Staple: Kale Chickpea Curry Soup

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2012/05/kale-chickpea-soup/

Cost: Cheap!
Convenience: This is super easy to make. It's fast, it's simple, the ingredients are all easy.
Delicious: This is a more delicate flavor than some of my others, but it's really delicious. The chickpeas aren't always exactly the right texture, but I suspect that would just be fixed by not buying the cheapest possible chickpeas.
Freeze: Dunno.
Uses: Delicious soup that's healthy, light, and easy.
Notes: I added twice the curry, but I also think my curry is weak because its' old, so I don't know what the overall effect is. Also, next time, don't be in such a hurry--and actually take the time to make sure the kale is in bite sized pieces.

Take two: --work on getting the textures and spices better. The kale pieces can be still smaller, the potato bits should be better cooked (turn it up to a high temperature much sooner, it will take FOREVER otherwise), those chickpeas still aren't the best--consider making own and freezing? Need to get the pressure cooker up and running and see if can freeze. Spices muddle it up-- use straight up oregano-- get it at store soon. 

Take four?: It really does matter that you put the kale in and let it cook enough to wilt before you put all the other stuff in. I did this recipe from memory and forgot the order. It's a soup, so it's still perfectly delicious, but the kale is better when you do it that way.

Take who knows? I ended up using crushed tomatoes instead. Still worked delicious, but changed the taste.

Keeper Recipe 3: Moroccan Lentil Veggie Soup

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/11/moroccan-lentil-vegetable-stew/

Damnit! So, I messed this up a little, I put too much cinnamon in and I used two different kinds of lentils ecause it was what I had. So, it's good, but not amazing. But I'm calling it a keeper anyway because its' one of my favorite things to pull out of the freezer previous times I've made it. Can't stop me. 

Cost: haven't calculated it, but budget bytes claims it's like a dollar a serving. 
Convenience: Very easy to make!
Delicious: Quite good!
Freeze: This is so good frozen and reheated. 10/10
Uses: It's a soup and it's different and it freezes amazingly well and is generally warm and happy.
Notes: Don't mess it up next time

Keeper Recipe: Spicy Coconut Pumpkin Soup

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmh
So I used the full fat coconut milk, which I'm sure makes this way less healthy, but it is fantastic. It's so easy, so delicious, and quite different

Note for next time taken from the comments section:
"We made this soup last night but didn’t feel like eating soup again tonight, so we threw it on top of some jasmine rice and added chickpeas, broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower for an instant curry. It was delicious!"





FAILED ATTEMPT ONE BELOW

I more or less made this soup:
http://www.budgetbytes.com/2011/07/spicy-coconut-pumpkin-soup/

It's kind of a less because I made some desperate changes:

1. I used zesty chicken spice instead of bouillon. Turns out better than bouillion needs to be refrigerated. It smelled and looked fine, but I saw the label on the top after I'd left it out for three weeks. And given the weather has been freakishly warm and they literally sometimes use broth to grow bacteria in labs... it hurt me, but I tossed it. And I refuse to go to the grocery store twice in one week. Can't. make me.

2. Grocery store was out of fresh ginger when I went (see note: can't make me go to the grocery store again), and I know the powdered doesn't taste the same at all.

3. I was trying frozen garlic, but it didn't smell very strong.

4. I was in the middle of doing laundry, so I didn't toast the cumin and red pepper flakes, I just dumped it all in.

5. Didn't have anything else to put the cilantro in, so used the whole bunch. Cause at that point, why not?

I list this all, so that when I say, it didn't turn out quite how I wanted, it's clear that it may not be the recipe's fault. The flavor wasn't right and I think I was expecting more texture (it's totally smooth excpet for the onion)--I'll see what I think of it tomorrow.

That said, this recipe is fast and SO easy and different, so I'd rather give it another go and see if I can fix it rather than just ditching it.


Cost: Cilantro, Coconut milk, and pumpkin are the big expenses. Not bad at all.

Convenience: SOOO easy, fast, and convenient

Delicious: This isn't great yet-- but I'm going to start modifying and/or actually do the recipe correctly. 
Although note, 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes will NOT make this spicy.

Freeze: Dunno, not finding out this time

Uses: SO FAST AND EASY. It's literally chop onions, garlic, ginger and toast those, then dump the rest in the pot and warm it up. If this could be delicious, it would be an incredibly easy recipe.

Notes: Ideas for modification: Follow the recipe!, Plain yogurt, sriracha, pumpkin or yam chunks, pumpkin seeds, coconut milk with more fat, fish sauce/lime/lemongrass/brown sugar? (http://allrecipes.com/recipe/146035/the-best-thai-coconut-soup/ )


Update: This recipe is definitely a keeper. I need to remake it how it's supposed to be made and then see what modifications, but I just made it worth having. I added sriracha, toasted sesame seeds, and tomatoes and it was quite good! Doing this right and with a few extra tweaks, this has real potential. I will continue to update with the modifications and when I redo this recipe properly with any regular modifications, I will redo this whole thing into a keeper recipe.

Modifications Tried
1. Sesame seeds, sriracha, and fresh tomato: mmmmh good, the flavor combo isn't right enough to be delightful, but good.

2. Didn't have any more tomatoes... but I did have some leftover sockarooni tomato sauce from the gnocchi. It was great!! It thickened it up just enough with only like a tablespoon in a bowlful. It did weaken the flavor some,but well worth it for fixing the texture. I'm hoping the bouillon would be able to do this too! I still might want to see about adding more veggies. Maybe one of the stirfry veggie bags in the freezer?

Staple: African Peanut Stew

http://www.budgetbytes.com/2014/08/african-peanut-stew-vegan/

This was my biggest absolute winner of 2015. I made it like four times. It's really delicious and really filling. It's been popular with a range of people and I love the taste.

Cost: Pretty cheap overall.
Convenience: Really easy. The longest part at this point is chopping up the stuff... if get faster than that... it's gonna be an absolute breeze
Delicious: It's so good. Mmmmmh.
Can you pressure or slow cook it?? I have no idea. Not tried yet
Freeze: Yup. It's not perfect, but it works quite well.
Uses: Make for other people, Eat all week, It's a favorite, use it for anything.
Notes: I actually prefer the non-natural peanut butter with it, extra crunchy versions. I've tried it with kale, but like it better with the collard greens. If you use the whole bunch of collard greens instead of half, it makes the flavor quite a bit less sharp, buuuut you get way more healthy greens so it's a tough call. I trade off like every time I make it. . The ginger is super important to it, if it's not fresh, it's just not as good. The best Tom suggested putting it on toast and it was super good -- bet it would also be amazing on naan or jasmine rice.