Creamy Wild Rice Soup

 Finally I made. Lenny and Shalva Gale's Cream Wild Rice Soup.  It is SO GOOD!!!  #LifeisNOYOKE

Start out by soaking 1 cup raw cashew overnight.

In the morning:

chop--

 4 ribs celery
2-3 carrots
1 sweet onion
4 large cloves garlic

8 ounces well-washed and chopped mushrooms

Place 1 1/2 quarts vegetable stock in a large pot and bring to a boil. Add the vegetables and 1 cup wild rice that you rinsed well.  Add in 1 Tablespoon thyme and 2 bay leaves.

Set a timer for 30 minutes for this all to cook.  Put the cover on.

In a blender  place 2 cups vegetable broth.  Drain the cashews and add them and one can white beans (drain the beans ) or 1 1/2 cups home cooked white beans to the blender.  Blend for one minute until completely creamy.  Stir into the cooking vegetables and rice and set timer for another 15 minutes.  When the timer goes off, check to see if the rice is cooked.  It should be chewy.  Not hard!

Serve hot.  Though I can say that I also enjoy this soup cold.  Dear One not so much, but he does like it when it is hot.

Be sure to remove the bay leaves as they are not so pleasant to bite into...

This recipe makes about 3 quarts of soup.  So good!

Munchie Monday: Soup Weather in September

 The past few days have brought glorious cool weather, once Hurricane Sally went through!  I thought it would be great to make some soup.  This time I wanted to make a small amount of soup.

Often our soup pot is filled TO THE BRIM!  And it takes forever to eat it all.  So when I made soup I decided to make One By One Soup!  Well, that is what I call it.

One By One Soup

Scrub very well and chop fairly finely:

1 russet potato
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 onion
1 bell pepper
1 6" zucchini

Place all the chopped vegetables in the Instant Pot or in a stew pot on the stove. Add 2 Tablespoons chopped garlic, one capful (probably 1 1/2 Tablespoons) of Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning, and 4 cups water.  In the Instant Pot, let cook on HIGH for 20 minutes.  Let reduce pressure naturally. If cooking on the stove, use your own judgement as to when the vegetables are cooked.

This should have also had a bay leaf or two but I was distracted.  Distracted cooking is not the best.  Take my word for it. In this case the food did not burn.  

It would have been great to dump in a can of sweet corn and maybe some frozen peas.  Next time!

Dear One had no problem eating this soup!  Score!

Munchie Monday: Copy Cat Minestrone Soup

Dear One LOVES to eat at Olive Garden.  He/we do not do it often, but each time it is delightful. (The closest OG is about one hour away.  Too far to "go out to eat"...unless we are in the neighborhood!)  I like the kale sausage soup.  He likes the minestrone soup.  I was able to find a recipe somewhere on the internet.  Of course, I had to make some changes...!

Start by cooking 1 cup white beans covered with 2 inches of water above the level of the beans in an Instant Pot.  Pressure cook on HIGH for 30 minutes.  When cooked, drain and set aside in a separate bowl.

In the now cleaned Instant Pot inner liner bowl place

3/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup peeled, quartered, sliced carrots
1 zucchini cut in half lengthwise then finely sliced
2 teaspoons garlic minced
1 14-15 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 quart homemade (or commercial) vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup small pasta--bowtie is great, though small macaroni is normal
1 cup cooked and finely chopped collards--or you can put in 2 cups fresh chopped baby spinach


Mix well with a long-handled wooden spoon.  Put the cover on and cook for 5 minutes on HIGH. 

Do a quick release, but do it sort of intermittently.  That means press down on the release valve for 10 seconds then let go for 10 seconds.  Repeat until pressure is down.

Add the drained cooked white beans.  Stir well.  Add salt and pepper to taste If necessary after adding the beans, reheat the soup.

If you are a garnish person, chopped fresh parsley makes a pretty garnish.

When I made this the first time (and took a picture!) we did not have small pasta so I used whole wheat spaghetti that I broke into small pieces.

The soup is good enough that Dear One serves it to himself when he goes to the refrigerator to find something he wants to eat.  Having shared that info, I am sure you will understand that this is a pretty good soup.  Enjoy it!

Munchie Monday: Quick and Easy Crockpot Vegetable Soup

Last week I made some Crockpot Vegetable Soup to see if it was good enough to put in the Oregon Trail, the mission newsletter I edit each month. I thought it was fabulous soup.  I have not tried it out on Dear One yet, but that will come.

Quick and Easy Crockpot Vegetable Soup
3 potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1 large onion, finely diced
2 16-ounce bags frozen vegetables of your preference, thawed somewhat
2 15-ounce or 1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, including juice
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon coarse salt or 3/4 teaspoon table salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 quart vegetable broth

In the bowl of a 6-quart crockpot put the diced potatoes and onions in the bottom of the crockpot bowl.
Add the frozen vegetables, chopping any large pieces to about dice-sized.
Add the bay leaves and sprinkle on the spices.
 Pour the vegetable broth and canned tomatoes and juice over the top then stir well with a wooden spoon.
Cook on Low from 5-6 hours.
Taste to adjust seasoning. Add whatever you need!

This made about 3 quarts of soup.

This is what I told the missionaries to do in the Oregon Trail.  As it turned out, since the frozen vegetable were not very much thawed, the potatoes were not ready when I checked it at 4 1/2 hours.  Since I was edgy to have some for supper, I turned the temperature up to High then cooked 2 more hours.  The potatoes were then soft and the soup tasted good.

The next time I make the soup, I will probably only put in 1/2 teaspoon black pepper and let people who like it with a little more kick to add more at the table.

Sorry about no photo.  It was put away too fast!

Munchie Monday: Carrot Ginger Soup, more or less

Carrots are supposed to be good for you.   Lots of reasons why.  So, when I found a recipe for Carrot Ginger Soup I was thinking of the wonderful Butternut Squash Soup that our dear friend has made for us.  That soup is so luscious and smooth and just plain delicious.  This carrot soup looks sort of like that soup, but it does not taste like that soup.  At all. Sadly.  Surprising, really.  So I made a few changes.

Carrot Ginger Soup

5 cups vegetable broth (the original recipe called for 4 cups, but I had five cups in the jar and did not want to leave a lonely cup in there by itself)
10 large carrots, cut into chunks (since we had several that were becoming rather limp, I thought this was a good use for them so I put them all in.  The original recipe called for 6-10 large carrots>)
1 large sweet onion, diced rather large . (This one was a Mayan Sweet, I think.  Love those.)
1 1/2 inch of ginger, minced (This made a little over 1 Tablespoon of grated ginger for which I used the little Ninja Express my sister sent me.  Such a great piece of equipment!  I am so grateful for it. Use it all the time. ALL the time!)
2-3 teaspoons avocado oil
Salt and Pepper, granulated garlic, granulated onion, and Kirkland No-Salt Seasoning to taste
Plus cooked black beans in individual bowls, if you wish.

Sauté the onions in the oil for about 3 minutes, or more, until translucent.

Add the carrots and stir occasionally.  They will need to cook at least 10 minutes and maybe 15-20 until the carrots are mostly tender.

Add the broth and seasonings, and cook further until you are certain the carrots are soft.  Remove from heat and, using an immersion blender, turn the soup into a lovely soft purée.

Serve with chopped chives or scallions on top, and as I did, add a few tablespoons of black beans to up the protein content.

This soup was really rather good.  The next day I took it cold out of the refrigerator and put a couple of servings in the Vita-mix and blended it further.  It did have the nice smooth texture of the Butternut Squash soup after blending, but not the taste. I should have known.  That is why I added all the ingredients in the seasoning list beyond the salt and pepper above.  It really was rather bland before adding them. I actually added more to my mug afterwards...

Munchie Monday: Orange Pepper Soup

This new regimen recommends many non-starchy vegetables, plus some specific starchy ones.  The long list of non-starchy ones can be eaten raw or cooked.  I took one of their suggested recipes and made it my own.

Being winter, one of my favorite foods is soup.  I particularly like broth-y soups.  Often I just ladle out and drink the broth then add more water to make more broth.  The soup I just made for supper (so I would not be tempted to eat other stuff because supper was not instantly ready to eat when we arrived home) is Orange (Bell) Pepper Soup.

Orange Pepper Soup

1 Tablespoon avocado oil
1 large onion, roughly chopped--or diced, depending on your preference
2 Tablespoons chopped garlic
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan salt
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
4 large orange peppers, washed, cored, and chopped
2 cans (14-15 ozs) diced tomatoes
2 Tablespoons dried parsley
1 1/2 Tablespoons dried basil

In large soup pot (a good size is 6-8 quarts) place the avocado oil over medium heat.  When it begins to shimmer add the onions, garlic, salt, and red pepper flakes.  Stir well then stir occasionally until the onions are translucent, more or less.

Add the vegetable broth and stir well.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until the peppers are mostly tender.

Add the tomatoes, parsley, and basil and bring heat back up almost to boiling then reduce heat again and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Get out your immersion blender after the soup has cooled 5 minutes, and puree the soup...then ladle into mugs and enjoy as much, and as often, as you like!

The one thing I did that I did not mention above is that I was not sure there was going to be enough broth to suit me so I added 1 cup water and 1 teaspoon dried chicken bouillon powder.  Also, when I poured in the diced tomatoes from the cans, I sloshed a little water into the cans and poured that into the soup, too.  No need to waste the good tomato business that was left in the cans and that we paid for...

Anyway,  this is really tasty.  I recommend it.  It might be as good for you as that old cabbage soup diet thing.  It certainly cannot hurt.

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Light Vegetable and Bean Soup

We had about 1/2 cup of dried white beans sitting on the counter who were just dying to be used up.  I put them in a bowl of water and let then sit overnight. And then one more night, then rinsed them really well and dropped them into the Instant Pot.

Two medium red potatoes, skins on,  were diced, one sweet onion was diced, and two cloves of garlic were chopped and all were thrown into the Instant Pot inner liner bowl.

Next I threw in probably 1/2 cup of uncooked macaroni and 2 Tablespoons of Kirkland's No Salt Seasoning.  Finally I put in 1 1/2 quarts of homemade vegetable broth.

Because I doubted if Dear One would buy into this "using up of things we had lying around waiting to be used",  I set the timer on high pressure for 45 minutes. I did not care if the soup was mushy.  I like mushy.

When the soup had cooled down naturally for 15 minutes, I checked it out.  It was so lightly flavored that I stirred in 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon powder. It tasted really good to me at that point.  (As you can tell by this, I am a salt person...) . Dear One did eat part of a bowl, but he had already eaten scalloped potatoes and Gardein Non Chicken tenders, so he was not too hungry.  No problem.  More for me.

Food Friday: Refrigerator Soup, More or Less

When we were growing up Mother used to take all the leftovers in the refrigerator that were on the verge and threw them into a big soup pot.  Those soups were absolutely delicious.  Of course, there was no way ever to duplicate them since there was no recipe...just a dib of this and a dab of that until the pot was full and ready to heat and eat.  Well, I just did the same thing, sort of.

We had carrots, celery, onions, broccoli, and other things in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  The next day was going to be very taxing to me physically so I wanted food ready the instant we got home. So I chopped vegetables and put them in the refrigerator overnight.  In the morning I added the dibs and dabs and started the Crockpot on Low and set it for 8 hours.  When I got home there was some truly delicious soup.  Even Dear One liked it.  He had arrived home an hour before I did and was sitting on the couch fat and happy after a big bowl of soup.  Well, definitely not fat, but doesn't that have a nice ring to it?!

What I did:

1/2 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
2 small russet potatoes, scrubbed and diced
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1/2 large red onion, diced
1 head broccoli, chopped VERY fine.  No need to throw broccoli in anyone's unsuspecting face...!

These were stored in the refrigerator overnight.

Since I had almost 3 cups of Soy Curls that I had purchased at the New Seasons Market, I put them in a large pot,  put in 4 or 5 cups of water then stirred in 2 Tablespoons of the savory seasoning I blogged about some time ago plus 2 heaping Tablespoons of Better Than Bouillon Roasted Vegetable Base. I stirred this well then covered and let sit on the counter overnight.

In the morning I put the vegetables plus the Soy Curls and their broth into the Crockpot.  Way not enough ingredients so I took a half can of refried beans and stirred them in.  There was a 15-ounce can of diced fire-roasted tomatoes I tossed in, then a big jar of Salsa Verde.  I added a teaspoon of chili powder and a Tablespoon of granulated garlic.  When this was all nicely stirred, I added the last of the homemade vegetable broth and more water to bring it up to 3/4 full in the 7-quart Crockpot, turned it on low for 8 hours and walked the long way to the office.  I walked an even longer way home from the office and collapsed in my chair, too tired to eat but happy that Dear One pronounced the soup good.  After half an hour or so I had life enough to eat some. It was really good.

This soup had the most flavorful broth.  Soup is all about broth to me....

If you don't know what Soy Curls are, they are soy beans that have been cooked, cooled, then extruded into some sort of shape then dried.  They taste like nothing until you soak them in some sort of broth.  Then you can use them in many ways.  They have texture, unlike tofu, and are really worth trying.  You can make "chicken" salad with them.  You can make "tuna" salad with them.  You can make "beef stroganoff" with them.  So many things.  And don't mind a bit.

These are the soy curls that have been soaking overnight and have plumped up beautifully. They were the last thing I threw into the pot before adding broth water to make lots more broth.

Munchie Monday: Slow Cooker French Onion Soup

Don't you just love a bowl of French Onion Soup?!  I do.  Without the bread and cheese is the way I like it best.

The other day I got a bag of Walla Walla Sweets onions at Costco because I needed an onion.  Of course there were seven onions in the bag.  Each onion was at least one pound in size.  After slicing one to sauté with two small zucchinis, slicing another to sauté with garlic and spinach, I still had five onions.  What to do, what to do....French onion soup. 

Caramelizing the onions is the job to do with French Onion Soup...so I looked for easy caramelizing recipes online. Most of them suggested quickly sautéing them with sugar. What!!!  Then there was one that suggested using a crockpot.  That was my guy.

After slicing three onions (64 ounces worth!) I put them put them in the crockpot which was then about three-quarters full.  I put them cooking on Low at 10:24 AM. 

Three or four times during the day I gave them a stir.  At about 7 o'clock I took a big spoonful of them and put them over mashed potatoes in a bowl. 

Boy, were they great tasting!

Because they were not quite ready for the soup, I put the crockpot on warm all night with the lid slightly ajar. 

This morning they looked great.

I added two quarts of vegetable stock I had made yesterday in the Instant Pot (all the saved vegetable peelings, scraps,  etc, stored in the freezer until I had a gallon of them, then put in the Instant Pot at high pressure for 45 minutes after covering the scraps with water, then strained and bottled...) poured over the onions.  To the onions and broth I added 2 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of thyme,  2 Tablespoons of vegetable base (Better Than Bouillon), plus a scant half teaspoon of black pepper. I turned the crockpot back to Low and will let it bubble all day while we are gone.  When we get home I am sure it will be delicious. 

Dear One may like it with toast and cheese on top but I will love it just as it stands.  I can hardly wait.  AND one of the best things about this is that supper will be READY when we get to the apartment!

Food Friday: Quick and Easy Broccoli Cheese Soup in Instant Pot

This soup was remarkably quick and easy to make and was just enough for two meals for two people.

Broccoli Cheese Soup in the Instant Pot

2 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 strip celery, diced
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
3 cups broccoli florets
1 1/3 cups evaporated milk
2/3 cup 2% milk
2 cups grated cheese
2 teaspoons homemade Greek seasoning salt

Turn the Instant Pot on to the sauté function.  Add butter to start melting then add the onion, carrot, and celery and stir well with a long handled wooded spoon for a couple of minutes.

Stir in the whole wheat flour then add the broccoli and vegetable broth. Stir until well combined.  

Add the evaporated milk and 2% milk, the grated cheese, and the Greek seasoning salt.

Stir well.  Cancel the sauté function and re-set to the soup function.  Set the timer to 5 minutes.  Put on the cover and turn the pressure gauge to "pressure".  When the timer goes off, let the steam release naturally for about fifteen minutes.  When the steam has released, remove cover, stir, and taste to correct seasoning.

This was just about perfect for my taste, and it was ok by Dear One's taste buds.  There was just enough left over for one more small meal.  This is good because more than twice in a row and Dear One objects/calls it leftovers and prefers not...!

The Instant Pot wins again!

Food Friday: Broccoli Bisque, Maybe

Today I watched an episode of Chef AJ's Healthy Living on YouTube. Dr. Joel Kahn was her guest. She made some broccoli bisque. 

This is how I made it, but watch the video to see how to really make it.


Into the Instant Pot I put:

8 ounces broccoli
2 small potatoes-12 ounces
1 sweet onion chopped
1 cup water
1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 Tablespoon granulated garlic.

Put on the lid and cooked on high pressure for 6 minutes then let it cool down naturally for about 8 minutes but wanted to hurry things along so I quick-released the rest of the pressure.

Added in:
1 cup unsweetened Almond Milk
4 Tablespoons nutritional yeast.


With a fork I then mushed everything up until it was more or less smooth.  You are supposed to use an immersion blender but we don't have one and I don't want to buy one.  (I may buy one more kitchen tool, but I will tell you when I decide...). If you have an immersion blender the soup will be lovely and smooth and look lovely.

Broccoli Bisque ready to store.

This made about four servings.  Not that large servings, either.  I thought is was nice.  Not great, but perfectly edible.  Dear One said it was bland and added a lot of salt.  Well, that was the point:  this was a no-oil, no-salt soup to try to clear out the arteries of bad stuff.  He did eat nearly all his bowl of soup, though.  I put much of the rest of it in the refrigerator to lunch some day, then ate the rest!

Food Friday: Barley Soup

Dear One always loved barley soup for some unknown reason.  It used to be great when we used a little hamburger to season it.  Now, of course, we do not do that. 

Yesterday I was in the mood for soup as the snow was falling down, all around.  Lots of inches of the lovely stuff piled up.  Soup weather.

This is what I used:

Instant Pot

1/2 cup barley
1 1/2 Tablespoons Dried onions
4 small chopped potatoes--end of the bag, beginning to sprout
2 cups water
Small can mushrooms, finely chopped--mushrooms are not popular here so chopping critical
Bay leaf
Pinch rosemary
Pinch thyme
Can mixed vegetables
Can whole kernel corn
Can tomato soup
1/2 cup Textured Vegetable Protein
1 Tablespoon Ham broth seasoning, though chicken or beef or vegetable broth flavors would also work.




To begin making this, I put the water into the Instant Pot insert along with the barley and dried onions (a fresh chopped onion would work well, too) and started the Instant Pot on the Sauté function so it would start heating up and decrease the pressure cooking time.  Next on the list was chopping the mushrooms until they were unrecognizable as mushroom, then tossed them in.


Because I am trying to use up all the canned goods in our pantry I threw in cans of mixed vegetables, whole kernel corn, and condensed tomato soup. I included all the liquid in the cans...no waste there!  At the last moment I saw the TVP and put that in, too.

When everything was in the pot, I gave it a good stir, put on the cover set for pressure then put it on the Bean/Chili setting which pressurizes for 20 minutes.  The barley was cooked but not mushy, not that mushy would be a disaster in my book.  This made about 2 quarts of soup, maybe a little more.

No, I did not in any extra salt.  These was enough in the canned goods and the ham broth seasoning.  I might throw in garlic next time.  Well, I WILL throw in garlic next time.  Maybe even some chopped fresh ginger, too.


The soup was popular enough that Dear One ate a good slug of it last night. Son #4 came in and had a bowl, dropping in the last of the Christmas ham.  I thought it was okay.  Dear One asked for more today!!!  That was unexpected.

Food Friday: Butternut Squash Soup

A wonderful brother and sister couple that we love (who are living their later years together as they are both widowed) grow a fabulous garden each year.  They are very generous with their produce.  They gave us two beautiful butternut squashes and a large blue hubbard squash.  I love squash and decided to make it into soup.

To start out I washed the squash, cut off both ends, then cut off the seed receptacle and cleaned out the seeds. (This time I did not roast the seeds. Wasteful, I know, but sometimes...)  I placed the squash pieces, cut side down, on a large rimmed baking sheet and roasted in the oven at 350 degrees F. for 50 minutes.

Squash ready to roast

After the squash cooled, I scooped it out of the skins.  There was almost 3 cups of cooked squash.  At this point I put the other ingredients together.

2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large onion chopped
2 cups chopped celery

(The carrots and celery were from some vegetable sticks I had cut a week ago and put into the refrigerator.  For some reason the refrigerator froze them so they were not so fun to eat BUT chopped and put in soup they were superb...!)

In a large saucepan I placed the chopped vegetables and a lot of water.  Brought them to a boil then turned down the heat to simmer them until they were nice and soft.  After the water came to a boil I stirred in:

1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon/large pinch dried thyme
1.5 teaspoons of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable Seasoning

When everything cooked and was soft, I tasted the broth.  It was not quite salty enough for me so I added some ham broth powder (which I had found on a clearance table at a grocery near us...ham broth flavoring something I had never heard of before) which added a nice flavor as well as the needed salt.

At this point I carefully dumped in the cooked squash then (finally! successfully!) used the immersion blender we had given to my mother-in-law for Christmas many years ago which was still in the box when she died in 2007 and which we then brought home.  I have never been successful before.  Honestly, this is only about the third time I have used it...

Anyway, this made a nice sort of smooth soup that tastes really yummy.  It sure hits the spot on a cold and snowy day.  I did need to add more water several times while it was cooking since I really like broth-y soups.  Actually, a good soup broth is the best part of the coup..

Munchie Monday: Red Refrigerator Soup

When I was growing up our mother often would go to the refrigerator, pull out a few containers of leftovers, and make the most delicious refrigerator soup.  Absolutely scrumptious soups.  The only problem was, they were impossible to replicate.

In our house, I have made a few refrigerator soups.  They are rarely popular, except with me.  This time I made one which I am not even going to offer to Dear One. He does not need to feel like a bad guy.  I AM rather likely to share it, however, because there were two quarts of it!

To start any good soup you need to get out a large saucepan and a good-sized onion.  Add 2 cups water to the pan and start it heating over medium heat.  Add the chopped onion and put on the cover.

Now go to the refrigerator and see what is in those three or four containers that have been there a couple days or more.  Because we did not have a lot of containers this time, I cut up several small red potatoes, skins and all, and popped them in to cook with the onions.  I also smashed a couple cloves of garlic and dropped them on top.

Now for the good stuff:  some celery was just about ready to go, as in: rather wilted, so I chopped it and tossed it in. There was a tiny bit of kale.  Next two very small containers of thyme-roasted beets, then some very wilted lettuce which I chopped fine.  Half a green bell pepper was chopped well and added to the pot.  The next to the last delight was about a cup of sauerkraut and juice.  I know what you are thinking, BUT it really gave the soup some pizzazz!  Finally I checked the refrigerator one more time to see if there was something else hiding in there that the soup needed.  There was!  A pint of homemade tomato-vegetable sauce.  In it went and the soup was just about ready.

There was not much broth, which I think is the best part of any soup so I added some more water and a teaspoon of Better Than Bouillon Vegetable seasoning. 

This soup was pretty good.  Of course,  the picture is not a food photographer's dream, but you get the idea.  I am looking forward to another bowlful pretty soon.  Well, the next time I need to eat, which won't be for a while.