The past few weeks have been as close as I can ever imagine being to running my own tiny little restaurant.
Only, it’s in my house.
As we strive to keep dairy, wheat, soy, peanuts and eggs out of Leo’s meals, we remain confined (for the most part) to eating at home, and I’m doing my best to make everything from scratch to avoid a lot of fake, weird foods, packages or dismal meals. So far, so good. I’ve never thought so hard about how to make something creamy without using cream or milk of any kind, and I’ve also never been so successful in achieving it! Turning all of my recipes on their heads has been the answer for how to keep us all well fed at least three (who am I kidding, more like 5) times a day. And, we’re still excited with what we’re eating, I’m still not burned out on cooking. All around, we’re winning.
We’ve got some new “blueprints” to make it happen; a pasta night, a pizza night (made with homemade sourdough crust!) there’s typically a roasted chicken with potatoes, or pureéd roots (sunchoke! parsnip! rutabega!) a few guest appearances and, because its always a low-lift shoe in, there’s a veggie-forward soup. Divine.
Not only because it’s so easy to pull off (ESPECIALLY with an InstantPot) but also because it just feels good in the winter for all the reasons.
While a pot of soup isn’t something that you “need,” it is nice to have a little guide for a great one. And this creamy, satisfying Everything Winter Chowder – made entirely without dairy or coconut – is a new favorite of ours.
You don’t need to be a holistic practitioner of any kind to understand why a warm bowl of soup is fuel for the soul in the winter, balancing for every body. Through these vata-and-kapha dominated seasons, as the cold, wet, heavy, dense, weather prevails, a bowl of something warm is everything we want at our core. And, it’s so easy to make a soup balancing for the weather.
In the early days of fall, when Vata prevails, we want/crave/need a grounding bowl of warmth that’s densely nourishing, grounding, hearty. Chicken soup, chili, beef stew. And, as the winter wears on, we’ll notice that the body craves less of that density and more subtle lightness, as the heft of Kapha takes hold. This soup is highly adaptable, depending on the way you build your recipe. The formula here is perfectly suited for a midwinter meal – it’s grounding, nourishing, and hearty…but in a plant-forward format. The beans, grains and celery root base that gives this chowder its creaminess is light and gentle. But, if you make it with chicken, or a more creamy grain, or even a higher quantity of
A bowl of soup is nearly always the answer this time of year. And this one can easily be made into the right thing every time.
The recipe you’re about to read is absolutely one that you can follow rote, and achieve a practically perfect little soup that will thrill your sweet-old-lady soul (or in my case, my middle-aged mom spirit who also just effing loves soup!) The way it works is this: you make a gorgeous celery root pureé, make your soup, then stir the pureé in to make it creamy (without cream!) It’s divine, unexpected and so so good.
But we all know that it’s no fun to have to hunt down a list of ingredients to make a recipe happen, and so this is also an invitation to make this recipe your own.
I used the veggies that I had from our winter farm box this week (yes, the farms still have produce here and I bet yours do too!) and so a soup was born. But if you have a bunch of carrots, lots of potatoes, a pumpkin, or something else awesome absolutely throw it in. In fact, throw in every single winter veggie you can find.
As for the protein, I love a bean soup, but you could use chicken, or another protein of your choice.
Same for the grains. Barley or cracked wheat is what I recommend below because they don’t turn the soup into a texture that’s too porridge-y. But if you have quinoa, or rice, or another favorite…do you!
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