Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Tomato Pasta Soup #TheRecipeRedux

We're in the middle of a run of rainy, cloudy, damp, dark and generally blah weather here. Given that school's in session, it's not like I could be spending my days out in the garden anyways, but less than glorious weather manages to drain the energy out of the day faster than normal for me. By the time I get settled at home (after the tasks required for the next day's lessons and general housekeeping while my mom is away), I'm ready for comfort food and a good night's sleep. I'm still not far enough into the "cold weather blues" to crave super hearty stews though - while soup is still definitely an "in a pinch" go to for me, I've fallen back onto the brothier, chunk-filled variety that satiates without weighing down. Tomato-based vegetarian bowls are perfect examples of what I'm talking about - today's, for instance, is filled with brown rice rotini, red lentils, nutritional yeast and a punch of bright flavour from the Summer's garden scallions, carrots and (home-roasted) tomatoes. Taking the soup up a notch in elegance, Ontario-made red wine vinegar and home-infused Cabernet Salt sprinkle in and fit beautifully in the melange of flavours. Since I'm cooking for one, I portion and freeze the batch right after cooking and either add barely cooked pasta to each container or wait until reheat time and add freshly cooked pasta then. I haven't tried rice (just rice pasta), but suspect it would probably hold up better, especially the "Wild Pecan" brown rice I've recently fallen in love with.

Tomato Pasta Soup

This month for #TheRecipeRedux our group is serving up Fantastic Freezer Meals. Since it’s the end of the gardening season for some of us, storing that produce in heat-and-eat-from-the-freezer-meals is a great way to keep the flavour going all Winter long! Let us show off how convenient healthy freezer breakfast, lunches or dinners can be, and feel free to chime in with your own experiences - I'd love to hear what you do!

Tomato Pasta Soup




Tomato Pasta Soup
Makes 6 hearty servings
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large stalk celery, diced
4 cloves garlic
3 cups gluten-free, low sodium vegetable stock
2 cups roasted tomatoes (I used homemade)
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
½ tsp Cabernet Salt
½ tsp black pepper
2 stalks green onions, minced
1 cup brown rice rotini or shell pasta
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ cup red lentils
  1. Warm oil in a pot over medium heat and add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring, until softened, about 8 minutes.
  2. Add the garlic and cook 1-2 minutes, until fragrant.
  3. Add the stock, tomatoes, basil, vinegar, salt, pepper, lentils and yeast.
  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, 10 minutes.
  5. Stir in the green onions and pasta (adding water if necessary) and cook until al dente, about 15 minutes*.
*Note, if you are freezing this for later it’s wise to either significantly undercook the pasta (5-7 minutes max) or cook it separately and add it when you reheat. 

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 242.1
Total Fat: 3.8 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 532.6 mg
Total Carbs: 43.8 g
Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
Protein: 8.4 g 

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