Squash Soup Recipe

I found and adapted this recipe from my VitaMix cookbook, but it looks like it's not on their website. I don't think I've tried it without the VitaMix, but I would assume you could cook on the stove and use a blender.

Squash Soup

2 cups water plus 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon Chicken Base
2 cups of cooked squash or pumpkin
1/4 small onion, peeled
1/2 medium apple, seeded
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp dried ground sage
1/4 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup heavy cream

To cook squash or pumpkin
Preheat over to 400 degrees. Slice squash or pumpkin in half and remove all the seeds and strings. Lay flat side down on a foil lined cookie sheet. Spread a little olive oil over the top (the part with the skin). Cook for 45 minutes to an hour and a half, until a push on the skin feels like the insides are all soft and squishy. (At high altitude, it needs the hour and a half. Low altitude, it might only be 45 minutes.) When it's cool enough, turn each half over and scrape out the flesh with a spoon. One regular size pumpkin normally gives me at least 4 cups of meat - enough for one or two batches of soup, plus sometimes pumpkin bread.

For the soup
Place all the ingredients, except the heavy cream, into the Vitamix container in the order listed. Put the lid on. Start at Variable Speed 1 and quickly increase to Variable 10, then High. Blend for 6-7 minutes or until heavy steam escapes from the lid plug.

Reduce speed to Variable 4 and remove the lid plug. Add in the heavy cream through the opening. Blend for an additional 20 seconds.

Best served with french bread. Even my kids will gobble this soup up if there's french bread for dipping.

Broccoli Spinach Soup

Ok, so here's my favorite soup for the week in the Vitamix. I made this one last week and it was so good, I made another double batch last night. It's got a really great taste and is perfect with a couple slices of toast with butter.

Broccoli Spinach Soup

1 Tbls butter
6 oz. spinach
1 head of broccoli
1 small onion
1 tsp minced garlic
2-3 carrots, sliced
2-3 stalks of celery, sliced
2 small white potatoes
1/2 a small apple, quartered
1/4 or so tsp of nutmeg
1/2 tsp of thyme
dash of salt
1 tsp Better Than Bouillon
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Melt the butter in a pan, then add the spinach, broccoli, onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Stir and let it sauté for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft and the spinach is all wilty. (While this is cooking, microwave the potatoes until they're cooked, the quarter them.) Put 2 cups of water in the Vitamix, then add everything else except the cheese. Turn the Vitamix on and quickly turn up to High. Let it process for 6-7 minutes, then turn it down to about 5, take out the lid plug and pour in the cheese. Let it process for 15-30 seconds, until you don't see shreds of cheese anymore. Turn it off and pour into your bowl. This makes at least 4 servings of soup.

Chicken And Dumplings

So, I still haven't actually convinced my kids to willingly eat this one, which is so disturbing because I practically begged for chicken and dumplings when I was growing up. I usually only get a batch of mixed veggies thrown in but in my quest to add more greens I ground up a whole package of spinach this time and it turned out just fine. Besides the whole "completely green" broth, you'd never even taste that there's spinach.

Easy Slow-Cooker Chicken and Dumplings

2-3 chicken breasts, diced (not cooked)

1/3 cup flour

frozen mixed veggies

baby carrots

6 oz raw spinach

1 tbls Better Than Bullion 

1 roll Pillsbury biscuits

Put the veggies, carrots and chicken into the slow cooker. Sprinkle the flour on top. Push the whole wad of spinach into the Vitamix and add enough water to get up to the four cup line. Throw in the Better Than Bullion. Turn on the Vitamix and process on High for 15ish seconds, until you don't see any clumps of spinach. Pour into the slow cooker. Add another cup of water to the Vitamix and swish around to get the last of the spinach, then pour that into the slow cooker as well.

Now here's the hard part. If you're feeling so inclined, you could make your own dumplings and drop them into the slow cooker. I'm usually in a hurry so I grab the Pillsbury biscuits, open the container, cut small pieces directly into the slow cooker using scissors. Or hire some little people to do your cutting. Try to get the pieces to land all across the top of the mixture (not just clumped in the middle).

Cook on high for 4-6 hours. The dumplings will be all along the top so be sure you scoop servings out all the way to the bottom of the crock pot so everyone gets some dumplings.

Potato Soup

I love, love, love potato soup. I get it as often as I can when we go out, but I rarely make it. My kids have a bit of a thing about potatoes, so I really haven't wanted to risk it. They're getting a little better and I had a whole bunch of leftover ham that I thought sounded good in soup, so I decided to try. I saw this recipe and thought it sounded really yummy, but it doesn't have many veggies, the rest of the family has a thing about celery (and onion, and sometimes carrots), and the chunks of potato are iffy in my house. Also, I don't like to peel potatoes. So here's what I came up with. It turned out so wonderful. My kids complained a little bit but did eat it and the rest of us really liked it... and spinach, hooray.

Quickie Potato Soup without Chunks

10 small red potatoes, scrubbed and diced
6 ribs of celery, washed and diced
1 bag of mini baby carrots (8oz?), diced
1 small red onion, diced
3 Tbls butter
1 bag of spinach
10 cups water
1 Tbls Better than Bouillon
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup flour
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1/4-1/2 tsp nutmeg
3+ cups of diced ham

Once all the veggies are diced, melt 2 Tbls of butter in a large stock pot, then add all the veggies (onion, carrots, celery, and potatoes). Cook for about 10 minutes, then throw in the water, Better Than Bouillon, and salt. Let this simmer (uncovered is fine) for about 20-30 minutes - until the potatoes seem soft/cooked through.

While it's simmering, melt the other Tbls of butter in a pan and cook the spinach until it's all wilt-y. Transfer the spinach to the Vita-Mix, add water to cover the spinach, and blend on high for 15-20 seconds. Keep going until you don't see any actual leafy bits of spinach. It should be totally smooth. Add this to the soup pot as soon as it's done in the Vita-Mix and keep simmering.

When everything seems to be cooked long enough, transfer 4-ish cups of soup at a time to the Vita-Mix and process on high for 15-30 seconds each batch until there are no lumps (careful, this is hot and too much in the Vita-Mix at a time means it'll spray out the top at you when you turn it on!). Transfer to a holding container until you've gotten through the whole pot. Then you can pour everything back into the stock pot. Mix the flour and almond milk in a separate container until it's smooth, then add it into the freshly processed soup in the stock pot. Cook and stir for 5 minutes or so. Then add the nutmeg and cheese. Cook and stir until the cheese is completely melted and combined. Finally, add all the ham and stir until it's warm enough - maybe 5 minutes. Serve and enjoy.

Kale and White Bean Soup

I've never really tried kale. Lots of people talk about it but I figured spinach was good enough for me. But when I found this recipe, I decided I should give it a try. I'm not much of a leafy-things-in-my-soup person (and I'm more of an everything-in-the-pot-and-go person) so instead I tried this in the Vita-Mix. I have to say it turned out pretty good. A hearty, green soup with some nice smoky undertones. Of course, it would be really nice with some bread but for now I just ate it straight up. When you're going for detox meals but it's too cold for smoothies, this would be a great option.

Kale and White Bean Soup

3/4 of a small red onion
1 large handful of baby carrots
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4-1/2 tsp paprika
1/4-1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 a can of tomato sauce
1 tbls Better Than Bullion Chicken base
2 cups packed fresh kale
Water
1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed

Put the onion, carrots, spices, chicken base and tomato sauce into the Vita-Mix. Stuff the kale in last, it will probably be almost to the top of the Vita-Mix. Add water to at least the 4 cup mark. Put on the lid, start the Vita-Mix on Variable Speed 1 and increase to Variable Speed 10 then High. Blend for 6 minutes. Turn the Vita-Mix down to Variable speed 4, open the lid plug and pour in the beans. Blend for another 30 seconds. Turn off, serve and enjoy.

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Soup

This is another variation of a soup I found from a friend on twitter, to a pinterest account, and on to the world wide web. (I swear things get more and more complicated.) The recipe looked really yummy but my family has a thing about celery, and I always like to throw in peas and green beans in my soups so here's what I came up with. It got a winning vote from my husband, but the kids haven't tried it yet (partly you know, because there's green things in it).

Cheesy Chicken and Rice Soup

1/4 of a small red onion, quartered

2 large handfuls of baby carrots

2 ribs of celery, sliced

1 tsp minced garlic

1-1/2 tsp Better Than Bullion Chicken base

Water

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp salt

1-1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded

2 cups frozen veggies

1 can of green beans

1 cup long grain rice

2 cups milk

1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup cheddar cheese

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

Put the onion, carrots, celery, garlic and chicken base in the Vita-Mix. Add water to cover. Cover and turn on at Variable Speed 1. Increase quickly to Variable Speed 10, then High. Blend until smooth (30 seconds?). Turn off and pour contents into a pot. Throw in the rest of the spices and veggies, another 2 cups of water and 1-3/4 cups of milk. Cook on Medium-ish heat until everything is just about boiling. Add the rice and turn down to low. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes, until rice is tender. In a separate bowl, combine the rest of the milk and the flour. Whisk together until smooth and then dribble into the soup pot while stirring the soup constantly. Cook for 2-5 minutes until the soup starts to thicken up a bit. Turn off the stove and add the cheese, stirring until all of the cheese is melted. Wait 10 minutes, then serve and enjoy.