Tomato Lentil Soup and Grilled Panini

It's raining today, which is certainly better than SNOW. I can't think of anything more comforting on a cold and rainy Saturday than a hot bowl of soup and a grilled panini. 

Soup is one of my favorite recipe to make. It's simple, inexpensive, and makes a completely satisfying and hearty vegan meal.

Tomato Lentil Soup

(Inspired by this recipe from the fantastic blog: Running on Real Food)

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

3 carrots, diced

4 stalks celery, diced

6 cups homemade vegetable stock

1 cup uncooked red lentils

1 28-oz can diced tomatoes, with juice 

  8oz frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

½ tsp pepper

¼ tsp chili powder

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

2 bay leaves

¼ tsp dried Italian Seasoning

salt to taste

Directions

• Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium heat
• Add the garlic, onion and carrots, season with some salt and pepper, and cook
• for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Add the celery, stock, lentils, tomatoes, spinach and all the spices and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender and cooked through,
• approximately 30 minutes.
• And as an added bonus, this soup tastes even better the next day, which is
• perfect for work lunches!

And now, for the Panini:  For this comforting grilled sandwich, I decided to try

out the melting power of one of the new vegan cheese products on the

market: Chao Slices by FieldRoast, a vegan coconut cheese seasoned with a

traditionally fermented soybean curd called CHAO by the Vietnamese. 

I already know that Field Roast Chao slices make a mean cold
deli sandwich with some Tofurky Deli Slices, lettuce, tomato, mustard and
mayo on a roll, and they taste utterly fantastic raw, straight from the
package, but how would they melt? 

Since I had a lovely loaf of Tuscan Wheat Bread, I thought I'd try my hand
at a grilled cheese and hickory smoked Tofurky sandwich to go along with
our soup! Oooey gooey Coconut Cheese, melted perfectly between two
slices of crisp, grilled bread? Yes, please!

Smoked Tofurky and Chao Cheese Panini  (serves 2)

Ingredients

4 slices Whole Wheat Tuscan Bread
6 slices Tofurky Hickory Smoked Turkey
4 slices Chao
Earth Balance, for buttering bread

Directions

• Preheat a large non stick pan on medium heat.
• Lightly butter the four slices of bread.
• Place bread, butter side down, in the pre-heated pan, then add 1 cheese slice, turkey slices, final cheese slice, and top with bread.
• Cook the panini until the outside is crisp and the cheese is melted, about 3-4 minutes on each side.
• Cut in half, and serve with soup!

The verdict: Field Roast Chao slices melt like a DREAM when grilled between two sliced of bread. And, they have that creamy, tangy goodness of the grilled cheeses of my childhood, a memory long gone since going vegan. I think these definitely give Daiya slices a run for their money!

I have a package of the Chao Coconut Herb with Black Pepper in my fridge right now, so I must come up with something fantastic to make with that as well. Suggestions are welcome! ^_^

Bistro Broccoli Chowder - Hold the Parsnips...

Another fine and hearty soup from Appetite for Reduction, using one of my favorite vegetables of all time, BROCCOLI.  For anyone who does not have the pleasure of owning this fantastic cookbook, I found the recipe online here, at GoDairyfree.org.

Here in new England, the only "chowda" in most folks' bowls is clam.  For this recipe, however, we swap out our shelled friends for some broccoli, and leave behind the heavy cream and butter for some luscious potatoes and unsweetened almond milk.  Besides potatoes, the recipe calls for a parsnip, which is not one of my usual pantry staples.  Apparently, it is not Stop and Shop's either, which made me sad because I really wanted to try one in this recipe.  No parsnips to be found.

So, in steps a turnip, and we call it a day.  Turnip can be subbed in some recipes that call for parsnip.  It is described as having a "celery-like" flavor, which I thought would be perfect for a soup such as this one.

And, I was right!  This soup rocked.  Although the directions instruct you to puree HALF the soup and leave the rest a little chunky and thick.  I submerged my immersion blender in the soup pot, and literally  tapped the button, and within 6 seconds, the entire pot was pureed. So much for that... and so much for my Job Lot $15.00 immersion blender been cheap and crappy.

So, since the soup was now silky smooth, and a delightful shade of green. I decided to chop up a bunch of RAW broccoli to add some texture back.  Good call. The crunch of the raw broccoli added just the right body to the soup, and at 150 calories a serving, you can't go wrong.  Thank you, Isa.  This was a fabulous, low-cal lunch for a week. ^_^

Recipe Testing: Greek Creamy Lemon Rice Soup, “No”govlemano

"The Greek classic egg-lemon chicken soup gets a vegan makeover with the help both white beans... and a touch of arborio rice". 


Warm, comforting and delicious, with just the perfect amount of lemon!  This recipe is a winner, and I will be making it often.  When L walked in the house, she said it smelled just like when her mom made it, so I'd say this recipe definitely stands up to Greek approval There is a version of the recipe with asparagus here on Terry's blog, for anyone who might like to recreate this at home  ^_^ 


Cannot WAIT for Terry's cookbook to come out... !!

Recipe Testing: Black Bean Soup with Roasted Poblanos and Pickled Onions

Another successful test from Terry Hope Romero's upcoming cookbook!  Warm and comforting black bean soup, with a subtle hint of heat from the roasted poblanos.  I took the time and soaked my black beans from scratch, which gave the most amazingly creamy texture to the beans in this soup.

I also learned how quick and simple it is to make pickled red onions, which will now become a regular soup, sandwich or burrito topper in our house.

As good as this soup was the day it was made, topped with pickled onions and some avocado, it got EVEN BETTER the next day! 


Freshly Roasted Poblanos, right from the broiler!


  Another winner, for me!
Thank you, Terry!



Friday Night Cookin' with Becky & Kathy

Another fabulous Friday of cooking with my favorite vegan friendly omnivore!

In an attempt to highlight the bounty of tomatoes and herbs from Kathy's garden, we planned a night of Bruschetta, and Homemade Garden Tomato Soup.


Kathy was kind enough to bring most of the ingredients right from her garden (YES!).  She only requested I make ricotta cheese, (or "some ricotta cheese vegan thing-y", as she calls it), which, I could gladly oblige.

This one came out really well. I was pleased!

My new favorite method for making vegan ricotta is actually a mix of the Tofu Ricotta AND the Cashew Ricotta recipes from Veganomicon.  The texture of the tofu is a perfect base, and the pureed cashews, lemon juice and olive oil add just the right creaminess. I also like to add nutritional yeast to taste, which gives the ricotta that extra nutty, cheese-like flavor.  The addition of nutritional yeast is only in the TOFU Ricotta recipe, and not in the Cashew version.  I like to live large and add it anyway.

And now for the soup:  I think Kathy harvested every plum tomato she had!  So we went to work washing and scoring the bottoms with a little "x", then dropping them into a pot of boiling water.  About 20 seconds later, we plunged them into a giant bowl of ice water and started peeling!  I must say, this task is much more fast and painless with two rather than one! :)  And boy was it worth it.

No fancy recipe, just taste as you go!

GARDEN FRESH TOMATO SOUP

Half a large onion, diced

2-3 cloves, chopped garlic

3 pounds plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped

Olive oil

Vegetable Stock

Fresh Rosemary and Oregano

Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste

Sautee onions and garlic for 5 mintues until tender.
Add tomatoes and stir well.
Simmer for about 20 minutes, and puree in a blender to dseired consistancy. 

A stick blender would have come in really handy here.  I'll get one of those someday...  We decided to leave the soup with a bit of texture instead of pureeing it totally smooth - mostly because it was molten hot, and we were too hungry to wait for it to cool and safely blend it all the way.


Place 1 large spoonful of cashew ricotta in the middle of your soup bowl, then ladle in the garden fresh tomato goodness...DELICIOUS! ^_^

Minstrone with Kale

"Soup puts the heart at ease, calms down the violence of hunger, eliminates the tension of the day, and awakens and refines the appetite."   Auguste Escoffier




From Color Me Vegan, by Colleen Patrick Goudreau:

"The Italian word minestrone, refers to a large, hearty soup. The soup itself is part of what is known in Italy as cucina povera - literally 'poor kitchen,' referring to the necessity of creating dishes based on what was available and in season. As it has been passed down through the ages, there is no fixed recipe and lends itself to many variations".

There are many things I love about this recipe:  First of all, it is simple, hearty, and tastes wonderful.  And second, it contains one of my all-time favorite leafy greens: KALE! 

Here are four fun (little known) nutritional facts about kale:

1. Kale eases lung congestion and is beneficial to the stomach, liver and immune system
2. It contains lutein and zeaxanthin, which protect the eyes from macular degeneration
3. It also contains indole-3-carbinol, which may protect against colon cancer
4. Kale is an excellent source of calcium, iron, vitamins A and C, and chlorophyll

Another component to this recipe that I really like, is the step of boiling the small pasta separate from the soup itself. That way the pasta doesn't get overcooked, or soak up all the broth by the time it's finished cooking. The addition of bay leaves REALLY adds a wonderful depth of flavor; a flavor that my 'chicken soup loving, dark leafy green hating' family gobbled up eagerly.  There was barely one bowl's worth left, which always makes me happy ^_^

If you do not already have this gorgeous book, there are some sample recipes listed here, and the Minestrone with Kale is one of them!

I did make two small changes from Colleen's original recipe: First, I added 3 stalks of chopped celery along with the carrots, because you can't have soup without celery! It just gives it that special home made soup "taste".  And second, I used chickpeas instead of cannellini beans.  The first time I made this delicious soup, I didn't have white beans on hand, so of course, I subbed my old-standby: CHICKPEAS.   Well, I enjoyed them so much that I now use them every time I make the soup.  As they simmer in the both, they get so wonderfully soft and tender and compliment the hearty kale very well.  This soup is nice sprinkles with a bit of Vegan Parmesan.

"Soup of the evening, beautiful..." Lewis Carroll

Tomato-Rice Soup

Cookbook Challenge Week 2 - Veganomicon

I have a special fondness in my heart for Veganomicon, as it was the very first vegan cookbook I purchased.  With that said, for the cookbook challenge,  I wanted to be sure to make recipes from the book that I had never tried before.  With all the snow lately, and temperatures being down in the single digits, the Tomato-Rice Soup with Roasted Garlic and Navy Beans sounded too good to be true.

What I like so much about this recipe is that is was simple, and that it called for BROWN rice, something I had been really craving. I followed the original recipe almost exactly, except for a couple things:  Instead of the roasted garlic, I used six whole cloves of garlic, smashed, and simmered those along with the soup, and I used 1 tsp of dried basil instead of marjoram.  I ate my first bowl as is.  Once the soup had cooled, I added the slightest touch of agave nectar, just to round out the acid of the tomatoes.

Simple, warm and comforting, and certainly puts that can of condensed Campbell's to shame!

*This recipe make A LOT of soup, so half went into a container in the freezer, and the rest will be for my lunches the rest of the week. ^_^

Mock Chicken Seasoning

A delicious recipe from my dear friend Chef Sharon123 over at Food.com. This dry mix is made from ingredients most folks have right in their pantry.  Perfect for making up a quick batch of 'chicken' flavored broth to use in recipes.



1 cup Nutritional Yeast
2 tsp onion powder
1 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp marjoram
3 Tbsp parsley flakes
1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
1 1/2 tsp celery salt
1/4 tsp savory

Mix all ingredients together, and store in an air-tight container.  I use one (1) Tbsp of this mix for every one (1) cup of water.  *For the marjoram and savory, I used Herbs de Provence, but I think an all-purpose poultry seasoning would work well here too. (You can see the lavendar in the pic!)

I'm always able to find the vegetable broth flavored cubes, but never seem to find any "chicken" flavored ones that are vegan. Sometimes you just need a flavor other than palin old veggie broth to make a recipe really stand out.  I've used this mix for soup bases, flavoring seitan, coating tofu, and, most recently, as the broth for Chickpea Cutlets.  The possibilities are endless!

Butternut Squash & Apple Soup

In honor of the temperature going down to 28 degrees tonight, I thought I'd share a warm and comforting Autumn soup!



This soup is adapted from a recipe I found in Fitness Magazine. The hint of curry, as well as the sweetness of the apples give this soup a really unique and delicious flavor. The addition of the white beans adds some depth and creaminess as well. Perfect for a cool Fall night! This soup is really nice served with some toasted crostini, spread with some fresh roasted garlic. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 2 cups onions, chopped

• 1 teaspoon curry powder

• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

• 6 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed

• 2 granny smith apples, cored, peeled and cut into bite-size chunks

• 1/2 teaspoon thyme

• 2 (15 ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup (optional)

• 4 cups vegetable broth

• 2 cups water

• freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

1.  In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.

2.  Add the onion and curry powder and cook 3 minutes.

3.  Add the butternut squash, apples, thyme, white beans, salt and vegetable broth and the 2 cups of water - bring to a boil.

4.  Reduce heat and cook until squash is very tender, about 20 minutes.

5.  Working in batches, puree the soup in a food processor or blender until almost smooth.  (I like to let the soup cool a bit OR work in VERY small batches if soup is still hot).