Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

On the way home from Vegas I had to think up something for dinner so that we could stop a the store on the way home. I wanted something quick and easy to make, but healthy and light to make up for all the Vegas junk food. A pureed soup of lots of veggies did the trick. I didn't really measure what I did with this one, but I don't think it matters much. It is kind of hard to screw this one up. It is very close to a recipe in the Uncheese cookbook so if you don't want to deal with approximate values, you can check out that recipe.

Cheesy Broccoli Potato Soup

1.5 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
~1/2 tsp dried thyme, crumbled as you add it to the pot
~ 1/4-1/2 tsp dried basil
1 russet potato, diced small
2 cups+ vegetable stock
1-2 cups water, or more vegetable stock
1 bunch broccoli (mine was 3 small heads with stalks) - see prep below
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp onion powder
1/3 tsp garlic powder
~1 cup soymilk
salt (or soy sauce) and pepper

Broccoli prep - cut the flowerets off the stalks. Divide the flowerets into 2/3 to go into the pot early and 1/3 to go into the pot late. Peel the stalks and chop the tender parts of the stalks. Set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add carrots and onions and saute till onions are tender. Add the thyme, basil, and garlic and cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add 2 cups water or stock. Add the potatoes, 2/3 broccoli flowerets, and chopped broccoli stalks. Add enough stock or water to cover the vegetables. Cover and simmer till vegetables are very tender (~30-40 minutes - note that my timing may be long because I am at high altitude and have a lower boiling temperature).

Once vegetables are tender, use a stick blender to blend soup till very well pureed (or you could use a regular blender). Add the remaining broccoli and simmer. Meanwhile, mix the nutritional yeast, onion powder, and garlic powder. Stir in enough soy milk to make this a loose liquid mixture. Add this mixture to the soup. Continue simmering the soup until the newly added broccoli has simmered for about 10 minutes. Add plenty of salt and pepper to taste. Optional - you could also now add a little silk soy creamer or some earth balance margarine for some extra richness.

Serve with a salad and a fresh baguette of bread.

Cruciferous Tiella

I saw a post a while back by "What the hell does a Vegan eat?" for a Vegan Tiella. It was so beautiful that I had to try it. I wasn't particularly interested in the filling that they posted as I am not a fan of olives, capers, or mushrooms so I made my own filling up out of what I had in the fridge. I used kale, broccoli, and cauliflower. Psuedo recipe for filling follows. A Tiella is like a pizza shaped into a pot pie. It's really yummy and you have to try it!





I've recently found that the brand of yeast I use really affects the flavor of dough and I've become addicted to Rapunzel Rize. I get it at Whole Foods.

The dough recipe copied from What the Hell... my corrections are in italics (and was originally from a book called Lydia's Italy):

Tiella
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup water
1.5 cups AP flour
1.5 cups Semolina
1 tsp kosher salt
1.5 tsp sugar
5 Tbsp olive oil, divided
3/4 cup water

The dough is 2 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water and left to sit for a few minutes. In a food processor, add 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 cups of semolina flour along with 1 tsp. of kosher salt and 1 1/2 tsp. of sugar. Run the machine to blend.

Stir in 3 tbs. of olive oil to the yeast along with 3/4 cup water , run the food processor and drizzle the mixture in, processing until dough comes together. You can add additional flour if the dough seems a little loose, or water if it seems stiff.

Remove the dough and knead by hand into a smooth round, place it in an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let sit for an hour until doubled. Punch down, shape it again, let rise a second time and stick it in the fridge (sealed airtight) if you want wait until later to use it.

While waiting for the second rise, make the filling.

Punch it down again when ready to use. Let it relax if you've taken it out of the fridge. Brush the bottom and sides of the baking dish with olive oil. Cut off 2/3 of the dough for the base, roll it into a 14" round and transfer to the baking dish and trim to fit.

Add your filling and slightly compress.

Roll the smaller piece of dough into a 12" round and place on top, pinch to seal, trim the excess. Pierce about 12 holes on the top and brush the top completely with olive oil and then bake at 375F for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven, and let the tiella cool on a rack for about 15-30 min. You can invert the tiella and remove it to serve, or leave it in for serving. Serve slightly warm or at room temp.

Filling recipe
1 sm onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch kale, cleaned, stems removed, sliced
1 bunch broccoli, cut into small flowerets
1 head cauliflower, cut into small flowerets
1/2 cup instant cheese sauce mix
1 cup water
1/2-3/4 14oz can diced tomatoes, drained
olive oil
salt
pepper
water

Preheat oven to 425. Place broccoli on one cookie sheet and cauliflower on another sheet (they cook for different lengths of time). Toss them with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Place in the oven and roast until browned and cooked. Stir every 10 minutes or so. The broccoli will take 15-20 min, and the cauliflower will take 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook till softened and brown. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds, until fragrant. Add kale and a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover and cook/steam for 5-10 minutes until tender. Set aside.

In a small pot, mix 1/2 cup cheesy sauce mix with 1 cup water, bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a wisk. Remove from heat when thickened.

Mix roasted broccoli, cauliflower, cheesy sauce, and diced tomatoes into the kale mixture.

Set aside till ready to fill Tiella.

Baked Potato and Broccoli Soup with Potato Croutons

Ok, so in addition to the copious amounts of pumpkin, I am also surrounded by russet potatoes. A perfect time to try Isa's recipe for baked potato soup in Veganomicon. I substituted broccoli for the Kale because I was really wanting broccoli soup (not because i don't love Kale.. cause I do).



Served with the Potato Crouton (in the recipe), fakin' bacon, and scallions.

Creamy Broccoli Mushroom Potato Soup

Despite the fact that he is not vegan, I love Peter Berley's cookbook, The Modern Vegetarian Kitchen. Almost every recipe is vegan or is easily veganizable and I have never made anything bad out of this book. And up until now, I'd never had any problems with his recipes. This one had one major typo in the first paragraph causing us to wing it. If anyone wants the recipe for this let me know and I'll add it. I normally do not put recipes in here that are published in books, but since this one has a major mind-boggling typo in it, I'd be happy to provide a recipe that can be followed.

The weather here has turned towards wintryness, and soup sounded like the best thing ever. Since I had about 4 lbs of CSA potatoes to get through, soup sounded especially perfect.

I made my own stock from carrots, mushrooms, parsnips, onions, garlic, celery, thyme, and bay leaves (recipe is also in the book). The stock simmered for about an hour.



The stock was then strained off and set aside. Then I sweated onions, a whole head of peeled garlic cloves, and 2 shallots in 4 Tbsp olive oil:



After the onions we soft (about 10 minutes on medium), I added the stock back and simmered for 45 minutes:



Near the end of the simmer time, I cooked a pound of sliced cremini mushrooms in 2 Tbsp olive oil on high heat for about 8 minutes:



The mushrooms we deglazed with mirin and water and then added to the soup pot. At this point, a head of broccoli and peeled stalks went into the pot along with 1 tsp ground carraway seed, one pound diced potatoes, and thyme:



This cooked for about 30-40 minutes until the potatoes were soft. I removed the thyme and used an immersion blender to puree the soup:



We had the soup with a baby spinach salad.

Hunan Fried Rice from Vegan Fire and Spice Cookbook

Tonight I made Hunan Fried Rice from Robin Robertson's new vegan cookbook, Vegan Fire and Spice. The recipe is actually here on her amazon blog. We liked it a lot, but thought that next time we would cut down on the cayenne. Oww, my mouth is burning. I guess the book is called FIRE and spice. I used an unrefined peanut oil to cook with instead of canola which gave it a touch of peanuty flavor and was a really good modification. I have this wonderful peanut oil that I accidentally bought (thinking I was buying refined peanut oil) and it smells like peanut butter. So good for stir frys.

I finally found the good camera (post-move) and took some nice pictures. Here is a picture of the final product, served with broccoli. There are some prep pics in the extended entry.

Lemon Tofu Broccoli Rabe with Brown Rice and Roasted Balsamic Carrots

A few nights ago we made this recipe for Lemon Tofu Broccoli Rabe. I am not a big fan of broccoli rabe, at least I wasn't before this recipe, but this was really tasty. I think the trick might be lots of lemon. Preparing broccoli rabe is a snap. Just trim off the bottoms, rinse in a sink full of water, drain, and then chop into 1" pieces. It will look like this when you are done:



Here is a look at the final dish. You can't really see the tofu and brown rice in this pic, but I assure you that they are there.



Served with a much needed lemon wedge.

Baked "Cheesy" Pasta with Vegetables and Baked Tofu

I don't normally like frozen dinners, but there is one Amy's bowl used to love in my pre-vegan days, Country Cheddar Bowl. I was thinking about it the other day and decided to recreate it as a vegan meal. I used Jo Stephaniak's "Amazing Mac 'N Cheez Sauce" (from the Uncheese Cookbook) as the base. Here is my version:

Baked Cheesy Pasta with Vegetables
10 oz. Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta
10 baby red potatoes, halved
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 tbs Olive Oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 small Carrot, cut into matchsticks.
1 small Red Bell Pepper, cut into short narrow strips
2 cups Broccoli florets
1/4 cup white wine or water
1 Tbs tamari
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp paprika
2 cups soy milk
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp prepared mustard
1/2 lb. Baked Tofu (Wildwood savory style or White Wave, italian style), cut into 3/4" pieces
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Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 9x11 casserole with olive oil spray.
Cook Rotini Pasta according to package directions. Drain, Rinse, set aside.
Place potatoes on a baking sheet lined with non-stick foil or parchment. Coat with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from oven and set aside.
MEANWHILE, heat olive oil in a heavy pot or large skillet over medium heat. Saute onions until they just start to turn brown, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for one more minute, stirring constantly. Add the carrots and thyme and cook for 1 minute. Add bell pepper and broccoli along with 1/4 cup wine or water and 1 Tbs tamari. Cover and cook for about 4 minutes, until broccoli is tender, but still crisp. Set aside.
To make the sauce, combine flour, nutritional yeast, salt, onion powder, garlic powder and paprika in a medium saucepan. Gradually whisk in the soy milk, olive oil, and mustard. Cook over medium heat until it thickens and is smooth and bubbly.
In a large bowl (or the pot used to boil the pasta), mix the pasta, tofu, potaotes, vegetables, and "cheese sauce". Pour into the casserole and cover with foil and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Vive Le Vegan - Stir Fry Vegetables with Spicy Almond Sauce (4 out of 5)

Tonight's dinner was a stir fry with a almond sauce served over a brown basmati rice. It was quite tasty. The recipe is in Dreena Burton's cookbook, Vive le Vegan! : Simple, Delectable Recipes for the Everyday Vegan Family.

The stir fry contained marinated and browned tofu, broccoli, swiss chard, mushrooms, celery, bell pepper, onion, and zucchini. The sauce was made from Almond Butter mixed with soy milk, garlic, ginger, soy milk, and a few other tasty ingredients.

Modifications:

Both the marinade and sauce called for rice or apple cider vinegar. This seemed odd to me so I used mirin in the sauce, and a mixture of mirin and rice vinegar in the sauce (about a tablespoon of each).