Minified Meals: 10 Minute Soup

Last week, my husband had a cold. The kind of cold that leaves you lying on the couch, asking for soup. Like a good and devoted spouse, I promised to make him soup…only to realize that we were missing most of the staples. So…I improvised! Here I give you what I think was a rather inventive, decent and quick soup, made with things we had in the pantry and freezer.

Ingredients:

• 1 box Trader Joe’s vegetable broth
• 1/2 large bag frozen broccoli
• 1/2 medium bag frozen greens (collards, kale and mustard greens)
• 1 can cannelini beans
• 1 small can mushrooms
• 2 tsp soy sauce
• pepper (to taste)

It really does take ten minutes. Heat the vegetable broth to a boil on the stovetop, mixing in one cup of water. Add the frozen vegetables and let the water get hot again. Add the cannelini beans and mushrooms, and cook on medium heat for a few minutes. Add the pepper and soy sauce, and serve! It wasn’t by any means the most amazing soup I’ve ever had, but it was hearty, vegan, and a nice way to get a lot of vegetables into my diet in the dead of winter. It also made enough for dinner AND lunch the next day, for both of us. I suspect that it would also have been good with a dash of lemon juice, but we didn’t have any (nor did we have onions, carrots, celery…I wasn’t kidding when I said we’re low on soup staples up in here!)

Non-vegan addition: After eating the vegan version, I realized we had a few ounces of Trader Joe’s goat cheese in the fridge that wasn’t long for this world, so I melted it into the next bowl of soup. It was quite tasty!

This week, my husband is all recovered…and has passed his cold on to me. So I guess we can’t say that this soup staves off the winter crud – only that it makes you feel better in the midst of it! Even so, at least I wrote down the recipe so that he knows what to make me for dinner tonight!

Seasonal Stew

Over the past three days, summer exploded over my part of North Carolina. The trees are lush, the grass is high, and the farmer’s market is sensory overload – ripe strawberries, six different kinds of greens, and oh! the asparagus. I do so love asparagus season.

What I’m excited about this week, though, is Chinese Radishes. One of my favorite stalls at the farmer’s market had a whole crate of them, so I bought a bundle. They’re sweet, they’re spicy, and they’re the cornerstone of this week’s vegan stew.

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts water (add more as needed) (may substitute vegetable stock at this step if you prefer)
• 4 carrots, sliced into thin rounds
• 4 stalks celery, sliced thin
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 c. rice
• 2 Chinese radishes, peeled and diced
• 1 c. chopped fresh spinach (or any other greens)
• 3 cloves garlic, sauteed in olive oil
• Salt, pepper, herbs to taste.

Heat water in a large soup pot. Toss in carrots and celery. Cover. Let simmer at least half an hour. Throw in potatoes and any other slow cooking vegetables you’re using. Let simmer at least another half hour. Add spinach, radishes, rice, garlic, salt, pepper, herbs. Let cook covered for another half hour (minimum) or until rice appears cooked. Add water as needed.

Not vegan? Neither am I, but I’m trying to eat more vegan meals. You, however, can saute your garlic in butter, and season your stew with Parmesan cheese just before you serve it. Not vegetarian? You can start your soup with chicken stock instead of water for a heartier taste. For my part, the Chinese radishes imparted a nice spicy taste that I very much enjoyed. May you do the same!

This is a basic soup – there are very few vegetables you can’t add into it, which makes it great for using up all the weird stuff you have left over from the farmer’s market. Add slow cooking veggies (like hard squash) at the same stage as the potatoes; add fast cooking veggies (like kale) during the last step.