Simple Autumn Cabbage Soup

I was visiting my parents this weekend and they have the most lovely garden.
Sadly, most vegetables are 'over' for the season, but I still came home happily loaded down with cabbage, onions, potatoes and carrots.

Probably due to my German Grandma's cooking influence, I tend to LOVE cabbage in soup especially, and this invention of mine is VERY simple, fast, easy and perfect for fall.

Add some seitan/gluten "beef" chunks if you want it a bit more hearty, but it's good either way.

Simple Autumn Cabbage Soup

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, chopped coarse
2 cups sliced sliced carrots
3 - 4 cubed white potatoes, I like the "waxy' white potatoes but any kind works, even half sweet potato and half white
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 cups liquid, I use mostly vegetable broth with about a cup of wine added
1 medium head cabbage, chopped coarsely
OPTIONAL: 2 cups seitan/gluten "beef chunks (like gardein or Morning Star Farms) browned in oil in a skillet
1/2 tsp. dill
few shakes Tabasco or other hot sauce
salt & pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oil in a large stock pot, add carrots, onions and garlic and saute for about 10 minutes.
Add liquid, bring to a boil, add potatoes and cook till almost tender.
Add cabbage, dill and Tabasco. (add "beef" chunks here too, if using).
Bring the soup back to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in parsley and serve.

Also good garnished with (vegan) sour cream!

Mediterranean Vegetable Soup

I love this soup because I always have the ingredients on hand during the summer. Plus, as a bonus, it's a huge favorite with my kids (because I used to put "ABC" noodles in when they were younger!).

I guess it's basically a type of minestrone but I've never called it that because I don't like minestrone. Kidney beans and I do not get along. However there are no kidney beans here. So maybe it's not really 'minestrone'. I digress. Call it what you want.

At any rate, this is great when you have a garden full of greens and tomatoes to use up, and even with the chick-peas and pasta, it's nice and light, perfect for a summer supper.

Experiment with the beans and vegetable amounts and types, I've even used zucchini in it with great results.

Mediterranean Summer Vegetable Soup

• 1 sweet onion, chopped small or left in thin sliced rings
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cups cooked chick-peas/garbanzos or white beans (or 1 can)
• 2 cups tomato juice or V-8 (OR 1 cup sauce + 1 cup water, OR your own homemade equivalent)
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh tomatoes
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 2 cups vegetarian broth (I use the broth from home-cooked chick-peas - Don't use the broth from canned ones though, it's salty and yuck)
• 3 Tablespoons minced fresh basil
• 2 Tablespoons finely minced fresh sage (or 1 tsp dry)
• 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
• 1/2 cup uncooked whole wheat pasta (macaroni, "A-B-C's" or orzo all work well here)
• 2 cups finely chopped greens; I use the quicker-cooking varieties here - chard, spinach, beet greens, tatsoi, dandelion, etc.
• several drops hot sauce
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large saucepan, cook the onion and garlic over medium low heat until onion is transparent. Add juice, wine and tomatoes and simmer for 20 - 30 minutes or so, until tomatoes start to break down.
Add broth, chick-peas and herbs.

Increase heat to medium high to bring broth to a boil.
Add pasta then REDUCE HEAT to simmer 7 minutes or until pasta is cooked.
Add greens and simmer 5 more minutes, until greens are soft/lightly cooked and pasta is done to your taste.
Season with a drop or two hot sauce, (for flavor, not heat), salt and pepper to taste.

Serves about 4 people.

Spring Asparagus Soup

Saturday marked the beginning of the local (like, right here in in the park) Farmer's Market, and I was first in line to grab some beautiful asparagus and a ton of wonderful and mysterious greens. So excited to see the great variety right here in our little town!

Of course I love fresh asparagus just steamed or roasted, but with such an abundance available right now, it's the green-veggie of choice in our kitchen for at least a few more weeks and I tend to get a little more creative.

This soup has been a family favorite for years now; I remember my oldest 'Sprout' (now 18!!) when she was very small and could barely manage soup with a spoon. She would crumble a ton of crackers into her serving and then happily eat the green "mush". Not as appetizing to the adults that way, maybe, but she LOVED it and always asked for "Green Mushy Soup" when she saw asparagus in the store.

I promise it's delicate flavor doesn't really NEED crackers or croûtons but dress it up however you'd like.

Spring Asparagus Soup

• 1 pound fresh asparagus, break where the stalks naturally break to avoid "stringy" bits
• 3/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon margarine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup soy (or other) milk, UNsweetened, of course
• 1/2 cup soy yogurt or soy sour 'cream'
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup vegan Parmesan (optional)

Rinse asparagus and break at their natural breaking point so you just get the most tender part (usually about 2/3 of the stalk). Chop into 1/2 inch pieces. Cook asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 1/2 cup vegetable broth.

Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.
Reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Place remaining vegetable mixture in an electric blender and puree until smooth, or use a stick (immersion) blender.

Melt margarine in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Turn heat to low.

Stir with a wire whisk, (this is important) while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the butter. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Slowly (VERY slowly!) stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil.

Turn down heat. Stir the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan and heat gently.
Whisk yogurt or sour cream into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls.
Garnish with reserved asparagus tips. Sprinkle with vegan cheese or garnish with some fresh herbs if desired.

Matzo-Ball Soup

Happy Spring!! We are not Jewish, not keeping a kosher kitchen and not celebrating Passover, but we love Matzo-ball soup, and I tend to make it a lot in the spring-time, possibly because I see all the little supermarket displays with matzo meal and other interesting-sounding ingredients readily available.

At any rate, I figured it was time to share this recipe, regardless of what day it is.

Matzo-Ball soup has long been a favorite with my kids, they tend to like anything with balls of dumpling-like-things floating around in it. And they especially loved the soup I used to make, which traditionally needs eggs to make nice fluffy matzo-balls. Granted, these are a bit different. I wondered if their randomly persnickety palates would notice a difference - apparently not, as this recipe seems to be just as much of a hit.

I've really struggled with veganizing the recipe and still getting the matzo (matzoh? matzah? lots of different spellings out there to confuse me) -balls to turn out anything CLOSE to the "original" but I think we're getting there, finally. (Of course, even more traditionally those matzo-balls are cooked in chicken-broth, but obviously THAT part is easy enough to veganize).

Let me also point out that while I am not Jewish, but I do have several friends who are. I was discussing my matzo-ball-veganization trials and mentioned using tofu. Well, evidently for Ashkenazi members, keeping Kosher at Holidays means no legumes... including tofu. (I've since learned that some rabbis allow tofu for those following vegan and Kosher but I don't really profess to know how all that works exactly.) At any rate, to make things more difficult or maybe just in the interest of a challenge, I decided to try making vegan AND soy-free matzo-balls! Like I don't have enough to do?

However..... Finally, with a lot of gooey, crumbly, sticky, gummy trial-and-errors, I think we have a winner. Or maybe at least a fair substitute for those of you who also love all things Matzo. (Don't be put off by my photo. They actually hold together better than what I have pictured!)

Soy-free, Dairy-free VEGAN Matzo Balls

• 1/2 cup matzo meal
• 2 Tbsp potato starch (or 1 Tbsp vital wheat gluten flour if that works for you.)
• 2/3 cup water (minus about 2 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. oil
• pinch (literally JUST a pinch) of baking soda (optional if you want to leave out any leavening, though the balls will be more dense)
• pinch of onion powder
• pinch of salt
• pinch of parsley

Mix all the above ingredients together until almost the consistency for rolling into balls.

It should be like a soft, slightly sticky play-dough, but it can be quite a bit softer, as the dough will absorb liquid as it sits. Add a little more matzoh or liquid if needed for the right texture - and refrigerate for 1/2 hour.

Roll into about 16 small balls and drop into gently boiling vegetable or vegetarian-"chicken" broth or your own choice of homemade broth or any salty, seasoned water.

Turn down heat and simmer gently for 20 minutes.

Remove from water with slotted spoon and bake on an oiled rack (over a cookie sheet) for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees until they start to dry out. This extra step keeps them holding their shape nicely!!!

Refrigerate if you're not ready to use.

When ready to use, warm in the oven covered with foil (or in the microwave *gasp*). Add to soup of your choice and serve.

My actual "soup" is nothing fancy - I usually throw a bunch of plain old frozen mixed veggies in some simple vegetarian "chik-flavored" broth and add the matzo balls. If you leave the matzo balls in the broth a bit they start to soften which can be good, but too long and they fall apart, (as you can see in my photo) but the broth thickens up nicely too. So do whatever you like, and enjoy!!!!

Green Tomatoes

I was asked for some suggestions in using up green tomatoes a few days back, which immediately sent me scrambling to the garden and the interwebs for some good ideas.

My Grandma used to use green tomatoes in a chow-chow relish sort of thing, but I was curious what else was out there. I had no idea there were so many great recipes!.

This has been a fun few days of experimenting!!

First, pretty much everyone has their own version of Fried Green Tomatoes. So I'll spare you there, though we did make these babies for supper one night and they were DEEELISH as always. Crunchy-fried stuff, who can't like that?!! If you haven't made them, please do, everyone needs to experience these!

Next, we tried Czech Green Tomato Soup from an old, yellowed cookbook called "Recipes From The Czechoslovakia" which (as the title suggests) seems to be a somewhat poorly translated version of old Czech recipes. Someone gave it to me years ago because I have Czech heritage. It's all pretty meat-centric but I tried this one (veganized of course) because I was basically curious. And I loved it!!

It was a little bit "weird and lumpy green" for my kids. Here's the recipe though, if anyone wants it, I thought it was simple, different and quite yummy. Don't let my kids palates discriminate for you...

Czech Green Tomato Soup

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 oz any vegetarian faux-meat sub for "ham", chopped (1/2 cup) I used Smart Bacon because

that's what I had, not "ham" exactly, but work with me here...
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced scallions
2 cloves crushed garlic
1 bay leaf
2 lb green unripe tomatoes, chopped
1 carrot sliced very thin
1 cup vegetable or vegetarian "chicken" broth
2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Garnish: Tofutti or any vegan type sour cream and fresh cracked black pepper(optional)

Heat oil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then cook vegetarian "ham or bacon" bits, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 1 to 2 minutes. Add scallions, garlic, carrot and bay leaf and cook, stirring occasionally, until scallions are tender and lightly browned, 6 to 8 minutes.
Add tomatoes, broth, water, salt, and pepper and simmer, partially covered, until tomatoes and carrots are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf and season soup with salt and pepper. I blended this just a bit with my immersion blender but left it still fairly chunky. Really good the

next day!!

But the hit of my green-tomato cooking frenzy has got to be this wonderful spaghetti sauce I "veganized" from the FoodDay section of The Oregonian - everyone loved it and we've made it TWICE already. Here is my version:

Sausage and Green Tomato Pasta

2 Apple-Sage Field Roast Sausages, sliced thickly
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound green tomatoes, cored and cut into 1/4-inch dice
Salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons minced pepperoncini (little pickled peppers)
1/2 pound pasta of your preference
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup soymilk
1/2 cup coarsely chopped flat leaf parsley, plus more for garnish
Freshly ground black pepper

In a 12-inch skillet over medium heat, pan fry the sausage slices until lightly browned. Remove sausage and set aside.

Raise the heat to medium high. Add the tomatoes, salt and red pepper flakes. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes soften and start to turn golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add the wine and pepperoncini and cook until the some of the liquid evaporates and the tomatoes are a bit saucy. Add sausage back in to pan.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta of your choice in salted boiling water according to the package directions until al dente (if you like it that way). Drain the pasta.

Put the drained pasta back into the pot and add the cooked tomatoes and sausage, nutritional yeast and parsley. Toss until combined, adding soymilk to moisten and make sauce a bit creamy, as necessary. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper.

Pour into serving bowl, sprinkle with lots of additional parsley and serve immediately.

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Now go pick those last green tomatoes and ENJOY!!!

Quick and Easy Broccoli "Cheese" Soup

First of all, these are my Mother's Day Flowers...

still BEAUTIFUL two weeks later, can you believe it?

The roses haven't even opened all the way.

SO amazing. I just had to post a picture!!

And next? A very simple supper of Broccoli "Cheese" soup and whole-grain toast. One of my standard go-to suppers when we're VERY short on time and rushing between baseball, soccer and ballet, theater, music and PTA. You know you have days like that too. As an added plus, everyone loves it. A person eats what is served around these parts anyway, but I DO like making "favorites" when I can.

This uses *gasp* a package of frozen, chopped broccoli from the grocery store for super-quick convenience, frozen veggies actually have just as much nutrition as their produce-section counterparts but if you'd rather, you can chop and cook a head of fresh broccoli instead, be my guest. The directions seem long for a "quick" meal but they're so easy!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

4 cups frozen, chopped broccoli (2 8-oz bags or whatever)
3 cups vegetable soup stock
3 tbs chopped parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 small onion chopped fine

3 tablespoons margarine
3 Tablespoons flour
2 cups plain rice or soy milk

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 tsp yellow mustard

2 - 3 drops Tabasco
Fresh ground pepper

Bring stock to a boil, add frozen broccoli and onion, and simmer until barely tender, about two minutes.
With a slotted spoon, remove one cup of broccoli florets. Set aside.
Place remaining broccoli, liquid, parsley and salt in blender or whiz with an immersion blender. Puree until smooth. Set aside.

Melt margarine in soup pan. Stir in flour and let bubble a bit. Stir in rice milk with a whisk, bring to a boil then turn heat down and simmer till thickened, stirring constantly with the whisk. Add nutritional yeast, lemon juice, mustard and tabasco and heat another 30 seconds.
Stir in broccoli puree. Adjust salt if needed, add pepper to taste.

Heat gently (don't boil). Serve immediately with some of the reserved broccoli florets scooped into each bowl.

Curried Cashew-Vegetable Soup from "Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons" by Nava Atlas

Well, today's post is a bit different and very exciting for me, because I've been asked to participate in a "Blog Tour" for cookbook author Nava Atlas, in celebration of today's release of Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons . Now in its 4th edition; many of you may remember the cookbook as "Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons".
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First, a technical note for fellow cook-book geeks like myself: While fairly similar to the third edition (the one with the green cover) this edition is significantly different from the original first edition; first, all the recipes are now vegan, and second, there are mouthwatering photos... and check out the beautiful new cover!

Fellow bloggers are participating as well, simply Google "Nava Atlas Blog Tour" and you'll find their posts too! (I may come back and add links when everyone's posted).

This cookbook has been a family favorite of ours for quite some time. Come on people, it's full of soup recipes - who doesn't like soup? You really can't go wrong with Nava's recipes, they're always tasty, easy to prepare and have ingredients I can find at a "regular" grocery store. I also admit, quite selfishly that this particular cookbook is near and dear to my heart because the author includes one of MY recipes. (African-Inspired Quinoa Peanut Soup which I'll spare you from blogging about yet AGAIN!).

For this momentous occasion, I narrowed the many delicious options down to one of my family's favorites; Curried Cashew-Vegetable Soup. I think you'll LOVE this one!

Here is the recipe, (with the author's permission of course) straight from the book, **the only change I made was to use carrots and potatoes instead of the green vegetables, making it a more hearty, winter stew. Enjoy!! (Oh, and we added grilled vegetable sandwiches to ALSO celebrate our new panini press. Double yum!!)

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Curried Cashew-Vegetable Soup

With notes of ginger, curry, and citrus
6 to 8 servings
Cashew butter make an offbeat, rich-tasting soup base.
This luscious soup is good hot or at room temperature.

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
1 large celery stalk, diced
4 cups water
1 cup cashew butter
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger, to taste
2 teaspoons good-quality curry powder, more or less to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon lemon juice, or more to taste
1/2 cup orange juice, preferably fresh
3 cups steamed fresh green vegetables (such as finely chopped broccoli, green peas, diced zucchini, cut green beans,or any combination) **I used potatoes and carrots
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Thinly sliced scallions for garnish
Chopped cashews for garnish, optional

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the onions, garlic, and celery and sauté over medium-low heat until all are lightly browned.
Transfer to a food processor with 1 cup of the water and process until smoothly pureed, then transfer back to the soup pot.

Or add 1 cup of the water to the soup pot and process with an immersion blender until pureed. Add the remaining 3 cups water and bring to a rapid simmer. Whisk in the cashew butter, about 1/3 cup at a time. Stir in the ginger, curry powder, cumin, nutmeg, lemon juice, and orange juice. Return to a rapid simmer, then lower the heat.

Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes. Stir in the steamed vegetables. If the soup is too thick, add enough water to give the soup a slightly thick consistency. Season with salt and pepper, then serve. Garnish each serving with scallions and chopped cashews if desired.

Borscht (Pressure-Cooker or Not)

Record snowfall last month, record flooding this last week, it's been one of "those" winters and we've barely started!!

All the crazy weather puts me in the mood for soup. Well, pretty much ANYTHING puts me in the mood for soup.
One of my favorites growing up, was the delicious borscht my German-Russian Grandma would make. Smelling it cooking even now takes me back to her steam-filled kitchen with the soup-pot bubbling away on a rainy afternoon, munching on Pfeffernuesse and listening carefully to her heavily German-accented cooking tips. She never used a recipe.

Life seems to fly by a lot faster now, than 40 years ago when I sat in her kitchen. I wish I had time to stand and watch my soup simmer for hours. Fortunately I discovered that Grandma's Borscht translates very well to either a pressure cooker or crock-pot with nearly similar results.

For this particular recipe, I much prefer the pressure cooker as the veggies cook up beautifully but don't disintegrate. If you haven't discovered the wonders of this cooking machine, I implore you to read up on the benefits and see for yourself. I won't spend hours trying to convince you that modern pressure cookers are nothing like exploding vintage models, I could quote facts and show diagrams but I think it's all about what you're comfortable with. If it isn't something you see yourself ever using, then stick with a crock pot or the stove. But they are great time-saving devices. Huge. And the best part? My Grandma's Borscht takes about twenty minutes! I think she would be baffled by the need for speed but would approve of the authenticity of the final product.

Even if you think you're not a beet fan, you need to try borscht just once, you may be surprised at the subtle blend of flavors and what a wonderful, and healthy winter soup this is. No canned beets though. That would be so wrong. And don't worry about an exact measurement of each veggie, or using ones you don't care for - as long as you have around the total amount.

**If your veggies are organic, go ahead and leave the peelings on and scrub well. They soften up nicely in the pressure cooker.
If you want to do this in a crock-pot, peel the veggies first, chop in more uniform, smaller pieces and cook on low for about 5+ hours until done

Miller Family Borscht

(Pressure Cooker Edition)

2 Tbsp margarine
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
1 (28 oz. ) can chopped tomatoes
1 lb. small beets, scrubbed well, and sliced in 1/4 in. slices
1 lb. cabbage, coarsely shredded or chopped
3 large carrots, well-scrubbed, cut in 3 or 4 chunks
2 small parsnips, well-scrubbed, cut in 3 or 4 chunks
1 largish turnip or rutabaga, cut in chunks about the same size as the carrots and parsnips
Coarsely chopped chard, kale or beet tops, about 2 cups, packed.
6 cups vegetarian "beef" flavoured stock
3 bay leaves
2 tsp. caraway seeds
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
optional garnish:
vegan sour cream
sauerkraut

Heat margarine in pressure cooker. Saute onion about three minutes, until soft. Add remaining ingredients except vinegar, sauerkraut and sour cream.

(I'm going to assume you already know how to use your particular pressure-cooker now - these are the guidelines that work with my model, but pretty standard for most types.)
Lock lid in place and bring to pressure over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain high pressure and cook for ten minutes. Quick release under cool running water. Remove bay leaves, stir in vinegar and add some salt if needed.
Garnish (optionally) with a spoonful of sour cream and/or sauerkraut and
serve.

I'll leave you with this fun picture of my daughter and her adorable hat. A family friend used the pattern from this knitter's blog and made this awesome "Brain-Monster (or Shark?)" Hat for her.
Totally perfect winter hat for a nine-year-old, don't you think??!! She's in LOVE with it.

Snow Day and My Story About "Clam" Chowder

Winter weather's finally hit us, here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. And it IS beautiful if you don't have to be out driving. Schools, roads and lots of businesses have been closed.
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Not to be alarmed, we're not snowbound with ten-foot drifts (yet). I work for the School District; any sprinkling of flakes, mixed with a little ice, makes for treacherous driving of those big ol' yellow buses so they tend to err on the side of safety - and make small children happy, canceling school with a "Snow Day".
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What it's turned into is Christmas break starting three days early all over the state. Which won't be as much fun when June rolls around... I'm reminding my kids.











We are scheduled for a "really big" storm to hit tonight though, stay tuned.
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Actually snow driving hasn't phased me much, so far, (though I'm not hauling 40 screaming students!) my daughter and I found it a great excuse to finish Christmas shopping. It was quiet and relaxing, for a change - there was no one in the stores!

Back home, I realized I should have done a little grocery shopping as well 'cause my pantry is pretty depleted. I'm trying to put off getting many groceries until after Christmas though, so I can manage to get some gifts instead. That budget only goes so far!

Well, we have plenty of potatoes and it was DEFINITELY a soup sort of day so I pulled out one of my kids' favorite recipes to warm them up after the snowman building and snowball fights.

CLAM CHOWDER. Totally vegan and clam free.

Now, as a side note, it's time for true confessions:

See, there was once a short-lived stretch in college when I naively thought that vegetarians did indeed eat fish. It seemed logical, all the "vegetarian" friends I knew ate fish, so I assumed it must have been me who had the definition of vegetarianism wrong (this being the dark-ages of no Internet to set me straight on such things). And during that time, poor college student that I was, I was introduced to the cheap and filling wonders of the "All-You-Can-Eat Soup-And-Salad-Bar" at a local restaurant. Thus I discovered clam chowder. (*Gasp!!*)

And odd as it seems for someone born and raised vegetarian, I loved the stuff. I tend to think their particular recipe was mainly potatoes, as I never remember it tasting strongly seafood-like, but every so often, after reforming from my slightly pescetarian ways, I still fondly remember the Red Apple Restaurant and their never-ending chowder bowl...

Obviously after some thought and a little research - and my own Mother setting me straight (listen to your Mom, she's usually right!!) I reformed from my fishy ways. It was not me misinterpreting the definition and "slandering the name of good vegetarians" (my Mom's words). Poor little clammies and fishies, what was I thinking?

OK then, confessions aside, this is my vegan version of chowder. It's been 25 years since I've had the stuff, so it may not be accurate at all, but anyone I've served it to has enjoyed it and asked for more. Or the recipe. And it's just fun to see the looks on people's faces when I say we're having clam chowder tonight.














Tofu-Mom's Chowdah

(I call it that to irritate my offspring, they tell me my accent is terrible - and it is. The soup's good though!!)

• 1 Tbsp. margarine
• 1 chopped oyster mushrooms (or regular white mushrooms are fine, the oyster mushrooms just have a lighter color and better texture for this, and they're CHEAP at Asian markets
• 1/2 cup chopped leeks (or onions)
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1 tsp powdered dulse or kelp (a kind of seaweed - or use crumbled Nori)
• 1 tsp. smoked salt

Saute the above in a stock-pot until vegetables are tender, stirring frequently. Cover to steam a bit as they cook if you want, they'll cook faster. It'll smell pretty smoky and fishy for a bit - not to fear, the finished soup is much milder!

• 3 finely chopped sage leaves (or 3 teaspoons dried)
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 3+ cups vegetable broth (I usually do 1/2 broth and 1/2 water)
• 6 med red or white or Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into smallish chunks
  

Add the above ingredients and cook at a low boil just until potatoes are soft - about 15 min.

• 1 cup soymilk
• 1 cup coconut milk (A tip I stole from Vegan Dad: Use the 'Thai Kitchen' brand here-it is less "coconuty" when you're just wanting just the creaminess anyway)
• 1/2 cup Tofutti Cream Cheese

Remove Bay Leaf. Stir in the above ingredients and heat on low, stirring frequently, until heated thru. About 7 - 10 minutes.
Season to taste - I add a splash of Tabasco and a grind of black pepper or some fresh chopped parsley or dill.
(My kids get picky about too many green flecks floating around which is why you'll see the bowl pictured is pretty free of green...).

Serve with lots of saltine crackers. We tend to LOVE those little round "oyster crackers".

Enjoy, and have a GREAT weekend!!

Curried Pumpkin (or Squash) Soup

My Mom gave me this funny-shaped Hubbard Squash that we thought looked rather like a Turkey. So we decided to have it for Thanksgiving dinner. But then plans changed; we didn't end up doing Thanksgiving at home, we didn't have squash... (I'll tell ya all about it in a day or two) instead, we cooked this up first thing, upon our return tonight...

Repeat of one of my old favorites: And it makes for the most beautiful pictures. I couldn't stop snapping photos, it was so colorful!

CURRIED (and Roasted) PUMPKIN (or Squash) SOUP

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2 Tbsp. margerine

1 small onion, chopped

1 small garlic clove, pressed

2 tsp. curry powder or paste (I much prefer paste!), or to taste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly-ground black pepper

cayenne to taste

2 Tb. brown sugar

1 Tb. very fine grated fresh ginger

Aprox 24 oz. vegetable broth

3 cups pumpkin or squash puree - either from a can, frozen or bake/steam your own and mash (my fav.) **See Note following

3/4 cup coconut milk (or 1 can of it is fine, so there's no waste)

chopped fresh green herbs for garnish

Melt margerine in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook onion 5 minutes, until softened. Add garlic, curry powder, ginger, salt and pepper and cook 1 minute more.

Add broth, sugar, water and puree; mix well. Reduce heat to low.

Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.

Stir in coconut milk. Puree soup in blender in batches until smooth.

Heat through before serving.Adjust seasonings - sometimes needs a pinch more sugar, or salt or cayenne - depending on your tastes.

Garnish with whatever green herby things you can find.

**I cut small sugar pumpkins or squash in quarters and roast until soft, then puree with a little vegetable broth for this recipe. Today I used the hubbard squash.

Happy Almost-Halloween!

OK, I think I'm ready to start blogging after the Great Computer Disaster of 2008.
First; Gratuitous cute-kid pictures,
then my Pumpkin-Lentil Stew:

OK, not they're not "kids" but teens ("Come on Mom, get it right!").

In Halloween costumes.

And they don't like being called "cute" I've been informed.
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But I'm their Mom,
so I get to say what I want.
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. They attended a Halloween Costume party the other night, and before I get to my recipe, I just had to show off their great costumes.
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. Snow White and Pippi Longstockings (sorry, I don't know who Zorro is).
And if you knew my kids, you'd know how perfect those costume choices were for them. They got a lot of compliments and had a great time with friends!
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When they came home from the party all chilly and frozen-nosed, I had this soup in the crock-pot because it seemed very fall-ish and warming and the Good Mom thing to do.
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Seemed pretty popular with my resident story-book characters too. Enjoy!
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Pumpkin-Lentil Soup (or Stew)

3 cups sugar pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and diced in 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 cup brown lentils
2 cups coined carrots
1 can stewed diced tomatoes
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup diced onion or leeks
3 cups vegetable or vegetarian "chicken-flavored"broth
1/2 tsp ground mace
1 tsp salt
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Fry the onion and carrots in oil in a pot over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Rinse the lentils. Add the lentils, veggie broth, salt and mace to the pot. Stir and bring to the boil.
Turn the heat down to low, cover and simmer for about 30 - 40 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and pumpkin, stir well, recover and simmer for another 20 minutes until the stew becomes thick and the pumpkin is tender, adding more broth or water if needed.

For a crock pot, fry veggies as directed above, then add everything to crock pot and cook on high for 4 hours or until veggies and lentils are soft.

Italian Kale and "Sausage" Stew

Nothing terribly profound today, but after a quick look at my almost-finished-somewhat-neglected garden, I did discover late summer zucchini, plus onions and kale to use up like CRAZY; so I combined several Italian-Kale-Bean-Sausage soup ideas, (along with a few mismatched refrigerator leftovers because I'm frugal like that) and came up with supper.

No, it's not exactly "soup" weather but my kids liked it, no leftovers, so I must have hit on something... (plus it uses Field Roast sausage which is one of our all time favorites!) Sorry the picture's crap, the soup was not.

Kale-"Sausage" Soup

1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 - 3 links vegetarian sausage, like Field Roast Italian, cut into (1/2-inch) slices
1 - 2 zucchini, quartered and cut into slices (about 2 cups?)
3 garlic cloves, (you know I used more!) peeled and crushed
6 cups or more!! chopped trimmed kale (I happen to be growing Lacinato or Black Italian kale, but use whatever you have)
1/2 cup water
splash of white wine (optional but I add it to everything)
2 (16-ounce) cans or 3 cups coooked cannellini beans or other white beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, finely chopped (optional but in my opinion, why would you leave them out?)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sauté onion and veggie sausage 4 minutes or until sausage is browned. Add zucchini and garlic; cook 2 minutes. Add kale and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Serve immediately.

Tastier? Eh... How About Some Asparagus Soup?

My wonderful - and VEGAN friend "Froggy" (whom I met at VeggieBoards) was in town recently and we spent the afternoon at Pike Place Market in Seattle. In our wanderings throughout the market stalls, we ran across this sign. Couldn't resist a picture.

Seriously. Check out their slogan... "Whey Tastier Pork". Gives me the willies...

Needless to say we did NOT make any purchases, at this stop anyway.

A bit further down the market we did find a market vendor with rows and rows of beautiful Walla Walla asparagus. (I went to college in the Walla Walla valley, and became absolutely spoiled by the abundance of wonderful, tiny, tender, spring asparagus that grows in the rich soil there.)

Finally it's time for my favorite spring recipe... Asparagus Soup!

This stuff is so easy and so good, the ultimate veggie 'comfort food' since I LOVE soups AND asparagus!

I originally posted the recipe over at Veggieboards, but recently had a friend ask me to add it to the list in my blog, so, here ya go!

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1 pound fresh asparagus
3/4 cup chopped Walla Walla sweet onion (or a leek works great here too!)
1/2 cup vegetarian 'chicken-flavor' broth
1 Tbsp. Earth Balance or other margerine
2 Tbsp. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups vegetarian "chicken-flavor" broth
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup soy yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup vegan Parmesan cheese (optional, but really adds to finished product)

Place asparagus and onion in a pan with the 1/2 cup broth. Bring broth and veggies to a boil, turn down the heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.
If you want to be fancy - save a few asparagus tips for garnish.
Place all the remaining cooked vegetables and broth in an electric blender or food processor and puree until smooth (I use an immersion or "boat-moter" type blender and blend CAREFULLY right in the pan thn save in a bowl or something.
Melt margerine in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the margerine. Don't let the flour brown!
Let the mixture cook 2 minutes.
Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups of broth and increase the heat.
Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir the vegetable puree and soymilk into the saucepan. Whisk yogurt into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls.

Garnish with reserved asparagus tips.
Sprinkle with Parmesan "cheese" if desired.


This is the absolute perfect "spring" comfort food for me (I think I said that already?) ... sometimes I'll garnish with fresh Lemon Thyme from my herb garden - a match made in heaven!

Quinoa-Peanut Veggie Soup (from Africa)

Made soup again tonight. Thought I'd post the recipe...

This is another family favorite (one of those rare things everyone actually likes!) I made it long before I had Sprouts to cook for - (and long before quinoa was readily available. I had to mail order it... 'cause way back then, I thought it was so unique and "exotic").

I originally got the recipe from a college roommate and gradually changed it to suit my tastes over the years - I like it 'cause it's fairly quick and easy (and healthy) - my kids think the subtle jalapeno heat and mild peanut butter taste combo is great for soup!

OK, I confess... they're also amused with the way the quinoa cooks up and it's little "tail" separates - they say it looks like little worms in the soup, which, I guess if you didn't know better, might make you wonder. Either way, don't be frightened off by my description - it's good stuff.

So, a little bit of bragging here: I originally posted this recipe over at my favorite Vegetarian forums, Veggieboards.com.
Cookbook author Nava Atlas (yes, of cookbook fame) saw it there, tried it (and evidently liked it as much as we do!) and asked to include it in her latest cookbook "Vegetarian Soups for all Seasons". Woo!

So (shameless self-promotion) check out the book! Actually every recipe I've tried from the book is great - (if you have the book, you already know this). I happen to LOVE soup anyway and this is an awesome collection. But enough about that, here's my recipe (oh, it's on page 47 in the book, I think?) just in case you're interested:

Quinoa-Peanut Soup

2 Tb margarine
1 chopped onion or 2 med. leeks sliced (I prefer leeks, use all of white and tender part of green)
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I use more)
1 fresh jalapeno, minced (Again, I use more)
1 red bell pepper, diced
2 diced celery stalks, with leaves (I usually leave this out, cause I don't care for celery all that much)
2 small diced zucchini
1 large sweet potato, diced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
4 cup vegetable stock (I use the "non-chicken" style broth)
1/2 cup quinoa, (some brands say to rinse and drain before using - I never have..)
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 dash cayenne pepper or to taste (I use more!!)
1/2 cup chunky organic peanut butter, no honey or sugar

Wear rubber gloves to prepare fresh jalapeno pepper if you need to - or just be careful.
In a large heavy-bottomed soup pot, melt margarine over medium-high heat. When margarine is hot and bubbly, add all veggies, and cumin and oregano.
Saute 10 -15 minutes, or until vegetables are softened.
Add stock, quinoa, black pepper and cayenne. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cover.
Simmer until quinoa is cooked and veggies are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes.
Add peanut butter, using a wisk to blend in completely, and simmer another 10 minutes. Taste, and adjust seasonings.
(I almost always throw grated fresh ginger in there somewhere but it's not necessary).

Winter Kale!

Wow! After several days of freezing temps and unexpected snowfall last week, I haven't ventured into the garden until today. I was thinking there wouldn't be anything much to look at but I was surprised (and pleased) to find that I still had a bit of Russian kale and tons of Lacinato (also known as: cavolo nero, Tuscan, blue, black or dinosaur) kale growing!

I absolutely LOVE kale,it's so beautiful! The dinosaur kale and Russian are probably my favorite greens.

So, I picked a couple heaping handfulls and made it into a really wonderful soup. I love this stuff on cold winter days. It's so easy, it always turns out great and though I admit my kids aren't totally thrilled with it yet (it's growing on them though) my non-vegan friends LOVE the stuff!

Kale and Sausage Soup

6 ounces Tofurky kielbasa (or Soyrizo works well too) , sliced,
1 large onion, chopped,
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 pound fresh kale, washed,
26 ounces vegetable or "chicken" broth
4 cups water
2 carrots, sliced
1 teaspoon dried leaf marjoram, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain white rice

Saute Tofurky, onion and garlic in oil in large pot over medium-low heat until tender, about 10 minutes.
Cut off stems of kale and slice into 1/2-inch pieces. Keep stem pieces separate. Coarsely chop fresh leaves.
Add the broth, water, carrot, marjoram, salt, pepper and kale stems.

Bring to boiling. Lower heat; cover and cook for 15 minutes longer. Add the leaves at this point along with the rice to the pot. Bring to boiling. Lower the heat; cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the rice is tender.

(I usually add a good shot of Tabasco at this point too).

Soooooooo yummy! Ahhhhhh... I wonder if I have leftovers...