A wonderful soup for spring

It's spring here - finally! And with spring comes thoughts of green and all things light and fresh. In honor of spring, I want to share a delicious vegetable soup that we've been enjoying recently.

Not long after I started this blog, I reviewed a vegan cookbook called the 30-Day Diabetes Miracle Cookbook. We don't have diabetes in our family, and we're not vegan, but we have come to love this cookbook. It really has some wonderful recipes in it - including this soup.

The cookbook introduced us to an odd ingredient that we hadn't heard of before - nutritional yeast. I find myself using it in all kinds of places now - on oven-baked french fries and especially on any of my cooked vegetables. If you haven't discovered nutritional yeast yet, read my old post on nutritional yeast and then go get some to try! It adds a nice kind of nutty cheesiness that really complements vegetables - and it makes this soup.

I was a little nervous when I first made this soup - wondered if it would be flavorful enough or just taste like a bunch of vegetables dumped in water - but I made it at the request of my husband. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that it is absolutely delicious! It's a light (though substantial enough to be a meal) soup that is quick to make. Don't leave out the nutritional yeast if you can help it! It really pulls the flavors together.

One note on the soup - it calls for a vegan chicken-style bouillon. I use Better than Bouillon Chicken Base instead, but you could use a regular bouillon, a vegan bouillon, or even plain old chicken broth (using less water if you go with broth).


Summer Vegetable Soup

4 cups water
1 1/3 cup cubed unpeeled red potato
1 cup sliced zucchini
1 cup sliced yellow squash
2/3 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
2/3 cup celery
1 1/3 cup sliced carrot
2/3 cup chopped onion
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/16 tsp dried savory
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp chicken-flavored bouillon
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Red Star nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 cup fresh spinach
1/3 cup frozen green beans (steamed fresh or canned would work well too)
1/3 cup frozen green peas

In a large pot, place all of the ingredients, except the spinach, green beans, and peas, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, and return to a boil. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

As a bonus, try cooking some lima beans in some broth (or in water with bouillon), several whole garlic cloves, and a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast. Delicious! It's my favorite way to serve lima beans these days.