Ahhh. . ."Soup, Soup. . .My Kingdom For Some Soup!"
When I get really run down and my body's struggling, due to a lapse in good food choices or a virus trying to take hold, if I just pay attention, I know what will help. Today it's This Soup. People have asked me where I get these recipes - Here, on my blog, they're all my originals, unless otherwise noted. They also want to know how I decide on the ingredients for a particular recipe I'm creating. Often times, the nudging, craving, prompting to the kitchen is the first step. A scan of the 'fridge, pantry and freezer and things start coming together. . . I did a little research, then ordered some 'ancient grains' a few weeks back. Interesting stuff! This started out to be just vegetables and a little seasoning, but then kamut called my name! I also, just before the whole-pot-simmer, added an equal amount of lentils, which aren't shown. This time I used the whole, brown, grocery store variety. The combination of this grain and legume creates a complete protein such as that found in meat and eggs. This, however, is a whole-food-plant-based, vegan, vegetarian recipe, and a great healthy, cleansing, yet protein-packed, soup.
½c kamut - shake in a strainer and take out any tiny rocks
2T avocado or other oil with a high smoke point
4 lg. cloves garlic - minced
½ lg. purple onion - diced
fresh ground black pepper
Himalayan pink salt
Combine these in a large heavy-bottomed pot. Everything is now simmering in my 4qt. hmmm - possibly a bit small?! This will make a LOT of soup! You can clearly see the ingredients here, so I won't even list them. Duplicate this - or listen to your resident vegetables as they ask to be part of YOUR lovely soup!
Prep Time! Cut your vegetables any way you like them, small or chunky. I find I usually cut each one in a different manner. This time, the tomatoes and onion were cut in a basic chop. I diced the celery, diagonally cut the carrots, sliced the peppers and cubed the cabbage. Somehow this feels to me, like honoring each individual one's contribution to the final product and recognizing their uniqueness within the mix.
After the first group of ingredients sizzled, snapped and popped themselves to a beautiful brownness, I added everything else to the pot along with 5½ cups of water. I brought it to a quick boil, then reduced the heat to a low simmer, covered and now I'm savoring the scent while listening to it gently bubble its way to doneness. Simmer, low and slow like that, for an hour or so, until the kamut is done.
Remember that heat destroys water soluble vitamins - the B's and C - so the less cooking time for your vegetables, the better. Therefore, with this in mind, you might want to simmer the kamut separately until cooked and add it at the end. When it's ready, check the flavors. Mmmm, mine is already developing a wonderful, nutty sweetness! I might just leave it that way. The sodium content would be negligible. Alternately, you could add some Better Than Bouillon - Vegetable or Mushroom flavor - to zing it up a bit...
Be Creative! 😋 - 🙃 - 😉 Happy Cooking! . . Lin
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