Summer Soups

I love soup.  Anytime I see a soup recipe my heart goes pitter patter.  So you can imagine my delight when the June 3rd New York Times Magazine had twelve soup recipes by Mark Bittman.  Although Vichyssoise is far and away my favorite, I wanted to come up with a lower calorie alternative.  My favorite South Beach Diet recipe, mashed potatoes,  substitutes cauliflower for potatoes.  So I figured if it is good enough for South Beach, it is good enough for me.  I started with two chopped leeks.  Now leeks tend to be sandy so they have to be thoroughly washed.  I sauteed the leeks in one tablespoon of olive oil - no butter.  While the leeks were cooking, I cut a head of fresh cauliflower into florets and added them to the leeks.  I let that cook for about 5 minutes and added 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth, but you can use low sodium vegetable broth.  I brought it to a boil, let it cook for about 45 minutes then turned off the heat.  After it cooled a little I used my immersion blender to puree the soup.  You can add fat free half and half or low fat milk and eat this soup hot or cold.

If you get very lazy, you can substitute an onion for the leeks and use a bag of frozen cauliflower florets. 

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/magazine/soup-hold-the-heat.html?src=me&ref=magazine

Not satisfied with mock Vichyssoise, I next tried the Carrot soup.  I again massaged the  recipe slightly.  I used 5 large carrots that I cut into large chunks.  Chopping is too difficult.  I simmered the soup a long time, (about 45 minutes) so that the carrots would get nice and soft before I pureed.  However, I felt that peeling carrots was too much work, so the next time I made the soup, I used a bag of baby carrots.  Frankly, the larger, whole carrots made a better soup.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/03/magazine/cold-soups.html?ref=magazine

Now, I am getting more creative.  I keep hearing that Kale is good for you, so I bought some.  However, I had no clue as to what I was going to do with the Kale.  I decided to make soup.  I followed the steps for the Garden-Greens Vichyssoise.  First I browned a chopped onion in some olive oil.  I added some chopped celery.  I washed the kale and chopped it into large chunks discarding the stems.  I decided to clean out the refrigerator, so I also added a chopped cooked Yukon gold potato and a chopped cooked sweet potato to the pot.  I added 4 cups of Rachael Ray low sodium chicken broth and simmered for 45 minutes, let it cool and then pureed.  I will let you know how it tastes the next time I update this blog.