Summer Italian Soup with Soup-Bean Mix & Leftover “Steak”

Bean soup always takes a little while due to the overnight soaking (the 1- or 2-hour “quick soak in hot water method seems to curse the results somehow, so I avoid it).  However, this one’s worth it. A nice soup mix in smaller beans / peas / lentils makes it hearty but not too beany, and the carrot and tomato brighten it up. Plus, it’s got spinach in it and manages to pull that off without reminding you of grand-maman’s cabbage soup.

• Timing: Count on an overnight soak, 8-20 min prep (depending on how snazzy you are with chopping stuff), then just under 2 hours of “sit and wait while it cooks” time.
• Results: 10 servings. Very filling. Low calorie (roughly 200 calories per serving)

Summer Italian Soup with 16-Bean Soup Mix, Tomatoes, Carrot, Parsnip, and Leftover “Steak”

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 tsp hot chili oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 5-6 garlic cloves, minced (or chopped then smashed)
• 4 carrots, sliced pretty thin & diced
• 1 medium parsnip, handled just like the carrots
• 1 container Low Sodium Vegetable Broth + 4 c water (or 8 c water and 2-4 vegetable bouillon cubes)
• 1/4 c lentils
• 1 (28 ounce) can or 2 1/2 c diced tomatoes (italian seasoning or plain)
• 1 (10 ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed out and squeezed of water
• 1 tsp ground red pepper (seems like a lot, but the beans handle it)
• 2 tsp dried oregano, or 1 1/2 loose Tbsp fresh
• 1 c dry lentils, sorted and rinsed (optional)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp dried basil
• 1/2 to 1/3 c Fry’s Vegan Steak Strips (or leftover cooked meatballs or other lean beefish item), thawed and chopped to 1/2″ cubes
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice (optional)

Preparation:

Soak beans (1 night):

• Sort (to remove stones / sand) beans, rinse, and then in a large bowl soak (overnight – you can also soak them in HOT water for about 2 hours but the overnight is better).

Before you turn the heat on (~10min):

• Set the spinach out in the sun or in someplace else it can thaw (or microwave it – see note below)
• Drain the beans. While you chop things, let them sit with the vegetable broth in their bowl.
• Chop the carrot & parsnip and set aside; chop & smash the garlic.

Deal with the carroty stuff (~10min):

• In a stock pot on medium heat, saute the onion and garlic until the onion starts to turn translucent on the edges; dump in the carrot and parsnip and toss around for about another 5min.
• Add in soaked beans, vegetable broth, and water.

Cook beans (1.5 to 2 hours):

• Bring to a boil, then lower heat when beans are ABOVE a simmer (at a “good boil” but not rolling).
• Cook, covered, for 1.5 to 2 hours.

Add & cook other ingredients (~20min):

• When beans are just about done, add in tomatoes, spinach, red pepper, oregano, basil, steak strips & optional lentils (if necessary, chop can tomatoes with kitchen scissors or spoon before mixing)
• Cook 20 min more or until all bean items are done
• Add salt, lemon, & additional red pepper to taste

Serve

Tips & Notes:

• Thawing spinach: put in cardboard, in bowl in microwave and cook on 4% power for 2-4 minutes. Squeeze spinach in cardboard so water goes into same bowl (you can use water for part of broth water if you feel like maximizing your nutrient intake here)
• Oregano: if you don’t do the chili oil and go easy on the pepper, you can bump this up to 2 tsp dry / up to 2 Tbsp fresh
• Serving: Plain water crackers are awesome crumbled up in this
• Based on this recipe

Chicken Vegetable Soup

I made this today and it is quite tasty. It’s my own recipe. I generally don’t like fennel, but it’s quite good in soup.

Chicken Vegetable Soup

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 chicken breasts
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves of garlic, chopped or mashed, as you please
• 1/4 teaspoon chopped/ground fresh ginger root
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper
•  about 1 cup chopped tomatoes
• 1/2 cup split green peas
• 8-10-ish cups of water, or however much broth you want.
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• freshly-ground mixed pepper
• about 1 tablespoon Kosher salt
• as much fresh ground black pepper as you like
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1/2 tablespoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

Heat the olive oil on medium in a soup pot. Chop up/slice/grind your ingredients as you please. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, and chicken to the oil. Grind some mixed pepper on top. Stir it occasionally. Once it’s cooked a little, add the tomatoes, oregano, basil, and fennel and let it cook until it’s saucy. Add the peas, cabbage, carrot, celery and water. Let it simmer, covered, on medium-low for about 2 hours. Add the salt and pepper as you please. Cook it for another 15 minutes or so, then let it cool and eat.

If you have room in your pot, add a zucchini.

Like many soups, it’s even better the next day.

Mexican Black Bean Soup

My favorite roommate from college was Kaitlin D. For over half of the semester, we ate little other than her Mexican Black Bean Soup. She’d make a big pot of it and we’d just stand over the stove, eating it out of the ladle. It’s fucking amazing. If we were eating it out of bowls, we’d add a dollop of sour cream and mix it in. So tasty.

So this is her exact recipe. There are some notes of mine below it:

Kaitlin’s Black Bean Magic

• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced/smashed
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 2-3 tomatoes chopped
• 2 med potatoes chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper minced
• 2 cans black beans
• 1 can corn (optional but makes it hella bomb)
• as much cilantro as you want
• 1-2 tablespoons cumin
• 6 cups water or broth
• 2 tablespoons lime juice or to taste

1.    Heat olive oil in soup pot, add onions, garlic and jalapeno pepper and fry a couple minutes. Add tomatoes and potatoes and continue to fry until the mixture becomes saucy (not sassy).
2.    Dump in beans, corn and water/broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add cumin, lime juice, salt and pepper, and cilantro. Simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat and add cheese, sour cream and chips.
Enjoy!

Isabelle’s Notes:

• If you use dry beans, soak them the night before then boil them either in the soup or before using them for a good 4-5 hours, until they soften. I like to make the entire soup then leave it on Low to simmer while I go climb trees or go to the gym or whatever. If you live in an apartment where the management comes in ALL THE FUCKING TIME to spray for bugs and change the filters and make sure you don’t have pets and shit, then don’t leave it simmering while you’re at work all day because they’ll think you’re trying to burn the place down or something. I haven’t done this yet, but this is why I can only make this soup on the weekends. Or I could use canned beans, whatever. This is a long note.
• This recipe is meant for a big soup tureen. I’m talking like 3-4 days’ worth of soup for two people. If you’re making it in a small pot, use common sense and cut it down to half or so.
• I like to add a chopped carrot and two sticks of celery or all the tops from a bunch of celery plus one celery stick. And a sliced zucchini.
• Chicken works well in this, too.
• It’s a soup; adjust it as you please.
• It’s twice as good the next day.

Chickpea Soup

This is a nice little soup I made this morning because I only have cabbage in my fridge. When I was in Greece last summer, we ate mostly beans cooked in a variety of ways, but always with olive oil and oregano.

Since I used dried chickpeas, I had to start the night before. You could use canned chickpeas, but I find that the flavor is not as nice and they have a lot more salt.

Chickpea Soup

Yield: About 3 servings, depending on what you consider a serving.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried chickpeas or 2 cups cooked/canned
• 1/2 cup onion (any variety), chopped into large chunks
• 3 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil (or about 3-4 fresh basil leaves, torn up)
• a dash of salt

If you’re using dried chickpeas, soak them the night before in 3 cups of water. In the morning, rinse them (if you’re using canned, rinse those as well) and add 3 1/2 cups of water and the onions. Simmer them for about 30 minutes in a pot with the lid on but tilted (even if it has a steam hole), then stir in the oil and seasonings. Let it simmer for another 15 minutes, or until the beans are the texture you prefer. Consume.