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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: Minestrone Soup

Minestrone soup is one of my all-time favorites! As with most of my soups, I love to make a big pot, eat for few meals and freeze extra in individual serving size containers to enjoy later. That way I don’t get bored with a good thing but also to have quick and healthy meals for reheating later.

Ingredients:
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
1-14.5 ounce canned diced tomatoes
1-10 ounce mild Rotel
2 cups elbow noodles
1 cup frozen fresh corn
1 cup frozen peas
2 cups cubed carrots
1 tablespoon black pepper (use less if you don’t like the spice kick)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes (may be omitted if you’re a spice wimp)
2 tablespoons Italian seasoning
2 tablespoons organic no-salt seasoning
1-15 ounce can kidney beans, rinsed (red or white)
4 cups water

Directions:
Boil elbow noodles for 5 minutes, drain. Don’t wash the pot, just put empty pot back on the stove on medium-high heat.
Water sautee onion and garlic for 3 minutes. Add water as needed, then add carrots and continue water sauteeing for 3 more minutes.
Add tomatoes, Rotel, and spices. Stir and heat together for 2 minutes.
Add water, corn, peas, beans and noodles. Bring to a slow boil for 5 minutes, turn down heat to medium, cover and cook for 15 minutes.

Serve warm with fresh local bakery bread – ask the baker for something unique. For those family members who want traditional minestrone, serve individual servings with a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle parmesan cheese. Avoid those two ingredients and you have a wonderful vegan soup that’s much healthier!

Note: Minestrone always tastes better the second day, so if you plan well cook the soup the day before you want to eat. When reheating, make sure to not over boil, just slow bubble. Avoid microwave too!

I’ll see you at the table!

Recipe: Lentil Vegetable Soup

While traveling, I look for places to stay where I have access to a kitchen which allows me to cook healthy food and save money from eating out all the time. A pot of soup that is ready to eat whenever I’m hungry is a great way to eat healthy too.

On the first night of this two week trip to Spain, I headed to the grocery store and bought several items to sustain me for a few days. Perhaps I bought too much because while walking home, several times I had to set the bags down in order to give my arms a break!

Cooking for someone else can be interesting too because they don’t always like what you like to eat. But, luckily my travel partner is game to try anything I will cook on this trip. She is curious to know what it would be like to try some recipes that don’t have sugar, oil nor salt.

Lentil Vegetable Soup: (Yield: 2 quarts)
Ingredients:
Half red bell pepper, diced
Half broccoli head, rough chop
Half yellow onion, diced
2 clove garlic, minced
2 small turnip, diced
5 small yellow potatoes, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 stalk leek, white end sliced in 1/4 inch rounds
2 medium zucchini, diced
3 stalk celery, diced
1-12oz can diced tomatoes
2 cup cooked lentils
2 cup frozen peas
2 tablespoon Italian seasoning

Directions:

Using a large soup pot, on medium high heat, water sauté the onion for about 5 minutes.
Add garlic and leek, continue water sauté for 3 minutes.
Add carrot, celery, bell pepper, continue water sauté for 3-5 minutes or until celery is soft.
Add broccoli, zucchini, can diced tomatoes, lentils and seasoning. Stir thoroughly and bring to soft bubbling boil.
In a separate pot, boil diced potato and turnip for 10-15 minutes until soft. Strain and add to vegetables when they have reached the soft boil. Stir to thoroughly incorporate.
Using a handheld blender, purée about 1/3 of the soup mixture. If you don’t have a blender, then you can enjoy a chunkier style.
Add the frozen peas, turn down heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
If you want it spicy, add 1 teaspoon dried chili pepper flakes.

Serve hot with bread or toasts. For a fuller meal, add a green salad and fruit for dessert. Enjoy!

Note from my travel companion: She added salt because is accustomed to eating food with added salt, but overall loved the soup and ate several meals from this one pot. Guess she liked it!

In the comments section below, let me know what you think of the recipe. Thank you!

Healthy food close to home and far away tastes great and fuels your body to have the energy to enjoy the trip. I’ll see you at the table!

Restaurant Review: Pawit’s Royal Thai Cuisine – Utah

Restaurant review: Finally made it to Pawit’s Royal Thai Cuisine in Holladay, Utah. Fantastic fresh Thai dishes! We enjoyed curry puffs and sticky rice with peanut sauce for appetizers. Their house green salad was huge and a whole sliced mango (I saved some for dessert). The Tom Kha soup is on the sweet side, but lots of veggies. The Spicy Tofu dish is fantastic… Plenty of veggies and the sauce has some kick! If you want the “real” Sriracha, ask for it on the side… Use sparingly, unless you like your taste buds fried. Great restaurant for date night, family meals out or business lunch. Kind and helpful wait staff. Make sure to check out the bathroom…

Restaurant Review: Myung Ga Korean BBQ – Utah

Myung Ga Korean BBQ in West Valley City, Utah. Great spot for a ‪business lunch‬ meeting. Next to ‪‎Hale Center Theater‬ for‪ ‎date night‬ ‪dinner‬. Dishes are flavorful and service pretty quick. Great options for ‪‎meat lovers and ‪‎vegan‬. ‪‎Vegetable‬ ‪‎Tempura‬, appetizer‬‪ ‎tofu‬ ‪‎soup‬, ‎hotstone‬ ‪‎rice‬ with ‪veggies‬‪.

Product Review: Blendtec Blender

Two things I deeply missed while on vacation: Blendtec and blender bottles.

Having a high powered blender is really important to a healthy lifestyle. From blending the perfect green smoothies, to salad dressings and #soups. Blendtec is a great brand in my book!

Recipe: Hominy Soup

Hominy soup is served! This is one of my favs! Great to make a large batch, then eat for few meals. Filling dish and super easy to make. Enjoy!

Recipe:
In medium pot, on medium-high heat, water sauté 1 white onion, diced, and 3 garlic cloves, minced, for 3 minutes.
Add 5 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 jalapeno, diced (omit if you don’t want heat)
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1-20 oz can hominy (posole), drained
1-10 oz can corn, with water
1-10 o can black beans, with water
Heat through on medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
Serve with tortilla chips, lime wedges, avocado cubes, cilantro.

Recipe: Lentil Soup

Dinner is served! Lentil soup is a healthy, easy dish to make. Bonus is that lentils are found all over the world! So wherever your travels take you, you’ll have a nutrient packed meal ready in 20 minutes.

Recipe:
1/2 lb. small potatoes boiled for 10 minutes, or until fork soft, drained and set aside.
Using same pot, water saute 1/2 medium size white onion, diced, with 3 cloves garlic, minced, and 1 carrot cut into rounds.
Add 1/2 teaspoon oregano and black pepper. Continue cooking on medium high heat for 2 minutes.
Add 20 oz cooked lentils (I found a jar of precooked lentils at the local Mexican tienda).
Turn heat down to medium until heated through, add potatoes-cut into bite size pieces-to soup and turn down to low.
Stir occasionally and served hot with crackers or bread and a green salad for a great vegan dinner!

Recipe: Cauliflower white bean soup

One of the best parts about eating vegan, is healthy soup. I love having soup on hand and usually cook one soup per week which allows for yummy left-overs throughout a busy week. This soup is great to make ahead and freeze some for future use, if it lasts that long!

Yield: 4 quarts

INGREDIENTS:

1 large head cauliflower, cut into florets
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon Organic No-Salt Seasoning
1 tablespoon black pepper, use 1 teaspoon if you don’t like heat
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes, use 1 teaspoon if you don’t like heat
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cup carrots, sliced into 1/4″ rounds
4 stalks celery, sliced into 1/4-1/2″ pieces
2-32 oz containers of vegetable stock, I used Rachael Ray’s
5 medium red potatoes, 1/4″ dice
2-15 oz. cans low-sodium white beans, rinsed
2-14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes, or 2 lb fresh diced tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:

On medium-high heat, water sauté onion and garlic. Add broth and all other ingredients, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves. Using high-powered blender, blend 1/3-1/2 of soup to a creamy consistency. (RECOMMENDATION: Allow the soup to cool for at least 30 minutes before blending because it will explode out of the blender and make a huge mess, trust me. Usually I’ll cook the soup in the morning and allow to sit on the stove top to cool down. Then, at lunch time, I’ll blend.) Add the blended portion back to the rest of the soup, with the bay leaves, stir and heat through. If you aren’t going to eat immediately, then don’t reheat. Put in your containers for freezer or refrigerator.

Serve with green salad for a hearty vegan meal. Bon appetit!

Restaurant Review: Chen’s Noodle House – Utah

Last time I went to Chen’s, I was a meat eater, so thought I’d give it another try… veggie style.

The Vegetable Soup was pretty good. But, I did have them add rice noodles because I wanted something Pho-like. The veggies were hot, crisp and flavorful. I used Hoisin and Sriracha for a little extra kick too-yummy!

I didn’t check out any of the other veggie dishes because I knew the soup would be enough by itself. I was right! Glad I didn’t order another dish as it would’ve been way too much food. I did notice they have other veggie stir fry options (with tofu) too.

Overall, thumbs up!