I haven’t done a post in about reducing packaging and making your own in a while. I like to make my own soups. It is only on extremely rare occasions that I will buy a canned or boxed soup that was processed. I like knowing how much salt I put into my soups. So many of the processed soups lean heavily on salt and I don’t do well with that. Plus they add red and green peppers, which I am allergic to.

When I had my foot surgery last September I wanted to have a way to make sure I got my veggies while sitting down with my foot propped up for six weeks. I ate more soup and sandwiches during those six weeks than I normally do! These soups were a major part of my diet while I was healing. I made them and froze them in advance so I’d have at least two weeks where I didn’t have to stand up and cook so much. I am not big on take out either, especially since I moved into an area where most of the food is West Indian and spicy. So miraculously I managed to make it through the six weeks with only going out for local takeout a couple of times!

These are the soups that I liked the best that I found on YouTube. I still buy cookbooks on occasion, or magazines with recipes. The internet certainly does have a huge amount of recipes and I definitely like the YouTube cooking videos.

The Chef Buck’s Lentil Soup with Ginger was a delicious twist on an old classic. The ginger definitely makes the soup unique. I really enjoyed his video and his suggestions that you could buy red lentils, since so many of us buy the brownish-green ones, which he called the “muddy green color,” and his remark “You don’t want to look like you are eating a bowl of mud.” Well I still have brownish-green lentils but I did go out and buy some red ones. He’s right, they do look more appetizing. I am not going to post all the videos in this post. If you click the link under the soup name it will lead you to the video. Chef Buck is the most amusing of the cooks, therefore I am posting his video.

I tried numerous carrot soups since I am just nuts for carrots. Unfortunately I felt that so many of the recipes were too milky, with coconut milk, too sweet, or just too creamy for my taste. After trying several recipes I finally found the One Pot Chef’s recipe for Roasted Carrot Soup and then I was happy. It does take a bit longer to make since you need to roast the carrots but in the end the soup is so simple and delicious, which is what I like about it.

The Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup I found in the video by Lauren Lobley. The recipe was created by Joy the Baker, who is a food blogger. The creaminess is added at the end of the cooking with cashew cream! Delicious and the cashews add some protein. Laura also taught me not to wash the mushrooms. I didn’t know you weren’t supposed to wash them. She says they get “gummy and slimy, which is a big reason a lot of people don’t like mushrooms.” Just rubbing off debris does keep the mushrooms in better shape and they don’t get mushy.

One of my favorite soups is Easy Celery Soup. I like the recipe posted by Ravenlovely on YouTube. You can adjust the soup to be vegetarian by skipping the chicken bouillon cube or chicken broth (which I prefer to bouillon cubes); I make it both ways depending on what I want. The potato does make the soup creamier. I also found that if at the end you toss in a little raw parsley before you blend the soup that is yummy in the recipe. I prefer to add a bit less than twice the amount of water, or chicken broth, in ratio to the vegetables. I like my soups thicker than I think most people do. This soup is great when you are craving something salty and want a food that has a naturally salty flavor.

As far as bouillon cubes go I normally haven’t used them. I remain reluctant to buy something with so much sodium and possibly MSG. Recently I found a product made by a company called Massel that manufactures bouillon cubes that are gluten-free, lactose-free, trans-fat-free, cholesterol-free, have no animal content and no added MSG. They have various flavors. The chicken one does kind of taste like chicken broth. I buy the beef style, vegetable, and chicken cubes. I just use small amounts due to the sodium but I do like them. They also cost significantly less than buying processed broths.

The other soup I liked a lot a new one I found, was by Miriam’s Kitchen. Her Egyptian Lentil Soup was delicious. I just didn’t add the little pasta pieces in the recipe at the end of the video, since I am on a gluten-free diet. If you like Middle Eastern food and want to tie yourself to the stove, like I sometimes do, you might want to check out her other videos.

That’s a Southern thing – “the tie yourself to the stove” expression. I grew up with this image that a woman was supposed to be tied to a stove, especially if she was married. My grandmother instilled this idea in my mind. As I grew up I realized in today’s world it is very difficult for a woman to do all the things grandma told me a wife is supposed to do. I remember when once my ex-husband said, “You know you didn’t have to cook all the time. I would have been fine with a sandwich sometimes!” It sure is nice when guys do the dishes or even cook. My step-father, who passed away two years ago, loved to cook. He was one of the best cooks I ever met. My mother likes to tease that she married him for the recipes.

Well I hope you enjoyed this post about various soups that I have enjoyed making. I eat soups year- round since I seem to have an easier time digesting cooked foods as opposed to raw. Plus they are a delicious way to get your veggies and we all know lentils are a great source of protein and fiber.

All material written by: © Marilyn Lavender, 2016.  All Rights Reserved.

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