Can’t say that I’d ever had gazpacho with watermelon and cucumber. But oh, my, was it ever good.

Hopefully by the time this recipe posts, you’ll still be able to find watermelon in your grocery stores. Because this cold soup is so very refreshing. Maybe for a fall outdoor barbecue? Might be the last.

You begin with about 5 cups of watermelon (buy a seedless one, if possible), diced up. Most of it gets blended until smooth. Pour that out into a bowl. Then the remaining watermelon and the veggies get mixed in – you add a peeled and seeded cucumber, a red bell pepper, a small jalapeno chile pepper, some inner-stalks of celery, some red onion, fresh mint, fresh lime juice, a jot of sherry wine vinegar and salt. Chill and you’re done. Refrigerate for a few hours. Serve with a little dollop of crème fraiche If you’d like. I’d also put a mint leaf on top too (see photo). This recipe came from a cooking class with Tarla Fallgatter.

What’s GOOD: the word refreshing is the best one. Cold. Soothing. Tons of flavor in it. Worth doing. Could be made several hours ahead of time.

What’s NOT: nothing really other than prepping the vegetables. Otherwise, very easy.

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You might be of the school of thought that there isn’t any way to make cauliflower edible. This soup might change your mind. Mostly because it’s the parsnips you taste!

In my repertoire of cookbooks (hundreds) I have one book that sits out on a stand in my kitchen. Why that one? Only because I like the cover colors and it fits well on the stand. Not exactly the most admirable of reasons. Yet I like the cookbook – I just don’t visit its pages very often. The other day I noticed that when I’d read through the book I’d put pink stickies on recipes I thought I’d like to make. There are about 10 of them. And this soup was one.

The book, Blue Eggs and Yellow Tomatoes: A Backyard Garden-to-Table Cookbook by Jeanne Kelley, is a treasure trove of relatively simple recipes, done beautifully with photographs and some lovely type fonts (you forget? I love type fonts). As it happened I had both a head of cauliflower AND about a pound of parsnips in my refrigerator. Yes, also I had an onion and a bay leaf. Gee, this soup was easy to make.

An onion was sweated in EVOO, then the parsnips (peeled, chopped) were added, as well as the chunks of cauliflower; 8 cups of water (I used vegetable broth) and a bay leaf and it simmered for about 35 minutes. Once it cooled a little bit I used my new immersion blender and whizzed it up easily enough. I added a little jot of salt. Since it was a hot day when I made this last month, I decided to eat it cold, although Kelley only mentioned serving as a hot soup. I left the pot out on my stove for 2-3 hours while it cooled down, then refrigerated it until dinnertime.

As an aside, I was watching a recent Cook’s Country episode on TV, and they did a test of immersion blenders. Mine is old. And I mean old (at least 35 years) – one of the very earliest models and I’ve never felt it did a very good job, so I splurged and bought a new one. Braun MQ505 Multiquick Hand Blender, Black. Braun makes several models, but this one, the cheapest ($59.95 on amazon) won their kitchen testing. I’ve used it twice in 3 days and am very pleased with it.

The topping called for currants. I didn’t have any, and on my diet I’m not supposed to eat dried fruit, but dates are okay. So I subbed dates for the currants. My kitchen garden has fresh thyme, and I easily toasted up a bunch of pine nuts in a skillet. The author cautions about that – how many times have you burned pine nuts in the oven? Way too many for me, so I, like her, toast mine in a skillet always. At the end you drizzle on a little bit of EVOO. The soup was filling and very tasty.

What’s GOOD: love the flavor – it’s the parsnips that predominate (adding a lovely sweetness), although the cauliflower adds plenty of texture. The garnish made the soup for me – the little crunch of the pine nuts, the thyme adding flavor, and then the minced up dates. Altogether delicious. Next time I’ll make a double batch and freeze some. The recipe makes enough for 4-5 generous dinner-sized portions.

What’s NOT: gee, nothing. Very easy soup to make.

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Extra tasty soup with tons of flavor, and some spiciness. Made lectin-free by using pressure cooked garbanzo beans and strained tomatoes (without skin and seeds).

Most of you aren’t eating this diet I’m on, so you can just not pay any attention to the “lectin free” info. This is just a sure-fire winner of a soup no matter whether you use pressure cooked garbanzos or not. I make a lot of soups around my house. Even in the summer. The A/C is on, so I’m not uncomfortable having hot or cold soups all summer long.

I was craving this harira soup (it’s a real favorite of mine) – I’ve made it before, but in the past I’ve made it with a big bunch of chicken thighs and then you need to cool them, skin them if they’re not already, pull the meat off and wait for it to cool enough to chop up and add back into the soup. This time I bought ground turkey to make it a bit leaner, and easier.

As I’ve continued to be on this diet I’m on (which is still working, otherwise I’d have quit), from the Plant Paradox book (Dr. Stephen Gundry), I’ve been trying to adapt some of my existing recipes, and since I knew I loved this soup already, I wanted to make it a bit more friendly for my diet. Legumes (beans) are a no-no on this diet UNLESS they have been pressure cooked, which cooks out the bad bug lectins in them. (Who knew, right?) Technically, since I’m trying to lose weight, I shouldn’t be adding these beans into my diet, but I decided to seek out the Eden brand canned garbanzos (Whole Foods carries the whole line of Eden pressure-cooked beans) and I didn’t put very many in the soup in any case. You don’t know from the can or the label that they’re pressure cooked, but they just are. I could have pressure cooked my own, but I wasn’t in the mood.

I used most of the same seasonings, pretty much the same quantities of things (less water, though, because I was not adding lentils) and the soup was sensational. Don’t be dismayed by the long-long list of ingredients. None of them are difficult to add (lots of spices) and much of the soup is normal ingredients you’d have on hand anyway.

Another of the lectin no-no’s is tomatoes with skins and seeds. At first I wasn’t eating tomatoes at all, but gosh, that really puts a limitation on soups. So I’ve researched lots of canned tomatoes and found that if it says “strained,” it means no skins or seeds. That type is also called passata in Italian. You can buy canned whole tomatoes and try to cut them open to remove the seeds too. That’s not too difficult. Most whole canned tomatoes already have the skins removed. I am eating fresh tomatoes (albeit not too many) as long as they’re big enough to peel and seed.

So, I made this soup one day and didn’t eat it until the next (always a good thing with soups, IMHO). And oh gosh, was it ever good. I didn’t miss having chicken pieces in it – the ground turkey was very satisfying. And I loved the few garbanzos in it as well. If you’re sensitive to spice (heat) you can tone down the harissa a little bit, and you don’t have to add the chiles, either. I used a small can of whole green chiles (mild) and easily removed the seeds (yes, those are a no-no also, the skin and seeds of any kind of peppers), then chopped them up finely. Although they were the “mild” kind, they did have some heat to them. Just right for me, however.

What’s GOOD: well, for me, it’s that this soup is Gundry diet friendly – but the flavor of this soup is just right down my alley. I love love this soup. Love the spice in it, the texture and flavor of the soup/broth part. It’s very filling. A 1 1/2 cup serving is ample (for me anyway).

What’s NOT: only that there is a long list of stuff to add – just plow through it – it doesn’t take all that long.

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Isn’t that the cutest thing?

As I mention frequently, soup is a common theme here at my house. I eat soup year ‘round. Recently my best bud, Cherrie gave me one of these things. She’d won it a a Bunko night and didn’t think she’d use it. I loved it so much I ordered the larger size too.

They’re on etsy.com – here’s the link to Mary Egan’s website called “Just 2 Dang Cute”:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/just2dangcute

In the event you want the larger ones, here’s a picture of both sizes:

May I make a suggestion – these would make a great gift – for a birthday, or a housewarming gift, or a Christmas gift (maybe buy 2 matching ones). Or a Bunko prize! I heat soup with the cozy in the microwave and then I take the whole thing to the table and leave it on. You can pull the soup bowl out and off, but it’s just as easy to leave it. Mary makes them with all kinds of sports teams fabric, and plenty of collectible kind of designs. She makes other things too – obviously she’s an accomplished seamstress! I think these bowl cozies are just the most adorable thing! I use mine several times a week.

Mary has kindly emailed me saying that if you order anything from her during August, 2018, and write in BLOG ON THE COZY she will refund the shipping. SUCH A DEAL! Thanks, Mary.

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As I write this, I’ve only eaten this soup warmed up (hot) but I think it would be delicious served chilled. For me, the garnishes are what make it – cilantro, almonds and chives.

The other day I was searching through my own recipes for soups, and ran across this one, and I’d taken a photo of it which was inserted into my MasterCook file, but I’d never posted it. No reason why, I’m sure (other than perhaps I made it before I started my blog in 2007?), as I’d made a note in the recipe that it was really good. So, I decided to make it again. I bought fresh cauliflower and a sweet potato (the latter, something I can have in light moderation on my low-to-no-carbs diet, as sweet potatoes are what are called resistant starches – meaning they mostly pass through the intestinal track without metabolizing much). You can add regular potatoes if you’d prefer.

This soup is a fairly thin consistency, even with the sweet potato, so if you prefer a thicker soup, do add potatoes or sweet potatoes, or use less chicken broth (which will then make less soup). I used just one sweet potato, but two was suggested in the recipe. And the recipe came from Cindy Pawlcyn, the famous chef at Mustards Grill in Napa Valley. I have her cookbook, Mustards Grill Napa Valley Cookbook, published many years ago now, but it’s one I refer to now and then. Coconut milk is now considered one of those good fats, and it gives the soup some wonderful texture, color and flavor.

Don’t skimp on the garnishes – as I mentioned, they’re part of what “makes” this soup, for me.

What’s GOOD: overall flavor, not too thick, more on the thin side, refreshing; can also eat chilled.

What’s NOT: nothing really, other than chopping and mincing the cauliflower.

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It wasn’t too long ago I made a very complex salmon chowder. Here’s another one that’s just about as good, and a whole lot easier. Maybe the steam fogged up my camera lens, you think?

I must be a sucker for salmon chowder. I do love the stuff. And this one is relatively easy to make. It does have a bit of heavy cream in it, though. If you don’t want that part, just add more chicken stock. It will still be good! Onion and celery are sautéed, then you add some corn (frozen works fine here) and potatoes, some spices and stock. It’s simmered for 15-20 minutes (or less) until the potatoes are just fork tender but not falling apart. The cream is added and brought back to a simmer, then you add in fresh chunks of salmon and fresh dill, and that gets simmered for just a few minutes. You do NOT want to simmer it long or the salmon pieces will fall apart. Scoop into bowls and add another few tender twigs of fresh dill and serve. Hot. To mmmm’s.

If you like smoked salmon, that can be substituted, which will give the soup an altogether different flavor, but still salmon, of course. If you’re not fond of salmon, substitute another firm-fleshed fish in this (halibut, tilapia, sea bass, even sole would work). Altogether delicious in any of those riffs. This came from a cooking class with Tarla Fallgatter.

What’s good: how easy it is to make, first of all. Then the delicious flavor – the aromatics and onion add lovely depth. Plenty of good texture too. Worth making for sure.

What’s NOT: nothing I can think of – this is a great soup.

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 The simplest of ingredients, just a lot of them, to make a really flavorful chowder. With chunks of fresh salmon barely cooked at the last.

Making this happened on Oscar Sunday afternoon. I’d invited 5 widow friends of mine to come to watch the show together. I made soup, and everyone else brought something else to round out the meal. It was simple enough to do, although this took a bit longer than some soups, I suppose! Not by a lot, but there were more than the usual amount of things added to this. I started with a recipe at epicurious, but I altered it so much, it’s really doesn’t bear much resemblance to that recipe.

It started out with rendering a bunch of bacon. The meaty bacon I used didn’t give off much fat, but there was enough to then cook down some fresh leeks. Meanwhile, I cooked the potatoes separately in a pot of salted water. I’d cut them into small chunks and that took about 10-14 minutes at most. The potatoes were drained and set aside. Once the leeks were mostly done I added a whole bunch of celery and green onions (4 cups of the latter – I doubled the recipe you see below), including most of the green tops since they would add good flavor. Then I began adding in the other ingredients – corn, garlic, fresh thyme, some dried thyme too, a couple of Bay leaves, red chili flakes and some chicken broth. I brought that up to just BELOW a simmer, then added in the raw salmon chunks, milk, half and half and cream, plus the potatoes – oh, and the bacon. I brought that just barely BELOW a simmer again and let it stew for about 10 minutes until the salmon was cooked through. Discarded the bay leaves and served with chopped dill and chopped chives on top. DEFINITELY don’t bring this soup to a boil or it will separate – the half and half and milk can’t hold together over high heat. Not a pretty sight, so stay close as you watch it as it cooks at about 200°F.

What’s GOOD: Delicious soup. Just plain, simple, but very flavorful soup. Everyone raved, me included. I gave 2-3 portions away to my friend Gloria and her husband, had 2 more portions to take lunch to my friend Judy on a day when she was under the weather, and had one more portion for myself for dinner another night.

What’s NOT: nothing really; takes an hour or so to make, quite a bit of chopping and dicing. Very worth it, though.

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Do you like celery root? If you’ve never had it, this might be the time to try it. Celery root has all the flavor of celery, but not the green or ribs, or strings. The root is a big, hunky brown thing you’ll find in the produce section. Not very pretty, but it makes a great soup.

There’s a celery root that I’ve already peeled, mostly. See the celery stalks poking out of the top?

The benefits of celery: it’s  an excellent source of antioxidants and beneficial enzymes, in addition to vitamins and minerals such as vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium, folate and vitamin B6. AND, it’s also relatively low in carbs.  That’s the part I like. It’s also low in calor too. Do buy one that’s big enough – the recipe here calls for 2 1/2 pounds – which might be 2 of them.

So, it does need to be peeled, as the knobby root can host all kinds of dirt and sand in the crevices. So wash well, really well, then go at it with a peeler or a knife until you get down to the white root part. Cube it up and set aside briefly while you cook some leek in butter, then add some garlic, then the celery root and chicken stock. It will take about 40-45 minutes for the celery root to get tender. The soup mixture gets pureed until smooth, and once you return it to the pot, perhaps add more chicken stock so it’s less thick, your choice as to how much.  It kind of depends on how much celery root you started with. Then cream is added (only 1/2 cup), salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, you make a gremolata (that’s an Italian word for garnish) of toasted walnuts, olive oil, parsley and some grated Parm. That’s sprinkled on the top when served. The recipe came from a cooking class with Tarla Fallgatter, and it’s a keeper. When I made it myself the other night, I used almonds instead of walnuts (the gremolata gives the soup some really nice texture), and I used Pecorino Romano, which melted into the soup beautifully. I grated it in at the end since I was all out of Parm rinds.

What’s GOOD: the celery flavor is pronounced – and it’s really tasty. I wrote “fabulous” on the recipe. I’m sure it would freeze well, too.

What’s NOT: well, maybe the tedious job of peeling the celery root. Not to everyone’s taste since it’s full of dirt. But so worth doing. If you like celery, you’ll love this soup!

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Quick and easy soup that has all the flavors of lasagna, but instead of tediously making a layered casserole, it’s combined into a soup. I cooked the noodles separately rather than cooking them IN the soup as the original recipe suggested. If you do cook them in the soup, it’s a one-pot soup dinner.

Two soups in a row . . . sorry about that, but couldn’t wait to share this recipe with you. You may have seen it on pinterest (I think that’s where I found it first) but then clicked through to find the recipe and blog at CarlsbadCravings.com. I just about never make lasagna anymore – sometimes because of the work, sometimes because it’s so carb-centric. But in this recipe, I could control the carbs (used much less lasagna noodles) but it still had all the fabulous flavors of traditional lasagna.

A good friend was visiting me – Lynn’s wife Sue was enjoying an Hawaiian holiday with a girlfriend, so Lynn flew to SoCal and stayed with me as he visited people all over the area (hey used to live here). Lynn also was SO very gracious to take care of a bunch of honey-do items for me. He was a whirlwind of busy-ness during his stay and got all the jobs done! I owe him many thanks! I’ve visited them in Colorado a couple of times, and there are Sue-recipes here on my blog, as she’s a really good cook.

Anyway, since Lynn was here, I decided to invite some mutual friends, 3 widowers, actually, (we all know each other from our church choir) for dinner. I knew they’d enjoy seeing Lynn and visiting. I knew all of their wives well, and all of us (except Lynn) commiserate about being widow(er)s. Anyway, I thought this sounded like a good dinner option for the evening, and oh, was it ever.

Since I doubled the recipe, it wouldn’t fit in my instant pot – so I made it in my big slow cooker. I cooked the pasta separately just before serving. If you’re going to eat all the soup at the first sitting, you can cook the noodles in the soup (and might have to add a bit more chicken broth to the mixture), but if leftovers are in the plan, cook the noodles separately so they don’t get mushy when the soup is reheated.

As it happened, I didn’t have any Italian sausage, so I substituted ground pork and added the seasonings that are used for Italian sausage (specifically fennel). The original recipe called for ground beef, but you could likely use ground turkey too or a mixture. The onion and meat are cooked through, then you begin adding ingredients. That’s the beauty of this dish – once the onion and meat are cooked, you just pile in all the stuff (herbs and spices, garlic, marinara sauce [or your choice of spaghetti sauce], tomatoes, tomato paste, a dash of balsamic, a dash of sugar [to counteract the acidity of all the tomato products], some cream at the end, and then the pasta is added.

A bunch of toppings are prepared – I used shredded Mozzarella, Pecorino-Romano, Italian parsley, fresh sliced basil and a good spoonful of whole milk ricotta cheese. I served the soup in the kitchen and each person added what they wanted of the toppings. Two of the fellows went back for seconds, and we had enough for another dinner for two.

What’s GOOD: the flavor is just super. So very easy to make. Quick! Tastes just like lasagna. I liked everything about it, and will definitely be making it again. I’d double it again, and freeze half, but wouldn’t add the cream to it to freeze.

What’s NOT: can’t think of a thing.

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Don’t we all like EASY now and then? Me, too. And this soup met all the criteria for ease and for taste.

Sometimes when the word “easy” is used in recipe descriptions, I’m leery – too easy and a dish won’t have much taste. With soup, you want layers of flavor and texture. Something about this recipe got me interested, and I thought it could be done in the Instant Pot. I didn’t end up doing that – only because I spent a week in Palm Desert last month and I didn’t feel like lugging the IP in my car. As it was, it makes itself just fine in a regular pot/pan, and indeed, it was quick, but also super-tasty.

All of you who read my blog know that I so believe in Penzey’s chicken stock base, and I did take THAT to Palm Desert, so I can perhaps attribute some of the fine flavor to that.

My friend Ann (who lives in Idaho) flew down for us to enjoy the warmth in Palm Desert (it was in the 80s every day we were there), and I made this one night with the remains of a rotisserie chicken. It was perfect for that, as it calls for 2 cups of left over chicken. The recipe makes plenty – enough for Ann and me to have dinner twice, and a lunch once, and there was still enough that once home I had enough for another dinner and lunch. I could have frozen it, but I didn’t mind having it that many days. It tasted just as good 6 days later as it did the first night – and maybe even better. I may not have put all the rice in – I thought the soup was already carb-centric enough with the corn, so I skimped a bit, but I enjoyed the bit of rice.

There’s not all that much to making it – onion, oil, oregano, canned tomatoes (diced), frozen corn, a little bit of rice, the chicken, good broth, and then all the fun toppings – fresh cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheese and a lime wedge. We bought a package of small (street taco size) flour tortillas, and enjoyed those alongside the soup. Sublime. The recipe came from Simply Recipes.

What’s GOOD: if the flavor wasn’t there, it would’t be here on my blog. It was very flavorful, and I loved all the varied textures (tomatoes, corn, rice, then the toppings). And for sure, it was EASY! And I mean that. It couldn’t have taken me more than 30 minutes to start and finish. That makes it a winner.

What’s NOT: uhm, nothing that I can think of.

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