• 1 yellow pepper (kim & sonia)
• 1 onion
• 2 grated carrots
• 2 big cloves of garlic
• 1 shallot (iris & shae)
• 4 potatoes (iris & shae)
• 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes (jenny)
• 6 cups of water
• 2tsp salt (or to taste)
• fines herbs (parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil)
• 2tbs (more or less) olive oil for sauté

Stupid delicious. Vegan. Low sodium. Heart healthy. Served with Tassajara Yeast Bread.

I may be forgetting a couple items, so feel free to correct as needed.

• 1c dry black beans (half a regular size bag)

If you have forgotten to soak them overnight, don’t fret.  Inspect the beans, put in a good-sized pot and fill with water. Bring water to a boil, cover the pot and let sit for at least an hour, test the bean for tenderness, drain off the water and then they’re ready!  Set aside.

In a skillet or heavy-bottomed pot, sautee in a bit of olive oil or butter:

• 1 large onion
• 3 cloves garlic (or to taste)
• frozen corn
• frozen peppers

Add beans & some water into the sauteed mixture. Season with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, paprika, cumin and whatever other kinds of spices you might like or seem appropriate. At this point if  add:

• 1/2 – 1 can black olives (if you like them)
• 1/2-1 large can of tomatoes (or fresh if in season)

And just before serving, top with

• grated sharp cheese

A thicker version of this soup is delicious over rice, polenta or corn cakes.  A thinner version of this soup accommodates polenta dumplings really well.

• 1 Onion
• 3-4 cloves of garlic (or to taste)
• 2lbs leeks, sliced
• 2 large carrots, shredded
• 2tbs olive oil or butter

Sautee the above ingredients in the oil until they smell exceptional. Add:

• 3qts water
• 1 vegetable bouillon
• 1-2tsp Summer Savory

Simmer for about a half hour until all vegetables are soft. Broth should be a rich, warm color, but still clear.  Add cilantro or parsley for either garnish or add considerably more directly in the soup if you like it.

Yum Yum!

The next Soupy Sunday event is scheduled for Sunday, November 29th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We’ve held two so far, and they’ve been a lot of fun, so I hope you can make it.

Thanksgiving can produce a lot of waste on food that hasn’t been quite eaten up in time, so we think it’d be a great time to have people bring their leftovers and we’ll make some odd concoctions, play music, read poetry or perform a short play.

Mashed potatoes make great latkes; cranberry sauce can make for something interesting in the pot, stale bread can make a nice bread pudding: There are lots of ways to reconfigure food about to spoil!

You may bring meat, but because we have many vegetarians in our circle, it would be helpful if we keep the meat separate from the soup and not double dip utensils.

So let’s be thankful together! Bring a bowl, something to drink and something leftover!

The soup du jour was White Trash Taco Soup. Keri and I first got hooked on this soup about 3 or 4 years ago when her brother, Thompson, made it at his house. Let me tell you, it is DELICIOUS. Why do we call it “White Trash Taco Soup”? It’s the “secret” ingredient… one can of cheap beer. Preferably, Pabst. Last night’s version was a bit more upscaled with some Sam Adam’s Oktoberfest which works just fine.

Keri has set us up with a blog on WordPress.com here so you can subscribe to the email notifications about upcoming Soupy Sunday events.

Occurring every other Sunday through the late Fall and Winter, Soupy Sunday is a way to beat the cold-weather blues with hot soup, warm friends & cold drinks.

Every Soupy Sunday is child-friendly. We ask that if your child is exceptionally picky, that you bring something they might like.

Crucial to Soupy Sunday success is to Bring Your Own Bowl.

For obvious reasons, we are not posting our home address to the soupy blog. If you know us, you’re welcome to come. If you don’t know where we live (because we move so often, really!), just get in touch by phone, email or through facebook and we’ll get you all gussied up for the ball.

What we did was have each person attending the party bring one ingredient to add to the soup. It didn’t take long for our huge cast iron Jambalaya pot to fill up. So many ingredients, in fact, that we had to start a second (non-vegetarian) soup in our cast iron wok. While the soup cooked and Keri’s bread baked in the oven a bunch of us formed an impromptu jug band in the living room. The sounds of spoons, conga, steel drum, guitars, and castenets filled the air. Ah! Fun!

The soup turned out to be delicious even though we didn’t follow a set recipe. The two soups both had a vegetarian base made with sauteed onion and garlic, tomato, herbs, dandelion and other greens, macaroni, celery, and cauliflower. The vegetarian one had vegan “Italian sausage” added to it and the non-vegetarian had chicken and hot peppers. I had the vegetarian, of course. Click on the pictures below to see the larger version.

I’d like to thank everyone again for coming and for the clean up help. Much appreciated! Keri and I plan to host another one soon and the soup will most likely be our famous taco soup. Yum!