Lentil Soup

This is quick and easy and very basic, but good.

Ingredients:
Red lentils
Chopped onion
Chopped celery
Homemade broth (or store-bought, or even just water)
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients in a large pot, bring to boil, and simmer for 20-30 minutes until the lentils are cooked.

Homemade Broth

This is so easy, and so much cheaper than buying gluten free broth. I keep a large ziplock bag in my freezer full of vegetable scraps and bones from chicken and things like that. When it gets full, I make broth.

Ingredients:
Assorted vegetable and/or meat scraps
Water
A bit of salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Put the vegetable/meat scraps in the biggest saucepan you have and fill with water. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer over medium-low heat for at least 5 hours. Add water if the water is disappearing. When it's done, strain out the vegetable/meat scraps, and use in recipes. You can freeze it in ice cube trays or in small ziplock bags so that you can just take small amounts out of the freezer to add to recipes when needed.

Tomato Coconut Soup

Simple, quick, and dairy free. Just a note - when I say a 19 oz can or a 14 oz can of something in my recipes, that's not an exact requirement, that's just the size that these things typically come in. The amounts can vary. This isn't like baking where you need to be fairly precise. And you can leave the onion out if you don't like it or can't eat it.

Ingredients:
2 19 oz cans of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 14 oz can of coconut milk
1 onion, chopped
Olive oil or butter (but don't use butter if you're making it for someone who doesn't eat dairy)
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh or dried basil (optional)

Directions:
In a large sauce pan over medium-low, sautee the onion in the olive oil or butter until it is nice and translucent. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add the canned tomatoes and coconut milk and heat through (you don't have to boil it), stirring frequently. Serve sprinkled with dried basil or with with a few fresh basil leaves on top.

Squash Soup

A good way to use up those random squashes that have been sitting on your counter since September.

Ingredients:
1 large squash, roasted and scooped out of its skin
3-4 cups broth (I've been using turkey broth that's been in the freezer from Thanksgiving, but you can use whatever you like. Just remember to use veggie broth for vegetarians and make sure that packaged broth is gluten-free - many aren't!)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced (also optional, but I'm really in love with fennel right now)
Salt and pepper to taste
4 oz cream cheese (leave out if you're making it dairy-free - I know that's really obvious, but I feel like I have to say that so that people don't feel the need to inform me that cream cheese has dairy in it)

Directions:
Combine the cooked squash and broth in a large sauce pan. Before you heat it up (because cold stuff splattering everywhere is better than hot stuff splattering everywhere), blend with an immersion blender or mash with a potato masher to get the lumps out of the squash. Add the fennel, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium heat until the fennel is cooked (30 minutes to an hour, but you can keep simmering it as long as you want). About 10 minutes before serving, add the cream cheese if using and stir until it has melted into the soup.

Creamy Tomato Coconut Soup

If you eat dairy and you don't like coconut, you can substitute milk or cream for the coconut milk. Just be sure not to let the soup boil after you add the milk or cream, or it will curdle.

Serves 2-3 as a main dish, more as a side dish

2 14 ounce cans of diced or crushed tomatoes, undrained (or equivalent
chopped fresh tomatoes)
1 14 ounce can coconut milk
(exact amounts of tomatoes and coconut milk are not super important,
if you live somewhere where things don't come in 14 ounce cans)
1 diced onion
1 tablespoon grape seed oil (or butter or other oil of your choice)

Heat oil in a large saucepan. Add onion, and cook until soft and
translucent. Add tomatoes and coconut milk and cook until hot.

Corn and Potato Chowder

I love chowder, but I don't like seafood (with the exception of salmon, halibut, and shrimp), so here's a nice vegetarian chowder (that can be vegan if you want). Also, if you see "salt" listed, you can assume I mean "salt and pepper". I just don't like pepper very much.

Ingredients:
Potatoes
Chopped celery
Chopped carrots
Frozen corn
Onion
Water
Basil
Cumin
Salt and pepper
Paprika
Bay leaf
Garlic powder
Sour cream or coconut milk

Cut 2-3 potatoes into small chunks (you can leave the skin on). Chop one onion, and throw the carrots, celery, onion, and potato into a medium saucepan with about two handfuls of frozen corn. Add enough water to almost fill the pot. Add one bay leaf, and other spices to taste. Simmer over medium heat until the potatoes are soft and the onions are translucent. Turn the heat down very low and add about 1/2 cup of sour cream or coconut. Cook for about a minute more. It'll be sort of pink from the paprika. Top with crumbled bacon if desired.

Leftover Beef and Mushroom Stew

Another one from the old food blog, with minor tweaking to make it gluten free.

Ingredients:
Leftover pot roast (or other leftover meat. You can use stewing beef if you don't have any leftovers to work with.)
Mushrooms
Water
Beef broth (check ingredients)
Salt
Soy Sauce (check ingredients)
Dried minced onion
Cornstarch

Shred the beef. You can do this however you want, but I just used my hands to pull it apart into thin pieces. If you are starting with uncooked stewing beef, you can just cut it into chunks and brown it. Slice the mushrooms. Put them in a saucepan with dried minced onion (you could also use fresh minced onion if you felt like chopping onions). Cover with water (or beef broth if you have it, or some combination thereof, or add powdered beef broth...), and add a bit of soy sauce and/or salt. Simmer for about an hour, until the mushrooms are soft and the broth has started to thicken. In a small bowl, mix together some cornstarch and water. Stir this into the the stew, and continue to simmer until the stew has thickened. You can serve over rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes, or with a side of gluten free bread if you have some.

Black Bean Soup (Can be vegetarian)

Bacon and hot peppers are optional. Serves 2-4.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
1-2 tsp oil or butter
1 large can black beans (or equivalent cooked dry black beans)
1 cup water or broth (make sure to read the ingredients if using commercial broth)
1/4 cup salsa or tomato sauce (again, read ingredients)
Minced jalapeno to taste (I take canned jalapeno slices and put them through a garlic press. Leave this out if you don't want it hot.)

Optional garnishes: Salsa, chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled crisp bacon, sour cream, grated cheese, sliced green onions or chives, crushed corn tortilla chips (watch out for non-gluten free multigrain chips)

In a large saucepan, sautee the onion in oil or butter until it becomes translucent. Add beans, water or broth, and tomato sauce or salsa. Simmer over medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more liquid if you want a less chunky soup. Ladle into bowls and top with garnishes of choice.