Whether you’re a practicing vegan or a meat-eater looking to improve your health, The Easy Vegan: Over 440 Delicious Recipes and Menus for Every Day of the Year (Hampton Roads Publishing, 2012) offers hundreds of recipes to reinvigorate your everyday meals. With more than 440 recipes ranging from appealing appetizers to delicious desserts, Janet Hudson’s The Easy Vegan takes a healthy approach to some of the most common dishes. In the following excerpt, Hudson shares two vegan soup recipes that are easy to make but still delicious.
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Creamy Almond Soup Recipe
Serves 4
5 cups almond milk
3/4 cup olive oil
6 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 garlic cloves
4 saffron threads
2 dashes of sea salt
2 tablespoons white peppercorns
6 ounces almond paste
1/2 cup cane sugar
Slivered almonds to garnish
In a soup kettle, bring the almond milk to a boil.
Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the parsley, garlic, saffron, salt, and pepper to release their flavors. Place in a food processor and pulse with the almond paste and sugar.
Mix the combined ingredients into the milk and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Garnish with almond slivers.
Truffled Minestrone Soup Recipe
Serves 6
4 tablespoons organic Merlot
2 cups chopped yellow onion
2 tomatoes, diced
4 carrots, sliced
4 celery ribs, sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup green lentils
3 bay leaves
5 sprigs thyme
1/2 sprig rosemary
10 cups vegetable broth
salt and pepper
3 cups pasta shells
1 bunch chard, chopped
3 tablespoons truffle oil
Heat the red wine in a large soup pot, add the onion and sauté until translucent. Add the tomatoes, carrots, celery, parsley, and garlic and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the lentils, herbs (add to the soup in a bouquet for easy removal) and broth. Bring to a boil and then season to taste. Simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the herb bouquet and add the pasta and chopped chard. Adjust the seasoning and cook until the pasta is tender, about 10 minutes more. Season each serving of soup with 1/2 tablespoon of truffle oil.
Read more: Find more of Janet Hudson’s tips for simple vegan cooking in Easy Vegan Side Dish: Scalloped Rutabagas, Easy Vegan Dinner Recipes and Easy Vegan Desserts.
This excerpt has been reprinted with permission from The Easy Vegan: Over 440 Delicious Recipes and Menus for Every Day of the Year by Janet Hudson and published by Hampton Roads Publishing, 2012. Buy this book from our store: The Easy Vegan: Over 440 Delicious Recipes and Menus for Every Day of the Year.