Easy Vegetable Soup

Whenever we are in the mood for soup but do not feel like spending too much time cooking, this is the soup we turn to.

This recipe is from The Fat Free Vegan

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces frozen California vegetables*
• 12 ounces frozen Italian vegetables*
• 1 15- ounce can fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 1 15- ounce can no salt cannellini beans or other white beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1 15- ounce can no salt pinto beans, kidney beans, or your favorite beans (rinsed and drained)
• 1/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3.5 cups boiling water

*Any kind of frozen mixed vegetables will work for this recipe.

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients to the Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker. Stir.
2. Set to manual, high pressure for 2 minutes.
3. Quick release pressure.
4. Stir the soup. If you’d like it to be thinner, you can add water or vegetable broth. Check the flavor and add more seasoning as necessary.

Smoky Corn Chowder

This corn chowder has the best flavor thanks to the smoked paprika and liquid smoke. We also use frozen roasted corn from Trader Joes to give it even more of a smoky roasted flavor.

There are directions on how to make this corn chowder for both the instant pot and stove top below.

This recipe is based off High Carb Hannah

Ingredients:

• 2 large russet potatoes (about 1 pound), cut into chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut into chunks
• white onion (about 8 oz.), cut into chunks
• 1 cup red lentils
• 3 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• Curry paste to taste (optional)
• 1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon (vegetable) or 1 tablespoon of miso, add to taste
• 1 can coconut milk
• 2 one pound bags of frozen corn (use roasted frozen corn if you can find it)
• 4 cups water
• 1 tablespoon or more of liquid smoke (add after cooking), to taste

Directions:

To make in the Instant Pot: Throw everything into the Instant Pot and cook 15 minutes with natural release. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. Add in liquid smoke. Serve over rice and garnish with extra smoked paprika if desired. Enjoy!

To make on the stove top: Add all ingredients to a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about an hour. Use and immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. Add in liquid smoke. Serve over rice and garnish with extra smoked paprika if desired. Enjoy!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

This is the creamiest, cheesiest vegan broccoli soup! We have brought it to potluck lucks and everyone who has tried it has absolutely loved it!

This recipe is from Connoisseurus Veg:

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 medium russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 medium carrot chopped
• 1/2 cup raw cashews
• 1 cup unsweetened soy or almond milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
• 1/4 cup vinegar based hot sauce (can omit if you don’t like spicy, but then you may want to add a splash of vinegar)
• 3 tablespoons white miso paste
• 4 cups broccoli florets (about 1 large crown)
• Pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and water sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for about 1 minute more, until very fragrant.

2. Add the vegetable broth and stir in the potato, carrot, and cashews. Raise the heat and bring the mixture to a boil. Lower heat and allow to simmer, uncovered, until the carrot and potato are tender, about 20 minutes.

3. Use an immersion blender to blend everything together. If you don’t have an immersion blender, transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth, working in batches if needed.

4. Once blended, stir in the non-dairy milk, nutritional yeast, hot sauce, miso and broccoli. Place over high heat and bring everything to a boil. Allow to simmer until the broccoli is tender and the soup thickens up a bit, about 7 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and season with pepper to taste.

Italian Bean Soup

This was a super easy soup to make and a recipe where you most likely have all the ingredients on hand already. I highly recommend doubling the recipe as it is super easy and who doesn’t like leftover soup?

This recipe is from Ground Leaf:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dry cannellini beans, soaked (can also use 2 cans of beans, rinsed & drained)
• 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
  
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 medium onion, diced 
• 14.5 oz fire-roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp dried basil 
• 1 tbsp dried oregano 
• 1 tsp dried rosemary 
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/4 tsp celery seeds
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes

Directions:

1. Drain beans from their soaking water and add to the instant pot. Add 3 cups water.
2. Put on lid, select manual, and adjust time to 6 minutes. When time has lapsed, allow pressure to come down naturally.
3. Taste beans for doneness. If not fully cooked, replace lid and cook for additional time. If fully cooked: drain beans. Set aside. Rinse inner pot and return to machine.
4. In the instant pot, saute the onion. Stir frequently, adding water as necessary if sticking. After about 5 minutes, add all remaining ingredients.
5. Press cancel to stop the saute function, put on the lid, select manual, and adjust time to 5 minutes. When time has lapsed, allow pressure to come down naturally.
6. Serve warm.

Enjoy 🙂

Moroccan Red Lentil Soup

This soup is super easy to make and really tasty!

The original recipe is from Fitness Blender.

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and diced
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
• 2 cups red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 6 cups water or vegetable broth
• Juice of 2 lemons

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot over medium heat, saute onion, garlic and carrot for 5 minutes, adding water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Stir in pepper, cumin, turmeric, paprika and ginger; cook another minute.
3. Add water or vegetable broth and lentils; bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are fully cooked, 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Remove soup from heat, squeeze in the lemon juice and serve immediately. This soup is great over brown rice.

Tuscan White Bean Soup

This soup can easily be doubled. If possible, make this soup a day in advance as the flavors really come out the longer it sits.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 4 medium carrots, sliced
• 3 small celery ribs, sliced
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 tablespoons dried oregano
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 2 15oz cans white beans (or 3 cups cooked from dry)
• 1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 4 cups kale (or more)
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions:

1. Heat some water in a large pot over medium-high heat.  Add the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and oregano and saute until the onion is translucent. Continue adding water as needed to prevent sticking.
2. Add the broth, beans, nutritional yeast, rosemary, and pepper.  Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.  Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer 20 minutes, or until the carrots are soft.
3. Once the carrots are soft, blend with a stick blender to the desired consistency.  (You can blend just a little bit and leave some whole pieces of beans and vegetables, or completely blend it)
4. Add kale and allow to simmer for about 4 more minutes.
5. Stir in the lemon juice, and add more rosemary and pepper to taste.

Enjoy 🙂

Picture coming soon!

Butternut Squash Soup with Lentils

Here is the perfect Fall soup! It includes potatoes and red lentils to make this soup creamy and filling.

This recipe is from T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies:

Ingredients

• 2 small onions, chopped (or 4 tbsp onion flakes)
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (or 2 tsp granulated garlic)
• 2-cm piece of ginger root (or 1 tsp ginger powder)
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped (6 cups cubed)
• 1 sweet potato, chopped
• 2 small potatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• Black pepper & smoked paprika, to taste

Directions:

1. Add all ingredients into the instant pot. Set to cook on manual  for 10 minutes with natural release. Use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. Add black pepper & smoked paprika if desired.

Enjoy 🙂

Lentil Soup

An easy lentil soup recipe that can be made in the instant pot!

This recipe was inspired by Shane’s Fabulous Lentil Soup.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, chopped*
• 2 large carrots, sliced*
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced*
• 3-4 bay leaves (depending on size)
• 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 1 to 2 teaspoons of celery seed (optional)
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 1-2 potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1-1/2 cups brown lentils
• 1/2 cup red lentils
• 1-2 teaspoons miso, if desired
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 cup frozen corn (add AFTER cooking)
• 2-1/2 teaspoons of liquid smoke or to taste (add AFTER cooking)

*OR use 1 container of Trader Joe’s mirepoix

Directions:

Throw everything into your pressure cooker except for the corn and liquid smoke.  Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes.  Allow for natural release.  After pressure comes down, add corn and liquid smoke and allow to heat through for a few minutes.

This is even better the second day!

Potato Corn Chowder

Looking for an easy meal for dinner? This is an easy recipe that can be made on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot.

This recipe is from here:

Ingredients:

• 3 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped medium
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 large carrot, peeled, cut in half and cut into matchsticks
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen corn
• 1 12 oz. Bag frozen cauliflower
• 3 ribs celery, sliced thin
• 1/2 tsp. Black pepper
• 1 tsp. Garlic powder
• 1 tsp. Onion powder
• 4c veggie stock

Directions:

Stovetop:

1. Place large pot on stove over medium heat. Saute onions and celery in water for 5 min. Just so they start to soften a bit.
2. Add remaining ingredients, turn heat up to medium high and bring to a boil. Stir well, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 25 min. Or until potatoes are very tender.
3. Use immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*
4. Check seasoning before serving. I recommend topping your soup with some smoked paprika.

Instant Pot:

1. In the IP combine all the ingredients, stir well and cover. Set to manual pressure, 13 min. Natural release.
2. Use an immersion blender to blend until semi chunky smooth.*

*If you do not have an immersion blender, you can add the soup in batches to a blender and pulse until semi chunky smooth.

Leek and Sweet Potato Bisque

Here’s another delicious soup recipe.  It’s easy to make, full of flavor, and a very light soup.  It would go great with a big salad!

This recipe was adapted from Fat Free Vegan:

Ingredients:

• 3 medium sweet potatoes (about 2¼ lbs total)
• 3 large leeks, white and light green parts only
• 5-6 c unsweetened almond milk
• ¼ tsp nutmeg (more or less to taste)
• ¼ tsp ground ginger (more or less to taste)

Directions

1. Scrub sweet potatoes, then poke each a few times with a knife.
2. Bake sweet potatoes at 350°F for 1–1½ hours until centers are tender when pierced with a fork. Alternatively, cut each sweet potato in half and arrange in a single layer in a large microwave-safe casserole dish. Add a thin layer of water to the bottom, cover, and microwave for 16–18 minutes, until sweet potatoes are completely tender, turning them over halfway through cooking.
3. While sweet potatoes are cooking, cut the base and green top off each leek. Slice leeks lengthwise and rinse thoroughly between layers to remove any grit. Then slice leeks across the grain into half-inch semicircles.
4. In a large stockpot over medium heat, cook leeks, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so. If you notice leeks beginning to stick, add a little water.
5. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking leeks, covered, for another 20 minutes. Stir every 2–3 minutes and add a little water (1–2 Tbsp) as needed to prevent sticking.
6. Remove pot from heat and scoop flesh from sweet potatoes (no skin) into the pot with the leeks.
7. Add 4 c almond milk, nutmeg, and ginger to pot.
8. Blend until smooth using an immersion blender.*
9. Add another 1–2 cups of almond milk until soup is just sippable.
10. Warm over low heat if needed, stirring continuously. Serve hot with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

*No immersion blender? Working in batches in a blender, puree leeks, sweet potatoes, and spices with just enough almond milk to facilitate mixing. And remember: Don’t fill your blender more than half full when working with hot foods, as steam buildup during blending can be dangerous. Return the puree to the pot and whisk in the rest of the almond milk.

Enjoy 🙂