Freezer-friendly meals! Just hearing those three words makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. This is one of the soup recipes that I made and froze before our baby arrived. I absolutely adore soup this time of the year, even better when it’s already made for me. It’s versatile, soul-soothing, filling, and healthy. Plus, it’s easy to make it into a complete meal without much fuss. I like to serve it with some toast/bread and/or salad for a lightening fast meal. I can’t tell you how comforting it was to have this soup waiting for us when we got home from the hospital.

By the way, thank you all for your tips on freezing meals. I picked up a few good ones (seriously, read the post comments if you haven’t!), including labeling all the containers. I now add a piece of painter’s tape (because it’s easy to remove) onto each container and I write the name of the meal and the date that I froze it. This way I won’t ever have to wonder what the heck is hiding in the container and when it was made. Why haven’t I done this before?

Before I get to this soup recipe that I’m sharing from The Oh She Glows Cookbook, let me tell you about another revelation I had when I was making all of this soup in bulk several weeks ago. I finally taught myself how to substitute fresh tomatoes for canned diced tomatoes in my soup recipes. I try to avoid buying a lot of canned tomato products since acidic foods often leach chemicals from the lining of cans, so I figured it was time to finally bite the bullet and experiment with making my own using fresh, in-season tomatoes. I’m happy to report that this method worked well as a substitute in two of the soup recipes I tried so far. The only thing I found was that I needed to add more salt to make up for the salt that would’ve been in the canned product. Also, I only recommend using in-season, über tasty tomatoes for best results.

How I substitute fresh tomatoes for canned diced tomatoes:

1. I use about 1.8 pounds of fresh tomatoes to replace one 28-ounce can. Many sources online suggest 2 pounds, so I wouldn’t go much more than that or you are probably adding too many.

2. Using a paring knife, create an “X” slit in the bottom of each tomato. This will make the skin easier to peel off after blanching.

3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully drop the tomatoes into the boiling water with a ladle. Reduce heat to medium-high and turn the timer on for about 1 minute. When you see the skins start to peel away from the tomato, remove and plunge directly into a bowl of cold ice water.

4. Once cool to touch, remove tomatoes from water and peel off the skin. Core and dice tomatoes. Reserve the juice and be sure to add all the juices into the pot along with the tomatoes (unless of course the recipe calls for drained canned tomatoes).

You now have an easy, fresh substitute for canned diced tomatoes! Yippee.

When I don’t have fresh, in-season tomatoes on hand, my go-to brand for BPA-free canned tomatoes is Ontario Natural Food Co-op – they are organic, sourced from Ontario, and use BPA-free cans. Another alternative is buying them in glass containers.

Now onto this creamy, spicy, vegetable-packed soup!

10-Spice Vegetable Soup

The ultimate bowl of comfort food, made with a decadent creamy broth and loaded with an array of health-boosting spices and vegetables. Be sure to soak the cashews in water the night before (or for at least 2 hours) so they are ready when you plan to make the soup. Recipe lightly adapted from The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon. Avery Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Books © 2014.

Yield
6 servings

Soak time
2-8 hours (for cashews)

Prep Time
30 Minutes

Cook time
30 Minutes

Total Time
1 Hour

Ingredients:

For the soup:

• 3/4 cup raw cashews, soaked
• 6 cups vegetable broth, divided
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
• 1 sweet or yellow onion, diced
• 3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped sweet potato, regular potato, or butternut squash
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 (28-ounce/796-mL) can diced tomatoes, with their juices (or sub with fresh tomatoes - see blog post for my how-to)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-1 1/2 tablespoons Homemade 10-Spice Blend (recipe follows), to taste
• Fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 to 2 cups baby spinach or destemmed torn kale leaves
• 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas or other beans, drained and rinsed (kidney beans are fun too)

Homemade 10-Spice Blend (makes 1/2 cup):

• 2 tablespoons smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
• 1 teaspoon white pepper (optional)
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions:

1. Place cashews in a bowl and add enough water to cover. Soak the cashews overnight, or for at least 2 hours. Drain and rinse the cashews.
2. In a blender, combine the soaked and drained cashews with 1 cup of vegetable broth and blend on the highest speed until smooth. Set aside.
3. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for 3 to 5 minutes, or until the onion is translucent. Season generously with Herbamare or sea salt.
4. Add the carrots, bell pepper, potato, celery, and diced tomatoes with their juices, the remaining 5 cups broth, the cashew cream, and 1-1.5 tablespoons of 10-spice blend. Stir well to combine . Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low. Season with salt and black pepper and add the bay leaves.
5. Simmer the soup, uncovered, for at least 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender. Season with salt and black pepper. During the last 5 minutes of cooking, stir in the spinach/kale and drained beans.
6. To freeze, ladle the soup into containers (leaving 1-inch for expansion), cool slightly, secure lid and place in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.

Tips: 1) If you don’t wish to make the 10-Spice Blend, feel free to use your favorite store-bought Cajun or Creole seasoning mix and add to taste. 2) You will have leftover spice blend. Store it in a container and keep it handy anytime you want to spice up a dish! It's great for pasta, soup, tofu seasoning, stir-fry, and more. 3) When thawed, this soup's broth looks a bit grainy, but rest assured when it's heated up again it will return to its former smoothness.

The Oh She Glows Cookbook now sold in Australia!

I’m thrilled to announce that The Oh She Glows Cookbook is now officially published in Australia by Penguin Books Australia!

You can find the cookbook at the following retailers:

Book World

Booktopia