Hearty vegetable pasta soup/winter special
🌱🍲 🤔 Did you know freezing kale is a great way to embrace zero-waste cooking by preserving its nutrients, reducing waste, and ensuring you always have this leafy green on hand? Grandma Sita knows how to make the most of this versatile vegetable from soups and salads to chips and stews, kale fits every plant-based meal.
💪 Luckily, kale is in full swing! Planted in the late fall, it provides handfuls of greens winter long. Kale is a dark leafy green like romaine lettuce, and collard greens, and is rich in antioxidants, vitamins C and K.
👩🍳 Nothing warms the soul like a bowl of soup made with love and nothing goes to waste! Grandma Sita’s vegetable pasta soup is a celebration of seasonal, homegrown goodness, and her knack for making every ingredient count.
INGREDIENTS
1 white onion, chopped
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
A bunch of kale, chopped
Half white cabbage, chopped
Half butternut squash, cubed
3 small potatoes, cubed
6 mushrooms, chopped
1 can of cooked chickpea
150g of pasta (fideos or spaghetti)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp sweet paprika powder
A pinch of chili flakes (optional)
Salt & pepper, to taste
Veggie oil, to sauté
METHOD
1. Wash the vegetables well. Peel the pumpkin and potatoes and cut them into small cubes. Chop kale, mushrooms, cabbage, onion, and garlic.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a pot. Sauté onions and garlic until transparent.
3. Add pumpkin, potato cubes, kale, cabbage, and mushrooms and stir for a while.
4. Add the spices, cook for several minutes, cover the veggies with water, and bring to a boil.
5. Cook for approximately 20 minutes. After the first 9-12 minutes, add the pasta, spaghetti broken into short pieces, and drained canned chickpeas.
6. When the veggies are tender and the pasta is “al dente”, turn off the stove and remove the pot from the heat.
7. Ladle into individual bowls and serve warm. Bon appetite!
👵💚 Grandma Sita’s tips:
*Seasonal & Homegrown: Kale thrives in cooler months, and Grandma Sita loves picking it fresh from her garden or supporting local farmers.
*Zero-Waste Cooking: Every part of the kale uses the leaves for the soup, and the stems are chopped and simmered for extra flavor.
* Plant-Based Goodness: Her soup is loaded with veggies, legumes, and hearty plant-based ingredients for a wholesome, sustainable meal.
*Storage Tip: Make extra and freeze portions for quick, waste-free meals later!
📗 Kale or leaf cabbage is part of leafy green vegetables (Brassica oleracea family), which includes cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, collard greens, and Brussels sprouts. Now stems on leafy green vegetables are edibles that generally contain the same nutrients as the leafy part itself.
🌎 Grandma Sita reminds us that seasonal zero-waste plant-based cooking isn’t just good for our health, it’s a way to honor the Earth and the food it provides. Eating local and seasonal fruits and vegetables helps to reduce food waste, saves resources, improves food quality and healthy habits, and boosts the local economy.