Vancouver Food Trucks: Mom's Grilled Cheese, the Sequel

I went back to Mom's Grilled Cheese on yet another gorgeous fall day to enjoy a sandwich and the nice weather. The truck was still mobbed, but not quite as much as the last time I was there. Good for them that they're doing so well! The food is really delicious.

 I got my sandwich in a cute little cone this time. There are some potato chips at the bottom under the sandwich. So cute!

I had the same thing as last time: marble rye with Daiya cheese, pickles, onions and tomatoes. I got mozzarella Daiya this time, though. That's my favorite. They had all three flavors this time, which is pretty rad. My sandwich had a little bit of olive oil brushed on it before grilling this time. That definitely gave it a bit more of that grilled cheese texture and flavor. So good!

Cindy was nice enough to give me a sample of the tomato soup. It's made vegan, but it comes with cheese on it, so just ask for no cheese if you order it. The soup was really tasty! It had such a nice flavor with some definite Italian herbs in there. I really liked it. I can see myself going back for a big cup of soup on a particularly blustery day or a day when I'm not feeling quite so great. This is not some crappy, boring tomato soup.

 

My sample cup of soup is balancing on top of my ginger tea.

I also ordered a ginger tea this time. It's pretty much just ginger and a bit of demerra sugar. Absolutely wonderful. I will probably stop by just for some of this tea sometimes. It's gingery without being too spicy and just a touch sweet, not too much sugar. It was a wonderful thing to have on a day with a crisp wind blowing.

Cheap and Easy Noodle Soup

There are some nights when you just don't feel like cooking. We typically have a stash of things to reheat in the freezer for nights like this, but right now it's pretty much all chili and tomato rice soup. I love both of those things, but sometimes I'm just not in the mood for something thick and tomatoey.

These are the days that we have ramen for dinner. I'm lucky that I live in such an international city. The market that I go to has a plethora of different types of food, including tons of different flavors of ramen. The sesame oil flavored one is the only one I've found that's vegan. That's totally cool with me because this one is actually super tasty. Even just on its own, this is pretty good. There's a spice package inside and also a little pouch of sesame oil to add in to your soup. Neat!

See, it even says on the package that it's yummy!

Another great thing about these noodles is how cheap they are. You are definitely not going to break the bank by buying something like this for dinner. Plus, these noodles are a great vehicle for those leftover veggies that you don't know what to do with. I'll typically just add some of whatever we happen to have in the fridge. This time we had a bunch of spinach, shitake mushrooms and green onions so that's what went in. On other occasions I've added ginger, carrots, celery, or James's favorite, broccoli. Pretty much anything goes. Do you like it spicy? Just add a spoonful of some chili paste or a dash of hot sauce and you're good to go.

Quick, cheap, easy and delicious. If you have any kind of Asian market near you, check it out, you might luck out and find something like this. It's also awesome because on the nights we're short for time or don't have much of anything else to eat in the house, we can always make ramen and it doesn't feel like we're settling for something not as good.

Green Bean Casserole and the Rest of Thanksgiving 2011

Mostly I want to post the recipe for my green bean casserole, but I thought I'd also give the rest of Thanksgiving dinner a bit of time in the spotlight.

 

I make this homemade vegan roast every year at Thanksgiving. Even the omnivores get seconds, sometimes even thirds. It's quite good. I found the recipe online. (Edit: The recipe page isn't online anymore, but I have it written down. If anyone wants it, let me know and I'll do another post with the recipe.) (Edit: You can get the Vegan Holiday Roast recipe here.) I found that it needs about an hour longer of cooking time than it says to soak up all of the broth. Keep that in mind if you make it. It's so good and everyone will think you're a genius for making it.

I found the recipe for these Harvest Pies over at Vegan Dad's blog. I wish I had taken some photos of them without the tops on. They're full of butternut squash and potatoes and carrots and stuff. I think tempeh would be a great addition to theses as well. I'm going to try that the next time I make them. These are especially good with a bit of gravy.

 

Speaking of gravy... what Thanksgiving would be complete without it?! Stuffing and gravy are two of my favorite parts of the Thanksgiving meal. I've started making the Punk Rock Chickpea Gravy from Vegan with a Vengeance every year. The first time I made it, I was in heaven. I could probably eat this gravy with a spoon by itself and be happy. Quite a few people commented on the tastiness of the gravy this year, too. The only thing I do differently from the recipe is puree it. I like my gravy smooth so I stick my immersion blender in at the end and puree the heck out of it.

 

The mashed potatoes are almost gone! You know how to make mashed potatoes, I don't need to tell you. My secret ingredients are Earth Balance and vegetable broth. Yum!

 

And now for the green bean casserole! James was nice enough to top and tail them for me while I was doing other things... like finishing up that Sm'love Pie you see in the background there. The thing that makes my casserole special is the homemade mushroom soup. It's not hard to make and it freezes well so you can always make it in advance or make a double batch and stash some in the freezer for a rainy day. I also find it quite delicious on its own. You can make cream of pretty much anything using this recipe. Just substitute the mushrooms for whatever you like. Cream of asparagus, anyone?

Green Bean Casserole

Note: If you're making this for a crowd, double the recipe to fill a large rectangular baking dish. That's what I did for Thanksgiving. You might end up with some leftover soup, especially if you double it. I usually just freeze it and eat it later as a soup with some asparagus or something added to it.

3 cups of green beans, topped and tailed and cut in half (I'm guessing here. Use however many fill a small 8" square baking dish. When I buy them from the market they come in bags, so I usually just buy one bag for a little bit and 2 bags for double this.)
Cream of Mushroom Soup (recipe below)
1 can of fried onions

Preheat your oven to 350 F.

Mix the green beans, the soup and 3/4 of the can of friend onions and pour it all into an 8" square baking dish. Top with the remaining fried onions. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes before eating.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

1/2 cup raw cashews, soaked for at least an hour, up to overnight
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, diced
half a head of cauliflower, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 generous handful of oyster mushrooms, chopped
1 generous handful of another kind of mushroom, your choice, chopped
2 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon white pepper, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt (you might want to leave this out if your broth is salted)

 Add the broth and cashews to a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. This will probably take from 2-5 minutes. Set aside.

Saute the mushrooms over medium heat in their own pan for about 5 minutes then turn off the heat and set them aside. You'll use them in a minute.

Add the olive oil to a large pot over medium heat. Once the oil is warm, add the onion and cauliflower. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add in the garlic and saute for another minute. Add in about 3/4 of the mushrooms, the cashew mixture, water, bay leaves, thyme, pepper and salt. Stir everything up and cover your pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaves. If you have an immersion blender, stick it in the pot and blend until everything is pretty smooth. If you're using a food processor or blender, puree the soup in batches, being careful not to burn yourself and also being careful to let the steam escape as you're doing it or you'll have a big mess on your hands. Now add in the remaining 1/4 of your mushrooms. Taste for salt and add more if you think you need it.

Spring Greens and Rice Soup

So it's spring and summer's right around the corner. I'm loving that the summer farmer's market is open again. We moved a few months ago, too so now the market is in the park just a block from our place. It's pretty awesome to walk over there first thing in the morning on Saturdays and get some fresh produce for the week. Right now there's a plethora of greens and not a huge selection of much else. It makes sense, unless people are growing in a greenhouse it's not the season for harvesting many things for a bit. I'm not complaining, though, I love greens of any sort. It's amazing what wonderful varieties there are to choose from.

So many beautiful, local, organic lettuces are available right now. It can get tiring having salads all of the time, though, as delicious as they can be. Did you ever think of cooking the salad greens? I know, I know. It sounds kind of weird. I thought that at first, too. But, really, when you think about it, what's the difference between steaming some chard or spinach and steaming some spring greens that you'd typically use for a salad? I definitely recommend trying it sometime. You can get such a wonderful varieties of flavor into your greens this way.

I especially like adding some salad greens to soups, much like one of my favorites, the Spring Greens and Rice Soup. I got the idea for this soup from reading something online that talked about adding romaine and butter lettuce to a soup. I was intrigued and immediately concocted this recipe. It's the perfect soup for spring or summer. It's not heavy at all and you can alter the flavor profile by changing the lettuces that you decide to use.

Using risotto rice instead of regular white or brown rice makes the soup taste a bit creamy. It adds quite a bit of awesome to the pot. I would suggest not substituting a different kind of rice. You want the creaminess in the broth and the softness of the arborio rice. Trust me, it's a big difference in this recipe.

If you're not able to get some fresh greens from the farmers market, you can totally use some of those bags of baby lettuces. I've done it that way before and had great success. My favorite combination doing it that way is to use two of the big boxes of lettuce. One of spinach and one of the Earthbound Farms Herb Salad Mix. If you use that one, you don't need to add any fresh herbs because there are already some in there. A nice shortcut, especially if you're trying to make something quick after work. If you're using heads of lettuces, butter lettuce, romaine, radicchio and escarole are all good choices. Maybe use 3 small heads of varying lettuces in addition to some spinach or chard if you're going that route. Just make sure to chop the lettuce leaves coarsely to make them easier to eat.

Oh, did I mention that this recipe comes together is almost no time? Yeah, it's awesome for making on a night when you want something homemade but just don't have the energy to spend an hour chopping and stirring. Plus, this is a one-pot recipe. Not a ton of stuff to clean up, either.

One more thing, use this recipe as a guide. You can add more or less carrots, celery and herbs as you like. Feel free to substitute different herbs or even just buy one of those multi-herb packs and use whatever's in there. This is a really adaptable recipe. Just make sure to keep the broth and rice at the same ratio as I have here since the rice will soak up a bunch of broth, though feel free to add more broth if you want a thinner soup.

Spring Greens and Rice Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons non-dairy margarine or olive oil (I like the buttery flavor that Earth Balance lends to this, but go ahead and use just olive oil if you'd rather.)
1-2 carrots, finely chopped (about 2/3 cup)
2 ribs celery, chopped (about 2/3 cup)
1 small yellow onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon salt (if you're using salted vegetable broth, you might skip this and just taste and add salt at the end)
1 bundle of spinach, coarsely chopped (or one of those boxes of spinach leaves)
1large bag of mixed salad greens, any kind, chopped if the leaves are too big (or one of those boxes of mixed greens like these)
6 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 cup arborio rice

Heat the olive oil and margarine in a large soup pot over medium heat. Saute the carrots, celery and onions for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the herbs and salt and cook for another minute. Stir in the greens and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the broth and nutritional yeast and stir. Add the arborio rice and raise the heat to medium-high. Once the soup is just starting to boil, cover and reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Soup and a Quesadilla at Sejuiced

Welcome to another edition of "What SaraJane had for lunch today."  But really, this post could work at least once a week.  I have this exact same thing at least once a week.  I apologize for the crappy photos, I was using my phone camera and it was a dark day.  I mostly wanted to hurry up and take the pictures so I could put this food in my tummy.

There is a great veg*n place near my office called Sejuiced.  I think Veg News actually added them to their write up about Vancouver when they profiled this city a year or so ago.  Sejuiced is awesome because they have tons of great stuff made with fresh fruits and veggies.  Most of the menu is already vegan or can be made vegan easily and there are quite a few raw choices.  You can order lots of awesome fresh juices and there is a small selection of raw and vegan dessert type things, too.  Every day there are two vegan soup choices and right now there is also a vegan chili!  I have yet to try the vegan caesar salad, but I want to.  I just keep getting drawn in by my longing for awesome soup.

I used to always get the Ananda Bowl (grilled tofu over brown rice and greens with tomatoes with an amazing tahini sauce) but now I always go for the lentil dal soup.  I like their soups because they're never full of salt or oil.  You can always tell that lots of fresh ingredients went in to making them.  I mean, look at this picture!  You can even see some of the cumin seeds hanging out on top.  There are usually a few good-sized pieces of yam in here, too.  Mmmm...

I find that just a bowl of soup sometimes isn't quite enough so I usually add a small salad or something to my soup.  Well, usually until I realized there is herion in the quesadillas.  Sejuiced will substitite Daiya cheese (yay!) for anything with cheese in it for just 50 cents.  Black bean quesadilla with Daiya, please!  Normally the quesadilla comes with a side of tzaziki, but since I'm getting all vegan up in this piece, they give me a little cup of diced veggies and citrus.  It's a salsa of sorts, I guess.  Who cares, it's good.

This is a great lunch for a cold, grey, rainy, Vancouver day.  The food is always great, the staff is always friendly and I always feel pleasantly full after eating here.  You never know what kinds of perks you'll get with your food, either.  For example, the day I came in and took these photos they were playing the Dirty Dancing soundtrack.  It brought me back to junior high!

A Soup for All Seasons

Before I say anything else, I have to say that this might just be my favorite soup ever. Yes, ever. I think I liked it even more because I was slightly skeptical about it before I made it. Not that I thought it would be bad, Isa has never led me wrong so far. I just hadn't ever really had a soup that was like this. The closest thing was split pea or lentil soup, which aren't even close at all.

As the weather starts to warm and the markets are starting to fill up with fresh produce, a lot of us are looking for lighter meals than we did all winter. It's probably a good idea, especially if you ate as many cupcakes as comfort food as I probably did in the fall and winter. At this point you might be wondering if I'm having some sort of weird issue with writing this post. Okay... she's talking about soup. Now she's talking about summer and eating lighter... Okay, SaraJane, let's just sit down and look at some pretty cupcake pictures. That's a good girl.

But no! This soup is good no matter what season it is, I tell ya! Vegan with a Vengeance's White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup is fan-freaking-tastic. It's light enough to have by itself as a meal without feeling all thick like you might after eating a heavier stew (or the aforementioned split pea soup or the like). Why not make some and have a cup with a sandwich? I've been addicted to some grilled sandwiches with faux cheese slices, tomatoes, sprouts and avocado. Yum! (put the sprouts and avocado on last, but grill it with the tomatoes already inside, between two vegan cheese slices.)

Another great thing about this soup, that's even better for the busier days of spring and summer? It's fast and very, very easy. If you have an immersion blender, it's even easier and you have only one pot to wash. If you don't have an immersion blender, I highly recommend it. You can get one for around $30. They're fantastic for blending soups, making hummus, pesto, and smoothies without making a big mess like a food processor or blender might.

Also - if you still don't have Vegan with a Vengeance, go out and buy it. It's the best cookbook I've ever owned. Hands down.


White Bean and Roasted Garlic Soup (from Vegan with a Vengeance)

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 1/2 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
a few dashes of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
4 cups vegetable broth
3 cups great northern or navy beans, drained and rinsed
3 fresh sage leaves, chopped
1 bay leaf
juice of 1/2 lemon, or to taste
2 heads of garlic, roasted (yes, heads, not cloves)

To roast the garlic: Preheat your oven to 350. Get as much of the papery stuff off the garlic as you can. Set them on a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. Let them cool for at least 10 minutes before you start getting the rest of the papery stuff off. It comes off easily, but even easier if it's not still really freaking hot.

In a soup pot over medium-high heat, saute the onion with the olive oil for about 5-7 minutes. Add the salt, pepper and fennel and cook for another minute or so. Add the broth, beans, sage and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf and add the roasted garlic. Remove from heat and puree in batches in a food processor or blender, or if you're super awesome like me, use your immersion blender and have less dishes to wash. Add everything back to the pot if you did it the blender/processor way otherwise, it's still in the pot. Add the lemon juice and stir to combine.

Serve garnished with fresh fennel leaves or grated carrots or parsley. Enjoy!

Makes 6 servings.

Chili!

Here's the part where I tell you all about the chili, then give you some variations, then some pictures followed by a recipe. So, yeah.

For Christmas this year, I gave my friend Roman a coupon book full of things like coupons for cupcakes, coffees, drinks out and stuff like that. I also included two coupons for cooking lessons. For one of them he wanted to learn how to make chili. So, I modified my favorite chili recipe a little bit and made it super easy to prepare. Roman isn't much of one for cooking, so even if you feel like boiling water is hard for you, you can totally do this. Though, really, most chilis are quite easy to make in the first place. The good thing about this chili is that it has a bunch of veggies in it. If you have kids or friends that think they don't like vegetables, I betcha they'll eat this and love it. And then you've shoved some much needed vitamins in their picky little faces. So there. Take that you annoying picky food people!

Now for some variations! Obviously you can add more stuff if you want. I suggest adding some chopped up jalapeno peppers. Another fun thing would be to add half black beans and half kidney beans instead of all kidney beans. Instead of adding red wine, add some beer! The dark beers are great in chili.

Personally, I prefer not to use the store-bought crumbles, but to make is easier, that's what this recipe has. Instead, why not try using some tvp or better yet - bulgur! If you use either of those, you'll want to change the way you're making the chili a little bit. Heat up some of the tomato juice until almost boiling and pour it over the tvp or bulgur. Stir, cover it and let it sit for around 10 minutes. At this point it should have soaked up most of the liquid and you'll probably have to add more. Go ahead and add this to the rest of the stuff and then you can judge better how much more liquid you'll want to add. When I make chili like this, I typically buy a large bottle of V8 and just keep adding it until it's about the consistency that I like.

Very Veggie Vegan Chili

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1 bell pepper, chopped (any color is fine, but I like to use green ones)
1 teaspoon basil, dried
1 Tablespoon chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin
dash cayenne (add more if you like it hotter)
salt & pepper to taste
2 cans chopped tomatoes, fire roasted if you can find them (or around 3 cups fresh)
3 cups tomato juice (I like to use V8 or something similar for more veggie power!)
1 Tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 - 1/2 cup red wine, optional
2 cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 package soy crumbles

In a large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for about 3 minutes. Add the carrots and celery and saute for another 5 minutes or so. Add the bell pepper, spices and wine and saute for another 3 minutes.

Add the beans, tomatoes, tomato juice, tomato paste and crumbles. Stir, raise the heat a bit and bring just to a boil. Now turn the heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes, covered and stirring occasionally. You might need to add more tomato juice to thin out the chili a little bit, that's totally fine. Add as much as you need to get the consistency that you like.

Top your chili off with some soy cheese, crackers, tortilla chips, cilantro - whatever! Just enjoy it. :D

Yay Soup!

I haven't made any chili yet. I got a ton of great recipe suggestions, though. I should have mentioned that I don't want to use any meat substitutes (so no crumbles!). Sometimes I don't mind using that stuff, but lately I've been trying to steer clear of that sort of thing. I don't mind seitan and tempeh, though. Also, I have a weird aversion to chili that has corn in it. For some reason a ton of people want to put corn in their chili. I don't quite get it. I don't mind having some cornbread with your chili, but no corn inside, thank you very much.

I did, however, make the French Lentil Soup with Tarragon and Thyme from Veganomicon. Yum! I love lentil soup and for some reason I've never tried to make it myself. I haven't a clue why. I had some fresh thyme hanging out in the fridge, so I used that instead of the dry. I couldn't find any fresh tarragon or I would have used that fresh as well. Otherwise, the only thing I changed was to use a can of diced tomatoes (drained) instead of fresh tomatoes. There aren't any good tomatoes this time of year so I wasn't even going to try. Plus, using the can was much faster and I didn't end up with little tomato peels swimming in my soup. If you can get those yummy fire-roasted ones, totally use those instead of the regular. The flavor they add is freaking incredible. Their awesomeness will take you by surprise. Or, well, maybe not because I just told you how awesome they are. But, still...

I did love this soup, it was perfect for what I was wanting at the time. And it was fast and easy to make. I do think it could have stood to simmer for another 15-20 minutes, though. My lentils weren't quite as soft as I was hoping they'd be at the end of things. They weren't unedible or anything, but I like my lentils to be soft like the canned ones are.

VWAV Potato Asparagus Soup

Some days it's harder than others to have the energy to make dinner. Especially when you get home from working a 12 hour day. I don't know how I manage it sometimes. This is where soup comes in and makes itself even more awesome than it normally is.

You get home from work and it's dark outside so early and you're tired and the kitties are yelling for their dinner and all you want to do is sit the hell down and relax. Feed the cats, realize you have no leftovers and sigh. But wait! You have a big pot. And this big pot really likes it when you fill it up with stuff. What stuff? It doesn't always matter. Lots of times when I make soup, I'm just randomly throwing in whatever veggies or grains are still in the refrigerator.

This particular day, I had some asparagus that I really needed to eat and some potatoes just hanging out on the counter. Yay! Potato Asparagus soup! This Vegan with a Vengeance recipe rocks because not only does it taste wonderful, it's super easy and fast. Enter my most excellent immersion blender and I don't even have to go through the step of pouring the soup in a blender or food processor to puree it.

In all fairness, I make this soup even when I'm not feeling tired or lazy, but it's a lifesaver for those very days when you barely have the energy to open the cabinet and peer inside.

Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew

You know how sometimes there are certain types of foods that you like, but they seem sorta mysterious? Kinda like they were just created by magic at the restaurant you usually order them from. Ethiopian food is a bit like that to me. Obviously, I know it's not only the kitchen elves that make the food taste the way it does, but I do think they help.

I've never tried to make Ethiopian food before. I actually only had it for the first time after I moved to Vancouver last February. Now I am totally in love with sharing a tray of yummies with a plate of warm injera with friends. There is something so nice about eating this way. I feel like it's centering somehow. Here you are, sitting in a restaurant, or at home with this great spread, eating with your fingers and talking with your friends. Scooping the food up with that delicious bread makes you eat a little bit slower and seems to allow for more of a connection with the people you're eating with as well since you're all sharing the food on the tray.

I'm anxiously awaiting Kittee's Papa Tofu zine because she's promised some Ethiopian recipes inside. I'm on a search for teff flour so I can make some injera and have my own little African feast at home. Until then, I decided to try out Isa's Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew.

I have to admit that I couldn't find ground fenugreek and I didn't feel like trying to turn it into a powder, so I just threw it in there whole. That seemed to work just fine, so go for it if you're feeling lazy like me. This was absolutely delicious, though. I gave Roman some of the leftovers and he told me that he likes it so much he might try and make it himself some time. You have no idea how major that is. It was a hearty stew, full of flavor, but not too heavy. I love how the flavor of the veggies work together so nicely augemented by the spices. mmmmmm! Definitely try this one if you haven't already.

Ethiopian Spicy Tomato Lentil Stew

1 cup brown lentils
1 large yellow onion, diced small
2 carrots, peeled and diced
4 cloves garlic, miced
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, grated
1/4 cup peanut oil (vegetable oil will do)
10 plum tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup tomato paste
1 cup vegetable stock or 1 cup water + 2 veg boullion cubes
1 cup frozen green peas

Spice Blend:
2 tsp ground cumin
2 teaspoons hungarian paprika
1 teaspoon ground fenugreek
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground cardomom
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)

Boil the lentils for about 45 minutes or until tender.

In a large pot, over med heat saute the onions and carrots for 10 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger and spice blend. Saute 5 more minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, cook 5 more minutes. Add tomato paste and mix, then add the water. Simmer Until bubbling. Add the cooked lentils and green peas, simmer 15 more minutes.

This makes around 4 large servings or 6 small ones.




Coming soon: goodies from Seattle, more ppk recipes and Veganomicon!

Vegan "Chicken" and Dumplings

I grew up in the South and I have this thing about Southern comfort food. I adapted this recipe from something I found somewhere on the internets years ago. I don't remember my mom cooking very much when I was a kid, but I do remember her making the most amazing chicken and dumplings. I did my best to recreate what I could remember that tasting like.

I always get excited when it starts to get cool enough to make stuff like this again. It just doesn't seem right to eat this in the summer and I'm always excited to have it for the first time again each year. This is good 'ol stick to your ribs soup. It's absolutely fantastic for one of those cold fall or winter nights when you want something warm and soupy, but also something hearty.

This post is extra exciting because I finally got a camera. Yes, folks, this is officially the very first digital camera that I have ever owned. I have been borrowing Roman's camera for the longest time. I took these right after getting home from the store, so they're not as good as they will be in the future. I had just stuck the camera on auto and shot. Now that I've read the manual on my awesome new Canon Powershot A720 IS, my picture are going to get better and better. :D Yay!

Also - the veggie broth I was using this time was store-bought and not home-made, that's why it's a little bit yellow. (Or should I say yeller since it's southern. ;) ). I think it was the Pacific Foods Organic Veggie Broth.

Vegan "Chicken" and Dumplings

Dumplings:

1 Cup soy milk
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
2 Cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Egg replacer to replace 2 eggs (I like to use Enger-G Egg Replacer for these)

Mix the soy milk and vinegar together and set aside for at least 5 minutes. Sift dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg replacer and soy milk mixture together. Pour the liquid in the dry ingredients and stir gently. Mix just until combined.


2 Tablespoons margarine (like Earth Balance)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 Cup carrot, chopped
1/2 Cup celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (or if you're like me, you'll add 6)
2 bay leaves
1/4 Cup flour
6 Cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup soy cream (Silk makes a good one. You can use soy milk if you can't find this.)
1 package faux chicken pieces or 1 Cup seitan
Freshly ground black pepper

In a large soup pot, melt the margarine and olive oil over medium heat. Add carrot, celery, garlic, and bay leaves. Saute until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tablespoon of flour. Continue to stir and cook for 2 minutes to coat the flour and remove the starchy taste. Slowly pour in the broth stirring as you add. Let everything simmer for about 15 minutes. Stir in the soy cream.

Chop the faux chicken pieces (or seitan) and add it to the broth. Bring the soup up to a simmer. Using 2 spoons, carefully drop heaping tablespoonfuls of the dumpling batter into the soup. Cook for about 10 - 15 minutes until the dumplings are firm and puffy. Grind some fresh pepper on top of each serving.

The Flu Stew

The instructions for making this soup are very simple. I think most people can do it with little or no problem. Just follow these simple steps:

1. Get the flu.
2. Go to work anyway, like an idiot.
3. Go home from work early because your fever is way too high to function.
4. Get home exhausted from braving public transit and sleep for a long time.
5. Wake up starving and delirious from your fever. At this point, it's best if your fever is well over 100F. Lower than that and you're just rubbing it in with your wellness.
6. Throw random things into a pot and call it soup.

Or if you're feeling better, you can always just use this recipe. It actually tastes pretty good considering I was making this by just putting whatever was easiest into a pot and boiling it. If I had made this and I wasn't sick, I would have probably started this out by sauteeing some onions in olive oil, adding some garlic, then some carrots, celery and mushrooms.

I really didn't have the energy for any of that, so I pretty much just heated up some broth and added stuff to it. I'm lucky that I had some fresh herbs in the fridge. I've also been really into freezing things lately, so it's awesome that I had some seitan in the freezer to add to this.


The Flu Stew

2 large potatoes (I used Yukon Gold), diced into bite-sized cubes
4 Cups vegetable broth
1 Cup seitan, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped (enough to make about a cup after chopping)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh sage, chopped

In a large pot, heat some water. Add the potatoes and boil for 15-20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft when you stick a fork in them. Drain the potatoes into a colander and give them a quick rinse to remove any residual starch.

In a large soup pot, add the broth, potatoes, seitan, garlic, carrots, thyme and sage. Over medium heat, simmer the soup for 20-30 minutes.

Eat and then go take a nap. If you live with someone else, make them do the dishes. Hell, make them make you some soup while you watch bad daytime television and fade in and out of sleep.

Pumpkin Hazelnut Soup

So I bought this adorable little pumpkin a week or so ago. You can only imagine the squeel of glee when I saw pumpkins at the market. That's right - glee. There is no other word to describe it without sounding like Donna Reed. But hey, whatever, I gots me a pumpkin! I had it sitting out in a place of honor for a bit. Every day or so, I'd turn it around while I was gazing lovingly at it trying to figure out what to make with it.

Today my pumpkin turned itself into pumpkin soup, though I'm not sure if it will turn back after midnight or not. The weather in Vancouver has been awesomely fall-like for the past few days, which only made me more excited to make this tonight.

I've been eyeing some of the different oils at the market and decided that hazelnut would be an excellent compliment to pumpkin. If you don't want to buy hazelnut oil then you can skip that part of the soup. I'm going to try and find some other things to cook with it now that I have a whole bottle.

Pumpkin Hazelnut Soup

1 adorable pie pumpkin
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion (yellow or white), chopped
1 large carrot, grated
1 Tablespoon fresh grated ginger
1 Tablespoon fresh chopped oregano
2 Tablespoons fresh chopped sage
4 Cups vegetable broth
2 Tablespoons tahini
2 teaspoons hazelnut oil
salt and pepper to taste

Cut the top off of the pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Cut the pumpkin into about 8 large pieces and make sure to cut the stringy stuff off. Lightly coat the pumpkin with canola oil and bake in a 350F oven for about 45 minutes. Let the pumpkin cool and then cut the skin off and cut it into little cubes.

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and saute for 5-7 minutes. You want it to get translucent and just start to caramelize. Add the grated ginger and grated carrot. Stir and cook for another minute. Add the oregano and sage and cook for another 2 minutes or so.

Add the vegetable broth and stir it up. Now add the pumpkin cubes. Let everything cook until it's just warmed, not boiling. At this point if you have an immersion blender, stick it in the pot and blend everything up. If not, you can use a regular blender or food processor to blend the soup until it's smooth. After it's blended, put it back in the pot if you took it out to blend it. Add the tahini and stir until it's completely combined. Now let the soup simmer on medium-low heat for about 10 minutes. Don't let it boil, but it's okay if it gets close to boiling. Drizzle the hazelnut oil on top and stir that in as well. Let the soup cook for another minute or two just to let the flavors mix together. Add a little bit of salt and pepper if you want to.

I garnished mine with some pumpkin seeds that I had already, but I'm going to roast the ones from this pumpkin and eat them later on this week.

Matzoh Ball Soup

I just love this crazy old stock pot that came with my apartment.

It's still very warm here. This is my first fall in Canada and I can't believe that halfway through September, it still feels like summer during the day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the sunshine, but I really, really look forward to fall and winter. There is just something so soothing about spending a weekend inside where it's warm and cozy with a pot of soup simmering on the stove or something wonderful baking in the oven. All the while, the kitties are being all snuggly and your Earl Grey just feels like a hug. Yeah... I'm jonesing for fall in a big way.

I bought a pumpkin at the market the other day! A small, organic pie pumpkin. I was looking forward to it all week last week. I even called the store on Friday morning to make sure that they'd be open late enough that I could go after work that day. I just didn't want to wait to bring that cute little pumpkin home. While I'm deciding what to cook with it (so many options!), it's sitting in a little window nook thingie between my kitchen and living room. (Don't worry, pumpkin pictures are in your future!)

I spent the entire of last weekend cooking. Saturday was the day of the matzoh ball soup. Yum! I wasn't sick, but a friend of mine was, so I decided that she needed a shot of vitamin Awesome. Whenever I don't feel good, I start craving this soup. I don't know what it is about the little matzoh balls that make me feel better, but somehow it does. Since Sara Ramirez refuses to show up at my house to cuddle me better, I guess I have to make do with soup for the time being.

I made the veggie broth from scratch, loosely based on the Golden Vegetable Broth recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance. You can really add whatever veggies you want to make the broth. Add a bunch of different herbs if you want a specific flavor. I had some sage leaves leftover from something I made last week as well as a little bit of thyme and some random mushroom and celery bits that I also added. Just be sure not to add too many carrots (like I did last time) or you'll get a very sweet tasting broth. Unless, of course, you like that sort of thing. Another idea is to add some garlic, especially if you're making this because you're sick. I think you can never have too much garlic, but maybe that's why I have such a hard time getting a date...

Golden Vegetable Broth

2 large carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
2 parsnips, peeled and roughly chopped
1 large onion, skin included, roughly chopped
3 whole clove garlic, crushed
2 leaks, cleaned well androughly chopped
handul (a loosely packed cup) fresh parsley
handful (a loosely packed cup) fresh dill
1 Tablespoon olive oil
9 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

In a large stockpot, heat the oil. Saute onions for about 5 minutes on medium heat. Add all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for an hour and a half, uncovered. (Sometimes I'll let mine simmer for up to 3 hours)

Let broth cool till it's an ok temperature to handle. Strain into a large bowl with cheese cloth or a very fine mesh strainer. Press the vegetables with a gentle but firm pressure to get all the moisture out.

This will keep in the fridge in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.

(Originally posted at theppk.com and printed in Vegan with a Vengeance.)

Look how cute my little matzohs are. Awwwww.

I also used Isa's Matzoh Ball Soup recipe from VWAV. The only thing I do differently is add a ton of extra veggies and herbs to the soup. This time I used carrots, celery, parsley, dill, shitake mushrooms and garlic. Sometimes I add peas or greens or whatever looks like it would be yummy dancing around in the soup with the matzoh balls.