Crab and Apple Soup with Curry

I have a confession to make. Last week I was running late and was just totally unprepared. I didn't bring lunch and I went to a franchise restaurant and got a bowl of soup. I haven't had commercially prepared soup in at least a year. I could taste every single chemical in that soup and after being away from it, it was pretty awful. Not only was it made from processed ingredients, I felt like I was eating a chemistry experiment. I didn't follow my own rule of IF THE EARTH DIDN'T MAKE IT, DON'T EAT IT! I know better. So, not again! Plus, I love making my own soup. When I grow up I want to be a soup chef!! I can picture myself making it in a huge cauldron over an open fire dancing around and stirring it with an oar! Soup for all!! Or perhaps maybe I should just stick to a soup pot on the stove in the kitchen. Less scary for any observers. Anyway, yesterday I found a recipe in one of those old fashioned things called a cook book. It had actual pages and was written on paper! The one that I found was quite different and when I saw the ingredient combination (crab AND apple), along with curry, I thought that's got to be pretty strange. Well, I put it together putting my own spin on it and it's DELICIOUS! The apple blends in very nicely and along with the curry adding a little heat, you get the additional health benefits from the curry. Don't be afraid to try it.
 

CRAB AND APPLE SOUP WITH CURRY

1 T coconut oil
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 T curry powder
1 apple peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used a Granny Smith)
1/4 cup arrowroot
4 cups of chicken broth
6 ounces crab
1 1/2 T pimento
1 cup unsweetened cashew milk
1/2 cup white cooking wine
toasted sunflower seeds and feta cheese for garnish

Cook the onion and garlic in the coconut oil until the onion is translucent. Stir in the curry powder, the apple and the arrowroot and cook until the apple is beginning the get tender (3 to 5 minutes). Add the remaining ingredients (except the cashew milk and the wine) and simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the cashew milk and the white wine and bring to a simmer. Top with toasted sunflower seeds and feta cheese. This soup COULD be used as a fancy dinner starter. But you can also bring it to work with you for lunch. Is it noon yet?

Soup is So Simple! Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

For whatever reason I find chicken soup to be a serous comfort food. I think because one of my grandmothers always gave it to me when I was sick, so I associate that with a loving and caring grandmother. But she did give me canned soup. Maybe canned soup back then wasn't so bad, maybe it wasn't so good. I just don't know. But one thing for sure, I wouldn't touch that stuff while wearing a hazmat suit now. And, whether or not this can be associated with processed food that my grandmother ate, she did die of Alzheimer disease. Maybe an association, maybe not, but I make my chicken soup from scratch while still retaining the fond memories of time I spent with her, whether she gave me canned soup, or not. Plus, there's not a doubt in my mind if she had thought there was anything wrong with it, she certainly would have never given it to me. But, I'm not getting to the point. Here is the soup I made. It's organic, healthy, very simple and it's good!!

Organic Chicken and Portobello with Rice Soup

1 cup pasture raised cooked chicken breast cubed

1 cup organic Portobello mushrooms chopped
1 organic carrot chopped
1/2 cup organic uncooked rice (I used basmati  rice for this particular soup)
1 tsp organic onion powder
1 tsp organic minced garlic

2 cups organic chicken broth
4 cups organic mushroom broth

1/2 cup white cooking wine

Put it all in a pot except the wine. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer and cook until the rice is tender and the carrots are done. Add the wine at the end. Season with pepper and salt (if you used low sodium broth) and enjoy! I bring it to work for lunch and it makes the day (especially a Monday) much nicer!

Creamy Mushroom, Spinach and Leek Soup

Soup is warm and comforting and for me must have healing properties because there's something about it that just makes me feel better. I think it reminds me of both of my grandmothers, although they each had their specialties. One made the most incredible vegetable soup and the other one always made chicken noodle soup when I wasn't feeling well. And, when the weather begins to turn cooler, it's just time to make soup! Which means I'll be making it in a lot of different varieties for the next several months. This one - crazy with mushrooms, non dairy, vegan, low carb, low calorie, gluten free (if you don't add croutons) - all of the good stuff and non of the bad. I took it to work with me and heated it up and had a healthy lunch that was so much better than the food from the fast food places. And, economically speaking, fixing you own lunch saves a lot of money!

CREAMY MUSHROOM, SPINACH AND LEEK SOUP

4 ounces chopped mushrooms 

1/2 cup chopped leeks

1 chopped celery stalk

1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach
1 T chopped red bell pepper

2 tsp mushroom bouillon

2 cups unsweetened cashew milk

2 T arrowroot powder
1/4 cup water
black pepper

Saute the leeks and celery and bell pepper in coconut oil (about 1 tsp if you choose) or just cook them in a small amount of water until they're tender adding more water to keep them from drying out and burning. Add the mushrooms and cook until tender. Add the spinach, the bouillon and the cashew milk and cook over medium heat stirring frequently until hot and bubbly. Dissolve the arrowroot in the 1/4 cup of water, add to the soup and stir until thickened. Season with black pepper and add some croutons if you choose. If you eat the entire recipe of soup and don't add coconut oil or croutons, it's about 160 calories. If you add the teaspoon of coconut oil, it's about 200 calories (again, minus the croutons). Soup made from the ingredients made by the earth and a soup my grandmothers both would have been proud of!

White Bean Soup with Baby Turnip Greens and Sage

This soup, a hearty lunch or comfort food supper, is a blend of earthy vegetables, flavors and nutrients. In my local area more and more organic foods are being introduced into the grocery stores, including organic dry beans. The baby turnip greens and sage I was lucky enough to be able to pick from our garden but you can use any greens you want (spinach is good!) and the fresh sage can usually be found at the grocery store. If not you can substitute 1/2 tsp of dried sage.

WHITE BEAN SOUP WITH

 BABY TURNIP GREENS AND SAGE

1 1/2 cups cooked white beans, drained

3 cups vegetable broth

1/2 of a yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

3 fresh sage leaves

1 cup roughly chopped loosely packed baby turnip greens (or greens of your choosing)

1 stalk of celery chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 T olive oil or coconut oil

black pepper

grated Parmesan cheese

Saute the onion, garlic, celery and carrot in the oil until the onion is translucent. Add the greens and the sage and cook until the greens are wilted. Add the beans and the broth, bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes until all vegetables are tender. Using a potato masher mash the soup vegetables until roughly mashed and the soup is nicely thickened. Ladle into a soup bowl and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and black pepper. Serve with rustic bread or croutons.