Creamy Parsnip Split Pea Soup

I've gone on a complete split pea binge. I have been making it (or reheating it if I have left overs) every day for the last two weeks, no joke. (This lady needs her protein) I get home, grab what ever veggies I see first in the fridge, a few jars of some spices, the giant jar of dried peas, and make quick work of lunch. Chop chop, dump, splash, stir. I am a soup (stews and bisques too) master. Soup for lunch. Right in all ways and just needs to happen.

Sometimes I'll make soup and it's just good soup.  Sometimes it will end up being really good .This soup, well this soup is really freaking awesome and is my new go to for split peas. Thick and creamy, mildly sweet from the parsnips and ginger, but mellow at the same time. Add a little or a lot of pepper (lots of pepper here) and you got yourself perfection.

Soup that warms you up from the inside out and leaves you happy and full.

Split pea for life!

The stuff. Dried split peas, parsnips, a carrot, and onion, some Italian seasoning, ground ginger, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. Also need water.

Chop the veggies. Smaller chunks are good, but don't worry to much, it's all getting blended up anyway.

Now toss all those veggies into a big heavy bottom pot and mix in all the spices. Stick o stove with a splash of water and turn up the heat to give the veggies and spices a few minutes alone to active all the goodness.

Once the smell hits you nose and the veggies look like they need some water, dump in the split peas and add enough water to completely cover everything plus a few extra inches. Bring the pot to a boil then turn down to low, stick a lid on pot, and let cook. Check an stir every 10 minutes or so. If it starts to look dry, add in another few cups of water.

Peas are soft, veggies are cooked and now soup is almost ready to go.

Just blend it until smooth. Take liberty hear and smooth it as much or as little as you like. Also if you want to thin it out, just add more water. Want to thicken it up, just cook for a little while longer. ( spit pea is so easy).

And that is it.

You know what to do from here.

Soup time!

Stay warm and have a great weekend.

-C

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Creamy Parsnip Split Pea Soup

makes a large pot of soup that will feed 4-6

• 1 pound dried split peas
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 large carrot
• 1 pound (about 4-5) parsnips
• 2 tablespoons Italian seasoning*
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 2 bay leaves
• salt and pepper
• water

*Note. Italian seasoning is pretty basic and you probably have it, but if not you can make your own by mixing equal parts thyme, oregano, basil, and rosemary.

Start by rough chopping all the veggies and placing them in a large heavy bottom pot. Mix in the spices and bay leaves. Stick on the stove with a splash of water and cook for a few minutes to let the spices ans veggies heat up and smell all nice. Add in peas and enough water to completely cover everything in the pot plus a few inches. Bring to a boil, them turn heat to low, cover pot, and let cook for about 1/2 hour-45 minutes, checking and stir ever 10 minutes. If the soup seems to get too dry, just add in a few extra cups of water.

Once the veggies and peas are soft, turn heat off and using the blending device of your choice, blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste and eat hot but watch your tongue.

Spinach and Pea Springtime Soup

Yesterday we had a few pieces of really log ass metal roofing delivered to the new house so we can finish the little side parts of the roof off. The funny thing is we ended up with way more wood then metal. The roofing is super light and flexible so it has to be strapped to a super long wooden structure. And it was perfect. The mr and I have pretty much finished the fence except for the gate from the driveway which sucks because we still can't bring Washer over to play without it ans we pretty much fenced the yard in for him. But the long ass wooded palette things.. IT was perfect. Well a perfect for now solution. A Already constructed tall and long (too long, we had to cut it down) wooded wall that is now our temporary gate.What a score! And now the pup can spend all day long laying around outside and not getting into any neighborhood fights with the other dogs. And look at us making use of all the scraps. We are so awesome.

Ok, so besides our awesomeness and the new temp gate, let talk about this greenest freaking soup that there ever was. It is probably the best green soup that I have ever tasted. (I know,  I have habit of proclaiming all of my soups as the best soup ever, mostly because they are.) It's one of those soups that is super fast and so simple to make and is perfect for all the spring and summer time eating that will be going on. Eaten hot or cold and out of a bowl or a drank out of a glass. A soup for any time, any place. The mr even liked it and he says he doesn't like peas. (but he so does). Who doesn't like the best soup ever?

Now here is how to make it.

The stuff. A big bowl of fresh spinach and a bowl of peas (fresh or frozen.. mine were frozen) Also need an onion, a carrot, a few cloves or garlic, water, olive oil, and salt and pepper.

First thing first. Get the onion and carrot all nice and chopped up and tossed into a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a little splash of water,and salt and pepper. Stick that pot on the stove on medium high heat and start to cook cook.

Soften and yummy carrots and onion. I am not exactly sure if my carrots turned the onion orange or if my pot because it is so stained with turmeric that it turns everything yellow. Keep the pot on low heat and mince and stir in the garlic.

And for magic. The pot is sill on low and you are going to pile all the fresh spinach right on in to the pot. Add a few splashes of water and a lid and let it cook for a few minutes. And when you go back and remove the lid..Ca bang ! All the spinach is gone (not really, it just wilted).

It's time for the peas and water to be added.The blender comes out and the soup gets blended until super smooth.

So green, so good.. This soup is all ready to go. But here is the thing, you can eat it at any temperature and it will be amazing so if you want to heat it up a little more, go for it. Cold soup shooters, just stick it in the fridge for a while and wait until its chilled. Or both. I ate a bowl warm then had cold soup for dessert.

And to finish, you must serve with fresh lemon and if you have it, a pretty little mint plant. I love the flavor of a little fresh mint added, but not all do. So mint if you like( it really is so good) but lemon in a must!

Enjoy all the green things!

-C

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Spinach and Pea Springtime Soup

serves 3-4

• 2 cup peas (fresh or frozen.. I used frozen)
• 3 packed cups fresh spinach
• a few sprigs of fresh mint (optional)
• 3 cups water
• 1 small onion
• a carrot
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 lemon
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Small chop onion and carrot and toss into a big heavy bottom pot with a drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper. Stick on stove on medium heat and cook until it becomes soft and fragrant. Now mince garlic and add that it too. Stir and cook for another minute or two then add in all the spinach and a splash of water. Place o lid on pot and let until cook until spinach is all wilted. (give it a stir to get it all cooked down). Once wilted, add the peas and the water. Stir all together and let simmer for a few minutes then remove from heat. Now blend the crap out of it until silky smooth.(use your blending device of choice).

And it's done. You can either serve right away as a hot soup or sick it in the fridge and serve cold! Just remember that you need to serve it with cracked pepper, a squeeze of fresh lemon and some chopped up fresh mint(mint it optional but so good)

Eat with a spoon or forget the spoon and slurp out a a cup like the cool kids.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

My brain is buzzing with all sorts of happy fall feelings. Warm, fuzzy feelings  about sweaters, socks, and the smell of decomposing leaves. I think that we are  pretty much entering the fall season around here and I couldn't be happier. (about the weather)

Fall means soup. Soup all the time. And yeah, I am a soup person all year round, but soup in the fall just so right and almost taste better because: one, you are not sweating profusely while making and eating it, Two, there is so much fantastic stuff coming from the farm and garden that the ingredients are just aces. And three, pretty leaves and cozy cuddles on the couch make soup a magic treat.

Doesn't that sound about right?

And this soup is one of my go to favorites. Especially this time of year when I have tomatoes coming out of my ears and peppers stuck into every available crevice in the fridge. (Oh what farm people problems I have) I take all of my tomatoes, pick out the best looking ones, stick those back on the tables, and use the leftover ones, the ones that are starting to maybe go a little or are not as pretty as the others. Then I do the same with the peppers, whichever ones are starting to go or looking a little sad, I grab those and use those as well. That's another thing about soup, you can use the veggies that might not be up to snuff for other dishes. Soup is a good way to cut back on any food waste! Soup. Tastes so good and is combating food waste with ever bowl! But yes, you can use the prettiest of your produce too cause if you don't use the pretty up, it will eventually turn into the not so pretty and mold stuff. Anyways..

Roasted red peppers and roasted tomatoes= (in a Mavin Gay voice)  Oh yeah!

Now lets just crank on the oven and make the soup!

The stuff. Tomatoes, peppers, onion, garlic, a lemon, salt pepper and olive oil.  

Take tomatoes, remove cores and chop into chunks. Remove stem and seeds from peppers and chop into a few chunks as well. Grab the onion and chop that up too.The garlic can go in as whole cloves.. no need for chunks.

Dump it all into a well oiled skilled or dutch oven and sprinkle well with salt and pepper. Place into oven to roast away.

And when everything in the skillet is all roasted soft and falling apart, remove from oven.

And dump the roasted stuff into a pot and add in a few cups of water.

Squeeze in the juice of the lemon and using a hand blender, go to town. Belnd unit la nice creamy smooth. Now I let my soup simmer on the stover for a little longer, like 10-15 minutes, just for it to meld a little more, but really you could go for it right away, or even let it simmer for longer.

When you are ready, ladle into bowl, grab a spoon, maybe a book (soup and a book is my happy place) and eat you until your belly is happy.

Have a super awesome friday!!

-C

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Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

• 6-8 medium tomatoes
• 3-4 big red (yellow or orange work too) peppers
• 1 large onioon
• 1 head of garlic
• 1 lemon
• salt
• pepper
• olive oil.
• 2-3 cups water

Tunn oven on to 450

Core tomatoes and core and remove seeds from peppers. Cut into big chunks along with the onion and toss into a large well oiled oven safe skillet or dutch oven. Add in the cloves of garlic and season with salt and pepper. Stick into oven to roast  for about 45 minutes or until everything is all soft and bubbly and good.

Once everything is roasted all the way, remove from oven and transfer the veggies to a pot (unless already in a pot). Add in the juice of the lemon, about 2 cups of water (more if you want it a bit thinner)  and using a hand blender, blend until smooth and creamy. If you don't have a hand blender, use a regular one.

Place soup in pot on medium low heat and simmer for 1at least 10 minutes (if you can wait, 1/2 is good) or until ready to eat.

Serve with lots of  cracked pepper and a spoon and maybe something crunchy.

Creamy Tomato Chard and Rocket Soup

I probabaly have already told you, but August is for sure my favorite month of the year (well,one of my favorites)

There is bounties of bounties of fresh, sweet and colorful, oh so juicy, crispy crisp, just so f ing  amazing, produce exploding all over the place. I have probably gained like 75 thousand pounds in the past month due to all of the fruits and veggies that I have been consuming. I am starting to consider it a full time job just to keep up with the eating.

 Another reason why I love August so much is becauuse the days are still nice and warm, but the nights are starting to cool which means I get to make so much soup!!!!!. 

This soup is the freshest freshy soup yet. Everything is from the farm and or the garden (except the salt pepper, vinegar and oil), some picked within hours of me making this.

. I am a lucky/spolied veggie brat.

Anyways. This soup. The fresh tomato base gives it a sweet, slightly acidic kick. So super creamy due to the lovely earthy stocks of the chard. Slightly spicy and earthy from the arugula* and chard green green. This soup... it just tastes so fresh and clean, yet hearty and satisfying. A perfect soup for a mid August night, eating outside, watching the sun slide behind the mountains and the temperature dropping just enough that you might want a light sweater. Or you can just eat it from the pot in the kitchen while watching TV. It's good eating anyway you want. 

*Here in America, it's called arugula.  Else where , it's  called rocket. I wish we all called it rocket, although I do like the name arugula, but for like my first born child or maybe a pet goldfish. Anyway, rocket is arugula,  or vice versa.

Soup time!.

The stuff. Some big  fresh tomatoes, a few stalks of chard, and a few handfuls of arugaula (aka rocket). A couple carrots, an onion, some garlic, salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil.. Oh, and I added some balsamic vinegar, which for some reason didn't make it into the picture (sorry vinegar)

Start by removing the chard leaves from the stalks. Set aside leave with the arugula. Chop up the carrot, chard stems, onion and garlic and toss into a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of water, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Stir around and stick o nthe stove on medium heat for about 10 minutes until the veggies start to soften up.

All cooked up

Now chop up the tomatoes into chunks and toss those right into the pot with the other stuff. Add in a few cups water and a few glugs of balazmic vinegar. Bring everything to a boil and then turn heat to medium low and place a lid on pot and let cook at medium heat for another 20 ish minutes, or until the tomatoes are falling apart.

Now that everything is all cooked up, blend it up.

So silky smooth

And now take the chard leaves and the aruglula and chop into little pieces….into the pot they go.

Mix it all up.. and take the blender to the soup again….if you want a smaller sized bite.

Soup Into bowls..Then into mouth.

Happy August!!

And hey hey hey.. Have the best weekend!

-C

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Creamy Tomato Chard and Rocket Soup

• 4-5 large fresh tomatoes
• 4 large stalks of rainbow chard
• 2-3 big handfuls of arugula 
• 1 medium onion
• 1 large or 2 small carrots
• 4-5 garlic cloves
• 2-3glugs (about 2 tablespoons) balsamic vinegar 
• 3 cups water 
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

To start, remove stalks of chard from leaves and chop stalks, onion, carrot and garlic into chunks and place int a big pot with a drizzle of olive oil, a splash or water, and spinkle of salt and pepper. Place on stove on medium low heat sand cooke the veggies down until starting to soften and garlic is becoming fragrant. While that cooking, remove core from tomatoes and dice them up. Toss into pot with the cooked down veggies with the vinegar and water. Place a lid on the pot and let cook for about 20-25 minutes or until the tomatoes are falling apart. 

When cooked, using with a hand blender or a normal blender, blend the soup until smooth. (if using blender, pour back into pot)

Now take the arugula and chard leaves and chop them into wee little picese and mix into soup. If you want to, blend the greens into the soup.. but not until smooth, unless thats what you want.  Cook for another 5 minutes. Taste and season with more salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowl and serve with lots of fresh cracked pepper, maybe a little balsamic drizzle or even some mustard (I at left overs with mustard and it rocked my world)

spoons work eel las eating utencils.

Curried Red Lentil Zuchini Soup

First things first… This is the BEST SOUP EVER! And yes, soup is for summer too.

I make a lot of soup, especially in the summer. It's one of the best ways to use up an extra large bounty of any kind of veggie. And with me, I am that person that everyone know will take any or all of the extra veggies that come out of their gardens. I have been handed down bags of fresh produce, loving picked by some old man from his backyard garden who then gives it to his grand daughter, who then gives ti to a friend, which  then gives it to a sister, then gives it to me.  I think I end up with all the extra veggies in the county (keep them coming) And around these parts, the zucchini are starting to come in and I have already gathered a mound of beautiful green zucchinis on the eating table. It's kind of fantastic  I am more then happy to take all of your extra zucchini, even the kind of big ones… cause I can make just about anything out of zucchini. And I will for sure eat it all.

With that said, you might not want to give me ALL of your zucchini because you are going to want to make this soup.It's smooth and creamy (thanks to all the zucchini) but still has a nice chunkiness from the lentils. And the spice is nice, even on a warm day. Plus, this is one of those soups that tastes just as good cool as it does hot.. 

I was serious when I said that this was the best soup ever, becauce it is. (for now)

So make the soup,then give me your extra zucchinis…. if you have any left after this. 

The stuff. Lots of chopped up zucchini along with a chopped up carrot and an onion. Curry powder, salt and pepper, and some oh so sweet little red lentils. 

Grab a large pot and toss all of the chopped up veggies, a good handful of curry powder, salt, pepper and a cup or so of water,  right on in. Give it a stir and place on medium heat with a lid and let the veggies cook down until nice and soft.

Once all the veggies are tender, remove from heat and add in enough water to completely sumerege the veggies. 

And now bust out the blender, or hand blender and blend the veggies as smooth as you like, adding more water if needed to get the soup moving. Here is  a good tie to taste and season it with a bit more of whatever you need.

Now dump in the lentils into the soup along with another couple cups of water for good measure.(don't worry if it seems watery.. the lentils will suck up the water) Stir, bring back to a boil, then turn heat down to low and stick the lid back on. Let that simmer until the lentils are cooked. 

And maybe you want to be a little fancy… add a few thinly sliced zucchini to the pot, you know, for a tasty garnish. 

Scooped into bowls, with the  garnish and lots of cracked pepper.

Now go for it.

And watch out, I though I made enough for the mr. and I to eat for a few lunches, but we ended up eating almost all of it in one sitting and then I ended up eating the little bit left for a  mid afternoon snack (I was amazing cold too!). But it's cool, I up making it again today.. So f*ing good.

Have the most fantastic day!

-C

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Curried Red Lentil Zucchini Soup 

• 2 -3  zucchinis ( I used one really big one)
• 1 large carrot
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 1 uncooked cup red lentils
• 2 -3 teaspoons curry powder*
• salt and pepper
• water

*Use a pre blended powder, or make your own. I use a combination of equal(ish) parts cumin, cardamon, coriander, turmeric, cayenne, and ground mustard. And I tend to go heavy on the cumin and turmeric… But do whatever you like.

Chop up the veggies and toss into a big pot with the curry powder,a good pinch of salt and pepper, and about a cup of water. Stick on burner on medium heat and cover. Cook for about 8 minutes, making sure that the water never full evaporates (just add more if needed ) and conitunue to cook the veggies until they are all soft and tender. Remove from heat  completely submerge the veggies with water. Now either with a hand blender, or a regular blender, puree the veggies until smooth . Place puree back into pot (or leave in pot) and add in the red lentils and another 2 cups water. Bring the soup back to a boil then turn heat down to low, cover and let the lentils cook through completely. The soup is done when the lentils are cooked through and you are ready to eat. And if you think that soup is to thick, add more water, or to thin, cook down fa little longer.

Scoop soup into bowls or cups, add a few thinly sliced pieces of zucchini on top with lots of freshly ground pepper (if you want) and enjoy with s smile and maybe a spoon.