I’m home sick today, feeling pretty lousy.  I was craving soup, but all I had in my cupboard was creamy tomato and butternut squash soups.  Creamy soups are not at all what I want when I don’t feel good.  I had about a cup of dried split peas in the cupboard and a huge bag of carrots in the fridge, so I figured I’d make some split pea and carrot soup.  This is really tasty and simple — and it requires minimal effort, which is perfect when you’re pretty sure your sinuses are squeezing your head into oblivion.

The colors of the raw carrots and split peas are really pretty too.  Please make sure you pick through your dried split peas before you cook them for the soup– I almost always find a tiny stone or two in there.  Also, this soup is vegan as written, optionally vegetarian if you use butter, and also optionally fat-free if you sauté the onions in water.  Holy versatile!

Split Pea and Carrot Soup

• 1 Cup dried split peas, carefully checked for debris and rinsed
• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 large carrot, finely diced*
• 1/2 large sweet onion, diced*
• 1/4 tsp salt
• dash pepper
• 1 tsp vegetable bullion (optional)
• 1/8 tsp Liquid Smoke (optional)
• 1 tsp earth balance (vegan margarine) or olive oil or butter or water

Melt the earth balance over medium heat in a large pot.  Add the onions, salt and pepper.  Cook until the onions are translucent.  Add the carrots, bullion, liquid smoke, and water.  Bring to a boil over high heat then knock the heat back to low/medium low to simmer for 30 minutes or until the split peas are tender.

At this point, you can blend the soup (or half of the soup) in a blender for a smooth soup, or leave it chunky.

Notes:

• No picture of the finished soup because let’s be honest- it’s not attractive.  Tastes great though!
• * Here is a good time to use one of those mini food choppers if you have one.  You want really small pieces of carrots and onion if you are going to leave the soup chunky.
• The liquid smoke is optional, but I think it gives the soup a nice flavor.  I add it here because most traditional split pea soups have ham hocks or bacon in them and the liquid smoke mimics that flavor.  You could also saute some crumbled vegetarian bacon or ham in with the onions to get the same effect.
• You can make this soup fat-free by omitting the earth balance or oil and just using a bit of water in the bottom of the pot to saute the onions.  I like the flavor of the earth balance here though.

I’ve made these chicken-style seitan nuggets a few times now, and I’m a big fan.  The recipe comes together in minutes, they bake quickly, and the texture of the finished product is perfect.  Seitan can sometimes be really rubbery and tough, but these are just right.

Last night, I made a batch of the dough and made half into nuggets, and then experimented with the other half.  I was oddly craving Italian Wedding Soup (I have no idea why, I’m pretty sure I’ve never had it before, but I saw a can of it in the store and it looked really good) so I wanted to see if these could work as tiny “meat” balls.  Well, it worked perfectly!

I pinched off tiny pieces of the dough, rolled it between my palms, and placed them in a cast iron skillet over medium heat.  I skipped the breading step in the recipe.  They cooked pretty quickly, just a couple of minutes per side and they were done.  The texture was great!  I’d love to try baking these next, to cut down on the oil a bit, but honestly these were so awesome.

I looked up what Italian Wedding Soup is made of, and while the recipes varied quite a bit, it seemed like a broth based soup with meatballs and greens.

I started with olive oil, onions, garlic, and celery.  Next I added some crushed red pepper flakes, oregano, and dried basil.  When the vegetables were soft, I added some red wine, then added water, vegetable bullion, kidney beans, and the meatballs.  I let that simmer away for 30 minutes or so, then added a few handfuls of torn spinach.  I let that wilt in for a bit, then dished out a bowl.

It was great!  Just what I wanted on this cloudy day.  I think next time I’ll hold off on putting the meatballs in so early, as they got a bit spongy, but the flavor was still great.  The soup also came together very quickly and could be made to feed a ton of people for not very much money.  It’s also pretty versatile.  Like most soups, this “recipe” is one that can be easily modified to use what vegetables and canned beans you might have on hand.  My dad makes a soup similar to this with kale or swiss chard as the greens.  Cannelini beans would also be great here.  Really, soup is a great way to experiment with flavors.

Yes, this “recipe” is for ramen noodles.  No, it’s not healthy.  I suppose subbing the seasoning packet that comes with the fried crunchy noodles of goodness with vegetable bullion makes it a bit healthier, but not by much.

I love ramen noodles, and I don’t know if I’ll ever stop loving them.  We called it “curly soup” when I was little because of the shape of the noodles.  Now I just call it comfort.  I slurped this up yesterday afternoon when I came home from work early with a migraine, and combined with a couple Excedrin migraine and a nap with my head under a pillow, I felt 90% better after.

Trashy-Fab Noodle Soup

• 1 package of ramen noodles
• 1 vegetable bullion cube
• few slices of red bell pepper
• handful of baby spinach
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 of a lime
• handful of cilantro

Boil water, add noodles (discard the seasoning packet).  After 1 minute, add the bell pepper slices and spinach. 30 seconds later add bullion cube, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  Pour into a big soup bowl and add the juice of the lime, dropping the lime into the bowl after (I just think this is fun!)  Add the cilantro, tearing into pieces as  you add it.  Top with a few drops of sriracha and eat your trashy-fab creation!

Note:  If you’re classier than I am, sub the ramen with soba noodles or other pasta.  If you’ve found a healthy alternative quick-cooking noodle  that actually tastes good, pleaseeeeee let me know!

**Don’t judge me, you know you love ramen noodles too!**