Nicole Is Cooking

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(Note for non-nerds: for searching and matching in various computer languages ‘*’ is a wild card character so it can match anything. So among nerdy vegetarians and vegans, veg*n gets used since * can stand for “etaria” in vegetarian or “a” in vegan so you can write “veg*n” instead of “vegetarian and/ or vegan”. In theory it could also be “jkweljkrt;lwej” or “834″ or anything else.)

I think tonight was the first night in the past 3.5+ years that I told my Mom I was sick and she didn’t automatically respond with “Get some chicken soup then go lie down.” (go Mom!). It is of course a natural motherly reaction since she eats meat and I have for more of my life than I have not. But that does beg the question- what kind of comfort soup should you give your sick veg*n? Well, I have the soup for you!

Sure, you could crack open a can of something. But if you are taking care of someone that is sick, isn’t it nicer to make them something homemade and comforting? I found this recipe two years ago and it quickly became my favorite comforting “sick soup”. It comes from A Beautiful Bowl of Soup: The Best Vegetarian Recipes which I highly recommend whether you are vegetarian or not (a lot of the recipes are vegan too or are easy to veganize by omitting some garnishes).

My comfort soup is the Greek Orzo and Spinach soup from the book. It is just packed full of healthy stuff for when you are sick as you can see from my ingredient line up.

There is orzo and spinach, of course. Also diced tomato (that is one of my packed jars from the summer), onion, parsley, red pepper, garlic, and lemon.

Now, you get to meet my cast iron dutch oven which I am quite fond of! I seasoned it myself. Here we have one coarsely chopped onion cooking in some olive oil. Cook the onion over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it is translucent (about 5 minutes).

Then add one finely chopped red bell pepper and some diced cloves of garlic. According to the recipe you should use 3. However, since I tend to make this when I am sick, I usually use 6 or 7. Cook this until the onion starts to brown and the pepper is soft (about another 5 minutes).

Add 5 cups of vegetable broth and 15 ounces of diced tomatoes with their juices. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil.

Once the broth comes to a boil, add 1/2 cup of orzo, 6 ounces (about 4 firmly packed cups) of spinach (you can shred, tear, or chop it depending on your tastes), and 1/4 cup of diced fresh parsley. Reduce the heat so the liquid simmers and cover. Simmer until the orzo is tender (about 10 minutes).

When the orzo is cooked, add 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice and season to taste.

Voila!

I always keep extra lemons on hand to squeeze some more fresh juice in when I reheat the soup. I have eaten almost an entire pot of this in the past 24 hours. Hopefully my cold goes away soon because I think I am down to my last 2 cup container of soup!