Winter Soup with Seitan

Here it is the dead of winter. The sun has begun to make his slow journey back to life but the days are still short and cold. Until our modern age of artificial environments humans depended as much on what they put in their bellies as what they wore on their backs. In winter, stews and soups were the norm as stores of root vegetable were relied on together with dried beans, grains and wild game until the next growing season. Today we eat anything grown or made anywhere in the world that makes into our local market. We live and work in heated or air conditioned environments and travel under the same conditions. Yet no one can deny, though, most of us crave a good hearty hot soup with plenty of vegetables in cold weather.

I thought I would write an article this week with a nice recipe for a seitan and vegetable soup that is both simple and top notch.  All the ingredients are easily obtainable in your local health food and grocery stores as you can see from the photograph. If you study the nutrient fact label I have included (look for it at the end of this article) you can see the high protein and high energy this soup provides.

Open a package seitan and put half of it on a cutting board. Seitan is a high protein faux meat made from whole wheat flour by an ancient method developed by Buddhist monks in China and Japan. It is in the dairy case of any health food store and located near the tofu. Coarsely chop the escarole and wash and roughly chop the escarole. Mince the garlic. Put each in a separate bowl or dish. Open the cans of beans and pour half of each can into the colander or strainer and rinse under cold water.

Heat a soup pot and add a tablespoon of oil. Stir in the seitan and turn heat down to low. Stir occasionally but slow seitan for about 10 minutes to dry out and then brown. Next add the onions and garlic and another teaspoon of the olive oil. Stir and cook this another three minutes then add the mushrooms, celery and spices. Stir cook on low another few minutes then stir in the escarole and increase the heat to medium. Cook a few more minutes until the escarole becomes wilted down to half its original volume or more.

Now add in the tomatoes, turn up the heat to high and bring to a boil. Next add in the vegetable stock, carrots, kidney and garbanzo beans, and green peas and bring this to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for ten minutes then add the macaroni and simmer for another 15 minutes. Recipe makes about six large servings.

Ingredients

          Two - 32 oz.                   Organic vegetable broth, Swanson

          One – 14.5 oz.                Organic diced tomatoes, Muir Glen

          1 cup                             Seitan, Westsoy

          ½ cup                            elbow macaroni

          ¾ cup                            kidney beans, canned rinsed

          ¾ cup                            garbanzo beans, canned rinsed

          1 small                           onion

          2 stalks                          celery

          4 oz.                              mushrooms

          2 medium                       carrots

          1 small head                   escarole

          3 cloves                         garlic

          ½ cup                            green peas

          2 Tbsp                           olive oil

          1 Tbsp                           oregano

          1 Tbsp                           thyme

          1 tsp                             cracked black pepper

          1-2 tsp                          sea salt

Nutrition Facts Serving Size      8 oz (227g)  Servings Per Container     about 15      Amount Per Serving   Calories  92    Calories From Fat  20                    % Daily Value Total Fat           2g                         3% Saturated Fat     0g                        1% Trans Fat            0g Polyunsaturated Fat 0g Monounsaturated Fat 1g Cholesterol  0mg                          0% Sodium 417mg                           17% Total Carbohydrates16g            5% Dietary Fiber      5g                     21% Sugars  4g Protein  9g Vitamin A   5%     Vitamin C       11% Calcium    6%       Iron                14% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000   calorie diet.