Beautiful Soups Span the Seasons

I know I haven't posted recipes for a while. Our food choices have been somewhat limited at the end of winter and beginning of spring. But I have come across a couple of excellent soup recipes. Enjoy!

Gypsy Soup (inspired by Mollie Katzen)

3 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (or 1/2 cup home-dried local onion)
3/4 cup chopped sweet peppers (or 1/4 cup home-dried local peppers)
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (local Colorado)
1 1/2 cups peeled chopped winter squash (local)
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes (home-canned local)
1 cup green peas (fresh, frozen or canned)
6 oz. sausage (local)
2 teaspoons mild chili powder (Native Seeds, NM)
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon marjoram
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 tablespoon tamari
1 bay leaf (picked from your own house plant, if it can stand it)
salt to taste

Soak the chickpeas overnight, then cook till tender (takes a while). Put in kettle: olive oil, onion, peppers, tomatoes, peas, winter squash, drained chickpeas, crumbled sausage, spices except
tamari, salt, and 3-4 cups water. Simmer 25 minutes, until squash is done. (You really want to have your chickpeas tender before putting them in the soup, since they don't get much more cooking.)

Taste for seasonings. Add tamari to taste. Add more spices if you like. Add fresh-ground pepper if you like. This is a beautiful colorful and yummy soup, very satisfying.

Thursday Pea Soup
This is a traditional Swedish recipe.

1 to 1 1/2 lb ham shank or meaty ham bone (local, non-cured)
1 large onion, peeled and chopped fine (Colorado)
1 cup yellow split peas, picked over and rinsed
1 large turnip, peeled and diced (local)
1/2 teaspoon marjoram
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Put ham shank into kettle, cover with water (maybe 6-8 cups). Add split peas, onion, turnip, seasonings and salt to taste. Simmer for a good long while, till meat is tender and coming off the bone.
(It was about 2 1/2 hours for me.) Fish out bone and meat. Cut meat into small pieces and return to soup. Check for seasonings.
If it is too thick, add a little water. If too thin, simmer uncovered for a little while to evaporate.

Variations:
If you have a carrot on hand, you can peel and dice it, adding it with the turnip. If you have rutabaga instead of turnip, that works too, peeled and diced. If you have green split peas instead of yellow, feel free to use them. (Yellow IS traditional, however.)

Soon, soon, we'll be up to our ears in salad materials, but for now, soups are the ticket.