When fruits and veggies are plentiful, EAT THEM UP!
And when blending, remember that GREEN SMOOTHIES are not the only game in town :-). (Hint, hint: RAW SOUPS are FANTASTIC for those who crave something more savory.)
2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, peeled and diced 4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded, and chopped ½ jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced (optional) ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus a few springs for garnish 4 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice 1 clove garlic ½ cup of water Salt and pepper to taste
For garnish 1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced 1 julienned radish ½ red bell pepper, cut into strips ½ cup fresh corn kernels
Method Put the avocados, cucumbers, jalapeno pepper, cilantro, lime juice, lemon juice, water, and a dash of salt, if using, in a blender and process until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary. Cover and refrigerate until chilled, about one hour or up to 3 hours. Ladle the soup into bowls and garnish each portion with radish, bell pepper, corn, and cilantro.
Variations Substitute cilantro with chopped fresh dill for tasty cucumber-dill soup. Add 1 cup chopped spinach or lettuce. Garnish with cashew sour cream. To make cashew sour cream, squeeze some lemon juice into thick cashew cream (see the Cashew Cream Recipe).
***Be sure to share it on social media with anyone who’ll listen 😉 ***
On my recent family trip to Pennsylvania just this past weekend (where my husband was getting certified as a rescue diver at the Dutch Springs, a spring-fed lake located north of the city of Bethlehem, a spot super-popular with local divers), we visited a couple of farms and wineries, including this Amore Winery and Amore Farm store, where I purchased – among other things – a huge basket of ripe tomatoes.
Huge, meaning 25 pounds, or perhaps more.
That’s a lot of tomatoes as far as I’m concerned!
Talk about buying local and buying in bulk, LOL.
(The whole basket was 14.99, so it’s about 60 cents per pound of really ripe, tasty tomatoes – not bad!)
We also bought lost of deliciously sweet and juicy peaches, corn, acorn squash, colorful mums, and of course, a couple of bottles of wine.
So, what can you do with a whole box of tomatoes and peaches?
Tomato salad, tomato sauce and tomato soup are top options, for obvious reasons.
I’ve realized that I’ve not been eating enough salads and raw fruits and veggies lately (and starting to feel slightly sluggish), so instead of cooking tomatoes, I decided on a much simpler and faster version of tomato soup – RAW tomato soup.
Easiest Ever Tomato Soup Recipe
Seriously, it doesn’t get any easier than that. Plus it’s delicious!
You really only need two ingredients, tomatoes and cashews, so make sure the tomatoes are really ripe and flavorful, otherwise the recipe will not work so well; although I guess you could try it too with quality canned tomatoes.
Sea salt or garlic salt to taste or a blend of the two (optional)
Instructions
Put tomatoes and cashews in the blender container and blend on high until very smooth. You may toss in a few basil leaves into the mix for a basil flavored soup. I find that I don't need seasoning with this soup, but most of you will probably prefer to add a bit of salt. Be careful when seasoning! You can add more later but you can’t take it out!
For a warm soup, continue blending on high for a few minutes, or heat up on the stove top.
Note 1: High-power blenders, such as Vitamix or Blendtec, can bring mixtures to boiling if you blend it long enough. Heat the soup as little or as hot as you like.
Note 2: The resulting mix will be very foamy. To eliminate the bubbles, turn the blender back on, on the lowest speed. Slowly increase it until the force starts pulling the mix down and popping the bubbles.
Variations
This recipe is simplified version on the 5 Minute Super-EasyTomato Basil Soup Recipe, with just a few modifications.
There are many variations of this recipe, so you should feel free to experiment with what you have in your kitchen, but here are the basic ingredients that I recommend you may try:
4 large, very ripe tomatoes
1 large peach – if you don’t have peaches, add some sweetener, such as a splash of agave nectar, a few dried figs, etc.
1 small avocado – you may substitute cashews with avocado. Avocado adds nice creaminess to this soup.
1 head of romaine lettuce or 3 celery stalks
basil with an equal amount of fresh cilantro, dill, mint, oregano, or tarragon – or experiment and find a tasty combination of herbs.
This recipe is uncooked (raw), low-fat, low-calorie, GMO-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, cholesterol free, vegetarian and vegan.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this this blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
Delightfully bright, this carrot soup recipe is packed with goodness. I like to add freshly made carrot juice, but it’s an extra step (and more cleanup), so feel free to skip it and just add a bit more water or non-dairy milk.
Freshly grated ginger gives this sweet carrot puree an extra kick of flavor and takes up the heat a notch (my 9-year-old didn’t appreciate that, so next time I’ll skip it for a milder taste). Another option is to add a few strips of orange zest. For some crunch, add a garnish of toasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, or pine nuts.
1 tablespoon agave or other sweetener (use less if using sweetened milk)
a slice of fresh ginger root, grated (optional)
fresh pepper and salt, to taste
Instructions
In a large pot, saute the onions with curry powder in 2-3 tablespoons of water for 3-5 minutes, until the onion turns translucid (cover the pot to prevent water from evaporating and onion from burning). Stir in flour, carrots and water or stock. Bring to boil and simmer for 20-30 minutes, until carrots are tender.
Juice carrots for 1 cup juice. This step is optional. If you'd rather skip juicing, just add a little more stock or milk, or water.
Using a hand-blender blend the contents of the pot; or if using counter top blender or food processor, transfer the contents into the container and blend well. If using ginger, add it to the mixture and blend well.
Add carrot juice, non-dairy milk, agave. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
Variations:
* Add a sweet potato instead of 2 carrots.
* Add a few strips of orange zest to the soup when cooking. (Remove the strips of orange zest before blending and discard.)
* Garnish with toasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, almonds or pine nuts. Or use chopped chives, parsley, or fennel fronds.
This soup is an elegant and tasty accompaniment to any meal. Enjoy!
Special Diets:
Dairy Free
Gluten Free
Vegan
Vegetarian
Fat Free
High Fiber
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this Green Reset blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
Soups, besides smoothies, are some of my favorite meals to prepare. I’m making them almost every other day, so I can say I learned a few useful tricks to make the process super-easy while keeping the results super-healthy. Here is one example: I’m super excited to have one of my soups featured on CookingQuinoa.net website. Check out my recipe for cream of broccoli soup (with quinoa).
Leek and Potato Soup Recipe
The leek and potato soup that I want to share with you today is among the greatest classics of French homemade soups — an inexpensive, filling, and elegant concoction that is welcome when you’ve been feeling under the otherwise balmy weather.
This modern take on a classic leek and potato soup makes is faster and lighter than traditional potato leek soup – you won’t miss the fat or the extra time!
Some people may find leeks intimidating, but I love their sweet, mellow taste, and use them very often in my cooking, especially in soups. They work great as a more flavorful substitute for onions. The best way to cook leeks is to “sweat” them, which means cooking them with a few tablespoons of water or oil over pretty low heat until they get soft, but not browned.
Note: Make sure to clean the leeks thoroughly before using to avoid a gritty soup. To do that, cut the leek into pieces first, and swirl them in water to remove the grit, then drain them well. Just never pour into a colander because you will pour the heavy dirt over the clean leeks. You may want to do it twice to be sure… like spinach takes 3 washes.
As I don’t like wasting produce, I like to use the whole leeks, white and green parts. I discard only wilted, really tough or damaged outside leaves or top parts.
2 large leeks, rinsed well and chopped (white and green parts)
2 cups spinach or other leafy greens, for deeper green color (optional)
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 potatoes (about 2 lbs. total), peeled and chopped
4 cups water or vegetable broth
2 cups non-dairy milk or cashew cream (or substitute with vegetable stock/water)
a few sprigs of fresh thyme (about 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh thyme) or 1 tsp. dried
fresh ground pepper and salt (if using) to taste
Instructions
Preheat a large, non-stick pot over medium heat. Add onions, leeks and garlic, and sauté in 2-3 tablespoons water or broth on medium-low heat for 5-7 minutes, until onions are translucent.
Keep the heat low enough that the garlic doesn't brown; you just want everything to sweat. Cover the pot to prevent the liquids from evaporating, and stir frequently to time to keep vegetables from sticking to the bottom and burning.
Add potatoes, thyme and pepper, and broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a steady simmer and cook until potatoes are very tender, about 20 minutes. Purée soup with a hand-held blender or, working in batches, transfer to a standing blender to puree.
Add non-dairy milk or cashew cream and gently heat, but do not boil. Season to taste. Serve hot. Makes about 6-8 servings.
Leeks are essential to this soup; there is no replacement for them in this recipe. You can add a little onion, too, but leeks, potatoes, and stock are basically all you need.
The leek and potato soup is usually pale in color, so for more vibrant color, I like to add two cups of fresh spinach leaves or one cup of frozen spinach to the soup.
You may blend the soup until very smooth, or leave it slightly chunky.
I love using cashew cream in my soups. They make soups super creamy, without the added cholesterol. To make cashew cream, blend a handful of raw cashews with a cup of water in a high speed blender until very smooth, and add to the soup.
The soup can be poured into containers and frozen.
For all my blending recipes I use Vitamix. If you don’t already own a VitaMix, I strongly encourage you to check out what this machine is capable of! For more information about VitaMix you can go directly to the VitaMix website. You may also want to read my post about the Best Blender.
I LOVE my VitaMix and highly recommend investing in one if you are ready to make serious changes to your diet. I have had mine for almost 5 years and use it daily!
If you decide to purchase Vitamix – be sure to use Promotional Code 06-004554 to get free shipping.
The Making of Leek and Potato Soup: Blending in Vitamix
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this green smoothie and healthy recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
This deliciously sour cucumber soup (zupa ogórkowa) is a traditional Polish dish, very popular in Poland. The soup is quite unlike any soup you’ve ever tasted, with a unique flavor that’s very fresh and refreshing.
It’s an easy-to-make recipe but it requires brined cucumbers (i.e., cucumbers preserved in water with garlic, dill and spices), NOT the ones pickled in vinegar. It is this brine that makes the soup special. The process of natural fermentation in brine is how the cucumbers develop their sour taste – no vinegar is involved.
Now I promise it’s not what you think. The tanginess of the pickles combined with cream and fresh dill gives it a very refreshing flavor, making it a perfect recipe for a spring or summer meal.
In any case, I urge you to try the Polish cucumber soup and post a comment to let me know what you think.
Polish Cucumber Soup
Ingredients:
6 cups of water
1 onion, diced or 1 medium leek, white and light-green parts, rinsed well, then cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 large carrots (peeled and finely diced)
1 parsnip (peeled, trimmed and finely diced), optional
1/2 medium celery root (celeriac), peeled and finely diced, or 2 celery stalks, trimmed; chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
2 potatoes (peeled and cubed)
8 large pickled cucumbers (pickled in brine as opposed to vinegar)
2 tablespoons Earth Balance or other vegan margarine (optional)
A handful of fresh dill
1/4 cup of raw cashews (optional)
Method:
Place onion and garlic in a large stock pot and cook for 2-3 minutes in 2-3 tablespoons of water.
Add 5 cups water, a bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and allow to cook for around 15 minutes, or until all the vegetables are cooked. You may add some pepper, but I wouldn’t add any salt at this point, as the brine is quite salty on its own.
Meanwhile, grate or process (but not too finely) the pickles. In traditional recipes, the cucumbers are peeled, grated and fried in butter before being added to the pot. You can do that by using vegan butter substitute, such as Earth Balance. What you can do, instead, is just blend the cucumbers whole in brine in my Vitamix. I used all of the cucumbers and all of the brine from the package. I like to add quite a lot of the brine to the soup as I really loved the sour taste, but you may choose to add a little less and see how you like it first. Add the grated or blended pickles (including the juice) to the soup.
Now, make the cashew cream (this is the secret ingredient to cholesterol-free creamy soups, such as this cream of asparagus or cream of celeriac soup). In the Vitamix, blend the cashews with 1 cup water on high until very smooth. Add to the soup.
Taste the soup and adjust the flavors to your liking. The soup should have a pleasantly sour taste. If you saved part of the dill pickle juice/brine and you want the soup to be more sour, add some more brine to the soup. If you want a thinner soup, add a little water. Mash or blend some potatoes and veggies if you want a thicker soup.
Ladle your soup into your serving bowl and garnish with a sprinkling of fresh dill. Serve with a piece of crusty bread.
This works better if you use homemade sour pickles, but good sour dill pickles will do.
When I was growing up, brined cucumbers were always present in my home. My father used to make them in the summer when fresh cucumbers are readily available (with lots of dill and garlic; in Polish these are called ogórki kiszone, in English often referred to as Polish dill pickles). We would save some in jars for winter, but we also used to buy them at the farmer’s market from a wooden barrel.
If you have a Polish store in your neighborhood, you can try to find Krakus brand, but others will do just fine. In New Jersey, where I live right now, there is a big Polish population, so you can find them in many stores. Even my farmer’s market sells them in brine from a big wooden barrel.
This cucumber soup is a great make-ahead dish. The soup (minus the dill) can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
For all my blending recipes I use Vitamix. If you don’t already own a VitaMix, I strongly encourage you to check out what this machine is capable of! For more information about VitaMix you can go directly to the VitaMix website. You may also want to read my post about the Best Blender.
I LOVE my VitaMix and highly recommend investing in one if you are ready to make serious changes to your diet. I have had mine for almost 5 years and use it daily!
If you decide to purchase Vitamix – be sure to use Promotional Code 06-004554 to get free shipping.
The Making of Cream of Celery Soup: Inside of my Vitamix
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
In winter, when you crave something warm and don’t want another green smoothie, vegetable soups can be your best friend, and this mushroom-barley soup is an all-time classic.
Whether you’re trying to lose weight or just striving to eat a more healthy diet, nothing is more comforting, and yet the effort to make homemade soup is pretty minimal. They are by far the most versatile of cooked dishes and can be made using many different ingredients or very few ingredients by an experienced cook or a novice.
You can actually eat just a soup for a meal and be done with it!
Just like with smoothies, it’s really hard to spoil the soup, and even if you don’t “love” what you made, it’s usually pretty easy to fix it.
Plus, making your own soup is a great way to save money on food. I’m always shocked to see what grocery stores and specialty shops charge for “homemade” soup. You can easily make 3-4 times the amount for the same price… and then freeze it away for a busy day.
You can use an endless selection of fresh raw ingredients and/or some cooked ingredients, let the mixture bubble away for a short time, and presto, you have created a delicious homemade soup with almost no effort. These are a great healthy standby and are easy to prepare, inexpensive, nourishing and satisfying.
Mushroom-Barley Soup Recipe
Using a variety of mushrooms adds interest to this comfort soup without tampering too much with a classic.
I like to use a variety of white button, cremini, oyster, shiitake and/or portabella, which are readily available where I live.
To add more sophistication and richness to the flavor, I like to add a few pieces of dried wild mushrooms, especially boletus.
Dried boletus should first be soaked for 30 minutes (use the liquid for the soup, as it is highly flavorful). I only add a little, because they are costly, but even a small amount of dried boletus added to ordinary cultivated mushrooms is sure give the dish a much deeper flavor.
a few pieces of dried boletus, pre soaked for 30 minutes and chopped (optional)
1 cup barley (I often buy medium or fine grained pearl barley, which cooks faster than whole barley pearls)
2 small white potatoes, chopped
½ cup fresh dill or parsley, chopped
Optional Ingredients
1 cup non-dairy milk (rice, hemp, soy or other; or use cashew cream) (optional, if not using, simply add more water)
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 bay leaves
Instructions
Bring the barley, pre-soaked dried mushrooms (if using) and 2 cups water to a boil in a saucepan. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 30 minutes, or until tender. (I like to boil barley separately, to avoid over-cooking the vegetables. If you can buy medium or fine grain pearl barley, which cooks faster than whole barley pears, then you can simply add it to the soup to boil everything together).
Preheat a large, non-stick pot over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, cover and sauté in 2-3 tablespoons water or broth, over medium heat until translucent, stirring frequently and adding more liquid if needed. Place celery, carrot and mushrooms in soup pot and keep sautéing for a few more minutes, until all vegetables begin to "sweat.".
Pour in 4 cups water or broth, add bay leaves and thyme. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes, until the vegetables are tender. Stir in barley, dill or parsley, some fresh pepper. Taste and season with pepper and salt (if using) as needed. Pour into individual bowls and serve.
Mushroom-barley soup: adding just a few pieces (3-4) of dried boletus will add a deeper dimension to this simple soup
Mushroom-barley soup ingredients: the white ingredient on top is cashew cream, my secret ingredient to deliciously creamy soups without dairy (psst… don’t tell anyone!)
Mushroom-barley soup ingredients: the white ingredient on top is cashew cream, my secret ingredient to deliciously creamy soups without dairy. Cashew cream is very easy to make at home. Simply blend a few cashews with water. I also like to add a few peppercorns and blend everything on high in my Vitamix.
Whole grain barley is a healthy high-fiber, high-protein whole grain boasting numerous health benefits. When cooked, barley has a chewy texture and nutty flavor, similar to brown rice.
How to cook barley:
Barley takes about 40 minutes to cook, so if you don’t want to over-cook your vegetables, you can cook it separately and then add to the soup at the end of cooking.
Cover 1 cup of pearl barley with 2 cups of water or vegetable broth and simmer for 30-40 minutes before fluffing with a fork. . Pre-soak barley in plenty of water to cut down on the overall cooking time. Barley can be pre-soaked for an hour or overnight. Pre-soaking will reduce the cooking time to about fifteen minutes. Also, if you can find it, you can buy medium or fine barley, which cooks faster than whole barley pearls.
Mushroom-barley soup:My last secret ingredient is fresh dill. I add it to almost all my vegetable soups, whenever I have it.
Mushroom barley soup: Bon appetite!
You will find this and many more soup recipes in my Soup Ebook: Easy Comfort Soup Recipes For Body and Soul.
For less than the price of a few cans of processed organic soup, you can have my collection of the best comfort soup recipes you’ll ever taste. And they’re easy to make, too!
