Book Contest: Soup's On! (with Very Berry Muffins)

Very Berry Muffins from Soup's On!

Here's really tasty proof that I meant it when I said that I was going to kick start the blog again. I'm back with a book contest that features some delicious blueberry muffins! Since I can't share the muffins themselves with you, the publisher of Soup's On! has generously given me permission to post the recipe instead.


Soup's On!, by Barb Bloomfield, is nifty little book. The Soup section is broken into five subsections: Tomato Based Soups, Miso Based Soups, Pureed and Creamy Soups, Stews and Thick Soups, and Other Soups. Under Tomato based, I'm itching to try the Mexican Soup Stew, made with quinoa and tvp and also the Seitan Soup with Cabbage. The Miso section has a Kraut Soup! I love fermented foods, especially when they're together, so this one really caught my eye. In the Pureed and Creamy section, there's a Triple Onion Soup made with tofu that is intriguing. Generally, I like my soup thick and more stewlike, and that chapter has plenty of offerings, too: Lentil and Barly Soup with Greens and Seitan Pasta Delight, to name just a couple. In Other Soups, I'd love to try the Green and White Soup, made with brussels sprouts, or the Curried Bok Choy and Snow Pea Soup. As you can tell, the book has a lot of variety and uses some ingredients not frequently seen in soups. That's not to say that the traditional soups, like Minestrone, are overlooked, because they're in there, too. Like all soup recipes, a lot of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry, but combined with fresh ingredients, you'd have the makings of a delicious soup.

But back to those muffins. Besides the soup recipes, Barb includes a bunch of muffin recipes, both sweet and savory, and all sound wonderful, as well as an accompaniment chapter with a few more bread recipes that would like to buddy up to whatever soup you choose to make. Being the impatient type (and having fresh blueberries to use), I jumped into a blueberry mufffin recipe that took 2 cups (yes, 2 cups!!!), of blueberries. I've never made a muffin with that much fruit that still managed to maintain that fantastic muffin texture. These did and I was so impressed that I asked if I could post the recipe. The only sub I made was to use extra whole wheat pastry flour for the barley flour, because I didn't have any.

Very Berry Muffins (with thanks to Rick and the Book Publishing Company)
Yield: 12 muffins

Liquid Ingredients:
1 cup nondairy milk
1/2 cup flax seed mixture (2 tbsp ground flax seeds in 1/2 cup warm water)
1/2 cup liquid sweetener (I used agave)
3 tablespoons canola oil

Dry Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup barley flour (I subbed ww pastry flour)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used ww pastry flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups berries: raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, etc, (fresh or frozen and thawed).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a blender, combine the liquid ingredients. Blend until smooth and creamy, and pour into a mixing bowl.

Sift the dry ingredients into the liquid ingredients and stir until the dry ingredients are absorbed.

Gently stir the berries into the muffin batter. Spoon into lightly oiled muffin tins, and bake for 20 minutes.

Test to see if the muffins are done by inserting a toothpick in the middle of a muffin. If the toothpick comes out clean, the muffins are done.

Although this is a soup book, I think it would be worth buying for the muffin recipes alone. Especially at its low price of $10.95! I'd love to try the rye muffins with capers (especially alongside that Kraut Soup) or the Mashed Potato and Gravy Muffins. Those just sound genius.

So, if you'd like a chance to win this book, all you need to do is a post a comment to this blog entry telling me your favorite soup or muffin. Be sure to check back to see if you won in case I can't contact you through your entry. A big thanks to the Book Publishing Company for sending me this book, as we as many others, for the contest.

Coming soon: the Return of Food Network Fridays! We're tentatively aiming for every other Friday, with plans to post the recipe about 10 days before the Friday Wrap Up. This week's recipe is posted here, and we'd love to have you join us!

See you Friday! Which, by the way, will mark 3 posts this week, Dear Reader. But who's counting?