Hillary, Ellen and I just finished watching Survivor Season 20: Heroes vs. Villains. It’s at the top of many lists as the best season in Survivor history, and it is definitely at the top of mine! Seeing all returning players interact – and interact with twists and blindsides – was pretty epic. All that said, I cannot get over the winner. I don’t want to spoil it, but WHY!? In my book the player with the most gutsy moves deserves to win.
In honor of the finale, we had a group dinner before hand. Hillary brought cornbread, Ellen made cookie-topped brownies and I was in charge of making a soup. I have partnered with Imagine Foods to take one of their creamy soups and create an original recipe. I’ve been morphing boxed soups into recipes for years. Call me crazy, but I swear boxed soups taste better than canned! Imagine’s soups have a full serving of veggies in every cup, and have no added MSG, GMOs, artificial flavors, chemicals or preservatives. I like to beef up the base with all kinds of veggies and mixins. For this recipe I started with the Imagine Creamy Portobello Mushroom soup and added tofu, fresh mushrooms, kale, smoked paprika, pine nuts and blue cheese for a pretty awesome dinner party meal.
To get started, first I chopped up one big portobello and a dozen shiitake mushrooms and trimmed and chopped my kale.
My tofu of choice is from Twin Oaks, and the Italian Herb variety made this especially flavorful. You could just use a regular extra firm tofu though. Pat it dry so it will crisp up!
I cooked the mushrooms along with 2 cloves of minced garlic and a tablespoon of cooking oil in my big stock pot. These cooked about 7 minutes before I added the box of soup and 2 cups of chicken broth.
And I got the tofu started on the burner next door. To get the tofu crispy, you do want to use a good amount of cooking oil. I used about 2 tablespoons. The tofu cooked about 3 minutes per side for a total of 10ish minutes. I kept them aside so that they could be added as a garnish and keep their crisp.
After adding the smoked paprika and salt and simmering for about 15 minutes, I topped the soup with kale and allowed it to wilt while covered.
The toppings in this soup are the best part! Buttery toasted pine nuts and sharp blue cheese bring the flavor and texture up to the max!
Tofu and Kale Mushroom Soup
Ingredients
- 2 + 1 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 large portobello mushroom
- 12 medium shiitake mushrooms
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pound extra firm tofu
- 1 box Imagine Creamy Portobello Soup
- 2 cups low sodium chicken stock
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt or to taste depending on if your chicken broth is low sodium
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 head kale trimmed and chopped
- 2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
- 4 ounces blue cheese
Instructions
- Prepare all veggies by cutting into bite-sized pieces.
- Cut tofu into 1-inch cubes.
- Heat a large stock pot to medium heat and add 1 tbsp cooking oil. Saute crushed garlic for a minute and then add mushrooms. Cook for about 7 minutes, until mushrooms begin to brown.
- Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan with 2 tbsp cooking oil on medium high heat. Add tofu and cook on all sides until brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Set aside.
- Add Imagine soup, broth, salt, and smoked paprika to mushrooms and bring just to a low boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
- Add trimmed kale to soup, cover and allow to wilt.
- Portion soup into bowls and top with tofu, 1/2 tbsp toasted pine nuts and 1 ounce of crumbled blue cheese per serving.
Thanks so much to Imagine for sponsoring and inspiring this delicious recipe! Kroger shoppers – visit Kroger.com to download a $1 off coupon on Imagine® Creamy Soups to your Kroger Plus Card. Not a Kroger shopper? Visit imaginefoods.com to check out all 20 creamy and delicious flavors, as well as a $1 off coupon.
Taca @ A Side Of Dessert says
Mushroom soup is one of my favorites and this one has just taken it over the top!!! Can’t wait to try it 😀
Ali @ Peaches and Football says
We have a lot of the Imagine chicken and beef broth in our pantry and use it all the time! It’s hard to find broths without MSG/yeast extract in them so I am excited when I do!
I’m not a mushroom fan and am too scared to try tofu so I’ll take your word on the soup. 🙂
I’ll also take your word on survivor. I think I’m one of the few people on this earth who haven’t seen a single season. I have no idea why either!
Angela Gilmore says
OMG that looks so delicious. I love using boxed soups as a jumping off point as well. Plus tofu in soup is a total bonus!
Linda @ TheFitty says
Have you heard of boxed water bottles? I think they’re great as I’m trying to avoid plastic! Also, I ought to try boxed soup, but usually they have too many fillers like corn starch and I think it’s much more nutritious if I used bones to make my own soup 🙂
Livi @ Eat, Pray, Work It Out says
I love adding kale to soups!
Elizabeth says
I recently finished watching Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains too! I totally see what you’re saying…but I really didn’t like the person who made the most gutsy moves over the season (at least if we’re thinking of the same person), so I didn’t mind the winner too much 🙂
KathEats says
I am a huge R fan! I hate him but he’s such a good player!
Laura says
I wanted R to win too. He can be such an ass but what a terrific player!.
francesca says
This looks heavenly! Happy RD Day…
KathEats says
Thanks!
Cara's Healthy Cravings says
So many good flavours and textures going on in that soup bowl, I love it.
You have inspired me to rethink my soup toppings.
Ashley @ Saving Money in your Twenties says
I love the idea of bulking up a boxed soup- so genius!! I’ve been getting canned soups lately but I feel kinda bad about it because I know there’s so much sodium and I could undoubtedly make something better + cheaper but I’m just lazy… haha!!
Sam @ Grapefruit & Granola says
I absolutely love mushrooms so this recipe looks extra appealing to me. Also, Happy RD Day!
KathEats says
Thank you!
Alisha Ness says
Happy Registered Dietitian Day!
KathEats says
Thank you!
Hannah @ eat, drink and save money says
This looks delicious. I’ve been into boxed soups lately too, partly because I saw them on your blog! I like that I can use part of the box and keep it sealed in the fridge for later. Can’t wait to try this, and I’m excited about looking for flavored tofu too!
Sarah says
Is there any way you can ask Imagine to define “Natural Flavors” and “Organic Spices” for me? These are usually hidden sources of free glutamate (aka MSG) so I have to avoid them or I have a migraine reaction and go temporarily blind. I miss the convenience of store-bought soup so it would be nice to find a brand I could trust.
KathEats says
Imagine doesn’t add any MSG to any of their products per their FAQ page. I’m glad to know that as well!
Sarah says
Well…. I believe it when they say that they don’t add Monosodium Glutamate. However they can, and probably do add free glutamate flavor enhancers under the ingredient labeled “natural flavors”. At least this has been my experience in the past with most store-bought soups, even organic ones. I should just eat some and let you know. I guess you could say I’m “blessed” with the ability to detect it anywhere 😉
http://www.truthinlabeling.org/presentregulations.html
Cassie says
The tofu at first looked like little blocked of herb cheese, and then mini croutons! Wowza, now that I know it’s tofu I love this even more!
Sarah @ O-HI-30 says
Hey Kath – I’m having my boyfriend’s vegan family over for dinner next Sunday (a first!), and although I’ve been making tofu for a while, it’s not consistent in its quality. But yours always looks sooo good! What type of pan do you make yours in? And what oil do you use? The last couple of times I used coconut oil and it just didn’t go well for some reason. I had to throw away my wok! And I’ve used my cast iron skillet but it was hard to keep from sticking.
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
KathEats says
I would ask you what kind of tofu you’re using because I think that makes the biggest difference. We buy Twin Oaks which is local to Virginia and REALLY firm. It has very little moisture as well. I think the firmer the tofu you can find the better, and the more you can press out the liquid and pat it dry, the better. Another trick is to coat it in cornstarch before cooking.
Tonya says
Mind if I suggest this link for making great tofu? It’s not my site, but I plan to try his method this week.
herbivoracious.com/2012/05/how-to-make-tofu-really-freaking-delicious-tofu-101.html