October 28th, 2011
I don’t have much time for a real post today. Dave and I are going to see Matt Good tonight. We have front row tickets and backstage passes – I’m crazy excited!!
Dinner is left over borsch. I don’t have a recipe for you because this is one of the few soups that I actually use a recipe out of a cook book for. I just wanted to share my love of borsht. I’m not sure if it’s because I went to a Ukranian babysitter for a large chunk of my childhood or because borscht is the one of the few meals I can make with local produce all year round, but I love it!
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
October 20th, 2011
Potato leek soup is one of my all time favorites. And, incidentally, one of my biggest cooking disasters. The first time I tried to make it, I was very new to cooking and had never used leeks before. I assumed they were like green onions – you use the green parts and discard the white part. I ended up with this incredibly thick and fibrous inedible mush. It wasn’t until years later that I realized you only use the white part of leeks!
Anyways, back to the soup. I like my soup to be the main event, not a mere side dish. So it needs to be hearty and filling and have some protein. The problem with traditional potato leek soup is that it’s not very filling and basically just carbs. Enter white beans. I decided to try adding white beans to the soup to make it a complete meal. I wasn’t sure it would work. The beans could have overwhelmed the delicate potato leek flavor. Dave was certainly not happy when he found out I had stuck beans in his favorite soup. But we were both pleasantly surprised. The result was super rich and creamy and the beans didn’t compromise the potato leek flavor at all. This will be our new go-to potato leek soup recipe.
Potato Leek Soup
1 tbs olive oil (or water)
1 bunch leeks (3 large leeks) – white parts only!!
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 lbs potatoes, diced
5 cups water
½ tsp dried thyme
2 cups cooked cannellini beans
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
salt and fresh pepper
Slice the white part of the leeks and rinse them very well in a strainer. Heat the oil or water in a soup pot, add the leeks and saute until soft (5-7 minutes). Add the minced garlic and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add the diced potato, water and thyme. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until the potato can be easily pierced with a fork. Add the beans and puree with a hand blender until smooth (I like to leave some texture). Add almond milk until you reach your desired consistency. I added 2 cups and it was still quite thick. Add salt and pepper liberally to taste.
Posted in Recipes | 6 Comments »
October 14th, 2011
Sorry for not posting yesterday. I came down with a bad flu on Wednesday evening and I barely got off the couch yesterday. Thankfully, I’m feeling much better today!
I’ve had some turnips and parsnips from my CSA hiding in the back of my fridge for weeks now. I’m not a huge fan of either so they always end up languishing in my fridge because I don’t know what to do with them. Thankfully, they stay good for a long time. I finally decided to use them in a simple roasted root vegetable soup hoping that roasting them would take the edge off their bitterness. I also added some potatoes and carrots to balance out the stronger flavour of the turnips, and some shallots and garlic for extra yumminess. This is more of a method than a recipe. You can use any type and quantity of root vegetables.
Generic Roasted Root Vegetable Soup
1. Cut up your vegetables into consistent size chunks – about half an inch. Place them on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Toss with 1-2 tbs olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper or Herbamare. (I used 5 turnips, 2 parsnips, 1 lb potatoes and 3 carrots).
2. Bake in a 400 F oven for 40-50 minutes or until the vegetables can be pierced with a fork.
3. Heat up some vegetable broth in a pot – as much as you think is necessary to cover the vegetables, I used 5 cups. Add the roasted vegetables to the broth and puree with a hand blender until mostly smooth (I like to leave some texture). Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.
This soup was surprisingly delicious, even though we didn’t like most of the vegetables that were in it! Unfortunately I didn’t take a pic of the final product.
Posted in Recipes | 3 Comments »
October 5th, 2011
I don’t have much time for a post today. But I did find time to make a pot of one of my all time favorite soups. It’s a recipe from the Fat Free Vegan Kitchen and I’ve probably make it close to 30 times! Every time I eat it I wonder how something so easy to make and so healthy can be so delicious! So be sure to check out this delicious recipe for Rustic Red Kale and White Bean Soup!
Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
August 30th, 2011
Sweet Potato Lentil Chili!
This is truly one of my favorite recipes. It’s by Dreena Burton (my fav vegan cook book author) and I haven’t felt the need to alter the recipe one bit. I actually just finished making about 5 ½ litres of this stuff. I’m going to a baby shower this weekend and the momma-to-be wanted some freezable food for when the baby arrives. This is exactly the occasion I turn to this tried and true recipe. I’ve made this recipe for many omnivores and it is always a hit. This is my go to recipe when making dinner for a crowd or when I’m making meals to deliver for a friend. This would be a great starter recipe for someone who is just starting to make plant based meals. Lucky for you guys, Dreena has shared this recipe with VegNews and it’s available online. Here are some reasons why I LOVE this recipe:
- it’s super easy to make
- you can make it ahead
- it freezes well
- you can double it
- with sweet potatoes, lentils and beans, it is very hardy and healthy
- it’s always a crowd pleaser, even when serving omnivores
Things are getting pretty busy around my house. My partner Dave is running in the Ontario provincial election for the Green Party and the election period officially starts in 8 days (ahh!). Generally during times of super busyness and stress we end up eating out a lot more and eating way less healthy. But, I’m determined to not let that happen this time! So expect a lot of tips on eating healthy during busy times over the coming weeks. The first tip is – never make a single batch of anything!! It only takes a tiny bit more time double a recipe and you end up with twice as much healthy food. This is how I ended up with 5 ½ litres of this chili. I’ll probably give 2 litres to the momma-to-be which means I still have around 6 meals worth of chili left for us. I know this recipe freezes well so I’ll pop them in the freezer for when we need a healthy meal and have no time to cook.
I’m working on a long post all about how to make the switch to natural and cruelty free bath products so look out for that next week!
Posted in Reviews, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
March 10th, 2011
In my continued effort to eat more local veggies, I decided to try rutabaga this week. After not having much luck with previous local root veggies, I decided to use the rutabaga in a roasted root veggie soup where its flavor wouldn’t be too overpowering. I tried some raw rutabaga while I was chopping it and it turns out that it’s pretty tasty! But I’m glad it led me to make this super yummy soup!
I’m not usually a fan of blended soups. I’m more of a super chunky stew-like soup kind of gal. But both Dave and I loved this soup! The veggies, the roasted garlic, the subtle spices, yum! I added chickpeas to make this filling enough for a meal. If you plan to serve it as a starter or side then you can leave the chickpeas out. You can also use just about any combination of root veggies, just make sure to have a good balance of orange to white and yellow ones.
Roasted Garlic and Root Vegetable Soup with Chickpeas
2lb sweet potato
1 large rutabaga (not turnips, see here for the difference)
1 1/2 lb potato
3 large carrots
1 tbs and 1 tsp oil
4 cloves garlic (or more!)
1 tsp thyme
1 onion or 1 bunch of leeks
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp coriander
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup non-dairy milk.
2 cups chickpeas
Preheat oven to 400. Chop all the veggies into roughly equal size cubes and place on two baking sheets. Drizzle with 1 tbs oil, thyme, salt and pepper. Stir to get the veggies evenly covered with oil. Bake until the veggies are soft and can be easily pierced with a fork, this should take 40-50 minutes. When the veggies are almost done, heat the remaining tsp of oil in a large soup pot and add the onion or leeks. Saute until soft, then add the cumin and coriander. When the veggies are soft add them to the pot along with the broth and milk. Puree with a hand blender until mostly smooth but leaving a little bit of texture. Add the chick peas and heat until hot.
Posted in Recipes | 2 Comments »
February 1st, 2011
So I’m calling this Caramelized Shallot and Turnip Split Pea Soup but really, I’m not sure these were turnips.
I definitely believe that the way we eat has a huge impact on the environment. That is one of the main reasons why I eat a plant based diet. I also try to eat as much local and organic food as possible. Living in Ontario this is not always easy, especially in the winter. It is a further challenge for me since I really don’t like many of the few local veggies that are available in the winter. I really didn’t like many vegetables growing up. Even though I went vegetarian when I was 12, I was really more of a carbetarian than a vegetarian. But since going vegan, I’ve grown to love many of the veggies that I once hated. Certain veggies like turnip and parsnips are still on my hate list. They are some of the few veggies that I can get in the winter that are local and organic; so I decided to give them both another try.
Last week I tried turnips. At least I thought they were turnips. When I cut open the first one, it seemed very different than the one other time I tried cooking with turnips. So I took a pic and asked on twitter if anyone had ever seen a turnip like this. The unanimous reply was that it was not a turnip. But it did have a turnipy smelly so I think it was a turnip. The texture was sort of soft and spongy (think inside of a too large zucchini) not firm like a regular turnip.
Anyways, let me know if you have any idea what veggie this is! And I bet this soup will work with regular turnip! Dave swears these things tasted just like turnip.
Caramelized Shallot and Turnip Split Pea Soup
1 tsp olive oil
1 package shallots, chopped (I’m sure regular onions would work)
1 large clove garlic, minced
2 cups yellow split peas
6 cups water or veggie chicken stock
½ tsp thyme
⅛ tsp marjoram
bay leaf
1lb or 3 medium turnips, diced into ½ inch cubes
In a soup pot, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the shallots and stir them to coat with oil. The reduce the heat and them cook for about 15 minutes. Stir often. Then add the minced garlic and let it cook for another 5 minutes. Then add the remaining ingredients except the turnip. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for 30 minutes. Add the turnip and cook for another 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Posted in CSA Challenge, Recipes | No Comments »
November 26th, 2010
I’ve been reading the SOS Kitchen challenges over at Diet, Dessert and Dogs for a while now. Now that I finally have my own blog up and running, I’ve decided to participate this month! The ingredient is sweet potatoes. It’s not exactly hard to come up with sweet potato recipes, the real challenge is to narrow it down to just one!
This has been a super busy month for me, so I decided to make a simple sweet potato soup with red lentils to add some protein and bulk.
Sweet potato lentil soup
Ingredients
- 2 large sweet potato (mine were really big, so use 3 if yours are small to medium size), diced into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 onion, chopped
- 5 cups water
- 1 bell pepper, diced
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- big pinch cyanne
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 2 bay leaves
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil, broth or water (I used water). When the onions are soft and translucent, approximately 5-10 minutes, add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, stir and reduce to a simmer. Simmer until the sweet potatoes and lentils are soft, approximately 25-30 minutes. Remove bay leaves and blend with a hand blender.
The spices in this soup are very mild. They add a subtle warmth but the taste of the sweet potatoes really shines. Enjoy!
Katie
Posted in Recipes | No Comments »
