Zucchini and Basil Soup by Anna Thomas

Anna Thomas' recipes never cease to amaze me.  Her Zucchini and Basil Soup is outstanding!  It tastes creamy, yet there is not a bit of cream in it.  The amount of basil seemed excessive as I prepared the soup, but when I tasted it, I was singing the harmony of basil and zucchini for days upon end.  This recipe, found on pages 311 and 312 of her newest cookbook, Love Soup, will be one you will return to many times over and serve to guests who don't need pureed food, yet they will be asking for the recipe.  I guarantee it! 

If you aren't familiar with Anna Thomas, she is the legendary chef of vegetarian cooking.  Her first cookbook, The Vegetarian Epicure, published in 1972, revolutionized kitchens across America, bringing vegetarian cooking to a new culinary level.  To purchase your own copy of Love Soup, (believe me, you won't  be disappointed with this cookbook!) and to see a list of all of her cookbooks, please visit her website at Anna Thomas - Vegetarian Epicure.   She has links there for you to purchase her books from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other sites, as well.  

Zucchini and Basil Soup

I checked out a copy of Love Soup from the local library for two weeks and had to use a vice grip to get it out of my hands to return it.  I purchased my copy from Barnes and Noble the same day I returned the library copy.  You can see in the photograph above how many little page markers I have inserted.  And although the title of the cookbook implies it has only soup recipes, it actually contains far more than this.  My family has also enjoyed other recipes such as her recipe for Kale Salad with Cranberries and Walnuts.  Oooohhhh...sometimes I miss those crunchy salads.   But thankfully, her culinary talents have brought so much Pzazz to my soup world, as she elevates green soups to a whole new level.   The fact that such a legendary chef enjoys green soups as much as I do makes me feel.....well........it makes my eating style feel normal.....almost.  

The only element I changed in this recipe for Zucchini and Basil Soup was to substitute coconut oil for olive oil to accommodate my dietary needs.  Her cookbook does not provide a nutritional analysis for each recipe and I calculated that using SparkPeople recipe calculator, as I do for all recipes posted on this blog, unless noted otherwise.  The nutritional analysis uses coconut oil rather than olive oil. 

Anna Thomas' recipe for Zucchini and Basil Soup and other delectable soups is available in her cookbook.  I highly encourage you to try it!

Nutrition:

Servings per recipe: 9                          
Serving Size: 1 cup                  
Calories: 107
Total Fat: 6 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 377 mg
Total Carbs: 11 g
Dietary Fiber: 3 g
Protein: 2 g

Black Bean Salsa Dip

Garden bounty of heirloom tomatoes

I created this recipe on the spur of the moment, using ingredients I had.  A few black beans and some cilantro left from the weekend and fresh salsa that Tom made from the  bounty of fresh garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions. So I combined the black beans with some salsa and threw in some extra cilantro and a bit of Fage Greek yogurt to make it creamy.  Superb! If you don't have the ingredients to make fresh salsa, you can easily use your favorite brand of purchased salsa.  For the nutritional analysis, I used mild Pace Chunky Style Salsa.  Ah....the joy and Pzazz of creation.

Black Bean Salsa Dip

Tom's Garden Salsa

Ingredients:

1/3 cup salsa
1/2 cup cooked black beans
2 Tablespoons Fat Free Fage Greek Yogurt          
1 Tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

Georgia Flame and Czech Hot Black Peppers from the garden

Preparation:
Put all ingredients into a Magic Bullet or similar gadget and puree to desired consistency.  Garnish with another small dollop of Greek yogurt and finely minced fresh cilantro.  Delicious with whole grain tortilla chips!










Nutrition:
Servings per recipe: 2

Garden Goodness!

Serving Size: 1/4 cup                                
Calories:78
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 374   mg
Total Carbs: 13  g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 5 g

Zucchini Pok Choy Soup

Harvest from a single day from Tom's vegetable garden!

Here is the harvest from Tom's vegetable garden in just a single day. WOW!   It is definitely a banner year for the vegetables.  It is the last of the beans (purple and yellow), but just the beginning of the many varieties of heirloom tomatoes, more suyo long cucumbers (nearly 50 cucumbers from a single plant),  the second harvest of pok choy,  and.........more zucchini!  Some people might be glad when their gardens stop producing zucchini, but not me....bring it on!!  I can always find more ways to prepare it.  

View of the garden from the deck

And today's lunch was a good example.  Just a simple zucchini/pok choy soup.   Is it spelled Pok choy or pac choi???? I posted an earlier recipe for a Pok Choy Broccoli Soup, but as I looked at the seed packet Tom had ordered from Territorial Seed, I realized that it was spelled "pac choi", so there are apparently a few different spellings.    "Pac choi".  "Pok Choy". It's fun to say, isn't it?  And doesn't it conjure up images of all things Asian and exotic?  If you aren't familiar with pok choy, it is a member of the brassica rapa family and a dwarf version of the more familiar bok choy.   Bok choy is Asian cabbage and delicious.  Pok choy is simply an extra tender version of it.  And like bok choy, it is filled with high amounts of beta-caratene, vitamin B6, vitamin C, folate, calcium and iron.  Pok choy is also a great source of vitamin K.  

Zucchini Pok Choy Soup

Garden Pok Choy ready to be washed.

I wanted a quick and simple lunch and so skipped doing the usual saute of onions and garlic that is the most often prelude to many of my creations, and opted instead for the addition of garlic powder, onion powder and Chinese 5-Spice Powder.  It took no more than 20 minutes to make it,  and probably not much more to eat it, either!  I enjoyed it with left-over tofu from last night that I had sauteed with Asian spices.  For supper last night, we enjoyed a stir fry of pok choy, baby bella mushrooms, garden peppers, onions, celery, garlic, ginger, and garden carrots.  After it was all stir fried in coconut oil,  I took out a portion for me and put it in the Magic Bullet and Pok Choy Pzazz!  Try saying that three times in a row! 

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 cup sliced zucchini
1 cup pok choy leaves, chopped

Sauteeing zucchini and pok choy

(wash and drain pok choy before chopping)
1/4 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
garlic powder to taste
onion powder to taste
5-Spice Chinese Powder 


Preparation:
Thoroughly wash and drain the pok choy, then chop it.  Heat the oil in a pan and add the sliced zucchini.  Saute it until it is nearly tender.  Add the chopped pok choy and cook until the leaves are wilted.  Add the vegetable broth and continue to cook over medium heat until the zucchini is tender.  Add the seasonings and blitz it with Pzazz in a Magic Bullet or similar gadget to puree.  

Nutrition:

Servings per recipe: 1

Zucchini Pok Choy Soup with Tofu

Serving Size: Approximately 3/4  cup                        
Calories: 163
Total Fat: 14 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg                                        
Sodium: 86 mg
Total Carbs: 10 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g
Protein: 2 g

Simple Summer Squash Soup

Simple Summer Squash Soup

This recipe for Simple Summer Squash Soup is one I found on The Kitchn blog, which I just recently discovered and love.  While most of the recipes are out of my realm of pureed, low-fat, and low-glycemic, the plethora of great recipes for most people is astounding.   

But, back to my diet and life.  I modified this soup for my needs by using coconut oil rather than olive oil and the taste of the coconut oil complimented the Indian spices of cumin and curry quite well. Don't be deceived into thinking the use of cumin and curry make the soup too spicy.  It was the perfect amount and did not overwhelm the taste of the summer squash.   I used yellow crookneck summer squash for this soup and, as always, was impressed with how creamy this type of summer squash becomes when it is pureed.  Of course, you could use any type of summer squash that is invading your garden.  This soup got a five star rating by both Tom and me. And the ease of making this soup means Pzazz!  I will likely make it frequently.  

Yellow Crookneck Squash, Zucchini, and Eight Ball Summer Squash

Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 lbs summer squash, sliced into 1/2-inch thick pieces (5 cups)
1 medium onion
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (not ground cumin)
1 teaspoon curry powder
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
(I used two 14.5 oz cans of low-sodium vegetable broth, so it was a bit more than 3 1/2 cups)
salt and pepper to taste (if the vegetable broth you use has salt in it already, you probably won't need any additional salt)


Preparation:
In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat.  Add the cumin seeds and cook, stirring often, until just fragrant. Add the garlic and onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add sliced squash and cook until just softened, about 10 minutes.

Add curry powder and vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer about 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, and using an immersion-blender, puree to desired consistency. Allow to cool before seasoning with salt and pepper.

Ladle into soup bowls to serve and garnish with cilantro or parsley, if desired.    

Ready to eat  Simple Summer Squash Soup

Nutrition: (using coconut oil)

Garden Gold in a Glass

Servings per recipe: 6
Serving Size: 1 cup                                        
Calories: 97
Total Fat: 7 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 88 mg
Total Carbs: 7 g
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 2 g

Zuke, Cuke, and Basil Soup

Zuke, Cuke and Basil Soup

Just when I thought I had exhausted all of the possibilities to use the bounty of zucchini growing in Tom's garden, I found a recipe for zucchini gazpacho.  But really?  Zucchini gazpacho???   And as I was trying to wrap my brain around the idea of zucchini gazpacho, I read the list of ingredients, and it seemed like a mish-mash of flavors including basil, dill, artichokes, squash blossoms, olive oil, vinegar, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini.  Whoa....that's quite a mixture.  Maybe the fact that I found the recipe in a flyer for auto insurance should have alerted me to the lack of fine culinary taste.  Anyway, it was time to seriously modify this recipe as I could see some potential.   I retained the most basic ingredients of zucchini, cucumbers, tomato and basil to form the foundation of flavors, then added a dash of red wine vinegar for a punch of flavor.  It worked!  The fresh basil is what really made this refreshing, easy, attractive soup so full of Pzazz!  Bring on that zucchini!

Ingredients:
1 cup peeled, cubed zucchini
1/3 cup chopped tomato

Zucchini, cucumber and basil 

1/3 cup peeled, chopped cucumber        
5 fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
dash of sea salt


Preparation:
Place all ingredients in a Magic Bullet or blender
and puree to desired consistency.


Nutrition: 
Servings per recipe: 1
Serving Size: 1 cup

Calories: 47
Total Fat: 0 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg                        
Sodium:  12 mg
Total Carbs: 11 g
Dietary Fiber: 4 g                                              
Protein: 2 g

Italian Summer Squash Soup

Variety of summer squash Tom harvested in one day!
White Patty Pan, Yellow crookneck summer squash,  & Green zucchini squash

Garden Gold!  The bounty from Tom's garden simply keeps multiplying, especially the varieties of summer squash.  I remembered from last summer that the yellow crookneck summer squash has a particularly creamy texture when pureed into a soup.  This creation was a quick throw-together that Tom ate as a side dish before I pureed the remainder for me.  The fresh herbs from the pots on the deck are what really made this dish pop with flavor. Of course, feel free to put in whatever fresh herbs you have available.  The possibilities are endless and each full of Pzazz!

Italian Summer Squash Soup

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons coconut oil
4 cups cubed crookneck summer squash
(peel the squash if it grew to mutant size and the skin is tough, otherwise there is no need to peel it )
1/2  cup chopped yellow onion
2 teaspoons minced garlic

Variegated lemon thyme

2 - 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh lemon thyme        
2 - 3 Tablespoons chopped fresh purple basil
1 - 2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground cracked pepper

Purple basil with sweet basil

Preparation:
Heat the oil in large skillet and saute the onion and garlic until brown and fragrant.  Add the summer squash and saute until the squash is tender.  A bit of water or broth might be needed to prevent sticking. Add the fresh herbs and salt and pepper and cook until the herbs are wilted and tender. Pzazz!  It's ready to puree and eat!    



               

Potted herbs on the deck
Variegated lemon thyme, rosemary, lavendar, watercress and chamomile

Nutrition: 
Servings per recipe: 4
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 88
Total Fat: 7 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 150 mg
Total Carbs: 6   g                                                          
Dietary Fiber: 2 g
Protein: 2 g

Southeast Asian Coconut Zucchini Soup

The funky round zucchini in the basket served as the basis for this soup today.  This unique and delicious soup is from The Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites cookbook.  Several years ago, I purchased this cookbook in an antique store for a mere $3 and have never been disappointed by any of the recipes I have tried from it.  This one was no exception.  The recipe was really created as a vegetable side dish of zucchini, but it lent itself to a pureed soup incredibly well. 

 I was quite impressed that Tom's garden supplied so many of the ingredients : the zucchini, the mint, the basil, and the fresh chili pepper. Tom has two types of peppers in the garden this year:  "Jimmy Nardalo's" and "Some Like It Hot".  For this soup, I used the first one, which is on the mild side of a medium hot chili pepper.    For the scallions, I used "walking onions" (Allium cepa) from the garden.  These easy-care shallotlike bulblets are also known as Welsh, or Egyptian onions and provide an easy care green onion for the entire summer.  The mint was part of the lettuce mix that Tom had planted in the deck pot and he decided he doesn't really like mint in his garden salads.  That's ok because I can find many uses for it. 

Jimmy Nardalo's and Some Like It Hot Chili Peppers
from Tom's garden 

If you turn your back on your garden for a day and the zucchini sneaks up behind you, this recipe will provide something new for you to try.  Combining it with the Asian-inspired coconut and lime creates a whole new flavor that will surprise and delight you.  If you serve this as a side dish to others in your family without pureeing it, I think it would be great with Jasmine rice.  

Mint in Tom's salad mix

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
(or olive oil if you prefer)
4 cups cubed zucchini
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2  fresh chili, minced, seeds removed for a milder "hot"
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
2 green onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1/4 cup reduced-fat coconut milk

Potted sweet basil, purple basil and lemon basil

Preparation:

In a skillet, heat the oil and saute the zucchini, garlic, chili and turmeric for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add the scallions, lime juice, basil, mint and coconut milk.  Cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, until the zucchini is tender.  Stir occasionally and if necessary add a splash of water to prevent sticking.  Add salt to taste. Puree in a blender or other device.  The zucchini has enough water in it naturally that the blender was adequate to puree this soup.  

Adding fresh mint and basil to the saute of zucchini, garlic, chili and turmeric

Southeast Asian Coconut Zucchini Soup

Nutrition:    
As a vegetable side dish without pureeing it, the cookbook said it serves 4, and provided a nutritional analysis.  But when I  pureed it, the yield was 2 cups, so this made two one-cup servings.  So I simply doubled the amounts in the nutritional analysis from the cookbook for this pureed version.  
Servings per recipe: 2
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories: 112                                            
Total Fat: 5 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg                                                        
Sodium: 106 mg
Total Carbs: 16   g
Dietary Fiber: 5 g
Protein: 3 g