This soup is an Asian adaptation on traditional butternut squash soup - creamy and delicious, with just the right hints of taste-bud pleasing flavor. Filling enough for a meal, or use smaller portions as a starter. This is a favorite autumn recipe of kids and adults in my family!
Melt butter in 3-4 quart pot.
Add onion, ginger, garlic, and chili. Cook until onion is softened.
Add squash, salt, and pepper, and saute for 5 minutes.
Add stock. Simmer for 20 minutes or until squash is tender.
Blend in batches in blender until smooth. Add back to pot.
Take one ladel of soup, add to a small bowl, and mix with the nut butter. Add back to soup pot.
Squeeze lime into soup.
To serve, sprinkle with cilantro and dollop with yogurt and coconut creme.
This recipe has all the great flavor of that famous Italian restaurant’s soup — but packs a power punch of taste and nutrition with wholesome and healthy ingredients. After making this recipe kosher and increasing the Whole-Food Goodness Factor, this is a one-pot-crowd-pleaser that will leave everyone asking for one ladle more.
(Hint: If you’re looking for a way to sneak kale from your garden to your family — THIS IS IT!)
In a large pot, sauté the onion and salt in butter until glossy.
Add the sausage and cook until browned, breaking into bite-size pieces.
Stir in minced garlic, cooking until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
Add chicken broth, scraping up the brown bits with a spoon — a free, yummy flavor boost!
Add potato cubes and simmer (covered) for 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
Add kale (it will wilt — always add more than you think) and cream, simmering 5 minutes more.
Garnish with pepper and serve.
I make these soup enhancers out of strongly flavored greens from spring and fall garden. I use mustard greens, kales, arugula, and broccoli leaves. These soup enhancers go well in just about any soup, pot roast, or other dish that could use a flavor boost.
Place the greens and water in a blender, food processor, or in a wide mouth jar for an immersion blender.
Finely chop the greens with your choice appliance.
Fill the ice cube tray with greens. Add any excess water to the green filled cubes. Adding the excess water will allow you to remove the green cubes easier from the ice cube tray.
Freeze over night.
Remove the green cubes from the ice cube tray and move to an air tight container in the freezer or toss in any smoothie, soup, pot roast, or other dish that you want to add extra flavor and vitamins to.
From my family cookbook, an adaptable, simple but hearty soup. Perfect for a lunch, delightful with a hearty bread and salad.
In a stockpot put ground beef, cover with stock or water. Heat to a simmer and cook meat, breaking it into bit sized chunks as it cooks.
Add seasonings, tomatoes and frozen veggies. Add any desired optional ingredients.
Simmer until cooked/heated through 20-30 minutes maximum.
Serve with sourdough bread or salad or just as a hearty lunch
This soup is so easy! Throw together some veggies, ham, broth and spices…and voila! Paleo-friendly, GAPS-approved, perfect for kids or quick lunches.
Saute the onions and peppers in coconut oil until translucent. Add the mushrooms and celery. Continue cooking for four minutes.
Add the ham and enough chicken stock to cover.
Add spices and lemon juice - I basically went with some slightly spicy, chipotle/southwestern combination. Feel free to make your own edits.
Simmer until the good smells have brought everyone to the kitchen.
Rich and creamy, this soup is a meal in and of itself.
In a large saucepan, melt butter and saute garlic and ginger for about 1 min. Add coconut milk, stock, carrots , red pepper flakes and saffron. Let simmer for about 10 mins or until carrots are soft. Add shrimp and simmer until shrimp are pink. Stir in lime juice and serve.
A super easy, vegan curried cauliflower soup made with coconut oil and dried coconut for extra creaminess. Perfect for those avoiding dairy, or for those times when there isn’t enough homemade broth or stock to make soup.
Chop and saute onion and garlic: Chop 1 yellow or red onion and saute it on medium heat in a large pot with 2 tablespoons of virgin coconut oil. When the onion becomes translucent, add 2-3 cloves of minced garlic and saute for a few more minutes.
Chop cauliflower and add to pot: Once the onions have very lightly browned and become fragrant, add the chopped cauliflower and saute for another few minutes.
Heat water: In a teapot or other pot, add 6-7 cups of filtered water and heat. Pour into pot with cauliflower, onions and garlic, and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes or so until cauliflower has cooked.
Blend and add seasoning: Using an immersion blender (it’s easier than transferring to blender), blend the cauliflower, onions, garlic and water into a creamy puree. Add 3-4 tablespoons coconut manna (dried coconut), and blend again to melt and incorporate the flavors. Spice it up by adding the turmeric, garam masala, allspice, cumin, coriander, and crushed cardamom pods. Add salt and pepper to taste, blend to mix in spices, and serve while hot, with a few drops of fresh lemon juice if you wish.
This is a quick and easy, yet comforting bowl of creamy salmon soup that goes great with fresh sourdough biscuits!
Melt butter and saute onion, sweet potato, celery and garlic until soft. Stir in arrowroot, then slowly add milk and broth, stirring until thickened. Add in seasonings and partially puree with a hand blender. Stir in salmon and cheese, and let simmer until heated through.
A hearty soup, perfect for post-Thanksgiving. Loved by young and old alike. Serve with sourdough bread and butter.
In a medium stockpot, sauté onion in butter until soft.
Add turkey stock and potatoes. Cook until potatoes just tender.
Add lentils, pinto beans and black beans (with their cooking liquids), turkey, sea salt, and pepper.
Simmer until lentils are tender.
Here is a way to have celery on hand for soups and stir-fries without having your nice fresh celery go to waste in the refrigerator.
Trim and carefully wash fresh celery.
Using a sharp chef’s knife or a food processor, slice all of the celery into small pieces.
Measure batch-sized amounts into freezer bags or Food Saver bags. If using a Food Saver, vacuum process the bags.
If using freezer bags, close each bag, leaving a small opening. Immerse the bag in water up to the opening and let the air escape as the water squeezes it out. Then complete the seal and wipe the bag dry.
Put all of the smaller bags into a larger freezer bag for extra protection and store in the freezer.
I have stored fresh celery this way for at least 6 months and it is still good to use.
This curried pumpkin soup is almost sweet because of the naturally occurring sugar in the pumpkin and because of the slightly sweet undertones that come with coconut milk. This soup is subtle and satisfying, creamy and rich, with garlic, curry powder and cilantro as a finishing touch.
Heat the oil in a heavy soup pan, medium-low heat.
Add the curry, ginger, cumin and red pepper flakes.
Stir for a couple of minutes while the seasonings roast and become fragrant. Do not walk away! They can burn in a flash and you will have to start over. Add the garlic and stir for a moment. Do not let the garlic brown. The flavor will overpower this delicate soup if you do.
Pour the soup stock into the spice mixture and stir well. Loosen anything that may be sticking to the bottom of the pot.
Put the pumpkin puree in the blender and add the soup stock. It should just fit. Blend well.
Warm the coconut milk in the soup pan and then add the blended pumpkin and soup stock. Salt with fish sauce or sea salt according to your own taste.
Serve with a sprinkling of finely minces cilantro on the top. The green of the cilantro sparkles against the orange hue of the soup. It also adds a subtle earthy quality.
This traditional Thai soup is a favorite of ours, but it’s hard to trust the ingredients in restaurant versions. Sadly, many of the traditional ethnic restaurants have stopped using nutrient-dense foods and have jumped on the processed food bandwagon.
This version uses homemade chicken stock made from pastured chicken, nutrient-dense coconut milk and a variety of natural ingredients that have incredible flavors- lemongrass, galangal (a Thai ginger), kaffir lime leaves and chilies. This real-food recipe is naturally gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free! Tom Kha Kai is a gorgeous blend of spicy, sweet, sour, salty and earthy flavors. If you’ve never tried it before, I highly suggest that you do- it’s incredibly delicious and soul-satisfying!
Bruise lemongrass, galangal and garlic clove by striking with the flat side of a large knife, a meat tenderizer or mallet. You want the juices to release into the stock.
In a medium stockpot, bring chicken stock, lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves and garlic clove to a boil. Reduce to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add in coconut milk, chilies, fish sauce (start with 2 TBL and work up- saltiness varies by brands), coconut sugar or sucanat, and red curry paste (can adjust to taste). Simmer 10 minutes more.
Pour soup through a strainer and into a large bowl. You want to remove the large pieces of herbs, etc. Return strained soup back to stockpot. Add in chicken and mushrooms and cook about 8-10 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in lime juice and cilantro leaves. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Fish sauce is salty, lime juice is sour, chilies are heat and sugar is sweetness. It should be nicely balanced.
NOTES:
I’ve used leftover roasted chicken, cubed or shredded and it works great. No need to cook for as long at the end – maybe just 5 minutes.
I usually use red chilies that have been frozen in individual 1 tsp. serving size cubes. They stay in the freezer and it’s easy to pop one or two in. You can also use red pepper flakes if you have no other options.
While many of these ingredients seem exotic, most can be easily picked up at a well-stocked supermarket, like Whole Foods. Make sure to read ingredients carefully on items like fish sauce and curry paste. You are looking for pure ingredients with no chemical additives, veggie oils, GMOs or any other nasties.
Galangal is one of the more challenging ingredients to find. While ginger is a poor substitute for the earthiness of galangal, I’ve made it with ginger before and it was still a very tasty soup. (It’s just not Tom Kha) Just roughly peel a large piece of ginger root (you just want to expose the flesh- it doesn’t have to be perfect) and then smash it a few times as described in step one. Add it when you would add the galangal.
Traditionally, this soup is not strained and is served with all the large chunks of lemongrass, etc in it. I prefer not to eat around these items and feel it’s messy to eat, especially when serving to kiddos. So, I strain it, then add in my chicken and mushrooms. It’s a more pleasurable eating experience and all the flavors are still there.
If you prefer to use something other than chicken, go for it. Tom Kha Goong is the same soup but with prawns (shrimp) in place of the chicken. Tom Kha Hed is with additional mushrooms instead of the chicken. Feel free to use mixed seafood- calamari, fish, shrimp- yum! Just add your seafood closer to the end and don’t overcook.