Vegan Corn Chowder, Updated

Soup is always on the top of my list on a cold blustery day like today. It seems like Mr. Snow Miser is still battling it out with Mr. Heat Miser, and here in Northern California, it's turned into Mr. Miserably Cold Rain Miser!

If you're too young to remember Mr. Snow & Mr. Heat Miser, here they are, in all their 1974 claymation glory.

Which strangely enough, leads nicely into the "corny-ness" of this soup (insert gratuitous laugh track here).

Anyway- this updated version has a touch of parsnips in it, which adds that disctinctive spicy sweet flavor that compliments the corn. I added a bit of tempeh bacon bits to add some salty smokey contrast- not to mention protein, and a garnish of fragrant lemon thyme, which is now growing like a chia pet on my windowsill. The scent of it makes me want to bathe in it (the lemon thyme, not the chowder).

Makes one big pot of soup- if you only have a few people, you might want to halve this recipe.

Ingredients:

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

pinch of salt

1 1/2 C. potato (I used red potatoes, skinned and chopped)

1 C. parnsips, peeled and chopped

6 C. water

1 16oz. bag of frozen yellow corn

1/3 C. nutritional yeast flakes

salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:

Sweat the onions and garlic in the olive oil with a pinch of salt in a large soup pot. Add potatoes, parsnips, and water. Cover, and let simmer until everything is tender. Stir in the corn, nutritional yeast

and salt/pepper to taste. Let it come to a simmer again, then turn off heat. Transfer to a blender, and puree until silky smooth. Remember to leave a small opening at the top of the blender to allow steam to escape, unless you want an explosion! You may need to divide into two batches. Serve nice and hot.

Split Pea and Zucchini Soup, and a Winner

Velvety-smooth and fat free!  Served chilled or piping hot, with crispy tempeh bacon and vegan Texas toast.  20 minutes in the pressure cooker was all it took.

Ingredients:
1 C. dried split peas, rinsed
1 large zucchini (2-3 cups, cut into chunks)
1 medium onion (1 cup, cut into chunks)
1/3 C. nutritional yeast
water (enough to cover)
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:
Put all ingredients except salt into the pressure cooker and cook for 20-30 minutes.  If you don't have a pressure cooker, just cook in a covered pot until split peas are tender.  Let cool for a bit, then taste and add salt as desired.  Then blend with a stick blender or transfer to blender to make smooth.  If it's too thick, add a little water.  This soup will thicken as it cools down.

Tempeh Bacon Marinade:

Ingredients:
1 3/4 C. water
1/4 C. soy sauce
3 T. nutritional yeast flakes
1/4 tsp. liquid smoke
3 T. ketchup
2 T. agave nectar
1 tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. garlic powder
pinch of black pepper
pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste)

Spinz:
Slice your tempeh into thin strips.  Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl you'll be using for marinating.  Add the tempeh, making sure that they are well submerged.  Place in the refrigerator for about an hour before grilling on a flat pan with a little oil.  Brown on both sides and serve.  The longer you marinate, the more flavor- keep for about a week in the fridge- I like to make a big batch and use as needed throughout the week.

...Still finding ways to use our giant zucchini, but I'm sort of glad the season is winding down!

As for the WINNER of the Whip-It^tm Whipped Cream Dispenser from The Webstaurant Store (drums, please.)...

Congratulations to:  Tiffany of 
Bread Without Butter blog.  

Looking forward to your Thai-Style Lemongrass Foam!
(doesn't that sound good?)

Thank you everyone for participating!  I'll be doing another give-away soon.

Beddar Than Cheddar

Almonds, radishes, and carrots make this a good cheese competitor, believe it or not! The almonds add richness, the radishes give a bit of sharpness, and the carrots give a good color. I made this instead of the usual vegan nacho cheeze sauce, which involves a mixture of Follow Your Heart cheddar, silken tofu, and Vegennaise- which is HELLA good, but not very light and still uses processed foods.

Here is my alternative. It's not the same, but a very tasty substitute. I know this because my non-vegan cheese loving friends loved it.

I also thinned out the sauce with a little more vegetable broth, added cooked broccoli, and made a mighty tasty Broccoli Cheeze Soup. Let me know what you think!

You'll need a food processor or high powered blender for this recipe.

Ingredients:

1 C. raw almonds (blanched and peeled)
1 C. radishes (cut into chunks)
1 C. potato (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 C. carrots (cut into chunks)
1/2 to 1 C. yellow onion (cut into chunks)
1 C. broth (reserved from cooking the vegetables)
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 T. garlic powder
salt to taste
1 T. extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Spinz:

Blanch and peel the almonds and put into a food processor with salt, garlic powder, and lemon juice. Pulverize until you get a very fine meal. Boil the radishes, potato, carrots, and onion in enough water to cover until tender. Strain the vegetables, reserving 1 cup of the broth. If making soup, reserve all the broth. Add the vegetables and 1 cup broth to the nut mixture and blend until silky smooth. Stream in the olive oil if adding.

If making soup, add more broth in small amounts until you get the desired consistency. Add cooked broccoli or other veggies as desired.

Mike (the Hubby) & Butterscotch

And who should stop by today, but our good friend, Butterscotch (female beatboxer, singer, and musician from "America's Got Talent," amongst other great things). I caught her with a mouth full of nachos- LOL! If you've never seen her before, here's one of my favorite performances- check her out, she brings tears to my eyes.

Sweet Corn Chowder on a Rainy Day

It's been wet and cold outside for more than one day for a change. The constant chattering of raindrops bravely competing with the low hum of my desktop pc, along with the grayness and muted light pushing through the windows, I am lulled almost to hibernation...almost. At least there's enough spark in me to make a good hearty bowl of piping hot soup to curl up with. Is there anything more comforting? ... Well, maybe a warm blanket and a big furry dog to sleep on my feet.

Ingredients:

3 C. potato, peeled and cut into large chunks
2 C. water
2 C. plain soy milk
1 large onion. chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
1/3 C. + 2 T. nutritional yeast flakes
3-4 C. frozen corn
1 C. red pepper, chopped
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:

Boil the potatoes in the water in a covered pot until tender. Remove the potato from the water and set aside. While potatoes are boiling, saute onions and garlic in the olive oil until golden and tender.
To the pot of potato water, add the onions, soymilk, corn, red pepper, nutritional yeast flakes, and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes. Puree in a blender to desired consistency (I like mine chunkier). Salt and pepper to taste.

To Be or Not to B12? Plus Kabocha Squash Soup

First- the soup. If you haven't tried Kabocha squash, it is a smallish greenish Japanese pumpkin, that has a great flavor- different than regular pumpkin (more subtle perhaps), and has a smooth potato-y texture and wonderful sweetness.

As you can see, it has an intense yellow-orange flesh and a pretty dark green, sometimes spotted with orange skin, which I leave on when cooking as it's completely edible and not tough at all.

The seeds looked so large and plump that I decided to try roasting them. But, the shells were just too tough to eat, and cracking them open yielded very little inside. Flavor was good though.

The soup is a simple puree of boiled onions, cooked red lentils, Kabocha (leaving a few chunks), and vegetable broth. Season as desired.

The Kabocha is great in stews, curries, and just roasted as you would any other squash.

...Now for the Question: To Be, or Not to B12?
(I know, terrible pun- but couldn't help myself!)

As many vegans already know, vitamin B12 is essential to health, but only available naturally in animal products and unwashed plants grown in soil that is rich with the microbes that produce B12. We used to get this vitamin by eating plants as well as animals, but due to the sterile and triple-washed methods of modern day, veggies and fruits found in stores no longer have any!

Now, the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance) for B12 is only 1 - 3 micrograms, which is a VERY small amount! And, on top of that- excess amounts can be stored in the body for several years.

I personally HATE taking pills of any sort. I prefer to get my vitamins and nutrients through the foods I eat. That being said, I have found many common food items that are fortified with B12 (some I knew about, some I didn't). I thought this would be of interest to a lot of vegans and concerned non-vegans alike. So... here is a little list. If you know of any others, please feel free to comment and add!

(% = RDA in one serving)

• Silk Soy Milk 50%
• Organic Valley Soy Milk 50%
• Wildwood Soy Milk 50%
• Rice Dream Rice Milk 25%
• Living Harvest Hemp Milk 20%
  
• Vitasoy Soy Milk 15%
• Barabara's Apple Cinnamon O's & Crispy Wheats Cereals 25%
• Kashi Heart to Heart Cereal 100%
• Nature's Path Optimum Power Cereal 100%
  
• Post Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran, and Granolas 25%
• Total Cereal 100%
• Wheaties 50%
• Cheerios 25%
• Yves Tofu Dogs 10-20% (depending on size)
• Yves Pepperoni 20%
• Azumaya Tofu 30%
• Soy Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt 30%
• KAL Nutritional Yeast 130%
  

I noticed that not all brands of cereal and soy milk were fortified, although those were the most common. I read that tofu, tempeh, and seitan were usually fortified, but I only found one brand of tofu (at my market) that was.

So if you hate taking supplements, eat a bowl of fortified cereal! ;)

Mom's Soup

A warm cozy, surprisingly rich puree of lima beans, potato, and cauliflower. Served with generous chunks of roasted butternut squash.

The excitement and fun of my last post was definitely tempered by my concern for my mom. It's been 5 years since Mom was diagnosed with colon cancer, and she has outlived her doctor's prognosis by about 4 years. She is extremely strong-willed and usually does exactly what she sets out to do.

Until recently, she has remained active by playing a lot of golf, despite the chemo, and even managed to win a few tournaments at her club! But in just this past month, she learned that none of the various treatments have helped her tumors, and they have in fact spread to her lungs and are growing larger. Now, she is extremely tired all the time and has pains and some labored breathing and coughing due to the tumors in her lungs.

It's difficult to see her like that. The reason I became vegan was partially due to the research on cancer that I did when I first learned about Mom's condition. But despite my findings, and her own research on microbiotics, she chose not to give up her favorite foods. Like I said, she's very strong-willed. It also didn't help that one of her good friends, a medical doctor, was a huge proponent of eating lots of meat whenever you're sick. Sadly, his wife recently died of lung cancer, and he currently has kidney cancer, diabetes, as well as a host of other illnesses. He is now eating a lot less meat.

I tried to tell Mom that this guy was full of it, and now she believes me! Yes most doctors will tell their cancer patients to eat whatever they want. I understand to a certain degree, because if you're appetite is limited, it's good to get nourishment however you can. But I am a firm believer that diet plays a significant role when it comes to diseases. It just makes sense! Our bodies respond differently to different foods. It has been found that sugar increases tumor growth. So, it would make sense that other foods would inhibit growth, wouldn't you think?

Anyway... Mom finally made a commitment to eat better, and I have been cooking dinner for her every day. I am careful to use good whole foods and nothing processed, no white flour or sugar. I'm just not sure if her condition is reversible now. But I'm very willing to give it a try, and so is she!

Last night, she was feeling particularly tired and didn't feel like eating anything that required too much effort. I suggested soup, and she agreed.

This soup was so good! I loved the creaminess it had, but without the fat (or cream)! Mom was surprised too. The butternut squash was simply cut in half lengthwise and roasted in a 400 degree oven (open face down) until tender. Simple, sweet, and delicious!

Ingredients:

2 medium russett potatoes, peeled
1 small-medium onion, roughly chopped
2 C. pre-soaked lima beans
1 veg bouillon cube
1/4 C. nutritional yeast
half a cauliflower (about 2 cups), chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Spinz:

Put onions, potatoes, and lima beans in a soup pot, and add enough water to cover + 1/2 an inch or so. Let it come to a boil, then turn down to simmer for 15-20 minutes. Dissolve one veg bouillon cube (I use one that has no preservatives, and organic) in a little water and the nutritional yeast. When the beans and potatoes are tender, add the bouillon mixture, garlic, and cauliflower. Let simmer for a few minutes until the cauliflower is tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Puree in a blender until smooth, serve warm.

Crispy Wonton Soup

Rich, gingery miso vegetable soup, slightly thickened, served with crispy chewy seitan filled wontons- top with a drizzling of Siracha sauce to make it spicy!

I made a big cauldron of vegetable miso soup with wontons for Mom, who was under the weather. When I came back, the large portion that was left was delicious, but the veggies were overcooked and mushy, as were the few remaining wontons. I decided to do another remix, and puree the veggies in the soup to make a thicker base. What I discovered was that I forgot to remove the slices of ginger that I had put in there for flavoring before pureeing, and it gave the soup a distinct gingery flavor. I added a little brown sugar to offset the slight bitterness, and the outcome was a wonderful complex flavor and comforting texture. The wontons were filled with last night's leftover seitan cutlets, and prepared like potstickers in a skillet, steamed, then allowed to get crispy- the perfect accompanyment to this rich delicious soup!

Soup:

4 C. water
1/4 C. white miso paste
1/4 C. unsalted broth powder
2-3 C. veggies ( I used onion, cauliflower, carrots, and nappa cabbage)
2 cloves minced garlic
1 C. frozen corn
1-2 slices fresh ginger, skinned
1 T. brown sugar
soy sauce to taste
Siracha (hot red pepper sauce) to taste (optional)

Spinz:
Bring water to boil. Scoop out about 1 cup of the water into a bowl and whisk in the miso paste. Return miso mixture into the boiling water. Add unsalted broth powder, veggies, ginger. Let simmer until veggies are soft. Add sugar and puree with a stick blender. Turn off heat and add frozen corn, stiring until combined. Add soy sauce and Siracha sauce to taste.

Wontons:

• store-made wonton skins (make sure they don't have eggs!)

• seitan from last night's recipe, cooked and ground in a food processor to resemble ground meat

Spinz:

Wet the edges of the skin and place a small 1/2 - 1 tsp filling. Close to form triangles. Spray skillet with non-stick cooking spray and add 1 T. canola oil. Turn on high heat, and arrange wontons (single layer) in the skillet. Add about 1 cup of water and cover. Let it steam until the water is gone (listen for sizzling!). Bottoms should be golden brown and tops will be soft and chewy. Serve warm.

New England Clamless Chowder and Fried Chickn

This soup was inspired by the current issue of Veg News, and the chowder recipe by Allison Rivers Samson (my hero when it comes to cashews). It's a creamy, decadent, soup with mushrooms to take the place of the clams. The cashews give it an unbelievable richness, but could be left out if you want to go lower-fat. To me, it's very much like clam chowder, but it doesn't have that clammy-seafood flavor (which is fine with me). My friend suggested adding a little vegetarian fish sauce (found in Asian markets), which sounded intriguing. So she added some to her bowl, and liked it, but made the comment that the salt would have to be reduced in the recipe to compensate for the salt in the "fish" sauce.

The base of this soup (cauliflower, potato, cashews, onions, & broth) could easily be made into any creamy soup you can imagine!

I cheated again with another Asian faux meat (been doing that a lot lately)... for the Fried Chick'n, I used these ingenious drumstick-shaped faux meat on a stick. They come in packages of 6 or 12. One note of caution: Make sure to read the ingredients label- some of these faux meats contain eggs or whey(milk product). I simply battered them in a mixture of flour, cold water, paprika, salt, pepper, and garlic powder (resembling thin pancake batter). Then, dredged them in panko bread crumbs and fried them in a little oil at the bottom of a big skillet- turning them once to fry both sides). I must say, these are VERY much like real chicken, it's a bit scary.




















Accompanying them, are some delicious crispy roasted kale - stripped leaves tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, then roasted in a 400 degree oven for 5 minutes (careful not to burn).

Chowder

This makes about 6 servings

Ingredients:

3 medium potatoes (about 3 C. chopped)
2 C. chopped mushrooms (the original recipe called for oyster mushrooms, but I used plain old white button mushrooms)
oil for saute & roasting
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium head of cauliflower (about 3 C. chopped)
1/4 C. broth powder
5 C. water
1 C. raw cashews
salt, pepper to taste
vegetarian fish sauce to taste (optional)

Spinz:

In a sauce pan, put half of the chopped potatoes (1 1/2 C.) with enough water to cover. Cover the pan and boil until potatoes are tender.
Heat your oven to 425 degrees, and toss mushrooms in a little oil, salt , and pepper, then spread onto a sheet pan and roast for about 5-6 minutes.
In a large soup pot, add a little oil and saute the onions on med-high heat (do not brown) for a few minutes. Add garlic and saute for another minute or so. Add the cauliflower and remaining potatoes, and broth powder, and toss together. Add the water and let simmer until everything is tender.
In a food processor, process the cashews until you get a fine crumble. Add about 1/2 C. of the broth in the pot to the processor and spin until smooth and creamy.
Add the cashew mixture to the soup and mix well. When veggies are tender, turn off the heat and puree the soup until smooth, using a stick blender. Mix in the remaining cooked potatoes (drained) and mushrooms, and season to taste.

Better Than Campbell's

It's dark and cold today, as cold as it can get in Davis, CA... Not cold enough to be a whiner, but cold enough to crave... soup! On a lazy day like this, I just wanna throw something together to make the insides feel good. As I revert to childhood and Mom's comfort foods, I remember the red and white cans of Campbell's chicken noodle glop, mixed with water and heated on the stove to form a piping hot, high-sodium bowl of MSG, mushy noodles, and ungenerous amounts of chicken bits. In need of a good vegspin? Desperately!

Ingredients I threw together:

-Chicken-style broth powder* (use @ 1 T. powder to 1 C. water)
-water
-chopped onions
-sliced carrots
-chopped bok choy
-vegan veggie ham (from the Asian market), cut into good sized chunks
-vegan ramen noodles
-salt & pepper to taste(I used unsalted broth powder)
-a little olive oil

*Unsalted Broth Powder (adapted from Bryanna Grogan's recipe)
This makes a good batch:
1 1/3 C. nutritional yeast flakes
1 T. soy protein flour
1 T. garlic powder
1 T. sugar
3 T. onion powder
1 T. poultry seasoning (dried flakes, not ground powder)
1 tsp. tumeric
1 tsp. ground black pepper

Spinz:

Saute the onions and carrots in a little olive oil until almost tender. Add broth powder and water and let come to a boil. Add bok choy, let simmer for a few minutes. Add veggie ham and ramen and boil for a minute or two, then cover and take off heat. Wait a little, but serve hot.

Green Pea Soup & Cheezy Quesadillas

This soup is easy, delicious, and BRIGHT GREEN! Makes good use of frozen peas too. I'm gonna link it again, because I LOVE Bryanna's chicken-style broth powder for the base. I think this easy-to-make broth powder is great for anything that needs broth or good chickeny seasoning. I just don't add salt to the mix, so I can put it in other recipes and adjust the salt later- very versatile, and no need to buy that expensive pre-made broth! To have a little bite on the side, I found some leftover tortillas and decided to make a cheezy filling with vegan cream cheeze and some leftover vegan "feta," which I wasn't too fond of on its own. You can sub any other vegan cheeze instead of the feta.

Serves about 4

Soup

Ingredients:

2 T. vegetable oil
1 C. onion, chopped
1 C. potato, peeled and chopped
4 T. broth powder
5 C. water
1 leek, chopped
1 16oz.(1 lb.) bag of frozen peas
salt & pepper to taste

Quesadillas:

2 flour tortillas
1/2 C. Tofutti cream cheese, plain
1/2 C. vegan feta (or other)
1 green onion, minced
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:

For the soup, saute the onions in the vegetable oil and add the potatoes a few minutes after- cook until onions are tender. Add the broth powder, water and leeks, and let simmer until the potatoes are soft (about 10 minutes). Add the frozen peas and let simmer for a minute or two. Turn off the heat and blend with a hand-held stick blender until smooth and creamy. Serve hot.

For the quesadillas, mix all ingredients in a bowl and spread onto a tortilla. Cover with another tortilla and heat on a non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray. Once it's nice and toasty (1-2 minutes), flip it over and cook the other side. Transfer to a plate and cut into wedges. Serve warm.

Nutritional Info (Soup): 175 calories/ 3.9g tot. fat/ 0.3g sat. fat/ 1264mg sodium/ 434mg potassium/ 29.5g tot. carbs/ 5.3g fiber/ 7.7g sugar/ 5.6g protein