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Since the weather outside is so frightful, (and freezing!) soup is on my mind. This lentil soup is nice and light, yet very satisfying. It is also chock full of warm fuzzy feeling. I created it to emulate a soup I always order at one of my favorite restaurants. Fragranced with lemon and cilantro, and pleasantly mild, even my lentil hating husband loves this stuff.
Here’s to soup, and keeping warm!
Since it is New Year’s Eve, I find it necessary to offer up a nice black-eyed pea recipe. Black eyed peas are traditionally eaten in the United States on New Year’s Day to bring prosperity for the upcoming new year. This recipe is similar to a traditional Hoppin’ John recipe but, it has a few extra goodies. I left out the tomatoes on this one, and of course, there are no animal ingredients.
This is a simple, filling, one dish meal that can be whipped up relatively fast, provided you have many different pots and pans handy. I like to start cooking all the other stuff while the rice and beans are cooking. This saves lots of time, but creates a quite bit of stove top clutter. The ingredients can be subbed out based on what you have on hand. Feel free to use brown rice or quinoa instead of basmati, add or subtract whichever veggies you’d like, and season to taste. Just don’t leave out those black eyed peas!
This is more of a how-to, rather than a recipe. But I would like to share my basic process of creating a dish that has served my family happily for many years. There are so many variations on pierogi… but I find this version to be pretty fool-proof. And, it’s really the only kind I have ever known since I was a wee little thing. (My mother and father were born and raised in West Virginia–tis why I named them “Appalachian Pierogi”) When my mother would make her version of pierogies- the entire family would gather like vultures. In a way, they still do. There are a few steps… but if you get your timing down, they are not at all overwhelming to make. In fact, they are pretty fun!
And, for all of you gluten free folks- try this gluten free pierogi recipe I created : (updated)
Yay! I got some Daiya. I’ve topped pizza, grilled “cheese” sandwiches, eaten it straight from the bag, and each time I have been thoroughly satisfied. But, I wanted to test out its ‘casserole’ abilities -to see if the “cheese” could be crispy and melty at the same time. It has been quite a while since anything remotely close to cheese graced the top of one of my casseroles. It worked great! The Daiya was crispy on top, and the “cheese” directly underneath was ooey and gooey. I am sold, this Daiya stuff rocks!
For those of you who can not, or choose not, to incorporate Daiya into your life, this casserole is very yummy without it. A little bit of nooch would be awesome sprinkled on top. But like I said, I had to try it on a casserole. And, I suggest if you get your hands on Daiya anytime soon, you should too. This dish is perfect to make if you have some leftover mashed potatoes… but if not, whip up half a batch and treat yourself to something different. I’ll give you a basic run-down of how to make mashed potatoes below, if you aren’t quite sure.
I also happened to have corn and peas in my freezer, so that is what this recipe calls for, but some yummy sautéed mushrooms, or any other veggie you can think of would go great mixed in too. Ya know, it’s a casserole– anything goes.
This is by far the best “convenient” soup I have ever made. The second I tasted it, I knew I would be devouring the entire pot. I have been on a canned pumpkin binge ever since I made this pumpkin chili recipe from GlueandGlitter.com. That particular recipe inspired me to combine everything under the sun with canned pumpkin and heat it all up in one pot….several different times.
I am especially fond of the recipe I share with you today. It has a great flavor with the apples, ginger and garlic, and the pumpkin acts as the perfect base for it all.
This soup is hearty, tasty, and low in fat. It also takes no time to prepare and is very filling, especially if you opt for the frozen veggies as I did. Using fresh grated ginger is a plus… but since we are already starting with the canned pumpkin… there’s no need to be picky.
Today is the last day I will be posting for VeganMofo… so in honor of all the wonderful people who did so much work this past month, I decided to make something fancy-like. But, don’t be fooled. Keeping with my lazy-ish style, they weren’t difficult at all. This is actually a perfect way to use up all those baby eggplants you have lying around. Ok, that is a really lame joke… but it sure gives you a good excuse to pick some up next time you’re out. These are a lot of fun to make because they turn out so pretty and are quite easy to put together. I used a pomegranate/orange juice reduction sauce on these….which incidentally, was the most involved step. Feel free to sub out ingredients, garnish how you like, or just make the filling- it’s yummy all by itself.
This is a simple and elegant dish that will work in just about any circumstance, whether it be a main dish, side dish, or holiday take along. I was inspired by looking at some beautiful photographs of foods from Iran. I love the color combination of the pistachios and cranberries, along with the lovely orange-y hue of the rice. The good thing about this dish is that you can prepare all of the mix-ins while your rice cooks… so I would definitely classify this as a quick meal. It took me about 35 minutes (using a rice cooker) to make it all come together, and my kitchen smelled absolutely wonderful. This was the first time I tried anything remotely close to this, and it was so easy, I will be making this over and over again.
I have got a lot of Polish in me- in lineage as well as culinary preferences. My mother has blessed me with so many good Polish recipes over the years and had created very fond food memories for me in my childhood. And what she had taught me had been handed down for generations. I think one of the great talents many of our family members posses is the ability to make countless dishes with a bag of potatoes. These little potato patties are called platskis, and this weekend I went to work in the kitchen with my mother to re-create our family recipe to be animal friendly. They turned out deliciously.
I hope you enjoy these simple potato cakes as much as my whole entire extended family does. And, let me assure you, there are a LOT of us.
Ziemniaki!
If you love hummus and have never had the pleasure of using it as a base for your pizza, I highly recommend trying it out. It works especially well with roasted peppers and an abundance of ingredients. I decided to roast my own peppers and make my own crust, so I opted for the deli-bought hummus -high in cumin content. The more flavorful the hummus the yummier the pizza. The crust recipe below compliments the hummus quite nicely. But feel free to save lots of time by purchasing crust, hummus, and roasted peppers in lieu of making your own. I am happy to say that this pizza was a sensation last night for dinner.
This strudel is totally savory and uses prepackaged puff pastry to make your life way easier. The Pepperidge Farms puff pastry just happens to be vegan, but obviously that means it is full of unpronounceables (less than I imagined)… but, hey, I’m compromising for time. I don’t think I would serve this to my family on a regular basis, (maybe annually?) but I had some puff pastry in the freezer and, of course, mushrooms in the fridge. I did spare some of the fat by sauteeing the veggies in broth, but the puff pastry trumps any good deeds done.
I did try, though, and I think that’s what counts.
Enjoy!
The other day we were lucky enough to receive a beautiful basket of bell peppers from my sister-in-law’s garden. They were tiny and very colorful: red, green, orange and purple! Once I saw them, I had to stuff them. I used quinoa, because it is the new rice, and added mushrooms, onions and currants. The peppers I used were much smaller than the gargantuan variety found at the grocery store, so we each ate two, rather than one. I like the simplicity of this recipe. Yet, it does take a little time to prepare. And then the baking time is a little long too. But this stuff is killer good over some homemade mashed potatoes.
Today is the first day of VeganMofo!! And to kick off October I wanted to include a recipe for a quick, easy, and lowfat delight that always perks me up during the colder weather: Potato Soup. This particular potato soup is thick, flavorful, and very filling. It also keeps well frozen or refrigerated. So, one batch’s leftovers can provide you with lunch for a week. I have named this recipe “Homestyle” because it is what I grew up with at home, and frankly, it is the only type of potato soup I will touch. My mom used cow’s milk in her recipe, so I subbed lowfat soymilk, and wouldn’t ya know… it tastes exactly as I remember. Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do.
So, I realize that there are a lot of recipes out there for vegan “mac and cheese”. But this one is too good not to try. Trust me. If you’re used to the real kind of mac and cheese, as opposed to Kraft, this is your recipe. It is prepared exactly like the wonderful homemade mac and cheese I grew up with. The only difference is, it’s made with vegan ingredients. I have never had a complaint when making this. In fact, I dare you to serve it to an unsuspecting omni and see if they even realize its vegan. Really, try it!
