Umami Cream of Mushroom Soup {Low Fat}

Today I'm sharing another soup recipe.  This has become a favourite in our home and I've probably made it 4 times in the last two weeks.  The last two times, I doubled the recipe!  I've called this Umami because I've used umami seasoning that I had picked up at Trader Joe's when I was in America during the winter break.  I didn't need to add any salt as the umami seasoning and vegetable broth had enough.  This soup will be great even without the umami seasoning.  I've made this a low fat recipe, by using sour cream instead of heavy or table cream.  When I first made the soup, there was a lot of clumping of the flour.  To solve this, I added one cup of broth at a time and whisked thoroughly.  This reduced the clumps of flour to a minimum.  The last two times I've made this soup, I was not able to find dried porcini mushrooms in the grocery store and it still turned out delicious.  I hope you enjoy this soup as much as we do!

Beef Barley Soup

A couple of years ago, we were at an Italian restaurant in Markham, Kara Mia.  The soup of the day was Beef Barley Soup.  My husband ordered a bowl to share and really enjoyed it.  After I tried re-creating the soup at home and today I'm sharing what I came up with.  I started with a recipe from Skinnytaste and made some adjustments.  The soup we had at Kara Mia had some tomato in it so I added tomato paste.  I also added in some thyme and paprika.  This is an easy recipe to make and is very filling.  I use my pressure cooker to speed up the cooking time.  I've also used dried porcini mushrooms that add a lot of flavour.  I am not able to always find this at the grocery store, so if you don't have if, feel free to proceed without it.

Vegetable and Lentil Soup

The weather in Toronto has been up and down.  Some days feel like spring is here and the next day we are pulling out our winter coats again.  These cold days are perfect weather for a hearty bowl of lentil soup!  I've been making this soup for about a year now.  The lentils make this very filling and perfect for lunch.  The original recipe has spinach which I usually don't have on hand so I omitted it.

Curried Zucchini Soup with Minute Rice® {Giveaway}

Rice is something I always have in my pantry.  We either use it to make biryani or it is accompanying one of many Indian curries we enjoy.  We have always purchased Basmati rice.  We have ventured out to other varieties of rice but Basmati has always been our favourite.  Recently I got the opportunity to try Minute Rice®'s new line of Aromatic Rice.  They have Basmati and Jasmine rice.  I was excited to try both of them, especially the Jasmine rice as I've never cooked with it before.

Red Pepper Soup

The first time I made this soup it turned out really good.  But I've never been able to re-create it until now.  Ever since I started doing this blog I've had to pay more attention to how much of each ingredient I'm putting it and it's helped my cooking.  Now I can re-create things I've made.  I usually make this with water but I had vegetable broth in the fridge so I used that.  Most of the red pepper soups I've had in restaurants have a strong tomato taste in them which I don't like. It feels like I'm have a tomato soup.  This soup isn't like that.

I adapted it from a recipe I found at AllRecipes.com.  My main change was to replace the heavy cream with evaporated milk.  I never have heavy cream at home.  I also added some sun dried tomatoes.  If you don't have any sun dried tomatoes, feel free to leave them out. 

Black Bean Soup

I found the original recipe for this on AllRecipes.com.  I made some changes to it to work with what I had in my fridge.  After looking at the original recipe I think I may try it now that I have most of the ingredients at home.  I usually make this with water but I had vegetable broth so I used that.

Lentil Soup

I got this recipe from a friend.  It is very easy to make and is very filling.  The changes I made was to increase the garlic and baby carrots.  Also, I use water.  I never have 6 cups of chicken broth lying around.  This soup is made in a pressure cooker but you could just as easily make it in a pot.  Serve with chilli oil (recipe follows) and slices of toasted baguette.  Now you can buy frozen loaves at the grocery store and just reheat in the oven for fresh bread.