I have a kind of love affair with soup - simply can't say no to this comforting food for the soul!
In fact, I could live on soup whether it's the middle of summer and of course even more so in the cold heart of winter. I know by now if I make soup in summer, hubby and the rest of the family will turn their noses up at soup so I end up freezing smaller portions for myself.
I was one of five children, so soup often came to the rescue when the pantry staples were running low and there was hardly anything in the fridge.
Mom's soup base always was dried beans, split peas, or legumes like dried lentils, so of course, that was always in the pantry. The dried beans would get soaked in hot water before cooking for a couple of hours, and split peas or lentils would be cooked after rinsing in water, no soaking was needed for that.
Mom would cook it in vegetable stock which was the drained water from cooked veggies that would be kept frozen and used at some stage for soup.
Nothing went to waste as Mom always said the nourishment was in that water most people throw down the drain after straining cooked vegetables.
Carrots, Potatoes and Onions were a must, all grated coarsely and added towards the end of the cooking. Parsley, leeks, spring onions, sweetcorn or any green growing in the small veggie garden, would be added, as well as noodles or even rice.
I don't know how Mom did it, but her soup really was the best; she could literally make something out of nothing! Of course this was always served with scones or thick wedges of homemade bread as Mom refused to buy bread from the corner cafe or even the supermarket!
This was a typical Mom Lily Vegetable soup with toasted homemade bread
Back to the present when I was invited by my very special foodie friend @carolynstahl, to join in the The Brand New PLANT BASED challenge: Soup for the soul.
Carolyn very well knows that when it comes to challenges, I am always up for it; not to win a prize, but simply to see if I can come up with something. I am not vegan, but neither am I a big meat lover, and I love veggies especially spicy veg or bean curries, moong dal, roasted veggies, and potato wedges baked with onions till it's caramelized are all my favourites.
However, soup is the subject of the day!
What was in the pantry and what could I find in the fridge and my little herb garden?
The fridge gifted me with mushrooms, so immediately the idea formed of a creamy Mushroom Soup, but did I have coconut milk?
What else was there to use for my soup?
Spring onions, onions and garlic, yay! Inside the pantry I discovered a can of Coconut cream and my herb garden had fresh Thyme, Rosemary and other herbs, but I decided on only using the Thyme. I would have liked to have some veggie stock, but there was none, so my favourite green spice, which is a blend of finely ground herbs and spices, would be the perfect match for this soup and a good replacement for the stock.
I used:
- Approx 4 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1 Onion, diced
- 1 bunch Spring Onions, diced
- 3 cloves Garlic, crushed
- 1 punnet button Mushrooms
- Thyme
- Approx 1 tablespoon green spice added to 3 cups of hot water
- 1 can coconut cream or milk
- Approx 4 tablespoons flour
The mandatory photo - Barefoot, not pregnant, Apron on and in my favourite place, the Kitchen - here I'm crushing the garlic in a really nice garlic press
Second mandatory photo, it really is me cooking this soup :)
Onions, garlic and the white section of the spring onions are sauteed in olive oil till it just starts to caramelize.
Sliced Mushrooms and green tops of the spring onions added and sauteed.
Hubby is getting peckish with all the smells coming from the kitchen, but would not pose for a photo!
Flour was added to make a roux, and then coconut cream, thyme, green spices and 3 cups of water plus salt added and stirred till it starts to thicken, (I used a whisk to get all the lumpy bits from the roux to dissolve.) The soup was simmered for approx 15 minutes.
Creamy Mushroom Soup served with my mock Sourdough bread, was really delicious and so full of flavour; the whole kitchen smelt divine and when our two bnb guests walked past the kitchen, they commented on the tempting aroma, but I had none left to offer them; felt really bad as it's a father and son who are here working on a big project doing shopfitting, have mostly been living on takeout food. They pre-order dinner every so often and really enjoy the homecooked meals, but they did not order anything tonight, so missed out big time ;(
BON APPETIT FRIENDS!
Anyone for a second helping?
There are only 7 hours left before this challenge comes to a close, but I would like to invite @farm-mom and @plantstoplanks to make us a quick vegan soup!
Original Content by @lizelle
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Oh dear @lizelle I'm so impressed with your ability to scratch up not only deliciousness but a great post in record time. I am so thrilled that you made a bowl of what I want right now. I could eat soup all the time but my better half is not super excited about the idea. He always likes it though. Some of the women I know, say it's a woman thing. Perhaps, I'm not sure.
So nice to see your sweet face my friend.
Thank you so much for prodding me to make a soup for this challenge my friend!
Note here...I was half asleep when I started commenting late last night hence the short response full of spelling errors😅😅😅
What I wanted to say is I would not have discovered just how good mushroom soup would be with coconut cream if it wasn't for you and this challenge!😉
Nice to see you posting in this community, @lizelle, welcome!
This is really a soup for the soul, it is one of those soups that you sit down to eat and you perceive all the love of the family, the love of mom in every bite, comforting the body, nourishing it, but also giving warmth to our spirit. The creaminess of the broth and the pieces of mushrooms make it a gastronomic experience. The post is very good, with beautiful photos. Thank you for participating in this challenge. Regards.
Note: You just missed sharing the link to your post in the invitation post.
Thank you for the great challenge @plantpoweronhive!
Note @sirenahippie, I did share my entry link immediately after posting well before contest ended, in the announcement post, see screenshot below 🤗
Thanks to @carolynstahl who led me to your community, I now know how to make mushroom soup with a difference.
Hi Lizelle, this soup looks delicious. I love creamy mushroom soup, but I've never tried it with coconut cream or milk. So I'm going to try this one as soon as possible.
I can also eat soups every day, and when it's hot, too ;) And there is always the option of cold soups. I love gazpacho.
Hugs! And have a lovely weekend to you.🤗😊
Thank you Eli, adding the coconut cream was a first for me as well, really goes well with the mushrooms but the caramelized onions & garlic did the flavour trick, was lovely and creamy😋
Hugs to you as well, have a great weekend🤗
Thank you! 😊
I will surely try to make it. It all sounds like a great combination.😋
Ahhh! I love creamy mushroom soup! Coconut milk as a substitute, might have to try that one!
The coconut milk really gave it such good flavour so I'll make that again for sure!
Hope you're settling in nicely @bengy 🙂
Oh! That sounds so nice and looks delicious. I bet it did make your kitchen smell divine! I never even think to keep the veggie stock when I cook veggies. Sometimes I'll cook rice in it, but I usually run it down the sink. You've got me to thinking. Perhaps I need to start holding onto that vitamin filled water and reusing it!! Thanks for the tip and the recipe!
It was so delicious, I think the secret is in caramelizing the onions & garlic! Very quick & easy too!
I'll also start keeping my veggie water & not waste it from here on!
It is probably even good to feed the veggie water to animals instead of just throwing it down the drain. I don't know why I didn't think of this before! An extra step, but a beneficial one!
Yum! Your post would look great with the #foodie tag. You have been curated @sirenahippie on behalf of @FoodiesUnite. We are a tribe for the #Foodie community with a unique approach to all things food and we are here on #HIVE.
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Thank you so much @foodiesunite, you are awesome!
Lvoed seeing a pic of you cooking said soup! My Mum's a soup queen as well. I hope I don't miss the challenge! I have a soup in mind as well - trying not to make dal AGAIN lol, it's such a stand by as it's so easy - lentils, veg, spice - voila, a bit of coconut yoghurt - so easy. This mushroom soup looks amaaazing however!
It was really good, simple ingredients but the caramelized onions & garlic gave it the kickstart! Oh boy, I don't like photos of meself but rules have to be followed not so! I finished this late last night and had to go back & edit.. called dhal 'shall' and I picked up a couple other boo-boos. I can use my silver
greyhair as an excuse not so🙃Yum!!! Now I feel like a hot and steaming bowl of mushroom soup. Very cold in Belgium compared to Cambodia... even after a few days being here, I find it hard to adjust to the cooler temperatures. Though when I am home, I am the same as you.... whether it is super cold or tropically hot outside, I always appreciate a bowl of soup, especially when combined with homemade bread! The best! Have a beautiful Day Lizelle ღ ღ ღ
I can just imagine the difference must be huge! We have a guest (ex-South African) who now lives in Kortrijk, Belgium, and visits her family annually for about 2 weeks. They left in the snow and arrived in a gloomy Durban, and were here during our terrifying storms. They only saw the sun for 1 day & all she wanted was to go back with a suntan, but no such luck! But a bowl of steaming soup is always welcome for most people on a cold day, so my family thinks I'm crazy making soup in summer :)
Thank you for your lovely comments @amy-goodrich!
Wishing you a wonderful week as well xxx
Thank you so much @plantpoweronhive 🙂
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Lovely! I Also love soup as love mushrooms too. I need to try this recipe ✨ Thanks for share 🌱
It was lovely and creamy ànd very delicious, hope you get to make it!
Mmm delicious, I loved your recipe 😋 thank you for sharing 🤗
Thank you @colladolisbeth, it was delicious indeed, I will definitely use coconut cream again!
Oh I do so love a good soup! This one looks delicious, of course. The weather is heating up a good bit here now, but I still make soup often even in the summer months, too. I saw a recipe recently for a corn gazpacho that looked to die for, so perhaps once the sweet corn comes along I'll give it a go!
Hope things have settled down a little bit over there after all the upheaval from those massive rains! I'm sure it will still be a long time in getting everything back together, but fingers crossed nothing else to delay it any longer than needed.
Thank you @plantstoplanks! Corn gazpacho sounds really good, I must look for that recipe online; we have sweetcorn throughout the year & I just love it!
Everyone is so nervous now when it starts to rain, as there was a 2nd similar storm the previous weekend, just over a month after the 1st one; it caused massive damage in the little coastal town of Umdloti. It looked so frightening! The people are up in arms as they rightfully blame it on a property developer who cleared a huge area of land that was covered in sugarcane, leaving only bare soil, and the village is just below that. Many homes just disappeared in the mudslides.
That should be the end of storms for now as we're going into our dry season, but the task to repair roads and infrastructure, is massive. Of course the insurance companies have been hard hit as well, so some of them are dragging their heels.
Nobody wants to come to Durban for weekend breakaways, but we're fortunately getting bookings from people here on business, as there's a ton of work to do here to restore everything back to normality!
Enjoy the rest of your week Katie xxx