All The Soups I Made This Winter

It’s the middle of May and everyone’s sitting down to a big bowl of steaming hot soup.

Not really. Y’all are over soups by now! I certainly am. This was my first Vermont winter and I assumed the best way to get through it was by wearing exclusively Darn Tough socks and eating a ton of soup. So much soup that an observer would assume I have health issues making it impossible for me to consume solid foods. And that’s just what I did.

Besides hot liquid, I’m also over the winter. Thankfully it came to an end, like, a week ago. Gone are the days of slip-sliding over icy sidewalks to get home and watch Jeopardy under my electric blanket. In celebration of the warmer weather, or “mud season” as the weirdos up here call it, I’ve compiled a list of all the soups I made this winter.

By the way, I’ve been doing more than eating the past six months. I’ve also been complaining about the cold weather and drinking beer to forget about the cold weather. Another also – I’ve been working on a Big Project. I hope that everyone gets to read it one day. Until then, enjoy my first blog post of 2019.

On to the Soups!

Vegan Hot and Sour Soup by Connoisseurus Veg

Hot and sour soups with tofu and bok choy

I found this recipe through YouTube superstar and vegan Jenna Marbles. It’s perfect for the folks out there who want a massive bowl of spicy broth along with some float-y green stuff. If you plan on eating leftovers I recommend keeping the greens separate, otherwise they lose their crunch. This was probably my fave recipe of them all, so I guess you can stop reading now.

Quinoa Vegetable Soup by Cookie and Kate

Quinoa vegetable soups

One of my major flaws is turning what’s supposed to be soup into thick gruel. That’s what happened with this recipe. It was less a quinoa soup and more a bowl of wet quinoa. That being said, the wet quinoa was pretty tasty and very healthy. I left out the kale though, sorry.

Coconut Curry Butternut Squash by Minimalist Baker

coconut curry butternut squash soups

Walter claims to dislike butternut squash, but that didn’t stop me from cooking with it. The curry and coconut flavors of this recipe must compensate for the squashy-ness because everyone was happy with the soup and didn’t dump me. I baked the squash rather than sauteed it, at the suggestion of the New York Times.

Chipotle Black Bean Tortilla Soup by Minimalist Baker

chipotle black bean soups

I…don’t remember making this one. Black beans are a huge portion of my diet – I eat them in one form or another every week – so the recipes all kind of blend together. But I’m sure it was delicious. I should delete this but I won’t.

Alphabet Soup from “Isa Does it” by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

vegan alphabet soups

Sometimes you want an easy soup that isn’t too obviously healthy and has a bunch of noodles in it. Alphabet soup fits the bill. This one is from my favorite cookbook of all time,”Isa Does It.” Isa Chandra Moskowitz is the queen of making vegan food that just tastes like, well, food. I even made her Roasted Vegetable Sandwich recipe on the blog.

French Lentil Soup by Bon Appetit

vegan lentil soups

It’s lentil soup and it’s just fine.

Vegan Thai Coconut Soup by Choosing Chia

vegan thai coconut soups

I make curries all the time. All you do is saute some onions with curry paste, add a bunch of vegetables, and stir in a can of coconut milk. My favorite part is always the spicy coconut broth and I love the idea of slurping down a bowl full of it. In the pursuit of health I enhanced this recipe with broccoli, sweet potato, and tofu and left out the noodles. Obviously it would have been better full of noodles, but it was still very good. Though not nearly as good as #26 from my favorite Burlington restaurant Pho Hong. Just being honest.

Simple Vegan Split Pea Soup by Elizabeth Rider

fuckin peas
Pea soup looks extremely unappealing

Another one of my soup flaws is blending the entire thing to create a uniform texture. Not that homogeneous soup is necessarily bad, it’s just boring and hard to eat for five lunches in a row. What’s worse is that after a day in the fridge my pea soup turned into a thick paste and looked eerily like guacamole. I recommend leaving this soup a bit chunky, as the recipe’s author suggests.

Vegetarian Matzo Ball Soup from Tori’s Kitchen

Vegan matzo ball soups

You might be thinking, “Matzo ball soup shouldn’t be on this list, Passover happens in spring!” Technically you would be right, but it was still cold here during Passover so I’m including this recipe. Also, it was my first time making making matzo balls. My balls came out much denser than the ones in the picture, but it was so good anyway. I’ll definitely make this next year in Jerusalem.


And there you have it, all the soups I made this winter. I hope you consider returning to this post in six months when soup season roles around once again.

P.S. I complained a lot but there were some really cool parts of a proper New England winter.

The view from my friend Charlie’s lake house on South Hero. Ice shards!
A big pile of snow in Church Street Marketplace. This was during a two-mile walk that took us an hour due to all the schlepping. Walter fell.
This is Lake Champlain! We were walking on a frozen lake. People bike and drive cars on it too. Cool, right?

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