What This Vegan Eats

I've been keeping meals really quick and simple these days and haven't been making enough use of the camera. That being said, here are a few "boring", "bland" and positively "unhealthy" dishes I've made over the past little while to keep me protein deficient, anemic, and basically fighting for my very life:

Vegetable-lentil soup with mushrooms. Seasoned with dill and Indian chili powder.

Homemade whole wheat crust topped with liberal drizzles of sriracha sauce, fennel seed, roasted slices of sweet potato, onion, red bell pepper, chopped portobello mushrooms, pickled hot banana peppers, fresh pineapple, slices of tomato, crushed garlic, a sprinkle of chipotle powder and a pinch of dried parsley.

Udon noodles stir-fried with portobello mushrooms, red bell peppers, onions, crushed garlic, organic tamari, sesame oil and a bit of fresh cilantro.

Gardein strips with homemade BBQ dipping sauce. A salad of raw carrots, red bell peppers, shredded broccoli & cabbage, cooked peas and a sweet onion/lime dressing.

Grated raw beet & carrot salad with a drizzle of lime dressing. Baked whole wheat wrap stuffed with roasted green bell peppers, black beans, cilantro, cheddar Daiya, crushed garlic, dried chipotle and a bit of salsa. Rice topped with extra spicy salsa.

And because there can never be enough pizza in my life:

Stage 1: Take a whole wheat pita and spread it with roasted garlic tomato sauce seasoned with fennel seed, basil, crushed garlic and spices. Top with cooked breaded Gardein chunks and sautéed mushrooms.

Stage2: Add pickled hot banana and chopped fresh red & green bell peppers.

Stage 3: Top with mozzarella Daiya shreds and bake in preheated oven until Daiya has melted, then devour.

Hot Noodle Soup on Xmas Day

My non-vegan guest is a huge fan of chicken noodle soup, whether his mother's or from a can. While he was squeezing in a nap after our simple veggie burger lunch, I made the following no-fail easy noodle soup, adapted from one in Dorothy R. Bates' TVP Cookbook. This stuff always reminds me of the lazy Sunday lunches when I was a kid, when Mom would pop open a can of Campbell's soup or pouch of Lipton's and serve it up with grilled cheese sandwiches.

Noodle Soup

What you need:

1 medium to large onion (red or yellow), diced
2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
6 cups water
1 cup TVP granules
2 cups noodles of your choice, broken
1 vegetable bouillon cube
salt (if any) to taste
1 Tbs dried parsley
1/3 cup good quality nutritional yeast (I prefer Red Star)

Whatcha do:

Heat olive oil in a medium-sized pan and add diced onion. Cook until onion has softened and just started to brown.

Add the water, noodles, TVP and break the bouillon cube into it. Stir well and bring to a quick boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until noodles are on the verge of being perfect (around 10-15 minutes or maybe less depending on size of noodles you're using). Mix in parsley and when noodles are perfect, stir in the nutritional yeast until it's dissolved.

Ladle into hot bowls and top with a pinch of dried or fresh parsley for garnish. Serves 4-6.

What Vegans Eat: Soup!

The time for iced drinks and cold soups has passed. At least it has in these parts where it's no longer unusual for me to spot frost on the neighbour's car as I hop on my bicycle to go to work in the morning. After having spent most of September with (and cooking for) a house guest, I seem to have gotten back into the habit of making slow-cooking tasty pots of warm goodness -- soups, stews and other improvised dishes. The timing is right with the seasons changing. The cats and I now end up spending a fair bit of time chatting each other up in the kitchen while I hover around the stove, adding a pinch of this or that and getting back into a routine of cooking from scratch that's more than I have in years.

Here are a few recipes for soups that some of my favourite food bloggers have been sharing recently or that I've dug up on their blogs or websites as I've looked around for new ideas:

I stocked up on coconut milk a few weeks ago when a local grocery store had an unbelievable sale. It made me particularly happy to find this recipe last week from Claire at Chez Cayenne for a Thai Tofu Noodle Soup that is absolutely delicious. I topped it off with the maximum two jalapeno peppers suggested as optional because I'm bent on upping my spice tolerance. I love a soup you can handle with chopsticks and this one really hit the spot!

Speaking of spices... Keri at I Eat Trees featured a recipe for a tomato-based slow cooker Fiesta Soup not long ago. Fragrant with chili powder and cilantro, it's uncomplicated to make with its mere handful of ingredients, most of which you might already have in your cupboards. I'll be testing this one out over the weekend, but have a hunch that it will be a keeper.

The prolific and ever-cheerful Jessy at happyveganface posted about a more soothing "comfort food" sort of soup her sweetie made for them recently. I love using butter beans / lima beans in soup since they do indeed cook up so incredibly creamy, so I look forward to trying out his Creamy Butter Bean-Potato-Kale Soup. In her post, she also links to a simple little Red Lentil Soup w/Lemon from another blog that sounds really easy to make (not to mention that it also sounds really yummy).

I've been enjoying the photos of her feline family shared by Renae at i eat food. She included some wonderful ones in her post a little over a month ago about her Roasted Tomato Lentil Soup. Check it out!

And then? Oh gosh, and then there's the Vegan Epicurean website, where I could spend hours sifting through the wide variety of recipes there. Some -- but not all -- of them are a bit more elaborate than what you'll find on most vegan food blogs, but trust me that the extra effort ends up worth it. Just yesterday, she posted a recipe for a Lightly Smoky Mushroom and Corn Soup in a Tomato Sage Broth that sounds so luscious. A little over a week ago, there was a Creme of Tomato and Brown Rice Soup that caught my eye. If you search the blog's archives, you can keep yourself in soup and stew for months, I swear. You'll find recipes for German Inspired Kale Soup with Whole Wheat Spaetzle, Shitake Mushroom and Barley Soup, Creamy Broccoli and Kale Soup, Italian Tomato and Onion Soup and so on.

If you have any favourite soup recipes from vegan food blogs you enjoy, please feel free to share them below. 'Tis the right time of year to curl up with a hot bowl with some crusty bread and I plan to indulge a lot in the coming much colder months.

Soup!

I've never been a food blogger and have no interest in being one for various reasons, including that others are doing a much better job at it than I ever could. I have, however, spent many (many!) years experimenting in the kitchen. Those who've been around when that experimentation spiked as a passionate indulgence rarely complained about the outcome--including my mostly omni friends. One of my biggest loves over the years has been making soup (or stews) and I have a couple of favourite recipes I'd like to share.

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First up is a variation on a green lentil soup recipe I've been making forever (and which I've posted here before). I've no idea of whether there was a specific recipe of origin for it--it's become so "off the cuff" for me. The tarragon is really a worthwhile addition!

Lentil Soup

What you need:

1-1/2 cups lentils, washed
1-1/2 quarts veggie stock or water
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs nutritional yeast
2 stalks celery & tops, chopped
1 Tbs celery seed, ground
1 onion, diced 2 carrots, diced
1-1/2 to 2 cups tomatoes, stewed (I just use the canned and diced)
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 or 1 tsp fresh tarragon, shredded (optional but recommended!)

What you do:

Place lentils in pot. Add water / veggie stock, salt and yeast. Cover and simmer until almost tender. Add remainder of ingredients. Cover. Simmer until carrots are done (about 15 minutes or longer). Add the tarragon during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

This soup is great with fresh whole grain rolls smeared with vegan "cream cheese" or a bit of Earth Balance margarine sprinkled with nutritional yeast. Serves 5-6.

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Next is an adaptation of Dorothy R. Bates' "Noodle Soup", from The TVP Cookbook. This soup is a ridiculously easy to make side for a sandwich, and reminds me a lot of the canned chicken noodle soup mom would often serve up when I was a kid.

Not-Chicken Noodle Soup

What you need:

1 cup of onions, chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
6 cups of hot water
1 cup TVP granules (smallish)
2 cups noodles, broken
1 tsp (or less) salt
1 tsp dried parsley, heaping
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 cup frozen vegetables of your choice (optional)

What you do:

Heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the onion until it's just beginning to brown. Then add the 6 cups of hot water, TVP, noodles and salt and bring to a brisk boil and simmer for around 5 minutes. Add dried parsley and frozen vegetables (if using) and simmer for another 5-10 minutes. When done, stir in nutritional yeast flakes and serve. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley. Serves 6

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Each spring, I have a moment of veritable "doh!" when I remember that I've once again forgotten to place an advance catalog order for tomatillo seed to have time to sprout them early enough to grow seedlings to transplant into my garden. You can't get fresh tomatillos here and local seed choices are (sadly) limited. If I manage to find a way to get my hands on some soon so that I can grow them, I'll surely be making the following amazing soup by late summer. It's an adaptation of a recipe that was given to me in a vegan recipes forum years ago, and I'm unsure of its origins but ended up tweaking it and making it several times the two summers I didn't forget to buy seed.

Tomatillo Soup

What you need:

2-3 Tbs olive oil
2-1/2 cups chopped onion
5 medium fresh poblano or Anaheim chili peppers (or if you need to substitute, see here)
2-3 Tbs garlic, crushed and / or minced
2 tsp salt
2 Tbs chili powder
6 cups tomatillos, husked and chopped
4 cups water
2-3 Tbs sweetener
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

What you do:

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion for 4-5 minutes. Mix the peppers, garlic, salt and chili powder into them and continue to sauté for another 5 minutes or so. Add the tomatillos and mix well, cover and continue to cook for another 8-10 minutes, allowing the tomatillos to begin to soften. Add the water and bring to a quick boil, then lower to a simmer, cover the pot and allow to cook another 10-12 minutes. Purée some or all of the soup in a blender or food processor and return to the pot to heat. Stir in the cilantro, saving some to garnish, and serve immediately. Serves 6.

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General Soup Tips:

If you're serving hot soup, preheat the bowls and tureens you're using to serve it. If you're serving cold soup, chill the bowls or tureens you're using to serve it. It really makes a difference!

Garnish your soup! Although soups often turn out looking quite lovely and colourful, I often add a little something to individual serving bowls. Suggestions include:

-Chopped fresh herbs (e.g. dill, parsley, cilantro, et al., depending on herbs used in soup)
-Grated citrus rind (organic is ideal)
-Croutons
-A dollop of soy yogurt topped with a thin slice of lemon or lime
-Minced scallions or chives
-A sprinkle of paprika
-Thinly sliced radish, carrot
-Chopped nuts (e.g. walnuts, pecans, peanuts)
-A spoonful of chutney
-Black olive slivers
-Toasted almond slivers

You get the point... Now go make soup!

What Vegans Eat

I'd hoped to kick-start a periodic vegan cookbook review feature on My Face Is on Fire but have been too swamped at the office to follow up with the vegan bloggers and food-lovers who'd volunteered to submit occasional reviews several weeks ago. In the interim, here's an update on what some of my favourite vegan food blogs have been offering up over the past few weeks:

The VeganDad blog's writer's home must be smelling wonderful this month given his recent posts for Ethiopian Sweet Potato Stew and Ethiopian Lentils. I've never cooked Ethiopian before, but am intrigued by the use of garlic with cinnamon in these two recipes, along with all of the other wonderful spices called for in either.

Speaking of the aroma of spices filling a kitchen: I can just imagine how scrumptious it must have been to just stand beside the stove while Sinead over at Kitchen Dancing prepared her Parsnip Perfection soup with its ginger, cumin, chipotle chilies and lime. (While you're at it, do check out her blowtorched Green Tea and Almond Crême Brulée recipe from a week and a half ago.)

My friend Thomas has been visiting me from Pennsylvania this past week and a half, and just yesterday we were discussing "cheesecake" and I was telling him about how I used to make a killer chocolate tofu cheesecake. Maybe I should test this cinnamon-y Pumpkin Cheesecake recipe posted by Ed recently at his Eating Consciously blog over the next few days.

Speaking of pumpkins, Vegancognito's Batgirl offered up a recipe last weekend for her chili cook-off contest winning Pumpkin Mole Chili w/Chipotle Creme and Homemade Cornbread Croutons that also calls for--cinnamon! She describes the chili as "spicy, smoky, rich, deep, and complex" which seems like a dead-on description just from reading its ingredients.

Have you ever thought that vegan cooking's too complicated? Have you found yourself having a hard time knocking your kitchen "know-how" out of the box to play with new seasonings and to try different things? Just keep your eye on vegan cooking blogs like these (see the numerous ones listed off to the right of the screen in the "Vegan Cooking and Nutrition" links list) and I guarantee that you'll soon find yourself wondering what you've been missing.

Going vegan is easy. Not only is it ultimately the delicious thing to do, but most importantly, it's the right thing to do.

Vegan Recipes in the Blogosphere

I was going to post a couple of vegan recipes that have ended up on mainstream media websites this week surrounding Earth Day, but after finding a couple of scrumptious sounding ones for soup (Minestrone and African Yam and Peanut, to be precise) on the Winnipeg Free Press' site, I got sidetracked by a couple of recent posts from vegan food bloggers I follow and decided to throw out a few kudos:

Jessy over at happyveganface (a vegan food blog I adore) recently posted about Snobby Joes -- one of my favourite recipes from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's Veganomicon. I raved about them, myself, a while back, lover of lentils that I am. The original recipe can be found here on the Post Punk Kitchen website.

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Melissa at The Papaya Chronicles recently posted about the type of meal I enjoy throwing together often, myself, when I don't particularly feel like cooking but don't want to junk out. She threw an assortment of raw vegetables, seasoned and baked flour tortillas and fruit on some trays and served them up with her favourite hummus recipe (one I've since tried and loved).

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Over at Carrot and Potato Time, Anna's been writing quite a bit about her recent experiments with baking with sourdough starter. This is something I've been meaning to try out myself for quite a while with my own trusty bread machine. For those who are uninitiated, her posts will surely be more than helpful (and her photos will leave you eager to get some baking of your own done, pronto).

Vegan Recipes and Food in Online Media

Once again, I just though I'd share what I've run across on various newspapers' websites.

Maine's Ellsworth American featured a short and simple recipe for Sweet Maine Turnips w/ Maple Glaze.

The Epoch Times had a short piece on the health benefits of beets which included a traditional Ukrainian recipe for Christmas Borscht.

Yesterday, Sudbury's Northern Life featured a scrumptious sounding recipe for Moroccan Vegetable Soup.

Finally, New Jersey's Cranford Chronicle had a piece about tofu that just left me with a slightly furrowed brow, wondering what the writer's point had been in writing it in the first place. It's basically a piece written by someone who claims to like tofu and who goes on and on about how most people don't like it. Aside from praising her own purportedly innovative squeezing technique, her only recommendation concerning its preparation is to "cook the blazes out of the tofu over a high flame until every last drop of moisture is removed". Um, okay. You may not end up with something "rubbery" or "gelatinously slimy", but it's almost guaranteed that you'll end up with a hard inedible brick. Honestly -- what's the point?

Vegan Recipes in Online Media

Chicago's SouthTown Star has an article talking about a couple of vegan cookbooks. One of them is Nava Atlas' Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Seasons, and the article includes a recipe from it for Macaroni and "Cheese" Soup.

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A few days ago, The Huffington Post featured a recipe for Kale and Whole Wheat Pasta Sauté.

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Yesterday, Pennsylvania's The Morning Call offered up what sounds like a reader's spotlight recipe -- Connie Wargo's Apple Soup.

Vegan Recipes in the News

The Food & Dining section of the Courier Press from Indiana features an article today by Sara Anne Corrigan on her attempts to throw together a tasty vegan meal for her guest, the town's new vegan rabbi. In it, she describes the addictiveness (and B vitamin goodliness) of nutritional yeast. She includes recipes for Soy Fritters and Tofu Dipping Sauce from the wonderful The Farm Vegetarian Cookbook (I have a copy of it myself and need to buy the most up-to-date verion). She also features a strange-sounding recipe for a Molded Gazpacho Salad that conjures images from my mom's old 1960s cookbooks. This salad in question is made with vegan-friendly Pomona's Universal Pectin, though. (The Farm's cookbook can be ordered via their catalog here.)

The Patriot Ledger from Quincy, MA has an article on raw-food chef Brenda Richter and includes a recipe for her Garden Blend Soup. (Since when is miso considered a raw food??)

Vegan soup recipes in the news

The Victoria Times Colonist ran a decent article by Eric Akis the other day. It's well worth reading just for the great instructions on how to make a flavourful vegetable-based stock (and includes a recipe for one). As a bonus, he included recipes for Curried Yam Soup w/ Coconut and Lime, Classic Mushroom Soup and Lentil Soup w/ Herbe de Provence.

Recipe: Brazillian Black Bean Stew (aka Feijoada)

This is a recipe adapted from one found in an old issue of "Vegetarian Times". Traditionally, feijoada -- a dish popular in both Brazil and Portugal -- is meat-laden, but this animal-free take on it is delicious, as well as more nutritious and much lower in fat and cholesterol. Feijoada is known as Brazil's "national dish" and it's apparently commonly served in most restaurants there, however fine the dining. The "Vegetarian Times" article suggested serving it with steamed Swiss chard wrapped in warmed tortillas. Traditionally, it's a thick stew served with a pot of hot pepper sauce and the following side-dishes: rice, chopped and refried kale or collard greens, lightly roasted (coarse) casava flour (called farofa), and orange segments. Sometimes it's served with deep-fried casava or deep-fried bananas. It's usually enjoyed with caipirinhas (a popular Brazilian alcoholic beverage) or beer.

Brazilian Black Bean Stew

1 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion, diced
2-3 medium garlic cloves, minced or crushed
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 large red bell pepper, diced
1 (or more) hot green chili pepper, minced
half a large (28 oz / 796 ml) can of diced tomatoes -- don't drain 'em
2-16 oz cans of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 tsp salt

Optional: Cooked rice, chopped steamed (and fried, if you'd like) kale / collars / Swiss chard, orange segments.

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until it's softened. Stir in the garlic and cook an extra 3 minutes until the onion is golden.

Stir in the sweet potatoes, peppers, tomatoes w/ liquid and bring to a boil. Lower heart and simmer around 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are tender but still firm. Stir in the beans and simmer uncovered, ever so gently, until everything is heated through.

Stir in the mango and cook another minute, until heated through. Stir in cilantro and salt to taste. Preferably using ceramic bowls or platters for authenticity, ladle the stew on top of a mound of rice. Place the chopped greens and orange segments (if using) around the edges of the dish. Sprinkle the chopped greens and orange segments with farofa (if available) and splash some hot sauce on the side of some of the stew. Eat while hot! Serves 6.

Recipe: Lentil Soup

This one's a variation of the ongoing basic green lentil soup recipe I've been slapping together forever. The tarragon addition started up a few years back when I first began growing it in my garden. It's optional, but is really worth it.

Lentil Soup

1-1/2 cups lentils, washed
1-1/2 quarts veggie stock or water
1/2 tsp salt
3 Tbs nutritional yeast
2 stalks celery & tops, chopped
1 Tbs celery seed, ground
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, diced
1-1/2 to 2 cups tomatoes, stewed (I often just use the canned and diced)
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 or 1 tsp fresh tarragon, shredded (optional)

Place lentils in pot. Add water / veggie stock, salt and yeast. Cover and simmer until almost tender. Add remainder of ingredients. Cover. Simmer until carrots are done (about 15 minutes or longer). Add the tarragon during the last 5 minutes of cooking.

This soup is great with fresh whole grain rolls smeared with Tofutti "cream cheese" or a bit of Earth Balance margarine sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

Serves 5-6.