Broccoli Cheese Soup

Chilly, dreary weather in AZ is often a welcome change from the norm - typically short-lived but just enough to instill a vague sense of nostalgia for seasonal weather patterns. Last week was colder than usual which set a good stage for curling up with a good book and hot bowl of soup.

I have been making a lot of chunky vegetable soups this winter such as cabbage, lentil, and root vegetable stews – all of which are lovely. But last week, the lack of constant sunshine coupled with the lack of enthusiasm to be at work was really starting to wear on me. I looked out the window to see only clouds and a high of 52 (I know Midwesterners, hush) and thought that chunky vegetable soup just wasn’t going to cut it. Dreaming of warm, comforting food for dinner I started mentally raiding my cupboards for ideas.

The only thing I really wanted to get rid of was a pair of Russet potatoes. I’m more of a sweet potato person, but I had purchased some regular old baking potatoes after getting the stomach flu in order to have a less complex food on hand. But then I got better and the potatoes got lost, so they had to go quickly or they’d sprout right through the counter. The only semi-fun thing I had was broccoli, so I started thinking of what I could do with potatoes and broccoli in the mix. The thought process went something like this.

Baked Potato  >  Loaded Baked Potato  >   CHEEZY loaded baked potato  >  Cheezy Soup  >  Broccoli Cheez Soup!! (poured over Baked Potato)

And so the venture began. I did my customary recipe hunt to get a basic idea of how a vegan might go about making a cheese soup and then branched off on my own. Of course the recipe mirrors the process of making vegan Mac ‘n Cheez or vegan Nacho Cheez, but I wasn’t sure how it would hold up as soup. Turns out, it’s friggin’ yum! My test taster agreed it tastes like the real deal, and I am fairly certain the mustard gives it a certain oompf that is quite necessary to achieve the cheesy taste. While I ended up having the potato on the side, I did transpose the idea of a loaded potato to garnishments for the soup: toasted pine nuts and bac’un bits. So it was more of a loaded soup, but that sounds weird.

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Makes: 2 servings
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

2 c. broccoli and/or stems, chopped

1 c. vegetable broth from bouillon
1/3 c. nutritional yeast
3 T. flour (potato or all purpose)
1 T. Earth Balance
1 tsp mustard
¼ heaping tsp. onion powder
¼ heaping tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ - ¾ c. almond milk
Pinch of white pepper

Garnishments (optional): toasted pine nuts, bacon bits

Directions

Steam broccoli for 5-7 minutes or until desired texture is reached. Remove from heat and set aside.

Prepare vegetable broth by boiling water and mixing in a ½ cube of bouillon. Combine next 7 ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat. Whisk in vegetable broth. When soup starts to bubble, lower heat to medium and slowly add in ½ cup of almond milk. Add more if soup is too thick or starchy and. Finish with a pinch of white pepper and stir in broccoli. Top each bowl with a table spoon of pine nuts and/or a dash of bacon bits. Serve with crusty bread or a baked potato.

Peanut Pumpkin Stew with Caramelized Seitan

Have you ever tried to cook a jack-o-lantern? Or have you ever bought a big ole pumpkin with the intention of carving it for Halloween and then dropped the ball only to be stuck with a 15 useless pounds of vegetable? Make no mistake, there is no turning Jack into pie. I learned that the hard way last year when I had 2 enormous orange faceless heads taking up space in my 1 bedroom apartment. I did get a good batch of seeds from them, and at least I gave their flesh due diligence on the stove (sorry if this sounds like a slasher blog talking about heads and flesh). However, carving pumpkins taste like...well they don't taste like anything. Something that large has a hard time hanging onto it's sugars. Most of us have the opposite problem - the sugars go right to the thighs and never leave. Oh well.

So this weekend I was meandering through the food store who was having a special on pie pumpkins! I was ecstatic about not having to buy canned pumpkin and getting about 2 cans worth for half the price. I got home with my precious pumpkin and stared at it thinking, "now what?" While I love a good pumpkin pie or cookie, those are pretty standard and too simple to do my pumpkin justice. Warm, savory, adventurous - that's what I wanted for my pumpkin's fate. The last savory dish I cooked didn't turn out so well because the recipe I actually followed called for pumpkin puree in a sauce with a bagillion breadcrumbs and something went very wrong, so following a recipe was out of the question. I peeked through a few and some ideas stuck - for some reason my brain was fusing African peanut and African pumpkin stew together so that's what this became. I have no idea if the spices pertain to the appropriate geography, but they worked.

Next time I will most likely serve the caramelized seitan on top of the stew and garnish with cilantro. I didn't have any cilantro on hand but it would have been nice for some color. I'm crazy and made my own seitan and Worcestershire (vegan of course) but store bought version would be fine, though I highly recommend making your own Worcestershire sauce with any recipes sans anchovies for the best results. I served this with a skillet cornbread that I have yet to perfect, but it was damn good.


Peanut Pumpkin Stew

Makes 3-4 servings
Cook time: 1 hour

Ingredients

1 jalapeno
1/2 T. canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 T. garlic, minced (4-5 cloves)
1 1/2 T. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 tsp. cumin, ground
1/4 tsp. garam masala
1/4 tsp. turmeric
1/2 small pumpkin, peeled and cubed
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes
2 c. vegetable broth from bouillon
2 T. peanut butter
1 c. Caramelized Seitan (recipe below)
1/4 c. roasted peanuts
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Cilantro for garnish (optional)

Directions

Broil whole jalapeno on high and cook until skin is blackened and blistered, rotating periodically to make sure all sides are heated. Remove from heat and let cool. Split the pepper open, remove the seeds, and chop into small pieces (wear gloves or hold the jalapeno with a fork/tongs and spoon out the seeds without touching with your fingers). Set aside.

In a medium stock pot, heat the canola oil over medium heat. Add onion and cook until golden brown stirring frequently, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, and half of roasted jalapeno (reserve other half for another use or throw in and brace yourself). Stir until garlic and ginger become fragrant, about 30 seconds, and add the rest of the spices plus a pinch of salt. Cook another minute until spices are aromatic and throw in the pumpkin and bell pepper. Stir to coat with spices and cook until pumpkin starts to become tender, about 7-8 minutes. Add tomatoes with juices and increase heat to high. When mixture starts to boil, add vegetable broth. Bring stew to a boil and reduce heat to medium-low. Let stew simmer at a low boil for 20-30 minutes.

When pumpkin is very tender and breaks apart easily, stir to mash some of the pumpkin and thicken the stew. Add the peanut butter and stir to blend completely. Add Caramelized Seitan and peanuts (you can either add this into the stew or place on top when service). Season with salt and a little pinch of cayenne pepper if there's not enough heat for you. You can also soften the spice and bring out the peanut flavor with a small pinch of sugar. Garnish with cilantro if desired.


Caramelized Seitan
Makes about 1 cup
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

2-3 T. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. water
1-2 T. sherry or other sweet wine
1 c. homemade or store bough seitan, cubed
Cooking spray

Directions

Whisk all marinade ingredients together and marinate seitan for at least 30 minutes (while you prep the stew or while it's cooking). Drain the seitan reserving the marinade.

Heat a skillet or stove top wok over high heat. When hot coat with cooking spray and throw in the seitan. Reduce the heat only slightly, when the pan starts to dry and seitan browns, pour in 1/4 cup of the marinade. Let reduce until thick and sticky. Scrape the skillet to rotate the seitan and pour in more marinade. When seitan is brown on all sides pour in any remaining marinade and turn off the heat. Remove from heat when there is still a small amount of thick marinade coating the seitan.

Chunky Vegan Chili with Oven-Baked Fries

For about a week the blazing Arizona sun succumbed to a change in air pressure and brought a sense of relief just when I thought fall might abandon us this year. Translation: it chilled the hell down for a few days. Overwhelming illusions that it was time to break out the stockpot and possibly a cashmere sweater were brought into check eventually, but I did seize the small window to squeeze in a cool-weather dish. A comfort food craving came on with an itch for spice, so chili was the obvious choice.

I don’t have extensive chili experience, but it’s one of those dishes that give a certain flare to the reputations of real cooks. Do you recall ever hearing of someone who made a “decent” chili? Do you have a favorite cafe that makes a “pretty good” chili? Of course not. Mediocre chili does not invoke or enliven the soul in a blissful tango with taste. Those who make incredible chili leave a mark. That delectable memory gets to camp out in a special place reserved for things like Mom’s Chicken Noodle Soup and Grandma’s Swedish Kringle. Chili hits a spot that is best reached after raking leaves or building snowmen - a spot which is not as easily accessible in my current environment as it was when I was little. Therefore I have to seize every semblance of opportunity I get. Which means, when it drops below 90, I can pull out the crock pot.

Now that I’ve built up chili so much - it might be a let-down to learn that this is not the recipe that will make me an infamous vegan chef. It’s not my best, worst, or last attempt. But it was very exciting prancing around the kitchen throwing in spices Emeril-style...BAM! In fact, I based this off of one of his recipes and it turned out quite well. I think I need more onion next time, because soups never seem to have enough. Regardless of it’s small imperfections or opportunities for enhancement, the enthusiasm was doubled by the batch of french fries so perfectly prepared by my loving omnivore. Chili and fries! I can’t seem to pair the two together without an exclamation point!

Chunky Vegan Chili

Makes 4-6 servings
Total cook time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 T. Olive or Canola oil
1 1/2 c. Onion, chopped
2 T. Garlic, minced
1 Anaheim chili, chopped
1 Summer squash, chopped
1 c. Yellow corn (1-2 ears)
1 c. Brown or portobello mushrooms, chopped
1 c. Garbanzo beans, cooked or canned
4 Tomatoes, chopped
1 Chipotle chili in adobo sauce
2 T. Chili powder
1 T. Cumin, ground
1 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Cayenne or piquin pepper
1 tsp. Oregano, dried
1 can Tomato sauce
1 c. Vegetable broth
Pinch of sugar

6 oz Tempeh, chopped or sliced
Taco seasoning: 1 tsp each - chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder

Toppings

Shredded vegan cheese
Chopped red onion
Chopped avocado

Directions

In a large stockpot, heat the oil over medium heat and add the onions. Cook until the onions are soft and transparent, about 10-12 minutes. Add garlic and Anaheim pepper. Cook another minute and add squash, mushrooms and corn. Cook vegetables 4-5 minutes and add beans, tomatoes and spices. Stir well to coat veggies in seasoning and pour in tomato sauce. Bring chili to a boil. Add vegetable broth and reduce heat. Simmer chili on low for 20-25 minutes while you prepare the tempeh.

In a small sauce pan, bring 1 c. water and seasoning to a medium boil. Add tempeh and reduce heat to medium. Steam tempeh in seasoned water until tender, about 7-8 minutes. Pour entire contents of pan into food processor and pulse 5 times, scrape tempeh down and pulse another 5 times. Heat a skillet over medium high heat, coat with cooking spray and add ground tempeh. Cook until browned, another 10 minutes.

Returning to chili, turn heat off but leave pot on the stove. Add pinch of sugar and tempeh. Let sit on warm stove another 10 minutes to let the flavors blend and cool. Serve with assorted toppings and side of fries.


Perfect Oven-Baked Fries
Makes 4-6 servings
Cook time: 30-40 minutes

Ingredients

2 medium russet potatoes
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Cut potatoes into wedges about 4” long and 1/4” thick. Coat with olive oil and generous pinch of salt and pepper. Spread on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Turn fries and bake another 10-15 minutes. Remove fries when dark golden brown and crispy.

Lentil and Root Vegetable Stew

Well I’ve started a detox. Not an official detox diet (yet) where you follow a strict regiment and prepare exact recipes as part of a plan crafted by an Ayurvedic counselor, but along the lines of “giving more stuff up.” How is this humanly possible? Crazy lady already chooses not to consume meat, dairy, butter and eggs. What else is there? And if you gave so much up, how could you be putting up a recipe?

Added to my list of “detrimental to your health”: Gluten, refined sugar, alcohol, chocolate, vinegar…oh my! Why are they so bad? I could go into a lengthy explanation, but as I am not a professional and at the risk of sounding preachy, I will resist. Our bodies don’t take well to these substances when they are consumed in the amounts we typically eat. I love bread, wine, and chocolate – who doesn’t? But my stomach and ever more prevalent state of lethargy urged me to recognize the roles of these substances in my overall health. Do I plan to do this together? I’m crazy but I’m not stupid. Please….like I could give up chocolate.

I have however fallen off the healthy bandwagon - eating alarming amounts of potato chips while waiting for a meal to start, dining out and ordering wraps or veggies burgers with highly processed ingredients, drinking lots of red wine, snacking on Trader Joe’s rice snacks or peanut butter filled pretzels when I’m nowhere near hungry, indulging in ice cream more often than an indulgence is typically defined. By most people’s standards, this doesn’t sound too bad. I’m not eating chicken wings with ranch for a late night snack after 6 pints of beer (which I have been known to do more than a few times. But what happens in Madison stays in Madison). Snacking on rice crackers and soy ice cream are fine, right? Yes, but feeling like crap is not.

I’ve also had some long standing issues with food that require attention. For instance, every family picnic, potluck, holiday or birthday party guarantees a 4 hour munch. I can only hold off eating too much hummus and pita at happy hour for so long until my mind changes gears. Then some alter ego invades my mind and tells me to quit being so limiting and the munching cascade ensues. I think this ego is the remains of my persona in college, desperate to revive that stage of eating anything and everything because of my absolute ignorance about nutrition and desire to socialize at events revolving around alcohol. I could late night snack with the pros; a 2 pound steak after 4 gin and tonics couldn’t stop this girl. This alter ego tells me to run it off tomorrow and just cut down on my calories the next day. Not a good way to eat when this happens at Christmas (x2), New Years, Weekly Happy Hour, 1 Year Old Birthday Party, and Picnic in the Park. It’s only February!

So my solution? Detox (or treatment for multiple personality disorder). Flush it out and start over. A detox can help you mentally and physically by ridding your body of toxins, particularly in the liver, and by giving your mind a chance to reach a new sort of clarity that we rarely experience on a daily basis. After reading a lot of literature about detox diets, a good rinse made its way on the menu. Commonly practiced and recommended by many (provided you don’t have some threatening disorder or aren’t pregnant), they are used to cleanse the organs, clear the mind and start anew when you’re feeling heavy and troubled. So how did I approach my detox?

I haven’t followed an official diet, but I plan to someday. After reading about a news anchor that detoxed for 28 days giving up everything listed above, I read the exclusion list and knew I could do it too. It has prevented me from succumbing to late night ice cream, munching on crackers, and pigging out because of some mental hang-up. So here I am 4 days into it and feeling much better. My stomach feels so much better, which makes me want to treat it more nicely. I am learning to enjoy social outings that don’t involve 2 glasses of wine (for me). My mind is carving out thought process that steers me away from overeating. So what did I eat?

I don’t have a juicer or a Vitamix, so I haven’t been living on smoothies and green machine juices recommended by many “flushes.” I also don’t have a dehydrator so I couldn’t go completely raw. This has left me with an abundance of fresh and dried fruit, raw or lightly steamed vegetables, some beans, whole grains (sprouted or cooked), nuts and tea. After the first day of eating only fruit and steamed vegetables with a few almonds and walnuts in there, I craved something for dinner that was warm and filling but light at the same time.

This soup was my answer and it was absolutely fabulous. It was both sweet and savory from the root vegetables and herbs, hearty enough from the lentils, and thick enough by pureeing some of the soup. It felt clean and satisfying with all the protein, fiber and complex carbs. Would have been nice with some flax crackers….but it’ll have to wait until I get that dehydrator.

Lentil and Root Vegetable Stew

Serves: 3-4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 45 minutes – 1 hour

Ingredients

½ T. Coconut Oil
½ Medium onion, chopped
1 Medium celery stalk, chopped
1 Large garlic clove, minced ~ 2 tsp
1 Bay leaf
½ T. Thyme, dried
1 tsp Marjoram, dried
½ tsp Rosemary, dried
1 tsp Salt
1 c. Sweet potato, cubed
¾ c. Turnips, cubed
¾ c. Parsnips, cubed
¾ c. Lentils (dry), rinsed
2 c. Vegetable broth (made with 1 cube of bouillon)
3-4 c. Water
Black pepper to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions

In a large crock pot, heat coconut oil over medium heat and add onion and celery. Sauté until transparent, ~ 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, herbs, and salt and cook another 30 seconds – 1 minute.

Add sweet potato, turnips, parsnips and lentils. Stir well to completely coat vegetables with seasoning. Add vegetable broth and water, and increase heat to medium high. When soup reaches a boil, turn to medium low, maintaining a vigorous simmer and cook until lentils are done, ~ 30-45 minutes.

When lentils are done and veggies are soft, turn heat off and season with pepper to taste. Transfer 1 cup of soup into a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Pour this back into the soup and puree an additional cup if you’d like a thicker soup. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired.