Sweet Potato and Sausage Soup

Yes, my friends, it is soup season again. I adore soup season, as you can probably tell from a quick glance through the archives of this site. Soup recipes abound. Soup is one of the easiest things to cook, and to experiment with—you can make delicious soup of of nearly anything. Most of the soup I make is vegetarian, if not vegan, so this particular soup is a bit different for me. I originally flagged it in the October 2007 issue of Bon Appetit, but just got around to make it a few weeks ago, on a chilly October day, when Mr. X was visiting. I figured he would appreciate a hearty, flavorful soup made with chorizo. And he did.

Still Soup Weather

I realize that a lot of you are perhaps already experiencing that thing called BBQ weather, but in the Northeast, we’ve been rained in through almost all of June. I’ve been gazing at the pages of spring produce in Bon Appetit for the last two months, wondering when, oh when is it going to be our turn, and then looking at the window and realizing it’s not our turn yet.

But for all of you who live in already sunny climes, I know there are a lot of you who are also plagued with late June rains. I’ve been reading food blogs from people around the US who are also wondering where the heck summer is, and I have a few friends and readers in the southern hemisphere for whom summer is a half a year away. So in honor of our late-arriving spring, and those of you for whom soup season is just gearing up, I put together this post of some of my favorite soup recipes from the last two years.

Spinach and Barley Soup

Alright, so it’s not really soup weather anymore. In fact, Boston has suddenly leaped forward into what is pretty much summer. But I bought all this spinach when it was still soup weather, overcast and wet and chilly, and I really wanted this soup. It might be my last soup of the season, or at least, the last hot soup (I have some gazpacho in mind). So I had to do it. And even though it was 85 degrees out, and probably hotter in my kitchen, it was completely worth it. That bright green color made me so happy, and it was light and brightly flavored, and really would have been 100 percent perfect if I had made it when it was still hovering around 50 degrees in Massachusetts. At least now I have it in my repertoire for fall. And if you come across another cool day before summer is official, I recommend you give this soup a shot.

Creamy Parsnip and Chickpea Soup

I will admit it: I’m a little bit tired of soup. I’m extremely tired of winter, and of root vegetables and lentils, and of meals that are primarily beige and orange. I am ready for some tender, leafy greens. For zucchini. For tomatoes! Oh spring, you cannot come soon enough. (And yes, I’m aware that technically it is spring right now, but in my neck of the woods, it’s really not. It’s still cold and farmers’ markets are a long ways away.)

But you know what? Even though this is soup, and it’s made of root vegetables, and is pretty much beige and orange, oh it’s delicious. It is delicious enough that I feel a little less frustrated with winter. It is warm and silky and full of bright flavors, a little spicy, a little sweet. Eating this for lunch all week might help me to forget that it’s still not above 50 degrees outside.

Black Bean and Wild Rice Soup

In my attempt to eat less meat and more plant life, I’ve been experimenting with vegetarian soups for the past month or so. I make a big pot of soup every Sunday and bring a bowl to work every day for lunch, and I’ve got my soup-making skills down now. I’ve become quite fond of lentils, and should probably start making my own vegetable stock because I’m going through the stuff like crazy. What I love about making soup is that you have so many opportunities to be creative. Once you have a basic formula down you can add and subtract and experiment, and make something completely new just by using different herbs and spices.

Black bean soup has always been one of my favorites. When I was in college I was addicted to Progresso’s Hearty Black Bean soup and probably ate it at least once a week. When I realized that I was four weeks into my soup experiment and hadn’t made black bean soup yet, I knew I had to rectify the situation, so I came up with this: Black Bean and Wild Rice Soup.

Creamy Vegetarian Minestrone

I’m not sure if it’s entirely fair to call this a soup. It turned out much thicker than I intended, but in this case that only made it better. This is a very hearty, warming, comforting winter meal, and its creaminess totally belies the fact that it’s pretty darned healthy. In my quest to eat more like a vegetarian or a vegan, this soup is a winner.

I’ve made minestrone many times, so I’m surprised I’ve never written about it. Minestrone is the simplest soup, made up of whatever bits and odds and ends are leftover in the pantry or refrigerator. It usually includes beans, pasta, and tomatoes as a base, but there is no set recipe, and the word minestrone has become a synonym for “hodgepodge” in Italy. It’s a great soup to make on Saturday night, before you go to the grocery store, when your refrigerator is mostly bare, and you need to use up the last of whatever is on hand, and it’s an especially excellent winter soup, because it takes well to all those winter vegetables. Yes, I love minestrone and turn to it often, and yet I’ve never seen the results I saw from this most recent minestrone making.

Barley, Lentil, and Swiss Chard Soup

Here it is, week two of the new year and soup two in my impromptu series of healthy, vegetarian soups. When I told Mr. X I was making barley, lentil, and swiss chard soup he made a face that clearly indicated it sounded in no way appealing, which made me a little worried. And I will admit that the soup is more interesting the day after, when the flavors have had a chance to meld a little more. Which makes it an excellent choice for a week of lunches. And I believe that barley and lentils combine to make a complete protein.

Warming Winter Vegetable Soup

I know I’m not the only person who starts thinking about vegetables this time of year. Preferably NOT cooked in heavy cream. With salads. Yes, the after-holiday desire to diet is almost a Pavlovian instinct in us crazy humans. And I have to admit, for me, the butter-cream-cheese-heavy meals have not just been a holiday indulgence. Alas for my waistline.

But I don’t believe in diets. Drastically cutting calories in an attempt to lose 10 pounds in a month is just plain unhealthy, and everyone knows that deprivation only increases cravings and decreases willpower. So what’s a girl with a heavy cream addiction to do?

Turkey White Bean Chili

One of the first recipes I shared on this blog was for Chicken Chili with White Beans and Chipotles, something that had been hiding in my recipe folder since 2004. And it was delicious. I believe I mentioned that I would be making this many more times in the future. And of course, because I rarely make the same things twice, I never did. And that is just a shame, which I had to rectify when I found myself, after Thanksgiving, with a LOT of leftover turkey.

This chili was just as tasty with turkey instead of chicken; in fact, maybe even more so. So if you’re finding yourself with leftover turkey after Christmas, I’d highly recommend experimenting with this recipe. If you don’t have leftover turkey (or leftover chicken) you can still cook up this tasty and very easy chili: My original post details what do when you’re starting with uncooked poultry.

3rd Annual Cold Weather Chili Party

I love chili party time. It’s the only thing that makes the encroaching cold weather bearable. (It’s 25 degrees outside right now, folks, and I’m not liking it one bit.) In fact, I suspect this, my last East Coast winter, is going to be particularly difficult, and thus am contemplating a mid-winter chili party, a kind of third and a half annual (huh?) in March, just to make the rest of the cold times bearable.

(Just to give you a sense of how terrible my memory is, I thought that last year’s chili party was held in October…but it was actually in January. I think I block most memories of winter and pretend that any good events from those months really occurred in less treacherous times. That is just my theory.)

Regardless of how cold it is, or what month it is, or any of that unimportant stuff, making chili is one of my favorite wintertime things to do. I have a standard recipe I’ve been making for probably about six or seven years, and it’s pretty close to what my mom made throughout my childhood. But I strayed this year, my friends, I strayed. I made chili without any beans for the first time in my life. And I liked it.