Comfort in a Bowl: My Favorite Soups, Revisited

Soup is my very favorite thing to cook any time of year, and to eat any time of day (especially for breakfast!), so it’s the justifiable star of the show now that there’s a chill in the air. Here’s a round-up of soup recipes to inspire you.

Pureed carrot soup with parsnips by Brian Mahieu (gluten-free, vegetarian).
Light, silky, and loaded with flavor.

Vegetable Beef Soup
Slow and savory vegetable beef soup by Laura Carter (gluten-free). My death-row, desert-island meal. This is all I need! (gluten-free)

Here are a couple of soup recipes from Chelsea Reetz Bunetic, a farmer who knows how to make her ingredients sing.

This type of old-fashioned sieve and pestle juicer is equally good for making tomato juice and watermelon agua fresca.

Spiced Chickpea and Heirloom Tomato Soup (vegetarian and gluten-free).
An interesting blend of heat and spice livens this tomato soup, thickened with chickpeas instead of cream.

Kale White Bean Potato Stew (vegetarian and gluten-free).
A hearty, tasty all-vegetable stew you can make all fall and winter. Who doesn’t love kale?

Tomato Basil Bisque by John Corn
(video and recipe, vegetarian and gluten-free). A creamy bisque featuring the classic pairing of tomatoes and basil, enhanced by summer veggies and goat cheese.

Mushroom Barley Soup
Mushroom barley soup by Grace Collins (vegetarian). A rich and classic soup that tastes and looks like food peasants of the seventeenth century would have eaten.

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup by Grace Collins (gluten-free).
A rich, complex soup with the perfect balance of tart and sweet ingredients.

Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels
Chicken Corn Soup with Rivels, Pennsylvania Dutch style, inspired by Jeff Smith. This is great with fresh-off-the-cob sweet corn, but pretty awesome with frozen corn too.

Finally, here is my go-to soup when I want something fast and warm and comforting: The World’s Simplest Soup. It can be made from leftover takeout rice, rotisserie chicken, and whatever greens you can scrounge from the garden, the freezer, or the produce aisle. Quick, healthy, and so easy I can make it for myself if I’m not too sick.

OK, get out there and make some soup! These soups all freeze well, so buy a dozen 2-cup glass storage dishes and you’ll have meals ready to heat and eat until next spring. And remember, soup is for breakfast too!

Ready to make your own soup? Let us know how it turns out!