Organic Granny

When I first made this soup it was Spring and the most delectable fresh asparagus was popping up in organic produce bins in grocery stores all over our little city!  Depending on where you live, you might have these neat little tender twigs growing in your own garden.  Here is the perfect Spring-Early Summer soup-- you can use fresh succulent new asparagus, or take advantage of the flavorful (but older) frozen asparagus in your freezer.  Enjoy! Ingredients      2 lbs green asparagus     1 large onion     3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Coconut Oil     6 cups vegetable broth OR 6 cups water and 3 Golden Bouillion cubes     4 cloves minced garlic     2 teaspoons organic garlic powder     2 teaspoons organic onion powder     Celtic Sea salt to taste (mmmm... those minerals!)     grind a little fresh cracked pepper to taste     juice from half of a ripe fresh juicy lemon  ...

T here was once a dental emergency-- I lost part of a porcelain crown in the front of my mouth-- and lovely Parsnip-Cabbage Soup recipe is part of a 'liquid' diet meant to create less stress on my exposed root and to help me get rid of a cold I had. It worked.   This soup is quite substantial and schmecht gut (as they say in my Duolingo German class)... filling and tasty. Anyone who has done a lot of cooking in the past can freely and intuitively spice up or spice down. For novice cooks, the recipe is quite satisfying, but you might want to add more of your favourite condiments if you find it too bland.   I, personally, love the flavour of parsnips. I have a bunch of them because they were in "the expiry" cart at Edible Island, our favourite health and organic produce shop.   I also love fresh green cabbage (and raw sauerkraut, but that's for another day).   Some of the recipes I looked at called for the inclusion of an apple. I believe that appl...

  I have the great pleasure of having friends from a number of different African countries, so I know better than to label this post with something like "A is Also For African Soup". That being said, though, there are several "groundnut" recipes on-line that claim to come from various countries in Africa (eg., Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe). In that cosmopolitan spirit of sharing, here is my 'groundnut' (what we call peanut)soup. I know that some of the ingredients are not commonly used in African soup, but that is the blessing of 'inspired' fare-- the author can innovate! I once had a profusion of kale in my prairie garden and offered some to my friend N. She was elated and filled up two large plastic garbage bags with the leaves. I don't have kale in the house today, but I do have cabbage... so that is what I have used in this recipe. I also don't have fresh ginger, but pure Ginger Essential Oil (make sure it is pure- no petrochemicals used in p...

  This delicious mushroom and wild rice soup makes a very satisfying meal when it is chilly outside.  I was shocked at the cost of the wild rice(about $16/pound) but the cup we used in the recipe came out to costing less than $2 a bowl which is still pricey but quite worth the yumminess it imparted to the dining experience. INGREDIENTS 1 medium red onion, chopped 3 garlic cloves, minced 2 celery stalks, chopped 1 cup wild rice 2 medium carrots, chopped 1 large sweet potato, diced 1 cup baby green peas 250-500 g (1/4- 1/2 pound) Portobella and/or Crimini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced 6+ cups of water 1 can full fat coconut milk 2 tablespoons Italian spice* 1/4 cup nutritional yeast 2 cubes Golden Bouillion  Salt and pepper to suit METHOD Soak the wild rice 6 hours, or overnight. Cook the wild rice prior to making the soup (or you can cook it in the soup, but you will have better results if you cook it in advance.) Clean, chop and set aside vegetables *You can make up your ...

This recipe for Brown Lentil and Beet Borscht is an adaptation of a delicious recipe called Beluga Lentil Borscht from The Great Vegan Bean Book: More than 100 Delicious Plant-Based Dishes Packed with the Kindest Protein in Town! - Includes Soy-Free and Gluten-Free Recipes !  The adaptations I've made are largely based on what ingredients I needed to substitute because they weren't in the house. The author, Kathy Hester, provides an option for using oil or not, and a recipe for "Cashew Cream" to serve as a garnish.  There is also an alternate Slow Cooker recipe. This recipe makes 8 servings, which means most of us can put it away to fully savour again on another day.  I freeze mine but it would be wonderful as a home-canned soup!  Now, on with the recipe: INGREDIENTS for BORSCHT: 1 big organic roasted potato, chopped 2 small organic carrots, roasted, chopped 3 medium beets, roasted, peeled, chopped 1 T. water or broth 1 small chopped onion 3 cloves minced garlic 1 t...

  Warm up with this creamy Canadian Yellow Pea Soup, a family favorite for chilly days. Yellow Pea Soup or Split-Pea Soup--This is a soup recipe that my mother, bless her, used to cook up in the winter. Today would be her 97th birthday...  We cook with Extra Virgin Coconut Oil in our family but you can use your fat of choice. INGREDIENTS: * 2 1/4 C. Yellow Split Peas * 1 tsp. Baking Soda * 2 T. Extra Virgin Coconut Oil * 2 Leaks, washed well and sliced up * 2 Carrots, scraped and sliced up * 1 Turnip, sliced * 1 clove Garlic, mashed * 1 C. Water * 2 T. thick tomato Puree * 2 Bay Leaves * 3 Cloves, minced * 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg * 1/4 tsp. Marjoram * 1/4 tsp. Tarragon * Celtic Sea Salt, to taste * Pinch White Pepper, fresh ground preferable HOW TO PREPARE THE PEAS: *Place the peas in a large bowl and sprinkle with Baking Soda (the Baking Soda will make the peas very creamy). *Soak the peas overnight or from 8-10 hours-- no longer or flavour will be lost *Rinse well under cold water *...

  Here is an heirloom recipe passed to me by my lovely new Facebook friend, Nancy Pugh, who got it from her friend Helen Heenan, New Zealand, who got it from her grandmother. That is the beauty of "networking" at its most organic! I have made a couple of minor adjustments (you guessed it: I used the Vitamix)  INGREDIENTS: 2 medim large sweet potatoes, diced into ~ 1 cm cubes  1 - 2 tsp. curry powder of choice  75 g coconut oil ( 2 T.) 2 cloves, minced garlic  Nondairy Milk or Vegetable Stock METHOD: Cook all ingredients together, low heat to melt coconut oil.  Add water to cover & cook together until sweet potatoes are cooked through. Transfer into the Vitamix cannister and whir until homogeneous (don't drain before doing that).   Add non-dairy milk or vegetable stock just before serving, to desired thickness. May freeze. Taste improves with age.  ------------------------------------------------------- **The use of the word "whirled" is m...

  Cozy up with this hearty Lazy Perogy Soup! Perfect for chilly days, it’s a comforting, healthy lunch with simple ingredients you can easily swap It is cold outside again-- really unseasonal for our gorgeous hunk of Vancouver Island-- so here is my feel-good-on-a-cold-day soup recipe. Please feel free to substitute other things you have in the kitchen for what you might not have that is in today's recipe:  **Heat 8 cups water to boiling and cook 4-8 perogies.  Set them aside. ** Saute 2 medium onions , chopped and 1/2 small green cabbage , shredded in a large soup pot with   1 T. Coconut or Olive oil or bouillon or vegetable broth. ** When the onions are fragrant and translucent, add:   **2 C. Organic Tomato Pasta Sauce  **3 C. Filtered Water  ** 1 C. Natural Sauerkraut (not the kind made with vinegar and cooked to death)   ** 1 Can Organic Navy Beans  **Add the cooked perogies to individual soup bowls with the soup.  **...

                                                         At one time I was a HUGE FAN of organic coconut milk in soups. Today's soup is a re-run of your vegan or plant-based, classic Cream of broccoli combination substituting coconut milk for dairy. You could also use rice milk (to keep it vegan) if you desire.  This soup was previously published in 2008 in my Whirled Soup blog and continued to be one of the Most Popular Recipes on that site! This is a simple and gratifying soup to make. Enjoy! INGREDIENTS *2 lbs. of fresh organic Broccoli *1 medium organic Onion, chopped *1 Bay Leaf *14 oz. organic Coconut Milk *Celtic Sea Salt to taste *Ground Nutmeg to taste INSTRUCTIONS Cover Broccoli, Onion and Bay Leaf with Filtered Water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn down to simmer until broccoli is tender. Important: Discard Bay Leaf. Ca...

  This hearty Carrot-Cauliflower Curry Soup is vibrant with the fragrance and taste and warmth of your own harvested veggies but also with the more exotic flavours of the tropics (curry, coconut, lime).  Roasting the veggies brings out the lovely depth of their wholesomeness.   Roasting the nuts (hazelnuts are my choice, but the recipe that inspired me called for roasted cashews and toasted coconut as condiments) in your own oven, means that you are avoiding the deep-fat-fried "dry-roasted" nuts that are often the ones you end up with when you buy them already-roasted.  If you have never roasted your own nuts, you are in for a treat! Ingredients 6 Carrots 1/2 head Cauliflower 1 cup chopped Zucchini 2 cloves Garlic 1 teaspoon Salt 1 teaspoon ground Black Pepper 3 cups Water (or vegetable broth) 1/2 jar of Vegan Pasta Sauce 1 tablespoon Curry Powder 1 cup Coconut Milk 1 small Lime, juiced For topping: roasted Hazelnuts Method for Making the Soup: 1. Start by roast...