Anything With Ginger Just Has to be Good!

I love ginger. Fresh, dried, candied, dipped in dark chocolate. And, no, I'm not swayed because I AM Ginger!

This is a Woman's Health recipe that I found in an article on FlipBoard. It is quick and easy and perfect for a rainy fall Seattle supper.

Gingered Sweet Potato and Carrot Soup

1 tbsp. olive oil

1 large onion, finely diced

1 cup vegetable broth (plus extra for thinning soup, if needed)

1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced

8 medium sized carrots, peeled and sliced

1 tbsp fresh finely chopped or grated ginger root

Plain vegan yogurt or sour cream (optional)

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp (or more) cayenne pepper

Heat oil in a stockpot.  Add onion and cook on medium-low heat until the onions are caramelized.  Add stock plus 2 cups of water; add sweet potato, carrots, and ginger.  Bring to a boil; reduce to low and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes.  

When the vegetables are tender, puree soup in small batches in a blender or food processor.  Be careful to vent the top if using a blender or you'll end up with burns on your arms and soup on the ceiling.  (Ask me how I know.)  

Return soup to the stockpot.  Season with salt and cayenne pepper  Taste and adjust if necessary.  Serve with yogurt or sour cream if desired.  

Today's Menu....

...is brought to you by the color ORANGE and the word SLEEPY.  

Yesterday I threw my hubby a surprise party for his 50th birthday.  I've been cooking, cleaning, and shopping in secret and yesterday was busy and long.  And I haven't gathered pictures and recipes from the party quite yet to share, but I do have tonight's quick and easy supper.  

The first recipe is a favorite of mine.  My first vegan cookbook purchase was Lauren Ulm's Vegan Yum Yum and this was an early recipe try.  This is an awesome, amazing, super duper easy soup that fills you up and warms you to the core.  I've made it for non-vegan friends and they all give it rave reviews.  And ask for the recipe!  My one complaint with Lauren's book is that her recipes don't feed ravenous wolves my hungry bunch, so I end up doubling most recipes.  This one is no exception.  But you just need leftovers, you know. It's too good to just eat once!  The recipe below includes the doubled amounts and will feed 8.  (Or four wolves plus a small amount of leftovers that will be fought over.)  

Spicy Tomato Chickpea Soup

2 tbsp olive oil

2 onions, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili flakes

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp turmeric 

2 15-oz cans of chickpeas (or about 4 cups cooked chickpeas), drained and rinsed

2 28-oz cans of diced tomatoes

2 tsp salt

4 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

2 cups hot water

Black pepper, to taste

In a large Dutch oven, heat the oil to shimmering and saute the onions until softened.  Add the garlic, cumin, chili flakes, mustard seeds, and turmeric and saute another minute.  Add chickpeas and saute until the chickpeas begin to turn golden, just a few minutes.  Add tomatoes and salt and simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Transfer the mixture in batches to a blender and puree until smooth.  Be careful to vent the lid or the whole thing will explode on you.  Don't ask me how I know this.  *ahem*  Transfer back to the Dutch oven.  Add nutritional yeast and water and stir together until smooth.  Taste to adjust seasonings.  Enjoy!   

Calories per 1 1/2 cup serving:  198

Fat: 8 g

Carbs:  28 g

Protein: 7 g

This next recipe is a New York Times recipe and was made because I had two butternut squashes sitting on my counter just begging for me to cook them before they went bad.  So I took one of them and made this and it was scrumptious.  My belly was actually full from the soup, but when I tasted one cube of squash, I knew I had to go back for more.  The bowl pictured below is really a teeny tiny bowl so my serving was probably less than 1/4 cup.  This WILL be my before-bed snack, though, I can assure you!  It's like dessert...only with lots of garlic!  

Now, this recipe said that it needed to cook at 375° for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  I don't wait that long for much.  I bumped the temperature up to 400° and set the timer for 20 minutes.  Stirred it and popped it back in for another 20 and it was done.  Cooking it for 2 hours would have turned it to mush!  

Simple Provencal Winter Squash Gratin

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup bread crumbs (I pulverized two slices of leftover bruschetta from the party last night)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves (let me just say I am sure I have nowhere near 1 tbsp of thyme in this dish - I absolutely hate pulling those little tiny leaves off and I'm obsessive about not getting any little stems in there so I probably had somewhere closer to 1/2 tsp!  Ha!)

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

3 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 400°.  Toss together ingredients in a large stoneware dish or gratin dish.  Place in the oven and bake 20 minutes.  Stir and test one of the pieces of squash.  Return to the oven for an additional 20 minutes or until squash is fork tender.  Serves 6.  (Or one crazy butternut squash lovin' lady who worked up an appetite at Zumba.)  

Calories per serving:  154

Carbs: 21g 

Protein: 3 g

Brazilian Black Bean Soup

This recipe comes from the old original Moosewood Cookbook that I've had for years.  As usual, I change things up a little.  The pages are yellowing around the edges and the pages are wrinkled and stained from years of use, but my favorite thing would be the handwritten notes on some of the recipes from my friend who borrowed it many years ago.  :::love:::  

2 cups dry black beans, soaked

6 cups water

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cups chopped onion

10 (yes, 10) cloves garlic, crushed

2 tsp cumin

2 1/2 tsp salt

1 medium carrot, diced

1 medium bell pepper, diced

1 1/2 cups orange juice

black pepper, to taste

cayenne pepper, to taste

2 medium tomatoes, diced

3-4 green onions, sliced

optional toppings:  vegan sour cream

                             fresh chopped cilantro

                             salsa

Place the soaked beans in a Dutch oven with 4 cups water.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours.  I do this ahead of time - in fact, I always have beans of all kinds cooked without salt or other seasonings in my freezer, frozen flat in Ziploc bags in 2 cup quantities.  Freezing them flat allows for quick thawing time and the 2 cup quantity is about equivalent to a regular sized can of beans.  

Heat olive oil in a medium sized skillet.  Add onions, garlic, cumin, salt, and carrot.  Saute' over medium heat until the carrot is just tender.  Add the bell pepper and saute' until everything is very tender, an additional 10-15 minutes.  Add the sauteed mixture to the beans.  

Stir in the orange juice (I thought this was a weird addition, too, but trust me on this - it is delicious), peppers, green onions, and tomatoes.  The recipe in the book recommends pureeing all or part of the soup in a blender, but I have never done that.  I do us a potato masher to mash some of the beans to thicken to soup, but I like this soup to be chunky.  Continue simmering over low heat for an additional 10-15 minutes until piping hot.  Serve with optional ingredients.  

Butternut Squash Bisque

My middle child and oldest daughter is definitely a foodie and has been since she was tiny.  About six years ago when she was just 11 years old, Whole Foods opened up in a city near us.  We loved going, especially when they had samples.  One day we tasted a Butternut Squash and Crab bisque and Brooke instantly fell in love.  She decided that she wanted to make that for the family for Thanksgiving.  She had cooked before, but never something this "fancy" and with so many steps and definitely never for people outside our immediate family.  But she was excited.  We found this recipe online, which she followed to the letter, and the results turned out deliciously!  For many Thanksgivings, she has repeated this delicious soup.

This year, I asked if she'd make a vegan version for me.  She did and it was probably even better (to my memory) than the original.  So, here is (as much as we can figure) her adaptations.

1 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced
1 cup dry sherry
1 cup Silk soy creamer
2 tbsp vegan margarine
3 shallots, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 clove garlic, minced
cayenne pepper to taste (we used about a heaping 1/4 tsp)
salt to taste

Add margarine to a large stock pot and melt over medium heat.  Add shallots and cook, stirring, until soft.  Add garlic and cook for another minute or so.  Do not let the shallots or garlic brown.  Add the sherry and cook on high until almost all of the liquid is reduced.  Add the butternut squash and cover with water.  Bring to a boil and cook on a fairly high heat until the butternut squash is soft, stirring often so it does not stick and adding more water if needed to keep the squash covered.

Puree in batches, being careful not to fill the blender too full or you will have a hot mess on your hands - literally.  Don't ask me how I know this.  Wash out the stock pot and return the puree to the now pristine pot. Add soy creamer, salt, and pepper and cook on low until heated through.  If your squash is not very sweet, you may need to add a little sugar, but we have never needed to do this.

Enjoy!