Recipe: Sweet Potato Swiss Chard Soup

This hearty but simple soup is packed full of the flavors of the fall harvest. With sweet potatoes, onions, and chard, you'll be in a fall veggie lover's dream with this easy and flavorful vegetarian soup! Just a few, simple, fresh ingredients make this a winner to make, and to eat. It's great as a side dish, or even as a main vegetarian course. Use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth for a different flavor as a non-vegetarian option.

Sweet Potato Swiss Chard Soup
(Serves 4 - 6 as a side dish.)

Ingredients:

1 large onion, coarse diced
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, grated
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
6 spring onions, chopped, include green tops
6 cups vegetable broth
1 lb Swiss chard, washed, trimmed, and coarse chopped
kosher salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

• Put a big soup pot over medium heat, add the onion and olive oil and cook until onion softens, then add the garlic and cook for one minute more.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the pot, bring to a boil, then immediately turn heat to low and simmer gently for about 15 minutes or until the vegetables are all tender. 
• Taste and season with more salt and pepper as needed, and serve hot.

Recipe: Sweet Cider Red Cabbage Soup

I'm not sure if the origins of this recipe are Russian or not, but it seems a bit Russian to me.... It's a great fall dish, warming and sweet, and packed with the flavors of fall. The red cabbage gives it a beautiful color, and while it may seem to be out of your comfort zone when it comes to flavors, it's simple enough to take a risk on. This would be a nice side dish with a pork roast. Give this one a try, and see how this simple vegetarian peasant soup suits your palate.

Sweet Cider Red Cabbage Soup
(Serves 2-4.)

Ingredients:

1 medium size head red cabbage, shredded
1/4 cup chopped dates
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3 cups real apple cider (or apple juice)
1 cup water
1 regular size carrot, coarse grated

Directions: 

• In a large soup pot over medium-high heat, combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, put the lid on the pot, and simmer very slowly for 20 minutes, or until cabbage is very tender.
• Serve hot. 
• To balance the sweetness of this soup you may want to add a dollop of Greek yogurt to the top of each serving.

Recipes: Roasted Pumpkin Apple Soup

We're wrapping up our month of fall harvest soups with a week of soups on the sweeter side. After all, fall is when sweetness comes into its own! With sweet and tasty fruits and vegetables like apples, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, fennel, and cider at every turn, it's easy to find ingredients for making hearty fall vegetable soups this time of year.

Check out today's recipe for a great way to use up that sugar pumpkin you picked up on a whim at the farmer's market. This simple soup is sweet, spicy, smooth, and delicious - the essence of fall in a bowl!  And be sure to check back later this week for some more interesting soups on the sweet side!

Roasted Pumpkin Apple Soup
(Serves 2-4.)

(Image courtesy of tiramisustudio at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs of diced cooking pumpkin
1 large firm apple, peeled and diced
2 Tbsp cooking oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
3 cups vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
1 cup whole milk

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and get out a large baking sheet.
• Put the pumpkin pieces, apple pieces, cooking oil, salt, and cumin in a large bowl and stir to coat very well; dump out onto the baking sheet and roast in oven fo4 45 minutes, or until pumpkin and apple are browned and soft. Stir with a spatula several times during the roasting time. Remove and let cool slightly.
• Scrape pumpkin/apple mixture (with all the oil and seasonings on the baking sheet) into a blender, add some of the vegetable stock and puree until smooth. Do this in batches if necessary, pouring each batch out into a clean soup pot as you go.
• When mixture is all pureed and in the soup pot, put over low heat and stir in milk. Heat just until hot, do not boil.
• Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.
• For a creamier soup, add the milk during the puree process along with the milk.
• Serve hot.