Something from Nothing--Asparagus and Broccoli Soup

Sometimes you just gotta stick your head in the fridge and make do with what you have.  And sometimes you just gotta make soup.  That's how this happened.  While in my frugal state of mind, I saved both the broccoli hearts and the asparagus ends after Easter dinner.  I really wanted to kick myself, though, because I'd thrown out a ham bone a couple of days before this.  I was thinking, well, if I don't eat split peas, or navy beans, well, I'm just totally not going to try to make any kind of imitation of those to go with that ham bone--I could not wrap my brain around making anything but split pea soup with that ham bone.

Image from www.thedeliciouslife.com

So I threw it out.

And immediately regretted it.

Because no sooner was it touching the compost garbage, then I thought--wait, I could use to to seriously flavor ANY kind of vegetable soup!  Just like bacon makes it better, ham flavor makes things better, too--ham goes with everything, doesn't it??  Well, next time, my clean-out-the-veggie-crisper-soup is going to involve a ham bone, dang-it!


The biscuits come from Satisfying Eats.  They totally rocked.  See note at bottom.

Now, on with the recipe!

Ingredients:

Image from www.eatingrichly.com

1 cup (roughly) asparagus ends, PEELED
2 cups broccoli stems, hearts (PEELED) or crowns
1/2 cup onions, chopped
2 cups broth--ham, turkey, or chicken preferably
1 ripe avocado
1 - 2 Tbs lime or lemon juice
butter or fat to saute
garlic powder, salt and pepper (optional)
1 cup leftover ham, or bacon (optional)

Method:

In large heavy-bottom pot or dutch oven, saute onions in butter until translucent.  Add broth, broccoli and asparagus, cover and simmer on medium-low heat until broccoli and asparagus are very tender (about 20 minutes).  Remove all to blender or food processor and puree until smooth, adding avocado and lime/lemon juice here.  Return to pot along with ham, if using, heat through, and taste.  Add garlic, salt and pepper if necessary.  Add bacon, if using, right before serving.

*These were the best paleo biscuits I've eaten, to-date!  Voted on by my whole family; actually tasted like flour had been used.  They were fast, and easy.  I only added about 2 Tbs of the Parmesan  and skipped the stevia altogether.  Awesome.  I will be serving these with every soup from this point on...

Bone Broth Tomato Soup

Sometimes I just want simple and filling--and in the wintertime, warm comfort food.

Sometimes that comfort comes in the form of a hot bowl of soup.  As much as I love a warm mug of homemade bone broth, sometimes a bit of flavour variety is needed.  Sure, sometimes boiling broth with a scrambed egg dropped in with chopped green onions (egg drop soup) is divine, but is that all there is to life? I say no.  Eating should be an adventure.

This idea came from 2 places--first, a simple tomato soup from Canadian Living Magazine here, which I paleo-ified up and served to my family to great reviews, and this recipe by my low-carb-loving friend Danny at Primal North.  This soup is waaay better tasting than that canned stuff so many of us grew up on.  And it uses bone broth, so it's good for the guts, too.  Win, win.  And it's super-fast and easy.  What more can I say?!  So here goes.

Serves 1 very hearty bowlful.

Ingredients:

• 1 c homemade bone broth, preferably poultry
• 1/2 c tomato sauce (look for no-sugar-added brands)
• 2 Tbs finely chopped leeks (or onion, or shallots)
• butter, for frying leeks
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
• 1/4 c full-fat whipping cream (or coconut milk if you don't mind a bit of coconut flavour)
• sour cream/yogurt/bacon for garnish, optional

Method:

Saute leeks in butter until softened.  Add garlic and saute 1 minute more.  Add italian seasoning, bone broth and tomato sauce, simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, add whipping cream, stir.

Add garnishes, if using.  

*I tend to freeze my bone broth in ice cube trays, and in 1-cup servings (that I freeze, remove from their containers, then stack them in a freezer bag to store).  This made preparing this recipe especially fast and easy.  How do you store your bone broths?

See the white chunks?  My yogurt garnish sank to the bottom of the bowl ;(