Minestrone

1 red onion, diced small
1 carrot, shredded
1 stalk celery, diced
1/4 lb green beans, cut into small peices
1 zuchinni, diced
3 cloves garlic
1 can diced tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste
4-5 c vegetable broth
1 c white beans
kale
Italian herbs
parsley

Heat 1 T oil in a large pot and add the onion, carrot and celery.  Season with salt and cook until tender, about 5minutes. Then add the green beans and zuchinni and cook for a few additional minutes. Now add the garlic, stir well, cook for an additional minute, then add the tomatoes, paste, broth and white beans. Let this simmer for 30 minutes with a lid on. You can toss in the kale and herbs at the very end.

Creamy Zuchinni Soup

6 small to med zucchini
2 small yellow onion
4-5 cloves garlic
2 T Tamari or soy sauce
1 1/2 T Balsamic Vinegar
salt & pepper
4-5 cups vegetable broth, or more/less for desired thickness
fresh/dry Italian herbs

Dice the squash. Heat a couple T oil in a large pan, then toss in the zucchini & onion. Cook until tender. Turn heat to low and add the garlic, tamari & balsamic.  Cook for an additional minute then transfer the zucchini to a blender .. slowly add the broth until you reach your desired thickness.
Serve with diced tomatoes, chopped olives, bread crumbs, truffle oil...

I don't eat a whole lot of eggs.. but when I happen to have some in the fridge for a special occasion I poach them in my soups! It takes about 8-10 minutes, on low, with a lid. In the photo below I served the soup w a poached egg, daiya vegan cheese and sriracha hot sauce.

Tamale Chowder

Welp. This is a masterpiece. I'm in love. Total prep& cook time was right around 4hours. I probably could've done it in 3, but forgot to soak beans in advance, so I prepared most of the ingredients last night then woke up, cooked the beans and finished the soup.
YOU can make this soup in 1.5 hours if you use canned beans, store-bought broth & tamales.


1 large white onion
5 cloves garlic
6-8 c vegetable broth
assorted roasted peppers - I used red & green bell, poblano, anaheim and 4 jalapenos
5 tomatillos, diced small
1 sweet potato, diced very small and roasted
1 c cooked pinto beans
1/2- 2 c prepared masa (or 4-5 cooked tamales)
1/2 lime, juiced
cilantro
garnish- freeze dried corn, cilantro, lime

Stay tuned for the complete recipe!!

13 Bean Dahl

1c Bob's Red Mill 13 Bean Mix (I love Bob)
5 c water
small piece Kombu
2 T coconut oil
1/2 T ginger
1/2 T fennel seeds
1 t cayenne
4 t coriander
2 t cumin
3 medium tomatoes diced, or 2 cans
1 t salt
optional garnish with tumeric cashew cream, (recipe follows) bean sprouts and fried chickpea noodles

Tumeric Cashew Cream
cashew cream (1 part H20 + 1 part cashew, blend until smooth)
shake of tumeric
dash of salt
pinch of cayenne

 Soak the beans overnight. Then cook 1 c beans in 5 c water for an hour or until soft.
Meanwhile, heat oil in saucepan. Add the ginger and fennel seeds and cook for 1 minute. The oil should be hot enough to should hear it sizzle, but not so hot that it burns. Then add cayenne, coriander, cumin and cook for an additional minute. Now, add the diced tomatoes and cover. Cook until the tomatoes have completely fallen apart and the mixture has become a sauce. Now stir in the beans and simmer for 10 minutes.

Tuscan Potato Soup w Herbs and Truffle Oil

1 large leek, diced
1 yellow onion , diced
1 stalk celery, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
8 med yukon gold potatoes
5-6 cups vegetable stock, or more to reach desired consistency
3 tomatoes, quartered, roasted then skinned
fresh rosemary, marjoram & sage
truffle oil to garnish

Root Soup: Potato Turnip & Horseradish Chowder

 I love horseradish. I've been thinking a lot about it lately and its about time I started including it in more recipes. I interned at the Farm today and scored some turnips, picked up some potatoes at the store.. and this recipe was born.

My Yukon Golds and Baby Turnips before they get diced and tossed into the soup pot.

Leeks and onions gettin happy in the pot

Everybodys gettin hot, just waiting for the broth

Mmm a beautiful sight. Flavors marrying, layers building, soon we'll head to the blender and make a puree.

1/2 large yellow onion, diced small
2 leeks, diced small
3 cloves garlic
2 T oil, I used a blend (almond, coconut, olive)
7-8 medium yukon golds, diced small
6-7 small turnips, diced small
vegetable broth to cover, about 5 cups
2-3 T horseradish
2 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 T minced marjoram
2T chives
salt & black pepper

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the leeks and onions. Season with salt. After several minutes of sauteing add the garlic and cook for an additional minute.
Add the potatoes and turnips, a bit more salt, stir and cook for about 10 minutes. Once they start to get soft add the broth, horseradish, cloves, bay leaf and marjoram.
Cook for 15 minutes or until everything is very soft. Puree the majority of the soup in a blender, then add it back to the pot.
Stir in the chives, then season to taste with salt & pepper.

Spiced Swiss Chard & Mung Bean Stew

Mung Beans cooking with a piece of Kombu

Mis en place, while everyting my broth and beans are cookin'

Onion and bell pepper cooking in sesame oil and lots of spices

Puree 1/3 of the the stew then add it back in!

6 c vegetable broth (see previous post Let There Be Broth)
1 c dry mung beans, cooked in 3 c water
sesame oil
1/4 onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, mined
1 bunch Swiss Chard, stems chopped and leaves chiffonade (see post Teach the World to Chiffonade)
**dry spices: tumeric, ginger, cumin, coriander, 1 clove, fennugreek, white pepper, mustard

Prepare the Vegetable broth. Meanwhile cook the mung beans in water and prepare the rest of your ingredients

Heat 1 T sesame oil in a pan. IF USING WHOLE SPICES add them to the heated oil and allow them to cook for 2-3 minutes. This will soften them and toast them. IF USING GROUND SPICES add them at the end, directly to the stew. I used about half whole and half ground.  Use what you've got.
**I didnt specify the amount of each spice because... it doesnt really matter. This is a great combo. I probably used about 1/4-1/2 teaspoon of each.. besides the clove and white pepper.. I went easier on those. Just toss in 1 or 2 cloves and a few cracked white (or black) peppercorns.
After your whole spices have cooked in the oil for a few minutes add the onion and red bell pepper. Allow them to cook for about 5 minutes.

Once your mung beans have cooked, add the vegetable broth and spice/onion mixture to the beans. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the chard at the end.

Basic Butternut Squash Soup

3 small-med butternut squash
2 c vegetable broth
salt & pepper to taste

Roast the Squash. Scoop out the flesh into a blender. Combine with broth and puree. Season with salt and pepper to taste. This is the shortest blog recipe I've ever written.

See these previous posts for tips on some of the steps in this recipe.
Roasting Winter Squash
Let There Be Broth

In the above photo I garnished with black truffle oil and Italian breadcrumbs. There are so many great additions to this soup. Check out the list below!

try adding one or more of the following..
-coconut
-nutmeg
-ginger
-cumin
-apples
-herbs (especially Sage, although most common herbs would be nice!)
-cheese; parmesan, fontina, gruyere, pecorino..
-maple extract
-bourbon

Let There Be Broth

The Super Bowl is on. I really couldn't care less. Except one of my very favorite people looooves the Patriots. So I actually made an attempt to join her and watch the game, but the bar was "at capacity."
That'll be fine.
I'll just make some soup : )

I  have 3 butternut squash on my counter.. so naturally they'll be the star of this evening's soup.
I start by making a broth... I look through the fridge, through the pantry, and OH. MY. OH. NO!! There are NO onions in this apartment!!!! I only have 1/2 of a very very small onion. I'll admit I freaked a little. I reallllyy didn't want to run to the store tonight. My anxiety rose when I realized there is also. no. garlic. I gave up. Watched an episode of The Office on Hulu.. and THEN decided that I would NOT be defeated.

Making a good broth is a lot like making tea. You find flavorful ingredients and cook them in water until all of their goodness steeps out. I organized my spice cabinet recently (alphabetical order and categorized by peppers, blends, herbs, and roots/seeds) and remembered that I had some dried onion flakes and a jar of dried shaved garlic that my momma put in my stocking a couple years ago. Thanks Mom!  So I checked the fridge again and came up with tonight's broth.

This is a pretty basic vegetable stock. It can be used to add depth to a wide variety of dishes. If I was making a corn chowder, I would add the cobs and any other scraps from that soup. Broccoli soup? Add the stalks to the broth. You can save mushroom stems in the freezer for broths and if you cook a lot, you could save up several days worth of veg scraps, make broth, and store it in your freezer for later use.
Here's an idea: Freeze it in an ice cube tray, pop out the cubes, and keep em in a ziplock bag. Bam.

2 parsnips
3carrots
3 celery stalks
1/2 small onion
2 bay leaves
few white peppercorns
salt
1/4 c dry onion flakes
2 T dry garlic flakes

 To extract the most flavor from your vegetables, cook them in a bit of oil. Stir frequently for about 5minutes, then add water.

 Boil the heck out of it. And keep a lid on, unless you want it to reduce. Boil for a minimum of 30minutes, and no longer than an hour.

Strain. Here I fit a strainer over a pot and mashed the veg to release as much of the liquid as possible.

 Finished Product. 2 cups of beautiful,delicious nutritious broth.

Potato Cannellini & Cabbage in a Mustard Dill Stew

I'm crazy about Mustard & Dill. I am constantly trying to use my favorite flavor combinations in new ways. I was so happy with how this turned out.

3 small Russets, diced small
1 yellow onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 c cooked Cannellini beans, reserve cooking liquid *
1/2 small head green cabbage, thinly sliced
6 large crimini mushrooms, quarter
1 very large roasted tomato or 1 can roasted toms
1 1/2 c veg broth**
1/2 c veg milk***
2 T mustard (to taste)
1 T dry dill or 2 T fresh

Feel free to omit the tomato as it is out of season.. we have some gorgeous local greenhouse tomatoes so I could not resist.

Start by small dicing the potatoes and cooking them over med-high heat in a bit of oil and salt until crisp and brown. Set aside

If you are going to roast your tomatoes yourself, set your oven to 325, slice the tomato into sixths toss in oil and salt and place in oven on cooking sheet. After a half hour or so, the tomato will start to deflate, the flavor will intensify, and you can easily peel the skin off. Set aside.

In the same pan you cooked the potato.. saute the diced onion with garlic and salt. Cook for a few minutes, then add the cabbage, bean cooking liquid, milk and veg broth. Bring to a simmer, add the tomato, mushrooms, dill and mustard. Season to taste.

*soak 1/2 c beans in water over night. Drain & rinse the beans. Cook the beans in a 3-1 water-bean ratio. (I always toss a bit of kombu in the pot to add mineral content and aid digestion)

** Keep onions, carrots and celery on hand for making broths quickly. If you arent making broths often, you can always juice any excess carrots & celery. To make a delicious quick broth heat a bit of oil, dice the onion, carrot celery and add them to the pot. Cook for several minutes with a bay leaf, salt & a couple of peppercorns. Once the vegetables are good and soft add water to cover. Cook for at least 30min. You have broth!

***I stopped buying milks at the store several months ago. Instead I buy cashews. Soak the nuts for an hour, then blend 1part cashew with 3 parts water, strain, and voila you have 3 cups of creamy, healthy, delicious milk!

Miso Soup with Kimchee Dumplings

Cutting carrot flowers!!!... what a joy! It takes somewhat of a zen mind. And by that I mean patience and non judgment. They don't have to be perfect.
To make the carrot flowers, you must make long lengthwise cuts in your carrot.. I usually try to make 6 cuts on the fatter end, and 5 on the thinner end.

For the miso soup.. there are endless ways to do this. I've read many miso recipes and its one of my favorite ingredients, but this is the first time I've made a soup. First time for everything!

1 t Sesame oil
1 carrot cut into flowers
2 dozen shiitake mushrooms
2 scallions
1 med. size piece kombu
8-10 c water
5 T miso or to taste
ume vinegar
1 T dulse flakes
red pepper flakes
cilantro
kimchee dumplings!

Heat the oil in a pot. Add the carrots and 1/4c water and put a lid on it to cook the carrots a bit. After a couple minutes add the kombu, shiitakes and scallions. Once the mushrooms are soft, add the water dulse, ume and red pepper flakes (to taste.) Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Add the miso. You do not want the water to be boiling when you add the miso! It will kill all of the glorious living enzymes that were produced from years of fermentation. What a waste. So... dont boil the miso :)
Once your miso is incorporated & you are happy with the balance of flavors, add some chopped cilantro, and a couple of dumplings.. Once the dumplings are heated through enjoy!

Kombu- a sea vegetable (seaweed) that adds minerals, flavor and salt to soups, beans and grains. Most people dont actually eat it, its just something that you throw in the pot to make the other ingredients happy. I always add a piece to a pot of beans or rice.. and it actually helps with the digestion of beans. Wonderful. AND! get this... MSG was designed to act like kombu! its a flavor enhancer! cool. So, instead of keeping a jar of white powdery MSG on hand, I have kombu. works for meee!

Dulse- also a sea vegeatable. for the purpose of this recipe I used Dulse granules. They add a touch of salt and sea essence and add tons of minerals to a dish. You can sprinkle them on anything and hardly notice they're there. Sounds good. Also check out Dulse strips, which look a bit more like dried leaves. You can toss these in oil, toast em and put em on a sandwich in place of bacon.. a DLT!

Ume- One of the best ingredients. Ever. Umeboshi Plums are pickled (fermented) fruits which you can find whole, in paste form, or as ume vinegar. Ume plums have many homeopathic and culinary uses. I use them in many recipes, in place of other vinegars or citrus, to round out and heighten the flavors in the dish.

Kimchee Dumplings- also known as "Mandu", come in many varieties, and are a staple in Korean cuisine. You can pan fry them in oil, steam them, or drop them into soup. They remind me of Totinos Pizza Rolls only way better, and cheese-free. You can find them in the freezer department of Asian grocery stores, and they are available at Central Market, the store that I work at.

French Onion Sooouuup

Food is so nostalgic for people. It holds memories and emotions, sometimes its obvious, like how pasta reminds me of my family. But sometimes I will smell or taste something that sends me back into a memory that I had completely forgotten, sometimes I am not even sure how the food & the memory are related.. but its a beautiful thing.

This soup reminds me of childhood lunches with my Mom & Grandmother. If French Onion Soup was on the menu, I'd order it. At 17, when I became a vegetarian.. I stopped eating french onion soup :( Everywhere you go it is made with Beef Stock. No bueno.

Eventually, I found this product by Pacific, a french onion soup broth, with no beef. I caramelized some onions, added the broth.. and was in heaven. But I wanted to make my own broth.

So this time I started with a mushroom broth and loads of caramelized onion, a few other ingredients, lots of time & love. But the sweetness of the onions was a little too much for the mushroom broth. So at the end, I cheated & used one of my Better than Bouillon jars, this time the jar called "No Beef." It is a concentration of vegetable paste, yeast & salt that is supposed to mimic the flavor or beef stock. The soup was a hit, but I'm going to keep working on it.. afterall, its my fave!


5 onions
6 sprigs thyme
1-2 Bay leaves
1/2 c Sherry
oil & vegan butter
4 cloves garlic
7-8 c broth (or more as needed)

crusty bread/croutons
Gruyere

Caramelize your onions. This takes time folks! Like, at least an hour. Slice up all your onions, toss them lightly in oil, and turn on the heat, start off at med-high, then bring it on down. I like to keep the lid on, for moisture, to prevent burning/sticking. While they are doing their thing, throw in the bay and thyme. You dont have to pick all the thyme off the twigs, throw em in whole.. the leaves will fall off & you can pick the twigs off later. Once you are confident that your onions are good & caramelized, toss in a couple tablespoons of vegan butter & your minced garlic. After a few minutes add the Sherry. Let it cook for a minute or 2 and then add your broth.
Season with salt & pepper.. and finally serve with the bread & melty cheese. Sticking your soup bowl under the broiler with the bread & cheese helps with the melty part. Enjoy!
Gruyere cheese

Sweet Summer Veg Soup

It is seriously so. freaking. sweet. It tastes like I added sugar. ITS SO GOOD! definitley perfect for summer. I made it for Michelle & it cured our hang overs.
Corn, leeks, carrot, &garlic cookin down in oil & vegan butter.
Roasting the sweet potatoes and green beans, rather than tossing them in the pot to cook, adds depth to the flavor of the soup.
Making tea with the corn silks. It has a very subtle sweet corn flavor.. and has many healing properties.

3 Leeks, white/light portion cleaned & minced
4 ears fresh corn, cut kernels off the cob (save cobs & silks for use!)
1 sweet potato, cut into small cubes
2 c fresh green beans, break off tough ends & cut into bite-size pieces
oil & 2 T vegan butter (Earth Balance)
1/4 c mirin (rice wine)
garlic, 5 or so cloves
almond milk 8-10 c
3T ume plum vinegar (or other light vinegar/lemon juice)

Heat oven to 350, toss sweet potato & green beans in light oil & salt, spread on sheet pan & roast until soft & yummy.
Add the vinegar/lemon juice to the almond milk & let sit.
Meanwhile, heat 2 T oil in a large pot, then toss in leeks & small amount of salt. Cook until soft, then add the corn & a little more salt.
Scrape all the corny bits & juices remaining on the cob into the pot. Cook for a couple minutes, then add vegan butter & garlic.
Cook an additional minute, add the mirin, let it cook down for a few moments, then add milk/vin & green beans & sweet potatoes from oven.
Salt to taste, and simmer for 10-15min. Toss in a handful or fresh cilantro at the very end.
Enjoy

Coconut Carrot Ginger Soup

1 large onion
about 20 or so carrots
1-2 cans coconut milk
1-2 inches ginger
1 coconut
salt

This recipe starts like so many others... Heat oil in the pot & add onion! The onion/carrot ratio is about 1 small onion to every dozen carrots. I probably used about 20 carrots in this soup.

So, we are cookin the onion. Once it it good and delicious add the chopped carrots. Cover with the lid, then once they are good and soft add 1 can coconut milk. Bring to a simmer. Puree the carrots with the meat & water of one coconut & an inch of ginger (or more to taste.) If you need more liquid, add more coconut milk or water.
Add it back to the pot. Bring to a simmer.. adjust seasonings as needed i.e. ginger, salt, coconut.

Creamy Zucchini Soup

This is a very simple, delicious way to prepare the bounty of squash this season!
You could make this soup with asparagus too & it would be sooo yummy!

7small zucchini/yellow squash
onion & garlic
2 c flavorful broth/your fave bouillon
almond milk (or whatever milk you use!)
1 T vinegar (white wine/apple cider/rice wine)
salt & pepper
basil or cilantro
parmesan

Heat olive oil in a large pot.. add onion and cook for several minutes until it is transparent. Add the garlic and cook an additional minute. Then add all the zucchini.. stir often until the zucchini is soft & delicious. Put it in a blender and slowly add almond milk.. about a cup, or more if you need too. Add it back to the pot. Stir in more milk/water until you reach your desired consistensy.. add 1-2 servings of bouillon and bring to a simmer. Season to taste with salt & pepper then garnish with parm & fresh herbs.

Potato Soup

Butternut Squash Coconut Soup

At school we diced up a ton of butternut squash and didn’t use it all, so we all had a homework assignment to take it home and do.. something.. with it. My mind raced. I wanted to do something different than I had in the past, I’ve used a lot of butternut squash and tend to make a few of the same tasty dishes over and over again.

A few days went by, I hadn’t made anything with it yet, and then today I came home with a coconut! I was at work today, and really craving some coconut water. I was feeling tired, and the water in coconuts is a natural source of electrolytes. I could have bought a plastic bottle of cocowater off the shelf.. but it would have been $1 more than an actual coconut. So, I drilled a hole, stuck in a straw, drank my water, and brought the coconut home to play with!
At 11 oclock at night… I became inspired to combine the two ingredients and make this yummy soup!

1 large butternut squash diced, skin on (seeds out)
1 coconut’s meat
2 t vegetarian not chicken boullion
salt pepper
maple flavor (not syrup!)*sold in grocery stores near the vanilla extract
almond milk (optional)

To blend coconut meat you will need a heavy duty blender. I am not even sure if a food processor would do it, I haven’t tried. But it sure wouldn’t make it as silky smooth as my Vitamix. An alternative to the fresh coconut meat, would be to add a can of coconut milk. Don’t get the lite can, please. It isn’t worth it, you don’t want to skimp on creaminess and flavor, and coconut fat isn’t just good fat or great fat.. it’s the best fat! It has something to do with the fatty acids being medium chains… but I’m no scientist.. lets eat!

Put butternut squash chunks in a pot and cover with water, add the bouillion and bring to a boil. Cook until the squash is very tender. Add the butternut squash, some of the broth, and all the coconut meat (or milk) to a blender and puree until smooth. Put it back in the pot. Season with salt, pink peppercorns (or whatever you got, I added it for a pretty color contrast!) and maple flavor. Add more broth or milk until it reaches your desired consistency.

Turnip Soup Puree

If you like turnips, don’t eat enough of them, or just want to try them out, try this recipe!! I swear it’s a winner. I would totally serve it in a restaurant. In fact, I was inspired to make this soup by something I tasted at Broadway Brewery once. It’s so quick and easy.
When buying turnips the larger ones are usually a bit more bitter, so if you have the option, choose smaller ones. But no worries, roasting them will sweeten ‘em up.

2.5 – 3 lbs turnips
2 red potatoes (not the tiny ones)
1 small white onion
2-3 cloves garlic
½ t dry rosemary
½ t dry thyme
1 bay leaf
1/3 c dry white wine
milk (I used rice & almond)
2 T olive oil
¼ c Earth Balance (healthy butter alternative)
½ t vegetarian “not chicken” broth

The vegetarian “not chicken” broth I use, may sound strange to some of you, but it is great for veg recipes. Better Than Boullion is a brand of pastes that you add to water to create broths. You can see a picture of the container above, in the post for butternut squash soup. I have the mushroom, no-chicken, and vegetable on hand, but the company makes dozens of different kinds. I keep them in my fridge and I think it is a good investment for anyone interested in making more soups and sauces.
You may notice that I used 2 different vegan milks and oils. I am not doing this to make my recipes seem complicated, but to add more creaminess to the soup. Since I am not adding cream or butter, the blends I am adding will add more depth and richness to the soup.

(the plastic tupperware container in the middle is filled with frozen wine. It actually doesnt freeze all the way, but is like a slushy.. it is the perfect way for me to keep white wine, because I don't drink it!)

Peel turnips and potatoes, and chop into uniform pieces. Toss heavily in Earth Balance and Olive oil, salt & pepper. Cover and roast in a 400 degree oven until very soft. You should be able to easily pierce it with a utensil.
Meanwhile, dice the onion and sauté with the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary. When soft, add the minced garlic and cook an additional minutes. Then turn off heat and immediately pour the white wine in the pan.
In a blender or food processor add the turnips, potatoes and onion mixture and puree. While pureeing add the milk(s) and boullion until it reaches your desired consistency.