Vintage Cream of Mushroom Soup

Mmmmm… mushrooms.

Don’t tell me! I already know — you either love ’em or hate ’em, right?

Mushrooms, like cilantro, seem to be one of those weird foods that really tend to polarize people. Some find them pleasing to the palate, while others want to run, failing and screaming, down the street.

See, I’m a mushroom lover. Fried in butter, poached in white wine, on my veggie burger, on my pizza, in my soup, in my salads, raw, cooked, whatever — they will all end up in my tum!

That said, this is a soup for lovers — mushroom lovers, baby. Oh, yes — I just had to go there.

It’s rich, it’s fatty (although not as rich and fatty as a cream soup could be), it’s creamy, and very, very mushroomy. For a recipe I found on the side of a soup cup in a junk store in Olalla, it’s surprisingly delicious and robust.

Creamy Potato Leek Soup with Honey and Thyme

It’s almost the end of January, and I’m still chugging away at that box of potatoes I received in December.

I’ve been trying to think of things to make with potatoes… y’know, other than mashed potatoes and baked potatoes and hashbrowns, which are all very tasty — but not particularly good to eat day after day!

Why is it that potatoes seem to go best with stuff like butter and sour cream and cheese and more butter?

I like you, potatoes, but I think this relationship might be bad for me!

This is where leeks come in — they’re like a fatty potato intervention. They’re full of vitamin A, insoluble fibre, and even a little iron.

Creamy Corn Chowder

I’m feeding my soup addiction again!

I can’t help it — I’m not much of a cook, but I can saute and boil food well enough, and since making soup only requires these two cooking techniques I’ve got soup-making down solid.

Chowder is actually one of the types of soup I didn’t cover back in November and I totally should have — it’s major comfort food.

For those of you who don’t know, a chowder is a thick soup with onions and potatoes in a creamy milk or tomato base. Usually chowders include bacon, too, but I don’t eat pork, so… yeah. Mmm, potatoes!

Tempeh Veggie Stew

Have you ever heard of tempeh?

I hadn’t until just a couple weeks ago. It’s a kind of savory, fermented soybean cake with a slightly nutty taste.

Tempeh is also very dense and holds its shape well — even better than the firmest of extra firm tofu, which means that you can dredge it in flour and season it with salt, and then brown it on either side for extra flavour!

Not only is tempeh is super healthy, but it also does a good job of also taking on the taste and aroma of whatever else you cook it with.

Move over, tofu — I want tempeh!

I’m going to finish off my November “Soup Month” with a stew, since stew is definitely in the soup family: liquid with good stuff floating in it!

French Onion Soup with Gruyère (à la Vegetarian)

I had never tried French onion soup.

French onion soup is almost always made with beef broth, and since I’ve been a vegetarian since I was about 13 years old — which is long before most kids like anything other than eggs, cereal, pancakes, apples, oranges, bananas, carrots, peas, potatoes, peanut butter, jam, toast, sandwiches, rice, noodles, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, burgers, candy, cookies, and cake. So, by the time I was old enough to really appreciate food and stop thinking that onions were the devil, it was too late to try it.

I remember French onion soup, though — not mine, mind you, but a bowl my mom ordered in France, many, many years ago… the golden-brown cheese, the cracking sound it made as her spoon broke through the thick crust, the rich fragrance of caramelized onions…

This is why, when my friend started talking about the French onion soup she’d had at Tim Horton’s the other evening, this vivid memory came rushing back and I knew I finally had to try this soup myself.

Curried Yam & Coconut Soup

So the name of this soup is a bit of a misnomer, depending on who you ask.

Real yams are hard to find in North America — but not everyone knows this, nor do they know what the difference between yams and sweet potatoes is.

The thing is that, around Vancouver, supermarkets tend to label white-fleshed tubers with tapered ends as “sweet potatoes”, and orange-fleshed tubers with tapered ends as “yams”. Also, I’ve noticed that a lot people around here just say “yam” when referring to all types of sweet potato — especially since bright orange, deep-fried “yam fries” are extremely popular in local restaurants and bars.

You can see how people might get confused.

Either way, I’m not going to stop using the word “yam” for sweet potato. I grew up using the word yam, and I don’t really feel like correcting myself (and everybody else around here) anytime soon.

Yam, yam, yam.

So, on to this week’s soup! It’s perfect for fall, but it doesn’t really taste like fall: it’s a seasonal soup, with an out-of-season twist.