My Odd Obsession With This 'Thang Called Soup

Ya us vegans are weird folk, nah not really but if you know any real life vegans, you know they are down with SOUP... Soup is on the same level as hummus, garbanzo bean salad sammies, and tofu scrambles: IF YOU DON'T LIKE THESE ITEMS YOU NEED TO GET YOUR VEGAN HEAD CHECKED OUT because you officially became wierder to a huge group of pretty rad weirdos, just sayin...

SOUP is this magical substance that fills your belly full of joy :) You can also pack in tons of nutrients, chuck in random shit from your fridge that needs to be used up (In something other than my infamous "Slop Stirfrys"), and have meals for days! Pictured above is the tried and true Minestrone recipe I always use with the modifications always being only 1 can of garbanzos and no pasta (With the substitution of extra veggies)... I sometimes even omit the oil and just cook the veggies in a little broth instead.

Recently I made Red Lentil Thai Chili and it was heavenly! Fair warning: If you are single and cooking for yourself and your friends hate sweet potatoes you probably want to half this recipe... I think I ate it for a week straight and got through 3/4th's of it before just chucking the rest.

I've made this Hot & Sour Soup recipe a few times as well and it is always a hit with me as I love spicy & vinegary foods :)

Lastly is some "Random Shit Soup" I made by boiling some potatoes in veggie broth, mashing them and adding some frozen corn, and seasonings... Not bad!

Peace.Love.Vegan

Amy

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 11

I have decided I will continue the "Massive Unload" theme... I had a week full of eating bizarrely paired leftovers and a crazy weekend... Here are some slop worthy photos for real foodies haha:

 Slop Style #1: Indian Potato Cauliflower dish, Teriyaki Baked Tofu, Roasted Broccoli, all smothered in Miso Gravy with minced baby bellas added while heating the gravy leftovers (Why did I not think of the shroom addition earlier?!)

Slop Style #2: Roasted Broccoli, Creole Roasted Carrots, Indian Potato Cauliflower dish, Indian Eggplant Potato dish, and remainder of the Miso (And now baby bella) Gravy smothered on top.

I did do a bunch of cooking and food prep yesterday (Saturday) and today (Sunday) to kind of calm my nerves for the remainder of the week. I have food to eat for the entire week in my fridge ready to go so I can relax! I made some Vegan Ranch and prepped a huge container of salad base (Romaine, cabbage, and carrots) and have containers full of prepared add ins: Kidneys, sliced black olives, corn, green onions, cilantro, and cubed teriyaki baked tofu so that lunches will be a breeze! I also made VWAV's Black Bean, Mushroom, and Quinoa Stuffed Peppers, VW's General Tao's Tofu, Brown Rice, Calrose Rice, Life Enchanting Lentil Soup (Recipe received from the Mother unit, I will see if I can find a link), Spicy Eggplant with Tofu, and Maple Glazed Brussels. I do plan on making a batch of Crock Pot Seitan for an easy "Meaty" item to pair easily with items for din din.

Today I made Vegan Nachos, but subbed some almond pulp (Moist from just making plain almond milk) for the cashews. I also used almond milk instead of the usual soy for this recipe and it worked out beautifully! I will be doing this now indefinitely as I have an indefinite supply of almond pulp! These bad boys had the "Cheeze", VW's Sausage Crumbles, homemade refried beans, black olives, homemade guac, tomatoes, vegan sour cream, and green onions as toppings... Score!

I also made a huge pot (12 cups of just liquid homies) of Life Enchanting Lentil Soup. I love soup, maybe it's a vegan thing? I just love how warm and comforting it is and how many healthy ingredients you can jam pack into one serving :) Soup for me all this week... Squeeee <3 I will probably jazz it up with some additional spices and throw in some precut kale.

Lastly, I had a huge 2 pound bag of brussels from Costco that needed to be roasted and slathered in something. I have been reading Leafygreensandme for awhile and this lady is such an amazing cook that it scares the crap out of me quite frankly... I can only aspire to be such an amazing cook and recipe writer! Her recipe for Maple Glazed Brussles Sprouts was right up my alley, read: 4 INGREDIENTS THAT I HAVE ON HAND! I love her technique though with cooking down the maple syrup! My stupid ass would have just tossed the brussels in maple syrup without cooking it down so that it coats the sprouts ever so perfectly! I COULD EAT THESE ALL DAY EVERYDAY!

Go make some!

Peace, Love, and Veganism <3

The Post-A-Thon... Massive Unload Part 10

Randomness:

When it comes to food, I can be a mad scientist these days... I am totally weird as well when it comes to matching flavors and pairing dishes... No matter what, I always take a little bit of each item to make 1 bizarre condiment laden bite... It takes me forever to eat sometimes, concocting my yummy bites with just a little of everything :) I am done rambling folks, on to the food...

I've been hitting up the 99 cents store and they have some goodies, for reals... I picked up a big bag of poblano peppers and of course had to figure out what the hell to do with them: Stuff them of course with leftovers! Duh :) I stuffed one pepper with leftover mashed potatoes and sprinkled on some green onions and Daiya Mozzarella. The other pepper was stuffed with some leftover black bean and quinoa mixture from the Mini Wet Burritos and covered with some leftover canned tomato sauce and Daiya Mozzarella. Not bad for bizarre food combination's!

I had these stuffed peppers over the next few days paired with Homemade Refried Beans (Sans the "Smoke" just pickled jalapenos added instead), some "Spanish" Rice dish that was inspired by a friends suggestion on VegWeb (1.5 C White Rice + 2 T Annatto Infused Oil + 1 3/4 C Veggie Broth + 1 C Minced Spinach and Pepper added at the end). I even poured vegan gravy on these suckers (Next post).

 (Quinoa Stuffed Pepper with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

(Mashed Potato Stuffed Pepper smothered with Gravy paired with Spinach "Spanish" Rice and Homemade Refried Beans)

I also made a few pizzas with french bread (One of my new favorites!). One pizza was tomato sauce, green bell peppers, onions, olives, and jalapenos. The other was barbecue sauce, onions, olives, red bell peppers, and jalapenos. Both lightly covered with Daiya Mozzarella and baked for about 10 minutes at 400F and dipped in homemade Vegan Ranch.

Lastly, my beloved Gma took me grocery shopping at the Costco in Irvine! They had so many yummy vegan goodies there: Gummies, Soba Noodles, Seaweed Salad, and TOFU! To name a few... I think we vegans have arrived now that Costco of all places carries TOFU! It's about time! They also had these vegan Potato Knishes which were pretty tasty, probably not something I would bother buying again. These are like mashed potato stuffed pockets... Way too carb heavy and filling for me, I could hardly eat one!

Peace, Love, and Veganess <3

Today's Quick Meals: Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice and Taco Soup

Tonight I made a pretty much weekly batch of Taco Soup to provide myself with a few meals and to sell the rest to coworkers. This is a foul proof recipe, I've never had any complaints... I served it with the usual dollop of Tofutti Sour Cream and added some green onions (Cilantro would have been better).

I also had some random veggies leftover from making sushi as well as a bunch of Baked Teriyaki Tofu and a batch of scold stick rice from my rice cooker so I decided on another tried and true recipe: Sweet & Spicy Fried Rice. The rice included about a cup of frozen mixed veggies, grated carrots, pickled daikon, spicy daikon, green onions, and Baked Teriyaki Tofu... I served it up with some roasted, seasoned seaweed slices.

An unplanned Mexican themed week 1/3-1/9/11

I started off the week with some bomb homemade potato salad... So yummy!

This week I ate a lot, and I mean a lot of bean burritos, tacos, enchiladas, nachos, etc.

I make a big batch of refried beans every week: Soak 2 cups of dry pintos overnight in water, rinse, boil them for 2 to 2.5 hours on medium heat with a quartered and peeled onion, 4 bay leafs, and s & p, drain and remove bay leafs, whirl the beans in a food processor with 1/4 to 1/2 cup of pickled jalapenos and some added salt to taste... perfection every time!

Bean and brown rice enchiladas topped with salsa, guac, olives, and Tofutti sour cream

I also had some leftover Viva Vegan Red Seitan that got thrown into this weeks Mexican mix in tacos, enchiladas and even piled on nachos:

Tacos made with Viva Vegan Red Seitan sauteed with onions, topped with Tofutti Sour Cream, guac, refried beans, and cilantro

I also made the tacos into enchiladas by just rolling these puppies up and covering them in salsa

I also pan fried the seitan and put it top of some nachos... These nachos weren't that great since I didn't have any plain soymilk to make Melty Cheese, I just used the cheese recipe from VW's Cheesy Bean and Cheese Enchiladas, it was alright

I decided to try a homemade tofu marinade I found on VW... called Tasty Tofu! A Zesty Herb Marinade... I added only half the oil and thought it turned out pretty good, though not even close to as good as my Teriyaki Tofu

It was pretty tasty heated up and placed in a sandwich though :)

Today I snacked on some sushi rice (calrose rice + rice vinegar + sugar + salt) and some roasted seaweed slices :)

I also made my insanely loved Vegan Taco Soup... I'm selling a few bowls to coworkers next week for some cash for salad... Score! Love this stuff and ate a bowl topped with Tofutti Sour Cream... Heavenly! I always sub about 1/2-1 cup TVP for the vegan beef crumbles... Just add it in along with the canned veggies.

Weekend Batch Cooking... The Key to Vegan Living

Leftovers are something I consider a necessity, especially as a vegan. There are some nights when I'm just too lazy or busy to cook so leftovers are my best friend... This weekend I made:

Tofu Scramble with carrots, kidney beans, black olives, Viva Vegan's Sofrito, cherry tomatoes, and parsley along with deep fried tempeh "bacon" slathered with cheapy maple syrup :)

Garbanzo Bean Salad Sandwich Spread with minced celery and green onions for the veggies

"Chicken" Fajitas seasoned with taco seasoning and lime, Soy Curls as the meat sub

I also made VegWeb's Tofu Sour Cream, it was alright... Maybe it will taste better tomorrow once it sets a bit more

VegWeb's Minestrone Soup, I leave out the pasta and add extra veggies... SOOOO GOOD!!!

I also made a huge batch of Teriyaki Tofu but I figure you know what it looks like already so I won't bore you with another photo ;)

VWAV's Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew

I thought VWAV's Chipotle, Corn, and Black Bean Stew was pretty good but not amazing, a bit too tomato-ey for my tastes, I might make it again. The stew consists of the obvious ingredients in the title plus onion, garlic, cumin, s & p, canned crushed tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, cilantro, and lime. My brother and friend really liked it though.

VegWeb's Scrumptious Corn Chowder

VegWeb's Scrumptious Corn Chowder is to die for! It is really rich and creamy. I used a russet potato this time and I always substitute Creole Seasoning for the "2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash, Spike, or herb blend"  and leave out the added salt. This chowder is super easy to make so give it a try!

Tomato Bisque from The Conscience Cook by Tal Ronnen

This soup was pretty awesome but it took like 1.5 hours to make so um, ya. That is one of the main reasons I really don't use my cookbooks that much.

The only changes I made: 

- Didn't bother straining everything through a fine mesh sieve because I am lazy and I don't have one.
- Used about a teaspoon of dried thyme instead of fresh because I have no other use for fresh thyme.
- Didn't bother with the fresh parsley garnish because of laziness.

One of the best tomato soups I have made so far but very time consuming.

I would be stoked if he was my cook though... I don't understand why Oprah gave up the vegan thing after her whole "vegan cleanse" and her ranting and raving about how fantastic she felt. But whatever. That's life.

Sweet & Sour Seitan + Miso Soup!

I was in the mood for Asian food the other night after seeing A Vegan Goddess's recipe for Miso Soup. I also had half a batch of Crock-Pot Seitan in the fridge and a bottle of La Choy Sweet & Sour Sauce in the pantry so I quickly whipped up some Sweet & Sour Seitan and served it with some sticky rice for the main course. My boyfriend is a huge fan of seitan, so much of a fan, that he didn't have any room for his soup. Oh well, more soup for me!

As far as the soup goes I followed the recipe for the most part but I was in the mood for more of a sweet and sour miso soup with some spice.

These are the changes I made to her basic recipe (Without optional additions):
 *I used white miso paste*
- 2 T of vinegar (Instead of 1)
- 4 T Braggs (Instead of 1T tamari)
- I added 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
- I added 1 T sesame chili oil
- I also added some Sriracha to my bowl

As far as the Sweet & Sour Seitan goes, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

- 1/2 batch Crock-Pot Seitan (Or about 4 cups of seitan), sliced in strips
- 1 cup sweet and sour sauce of choice (I use La Choy brand)
- 1 T crushed red pepper (Optional)
- 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained
- 8 oz can pineapple chunks, drained and sliced in half
- Oil for frying

Directions:
- Fry seitan and crushed red pepper in oil until the seitan is browned to your liking, stirring/ flipping occasionally.
- Add sweet and sour sauce, water chestnuts, and pineapple chunks. Stir until the mixture is hot and evenly coated.
- Serve with rice.
*Bell peppers and onions would also be a great addition to this but I was lazy*

Taco Soup

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup water
1 white onion, diced
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 14-16 oz can corn (including all the liquid)
1 14-16 oz can kidney beans (including all the liquid)
1 14-16 oz can pinto beans (including all the liquid)
1 14-16 oz can hominy (including all the liquid)
1 cup salsa
1 packet taco mix (watch out for animal products)
1/4 cup pickled jalapenos, diced (optional)
1 7-8 oz can diced green chiles
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes (including all the liquid)
3/4 cup TVP

DIRECTIONS:

In a large pot, on high heat, saute the onion and garlic in the 1/4 cup water until the onion is translucent.

Dump in the cans of corn, hominy, kidney beans, pinto beans, green chiles, and tomatoes. Add the diced jalapenos (optional), salsa, and taco seasoning. Stir occasionally, until all the vegetables are heated through, about 10 minutes.

Add the TVP and cook an additional 2 to 3 minutes stirring almost constantly so TVP won't stick to the bottom of the pot.

Serve with tostadas or tortilla chips and garnish with vegan sour cream, avocados, and/or cilantro... or whatever else floats your boat!

Makes: 1 big pot, about 10 servings
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes

Zuppa Toscana

INGREDIENTS:

-2 Feild Roast Italian Sausages, cut into thin rounds
-1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
-1 teaspoon fennel seed (optional)
-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
-1/2 white or yellow onion, diced
-1 tablespoon garlic, minced
-5 cups faux chicken broth
-3 russet potatoes, diced
-1 cup vegan creamer
-2 cups kale, chopped
-1/4 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

-Saute onion, garlic, fennel seed, and red pepper in water over medium heat until onion is translucent.
-Add broth and bring to a boil over high heat. Add potatoes and boil until fork tender.
-Reduce heat to medium and add soy creamer, milk of choice, nutritional yeast, sausage, and kale and cook until heated through.

Makes 3-4 servings.

This is a slightly modified version of this amazing recipe: Zuppa Toscana