West African Peanut Soup

Happy Belated National Soup Swap Day! We were delighted to see a record 50 soup swaps are or were scheduled to take place across the country (and one in the UK) this month or next. Be sure to check out Knox's official site www.soupswap.com for full coverage of all the soup swap action! It sounds like everyone enjoyed sharing stories and swapping some delicious soup!

For those of you who'd been asking about our next soup swap, don't worry. Your invitation wasn't lost in the mail, we just decided to postpone ours until next month. We'd both been under the weather and then I was traveling. When we do have our event, you can count on hearing about it here and on soupswap.com.

Plus, it's never too late to host a swap of your own! As Eleanor at Amuse-Bouche points out, a little effort on your part will pay off in a big way by filling your freezer with a wonderful assortment of soups to savor for the months ahead. Go get your soup on!

Even without hosting a swap this week, we still managed to have some soup simmering on the stove. We've been on a mission in the new year to eat healthier foods and cut back on cream, meat, white flour and sugar. I figured it would be a great time to pull out one of my favorite cookbooks, Sundays at Moosewood Restaurantfor a little inspiration. This vegetarian cookbook features recipes from across the globe.

With co-workers from Senegal and the Ivory Coast, I'm always excited to hear about what they're cooking at home. My friend Moustapha mentioned a peanut soup he'd thrown together with fish and chicken, so this West African vegan version seemed like a good bet. I'm a big fan of peanut butter and since peanuts are actually good for you, I couldn't wait to try it. Next time I'll make my own peanut butter, but this time around I used what I had on hand from the store. This all natural version contained only two ingredients: peanuts and salt. The way it should be!

West African Peanut Soup

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Serves 6 to 8

2 cups chopped onions
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 serrano chili, seeded and minced
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger root
1 cup peeled and chopped carrots
2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potatoes
4 cups vegetable stock

2 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes or tomato juice
1 cup peanut butter (chunky)*
1 Tbsp sugar (optional)
salt to taste
1 cup chopped scallions
chopped peanuts
hot sauce (optional)

1. Saute the onions in the oil until just translucent. Stir in the cayenne and fresh ginger. Add the carrots and saute a couple more minutes. Mix in the potatoes and stock, bring the soup to a boil, and then simmer for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

2. In a blender or food processor, puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid and tomatoes. Return the puree to a soup pot. Stir in the peanut butter until smooth. Taste the soup. Its sweetness will depend upon the sweetness of the carrots and sweet potatoes. If it's not there naturally, add just a little sugar to enhance the other flavors and add salt to taste.

3. Reheat the soup gently, using a heat diffuser if needed to prevent scorching. Add more water, stock, or tomato juice for a thinner soup.

4. Serve topped with plenty of chopped scallions, chopped peanuts and hot sauce to taste.

*Use homemade peanut butter or a store bought brand made only from peanuts and salt; nothing else!

Adapted from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant

Chicken "Noodle" Soup

Cough...Sniff...Ach-OOO... Yep, the flu that has been going around at work has finally caught up with us. When Adrienne texted me yesterday to say she wasn't feeling well, I was already feeling kinda funky myself. After I got off work, I knew what I had to do. I threw a chicken, some celery, carrots and kale into my shopping basket and headed home. I swirled together a quick chicken stock in one pot, sauteed my veg in another, and in about an hour and a half I had a big steaming bowl of chicken noodle soup ready to eat.

We've replaced most of our white flour pasta reserves with whole wheat pasta. For awhile now I've been getting pasta from Litteri's and this past weekend we drove over to their market with one goal in mind: a couple of their hot and simple meatball subs. We came home with subs, yes, but we also ended up with a big box of goodies including more pasta, wine, cheese, canned tomatoes, anchovy paste, a squeeze bottle of roasted yellow pepper finishing sauce, and more. Definitely check this place out if you're in DC, but beware... you could go as crazy as we did!

Anyway, so, when I was rummaging around in the pantry, I came across these whole wheat pasta shells to use in the soup instead typical noodles. I like shells because they give the soup a satisfying toothy bite plus they're small enough to spoon in one bite with less slurping than traditional noodles.

The upside is that whole wheat pasta is better for you; the downside is that the pasta tends to break up after soaking in the broth for awhile. You could certainly cook the pasta separately and add it to individual bowls to keep it intact, but I just let the pasta do what it was going to do.

There's nothing better than a big steaming bowl of brothy soup on a cold day to warm you down to your toes. And if you're feeling a little under the weather, this traditional chicken soup with a little noodle twist is bound to soothe your aching throat.

Now where'd I put that big box of tissues?

Chicken "Noodle" Soup
Makes 6 servings

8 cups chicken stock (see below for recipe if making your own)
2 lbs chicken breast and leg quarters
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup celery, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
1 cup onions, small dice
1 cup kale, chopped in short ribbons (I like Dinosaur Kale)
1 cup whole wheat pasta shells (or whatever pasta you like)
salt and pepper to taste hot sauce to taste (optional)

Quick Chicken Stock

2 lbs chicken breast and thighs, skin removed
1 onion, halved
1 carrot
2 stalks celery
4 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1/2 tsp black pepper
water to cover, about 8 cups

1. Make a quick chicken stock by adding raw chicken, onion, carrot, celery, bay leaves and pepper to a stock pot and cover with water, about 8 cups. Bring to a near boil then turn down and simmer for an hour. Skim stock of as much fat as possible, then strain stock and reserve chicken pieces. When chicken has cooled, cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

2. Alternately, if you are using prepared chicken stock, put raw chicken into the cold stock and bring just to a boil. Cover, turn off heat, and let sit for about ten minutes. Pull out cooked chicken and cut into bite-sized pieces and set aside.

3. While the stock simmers, saute onion, celery, and carrot in olive oil in a dutch oven on low until soft but not browned. Add stock, cooked chicken, kale, pasta and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce to taste.

(Spicier) Vegetable Lentil Soup

What are your resolutions in the kitchen for 2008? While we have a goal to make and share more calorie-friendly soups all year long, we've already started a tradition of posting a "healthier" soup every New Year's Day. This makes sense to us since it's that time of year when people start hitting the gym in full-force and resolve to eat better. We've also received a number of emails requesting healthier versions of our soups, so Margaret's also been working on a post with tips on how to cut corners in soup recipes and make them healthier. Look out for that a little later this month.

For now, put on a pot, enjoy your last day out of the office, and delve into this 98-calorie-per-cup soup, adapted from Dr. Michael Roizen's book YOU: On A Diet.He's the guy you may have seen on PBS in his scrubs. The soup is called Spicy Vegetable Lentil Soup, but as I made it, I realized there wasn't going to be any spice to it. Typically, that's fine with me, but when a soup says it's spicy, you expect it to have at least a little zing. The only pepper in it was a red bell, which tends to be the sweeter pepper and the only seasoning mentioned was an optional salt and fresh ground pepper.I thought *maybe* the abundant garlic and the balsamic vinegar might do it, but just not so. This soup seemed to be missing something. So, I decided to make a few minor adjustments that I knew wouldn't really impact calorie intake. Those changes included using a little vegetable stock instead of all water and adding some red chili flakes for some much needed heat and body. What's also nice is that if you like a thicker soup, you can just simmer it down longer and it will end up with more of a chili texture.

You'll make enough to finish out the rest of this week, so pack your lunch tomorrow and take along this guilt-free soup with only 1.6 grams of fat per serving. It's a great way to start recovering from the gluttony of the holidays.

If you're looking for something even more extreme health-wise or something to nurse that hangover from last night's celebration, you could try the Detox Broth from Ultrametabolism. Or, if you're trying to ensure good luck in the coming year, we have a not as healthy, but cheesy and yummy Blue Luck Soup recipe you might want to check out.

Whatever you're eating to kick off 2008, we wish you a healthy, happy, and fun New Year!

(Spicier) Vegetable Lentil Soup
Makes 10 cups

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
5 garlic cloves, sliced
2 quarts (8 cups of water), we used 2 cups of vegetable stock and the rest water.
1 cup dried lentils
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes, undrained
2 bay leaves
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4-1/2 tsp red chili pepper flakes
salt and fresh ground pepper

1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in carrot, bell pepper, and garlic; cook 3 minutes.

2. Add stock and/or water, dried lentils, tomatoes, bay leaves, and vinegar; bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered 18-20 minutes until the lentils and veggies are tender. If you prefer a heartier texture to your soup, let it simmer for another 20 minutes or so to cook off some of the liquid.

3. Season to taste with the chili pepper flakes and a few pinches of salt and a few twists of fresh ground pepper.

Enhanced recipe from YOU: On a Diet
by Michael F. Roizen, MD & Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.