Coconut Ginger Vegetable Soup

Early last year I had the chance to go to Vegfest in Seattle. It is a food festival for vegans and vegetarians, and they are held all over the country. Chances are, if you live in the United States, there’s one not too far from you. It’s fun because you get to sample a lot of food products from well-known brand names, buy cookbooks, get freebies, and attend cooking demos.

While there, I attended a handful of cooking demos presented by PCC, a local co-op with locations in and around Seattle (very similar to Whole Foods, but smaller and member-focused – although anyone can shop there). I learned some interesting new techniques for cooking, as well as some inspiration for what to make next in my kitchen.

One of the demos showed us how to make a Thai coconut ginger vegetable soup, or Tom Kha Ja. It’s a lovely soup with some really interesting flavors and textures intermingling – lemony, spicy and creamy. The nice thing is that you don’t have to use the vegetables listed in this recipe if you don’t want – you can use whatever is on hand or others that you might prefer. The only things that I would recommend not skimping out on are the lime leaves (or lime peel), lemongrass (if you have it available in your grocery store), ginger, and of course, coconut milk. There are a few other key ingredients, but those really set the tone for supporting flavors.

Coconut Ginger Vegetable Soup
This recipe is based on the one created by Pranee Khruasanit Halvorsen, who also happens to be the person who demoed it, and who is a PCC Cooks instructor.

• 5 tablespoons canola oil
• 8 ounces or one package firm tofu, diced
• 1/2 carrot, diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 small onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 8 button mushrooms, stems removed and diced
• 3 cups water
• 3 Thai or serrano chile peppers, smashed
• 2 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and smashed
• 1-inch piece of fresh ginger, cut into 8 pieces and smashed
• 8 Kaffir lime leaves, or peel of 1 lime
• 4 shallots, trimmed, peeled and smashed
• 1 small zucchini, diced (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 jalapeño pepper, peeled and diced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 4 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, optional but highly recommended
• 2 tablespoons coconut cream (the top layer on canned coconut milk), optional

Drain and prepare your tofu.

Cutting up tofu to fry

Heat a wok or skillet, then add three tablespoons of canola oil. Fry the tofu until all sides have a golden crust.

Frying the tofu

Remove the tofu from the pan, and set aside.

Dice your carrot, onion and mushrooms.

Diced carrot, onion and mushrooms

In the same pan you used to fry the tofu, sauté your carrot, onion and mushrooms with the remaining two tablespoons of oil for three to five minutes until translucent and fragrant.

Sautéing carrots, onions and mushrooms

Place the vegetable mixture in a large pot with water and bring to a boil.

Adding the water

Prepare your chile peppers, lemongrass and ginger by smashing them all. Just use the flat side of your knife and give each of them a few good whacks. You don’t have to do it too hard or too many times. The key is to allow the soup to extract the flavors of these ingredients.

Trim the top, then smash with the flat side of your knife

Trim, then using the flat side of your knife hit the lemongrass a few times to smash it

Do the same with the ginger - using the flat side of the knife hit the ginger until it is smashed

If using lime peel, trim and roughly peel a lime with a knife.

Trimming a lime for its peel

Prepare your shallots by peeling and dicing them. I recommend that you use one full shallot or two to four shallot cloves (they look like very large garlic cloves).

Chopping up shallots

When your water comes to a boil, stir in the chile peppers, lemongrass, ginger, lime leaves or peel and shallots. Let boil for five minutes.

Nearly there - just a few more steps!

Prepare your zucchini.

Dicing zucchini

Remove the stem and seeds from your jalapeño, then dice. Grab your corn (I used a whole package of frozen corn).

Diced jalapeño and frozen corn

Add zucchini, corn and jalapeño to your pot and cook for two minutes.

Adding the rest of the vegetables to the soup

Stir in salt, coconut milk and lime juice.

Add some coconut milk to make it creamy

To serve the soup, remove the large pieces of lemongrass, ginger and chile peppers, as well as the lime peel and lime leaves, then ladle into soup bowls. Add your fried tofu and garnish with cilantro and one teaspoon of coconut cream.

Delish!

This is such a yummy soup – and so versatile and forgiving if you don’t have everything you need. I think potatoes would go nicely in this, as well as snow peas, and other kinds of mushrooms, too. To reduce the fat, use a low fat coconut milk, sauté your vegetables in water, and bake your tofu (without oil) instead of frying it.

What soups are you enjoying right now?

Easy cucumber salad

I’m still on a quest to find salads I enjoy. Ironic, don’t you think, considering that I’ve practiced a vegetarian or vegan diet my whole life? A lot of people think that if you don’t eat meat, you must love salad. Let me be the first (or hundredth?) to tell you that that is pretty much a myth.

But let’s get back to the topic at hand, and let me tell you one ingredient that is guaranteed to make me swoon over a salad: fresh dill. It adds such a unique flavor that never overpowers, and it’s plentiful in the summer making it nearly always available to toss into whatever salad you’re making. Sure, I love other things in salad, too, but I will never grow tired of the tangy, faintly lemony taste that accompanies this bright green herb.

This is a super easy salad to throw together, and all you need to do is wait for it to chill.

Cucumber Salad
Based upon Adrienne’s Cucumber Salad found at Allrecipes.com

• 4 cucumbers, thinly sliced
• 1 small white onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup white vegan sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried dill, or to taste, OR 3 tablespoons fresh dill, minced

If the cucumber skin seems too tough or thick, peel your cucumbers before slicing them.

Peeling and slicing cucumbers

Cut up your onion. If your onion is wider than it is tall, you can cut it in half, and then proceed to cut thin slices that look like half moons.

Slicing onions for cucumber salad

Combine the vinegar, water and vegan sugar in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir or whisk it occasionally as it is cooking, and then once it begins boiling take it off the heat.

Pour the sugar/vinegar mixture over the cucumbers and onions.

Adding the sugar/vinegar mixture to the cucumbers and onions

Add the dried or freshly chopped dill to the bowl of cucumbers and onions and mix everything together.

The magic ingredient - dill!

Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow everything to marinate together, then serve. You can also make this a day or two in advance, and it will keep well.

Perfect for potluck or picnics!

I really thought this turned out great – and you’d never know that it didn’t have salt in it. I’ll also add this quick tip – if you’re making a regular lettuce salad and you need something tangy, just toss in a couple of spoonfuls of this, and you’ll be pretty impressed with the flavors it adds.

What is your favorite way to use dill?

Curried Parsnip Soup

When we lived in New York we were members of a local community supported agriculture group (CSA), Hellgate CSA. The setup was that we would pay for a season of vegetables and fruits, then each week our farm(s) would deliver freshly picked produce to a central location where we would then gather our bounty. It was because of that CSA and those farmers that I have such a passionate interest in food. Yet, I admit that it wasn’t always perfect. Because of the way it was structured (and many CSAs follow this model), we didn’t have a huge choice in the food that we would get from week to week, so it was either an opportunity to discover something new to love or, yes, something to never want to eat again (I still have yet to figure out if I ever want to try bitter melon of my own accord again).

Not too long ago we joined another CSA run by Full Circle Farm in Washington. It’s modeled in such a way that we have more choice, however they still will send you a predetermined box of produce if you do not make any changes. A couple of weeks ago I saw that we would be receiving parsnips and I can’t say I was thrilled about them. I had parsnips for the first time in New York, likely thanks to our first CSA, and I recall that I roasted them along with some other vegetables, but I didn’t quite like the combination of flavors and never was inspired to eat them again. (Parsnips, if you have never had them, are similar to carrots in sweetness, but otherwise the flavor is somewhat unusual and savory.) But I realized that I couldn’t let parsnips go by the wayside this time, and so I left them on the list.

I’m so glad I did, because I wound up making this very creamy and delicately-flavored parsnip soup. It’s perfect as a starter to a meal or on its own with some salad or bread. While the curry in this dish does add additional spiciness, it is not hot. To add some heat, sprinkle some red pepper flakes to each individual bowl for a little kick.

Curried Parsnip Soup
Recipe based upon Spiced Parsnip Soup from Allrecipes.com

• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 pound parsnips, peeled and cubed
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons curry powder
• 3 1/4 cups boiling vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup vegan milk, plain and unsweetened
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 pinch red pepper flakes or paprika for garnish

Chop your onions. Melt the vegan butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, and fry the onion in butter until soft, about five minutes.

Sautéing some onions in vegan butter

Peel and chop your parsnips, and chop your garlic.

Chopping parsnips

Add the parsnips, garlic and curry powder to the pan, and fry for a couple of minutes to release the flavors.

Frying parsnips, onion, garlic and curry

Boil the vegetable broth, and pour into the saucepan with the parsnips, onions, garlic and curry powder. Stir to remove any bits of vegetable from the bottom of the pot. Simmer for 15 minutes or until parsnips are soft and easy to break with a spoon.

Simmering parsnips and vegetable broth

Remove from the heat, and blend with a hand mixer, immersion blender or regular blender for a good 30 seconds to a minute.

About to blend parsnips into a creamy soup

Pour back into the large pan (if using a regular blender), then stir in the vegan milk, and heat through, but do not boil.

Stirring in the vegan milk

Taste test, then season with salt and pepper to taste if needed. Serve in individual bowls, then garnish with red pepper flakes or paprika.

So smooth and creamy!

This is definitely a soup I’ll be making again, and I may try some variations with things like cauliflower or potatoes. Do you have any favorite parsnip recipes?

Vegan Squash Gratin

That hubbard squash went a long way. I had no clue when I bought it that I’d get three recipes out of it, but I did. I thought I might get four, but to be honest, I was ready to make the rest of it and have it vacate the bottom of my refrigerator in favor of other things. That said, I love how diverse the recipes have been with this single winter vegetable.

First I made a rich and creamy hubbard squash risotto, then I simmered a hearty winter squash and bean stew, and finally I’m ending with a hubbard squash gratin recipe. The squash is so tender and mildly sweet in this dish, and its topping is crunchy and flavorful with the addition of breadcrumbs and fresh herbs. Not to mention that I used Daiya vegan cheese and it works beautifully in this recipe.

Still looking for holiday side dishes? Consider a gratin if you have a decent vegan cheese in a store near you.

Vegan Squash Gratin
This is a revised version of Merritt’s Butternut Squash Gratin recipe on Allrecipes.com

• 3 tablespoons vegan butter
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 pounds winter squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 8-ounce package shredded vegan cheese (I used Daiya’s mozzarella)
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×13 inch baking dish.

Prepare your winter squash. If you are going to use a hubbard squash or one similar to it, please take care when cutting it open. It’s much tougher than a butternut, so it can be easier to injure oneself. Refer to my risotto post to see how I cut open this particular squash.

The rest of my hubbard squash - about 2 1/2 pounds of squash meat

Dice your onions and mince your garlic.

Chopped onion and garlic

Melt the vegan butter in a large skillet over medium heat, then stir in the onions and garlic. Cook until the onions soften and turn golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Cooking onions and garlic in vegan butter

Add the winter squash and brown sugar.

Brown sugar and hubbard squash

Continue cooking and stirring until the squash begins to brown on the edges, but is still somewhat firm in the center, about 10 minutes more.

Hubbard squash cooking with the onions and garlic

Scrape the squash into the prepared baking dish, and pour in the vegetable broth. Wrap tightly with aluminum foil, the place in the oven. Bake for about 45 or 50 minutes.

Preparing to bake the squash gratin

Chop up your fresh rosemary and thyme, then add to the dry breadcrumbs.

Fresh rosemary and thyme go into the breadcrumbs

I chose to use a package of Daiya cheese, but you can use whatever vegan cheese you like. I find that Daiya has a great flavor and the texture works really well.

Daiya mozzarella style shreds

Add the vegan cheese to the breadcrumbs and fresh herbs, then mix well together.

Topping for squash gratin

Remove the foil from the baking dish, then sprinkle the squash evenly with the vegan cheese mixture.

Adding the vegan cheese topping to the squash

Return to the oven, and bake uncovered for 15 minutes more until the topping is lightly crunchy and brown.

Vegan squash gratin fresh from the oven

This turned out really great. While the Daiya didn’t melt exactly like cheese, combined with the crunchy breadcrumbs, it still wound up being a really nice flavor and texture that complimented the tender squash.

If you’re not much of a winter squash fan, the topping alone is worth trying with other vegetables like potatoes or even turnips. You could also do a green gratin with chard or collard greens. And of course, it is a great topping for making vegan macaroni and cheese. There’s really no end to experimentation.

A serving of vegan squash gratin

Do you have a favorite gratin recipe?

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Vegan Stuffing

There are a lot of things I love about Thanksgiving meals – the mashed potatoes, the roasted Brussels sprouts, the apple pie. But there are a few dishes I normally would rather pass on to the next person at the table. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I finally met a stuffing I actually liked and even wanted to try to replicate myself. Most vegetarian and vegan stuffing dishes I have tasted have been too dry, over-spiced and generally just have tasted like they have been an afterthought to the meal. Granted, there are a lot of people who love the same stuffing that I dislike, so no offense to them.

But I bet there are quite a few of you out there who claim you’ll never like stuffing. Maybe you won’t, but before you throw in the towel completely and say you’re done trying a bite of it at every holiday meal just to be nice, try this stuffing. It’s rich, the spices are prominent yet balanced, and the vegan meat gives it a heartiness that make this become an instant star of all the side dishes. Plus there’s a little bit of sweet added in by way of cranberries and apples. Did I mention I also don’t like cranberries? In this recipe, I like cranberries.

Vegan Stuffing
This lovely recipe came to me from a friend who veganized this recipe for us, her only guests who had vegan diets. Thank you N!
Serves 4-6

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat bread, cubed
• 3 3/4 cups white bread, cubed
• 1 pound vegetarian/vegan sausage, cut into pieces (frozen is fine) (I used one package of Tofurky Kielbasa)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons vegan butter
• 3/4 cup celery, chopped
• 2 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1 1/4 teaspoons dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 6 tablespoons melted vegan butter
• 1 apple, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup minced parsley
• 1-2 cups vegetable stock

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cut your bread into cubes, and put them on baking sheets on a single layer. Bake in the oven for about five to seven minutes.

Note: You do not have to use two different breads. I used only a few slices of a sourdough loaf, which yielded about six cups of cubed bread.

Cutting bread into cubes

Gather the ingredients which you will be frying: the vegetarian or vegan sausage, onions, celery, sage, rosemary and thyme.

I chose to cut the Tofurky Kielbasa in half lengthwise, then the two pieces into half lengthwise again, then I chopped them into small pieces.

Preparing the Tofurky Kielbasa

Chop your onions and celery into smallish pieces.

Onions, celery and spices

Fry the vegetarian or vegan sausage and onions in two tablespoons of butter over medium heat till evenly browned, occasionally stirring. Add the celery, sage, rosemary, and thyme, and cook for about two minutes, stirring to blend. Remove from heat.

Yum.

Chop your apples and parsley, and measure out your cranberries. Make sure the cranberries are not clumped together. You want them to mix evenly throughout the stuffing.

Chopping apples and parsley

I would recommend that you chop your apples into smaller pieces than I did – this will help the sweet flavor to more evenly distribute.

Place the toasted bread cubes in a large mixing bowl, then pour the vegetarian or vegan sausage mixture on top of the bread. Pour six tablespoons of melted vegan butter over the mixture, then add the apples, cranberries and parsley. Mix well.

The stuffing is coming together

Drizzle with about one cup of the broth until thoroughly moist but not soggy. Mix again. Transfer to a baking dish and allow to bake for about 20 minutes.

If you have added more bread cubes than the recipe calls for you may need to add a little more broth to the baking stuffing, however if you have followed the recipe exactly, I would recommend not adding more broth. I did this and wound up with soggy bread on the bottom of the dish.

Adding vegetable broth to the stuffing mixture

This is a great stuffing and one I would heartily recommend for your vegetarian or vegan – or even omnivorous – Thanksgiving. And in case you prefer a more traditional stuffing, I’ve got you covered. Check out my post on vegan sausage stuffing with mushroom gravy. It’s still pretty good, but if I were you, I’d go with this one instead.

This vegan stuffing has made me a convert!

Do you enjoy stuffing? If not, what is your preferred dish to have at Thanksgiving?

Learn more about Vegan MoFo.

Delicious Vegan Chili

It surprises me that I never learned how to make chili. When I was growing up, we would almost always purchase vegetarian chili in cans at the grocery store, but I truly do not remember having homemade chili that often. What I do remember is that I loved it and enjoyed the combination of savory flavors and textures.

A few months ago I made a vegetarian chili, and what resulted was not what I had hoped to enjoy. It was heavy on vegetables, and light on the (fake) meaty consistency that I was really after. I was disappointed, so I vowed that I’d figure out how to make a version that was more reminiscent of what I had grown up with. Several weeks ago I had success, and I am excited to say that it is both super easy to make and delicious. Since then I have made it again, and it was just as easy and good as the first time.

Easy Vegan Chili

• 1-pound bag of dry Kidney beans OR 2 15-ounce cans of Kidney beans
• 1 medium or large onion, chopped
• 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce
• 1 package Smart Ground Original veggie protein crumbles or another vegan meat substitute
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 3 heaping tablespoons chili powder
• 1 cup textured vegetable protein (TVP), optional

If you are using dry beans, I have already written a post on how you can cook them. This recipe is based upon cooking your own beans, but I will give you an idea of what I would do if I had used canned beans.

If you are using canned beans, put them in a pot, and add a little bit of additional liquid (I would probably do up to 2 cups). Add in the onion, tomato sauce, veggie protein crumbles, salt, garlic powder and chili powder and allow to simmer for half an hour or 45 minutes over medium heat. It will be ready when the onion is cooked to a desired tenderness. To make this a faster process, you can also sauté the onions first, then add all the ingredients together and let simmer for about 15 or 20 minutes. Taste it and adjust seasonings based upon your preference.

Ingredients for vegan chili

Otherwise, if you are using dry beans, about an hour or hour and a half before the beans have finished cooking, add the onion, tomato sauce, veggie protein crumbles, salt, garlic powder and chili powder to the beans in your slow cooker and stir to incorporate. If it still seems too soupy to you, add in about half a cup to a cup of TVP. It will absorb water and also add more texture to your chili.

Adding the rest of the ingredients to the beans

Allow the chili to cook until the beans are done and the onions are cooked through. And you’ll know what I am going to say next – taste test and add more garlic, chili powder or salt if you feel that the flavors are not strong enough.

Then serve!

Freshly made vegan chili

I like my chili to have an additional kick, but I don’t like to make the chili with too much spiciness – that way each person who eats it can adjust the heat according to their own tolerance. My current favorite hot sauce to use is Cholula Chipotle. It lends both a kick and a smoky pepper flavor, which really enhances the chili for me.

I love my Cholula Chipotle

Do you make chili? What is your favorite way to make it? And finally, do you enhance your bowl of chili with some of your favorite hot sauce?

A happy accident

Imagine the following scenario – you’re partway through cooking a standby recipe that calls for standby ingredients that you always have in your kitchen. Except, when you go to add that one ingredient you realize that you’re either going to have to turn off the stove or the oven, drive to the store and buy that vital missing link or you’re going to have to get creative. This is what happened to me a few weeks ago and I’m actually pretty glad, because it turned me on to a new version of an old recipe I’ve been making for at least ten years.

I make lentil soup pretty frequently, and I have never altered the recipe. I’ve pretty much been making the same recipe over and over and over, and couldn’t have been happier with the results. All you need is lentils, an onion, a few cloves of garlic, a can of tomatoes, a couple of bay leaves, some salt, a little oil and enough water you’ve got a hearty and delicious soup in about half an hour or forty-five minutes.

On that fateful day a few weeks ago I had all of those ingredients except for the can of tomatoes. This soup needs tomatoes. It begs for tomatoes. It just doesn’t make sense without tomatoes. I literally stood at the pantry with a quizzical look on my face for at least a minute or two wondering how on earth I was going to fix this dilemma when I spied a can of salsa.

You have to realize that I don’t like store-bought salsa all that much. I much prefer freshly made salsa with all fresh ingredients, but recently I’ve been on a chipotle kick and have been enjoying the chipotle salsa from Trader Joe’s. I grabbed the jar in my pantry, thought “Why not? I make this all the time, so what’s one bad batch of soup if this doesn’t work?” I added in a few tablespoons, then I threw caution to the wind and dumped the whole thing in there. That plus a can of corn, and I knew that this was truly a great solution to my kitchen dilemma.

Southwestern Lentil Soup
This makes enough to serve about four people.

• 1/2 pound dry lentils, sorted and rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2-4 cloves garlic, chopped coarsely
• 2 or 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• Water
• 1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa (i.e. Trader Joe’s Garlic Chipotle Salsa) or 1 16-ounce can crushed or diced tomatoes
• 1 16-ounce can sweet corn or 1 10-ounce bag frozen sweet corn

Ingredients for a southwestern style lentil soup

Sort and rinse your lentils, then put in a large cooking pot. Add water to about an inch above your lentils. You may need to add more water later, which is fine. Add your salt, oil and bay leaves and turn on the heat to medium-high.

First steps in making lentil soup

Chop up your onions and garlic.

Chopped onions and garlic

Add the onions, garlic and frozen corn to your soup and stir everything together.

Adding ingredients to vegan lentil soup

Allow it to cook for a few minutes, then pour in the jar of salsa (or can of crushed or diced tomatoes).

Adding salsa to the lentil soup

Allow the soup to simmer, and stir occasionally. At this point you’ll want to turn down the heat to about medium so that the liquid will not evaporate more quickly than the lentils have time to cook.

After about twenty minutes check the lentils to see if they have cooked through. You want to be sure that they are soft but not mushy. The liquid may have still cooked off a little bit, so you may want to add an extra cup or two to make sure it is still soupy.

Vegan lentil soup

Once the soup is done, discard the bay leaves (don’t eat them), then serve with vegan buttered bread or toast or with tortilla chips. For a creamier soup, add about a tablespoon of Vegenaise to an individual serving of soup.

Southwestern lentil soup

Do you make lentil soup? If so, how do you enjoy making it?

P.S. Check out my new vegan community on www.Lunch.com, Vegan Living. I am going to be sharing more about this in a future post, but wanted to let you in on the secret a little bit early.

Mexican Cornbread

Most of my childhood was spent in the South – Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. I grew up with things like fried green tomatoes, grits and boiled peanuts. I liked them all, but one Southern food I never enjoyed that much was cornbread. It was just okay and I often found it to be dry and bland. But my whole family seemed to enjoy it, so we had it with frequency. I was eventually introduced to Mexican cornbread, and I loved it. It was flavorful and moist, and ever since then I have thought off and on that I should try and make it.

As I was trying to decide what to make yesterday, I realized that I had everything I needed to make Mexican cornbread. This recipe doesn’t contain cheese (of course), but we tried it with some vegan butter and nutritional yeast sprinkled on top and it added a nice extra saltiness and savory flavor.

Mexican Cornbread

• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 2 1/2 cups vegan milk
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• Egg replacer for two eggs (if using flax, mix together 2 tablespoons ground flax seed and 6 tablespoons hot water)
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 or 1 onion, chopped
• 2 jalapeños, stemmed, seeds removed and chopped (if using sliced jalapeños from a jar, measure out about 1/8 cup)
• Corn, optional
• Sweet pepper, chopped, optional

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan. If you are using a smaller pan like I did (I used an 8×11-inch pan), you may want to preheat to 350 or 375 degrees Fahrenheit, because it will take longer to bake and you don’t want the bread to burn.

In a small bowl, combine the cornmeal and vegan milk. Make sure to mix it well so there are few or no lumps left. Set aside.

Mixing cornmeal with vegan milk

In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. I like to use a wire whisk to make sure everything is well incorporated.

Mixing dry ingredients

If you haven’t already, prepare your onion and jalapeños, and set aside in a bowl. The pepper will not yield a lot of heat in the end, so you could probably add more if you wanted.

Chopping up onions and peppers

Add the liquid cornmeal mixture, egg replacer and oil to the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix well so that no lumps remain. Whisk together for several minutes (maximum of five).

Mixing the wet and dry ingredients together

Stir in the onions and peppers, as well as any other optional ingredients (like corn), then pour into your baking dish.

Stirring in the onions and peppers

Put in the oven and check after 35 minutes of baking. Insert a knife or toothpick in the middle and if it comes out clean then take it out of the oven. Because of the size of my pan I baked probably a total of 55 minutes, with the last 20 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mexican cornbread, fresh from the oven

This was really very good, and was extremely moist from the fresh onions and jalapeños. Because of the level of moisture it had to be eaten with a fork. Still, it was flavorful and delicious, especially with some vegan butter spread on it. This would be great as an accompaniment to soup or salad.

Do you ever make Mexican cornbread? What extras do you like to add?

Creamy Broccoli Cheese Soup

One reason why we chose to move away from New York is because of the harsh winters. It’s a geographic region of extremes, and January and February are the absolute coldest, sometimes dipping down into the negative digits. Because it’s on the water, the wind can be bone-chilling especially for those who travel by foot and public transit. Eight years of that and we had definitely had more than enough.

So far the winter in Washington has been amazing. While we have had the constant rain and few sunny days, it has stayed pretty much in the 40s and 50s which has felt always like we’re on the cusp of spring. (This morning I even woke to the sound of birds chirping – it felt very April-ish.) Still, we have days where a nice cup of tea and a warm bowl of soup is much needed.

Lately I have taken to making a huge pot of soup to last us for a few days or a week, and have tried to experiment a little with recipes to mix it up. One soup I’ve made only twice is broccoli cheese soup, but I am pretty impressed with the results so far. I did something different the second time around, and that was to base the soup off of the vegan cheese recipe I shared with you a few months ago. It turned out really well, but I’d still change one or two things which I’ll note in the recipe below.

Vegan Broccoli Cheese Soup
Note: You can probably make this gluten free by substituting the flour with 2 or 3 tablespoons of corn starch or another similar thickener.

• 3 or 4 small heads broccoli, chopped and with most of the stems removed
• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried yellow mustard powder
• 8 cups water
• 5 tablespoons vegan butter

Prepare your broccoli, then steam it for about 15 minutes. It will not have enough time to cook in the soup itself, so it needs to be cooked separately. Just be sure to not over-steam it.

Chopping broccoli

Tip: Also steam the onion with your broccoli, or at least for about 10 minutes. I did not do this and I wish I had.

In a large soup pot (which will need to be at least 3 or 4 quarts), mix all of your dry ingredients together, then whisk in the water until the dry and the wet have been well mixed. Add in the vegan butter and allow it to melt as the soup cooks.

Mixing the dry and wet ingredients

Turn on the heat to about medium high and stir constantly. It will take several minutes to thicken, but if you do not stir the soup it will burn on the bottom and not thicken evenly.

Make sure to stir constantly

At about this point I added in the raw onion. Unfortunately the soup thickened so fast that the onion wasn’t as well cooked as I would have liked. I will most definitely steam it next time along with the broccoli.

Add in the onion after it has been steamed

As soon as the soup thickens up to a consistency that you like, take the soup off the heat and stir in the steamed broccoli (and onion if you also steamed it). You can serve immediately, or you can store it and serve it later. It will thicken up more in your refrigerator, however as you heat it up again, it will return to a more liquid state.

Adding the broccoli to the soup

We really enjoyed this soup – it was hearty, creamy and had just the right amount of salt. We were both pretty impressed with this version. If you’re like me and you don’t care much for broccoli (I actually really like broccoli made in this way), I imagine that you could also make this with asparagus or cauliflower instead and also have a very nice end result.

Do you enjoy soup? What is your favorite?

Creamy broccoli cheese soup

Stuffed Grape Leaves

I am not big on making New Year’s resolutions, and this year I have made only minor ones that I’ve already broken. That said, here’s one that I am confident I can keep up throughout the year. My resolution is to try to make more foods outside of my comfort and cultural zones. While I love the food I grew up on – the mashed potatoes, fried okra and apple pie, I think that it’s too easy to always fall back on those. It’s time to break out a little and try my hand at new cuisines.

One thing I have wanted to learn how to make for quite some time is stuffed grape leaves, also known as dolmas or dolmades, a food that can be found in many areas of Europe including Greece and the Middle East.* Because this is made in a variety of places, it can be made in many different ways, so this is just one recipe of many that you can try. (Quick note: not all stuffed grape leaves are meat-free. If you buy it from a store or order it at a restaurant make sure that you’re getting vegetarian [vegan] stuffed grape leaves.)

Stuffed Grape Leaves
Makes about 50 or 60 dolmas
This recipe is based upon My Own Famous Stuffed Grape Leaves found at allrecipes.com

• 2 cups uncooked long-grain white rice
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh dill (I did not have fresh dill, so I used about 2 or 3 tablespoons dried dill)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
• 2 quarts vegetable or vegan chicken broth
• 3/4 cup fresh lemon juice, divided
• 60 grape leaves, drained and rinsed
• hot water as needed
• 1 cup olive oil

Gather together and prepare your ingredients.

Preparing ingredients for making dolmas (stuffed grape leaves)

In a large saucepan saute your rice, onion, parsley and dill in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil over medium to medium-high heat for about five minutes. Add half of your broth to the rice and turn down the heat, and let simmer for about 10 or 15 minutes.

Sauteing and cooking rice for stuffed grape leaves

Don’t allow the rice to cook completely, and once the 10 or 15 minutes is up, take it off the heat.

Undercooked rice

Stir in about half of the lemon juice and allow to cool for a few minutes. I used a strainer to make sure no small seeds were added into the rice.

Squeezing and using fresh lemon juice

Take one grape leaf, with the shiny side down and the protruding veins facing you, and add about one to two teaspoons of rice mixture close to the bottom of the leaf.

Grape leaf

Then proceed to wrap your grape leaf by following these steps:

1. First, fold the bottom left part of the leaf over the rice.
2. Then, fold the bottom right part of the leaf over the rice.
3. Fold over the top left portion of the leaf.
4. Fold over the top right portion of the leaf.
5. Roll up the rest of the leaf.
6. Done!

How to roll up a stuffed grape leaf

Place each stuffed grape leaf into a large saucepan, and make sure that they are placed tightly together.

Stuffed grape leaves pre-cooked

Once all of the stuffed grape leaves have been added to your saucepan, sprinkle the remaining lemon juice over them, then pour the cup of olive oil and remaining broth over them. Place a plate top side down on top of the stuffed grape leaves to weigh them down and keep them submerged.

Preparing the stuffed grape leaves to cook

Cover the saucepan with a lid and cook on medium low to medium heat for about 30 minutes (the original recipe calls for a full hour, but you may find that your rice is too mushy if you cook them for that long). Let these sit in the refrigerator for several hours overnight, then serve cold. You can serve these as an appetizer, a snack or with a salad.

Stuffed Grape Leaves

These are so easy to make, although I will say that I imagine that these would be easier to make with fresh grape leaves. The leaves I purchased were stuck together and if I wasn’t careful some leaves tore easily making them unusable. It also seems it would be better to select your own leaves because some were already torn or had holes in them. I would imagine that these would be a great thing to make when your herb garden and grapes are coming into their own in the summer, that way you can rely on your own backyard for ingredients.

Despite some frustrations with the grape leaves, I think that these turned out great and I’m impressed with how simple it is to make them. While they don’t taste exactly like what I’ve had from the store, they do taste similar and taste just as good. They are lemony and spicy, and I love how fresh these taste.

Have you made these before? If you haven’t made these, have you had stuffed grape leaves before, or are these completely new to you?

Yum.

*I had asked my Facebook fans what cuisine they wanted me to make next on Novel Eats. It was a tie between Greek and Middle Eastern, and as you can see, everybody won! Become a fan of Novel Eats on Facebook so you, too, can help me in times of culinary indecision. :)