Soup Heavenly Soup
Today is a rainy, cool day here in the jungle. It makes me think that it is a good day for soup. But, really, any day is a good day for soup. Some people tell me that they do not like soup. Maybe that comes from eating soup out of a can or ramen package. If I ate those, I would not particularly like soup either. ** I like homemade soup – the kind I smell cooking and can’t wait to sample. Or raw veggie soup that provides energy and a little kick.
Comfort Food
Soup is also one of the easiest foods to make. You can throw a bunch of veggies in the Vita-Mix and have soup. You can also heat soup in the Vita-Mix, but that is another topic. I love soup… bean soup, potato soup, spinach soup, broccoli / cauliflower soup, mushroom soup, tomato soup, carrot soup, squash soup, or a mix of many things. A bowl of soup with a nutty, oat bread that is baking at the same time the soup is cooking is a perfect meal.
I like curried soups, spicy soups, cold soups, hot soups, soups with seeds sprinkled on top. Even peanut soup is delish. I like soups with brown rice, soups with pasta, soups with barley. Potatoes are wonderful for thickening soups. Soup can be light or filling, depending on the ingredients. Creating new soups is a speciality of mine. Then my family asks me to make it again, but, often I forget to write down what I put into the soup. I can usually come close. Or sometimes, some other idea strikes my fancy and a new soup is created, once again.
For beginning cooks, soup is super easy. Throw a quartered onion, chopped celery, diced carrot, mashed garlic cloves, pinch of sea salt, fresh ground pepper, quartered potato into a pot and boil until all are soft. Then put into a blender or Vita Mix and you have a nice, rich broth. Add some Braggs Liquid Amino Acids and Nutritional Yeast, plus whatever else you want. A spoonful of miso also helps soups a lot – but don’t boil the miso – add after cooking is done, while hot. Throw in some noodles – rice or wheat. Add some pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds. Be creative and use what you like.
Soup is a nice thing to take to someone with a cold or who is recovering from almost anything. It is a comfort food. It spreads caring. One of my kids favorite books, when they were small, was Stone Soup. http://www.soup4world.com/stonesoupfable.html And, then, of course, we made soup together often!!
**(There are some good, prepared soup options out there, without too much salt and with no preservatives. But making it yourself is so easy.)
