Creamy Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup

I have fond memories of me and my sweetheart eating creamy roasted red pepper soup, many many moons ago, when we first met. Often, with crackers and hummus with basil on top. YUM. I’ve wanted to recreate it for a long time, and finally got to work. And like many of my recipes, this has three ingredients in it (because I can’t be bothered with any more). Easy, simple, and so absolutely delicious, you’ll want it on a regular basis like I do.

I’m all about simple recipes, but if you want to doctor this up with sautéed onions, garlic, basil, go to town! I find that it’s SO delicious and quick as is, I don’t need it changed in any way.

3 or 4 medium sized red peppers

One 28 oz can of whole, cubed, or crushed tomatoes (my favorite is fire roasted)

One 13.5 oz light coconut milk

Salt, to your taste

White beans, optional

First, you’ll want to roast the red peppers: wash them thoroughly and place on a cookie sheet. Place in the oven and roast at 400 degrees for about 40 minutes, turning the red peppers with tongs about halfway through the cooking time. Take them out and place them in a bowl, with another bowl on top ~ this loosens the skins for easier peeling. Let them steam this way for about 20 minutes, and longer is also fine. Peel the peppers, de-seed them, and put them all in a dutch oven or other heavy-bottomed soup pot.

To the pot, you’ll also want to add your can of tomatoes, salt, and the can of coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and cook on low, about 10 minutes or so. Using an immersion blender, blend the whole mixture until it’s a desired thickness. I like to serve the soup with crushed red pepper and white beans to make a whole meal.

For BLE food plan:

It’s tricky to measure this out, since it involves different sizes of peppers and also taking into account that food shrinks when cooked. To keep it simple, I typically just weight my portion of soup (say 10 ounces) and take into matter that that portion also contains my fat portion (from the coconut milk). Easy peasy. I can add in 6 ounces of white beans, and that’s a great meal! Enjoy.

Smooth Greens Soup with Rosemary

The chillier nights are on their way as we soon enter November, and I long for soups that comfort and calm. Creamy soups have always been my love, but I don't always feel good eating them since they tend to be heavy and very fattening. Back in my dairy-eating days especially, soups were considered a light meal, but when you add in the cream and butter, they're anything but light! Inspired by one of my favorite chefs and authors Terry Walters, I've added in a few secret ingredients to thicken up the soup while still maintaining a lightness that I'm looking for.

It's all about the oats.

Terry taught me to use oats to thick soups and it works wonders in this recipe! Also I've added in just a few cashews to make it a bit heartier, but the whole fat is still light: there's only 1/4 cup in the whole soup pot! Hope you enjoy it. And if you want to add in curry, italian spices, anything you'd like ~ this is just a template so feel free to play with your food.

A little side note: We love buying heads of broccoli instead of the precut broccoli bags. The stems are great for juicing, munching on, and they're loaded with nutrition. The other day I realized I had collected 6 stems, so I I peeled and chopped them all and used them in the soup. They're a great way to use up the stems that few people know what to do with. Just get to the inner core that's sweet and crunchy and avoid the thick exterior. If you don't have stems this time around, just substitute with more broccoli florets.

one yellow onion, diced

4 cloves of garlic, diced small

1 tsp coconut oil

6 broccoli stems, peeled and chopped (or just add more broccoli)

florets from one head of broccoli, chopped

1 small zucchini, chopped

1/4 cup rolled oats

1/4 cup cashews

water to cover veggies by 1 inch

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp dried rosemary

plain unsweetened coconut yoghurt, optional

Sauté the onion in  1 tsp coconut oil for about 2 minutes. Add the sea salt so that the onions sweat a bit, then add in the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add in the broccoli stems, broccoli, zucchini, oats, cashews, rosemary and enough water to cover the ingredients by about an inch, cover, and cook for at least 25 minutes on medium. Stir occasionally and when the veggies are tender, use an immersion blender to blend the soup well. Taste and adjust the salt if needed. Serve with crushed pepper and a tsp of coconut yoghurt if desired. Enjoy!