Garden Season is Nigh!!

ZOMG!!!  It's getting near to garden season!!!  I cannot wait!  Are you with me??

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Okra and Tomato Soup

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Hey - it's been a minute since my last post, but things are still going well.  I hope to post more in the coming days, weeks, months and years.

I have mentioned before that I have a kitchen garden that I try growing organic vegetables, I have had some luck with it.  Okra is something that grows very well in the $#!%%y mid-Atlantic clay that I have in my Falls Church backyard. Okra also freezes very well, so I have a freezer section that is full of 2 cup (5 oz) portions of okra.

Full disclosure - I LOVE OKRA, and I grew up in the deep South of the US where it is cooked a lot.  Some are put off by the 'slimy' quality that okra can have.  Having grown up with it I don't mind it - I like how it thickens anything it's added to, but some find it off-putting.  You can cut some of this by par-boiling okra for 3 minutes by itself before you add it to anything, but, to me, you may as well just go and make something else. AmIRight?

This 5-2 diet friendly soup is only about 1…
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Vegan Cabbage Soup

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So, my spouse and I started this 5-2 diet in January, that started over in England.  The gist is that you subsist for 2 days a weeks on 500 - 600 calories for the day.  Our "fast" days are on Monday and Thursday, because that works well for us both.  I am chief-cook in our marriage, so I thought it would be cool if we went essentially vegan two days a week. Baby-steps, right? The first week was the hardest, but it's gotten much easier every week.

Anyhoo...I have been looking for really hearty, but low calorie soup options. I used to love this soup that my Grandmother, we called her Dee-Mama, made back when I was a kid. It was hearty and  comforting.  Dee-Mama's was, most assuredly NOT vegan (I think it either had bacon or sausage in it). So, this is not a family recipe, but it's inspired by one.  This may be too spicy for you with the Chipotle pepper (from Penzey's, by the way), but adjust accordingly.



Vegan Cabbage Soup

In a large-ish stockpot heat:

1 - 2 …
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Spinach-Cannelli Bean Soup

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I have made a version of this before with chicken and chicken stock, but this version is vegan and 'fasting-day' friendly.  I think a serving (a heaping cup) would probably be around 150 calories.  The two cups of pureed beans for the 'Bean Broth' add a creaminess to the soup that "almost" makes it seem like there is dairy in it.  I believe that this was adapted from a Lynne Rossetto Kasper (the host of that awesome public radio show, The Splendid Table) recipe, hers had chicken in it, I am pretty sure.



ABOUT THESE BEANS:  I prepared one pound of cannelli beans according to package directions, but they came out mushy. I am not sure what I did wrong.  I boiled them for a minute, then allowed to soak for an hour, then cooked for about 40 minutes (the package said to cook for ONE HOUR(!)).  One pound of dried cannelli beans yeilded between 5 and 6 cups of mushy beans.  They taste fine, it's just the texture.

PREPARE THE BEAN BROTH:

PUREE in a blender, and se…
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