Stock Ingredients

• 1 turkey drumstick
• 1 small onion, quartered
• 2 carrots chopped in halves or quarters
• 3 stalks celery cut in half
• lots of water

The drumstick went right in a large pot covered with water, and I added water as it cooked when the water level dipped below the top of the drumstick. I made the stock over the course of about three hours, skimming off the funk on top periodically. Then, I strained the stock, discarded the vegetables, and set aside some choice meat from the turkey leg.

Soup Ingredients

• 6-8 cups stock
• 1/4 onion thinly sliced and chopped
• 1 carrot thinly sliced
• 1 stalk celery thinly sliced
• 2 tbs fresh parsley
• turkey pulled from drumstick

I combined the above ingredients. I didn’t have any white meat turkey on hand, but would definitely recommend it, if you make your own turkey soup.

Dumplings

• 1 egg
• generous 1 cup flour
• cold water

Finally, I kneaded the above ingredients into an ever so slightly sticky dough ball. When the turkey soup was hot (but not boiling), I dropped in chunks of dough. After about 3 or 4 minutes, the dough was cooked and turkey soup was served!

Tom Kha Soup:

• One can of Thai Kitchen Tom Kha soup, they call it “Coconut Ginger Soup” on the can, with subhead Tom Kha.  (This soup is excellent. It comes loaded with spices/flavors, but you do have to fish them out, or eat around them. In just this one can, there was one whole red chili, several large chunks of ginger, lemongrass chunks, lime leaf bits.)
• We added some extra veggies (baby corn, asparagus tips, fresh grape tomatoes).
• We pan-fried some jumbo shrimp and tossed them in at the end.
• And added a little extra heat with thai green chili paste.

Spring Rolls:

• These were baked at high heat in the oven and they came out deliciously crispy.
• The brand was called Lucky (all natural, vegetarian, no MSG).
• A very nice counterpoint to the heat of the soup.

This soup is made from a 12 bean soup (mix from Whole Foods), a little bit of ground beef, some sauteed veggies (carrots, onions, celery) and vegetable stock. It’s nice and thick. I freeze 1 or 2 person size portions in tupperwares and label them with the type of soup and the date.

The fries are Alexia yukon gold julienne fries with sea salt. I’m a sucker for fries, and these are super easy because you just take them out of the bag and bake them in the oven. I usually add a little extra salt (wink).

Check out the entire list of Quick & Easy Dairy-free Dinners.

The new package design is in front, the old in back. The new look is way more appetizing and has better soup photo detail. Yum.

One of my favorites is the Thai Coconut Soup (also called Tom Kha).
The soup is a coconut milk base with authentic Thai spices, including ginger root and lime leaf. (Amy’s has some magical way of putting one slice of ginger and one lime leaf in every can. Be sure to remove these after heating.) The soup also contains vegetables and tofu cubes.

Preparation:

• Shake the can a few times to unclump the coconut milk from the lid and bottom of the can.
• Open the can of soup into a small sauce pan and heat over medium flame.
• Add soft vegetables that don’t take a lot of time to cook such as fresh tomatoes chunks, cucumber slices, bell pepper slices, mushrooms or broccoli florets. You just want these to soften in the hot soup, not cook through, so no need to cook more than three or so minutes.
• Heat until steamy but not boiling.
• Remove the ginger slice and lime leaf.
• Top with sprouts and/or cilantro.

Dietary: Vegan
Spice: Has a little bit of heat, but definitely mild, rather than medium or hot.
Servings: Serves 1 as a meal, 2 as a side
Approximate Time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 1 cup onions
• 3/4 cup carrots
• 3 cloves minced garlic
• 1 cup chopped green pepper
• 1 cup chopped red pepper
• 3/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 cup chopped fresh mushrooms
• 1 28 oz can of whole peeled tomatoes (undrained)
• 1 19 oz can of kidney beans (undrained)
• 1 11 oz can whole kernel corn (undrained)
• 1 4 oz can green chili (undrained)
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Directions:

1. Heat oil in pot over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots and garlic until tender.
2. Stir in peppers, celery and chili powder, cook until veggies are tender.
3. Stir in mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes.
4. Stir in tomatoes, kidney beans, corn and green chili. I sliced the chili after adding it.
5. Add in cumin, oregano and basil.
6. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, then simmer for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (I have simmered for 35 minutes with no appreciable loss of chili quality.)

Here is what I put in it: butter, EVOO, salt, italian parsely, walnuts, currents (because I didn’t have golden raisins,) mint, cherry tomatoes.

The rest of our lunch today included Pacific Natural Foods tomato soup (I added chili powder and pepper), grilled cheese mini sandwiches made with french bread, and cucumber sandwiches with Haystack Mountain goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. At the last minute, I realized I had some avocado to use. It was excellent in the soup as a garnish.

This soup is easy to make and keeps for a long time (1-2 weeks), unlike its ingredients. I found it on a livejournal a few years ago.

Ingredients:

• Water
• Greens of any kind (kale, spinach, lettuce, beet leaves, turnip leaves, chard, etc)
• Bouillion cubes
• Potato (optional). Adds some body to the soup.

Directions:

1. Use a large pot, as the greens severely cook down.
2. If using potato, chop and cover in water. Bring water to boild, then simmer until the potato is just starting to get soft (~10 minutes).
3. Clean and chop greens roughly.
4. Add greens to pot. If not using potato, add some water now–about to 1/5 of the height of the greens.
5. Let greens cook down (~10 minutes)
6. Remove from heat.
7. Scoop greens into blender–fill blender about 3/4 full.
8. Add one bouillion cube and blend.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 until all greens are blended.

I serve this with crusty bread.

This was pretty good… 1 carton of chicken stock, some frozen corn, 2 cans of rinsed black beans, 1 chicken breast cubed, 1 jalapeño seeded and chopped, chopped tomatoes, cilantro, various spices/herbs to taste (in order, most to least: cumin, chili powder, salt and oregano… and a few other supporting players that probably don’t need to be there.) I let it simmer a few minutes while the chicken cooked. It’s a quickie.

We ate it with those expensive tortilla chips from Whole Foods. mmmmm…

This soup is tasty, relatively quick, healthy (or at least free of added sugar and fat), and hard to screw up–the most difficult part is peeling the squash.

The below recipe makes enough to serve 4-6, depending on the size of the squash, and takes around an hour to prepare. I believe it is from one of my CSA handouts, but am not sure.

Ingredients:

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 cube of bouillon
• water
• pinch of red pepper (optional)
• 1 package of frozen cheese ravioli (optional)

Directions:

1. Peel the butternut squash. Half the squash and remove the seeds and other gunk. Cut into 1 to 1 and a half inch cubes.
2. In 8 qt or larger pot, place squash and bouillon. Fill with water until squash is 3/4 covered.
3. Optional: add pinch of red pepper for a bit of kick
4. Cover and heat on med high until boiling, then dial back to low.
5. Simmer for 30 minutes, until squash is soft enough to pierce with fork
6. Remove squash from heat and place chunks and liquid into blender.
7. Puree and serve.
8. Optionally, you can cook the ravioli, following package directions, place in bowls, and ladle the soup on top.