Green Soup with Ginger

Lately I've been a tad obsessed with finding new blogs to follow. Whether they be about food, day-to-day life, weddings and events, or crafts, I really have been eager to see what's out there in this little blogosphere. My friend Aimee, who blogs about her life in San Francisco, fashion and all things fabulous here, suggested I check out the blog 101 Cookbooks. All of the recipes are made with natural foods, most are vegetarian and many are vegan so naturally I fell in love. Many of the foods are quite foreign to me, which is really fun because with alot of things I tend to fall into pattern then into a rut. This is helping me expand my vegan food dishes and even my palate! I started with a recipe that had a lot of unfamiliar ingredients, well at least to my taste buds, with leeks and green chard! Whats even better is that this recipe is one she adapted from an other, so now through that I've found even more sites and books of more recipes! I was delighted with this recipe, it tasted amazing. I ended up not using any vegetable broth and only the water, for a very hearty soup. And be sure to add the freshly ground black pepper and fresh squeezed of lemon juice at the end, oh man does that just multiply the exuberance of the flavors!! Because I like a little crunch I went ahead and quickly made fresh croutons (so fast and easy, who knew!) to put right on top for the perfect texture balance. 

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did!

Click here for the link to 101 Cookbooks and the full Green Soup with Ginger Recipe 

"1 large yellow onion 
2 tablespoons  olive oil 
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus more to taste
1 large sweet potato 
1 large leek, white and light green parts
1 bunch spinach (8 ounces)
1 large bunch green chard (12 ounces)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger, plus more to taste
2-4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
freshly ground black pepper

Chop the onion and cook it slowly in the olive oil with a sprinkle of salt, stirring now and then, over low heat until it is soft and golden, about half an hour.

Meanwhile, peel and dice the sweet potato and put it in a large soup pot with 4 cups (1 liter) water and a teaspoon of sea salt. Thoroughly wash the leek, spinach, and chard, chop them coarsely, and add them to the pot, along with the chopped ginger.

Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the soup, covered, for 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are completely tender. Add the caramelized onions when they are ready. When the vegetables are soft, add the vegetable broth (you can add less if you like a thicker soup) and decide whether you want your soup chunky, like this, or smooth. If the latter, puree the soup in a blender, in batches, or with an immersion blender until it is smooth.

Stir in 2 teaspoons of the lemon juice and a few grinds of black pepper. Taste, and correct the seasoning with additional salt or lemon juice.
Serves 5-6.

This recipe was adapted from Love Soup by Anna Thomas. Published by W. W. Norton & Company; September 2009. For those of you who want to get books signed, Anna is visiting quite a number of California book stores throughout October and November, more info here. 

Prep time: 10 min - Cook time: 30 min "

Homemade Croutons
Dice two slices of bread of your choice, lately I've been using a sourdough, and place in oven safe dish. Drizzle extra light olive oil until well coated, crack a bit of pepper and salt on top and lightly toss together. Place under a high boil until golden brown. Be sure to toss a few times so to cook evenly. 

Banana-Pumkin muffins

I know Kristin recently posted a yummy pumkin spice muffin recipe, but you really can never have to many muffin recipes! This recipe was inspired by the ripe banana chilling in my freezer and the extra pumkin puree waiting to be used in my refridgerator. Once thanksgiving past, the craving to make a whole pumkin pie also past. The craving for muffins though, that will never past! So this recipe will make 8 cute little muffins that will warm up your breakfast or mid-day snack. Enjoy! This recipe is an altered version of the Banana pumkin bread recipe from allrecipes.com:)

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana, mashed
• 1 tbsp egg replacer mixed with 3 tbsp warm water
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup pumkin puree
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. In a small bowl, mix together the banana, egg replacer, vegetable oil, pumkin puree, agave, and sugar. 
3. In another larger bowl mix together the flour, bakinig powder, baking soday, salt, pumkin pie spice, and cinnamon.
4. Form a small well in the center of the flour mixture and add the banana-pumkin mixture.
5. Stir until just combined.
6. Line a muffin pan with 8 cupcake liners
7. Fill each liners about 3/4 full of the muffin batter
8. Pop in the oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick and be poked in center and come out clean
9. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 5 minutes
10. Remove from cupcake pan and let cool
11. Eat!

More than just a decoration

The center of this dish is the gourd. Most people know gourds as no more then a fall decoration, but this dish proves that gourds are not only edible, but tasty! I was at the Fall 2011 Sustanability Coalition in Chico this past weekend and as a goodbye gift, the Co-op let us take home some of the vegetables they grew, one of which was the gourd. I didn't really know what to do with it at first, but decided to treat it as if it were any other normal squash. So what I came up with was a mediteranean gourd dish with a side of rissotto. If you ever cross paths with a gourd, don't just run away in terror, come to this recipe and relish in the goodness of the gourd!


Ingredients

• 1-2 tablespoons oil
• 1/2 red onion, cut to your preference
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 3/4 cup canned tomatoes (drained)
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp dill weed
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 gourds, peeled, seeded, and chopped (prepping the gourd is probably the hardest part of the recipe so do it before you start cooking)
• 2 cups water

Directions
1. After you have everything prepped, heat oil in a frying pan that has at least 4 inch raised sides.
2. Add oninions and garlic to warm pan and cook till tender
3. Stir in the canned tomatoes and add all the seasonings
4. Let ingredients warm for 5 minutes, stirring occasionaly
5. Add the chopped gourds and the water
6. Cover pan until water is boiling
7. Once boiling, lower heat and simmer for 25-30 minutes, or until water has evaporated



 Rissotto
Ingredients

• 1/2 cup medium grain white rice
• 1/2 cup water
• 2/3 cup vegetable stock
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt to taste
• extra water

Directions


1. Boil 1/2 cup of water and vegetable stock in a small saucepan
2. Add rice and stir continuously
3. When rice has absorbed majority of the liquid, add garlic and salt
4. When all the liquid is absorbed, taste check to see if the rice is firm but not hard
5. If the rice needs more cooking, add liquid and keep stirring till desired consistency is met
6. Spoon remaining gourd liquid over top

Vanilla Tapioca Pudding with Banana

I love pudding so when I found a way to make my favorite type of pudding dairy free I knew it would be blog worthy! The pudding alone is delicious but the addition of the bananas just puts the dessert over the top, so enjoy!



Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup Tapioca pearls
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups vanilla soy milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp egg replacer (cornstarch can be used as an alternative)
• 3 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (add another tsp if you are not using vanilla soy milk)
• 2 bananas
• 1  tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Soak tapioca pearls in 3/4 cup water for 15 minutes
2. Add milk and salt to pearls and heat over medium heat until pot begins to boil. Stir continuously
3. Once boiling, lower heat to let it simmer uncovered for 15 minutes
4. Warm up the 3 tbsp of water in microwave then add egg replacer, stir till dissolved.
5. Add sugar and egg replacer to tapioca and keep over heat for another 3 minutes
6. Stir in vanilla extract
7. Transfer to a oven-friendly container and store in refridgerator for two hours.
8. Remove from refridgerator and turn on the broiler
9. Slice up the bananas add a single layer of bananas on top of the tapioca pudding
10. Mix cinnamon and sugar then sprinkle over banana
11. Place in preheated oven  3 inches below the broiler and let heat for 3 minutes.
12. Serve immediately!

Surprise! Okra is delicious

Every time I go to the farmer's market I like to grab an assortment of vegetables just to make it more intresting throughout the week. I picked up okra a few times and played around with it, but came across a recipe online and tweaked it to make this wonderful okra dish! It has so much flavor and okra is one of my favorite vegetables to cook because of all the slime! If you have never had okra before, this dish would be a great first experience with it.

Ingredients:
1 lb okra, both ends cut and body's cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small/medium onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 c. drained canned diced tomatoes
1/2 c. vegetable broth
3/4 tsp. cumin
1 can humany or 1 can of any other bean(15 oz.)
salt


Directions
Cook okra for 2 minutes in a large saucepan of boiling water.
Transfer okra with a slotted spoon to ice water, then drain.
Heat oil in a large skillet on medium high. (Use a skillet that has a lid and raised sides)
Add bell pepper to skillet and cook until soft.
Transfer peppers to a bowl.
Add onion, garlic, ginger, and pepper to the skillet and cook until the onion is soft and slightly browned
Mix in the tomatoes, broth, cumin, okra, and bell pepper.
Reduce heat to medium and cover.
Stir occasionally and cook for 10-15 minutes.
Add either the beans or humany and salt.
Cook for another 4 minutes without lid.
It will be ready to serve when there is little to no liquid in the pan.




Note: This dish can be served alone, but I accompanied mine with whole wheat cous cous and tried it another time with brown rice and found it very tasty. Before all the liquid evaporated, I spooned some of it into my cous cous and found that it made it taste very good!

Mexican Vegetable Soup

We are entering the season of delicious soups! I've loved making soups lately simply because you can add so many different vegetables and flavors and it all comes together into one cohesive meal. I prepared this soup with some local farmers market veggies as well as some canned goods. This soup is definiely one of the top tasting soups I've ever tasted before. It has just the right amount of spice and a good balance between vegetables and protein. The recipe makes manyyy servings, but you wont regret having leftovers:)

Ingredients

1 small potato

1/2 large red bell pepper

1 small squash

1 small zuchinni

1/3 onion

2 cloves of garlic, miced

1 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced

1/2 tsp papirika

1tbsp oil

1 can diced tomatoes with green chilies (if you can't find tomatoes that have green chile, chop some up yourself and add to your liking!)

1 can pinto beans

1/2 can black bean

1/2 cup quinoa

3 cans of water

1 1/2 tsp salt

Directions

1.Chop all the vegetables up and add to large saucepan.(this includes the cilantro and the garlic) I cut the veggies into pretty large chunks, so if you cut them down smaller just make sure you cut cooking time down a little so the potatoes dont dissolve

 2. Add olive oil and papirika to veggies and turn heat on medium high. When the vegetables start to sizzle lower heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes

3. Add tomatoes, quinoa and beans. With one of the cans you just emptied, refill it three times with water and add to sauce pan

4. Add salt, cover, and bring to a boil

5. When boiling point is reached, reduce heat to low-simmer and heat for 30 minutes

6. When time is reached, remove from hot surface and set aside to cool

7. Serve with crisp tortilla chips crumbled up inside



Pumpkin Spice Muffins

Happy first day of October!! Well as you may suspect I'm kind of obsessed with this season, I'm just too excited to start wearing sweaters and mittens, eating oatmeal and hot tea every morning and soup all the time! yee! Well in celebration of the first day of October here is a super simple vegan muffin recipe I found and tweaked a bit featuring thee fall ingredient - pumpkin! 

Serves Twelve

Ingredients: 

1 3/4 cup All-purpose Flour

1 1/4 cup Evaporated Cane Sugar (Organic Sugar)*

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup Pumpkin Puree (be sure not to get pumpkin pie mix!)

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 Tablespoons molasses 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts - optional

Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices. In separate bowl combine pumpkin puree, almond milk, vegetable oil, and molasses. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix (add walnuts if desired).

Bake in muffin tin on 400˚ for 18-20 minutes, once toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

I enjoyed with a touch of Earth Balance soy free Butter and hot Pumpkin Spice tea!

*I got the Evaporated Cane Sugar (Organic Sugar) I had mentioned in one of my earlier posts!! yay! So excited to using this as a healthier, more natural alternative. An other great option would be to use Stevia! Enjoy!