Soup On the Cheap!

I've been trying to cook from my plethora of cookbooks more than usual lately. I have a very bad habit of buying new cookbooks with reckless abandon, but then I never actually try the recipes. The cookbook I've been trying out this week is Vegan On the Cheap by Robin Robertson. I've had this one for years, but I usually just rely on her bulk recipes such as the Baked Seitan Loaf on page 51.

First up, the Almost Instant Chickpea Tomato Soup. This soup was so easy to make and only required like, 5 ingredients - most of which I always have on hand. The recipe calls for you to puree the chickpeas, but I need some texture in my soups. This soup has a creamy, tomato-y base and tastes like summer in a bowl. I garnished it with some fresh basil from the garden. Any dish that has an ingredient "from the garden" is superior to all other dishes. Just sayin'. P.S. sorry about the craptastic iPhone picture. I swear this soup tastes better than I make it look.

This was a great way to use up the unreasonable amount of kale I picked from my mom's garden last week. Robin's Caldo Verde has a simple spice mixture of marjoram and crushed red pepper. I used double the amount of red pepper called for to give it an extra kick. I think adding some lemon zest/juice would be a nice addition to this flavor profile. This is definitely a comforting winter soup, and I do not necessarily recommend eating it when you live in humid-ass Huntington, West Virginia. P.P.S. Soup isn't complete without a big chunk of crusty ol' bread.