces or base for hominy soup.)

Water sauté onion and garlic for 5 min.
Add corn, beans, half tomato sauce mixture, spices and heat through about 15 minutes.
(If you have extra, use in hominy soup.)

Using 9×13 lasagna dish, pour about 1.5 cup tom sauce on bottom and spread out.
Then layer bean mixture and tortillas until pan is full. Drizzle more tom sauce on top.
Bake 30 min at 350.

Serve with fresh guacamole, salsa, lime wedges, chopped cilantro. Enjoy!!

Recipe: Eat To Live: Black Forest Cream of Mushroom Soup

This soup is AMAZING. We will undoubtedly make this recipe again. The Eat To Live recipes leave us full, satisfied and the soups last for at least a week in the fridge. That’s if we don’t eat it all immediately!

Serves 6

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons water
2 pounds mixed fresh mushrooms (button, shiitake, cremini), sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 teaspoons herbes de Provence [we used Italian seasonings]
5 cups carrot juice
3 cups unsweetened soy, hemp, or almond mild
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
3/4 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels [we used 1-15 ounce can corn]
1 cup chopped celery
3 leeks, cut into 1/2-inch thick rounds
1/4 cup Dr. Fuhrman’s VegiZest or other no-salt seasoning
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme [we used dried]
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary [we used dried]
2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added or low-sodium white beans (northern, navy, cannellini), drained and rinsed [we used northern]
5 ounces baby spinach
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the water in a large saute’ pan. Saute’ the mushrooms, garlic, and herbes de Provence for about 5 minutes, or until tender, adding more water if necessary to prevent from sticking. Set aside.

In a large soup pot, bring the carrot juice, 2 1/2 cups of the milk, the carrots, onion, corn, celery, leeks, and VegiZest to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

In a food processor or high-powered blender, purée the cashews and remaining 1/2 cup milk. Add half of the soup liquid and vegetables, the lemon juice, thyme and rosemary. Blend until smooth and creamy.

Return the pureed soup mixture to the pot. Add the beans, spinach and sautéed mushrooms. Heat until the spinach is wilted. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

Additional cooking notes:

We cooked the soup and let it rest for a couple of hours on the stove. When we were ready to eat, the blending of the soup was easy because it was room temperature and much cooler to handle. Then, we reheated the soup, added the beans and spinach. We didn’t add the mushrooms to the final cooking because Jen doesn’t like mushrooms. Instead, Klint put mushrooms on the bottom of the bowl and added the soup to the top – he loved it! Jen loved it without the mushrooms!