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Health & Fitness

5 Essential Vegan Soups For Fall/Winter

As the cooler weather approaches, my family starts to crave hot hearty soups, and they have their favorites. I believe that there are 5 essential vegan soup recipes which everyone needs to help them get through the colder months of the year. Of course, these recipes are great for any time of the year too! 

Tonight I made my favorite Italian Minestrone Soup from one of my “go-to” vegan cookbooks, Cooking The Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello. I have never been disappointed by any of the recipes I made from this wonderful cookbook, and this includes Christina’s recipe for this awesome hearty soup. I love the way she recalls her dad sitting at the head of the table while enjoying it, with a heel of bread in one hand, a spoon in the other, and intent on not leaving a drop behind. Mmmm! 

VEGAN ITALIAN MINESTRONE 

From Cooking The Whole Foods Way by Christina Pirello 

Makes 4 to 6 servings 

Ingredients: 

-1/4 cup each dried chickpeas, kidney beans and white beans, sorted, rinsed well and soaked together 1 hour 
-1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil 
-2 to 3 cloves fresh garlic, finely minced 
-1 onion, finely diced 
-Sea salt 
-2 celery stalks, diced 
-2 to 3 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped 
-1 carrot, diced 
-Generous pinch dried basil 
-4 cups spring or filtered water (I use about 6-8 cups for a thinner soup) 
-1 bay leaf 
-1 cup tiny pasta (orzo, acini, pasting), cooked al dente and rinsed 
-Several leaves broccoli rapini, diced 

Directions: 

1) Drain beans, discarding soaking water. Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-low heat. 
2) Add garlic and onion and a pinch of salt and cook for about 3 minutes. 
3) Add celery, tomatoes, carrot, basil and a generous pinch of salt. 
4) Cook, stirring, until coated with oil. 
5) Add beans, water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer over low heat until beans are tender, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 
6) Season with salt to taste and simmer 10 minutes more. 
7) Remove bay leaf. Stir in cooked pasta and rapini, simmer 1 minute to cook rapini and serve hot. 

*Note: You can choose to cook the pasta separately so it wont get too mushy, or you may cook it in the broth (but soup will be much thicker)

For 4 more simple & delicious hearty soup recipes, go to:http://veganamericanprincess.com/5-essential-vegan-soup-recipes-for-fallwinter/#sthash.adWb9KEG.dpuf

Debby Sunshine
Vegan American Princess

Website: veganamericanprincess.com
Twitter: @debbysunshine1
Instagram: #veganamericanprincess
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