recipe

Super Easy Super Delicious Vegan Tomato Soup

Abigail Cox

Guys it’s already fall! Summer flew by, but I’m not upset about it because fall means cozy sweaters, cute boots, hot yoga, and delicious fall recipes. Speaking of recipes, let’s talk soup. I LOVE soup, but I have never been a great soup creator to be completely honest. That’s why I start simple when it comes to soup 😉

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Today for lunch I made a straight up 5 star italian tomato soup. Sounds pretty basic, but there was a flavor explosion going on in my mouth! My kids loved it and slurped up the very last drop. Also the mouth watering tomato herb aroma flowing through the house wasn’t too bad either!

 

This particular tomato soup is so easy and takes about an hour to make from scratch! Not to mention it’s vegan as well:) Vegan tomato soup… yes please!!!

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Vegan Tomato Soup Ingredients:

 

  • 2 lbs of fresh organic tomatoes (different varieties ensures maximum flavor! I used heirloom and your typical on the vine tomatoes.)
  • 1-2 organic shallots peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 orgainc garlic cloves peeled and cut into chunks
  • 3 springs of organic thyme, leaves picked from stem
  • 1-2 tablespoons of organic extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt + pepper
  • ½ heaping cup of raw cashews (soaked for at least 2-3 hours and drained)
  • 1 tablespoon organic tomato paste
  • ¼ cup organic basil (fresh)
  • 2- 2 ½ cups of vegetable stock
  • 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

 

Steps to Make Your Super Delicious Vegan Tomato Soup:

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slice your tomatoes. For larger tomatoes slice into quarters and for smaller slice into halves, if cherry tomatoes leave as is. Place your sliced tomatoes on baking sheet.
  3. Cozy up the garlic and shallots to the sliced tomatoes on the baking sheet.
  4. Sprinkle thyme leaves over the tomatoes, garlic, and shallots.
  5. Then drizzle the 1-2 tbsps olive oil over the tomatoes, garlic, and shallots. Add salt and pepper to season the tomatoes. Then place baking sheet in oven for about 30-35 minutes.
  6. While tomatoes are in the oven blend cashews, tomato paste, basil, vegetable stock together. Set aside.
  7. When tomatoes are starting to look wrinkled/roasted and your mouth is watering from the very fragrant tomatoes then go ahead and pull those babies out. Add the tomatoes, garlic, and shallots to the blended cashew mixture and blend on high until your have a smooth puree soup texture. (If you have to blend a few tomatoes at a time due to space in your blender that is perfectly okay!)
  8. Once all blended and smooth go ahead and add the soup to a pot and bring to a simmer. Add in the balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste!
  9. Enjoy your delicious restaurant style soup:)

 

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Organic Blackberry Sorbet

Steve Craig

As the dog days of summer drag on, nothing beats the heat quite like a tasty frozen treat. Fortunately, fresh fruit sorbets are incredibly easy to make and much better on your waistline than ice cream.

organic blackberry sorbet

So delicious and so easy to make!

Since all fruit sorbet recipes follow the same basic pattern (1. make simple syrup, 2. add fruit, 3. blend and chill), you can get creative with whatever fruit is in season in your area. For this recipe, I used a a pint of delicious organic blackberries fresh from the Bend Farmer’s Market — the hardest part of this recipe was not eating all the juicy berries before the syrup was ready!

blackberry sorbet ingredientsOrganic Blackberry Sorbet Recipe

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 1 cup water
  • 2/3 cup organic sugar
  • 1/2 organic lemon
  • 1 pint (16oz) organic blackberries
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Instructions

  1. Make a simple syrup by bringing the sugar and water to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Remove the simple syrup from the heat and pour in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Rinse the blackberries and add to the mixing bowl. Let the blackberries steep in the hot simple syrup for about 10 minutes.
  3. Using a hand mixer, blend the berries and simple syrup into a puree. Squeeze the juice of the half lemon and stir into the mix. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the mixture for at least one hour.
  4. Start up your ice cream maker (I used a Conair Cuisinart 1.5-quart ice cream maker, which is the perfect size for this recipe). Pour the blended mixture into the ice cream maker. After 10-15 minutes of churning, the sorbet should be ready to go; check the consistency as the sorbet solidifies to get the perfect texture.
  5. Scoop out the sorbet and serve, or store in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 weeks.

Smoothie bowl: 101

Kelsey Bushong

Smoothie bowls. They are everywhere. Or at the very least, posted up on every foodie-nutritionist instagram/blog. So, here I am telling you that, yes, you should make them. And yes, I am totally down with this food fad.

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Here’s the thing I really like about the smoothie bowl craze, it’s a process (if you want it to be). Now, I’m not saying they are hard to make, I am saying that you intentionally pick out your ingredients, blend, pour, and decorate with all the goodness you can find. Have you ever heard of mindful eating? For me personally, making these delicious, nutrient dense bowls of vibrant color are the epitome of mindful eating. Consciously deciding on the flavors and colors, arranging the toppings in an artful pattern, and then enjoying and being grateful for the fact that you get to consume such goodness. Amen to that!

Anyways, let’s get down to it.

First off, you need a base. Now, with my smoothies I tend to add a bit more coconut water, but with smoothie bowls it’s nice to leave them thicker so that they hold up everything on top. I more often than not use all frozen fruit in order to achieve that thickness and I always use coconut water as my liquid. I also try and add some sort of superfood to my base such as spirulina, maca, camu camu, probiotic, fish oil…you get the idea. Spirulina makes a deep and intense green which adds to it’s amazingness!

Smoothie bowl base ideas:

Green: kale (fresh or frozen), frozen banana, frozen pineapple, frozen mango, spirulina, ginger, coconut water.

Acai: acai (you can buy frozen packets at health food store; near the frozen fruit!), frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, frozen blueberries, water.

Purple: Kale (frozen or fresh), maca, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, frozen bananas, coconut water.

The options are really endless. You can find young coconut meat in the frozen section and add that with coconut water, raspberries and banana and you’ve got a gorgeous, vibrant pink base. Really, it’s all about experimenting!

Now onto my favorite part…toppings.

I more often than not buy these in the bulk section at my grocery store, but lately I’ve been seeing the brand nutiva popping up at target for SUPER cheap and they have great hemp seeds, cacao nibs, goji berries, mulberry, and chia seeds. When it comes to the fruit, I like to mix both fresh and frozen fruit for texture. Fresh banana and frozen raspberries are a favorite combo of mine.

Some other great toppings: Hemp seeds, bee pollen (local source!), pumpkin seeds, shredded coconut, granola.

And last but not least, a new favorite thing of mine to do is adding a nice swirl of almond butter on top. You achieve so much texture with creamy, crunchy, and soft when you add something from each of these categories. The next thing to do is to get after it and be creative with placement, which is super fun 🙂

Some inspiration:

Let’s here your favorite combinations for post yoga fuel!

Kelsey Bushong
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