Creemore Dish: A love letter to soup

I could eat a bowl of soup every day of the week (and I often do)! I love making it, and concocting new ways of throwing together different ingredients to produce a delicious and nutritious meal. I can often be found with my head hanging over the stock pot, breathing in the delicious flavours of a soup in process. Soup making is truly one of my zen moments in the kitchen.

While easy to enjoy on one’s own, sharing a bowl of soup together represents comfort, love and community. Whether it is at Campbell House Hospice where lunchtime homemade soup is a comfort to family dealing with a loved one’s palliative diagnosis, or the monthly Double Toonie Lunch at St. Luke’s, a nourishing bowl of soup can bring people together and warm their hearts and stomachs at the same time.

I am kicking off 2025 with a new direction in recipes, and soup is a good place to start. I had been thinking of doing a series of columns about cheap and cheerful meals, coupled with tips and tricks to stretch everyone’s food dollars out. With the increase in food insecurity in the community, and knowing that many do not know how to prep things themselves (even the basics) or lack the confidence, I will also focus on how to cook simply.

There is no better way to start than with soup – easy, simple, filling. If you don’t have the ingredients listed in a recipe, you can change it up anyway you want. It’s also a great way to use up veggies that have seen a better day but are still good enough not to throw out. 

Tip of the week: Put a plastic container in your freezer marked “Soup.” Whenever you have leftover veggies from dinner, odds and ends of veggies like bits and pieces of onion, tomato, carrot, that are small but still usable – throw them in the container rather than the garbage. When it is full, you have the base for your next pot of soup. 

Trick of the week: If your kids (or partners) are not crazy about veggies or chunky soups, then purée the soup, and top with some grated cheese and toast croutons. Different appearance but same nutrition!

As meat is getting more expensive these days, we should try to work with less or occasionally skip it. A great way of doing this is to cut back on meat and increase meat substitutes like pulses, which I knew growing up as legumes. At the B&B we try to do this at least one day a week and sometimes more. 

Reason 1: Pulses are produced in Canada, and include all kinds of beans, chickpeas, lentils and split peas. 

Reason 2: Pulses serve up a healthy amount of protein to substitute for meat based protein. As an example, 100 grams (half a cup) of chickpeas packs a punch of 20 grams of protein. They are also a great source of fibre.

Reason 3: Pulses cost less than meat. Canned are an economical buy at the grocery store and are often on sale. Buying a bag of dried pulses costs even less and takes only a bit more time to be softened up in water.. 

The recipe this week is one of my latest soup creations, which I hope you will try. If fresh veggies like the carrots and celery are not in your fridge or budget, you can always substitute frozen.

If you have any suggestions of recipes or cooking tips you would like to see in future columns, just drop me a note at elaine@avalonclearview.com. Until next time!

Tuscan Vegetable Bean Soup – Serves 4-6

1 tablespoon cooking oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon minced garlic (or 1 teaspoon powdered garlic)

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes

1 5.5 ounce can tomato paste

8 cups chicken broth

1 19 ounce can Cannellini beans also known as white kidney beans

1 19 ounce can chickpeas

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil (optional)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Secret ingredient – parmesan rinds or grated parmesan

In a large pot over medium heat cook diced onion until soft but not brown. Add garlic, diced carrots and celery. Stir for a few minutes and then add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, and broth. Stir until mixed. Add chick broth, oregano, basil, salt and pepper and stir again. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer, and let it bubble away for 30 minutes. 

Note – if you happen to purchase a wedge of parmesan cheese and grate it yourself, don’t throw the rind out. Wrap the rind and toss it into your freezer to save for soup. When you are making soup, throw the frozen rind in the pot and let it simmer away with the other ingredients. When the soup is done, remove the rind. You have now wrung every last bit of flavour from that cheese wedge! If a parmesan wedge is beyond the budget, you can also use pre-grated parmesan to shake on top, or serve without. Parmesan is also tops in the protein department.

Elaine Collier and her husband Steve are  the hosts at Avalon Clearview Studio B&B, where Elaine puts her culinary skills to good use.