Potato and Leek Soup

“I just like eggheads, damnit!”  Julia Child (My Life in France, pg 197)

Potage Parmentier adapted from “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” by Julia Child

Here’s what you need:

2 T neutral oil, such as canola or grapeseed

5 medium russet potatoes

3 leeks

4 C vegetable stock

2 C water

Salt and pepper to taste

2 T sour cream

Here’s what you do:

Cut the leeks in half and discard the dark green half. Slice the white/light green part in half lengthwise and then thinly slice them, creating little half-moons. The leeks need to be washed and rinsed in clean water until they are very clean.

Peel and chop the potatoes in 1 inch cubes.

Saute the leeks in a bit of light oil until they are tender but not brown. Add the potatoes and continue to cook until the potatoes are beginning to soften, but not brown. Add the stock and water and cook for about 30 minutes. One of my favorite secrets to making excellent soup is to let it rest for a while before rushing to the finish – so I advise to let the soup sit, heat off, for another 30 minutes.

Use an immersion blender or a regular blender and process until very smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Add the sour cream and re-heat gently. 

Ranting (part 2) and a Burger

The students at my school are presenting their annual play tonight called Doc….Doc, Goose. It depicts what happens when Mother Goose goes to medical school and then returns to Nurseryland to diagnose and treat all the fairyland folks – chiropractic advice for the crooked man, dietary advice for Mr. and Mrs. Spratt, and so on.

Our daily trivia questions during morning announcements this past week featured the origins of various nursery rhymes; did you know, for example, that Humpty Dumpty was written about King Richard III?

Yesterday’s question featured that old woman who lived in a shoe with all those kids. My students thought that this woman ‘had a bunch of kids, KISSED them all GLADLY and sent them off to bed.’ They were horrified and shocked to hear the original nursery (NURSERY rhyme: for CHILDREN!) which says that this creepy woman ‘WHIPPED them all SOUNDLY and sent them to bed without any bread.’ Will my ranting ever end?! (click HERE if you want the full force of ranting.) 

Anyway, on to more pleasant thoughts: Bean and Mushroom Burgers

Here’s what you need:

2 t olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

1 C fresh mushrooms, diced

½ t cumin

1 15 ounce can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed

2 t fresh parsley

Salt and pepper

Here’s what you do:

Sautee the onions and green onions for a few minutes. Add the mushrooms, garlic and cumin and cook until the mushrooms are very soft and tender. Set this mixture aside.

Mash the beans with a fork until they are all broken, but don’t mash them to a puree. You do want some lumps of beans left. I used a shallow plastic Tupperware-type bowl and a fork for great results.

Combine the mushrooms, beans parsley and salt and pepper to taste.  Shape the mixture into 4 small patties. I have found that if you let them sit in the fridge for a few hours before frying, the result is better. When ready, fry them carefully in a bit of oil, turning once. If you use a cast iron pan, you may place them in a hot oven for about 10 minutes after browning them. This help them retain their shape.

I don’t know about you, but I love  to eat my bean burgers with a fork or wrapped in a tortilla. Buns are just too much starch for a bean burger.

Give this one a try! It was really great! 

May I Rant?

I have the two cutest, most adorable nieces on earth and that’s a fact. Well, I actually have a lot of nieces and nephews who are all tops in my book, but when a child is between the ages of 4 and 10 they are just perfect in my eyes! Give me a 1^st grader any day.

When I saw my little nieces last summer, I brought along a used book of fairy tales from the free table at our local library, thinking we could while away the hours reading some classics. Oh, how naïve I am.

They were horrible. I mean, horrible. Violent. Racist. Frightening. Children being punished. Children getting  lost in the deep woods. Nightmares. Orphans. Scary wolves and snakes. Drought. Famine. What was I thinking?

I knew it was time to throw the book away, when I struggled to get through “The Story of Ping.”  In case you don’t remember, Ping is a little duck who is late coming home one day. To avoid the punishment of a severe spanking, he swims away, and gets picked up (stolen!) by a little boy. Through a macabre twist of events, the boy’s mother wants to EAT poor little Ping. Somehow he gets away from the boy and returns to his family, late again, but this time willing to take the punishment for being the last one home.  Really?

It was totally coincidental, when about a week after realizing how violent our children’s classics were, I heard a show on the BBC about the horrible Grimm Brothers. They are the guys who wrote Cinderella, Snow White, and Hansel and Gretel.  More weirdness. Did you know that in the original version of Cinderella, the step sisters cut off their toes and heels to force their feet into the glass slippers? Or how about this: the queen in Snow White calls for the liver and lung of Snow White.  Snow White actually dies in the original story – killed by her step mother, who stomps on her while wearing fire-hot iron shoes. Freaky.

Then last week we ‘celebrated’ Halloween, when the ghouls and goblins come out of the woodwork. The cover of our local newspaper featured a toddler dressed up as one of these ‘un-dead’ beings. Bloody and gruesome.  I ask, “What has happened to common sense?”  Life is too precious to mess around with this kind of perversity.

I am so thankful that my little nieces were celebrating Halloween dressed as a bumblebee and a kitten. Hopefully they can be sheltered from the strange side of life for as long as possible – of course I know the weirdness is out there, but there is no need to invite it into our lives. We live once, so we might as well make our time here a force for the good. 

Your thoughts? 

Reflecting back on a menu

Last week I was bragging how great I was simply because I managed to jot down a menu.  I want to brag again a bit today, and mention that I stuck to said menu almost to the letter. You see, for me, menus work! They mean dinner gets done….and I don’t just mean *done* …. I mean *DONE.*  Hot food on the table.

Only problem is if the menu is not of high quality: not enough variety; too many trips to the grocery; recipes that are too involved; too bland; too boring….. you name it.

My problem last week was that two of my main dished were, well….. how to put this….. not very tasty.

I call this the big yellow blob meal. 

The red lentil dahl was very thick and weird somehow. I served it with brown rice, yellow and green beans from my garden (stashed away in the freezer) and roasted onions, which all ended up in a yellowish reddish blobby pile on our plates. Not overly proud of this meal. And a lesson learned, even for a weeknight meal: it is important to have a balance of textures and colors on the plate.

Looks good, I know....but it's NOT.

The broccoli rice casserole was also very strange: too much nutritional yeast in the  ‘no-cheese’ sauce. We  could barely eat it and that’s rare for us. I admit that I threw away all the leftovers the next day. Too stinky. Too strong. Too vegan. Thank goodness for the awesome and most delicious Gardein Chicken Nuggets! (LOVE those things!)  A huge side of sautéed mushrooms is always a good thing as well.

I never got around to making the cauliflower steaks: those have bumped up to this week’s menu. And I highly, highly recommend the LotsaVeg Soup which was the star of last week’s menu.

Another MAJOR distraction for me this past week: I entered the 21^st Century. 

Lotsa Veg Chowder

That's dill sprinkled on top of the soup. Extra bump of flavor. 

Here is a super easy and very quick soup for a week night meal; be sure to include something hearty like my basil-butter bread to round out the menu. I also made a simple onion and fresh tomato relish to serve on the toasty bread. Excellent. We ate every crumb and slurped every drip.

Lotsa Vegetable Chowder (from “Forks Over Knives” by Del Sroufe, pg 94)

Here’s what you need:

8 small Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½ inch cubes

½ small onion, peeled and chopped

3 ears fresh corn, kernels removed, cobs reserved

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced

2 stalks of celery, chopped

½ C chopped red bell pepper

1 C chopped broccoli and cauliflower stalks – remove the fibrous outer parts

1 clove garlic, peeled and minced

2 T fresh thyme or ½ T dried thyme or to taste

2 t ground cumin or to taste

3 T fresh dill or ½ T dried dill or to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

Here’s what you do:

Prepare all the veggies. Place the potatoes, onion, corn kernels, corn cobs, carrots, celery, red pepper, broccoli/cauliflower, garlic, thyme, cumin and 6 cups of water in a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 30 minutes or until all the veg is very soft.

Remove the corn cobs and use the back of a knife to scrape out the starchy corn bits still left in the cob. Discard the cobs and add the creamy corn starch back to the pot. Remove 1 cup of soup from the pot and mix in a blender until totally smooth. Return to the pot. If you like a smoother, creamier soup, you could blend 2 cups of soup.

Season with salt, lots of cracked pepper and lots of dill. I allowed the soup to simmer for another little while to thicken it more. I also seasoned it with some vegetable stock concentrate. 

For my Basil-Butter Bread I simply creamed some pesto from my freezer with some Earth Balance butter and smeared it over a crusty loaf of bread. Bake. Broil. Toast. Cut in slices. 

For my Onion-Tomato Relish I simply warmed sweet onions and sweet tomatoes over a very low heat until all juicy and melty. 

(printable recipe)

My Three Things and a New Dog

I have this queer habit of lying in bed at night, reciting three things aloud, and yes, my hubby hears this every single night:  my lesson plans, what I am going to wear, and what’s for dinner. Leave one of these elements out of the nightly routine and I am a mess come morning.

Lesson plans: “Should I begin the unit on Robert Frost or Science Fiction tomorrow?” (You can see how important it is to know what to teach to a room full of 8^th graders.)

Wardrobe: “Should I wear my sleeveless blouse or my black turtleneck sweater.” (You are thinking I am joking, but that’s how often the weather changes up here in Michigan, seriously. I am addicted to the Weather Channel.)

Menu: “Should we eat a real meal on plates or just grab any old can from the pantry and call it good?” (You probably now understand that I am a control freak.)

So lately, I haven’t really been going through my famous three-point-nightly-plan and it’s gotten pretty ugly around here. Bringing up the poetry lessons instead of the Asimov lesson; arriving to my freezing cold school building with a short sleeve shirt; and coming home to an empty fridge. So sad.

But NOT this week! I have tons of great lessons planned; all the summer clothes are tucked away and sweaters are out and at the ready; I MADE A MENU! (big announcement!) Everything comes from Del Sroufe’s excellent cookbook “Forks Over Knives.”

                Grilled Cauliflower Steaks with Ponzu Sauce, brown rice, raw veg salad

                Quesadillas and refried beans, Nacho cheese, roasted tomatoes from the freezer

                Broccoli Rice Casserole, Gardein Chicken Nuggets (LOVE those things), salad

                Lotsa Veg Soup, garlic toast, bruschetta

     Red Lentil Dahl, white rice, green beans from the freezer

One reason I have been so off kilter these past few weeks is this pretty girl, named Lucy. We rescued her from the pound a few weeks ago and my life has been filled with long walks, training, and trips to the Chow Hound for dog food. This girl can EAT!

Jalapeno Sour Cream Sauce

Those are veggie burritos under there. Toasty on the top and chewy on the bottom. 

If it’s covered with a sauce, I love it. That goes for pasta, pizza, grains, beans, salads, sandwiches, desserts and even breakfast (think honey sauce, yogurt sauce, fruit sauce). Love them all. Tell me if there is anything better than a huge sandwich smothered in spicy mayo and coleslaw and totally dripping in sauciness. No. There isn’t.

I know this looks totally decadent and creamy and full of fat and calories, but it’s mostly veggie broth – so relax and have a second helping. This recipe really put vegan ingredients to the test and I think they passed with flying colors. You could, I suppose, use dairy sour cream and dairy cheese, but why? Be good to your heart and the earth and the animals and go vegan.

I sprinkled dried cilantro and sliced tomatoes on top before baking. Those black things on top are escaped black beans and sliced zucchini. 

Here’s what you need:

2 T Earth Balance butter

2 T flour

1 C vegetable broth or stock

¼ C non dairy sour cream (Tofutti brand)

1/3 C grated Daiya Jack or Cheddar cheese

Black pepper

¼ C minced pickled jalapeno peppers

Here’s what you do:

Melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook for about a minute, whisking constantly. Don’t let it brown. Add the veggie broth and keep whisking until it is smooth and thick, about 2 minutes. Add the sour cream, cheese, black pepper and jalapenos. Stir until it is all well incorporated. Adjust for seasonings and thickness…..meaning add more peppers or broth to your taste. Pour over whatever type of burrito or enchilada you got  goin’. Bake and enjoy!

Cilantro Lime Cashew Sauce

V is for Vegan and S is for Sauciness

Whoa. If you like cilantro and lime you will LOVE this sauce. I guess once you conquer the basic cashew cream sauce, you can flavor it in any way you please…..and this pleased me very much.

(I used a bunch of frozen veggies from my freezer. Onions. Corn. Roasted red pepper. Flageolet beans.) 

Here’s what you need:

1 C raw cashews

½ bunch cilantro – leaves and stems

1 lime – zest and juice

½ t salt

¼ t cayenne pepper

1 C water

2 T cider vinegar

1 T olive oil

(I spread on a bit of refried beans. Topped each with the sauteed veg. Rolled and placed in oven proof dish. I put a bit of salsa underneath so the burritos don't burn.)

Here’s what you do:

Place all in a high powered blender and watch what happens.

Note: I tried pouring the sauce over the burritos both before and after baking them. I preferred it cold much better….and check out the unnatural color it turned when it was baked!  You could pour this over stuff, like I did here. Or you could spread this on tortillas before making bean burritos or quesadillas. It would be great as a fresh dip and even thinned out as a salad dressing.

Strawberry Cupcakes

V is for Variety and M is for Muffin….or is that Cupcake?

Welcome to the Vegan Month of Food (VeganMoFo)  I intend to post 20 times during the month of September – all about vegan food. Check out the gals who organize the project here, and search out other fantastic vegan bloggers. I decided on the theme of “V is for Variety” because, honestly, once I quit the chicken breast – my food choices exploded! Join me!

What’s the difference between a muffin and a cupcake? One is for breakfast and the other is for dessert? Not in my book; I like them both at all hours of the day.

These were excellent and came directly from “The Joy of Vegan Baking,” by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau. They were surprisingly tender and the strawberry taste is very prominent. Isn’t that raspberry just about the cutest thing you ever saw?

Here’s what you need:

1 ¾ C white flour

1 t baking soda

1 C granulated sugar

½ C canola oil

1 T distilled white vinegar

1 t vanilla extract

8 ounces frozen or fresh crushed strawberries

Here’s what you do:

Mix the flour, baking soda and sugar. In a different bowl, combine the oil, vinegar and vanilla. Add the strawberries. Carefully pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix – do not overmix.

Scoop into prepared cupcake tins, about half way full – I use cupcake liners and spray them. Bake for about 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool completely before frosting.

Buttercream Frosting:

½ C Earth Balance nondairy butter – room temperature

2 C powdered sugar

1 ½ t vanilla

2 T nondairy milk

Food coloring

Strawberries or raspberries to decorate

Homemade Pasta with Incredible Mushroom Sauce

V is for Variety and H is for Homemade

Welcome to the Vegan Month of Food (VeganMoFo)  I intend to post 20 times during the month of September – all about vegan food. Check out the gals who organize the project here, and search out other fantastic vegan bloggers. I decided on the theme of “V is for Variety” because, honestly, once I quit the chicken breast – my food choices exploded! Join me!

One of my favorite memories is making pasta with my kiddos when they were little. How they loved turning the crank and catching the fresh noodles. Everyone had to have a turn. Flour all over the counter. Trying not to fret over flour on the floor. Accepting the thick, ugly strands of pasta along with the super long thin ones. Playing around with different colors of dough: green from spinach, red from beet juice, orange from baby food carrots. Watching them devour what they had created.

Nowadays I can get a batch of pasta done in about 1 hour, and that’s including the 30 minutes you need to rest the dough.  Practice makes perfect, as they say.

This pasta was very soft, which surprised me because it called for semolina instead of regular flour.  I always thought semolina was harder flour, but I do think we cooked it a bit too long, and as you probably can tell from my photo at the top of this post, we mixed it too vigorously, so it broke apart. But none of that bothered us. I am definitely making this again – especially the sauce!

Here’s what you need for the pasta:

2 C semolina flour

2 T olive oil

1 T water

½ -3/4 C silken tofu (replaces the egg, which you don’t really even need. The tofu helped create a really silky dough)

1 t salt

Here’s what you do for the pasta:

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until it all comes together. Wrap in plastic and allow to rest for about 30 minutes. Cut dough in quarters and run it through a pasta machine. Don’t overcook it….maybe 2-3 minutes at most!

Here’s what you need for the Incredible Mushroom Sauce:

Minced onions – to taste, but don’t be hesitant to load them on

Dried oregano

Minced garlic

Portabella mushrooms – remove the stem and gills and slice

Shitake mushrooms – remove the stem and slice

White button mushrooms – sliced

¾ C dry red wine

Fresh tomatoes – lots!

Fresh basil

Here’s what you do for the sauce:

Sautee the onions for a few minutes. Add the oregano, garlic, mushrooms and some salt. (A great trick to enhance the oregano is to rub it between your hands which releases all the beautiful oils of the dried leaves. Sprinkle the herb directly on the onions and you will love what a difference this makes to the flavor.)  Continue to cook the onions and mushrooms for a bit. Add the red wine and fresh tomatoes. Cook until it all gloriously comes together. Maybe 30 minutes or so. Add fresh basil at the end.