Magical Mirepoix Makes Five Soups

This winter I have been making soup every week. Such great aromas fill the house! The magical mirepoix makes it incredibly easy to create a warm, cozy, healthy meal. Soup is a very filling, yet easy on the waistline food. Plus you will get a few days of leftovers, depending on your family size. Leftovers only get better! Day three you might just have enough for a cup of soup, along with a sandwich on sprouted or whole multi-grain bread. Don't forget to include drinking a glass of fresh made veggie juice! You will be a rainbow of goodness and warmth!

Every soup follows a basic beginning. Chop by hand, or with a food processor, the three following ingredients, onions, celery and carrots, which make up the 'mirepoix.' Tradition says you chop more onion than the other two. I now make "oil free soups" I add the mirepoix to a stockpot with a little spring or filtered water to sweat the vegetables (instead of the old way to saute in 2 tbs of olive oil), and then cook the onions till translucent. Since I am not straining the liquid to make a broth, I make my vegetable cuts large, because I want them to be my colorful chunky soup ingredients.

At that point I add spices, and mix them in during the vegetable saute phase. Once the vegetables are sweated, I add a box of organic low sodium vegetable or chicken broth, and 16 - 32oz spring or filtered water. If you have a juicing machine you can also add a couple of juiced carrots to your broth which adds sweetness! After an hour you can mash up a small portion of your cooked vegetables to add back into your broth as well. This gives an overall density to your broth in flavor and texture.

Depending on what I have around that week, I may add any number of other ingredients to set the tone of the soup. Good way to use up veggies before they go bad. Bring all your ingredients to boil, then turn down to slow simmer and cover. I also like to add some super-foods, as in dulse, chia and nutritional yeast. I simmer the soup on low for a few hours, then happily serve up this divine old fashioned comfort food. A soup can be as light or heavy as you like depending on what you add. Sometimes my soups are more like stews since they are thick, hearty, and chock full of ingredients. You can always adjust the amounts of spices and salt to taste. I never add hot pepper spices, or cilantro to any of my recipes, so if you need those tastes in your life, you can add as you like. All ingredients and vegetables are organic even if I don't say it in each of the recipes below.

If you have not tried making home made soups before, this is the season to start! So easy! Have a food processor? You can use that machine to slice and chop your veggies in no time! Make a big pot of soup or stew, and you won't worry about what's for dinner the next day, or two! Freeze a portion to use on a day you don't have time to cook!

If you want to make your own home made soup base broth, just fill a stock pot with whatever vegetables you have around the kitchen, but not potatoes. For example add the mirepoix veggies, plus some spinach, leeks, and parsnips. You can also add fresh made carrot juice from your juicing machine. Cover the height of the veggies in the pot with the same amount of water, and simmer for an hour covered till soft. Then blend your ingredients together. You can freeze this liquid in different size containers, and your broth will be ready to add to any number of dishes you create.

The soups below are just a few possible variations based on the mirepoix beginnings:

Soup One: Zucchini, Black Bean and Vegetable Soup 

This soup reminds me of a very light version of my vegetarian chili recipe. We love
the richness of taste in this soup, coming from the Indian spices used in this recipe. Flavorful without being hot! I am not a fan of having my tongue burning, and then being unable to taste my food. So the fantastic flavors of garam masala, cumin and turmeric really do the trick for us! You can add more of each spice besides what is listed here! Experiment, because soup making is a fun collage of flavors.

1 - 2  large onions chopped
3 carrots chopped
4 celery stalks chopped
2 zucchini sliced
1 TBS garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbs basil
1 tbs oregano
1 bay leaf
1 box low sodium organic vegetable broth
32 oz spring or filtered water
1 bottle of strained tomatoes (or 1 can chopped or peeled tomatoes)
1 can drained and washed organic black beans
2 tbs soaked chia
2 tbs dulse flakes
2 tbs flax powder
1/2 cup frozen organic non-GMO corn
1/2 tbs pink Himalayan salt
black pepper to taste

Soup Two: Wild Rice and Chia Vegetable Soup

This very light and satisfying soup is based mostly on the mirepoix flavors. The chia adds omega-3, protein, fiber, calcium, magnesium and iron. Plus chia seeds are great for diabetics! The organic wild rice adds a nice familiar texture, but a much healthier version than plain empty white rice. You could add chopped pasture raised chicken to this soup if you eat meat.

1 - 2 large onions chopped
4 stalks of celery
4 carrots chopped
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1 tbs parsley

1 tbs basil

1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt

black pepper to taste

1 box organic low sodium vegetable or chicken broth

32 oz spring or filtered water

4 tbs soaked chia

1/2 cup wild organic rice just tossed into soup

2 tbs dulse flakes

Optional for meat eaters: 1 cooked (no antibiotic, no hormone, free range non GMO fed) chicken cutlet chopped (add small amount of liquid to cooking chicken to capture pan drippings and add the broth)

Soup Three: Lentil, Leek, and Barley Soup

This soup was the result of just purchasing a food processor, and wanting to test out the slicing blade on some vegetables I had that day! Wow! It made short order of chopping those vegetables. I used all organic vegetables and products to create this delicious thick soup. I soaked 1/2 cup lentils and 1/2 cup pearled barley for about 2 hours before I added them to the soup. I drained off the water before adding to the soup stock. I would recommend using hulled barley instead, but I still had some pearled barley that I bought before I knew the difference, and just wanted to use it up. I also now only buy tomato products that are in glass containers, because the acid of tomatoes reacts with metals. Use method at the top of this post to prepare this soup.

4 carrots chopped

3 celery stalks chopped

1-2 large onions chopped

1 zucchini sliced

3 leeks chopped

2 cloves of garlic minced

2 tsp dried basil

1 bay leaf

1 tsp oregano

1 box organic low sodium vegetable broth
32 oz spring or filtered water

1 bottle of strained tomatoes (or 1 can 14.5 ounce of crushed tomatoes)

1/2 cup lentils

1/2 cup barley

2 Tbs soaked chia seeds

2 heaping tbs nutritional yeast

1 Tbs dulse flakes

2 Tbs flax powder

1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt

some ground black pepper to taste.

Soup Four: Quinoa Vegetable Soup

I was curious about adding one of my new favorite foods "quinoa" to soup instead of rice. I rinsed the quinoa and then brought it to a boil, and simmered covered for 10-15 minutes. I usually buy my quinoa in the bulk section, and have to remember that it takes 1/2 cup of quinoa to 1 cup water to cook. I now had a cup of cooked quinoa. You can tell its done when you see the little rings from the seeds popped open. Follow the basic mirepoix soup method at top of this post using the following ingredients.

1 large onion chopped

4 celery stalks chopped

4 carrots chopped

2 cloves minced garlic

1 box organic low sodium vegetable broth

32 oz spring or filtered water

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp curry powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 cup cooked quinoa

1/2 cup organic non-GMO frozen corn

2 tbs soaked chia seeds

2 tbs nutritional yeast

2 tbs dulse flakes

1/2 cup chopped spinach (added last hour)

Soup Five: Chicken Noodle Soup

Hubby had a slight cold, and I thought a little old fashioned chicken noodle soup would be good for his soul. I was excited that for the first time I did not catch his cold at all! My immunities have really improved this year from my new plant strong nutrient dense food plan. Even when we both were sick over the holidays it only lasted 2 weeks, with the residual coughing. In the past it would morph into a horrible bronchitis that would last for month's and would eventually need antibiotics. This year I have been strong! Yea! Another way good nutrition free of toxins helps let your body do it's healing work! Each month I am stronger!

I still have not found a good tasting egg noodle that is gluten free, so I used the light and fluffy brand egg noodles I still had in the pantry for this soup recipe. (Manischewitz has the best of the gluten free noodles. You may have to stock up when you see them.) When cooking the chicken I added some water to the pan after it was cooked to capture the chicken broth, and added that to the soup too. On the second day I added two juiced carrots to my soup leftovers, which created a sweeter tasting broth. Excellent flavor! on the third day we just had a cup of soup left for each of us. We added a sandwich made of wild Alaska salmon. Topped with fresh avocado tomato slices on Ezekiel brand toasted sprouted seed bread. Oh yum! For the chicken noodle soup, just follow the basic mirepoix soup instructions at the top of the page and add together the following ingredients.

1 large onion chopped
4 stalks of celery chopped
4 carrots chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp rosemary
1 bay leaf
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp sage
1/2 tsp ginger
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
2 tbs basil
1 box of organic low sodium vegetable or chicken broth
32 oz spring or filtered water
2 tbs soaked chia seeds
2 tbs dulse flakes
2 tbs flax powder
2 tbs nutritional yeast
sprinkle of cracked  black pepper flakes
1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt
1 (free range, no antibiotic, no hormone) chicken cutlet cooked and chopped 

(add small amount of liquid to the cooking chicken to capture pan drippings and add to the soup broth)

2-3  hand-fulls of egg noodles added during last hour of cooking soup
Optional: 2 carrots juiced fresh and then added to soup

Extra Soup Making Info:
I hope you have learned how easy it is to make a large variety of soups using the mirepoix method. Here is a very detailed video that is part of a series on soup making. During the video 'The Soup Doctor' mentions not using an aluminum pot to cook in as it leaches fluoride into the food and cause Alzheimer's. Since I also know fluoride is bad for the thyroid, in the future I will use my stainless steel stockpot or enamel clad cast iron dutch oven only. This is the second time this week I have read this info about aluminum based pans being bad. The pot I usually use is a Calphalon anodized aluminum pot, which is supposed to protect you from the food effects on the aluminum. You can research this subject for yourself, as there are many varied opinions. Mostly it seems that it is best not to cook tomato based things and soups in the aluminum pots.   

UPDATE: I have now changed all my cookware to stainless steel and enamel covered stock pots! Everything works fantastic! No more silicone or toxic surfaces. Glass containers are used for leftovers. Bye Bye toxic plastic and leeching chemicals too!

Below is a nice video series on kitchen basics, and soup making. Just omit the olive oil and use the water saute method. Follow links to other episodes. Stay comfy! 

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