#44: Cream of Celery Soup

30In the past entries, I have shared soup recipes like Leek and Broccoli Soup and the Pumpkin Bisque. This time, I'm delighted to introduce you to another creamy soup that is both hearty and refreshing for the palate because of featured ingredient: celery. I know some people are not fond of the flavors from this family of vegetables. Cilantro, parsley, along with celery just taste too much like freshly cut grass for some. But this soup will give this vegetable a new face and will easily become a family favorite. Gone are the days when you can only use it in pansit or chopsuey. You kids will not notice that they are gulping a good serving of celery in each serving. 

I tried to do that "heart-shaped sauce" trick  move but  I think
I failed to make it look like a heart but more like a guppy.

#37: Leek and Broccoli Soup

I love soups! I think I said that before in my Pumpkin Bisque recipe. I am always thrilled at the prospect of a meal starting off with a warm hearty bowl. Actually, sometimes, a big bowl of soup and a buttered toast can comprise a satisfying dinner for me. (I think I said that before too). So before I become redundant, I'll share with you a soup that I tasted from one of my marriage-and-life-in-general mentor Joanna Cheock. She and her husband Kuya Hubert invited us over for lunch and served Broccoli and Leek soup with Kuya Hubert's juicy lamb steak and shrimp and mango salad. I remember eating twice my weight that day.


What amazed me was how tasty it was even if the soup was not made from any meat broth. This proves that meals can be totally vegetarian and totally tasty too! A small bunch of broccoli will do for this recipe because this soup uses up the flowers and stems - everything! The potatoes create its creamy texture but the leeks give this soup the umph. 

#15: Pumpkin Bisque

Don't you just love that dollop of cream on top?
Thank you http://www.olivecocomag.com for
the tantalizing photo!

Okay fine, it's really just pumpkin soup. Bisque just sounds more expensive. :-D

A  very good friend of mine hate our featured ingredient today: pumpkin or what we Pinoys commonly call kalabasa. The mere mention of kalabasa as part of her meal will make her stick out her tongue. Maybe because her only idea of kalabasa dishes are Pinakbet  and Guinataang Gulay (Vegetables in Coconut Milk). But I take pride in the fact that I was able to make her enjoy kalabasa through this hearty soup. She liked it so much she requests for it every now and then if she’s ever gonna visit our place. When we have this in our home, I just eat a big bowl of this filling soup with 4 pices of buttered toasts (although that is not a very good diet option, is it? Wheat bread perhaps?) and I’m good for lunch. Even my almost-2-year-old loves her rice to be swimming in this soup. Come to think of it, this is one tasty way of having your children get that beta-carotene in their diet.