Soup

When it's cold out, there's nothing more comforting than a bowl of homemade soup. To that end, here are six yummy soup recipes to get you through the day, including Slow-Cooker Vegetable Minestrone Soup, and Smoky Tomato Soup. Enjoy!

BLACK BEAN AND SALSA SOUP

This is from allrecipes, and was submitted by someone named Maryanne. Maryanne wrote, "This soup is one of those last minute things I tossed together one night. It's very simple and it takes about 5 minutes to put together."

Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 20 minutes; Servings: 4; Yield: 4 servings

To view this online, go to https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/14132/black-bean-and-salsa-soup/.

Ingredients

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed

1-1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup chunky salsa

1 teaspoon ground cumin

4 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion

Directions

In an electric food processor or blender, combine beans, broth, salsa, and cumin. Blend until fairly smooth.

Heat the bean mixture in a saucepan over medium heat until thoroughly heated.

Ladle soup into 4 individual bowls, and top each bowl with 1 tablespoon of the sour cream and 1/2 tablespoon green onion.

HERBED CARROT SOUP



From the December 2005 issue of Runner's World; reprinted from HerbWise: Growing, Cooking, WellBeing, by Bruce Burnett



Ingredients

2 pounds of carrots, chopped

1 large onion, diced

6 sprigs of fresh parsley, 3 sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, and 6 six black peppercorns, bundled together so that they can be easily removed after cooking

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 Tbs of butter

6 C of vegetable stock

Freshly grated mace or nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Lightly sauté the onion and garlic in the butter. Add the stock and carrots and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the bundle of herbs and continue to simmer for another 20 minutes. Remove the herbs, allow the soup to cool, and put it through the blender in batches. Reheat the soup over low heat while adding the mace or nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Serve with some fresh, homemade bread and garnish with some fresh parsley and a little chopped fresh thyme.

Note: The original recipe called for vegetable or chicken stock.

VEGAN FRENCH ONION SOUP

When I was growing up, my dad used to make French Onion Soup. This was usually done on Sundays, frequently when my grandparents were visiting, and especially around holidays. So, of course, I had to check out this recipe.

This absolute yumminess is from Nicole, creator of Oh My Veggies. (Hint: If you've never visited Oh My Veggies, I highly recommend visiting. Great site!

Anyway, this recipe begins, "This Vegan French Onion Soup is comfort food at its finest. Tender onions are simmered in a savory broth, topped with cheesy toast, and baked to perfection."

Prep Time: 10 minutes; Cook Time: 50 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour; Servings: 4

To view this online, go to https://ohmyveggies.com/vegan-french-onion-soup/. While you're at it, you might want to sign up for emails from the site. Also, Nicole has a couple of cookbooks for sale (Weeknight One-Pot Vegan Cooking; Vegan Christmas Cookbook), and you can see about buying them when you visit the site. (I plan to buy 'em after Christmas.)

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

4 yellow onions thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic minced

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of thyme

1-1/2 cups white wine such as Chardonnay

6 cups vegetable broth

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Salt to taste

Black pepper to taste

4 slices baguette

1 cup vegan mozzarella cheese shreds

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C, or gas mark 4).

Heat the olive oil in a large stockpot over medium-low heat. Add the onions and cook slowly for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring often, until they are lightly caramelized. Add the garlic, bay leaves and thyme. Cook for 1 minute. Add the white wine and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, until slightly reduced. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the balsamic vinegar and stir. Remove the bay leaves. Add salt and pepper, to taste.

Spoon the soup into four ovenproof serving dishes. Top each bowl with a slice of baguette, and sprinkle with 1/4 cup (30 g) of the vegan cheese shreds. Place the bowls in the oven for 3 to 5 minutes, until the vegan cheese is melted and the baguette is slightly toasted.

SMOKY TOMATO SOUP

This yumminess is from Alexa Weibel at The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this recipe, Alexa wrote, "A grown-up version of grilled cheese’s best friend, this tomato soup is subtly complex thanks to the addition of ancho chile and smoked paprika, but it still has all of the nostalgic qualities of a really good tomato soup: It’s silky, robust and wonderfully tomato-y. Taking a cue from this classic tomato soup, this recipe calls for sweating the onion and garlic with a little flour to thicken the soup, which creates a velvety texture that doesn’t hide the pure tomato flavor. Simmering a whole ancho chile in the soup produces an undercurrent of heat; but if you prefer more spice, pluck off the stem and blend the chile into your finished soup rather than discarding it. Adjust the amount of cream and the level of heat as you like and the soup will taste just right to you."

Prep Time: 15 minutes; Cook Time: 1-1/4 hours; Total Time: 1-1/2 hours; Yield: 4 to 6 servings (about 8-1/2 cups)

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1026266-smoky-tomato-soup. While you're at it, if you haven't already subscribed to The New York Times cooking enewsletter, I highly recommend doing so. Great recipes, guides, and more.

Note: This recipe originally called for chicken or vegetable stock. Since this is a vegetarian blog, I’ve omitted the chicken part.

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 large yellow onion (about 1 pound), minced

Salt and black pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 (28-ounce) cans whole peeled tomatoes

3 cups vegetable stock

8 fresh thyme sprigs

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ancho chile

Crema (or sour cream thinned with water), for serving

Chives (optional), for serving

grilled cheese (optional)

Preparation

Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 8 minutes.

Add the garlic, crushed red pepper and paprika, and cook until fragrant, 1 minute.

Sprinkle the flour on top and cook, stirring constantly, until sizzling and crackling, about 2 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and their juices, squeezing the tomatoes to crush them as you add them to the pot. Stir in the stock, thyme sprigs and sugar. Drop in the ancho chile (plop!) and bring to a simmer over medium-high.

Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover almost all the way and simmer, stirring occasionally, until flavors deepen and tomatoes break down, about 45 minutes.

Pluck out the ancho chile and thyme sprigs, then transfer the soup to a blender (in batches, if needed) and blend until creamy. (Alternatively, use an immersion blender to blend it right in the pot.) Give the soup a taste and adjust seasoning if desired. If you’d like to increase the smoky flavor, you can blend in a portion of the stemmed and deseeded chile, if desired.

Transfer to bowls, top with a swirl of crema and a sprinkle of chives. Serve with grilled cheese, if desired.

PUMPKIN SOUP

This is from Lidey Heuck on The New York Times cooking enewsletter. For this yumminess, Lidey wrote, "This recipe turns canned pumpkin purée into a sublimely creamy, aromatic soup that makes for an elegant first course or a satisfying lunch on a cold day. While the combination of pumpkin and fall spices can easily veer in the direction of dessert, the addition of fresh rosemary, garlic, caramelized onions and curry powder plants this soup firmly in the savory camp. Finally, to make this recipe vegan, substitute olive oil for the butter, full-fat coconut milk for the heavy cream, and vegetable broth for the chicken broth. If time and availability allow, consider roasting your own sugar pumpkin for this recipe: The soup will have a deeper, more complex flavor (see Tip)."

Total Time: 50 minutes; Yield: 6 servings

This was featured in "This is Not Your Average Pumpkin Soup," and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021618-pumpkin-soup. While you're at it, if you haven't already signed up for The New York Times cooking enewsletter, I highly recommend doing so. Great recipes, guides, and more. What's not to love?

Note: This recipe originally called for chicken or vegetable broth. Since this is a vegetarian blog, I’ve omitted the chicken broth and left it as just vegetable broth.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 medium yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced

2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh rosemary (or 2 teaspoons dried rosemary)

2 tablespoons maple syrup

4 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup fresh apple cider (or 3/4 cup apple juice)

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth, plus more as needed

2 (15-ounce) cans pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling), or 3 cups homemade pumpkin purée (see Tip)

1 teaspoon mild curry powder

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, plus more for serving

Pinch of ground cloves

1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more as needed

1/2 teaspoon black pepper, plus more as needed

1/3 cup heavy cream, plus more for serving

For the Fried Sage Topping (optional)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

12 fresh sage leaves

Preparation

In a large Dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions and rosemary and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are lightly caramelized, about 15 to 20 minutes. If the onions begin browning too quickly, turn the heat to low.

Add the maple syrup and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have darkened in color, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the cider and cook, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan, until the liquid is reduced by about half.

Add the broth, pumpkin purée, curry powder, nutmeg, cloves, salt and pepper, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook at a full simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching.

Working in batches, purée the soup in a blender or food processor and return to the pot (or use an immersion blender). Bring back to a simmer over medium heat, then turn off the heat and stir in the cream. Season with salt and pepper to taste and add more broth if the soup is too thick.

To make the optional fried sage topping, melt the butter in a small or medium skillet set over medium-high heat. Add the sage leaves and fry until just crisp, 1 to 2 minutes. Using a slotted spoon or a fork, transfer the sage leaves to a paper towel-lined plate, reserving the butter left behind in the pan.

To serve, spoon the soup into individual bowls. Top each serving with 2 fried sage leaves and a drizzle of the reserved butter (if using), or a swirl of cream and pinch of nutmeg. Serve hot.

Tip

To make your own pumpkin purée, heat oven to 425 degrees. Trim the stem from a 4- to 5-pound sugar or “pie” pumpkin, then cut the pumpkin in half through the stem. Scoop out the pulp and seeds and discard. (Or rinse and dry the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and roast on a sheet pan in 375-degree oven for 10 to 15 minutes.) Carefully slice the pumpkin into 1-1/2-inch-thick wedges. Place the wedges on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper, drizzle generously with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, flipping halfway through, until the pumpkin flesh is very tender when pierced with a fork. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then spoon the flesh into a large bowl, discarding the skins. Mash with a fork until mostly smooth.

SLOW-COOKER VEGETABLE MINESTRONE SOUP

This is from Eating Well. It begins, "A winter classic, this crock pot version of minestrone is heavy on the vegetables and light on the pasta, keeping carbs in check while providing plenty of flavor."

Prep Time: 30 minutes; Additional Time: 6 hours; Total Time: 6 hours 30 minutes; Makes 8 servings

To view this online, go to https://www.eatingwell.com/recipe/269114/slow-cooker-vegetable-minestrone-soup/.

Ingredients

4 large carrots, peeled and chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 small red onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

2 (15 ounce) cans no-sodium-added red kidney beans, rinsed

2 (15 ounce) cans no-sodium-added diced tomatoes, undrained

6 cups no-sodium-added vegetable broth, such as Kitchen Basics

2 tablespoons Italian seasoning

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper

3/4 teaspoon salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

1 large zucchini, chopped

4 ounces whole-wheat pasta elbows or other small pasta (about 1 cup)

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

Combine carrots, celery, onion, garlic, green beans, kidney beans, tomatoes, broth, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a 6- to 8-qt. slow cooker. Cover and cook on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

Stir in zucchini, pasta, and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook on Low until the pasta is tender, 15 to 20 minutes more. Serve immediately, topping each serving with about 1-1/2 tablespoons Parmesan.

Tips

Equipment: 6- to 8-qt. slow cooker