If you are under the impression that you need the cream, butter, and cheese to make a rich, velvety soup, then prepare to be pleasantly surprised with this cheesy vegan potato soup recipe.

When I consume soup, I want to eat it, not drink it. That is, I want it thick, creamy, and filling all at once. But usually those attributes are found in a version filled with high-fat, high-calorie, animal-unfriendly ingredients, which is so not my thing. I want it all – every face of comfort in a bowl that happens to be body and animal friendly. Enter: this cheesy vegan potato soup recipe.

Don’t Fear the White Potato

In this soup recipe, the white potato lends a thick, creamy consistency that rivals what is usually offered by a white flour/butter roux and cream.

The white potato often gets a bad rap because it’s considered high in carbs and glycemic index and low in nutrition – typical diet trap. This has led to the replacement of the white potato and its so-called “empty calories” with the sweet potato and its oft-proclaimed nutritional prowess. But these assumptions and righteous claims couldn’t be further from the truth. Sure, potatoes have carbs, but the body needs carbs to survive, and sweet potatoes can even be packed with more carbs (34 grams to white potato’s 27 grams). If your body is particularly sensitive to carbs, then avoid potatoes. But if you are choosing between white potato and sweet potato, don’t consider it a competition, but rather a tradeoff. Sweet potatoes have more fiber and vitamin A while white potatoes have more iron, magnesium, and potassium.

Bottom line: don’t fear the white potato with as much enthusiasm as you embrace the sweet potato. Just eat it! And in this recipe, the white potato is key to the soup’s consistency.

What You’ll Need

This cheesy vegan soup recipe is filled with a lot of other simple ingredients. Leeks also take main stage, as do the “cheesy” nutritional yeast, rich white pepper, and acidic white wine vinegar. Fresh chives and dried thyme add a dose of fragrance and earthiness to finish the dish off.

Equipment wise, all you need is a cutting board, a knife, and a pot. Now, let’s get cookin’!

Cheesy Vegan Potato Soup Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 leeks, finely chopped and rinsed
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup homemade almond milk
  
• 2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and chopped into one-inch pieces
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Chopped fresh chives for garnish

Directions

Warm a large pot over medium-high heat. Add in the olive oil and leaves. Stir while cooking for about five minutes. Add in the garlic and stir and cook for another minute.

Pour in the water, almond milk, chopped potatoes, and thyme. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer, uncovered, for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender.

Remove the pot from the heat and carefully ladle the mixture into a blender. Let the mixture cool slightly before blending, or be sure to allow the heat to escape while blending, using a thick dish towel to hold the blender’s top closed while avoiding getting burned.

Once blended until smooth, transfer the mixture back to the pot and place the pot over low heat. Add in the nutritional yeast, white pepper, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir until the nutritional yeast breaks down and give the soup a lightly yellow hue.

Serve the soup in bowls and garnish with chopped fresh chives. Enjoy!

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When blight wiped out my tomatoes a few years back, I made salsa out of yellow plums instead. And when the cold and rain kept my tomatoes from ripening, I started making a green gazpacho soup recipe instead of the traditional red. In the end, I always seem to end up thanking Mother Nature for pushing me to think and cook outside the box.

Green Gazpacho Soup Recipe

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 jalapeño, stemmed and seeded
4 large green tomatoes or 16 husked tomatillos, chopped
1 avocado, peeled and pitted
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons champagne vinegar
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
Sea salt
2 scallions, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Directions

With food processor running, drop in garlic and jalapeño to mince. Turn processor off, add tomatoes and process to chop and combine. Add avocado, lime juice and vinegar. Process until almost smooth. Add basil and pulse to mince and combine. Season to taste with sea salt and serve topped with chopped scallions and a wedge of lime.

Serving Suggestion: For a zestier finished soup, add an additional jalapeño or replace the jalapeño with a hotter pepper such as a serrano.

Reprinted with permission from “Eat Clean Live Well“ © 2014 by Terry Walters, Sterling Epicure, an imprint of Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Photography by Julie Bidwell

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The post Green Gazpacho Soup Recipe appeared first on EcoSalon.

This winter soup recipe is catered to healing, warming and nurturing your body throughout these final cold winter days.

You don’t need to pack on an extra layer of skin to keep warm and healthy this winter season. Instead, you can layer on the overcoats and focus on immune-boosting, plant-based ingredients that are light but pack a heavy nutritional punch.

This winter soup recipes stocks up on the plant-based fiber and protein, which are inherent in quinoa, lentils and chickpeas, as well as the healing properties of kale, carrots, mushrooms, peppers, garlic and onion. The result is a delicious veggie soup that goes down easy with just enough bite to satisfy your desire to chew.

You can replace the lentils and beans with any other legume or grain as well as substitute in other vegetables in place of the others. Play around with zucchini, celery and eggplants for more textures and tastes. Feel free to add in other herbs, like sage, cumin or thyme. Start with the following foundation and then branch off in whatever direction you like.

Winter Soup Recipe

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh kale, stemmed
• 1/4 cup red lentils
• 1/4 cup green lentils
• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 1 can (15 oz) canned garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 6-8 cremini mushrooms
• 1/2 white onion
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and whole
• 2 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions

Chop all the veggies, except for the garlic, into bite-sized pieces. Place all ingredients into a pot over medium-high heat. Add 5-6 cups water, or to the point that the water is about 1 inch above the vegetables. Bring mixture to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes to one hour or until all is tender. Enjoy!

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Photo Credit: GlowKitchen

The post Hearty Vegan Vegetable Soup Recipe for the Last Days of Winter appeared first on EcoSalon.

Have I got a healthy, healing soup for you! Soba noodle soup it is and the cooking time is very brief. Most of the active time is spent preparing and sauteing the vegetables while bringing water to boil for the noodles and heating the stock. Overall time is about 30 minutes.

Serves two.

Ingredients:

2 – 3 oz. bundles soba (Japanese buckwheat) noodles

3 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock

1 teaspoon peanut oil

1/2 onion, sliced

1 generous inch ginger, peeled and minced

1/2 – 1 serrano pepper, minced (seeds and all)

6-8 dried shittake mushrooms*

1/2 zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced

1 cup spinach leaves, chopped

8-10 basil leaves, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/8 teaspoon sesame oil

freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Heat water in large saucepan to boil for noodles. Prepare all vegetables.

2. Meanwhile, in a second saucepan, bring chicken stock to a boil. Rinse off dried mushrooms and place in boiling water. Reduce heat to medium, and simmer 5 minutes. Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon and slice when cool enough to handle. Return sliced mushrooms to pot, and keep stock at a low simmer. Add 1/4 cup soy sauce and 1/8 teaspoon sesame oil to stock.

3. Heat oil in a frying pan or skillet. Saute ginger and half of the minced pepper, about 30 seconds. Add onion and sauté until softening and becoming translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add zucchini and sauté about 2 minutes. Put sauteed vegetables into simmering stock.

4. When water is boiling, cook the soba noodles. (Follow directions for cooking, usually about 3 minutes cooking time.) Once cooked, drain noodles and set aside.

5. Add spinach leaves and the rest of the minced serrano to stock and turn up heat slightly, cooking briefly (1-3 minutes) while the noodles cook.

6. Serve noodles in two bowls, cover with hot stock and vegetables, topping with freshly ground pepper and generous basil.

* You can use fresh mushrooms instead of dried ones, depending on what you have on hand. Dried mushrooms help add flavor to the stock, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to buy them. If using fresh, slice 4-6 mushrooms and saute about 3-4 minutes in Step 3. (First saute onion for 3-4 minutes, then add the mushrooms and saute for 2-3 minutes, then add the zucchini.)

Enjoy!

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