I am never happier than when a new cookbook arrives in my mailbox. This week I got Awesome Vegan Soups by Vanessa Croessmann of the blog Vegan Family Recipes.
I have to be completely honest and say that I usually skip the soup chapters of cookbooks, but this is a whole book of soups, so I couldn’t exactly skip it. I have to say that I think this little book has some great, family friendly, soup recipes!
And now I am inspired to make more soup. Let’s face it. It is a pretty easy meal to prepare. You can make big batches and refrigerate or freeze them for later. And you control the ingredients and the level of salt. I’m inspired to make some new soups this year! And I will start with some from this book.
The book is organized by season which I think is a really great idea in terms of soup. I am not a big fan of hot, root vegetable soups in the middle of the summer. And this book offers some really interesting, delicious soups that are appropriate for each season.
In the Autumn section, I can’t wait to make the Sweet Potato Chili, the Mixed Mushroom Stew and the Apple Pumpkin Soup with Chipotle (my favorite ingredient discovery of the year!)
From the Winter section, I am looking to hunker down with a hot bowl of the Roasted Root Vegetable Soup and the Creamy Rutabaga Soup.
When the Spring arrives, I will definitely be making the Lemon Asparagus Soup, the Tempeh Tortilla Soup and the Rustic New Potato Stew (hopefully with potatoes from my own garden!)
And finally, Summer. It is so far away now but I can dream of making the Creamy Corn Chowder, the TriColored Pepper Soup with Millet, and the Grilled CornTomato Soup with Guacamole.
And those are just to name a few! I will be making them all year long, so be sure to follow me on Instagram (@lisasprojectvegan) to see how they come out. Many of the recipes call for vegetable broth which I usually make by storing all of my vegetable scraps in my freezer and turning them into stock. But Vanessa has the coolest recipe for homemade Vegetable Broth Powder which I think is genius!
Afew notes on the recipe below.
A. I doubled the recipe.
B. I used fresh parsley and chives from my garden.
C. I shredded the onions, carrots and celery in my food processor.
D. I squeezed a ton of water out by wringing out the veggies in a dish towel.
E. I baked the veggies for an hour.
F. I let the veggies dry out in a bowl for a few days.
G. I dropped the dried veggies into the processor until they became a powder.
HOMEMADE VEGETABLE BROTH POWDER
MAKES 1/3 CUP (45 G) (ENOUGH FOR 10 CUPS [2.4 L] VEGETABLE BROTH)
I love having this vegetable broth powder around. It works the same way you would use bouillon cubes. This is a rough guideline. Add other ingredients and play around with it until you find the right combo for you. Broth powder is usually very salty. Depending on how much you add, it will vary on how much you’ll need to add to make your vegetable broth. This recipe will equal to 1 tablespoon (12 g) for every 2 cups (473 ml) of water to make 2 cups (473 ml) of vegetable broth.
Vegetable Broth Powder
Ingredients
- 1 whole yellow onion
- 1 large carrot
- 2 ribs celery
- 1/3 cup fresh parsley
- 1 whole scallion
- 2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
- 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 175°F (80°C).
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Finely dice the yellow onion, and grate the carrot and celery as fine as possible. Chop the parsley and scallion into small slices. Spread the onion, carrot, celery, parsley and scallion on an unlined baking sheet and place in the oven.
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After 40 minutes, carefully stir the vegetables around and bake for another 60 minutes. By then, the vegetable should be very dry.
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Turn the oven off at this point, but leave the pan in the oven for another 2 hours, or overnight, to allow the vegetables to dry even further. Remove the pan from the oven and let it sit out for one day before pulsing it in a food processor until it is pulverized.
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Mix the pulverized powder together with the salt, turmeric, ginger and nutmeg. This is your finished vegetable broth powder!
PER 1 TABLESPOON (12 G) SERVING: CALORIES 19 FAT 0.1 G CARBOHYDRATES 4.3 G FIBER 1.2 G PROTEIN 0.6 G