Easy Vegetable Soup

GracieJ

GracieJ

Senior Member
Messages
780
Location
Utah
Sorry, Andrew, I cook with my can opener these days. If it's veggie soup, it's a brand called Annie's, full of yummy things and actually not bad on the carb side. So many veggie soups are just too high carb, even the home-made ones.
 
alex3619

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
I find a pressure cooker is the easiest method - super fast. Given it can take me hours to chop a few vegetables, having them cook fast in a pressure cooker saves a lot of time. Just pick anything you like, add something you tolerate for flavour (herbs or tolerated spices, tomato etc) and wait twenty to twenty five minutes. Blend if you want after that - I use a blending wand as its far easier to clean than a blender and so saves me energy.

Many commercial soups are carbs carbs and more carbs, throw in some chemicals and salt. Homemade is better.

Bye, Alex

PS I recently bought a high grade ergonomic knife to make things easier on my hands. It works wonders. Invest in a good knife with a really good grip. I am using an east/west knife, which means it both chops and slices.
 
Dainty

Dainty

Senior Member
Messages
1,751
Location
Seattle
I was blessed to grow up with a mom who cooked from scratch all the time. To keep things easy, she had a plastic carton in the freezer labeled "for soup" and small amounts of leftovers that would generally be good in soup were tossed in there. Whenever it was full she'd throw everything in a pot with broth and other goodies to taste and slow cook it (we just used the stove). It wasn't usually the most phenomenal recipe, but always tasted decent and at times very good. There's room for a lot of creativity, adding spices and whatnot, or for maximum energy savings you can aim for "edible" and leave it at that.
 
T

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
If one wanted something super easy, you could probably just cook up some packet frozen mixed veg... add some herbs (i like to add a lot of mixed herbs to my soups), salt, pepper, curry powder .. I also usually add some vegemite (or stock cubes).. could be added too. (be generous with flavourings.. many people who think the soup they make isnt tasty are just not using enough herbs/spices) ..

cook all up and then just blend (I have a stick blender). The trick in getting this very nice is getting the right amount of herbs and spices for the amount you are cooking, people who have had my soup at times ask me how I got it so yummy :)

Im actually cooking some soup right now in a big pot.. Ive thrown in 3 chops in with the soup, which Im going to have a chop as like a side dish with the bowl of veg soup (and the chops are flavouring it as well). (I often also add in an onion and raddish for extra flavour but if my energy is too low.. I just use the frozen mixed veg).
......

I thought I'd add a bit more info on how I make a flavoursome soup so adding in the amounts of herbs and spices I tend to use... on reading andrews other post.

For a very large pot of veg soup say about 8 servings... I add
* 1 Tablespoon of mixed herbs
* half a teaspoon salt (i need to add more when eatting it)
* pepper to taste
* 1 teaspoon of curry power (this isnt enough to make the soup taste at all like a curry, if you want to do that you need to add far more).
* Stock cubes or 1 teaspoon of vegemite
(if you are a meat eater..adding lamb chops to cook in the mix really flavours this too).
A couple of crushed garlic cloves can go well too thou not at all needed if one flavours with the combo I posted above.

Pity you didnt save your stock Andrew.. it probably was fixable..just sounds like you hadnt got flavour combos right or strong enough if your soup was bland.
The tomatoes you used I think of would of overpowered the rest of your soup.. but some meat like lamb in it with more herbs and spices, would of helped tone the tomato taste down, also adding a potato and some pumpkin would of rounded off that tomato a bit.
(I personally dont tend to put any more then 1-2 tomatoes at the most into a huge pot of veg soup as they really do change whole veg soup flavour and can end up unbalancing it.
 
Little Bluestem

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
How about split pea soup? Clean and rinse a bag of split peas. Chop a carrot or two. Cook them with bay leaf and salt to taste.
 
Andrew

Andrew

Senior Member
Messages
2,523
Location
Los Angeles, USA
Funny thing. I made some soup the day I posted this thread. I used cabbage, broccoli, an onion, celery, pre-pealed carrots, canned diced tomatoes. I added a little pepper and garlic. Just a bit. The soup tasted awful. I don't understand how that combo can possibly taste bad. I could not even finish one bowl of it.

Anyway, I dumped the liquid out, rinsed it, and put it in the refrigerator. The next day I didn't add any water or broth to it. I just ate it as veggies. Tasted okay. Weird, huh?
 
Little Bluestem

Little Bluestem

All Good Things Must Come to an End
Messages
4,930
I used to make a good vegetable soup that I think was fairly simple. It was my version of a soup I had in a restaurant and liked. It is lost in the brain fog now.
 
Vincent

Vincent

Senior Member
Messages
126
Location
Baltimore, Maryland USA
Hey guys I tried the bobs red mill soup, and it was very good. What I did was buy one can of amy's organic vegetable soup and then I added 2ozs of the dry stuff and some water. I let that put on low covered for an hour. It tastes very good. I appreciate everyones recipes, I'm just afraid a recipe is too hard conginitively. It's more viable for me to take a can of this and a bag of that so to speak. My idea turned out nicely though and others may be interested.
 
alex3619

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
Just a tip, for many soups a little grated cheese sprinkled on the top, if you are able to handle dairy, improves both calcium and protein content. This is particularly good with onion soup, or anything with tomato in it. I buy reduced fat grated cheese and keep it in my freezer. Its a fast easy protein alternative.
 
November Girl

November Girl

Senior Member
Messages
328
Location
Texas
good idea - Years ago, we ate a lot of canned soup for lunch. To our surprise, we found that it usually tasted better if we mixed two different types in the pan.

Vincent said:
Hey guys I tried the bobs red mill soup, and it was very good. What I did was buy one can of amy's organic vegetable soup and then I added 2ozs of the dry stuff and some water. I let that put on low covered for an hour. It tastes very good. I appreciate everyones recipes, I'm just afraid a recipe is too hard conginitively. It's more viable for me to take a can of this and a bag of that so to speak. My idea turned out nicely though and others may be interested.
Click to expand...
 
rosie26

rosie26

Senior Member
Messages
2,446
Location
NZ
Andrew said:
Funny thing. I made some soup the day I posted this thread. I used cabbage, broccoli, an onion, celery, pre-pealed carrots, canned diced tomatoes. I added a little pepper and garlic. Just a bit. The soup tasted awful. I don't understand how that combo can possibly taste bad. I could not even finish one bowl of it.

Anyway, I dumped the liquid out, rinsed it, and put it in the refrigerator. The next day I didn't add any water or broth to it. I just ate it as veggies. Tasted okay. Weird, huh?
Click to expand...
This really made me laugh. Same thing happened to me years ago. I thought I would just throw into a huge pot all the vegetables that I had in the house thinking it was going to be absolutely lovely, the soup was absolutely awful. I threw it all out, it was too unpleasant.

I came across a good book sale last year and spotted a decent soup and stew cookbook. So I will try out some new recipes this winter.

I regularly make this one, there is a bit of work to it and I make it on a day when I don't go out and when I think I can do it. I'm usually shattered afterwards though.

4 shin meat ( I try to get it with bone in)
2 leek or 1 large onion ( I do onion now instead of leek)
Half a pumpkin
3 stalks celery
1 grated parsnip
1 packet dried vegetable soup mix

Firstly, I fill a stockpot with water about halfway and add the dried soup mix and bring up to a simmer, this will simmer for a hour. While that is heating up I brown the meat for a few minutes each side and then add to the stockpot. I grate the parsnip and add as well. Let simmer for a hour and then add the rest of the vegetables.

This is the worst part, cutting the pumpkin, you could cut it into large pieces to save energy as it will mash up anyway. Dice onion and chop celery and add. Cook for a further 20-30 minutes.
Once the soup is ready I mash any pumpkin I see floating around in the soup - there will be a lot. It makes the soup sweeter, tastier mashed. I usually just add pepper as the soup mix seems to have some saltiness to it. Depends on whatever soup mix you use.

I usually have half a plate full while it is still hot without any meat - I usually cut the meat up once the soup has cooled later in the evening and put 1 serving into containers for the freezer. I usually get about 10-15 servings out of it from memory.

My favourite soup of all though is Bacon, Mushroom and Parsley soup. I made this one up one day about 20 years ago after tasting a delicious savoury tart at a cafe. I tried to make it up at home and found the filling was tasty as a soup.
Slice mushrooms and quickly cook in a little butter in one pot. Cut some bacon (4-5 rashers) and cook with little butter in another pot. Chop up lots (big bunch) of parsley and add to cooked mushrooms, add cooked bacon to the mushrooms, add milk to cover and bring up to a scold heat without boiling and it is ready to eat.
 
Last edited:
V

Valentijn

Senior Member
Messages
15,786
I don't really tolerate MSG/E621, so I usually just make my own stock. The basic principle is to focus on herbs with a light and fresh flavor, use plenty of salt, and add a little bit of not hot but "warming" spices.

My slightly creamy chicken soup stock made in a slow cooker looks approximately like this (I don't usually measure, but will do so tomorrow when I make it again):
1 can (2 cups) fatty coconut milk
2 cans (4 cups) of hot water
2 tsp dried celery leaves
1 tsp dried cilantro/coriander leaves
3-4 laurel bay leaves
1 heaping teaspoon of salt, or more
1 tsp yellow curry powder (turmeric?)
2 tsp minced ginger (available in little glass jars from the supermarket)
2 tsp fresh or minced-inna-jar garlic
1/4 tsp black pepper

I cook it in the slow cooker on low for a while, so I don't have to be rushed in doing too much at once or having to throw stuff in when I'm not in good shape. I add big chicken sections about 3 hours before dinner time, smaller sections about 2 hours before dinner time, or chicken cubes about 1 hour before dinner time.

Thick/starchy vegetables would also get added about an hour before dinner, and most others 30 minutes before dinner. And I add gluten free noodles about half an hour before dinner time. Rice doesn't really work in a slow cooker, and my gluten-free dumplings have been disasters so far. I also add fresh/minced garlic and minced ginger in the last hour or so, since fresher ingredients tend to disappear if left to cook for too long.

With soups, salt is extremely important. Insufficient salt can make the entire soup taste watery or bland even if there's plenty of the right herbs in it. The salt seems necessary to be able to actually taste those flavors for some reason. And potatoes seem to negate the taste of salt to a large extent, so anything with potatoes will probably need extra.
 
Last edited:
T

taniaaust1

Senior Member
Messages
13,054
Location
Sth Australia
Andrew said:
Funny thing. I made some soup the day I posted this thread. I used cabbage, broccoli, an onion, celery, pre-pealed carrots, canned diced tomatoes. I added a little pepper and garlic. Just a bit. The soup tasted awful. I don't understand how that combo can possibly taste bad. I could not even finish one bowl of it.

Anyway, I dumped the liquid out, rinsed it, and put it in the refrigerator. The next day I didn't add any water or broth to it. I just ate it as veggies. Tasted okay. Weird, huh?
Click to expand...

Another thing to do if you have a lot of vegetables from a failed soup disaster is try removing the vegetables and frying them, things like cabbage, broccoli, onion etc fry up good.. or baking them in the oven with some melted cheese if you can have dairy.
 
Seven7

Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,446
Location
USA
@Andrew
In my country we use auyama (kabosha pumpkin)
https://www.google.com/search?q=kab...0OsGqggTa0YH4Bg&ved=0CEAQsAQ&biw=1440&bih=696

We boil and freeze in ice cubes. Then you can add to any mix of vegetables and the base will be amazing (one quarter of pumpkin per Pot). Add any veggies you like and onion+garlic+Pepper + boung for seasoning

I had trouble chopping vegetables and I got this as a present and it has made all the difference in the world:
( I have POTs so cannot stand for too long), it will cut the time to prep by soooo much.

http://www.amazon.com/Vidalia-Chop-Wizard-VOWR-2/dp/B000I6JZWA.

I freeze the organic vegies in batches and use it as needed.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back