Buckwheat Black Bean Soup

Does the idea of buckwheat black bean soup make you cringe?  Well, stop being a wimp and try this out.  It's SOO good.  Also, it's super-adaptable.  If you don't have buckwheat (Kasha), then you can use wheat berries.  You can adjust the amount of each vegetable, and use frozen, canned, or fresh corn.  Basically, you can do whatever you want!  Yum.

Also, it's BEAUTIFUL!

Buckwheat Black Bean Soup
From playing house

1 Tbs. olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
3/4 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cloves (1 Tbs.) minced garlic
1/4 cup kasha/buckwheat groats/wheat kernels
1 tsp. chili powder
2+ cups broth (I used chicken, but vegetable also works)
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans or 1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup corn
1 bay leaf
2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 Tbs. lime juice

Heat the olive oil in your soup pot on medium heat.  Add the onion and bell pepper; sautee for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, buckwheat, and chili powder, and cook 3 more minutes.  Stir in broth through salt and pepper.

Cover and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes, or until the buckwheat is tender.  Remove from heat and stir in cilantro and lime juice.  Enjoy!

Black Bean Soup

Have you ever been to Panera Bread?  I haven’t, but if this copycat recipe for their black bean soup is a good example of what they make, I definitely want to go there sometime soon.  It’s delicious, simple, and it uses my immersion blender! 

Not the greatest picture, I know.  Still delicious, especially with pepper jack cheese on top!

The really nice thing about food.com is that you can change up the number of servings you want.  The recipe I post will be for 4 servings.  However, if you follow the link I put below the recipe title, you can change up the recipe to allow for as many servings as you want.

Enjoy this yummy, simple, and wonderful soup!

Black Bean Soup

From food.com

4 servings

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 celery ribs, finely chopped

1/4 large bell pepper

2 small chicken bullion cubes (2 tsp. chicken bullion)

1-1 ½  cups boiling water

2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, undrained

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cumin

2 Tbs. lemon juice

1 ½ Tbs. cornstarch

1 ½ Tbs. water

Combine the first six ingredients (onion through water) in a pot; simmer for 10 minutes.  Add half a can of black beans (1/4 of the total black beans), salt, and cumin.  Puree soup, using an immersion blender or a regular blender, in batches.  Return to pot if you used a regular blender.

Add the remaining black beans.  Combine the cornstarch with 1 ½ Tbs. water.  Add the lemon and the cornstarch to the soup and cook until thickened.

Garlic broth and poached eggs

This soup was originally called garlic soup with poached eggs.  But that sounds much more substantial than it actually is, so I decided to change the name.  It's very good for those days when you want to fill up on veggies  or bread but get something warm and protein-rich in your dinner (am I the only one who has those days?  Oh well).  In spite of the name, it is not super-garlicky, and won't leave you with really bad breath.  It's essentially just a broth in which you poach an egg.  A very nice broth, to be sure, but what I've gained from the recipe is more along the lines of a method, rather than a very distinct and irreplaceable broth.  For instance, if short on time I would consider making regular broth from a cube and then poaching an egg in it.  It wouldn't be as delicious, but it would still be good (as well as very cheap).

The egg just beginning to cook...

What's really nice about this recipe is that you can use however much you want at a time to make your soup fresh.  Just pour one serving's worth of broth into a pan and poach an egg in it (or however many servings you're making at the time), then store the rest in the refrigerator or even freezer for later use.

Yummy.

Garlic Broth with Poached Eggs
Adapted from The Wednesday Chef
3 servings

1 quart (4 cups) water
1/2 head of garlic, separated into cloves and peeled (not minced!)
1+ tsp. salt
Black pepper to taste
1/8 tsp. dried sage
1/8 tsp. dried thyme
1 small bay leaf
2 parsley sprigs (or a couple of teaspoons of dried parsley)
1 1/2 Tbs. olive oil
3 eggs
Grated parmesan cheese and parsley for garnish (optional)

In a saucepan combine garlic, salt, pepper, sage, thyme, bay leaf, parsley, and olive oil. Add water.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain (I used my sifter; make sure it's fine, even cheesecloth), pressing on the garlic to release as much flavor as possible.

For immediate use: to make one serving, put 1 1/3 cups broth into a very small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer (small bubbles starting to show on the bottom) and carefully break an egg directly into the broth.  Poach until the egg white is just set, about 1 1/2 minutes (the egg will continue to cook).  With a slotted spoon, transfer the egg to the serving dish and pour the broth over it.  Garnish with parsley and parmesan cheese.

The rest of the broth can be used immediately, refrigerated, or frozen.  You could change up the ratios, adding more eggs per serving of soup; it's just a matter of personal preference.  You can also prepare multiple eggs in multiple servings of soup at the same time; just use a larger saucepan as you poach.  Enjoy!

In spite of my lack of obvious enthusiasm above, I really enjoyed the broth, and would encourage you to try it :)  Recipe for the carrots coming up soon!

Cabbage Soup

No, wait!!  Don't run away because of the title!  It's good, I promise!  Okay, okay, maybe I'll just keep this one for my personal recipe file, if you're too wimpy to try it.  I may serve it the next time I cook for you, though.  It's really, really, really good.  Especially with parmesan cheese on top.  Yummm....

Please forgive the photo.  I should not have served it in a yellow bowl, but I love my little yellow bowls and just couldn't help it.  Don't worry, it's good.  Further supporting my hypothesis that ugly food is yummy food.

Cabbage Soup
From 101cookbooks
3-4 servings

Ingredients:
1 Tbs. olive oil
1 LARGE pinch of salt (although you can adjust it at the end of cooking...)
1 large russet potato, sliced thinly and then cut into 3/4-inch squares (you can really do any shape you like, but it has a great texture this way)
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large yellow onion, diced
5 cups chicken stock
1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 medium cabbage, cored and cut into bite-size pieces
Parmesan cheese for serving

Heat the olive oil in your soup pan. Add in salt and potato; cover and cook until the potato is tender and starting to get golden, about 5 min.  Add onion and garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add stock and beans and bring to a simmer.

Stir in the cabbage and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until it's softened to your liking.  Adjust the salt and pepper.  You MUST have enough salt, or you won't have the exceptionally delicious taste you're looking for. Serve warm sprinkled with parmesan cheese.

Really, it's better than it looks.  I promise.  Would I lie to you?

Kale and Sweet Potato Soup

So, as you may have noticed, I've been on an unannounced blogging hiatus for the past three weeks.  Sorry...   I just got so distracted, with Christmas, family time, New Years, coming back to school, discovering hp fanfic....  Whoa, what??

Anyways, as it is past the holidays anyways, I will save those recipes for later on in this month, or maybe even next month.  In the meantime, I would like to announce Soup week, as I have been eating soup almost continuously for the past two weeks.  Also, it's healthy, fast, and warm.  Mmmmm.

So, I don't have any pictures of this first recipe I'm going to show you.  Please just trust me that it's delicious.  It has a rather rustic/sophisticated look to it, and strangely enough, that doesn't seem like an oxymoron when you see it.  This soup is amazingly delicious, and I would highly encourage you to go make it... right now!  I'm just going to go thaw the leftovers from the freezer...

Kale and Sweet Potato Soup
From joythebaker (aka Joy the soup-maker)

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced or shredded (I keep mine shredded in the freezer for convenience)
3/4 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
3/4 lb. (1 large bunch +) kale, tough stems removed and chopped (1-2 inch squares worked)
1 1/2 lb. (2 medium) yams, peeled and diced to 3/4-inch cubes
1 1/2 quarts (6 cups) chicken broth
1+ tsp. broth
fresh ground pepper to taste
1 cup canned unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup rice (uncooked) + 1/2 tsp. salt + 2 cups water

Start by combining your rice, water, and salt (from the bottom row of ingredients) in a small pot.  Cover and set on very low heat.  Check after twenty minutes; if there are dimples on top and the rice is the correct texture when you bite into it, remove from heat.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large soup pan over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until translucent, ~5 minutes.  Add garlic, ginger, turmeric, and crushed red pepper.  Stir and cook for 1 minute.

Add sweet potato chunks and stir; add broth and bring to a simmer.  Add kale (it will seem like a lot), and submerge it.  Cook for about 20 minutes, until sweet potatoes are tender.  Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour in coconut milk and reheat (don't let it boil!).  Add rice and stir.  Enjoy!

Borscht

Borscht has always been one of my favorite kinds of soup.  But until a few years ago, when Mom got a good food processor, we didn't have it very often because it's a bit work-intensive (as I found out last week!).  But it's amazing.  It has all kinds of fun vegetable ingredients and tastes amazing.  Plus, it's bright pink.  For once, it's a pretty food that tastes as good as an ugly food.  Weird.

Borscht
Family recipe from ages past

Simmer about 90 minutes:
1 pound lean beef, cubed
6 c water
1 T salt

In another pan, simmer covered, for 15 minutes, stirring frequently:
1 ½ c shredded raw beets (about 2 medium/large beets)*
¾ c shredded carrots (1 1/2 carrots)
¾ c shredded turnip (about 1 large turnip)
2 T tomato puree (I used 1/4 of a tomato, grated)
2 T vinegar
1 t sugar
2 T butter

Add and cook 10 minutes:
½ head small cabbage, shredded
Fresh ground pepper
2 bay leaves

Mix in beef and water, add vinegar as needed, and serve with sour cream.

Enjoy!

*If you have a food processor, use the grating blade/thing.  It makes it much easier.