Warming Winter Soups & Stew
Courtney Carter
/ Categories: WELLNESS, 2024

Warming Winter Soups & Stew

One-pot wonders: Nutritious homemade soups and stew to warm your body and soul

Winter is the perfect time to cozy up to a warm bowl of soup or stew. As easy to make as they are to love, homemade soups are a delicious way to get your daily dose of fresh veggies and beans, all with much lower salt content than store-bought options.


Hearty Lentil & Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/2 teaspoon thyme

1 cup lentils, rinsed

1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz., no salt added)

6 cups vegetable broth

2 cups chopped kale or spinach

Salt & pepper to taste

 

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Stir in garlic, cumin, paprika, and thyme. Cook for another minute.

3. Add lentils, diced tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Stir in kale or spinach and cook for another 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Serve warm.

 

Chicken & Wild Rice Soup

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 carrots, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

6 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1 cup wild rice, rinsed

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (or thighs)

1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (or low-fat milk)

 

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Sauté for 5 minutes.

2. Add garlic, thyme, and black pepper. Stir for another minute.

3. Pour in broth and add wild rice. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 35 minutes.

4. Add chicken and simmer for another 15 minutes, until chicken is cooked.

5. Remove chicken, shred it, and return to the pot. Stir in almond milk

6. Serve warm.

 

Spiced Sweet Potato & Black Bean Stew

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 can black beans (15 oz., drained & rinsed)

1 can diced tomatoes (14 oz.)

4 cups vegetable broth

Salt & pepper to taste

Fresh cilantro for garnish

 

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, sauté for 3-4 minutes.

2. Stir in cumin, chili powder, and paprika. Cook for 1 minute.

3. Add sweet potatoes, black beans, tomatoes, and broth. Bring to a boil.

4. Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes, until sweet potatoes are soft.

5. Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

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Interview with Jeff Silverman: 3D Printer

Jeff Silverman is a Wilmington native, a volunteer firefighter, and a business owner. From an addition to his Whitingham, Vermont, farm house, his company, Inertia Unlimited, develops camera technology for broadcast television.

"We make them out of thin air," he says.

Actually, he uses a 3D printer to make prototypes and one-of-a-kind cameras for very specific purposes, including those that sit in the dirt in front of a batter during Major League Baseball games and the ones built into NASCAR racetracks.

Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Jeff has printed 463 face shields for first responders in the Deerfield Valley and healthcare workers at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center and other places. He has delivered them free of charge.

When and how did you first become interested in printing shields for first responders? In one day, every job we had disappeared. We went from having 20 – 30 jobs to zero in one day. Our first thought was that we would use the materials and talent we typically use to sew the pouches for our cameras to make masks. But we quickly found that the proper materials and techniques were not available to make effective masks. Plus so many other people were making them. They had it covered.

On Sunday, March 22, I read in the New York Times that a company in Syracuse, NY, had made a design to 3D print face shields available online. By noon that day I was printing. Since then the printer has not stopped.

How does it work? The printer converts the design into a 3D object using filament that is the width of a human hair, adding layer by layer. The printer takes 2 hours to print one shield. I have produced 380 shields so far. That's 1000 hours of printing. I take from midnight to 5 a.m. off. We've done more 3D printing in the last month and a half than we had in the previous 5 years.

Describe the shields. It was important to me to produce something that was good quality. Sometimes the ones you buy don’t clean up very well. These can survive UV light and other sterilization. They are rough and tough.

Where have you distributed them? First I gave them to the firefighters in Wilmington and Whitingham, where I am a volunteer. Then I gave some to the Deerfield Valley Rescue. I have sent 324 to Southwestern Vermont Health Care, some to SVMC Deerfield Valley Campus; Golden Cross Ambulance Service and Sojourns Community Clinic, both in Westminster, VT; and Rescue Inc. in Brattleboro. I sent some to a dentist in Portland, ME, who asked, and 10 to North Central Bronx Hospital to a friend who works there.

What's your greatest accomplishment? I went to Wilmington High School in the late 70s, and Dave Larson, who was the social studies teacher and former longtime VT state representative, had a video camera. He let me borrow it to film field hockey games. At the end of the season, they gave me a varsity letter for my film work. I have won Emmys since, but that varsity letter is special, because it represented the beginning.

What's next? We look forward to reopening. For us, it's the easiest thing in the world. No client ever comes here. We didn't lay anybody off. We hired locals. All are full-time with benefits. We think Vermont is a great place for low-impact companies like ours, and we hope more companies discover Vermont and come here to provide well-paid jobs.

And I am really looking forward to turning the printer off.

On behalf of Southwestern Vermont Health Care's frontline staff, thank you to Jeff for his tireless efforts to provide vital equipment to our teams. We appreciate it!

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