fitlife 
My daughter had new orthodontic braces put in yesterday and is preferring soft food. She likes soups, so I experimented with making a beet soup.
Ingredients
- 3 cloves garlic, roughly minced into 1/8″ or 1/4″ pieces
- 2 medium beets, rinsed and scrubbed then peeled and cubed into 1/2″ cubes
- 3 medium Yukon gold potatoes (mine were organic so I didn’t peel but I otherwise would have), also rinsed/scrubbed/cubed into 1/2″ pieces
- 3 medium carrots sliced into 3/4″ lengths
- 1 1/2 cups frozen or fresh edamame
- 1 cup frozen or fresh peas
- 4 stalks celery chopped into 1/2″ pieces
- Approx. 1 cup of broccoli florets
- Stem of the cup of broccoli florets cut into 3/8″ pieces
- 1/2 cups onion cut into approximately 1/2″ half moons slices approx. 1/4″ x 1 1/4″ ( maybe 2/3 of a medium onion)
- 1 1/4 cups carrot cut into 3/8″ slices (3 small-medium carrots)
- Seasonings: 1/2 t salt, 1 t ground cumin, 1 T dried rosemary needles, 1 t dried oregano, 1 t garlic powder, 1 t lemon pepper, 1/4 t smoked paprika; I’d add dried or fresh basil but I was out
- (optional) 4 leaves kale, stems removed for compost, and roughly hand torn into approximately 1 1/2″ pieces [I was in a rush so omitted]
- (optional) Other vegetables that you favor [my daughter doesn’t like asparagus but I put about 3″ of the thick end of 3 stalks in for a touch of flavor]
- (optional) Subtle hint of hot sauce of choice
Process
- I cooked the garlic on a cast iron pan on medium to medium-high heat with no oil for about 5-7 minutes till I obtained a full aroma and light browning.
- I put all of the ingredients, including the garlic but excluding the celery, into my Instant Pot pressure cooker and cooked for 20m.
- My wife doesn’t like celery so I separately cooked the celery in about a cup of salted water; after it reached a boil, I simmered on low, covered. (Otherwise I would have just cooked the celery with the other ingredients.)
- After the cooking was done, I waited a few minutes and gently released pressure, then served, mixing the celery into all but my wife’s bowl.
NB: I ended up filling most of my 6-quart Instant Pot and wanted to remind folks to not overfill if you are cooking beans or other ingredients which expand. In this case I wasn’t, so there was no problem – just plenty of soup including a significant amount to share with neighbors.
Results
Ideas for the future
Beets maintain more of their nutrition if cooked whole and then peeled and chopped, but I did want to make the soup quite soft for my daughter. I’ve never cooked beets with soup and should explore more – I’d love to steam them and add 3/4″ or so chunks to a soup. The color of the soup was nice but having even more beets would make the soup even more pretty.
Labels: Beets, Instant Pot, No Added Fat, Soup
