Chickpea and Crimini Soup

Fall brings weather that naturally welcomes one of my favorite foods- soup!  Although yesterday was pretty humid, the gloomy weather made it a perfect day for soup.  See the soup and recipe at the end of this post!

This WIAW started on a pretty average note:

Old Fashioned Oats with Banana, Peanut Butter, and Honey accompanied by a cup of coffee.  While tasty and satisfying, I found myself wishing I still had a couple of these guys around:

Breakfast Egg Rolls!

I made these over the weekend, and let me tell you, the breakfast burrito has got some competition.  Click here for the recipe.

Luckily lunch involved less wishful thinking.  It was (as per usual) leftovers from the night before:

Roasted Beet and Carrot Curry.  This one is definitely a keeper!  The carrots and beets are absolutely delicious in the creamy spicy coconutty broth!  It's an unusual curry, but it definitely works.  The green bits are  raw shredded beet greens, mostly there to make the picture pretty.  Recipe coming soon!

Through out the day at work I also snacked on a pear, laughing cow swiss wedge, and some cut up carrots, celery and radishes.  Also more coffee.  Always, always, more coffee :)

Now finally on to the soup!

Chickpea and Crimini Soup

This soup is relatively simple, but incredibly deep in flavor thanks to the sauteed mushrooms and onions.   The blended chickpeas add body, and make this a very substantial soup.  This hearty vegan recipe will keep you cosy on chilly fall evenings. Recipe is slightly adapted from here.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked chickpeas

About 4 cups liquid from cooked chickpeas, or water, or vegetable stock

1 tbsp olive oil

1 extra large onion, chopped (about 2.5 cups)

2 cloves garlic, minced

12 ounces mushrooms, chopped

3-4 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1 vegetable bouillon cube

salt and pepper to taste
pinch of cayenne

Directions

1.  In a large pot heat the oil and cook the onions until translucent and slightly brown around the edges. Add the garlic and cook another minute or so until fragrant.  Deglaze the pan with some water and add the mushrooms and fresh thyme leaves.  Season with salt and pepper and cook for 7-8 minutes until mushrooms have lost moisture and are tender.

2.  Add the chickpeas, bouillon, bay leaf, and enough liquid to completely cover the mix.  Bring to a boil and then cover and reduce to a simmer and let cook another 10 minutes.

3.  Remove pot from the heat and the bay leaf from the pot.  Allow to cool slightly and then blend to desired consistency with an immersion blender.  I left some whole chickpeas and mushroom pieces in mine for texture.  Season with salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste.

I hope you enjoyed my eats of the day.  Be sure to hop over to Peas and Crayons to see how everyone else is Fall-ing into!