"I'm not eating enough vegetables" soup

Life has been a bit crazy this week, and with one thing and another my diet has ended up heavily weighted towards meat, eggs and cream with a distinct paucity of veggies. Which is fine, for a while, but today my body just said GREEN so I went with the instinct. This was the result.

Ingredients:
1 whole broccoli, coarsely chopped (if you're like me and enjoy eating the stem, chop & include that as well)
1 whole cauliflower, coarsely chopped
1 whole brown onion, sliced
1 courgette, sliced into rounds
250g Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
250g mushrooms, sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
1 vegetable stock cube
1 chicken stock cube
A dash of allspice
A large dash of sage
A large dash of rosemary
A dash of salt

To serve:
Grated cheddar
Sour cream
Double cream

Method:
In a large stock pot/soup pot, dissolve the two stock cubes in some hot water. Add all of the veggies, sprinkle the allspice, salt and herbs, then top up with more water until the veggies are almost covered.

Bring to the boil, then allow to simmer slowly until veggies are soft - I think it took about an hour and a half for mine, but maybe not even that.

Spoon into a bowl and add a pile of grated cheese (I used cheddar but parmesan would have been amazing) and a glug each of double cream and sour cream. Mix thoroughly and enjoy.

This makes a LOT of servings so be prepared to stock your fridge or freezer with the leftovers!

Ham and Cheddar Soup

Very delicious :). From here.

Ingredients:

2 cups cubed potatoes
1/2 cup sliced carrot
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups water
2 cups milk
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup cubed ham
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Put carrots, potatoes, peas and water in a saucepan.
Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes).
In a separate dish melt butter and whisk in the flour.
Stir in milk.
Bring to a boil, then simmer stirring continuously until the mix starts to thicken (about 2 minutes).
Add the grated cheese and stir until it melts.
Finally, add the ham and the vegetables with their water.
Bring to a boil again, then take off heat and enjoy.

Leek and Potato Soup

I was looking for a recipe and I found a recipe for microwavable Leek and Potato Soup. I don't have any microwavable dishes. I didn't have the spices they were looking for. So I created my own version and it was delicious:

Leek and Potato Soup
- Four cups of vegtable broth (I used boullion)
- Two Bay Leaves
- Two Potatoes or Three Small Potatoes - roughly chopped
- 1 Small Onion - roughly chopped
- 6-7 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Leeks - roughly chopped
- 1 tbs. olive oil
- In a large stockpot heat vegtable broth until it boils. Add in potatoes once it's boiling, turn the heat to medium. Add in three cloves of garlic and bay leaves
- In a pan add olive oil, heat until it's spitting. Add in three cloves of garlic, sautee until fragnant, then add onions and leeks. Sautee until they become brown.
- Add onions and leeks to broth, turn down heat and simmer until potatoes are done. - Top with a sprinklilng of parsley

Delicious Vegetable Soup

So good, so incredibly, incredibly, incredibly good. It's relatively easy to make you and adjust it however you want.

5-6 cups vegetable broth (or beef boullion cubes, it was what we had on hand. :-D)
1 16-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 16-ounce cans beans, rinsed and drained (I used kidney beans and white beans)
2 1-pound bags of frozen vegetables
4 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon basil
1/2 teaspoons oregano
1/2 teaspoon thyme
a shake or two of hot pepper sauce (or even a jalapeño)
black pepper and salt to taste
OPTIONAL: 1/2 cup small pasta OR 2 cups diced potatoes OR 1 cup frozen corn or other starchy vegetable OR 1/2 cup of quick-cooking grain (pearled barley, millet, or quinoa) or cooked rice (We used sweet potatoes)

Put 5 cups of vegetable broth and all remaining ingredients into a large pot and cook until vegetables are done, about 20-30 minutes. If the soup seems too thick, add more broth.
Taste and adjust seasonings before serving.

We adjusted this as to what we had on hand, since right now neither of us can afford groceries. Instead of spinach we used cabbage, added at the beginning. We used peas, carrots, celery, and sweet potatoes. Very good. It's incredibly filling and it's 2 points per half cup.

Italian Minestrone Soup

This is by far the best and most filling soup I've had in a long time, and I'm a soup fan. We almost always have a pot of homemade soup in the fridge and I'm thinking this one will quickly become the favorite. It's a very thick soup - we added a can of tomato soup - and we also (of course!) used vegetable broth instead of beef broth. It's absolutely perfect with homemade bread...and that's a filling dinner. It's also four points per serving, so it's also points friendly. Yay.

Ingredients:
1 med. onion, chopped
1/4 c. celery leaves, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive oil
1 c. chopped carrot
1 c. chopped celery
1 (28 oz.) can tomatoes with liquid
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 c. beef stock or broth
1 c. red wine
1 zucchini, sliced
1 1/2 c. chopped cabbage
1 (14-16 oz.) can white beans or pinto or kidney beans
1 c. elbow macaroni
Water or V-8 juice
Pepper
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. oregano

Instructions:
Saute onion, garlic and celery leaves in olive oil until
onions are clear, 5 to 10 minutes. Add chopped carrots,
celery, tomatoes, tomato sauce, beef stock, wine, bay
leaves, oregano and pepper. Simmer until carrots are
tender, 10 to 15 minutes. Add zucchini and cabbage and
simmer until they are tender. You may need to add 1 to 2
cups more water or V-8 juice to get desired consistency.
Add beans and macaroni and cook until tender. Serve with
Parmesan cheese. You can vary this recipe with other beans,
vegetables or rice.

We didn't use Parmesan cheese.

Moroccan Harira

This is pretty involved, but it's well-worth it. I plan on making naan later on to go with it. Recipe is from Vegetarian Times' article The Soup Cure - healing soups other than chicken noodle. I'm planning on making several of the soups, so be prepared. ;-)

Haria
1/2 Cup Lentils (For Americans such as X and I, these will be found in the dried beans section.)
1 Tbs. olive oil (or as needed)
1 large onion, chopped (2 cups)
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick (or three tsps)
1 15-oz can chickepeas (garbanzo), rinsed and drained
2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 15-oz can chopped tomatoes, drained, liquid reserved
(You can use diced if you can't find them.)
1/2 cup vermicelli
Lemon wedges, for garnish (We skipped, they're not in season)

Tadouira
2 tbs. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tbs. lemon juice
1 tbs. tomato paste

1. To make Harira: Cook lentils in pot of boiling salted water 2 minutes. Drain.
2. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add onion, parsley, cilantro, ginger, and cinnamon; sauté 5 minutes, or until onion is soft. Stir in tomatoes, and sauté 5 minutes more.
3. Stir in broth, chickpeas, lentils, reserved tomato liquid, and 3 cups of water. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 45 minutes, or until lentils are tender, stirring occasionally.
4. To make Tadouira: Whisk flour with 1 cup water in bowl. Whisk in cilantro, lemon juice, and tomatoe paste. Stir Tadouira and vermicelli into Hairqa, and cook 3 minutes, or until noodles are soft. Serve with lemon wedges.

Nutritional Info:
Per Serving (8 altogether): 179 Cal; 7 G Prot; 3 G Total Fat (0.5 G Sat. Fat); 33 G Carb; 0 MG Chol; 537 MG Sod; 6 G Fiber; 5 G Sugars