This recipe will feed a crowd or give you soup for a week- depending on the size of your family. It is hearty and delicious. You could use a vegan sausage but I have yet to find a vegan sausage that is gluten free so I created an italian sausage seasoning to use in place of salt & pepper on my crispy tofu slices that I posted last week. You will also need some magic mushroom powder from Nom Nom Paleo. You can purchase it at Whole Foods or make it yourself- recipe HERE– it really adds that extra something to this soup and many other dishes, you will love it.
The tofu sausage was a hit with my 17 year old- he ate a whole plate of the first batch. You can use it in this soup, use it in sandwiches, or dip it in BBQ sauce. It is more of a whole food than other meat replacements and is gluten free.
Ingredients:
3 large leeks, sliced into 1/8 inch rounds- white and light green parts only
4 medium carrots finely diced (I threw them in the food processor with the celery and chopped up)
3 stalks celery finely diced
1 medium green cabbage shredded
6 qts low sodium veggie stock
5 lbs red potatoes diced
1 28 ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes- low sodium
2 cans of garbanzo beans- low sodium and drained
2 tbsp minced garlic
4 tbsp italian seasoning
1.5 tbsp magic mushroom powder
4 bay leaves
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
sea salt to taste
Saute the leeks, garlic, celery and carrots for 5 minutes in a tbsp of olive oil, in a large pot- I used a 15 qt pot.
Add stock, garbanzo beans, potatoes, seasonings, and cabbage (I reserved a cup of the shredded cabbage to put onto of soup as it was served). Stir to combine. Cover to bring to a boil, then remove lid, reduce heat and continue to simmer until all the veggies are cooked through. Taste broth and season with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper as needed.
While soup is cooking you can work on the tofu sausage. Follow the recipe instructions HERE but use this seasoning blend instead of salt and pepper. The seasoning blend will make many batches of tofu sausage- and you will want to be generous with seasoning the tofu.
Into a food processor:
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp pink sea salt
1.5 tsp italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1.5 tsp fennel seed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
You will pulse the blend until the fennel seeds are broken up. I use a small food processor or a nutribullet for processing my seasoning blends.
I also seasoned the tofu slices with liquid smoke on both sides. I use a Misto Olive oil spray bottle filled with liquid smoke- then I spray both sides with the liquid smoke to give the tofu a smokey flavor. Then I season with the seasoning blend and nutritional yeast on both sides. You cook the slices until they are crispy, then cut into cubes. Sprinkle on top of your bowl of soup.
This soup will last for several days in the fridge or freeze for up to 3 months.