Mushroom Zucchini Soup

It seems spring might actually be here finally, but the long winter kept me pretty excited about soup.  Well, I’m always excited about soup. :) So, here’s another recipe.

This soup is diary-free and pretty tasty.  I love my potato soup, and my roasted red pepper soup, but this one was good for a change. It’s pretty simple, and so nice and warm to eat. :)

I tried making this recipe a while ago…and it turned out great, until I added the tablespoon of red pepper flakes.  Then it was just too hot for both Brian and me! So I tried it again, a little differently.

I got out mushrooms, onions, and zucchini.

Chopped them up and cooked them.

With a  LOT of minced garlic.

I added broth, let it simmer, then pureed the whole thing, to make a delicious soup.

Here’s the recipe.

You need:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp butter (I was just being fun and using both. You could use one or the other)
• 1 large onion (about 3” in diameter), chopped
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (or in my case about 2 Tbsp of minced)
• about 8oz (or more!) sliced mushrooms
• 2 – 8” zucchinis, sliced
• 1+ quarts of low sodium chicken stock (I did 1 qt. + 1 cup, because that’s what I had on hand!)
• dash of seasoned salt (I use Lawry’s) and some salt
• 2 Tbsp flour (mixed with hot water) to thicken, optional
• dash of cayenne pepper
• some fresh basil

(Here’s the order I cooked it in, but you could do it differently. That’s what’s fun about soup! It’s hard to mess up…(unless you add too much hot pepper!))  :)

Heat the oil and butter over medium heat, then add the onions. Cook for about 5 minutes while you continue chopping. Add the garlic and mushrooms and cook for about 4 minutes while you keep chopping. Add the zucchini and cook for about 8 minutes. (Keep stirring!)

Add the chicken stock (you could use vegetable stock, too!), and add some seasoned salt and regular salt.  Bring to a boil (over higher heat) and then reduce to low heat (2 or 3 on my electric stove) and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

Once everything is soft, use an immersion blender to puree the whole soup.  To thicken it up a little bit, mix 2 Tbsp of flour into some hot water (so there are no lumps!), add to the soup, and let it simmer a little longer.  Add a dash of cayenne pepper for fun, and some chopped fresh basil for deliciousness!

I love soup year-round, but in the winter it’s especially good! :)  Are you getting sick of soup or do you still love it like I do?