Skip to main content

Smokey Chickpea Tomato Soup


Oy its a cold one today!  At least we aren't having the snow storm like our friends east and south of us...

Recently a client who I am counselling about improving her health told me she and her fiancé made soup together for the first time, rather than buying it, and they couldn't believe how easy it is.  It is...really!

In fact, here are 3 reasons you should make soup instead of buying it:

1. Healthier - Not only is the soup you buy usually full of salt, but it often also has added sugars and starches, not to mention weird preservatives.  The canned kind also contains BPA...blech!

2. Cheaper - The good quality soups can be $10/litre!  Making your own is much, much more economical!!

3. Efficient - Its hard to make a small quantity of soup.  Make tons and then eat all week, or freeze for future meals.

This soup is very warming from the smoked paprika, cumin and the kick of cayenne, if you can stand the heat!  You can replace the chickpeas with black beans if you wish, and swap out the zucchini for another veggie like spinach, kale, okra, carrots, etc.

Smokey Chickpea Tomato Soup

1/2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt
Cayenne pepper, to taste (optional)
4 zucchini, diced
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
2 cups passata (strained tomatoes)
1 litre salt-free vegetable stock
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Handful fresh cilantro, chopped

Optional: Toss zucchini with a bit of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Roast on foil-lined baking sheet at 400F for 30 minutes.  If you want to skip this step, just add zucchini to soup pot with onion.

Pour oil into large soup pot over medium heat and saute onion, garlic and spices.  Add chickpeas, roasted zucchini, vinegar, diced tomatoes, passata and stock.  Simmer for 20 minutes.  Add lemon and cilantro just before serving.  Keep leftovers refrigerated for up to 4 days or freeze.

This recipe has been shared with Urban Naturale's Healthy, Happy, Green and Natural Party Blog Hop and Vegetarian Mamma's Gluten-Free Friday.

Comments

  1. Mmmm ... this looks wonderful! We're having very cold weather right now and this soup would be so comforting in a chilly evening. Love the combination of flavors. Thanks so much for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Erica,,
    Yum, this soup looks so good! I love to eat hot soup on cold winter days. Thank you so much for sharing the your healthy and delectable Smokey Chickpea Tomato Soup recipe with us at the Healthy, Happy, Green and Natural Party Blog Hop. I'm pinning and sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Looks great, sounds filling, and I personally love the veggies! Found you on UrbanNaturale's Blog Hop #52.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Japanese 7-Spice Kelp Noodles

I love trying new spices and seasonings, so I am very excited that the President's Choice Black Label line now has a bunch of new spice blends available.  My most recent find: Shichimi Togarashi, or Japanese 7-Spice blend. It's a combination of crushed red chili flakes, sea salt, Szechiuan peppercorns, black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, orange zest, wasabi powder and nori seaweed flakes. I make Japanese-inspired dishes all the time, but resort to the same old flavours most of the time: miso, soy, sesame, ginger and garlic.  I was so excited to be able to liven things up a bit. This dish is easy and tasty, although be warned that this seasoning packs punch.  I used 1 tsp, which ended up being too spicy for me, and I have a high tolerance for heat!  I recommend 1/4-1/2 tsp, or, if you don't like heat at all, make your own at home and omit the red chili flakes.  You'll get all the flavour without the heat. I served these noodles with a mix of seafood (

Blackfly Coolers: Product Review

Summer is over! Well, at least if you're a student. Officially it doesn't end for a few weeks, and it certainly still feels like summer. Yeah, I hate it. This f*cking hot, humid weather needs to end NOW! We made the most of our last weekend of the summer with our annual trip to the CNE on Friday, with a crowd of friends. It wasn't unbearably lot, thank goodness, and the girls and their friends had a blast on the rides.  Saturday I had to work, and Sunday was errand day. Monday we took the girls berry/apple/pear picking but didn't last long due to the heat. I organized the house to prepare for the construction workers starting back up yesterday, while Adam took the girls for a swim in our neighbourhood pool. Yesterday was the first day of school. Grade 2 and Grade 5. Yep, the girls are growing up.  We are fortunate that the girls don't have much anxiety about school, they are so much more confident than I ever was as a kid! But now, in the midst of our reno ch

How to Look Like a Celebrity

Okay, I know you're going to be interested in this post! I am sure virtually every woman in North America has wondered how Hollywood celebrities achieve such 'perfect' bodies.  Well, at CAN FIT PRO last week, one of Hollywood's top fitness trainers, Eric the Trainer , was there to tell us fitness professionals the secrets! Eric the Trainer, gave several presentations, and I caught the one on Celebrity Secrets, and it was most interesting!!!  I also found some of what he said rather disturbing. First off, he was very upfront about the fact that celebrities come to him for improve their appearance.  Not to improve their health or athletic performance.  To look their best.  He admitted that his approach then, is entirely dedicated to that end. Male and female celebrities are trained in completely different ways because Hollywood wants women to be lithe and thin and in his words, "look like they dropped out of heaven looking this way without every having ste