Savory Vegetable Quinoa Soup

When I made this I really didn't think my kids would like it. Surprisingly all ages 2-16 loved it and had seconds. This is very versatile. I add green beans, parsnips, zucchini and whatever vegetable I think would taste good. I have left out other vegetable because I didn't have them on hand.

Serves 6

1 clove garlic (minced)

1 yellow onion (diced into small pieces)

1 Tbsp. olive oil

3 very large red potatoes (about 14 oz.) (diced into small squares)

2/3 cup quinoa (uncooked)

3 vine ripened tomatoes (diced)

2 carrots (diced into small squares)

1 yellow squash (diced into small pieces)

9 cups unsalted vegetable broth (I used Rapunzel, Vegan)

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. coriander

1/8 - 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 tsp. salt

pepper to taste

1/4 tsp. stevia powder

1 Tbsp. nutritional yeast

1/4 cup fresh parsley (chopped)

4 fresh basil leaves (sliced)

1. Add olive oil to a large stock pot and add minced garlic & onion. Season by

sprinkling some salt and pepper while cooking.

2. Add quinoa, diced potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, dry seasonings, stevia, salt & pepper.

Continue to cook, stirring frequently, Cook for about 5 minutes.

3. Add vegetable broth and yellow squash. Bring to a boil and then turn to low and

simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Add nutritional yeast and stir well. Turn burner off and add in chopped parsley

and basil leaves.

5. Serve with crusty bread and a green leafy salad. ENJOY!!

Vegan Homemade Noodles

I have worked on tweaking this recipe to truly taste and feel like the homemade noodle I grew up with. This recipe has no eggs and uses Spelt or whole-wheat flour. I add it in a "Non-chicken" noodle soup base which I will post someday soon.

2 cups spelt or wholewheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 Tbs gluten (for binding)

2 Tbs Flax soaked in 2 Tbs water (egg substitute)

1/3 cup water

1 tsp olive oil

Mix the flour, salt and gluten in a bowl. Add the flax, water and olive oil. Knead until smooth and elastic. Let sit for 20 min. Now either roll out onto a floured surface and cut in thin noodle strips or use a pasta machine on 1/16 th inch thinness. Add these noodles to your soup and let them bowl for about 5 minutes or until cooked through. I have also air dried these on the side of a bowl and used them later. They never last long in our house.

Tomato and lentil stew

Hi there everyone!

We have really enjoyed this meal. It is inspired by another recipe, but the way I made it was so different that I thought I would post how I did it.

3 cups of vegetable broth (or chicken broth/beef broth)
1 cup dry lentils

Boil the vegetable broth and add lentils. Simmer for around 20-30 minutes. While these are simmering add in this order:

3 TBS oil
1 onion chopped(or large if you like onions)
1 medium green bell pepper diced(I have used all color of bell peppers)
2 cloves of garlic minced or diced

Saute the onions, peppers and garlic until the onions are tender. Then add:

2 cans of diced tomatoes juice and all
spices to taste. I used:
1/2 tsp salt
1/4-1/2 white ground pepper

Continue to simmer for awhile until your lentils have simmered and are almost out of liquid. Add the veggies to the lentils and simmer until lentils are completely tender. It took mine probably another 20 minutes.

Serve as is, over rice (I think I want to try the sauce on quinoa sometime) and you can top with cheese if desired. Some children did, some didn't, I liked it both ways!

Pasta e Fagioli

It's soup time! This recipe is similar to Olive Garden's Pasta e Fagioli. I serve it with some sort of bread and a salad. It takes about 1 hour. I do not add the beef so to round off the flavor I add 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Enjoy!

Pasta e Fagioli

1 lb ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1 large carrot, julienned

3 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes

1 15 oz can red kidney beans (with liquid)

1 15 oz can great northern beans (with liquid)

1 15 oz can tomato sauce

2 12 cans vegetable juice (like V-8 juice)

1 tbs white vinegar (optional)

1½ tsp salt

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp basil

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp thyme

1 handful small shell pasta

dash of cayenne pepper

1. Brown the ground beef and drain off most of the fat.

2. Add onion, carrot celery and garlic and saute’ for 10 minute

3. Add remaining ingredients except pasta, and simmer for 1 hour.

4. About 50 minutes into simmer time, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Serve.

I like this soupier so I add a 46 oz can of V-8 and double the seasonings.

3 Bean Mexican Soup

16 oz jar of salsa

15 oz can of mexican stewed tomatoes (I also use crushed, whole)

3 cups of vegetable broth or chicken broth

1 Tbsp chili powder

½ tsp minced garlic

1 tsp cumin

3 15 oz cans of beans (kidney, pinto, chickpeas, black & etc.)

15 oz can of hominy (optional, I don’t use)

15 oz can of corn or frozen corn (I just throw some in)

3 cups of cooked chicken (opt.)

1 medium zucchini chopped and diced (opt.)

I put the first 6 ingredients in the blender, even the garlic whole so I don’t have to mince it. I then put it all in a big pot and add the beans, corn and sometimes zucchini if I have some. If you are serving it with chicken add it now. Warm your soup and serve.

I used to blend up the zucchini also so my kids couldn’t tell it was there but now I know they like it. I also make my own bouillon found at this website http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/homemade-bouillon-recipe.html

I add 3 Tbs of my own bouillon to 3 cups of water instead of chicken broth. It is so much cheaper than the products I was buying and so flavorful for all kinds of soups.

Blender Tortilla Soup

This soup is very tasty. My children all gobbled it up! We had the awesome experience of sitting through a demo of the blendtec guy at Costco and so this is inspired by his demo. I don't have the real recipe, but this is what I did.

◦6 Roma tomatoes cut in half (You can use a can of diced tomatoes I bet)

◦2 handfuls of grated cheese (optional)

◦1 whole onion or two small onions

◦2 teaspoons veggie boullion

◦2 tablespoons taco seasoning

◦1 clove of garlic (or half if it's really big, I used one and it was pretty spicy *smile*)

◦4 cups warm water

-salt to taste


Place ingredients in blender. (I did it in that order) Secure lid and turn on. When heated to my liking, I added a few handfuls of tortilla chips. Secure your lid and blend for a second or two...not long, that way it's a little chunkier :)

I did not make mine so hot we couldn't eating it as I am trying to increase the amount of raw veggies that we eat. It was so awesome!

Onion Soup for the Sick

Okay, so this doesn't have to be for someone who is sick, but we love it. The onions are like noodles and it is perfect for people who have colds, flus or just want to get warm on a rainy day. This is inspired by a recipe found at www.herballegacy.com/recipes.html

2-3 TBS olive oil or oil of preference
4-6 large onions thinly sliced (I like to use my mandolin slicer for them)
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp thyme
5 cups water
2-3 vegetable bullion cubes
3 TBS Tamari/Shoyu or Soy sauce
Fresh garlic cloves for pressing at the end...

Saute the onions in the oil and salt until translucent. Add the mustard and thyme, stirring until mixed and then cover. Reduce heat to low and cook for about 35 minutes. Add the water, sauce and bullion cubes. Simmer around 10 minutes and then season to taste. We like to add a little of Italian seasoning to this too! Even clove has been known to be really tasty and healing. For people who eat meat you can put bite size pieces of chicken in at the same time you saute the onions.

Right before serving press the garlic into the soup and serve up!

Smooth veggie soup

This is what we had for dinner and it was delicious. My children loved it and asked for seconds and thirds! We loved it! It was inspired by a recipe someone else read to me, but I didn't have it written down, so here is what it was:

2 onions chopped with 2-4 TBS olive oil
12 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup of celery (I think I was pretty generous, I probably used 1 1/2 cups) chopped
1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups cauliflower, chopped
1 1/2 cups asparagus, chopped
1 fennel bulb, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
juice of one lemon (about 4-5 TBS lemon juice)


Put the onions and oil in and cook until onions are translucent. Then add the broth and other veggies. I just started with the onions and chopped everything and added it, I didn't add them all at the same time. I also added to one blenderful about 1/4 cup flour to help thicken it and then mixed it all together. When they are all soft put into the blender and blend until smooth. My blender holds 8 cups and I had to fill it 2 1/2 times.

Italian Wedding Soup

I made this recipe: Italian Wedding Soup

It was DELICIOUS! Everyone who had it raved about it. It uses only a few ingredients which is also nice. We used spinach, not the escarole. For the chicken broth I used Better Than Bouillon. I also chose to brown the meatballs. I liked the smaller meatballs and would make the bite size if it was me. Enjoy!

Cream of Corn

This recipe was inspired by the recipe found here:
http://vitamix.ahoy.com/recipe/recipe.cgi/0/287/

I made a few changes because I didn't have all of the ingredients on hand. Here is what we used:

1 1/2 cups whole kernel corn (that's what came in the can)
7-8 baby carrots (it was a few too many, I would do half)
1/2 white onion (too much for the kids, I would do 1/4 next time)
1 1/2 cups whole milk (organic and hot)
3/4 tsp dry mustard
3/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp chicken bullion (I use Better Than Bullion)
White pepper to taste (accidentally dumped in like 2 tsp...don't do that)
2 squirts of Braggs liquid aminos

Put all ingredients in blender (I have a Vita-Mix) and blend on high for 3-4 minutes.

This was okay. My kids ate it, but wished it wasn't so strongly flavored with onion. My daughter was convinced it needed more sweetener, however I don't think so, I thought it was PLENTY sweet in fact wished it was a little less sweet. I think that the carrot flavor was too much for me. It was still good and I had a second helping on which I heaped on some shredded cheese and that made it ALL better :)

Enjoy!
Miss Melanie