I promise this tastes better than it looks.
With that said, this is my go-to soup recipe. I love thick hearty soups as the weather cools down, so I tend to overfill my soups with vegetables and pasta. Feel free to reduce any amounts here if you prefer something a little lighter.
As an added bonus, cute baby pictures included:
Since I’ve been spending more time at home, as I only work part time since the birth of my baby, I’ve been experimenting with different recipes for vegan cheese. As much as I love Daiya, it gets expensive, even with coupons.
I’m a big fan of Vedged Out’s foxy moxy mozzarella, but I wanted something that held up to slicing and grating. I tried a recipe with cashew cheese, but without investing in a Vitamix blender (hint hint family members:Christmas is coming) the consistency was too grainy for my taste.
The weather is slowly getting colder and closer to winter, making me crave warm, comforting food. I had plenty of leftover squash from my butternut squash ravioli and I wanted to make something with a twist. I found a few copycat recipes of Panera’s autumn squash soup, which seemed like a delicious, rich, savory-sweet combination. This recipe is very easy, especially if you’ve made the squash beforehand, and only really requires a quick blend to make it come together. If you want something a little more savory, just add more curry powder and vegetable broth, but I think it’s perfect just the way it is.
Well, it’s been quite the hiatus. In the past six months, I’ve gotten married, gone on a fantastic honeymoon, started work as a massage therapist at a great salon in town, spent 5 days in New York City, and celebrated my 24 birthday. I’d love to catch you up on it all, especially some the drool-worthy meals I’ve eaten, but it would simply take too long. So instead, I’m going to share a new recipe I’ve been working on today.
In the month of September, Ken and I attended 3 weddings, with one weekend off to relax. Being vegan, we don’t usually expect to be accommodated at large events like this, but surprisingly at all three we had something to eat. I’ve been craving another taste of one of the meals-a butternut squash ravioli. I’m guessing it was Rising Moon brand, just by the size and shape. My local natural food store usually carries it, but homemade ravioli sounded like a perfect endeavor on this cold Sunday.
As I’ve previously mentioned, I can spend hours reading through new cookbooks. Over the past week, I’ve been reading Betty Goes Vegan. Ken’s family held a bridal shower for me last weekend and it was part of an adorable gift basket I received. If you’re looking for a new vegan cookbook, I would definitely suggest it-unless you’re not a fan of vegan meat and dairy substitutes. There’s a lot of fun history tidbits and traditional American recipes, which made me reflect back on some of my first recipes.
The first cookbook I had was a collection of recipes from a fire department-you know the kind, where they all put together recipes in a book to try to raise money? Anyway, any recipes I happened to print out or scribble down in the first few years on my own are stuffed into the front page. In flipping through my many pages of chicken scratch I stumbled upon my mom’s cream of broccoli soup recipe. I always enjoy an attempt to veganize an old recipe and it’s especially gratifying when it still tastes the same as I remember it.
Hello everyone! It’s been a while!!
I recently graduated from school and began a new job at a large local salon, so I’ve had less time to focus on blogging. I’ve also been devoting a majority of my time to couponing, which has result in a plethora of free groceries. With all this free food, I’ve had to come up with creative ways to use it (because who really needs eight bottles of barbeque sauce?)
Today was sunny and beautiful; the type of spring day that makes me want to wear a skirt and cook a casserole. Yes, the type of casserole your mom used to make with condensed cream of chicken soup and fried onions (those were free too.) However, this recipe replaces the cream with soymilk and the chicken with chickpeas. The brown rice will make you feel less guilty when you top it with extra cheese and fried onions. Feel free to adjust this recipe to your dietary preferences.
Every food blog needs a recipe for hummus, guacamole, or the eggplant equivalent-baba ghanoush. I have been craving baba ghanoush for weeks, so I picked up an eggplant on sale at the beginning of the week. I finally had time on Friday to fulfill my craving-I served it with pita bread and madras sambar. Roasting the eggplant gives it an amazing smoky flavor and I found myself eating it on slices of cucumber and tomato when my pita bread was gone.
It’s been a while since I posted again-I’m going to blame it on finals and my current stress level. I only have one final left next week, but of course the hardest one is last. I’ve still been cooking, but the only new recipes I’ve made have been eaten before I could snap a picture. Here is another throwback recipe-tortilla pie. I found the recipe on this for Tumblr and swore I was going to veganize it as soon as possible.
I didn’t plan on posting this today but I enjoyed it so much I wanted to share.
I’ve never made beer batter before, but now I’m wondering about all the possible things to fry. Tofu, seitan, pickles, mushrooms…the list is endless. I’ve seen plenty of recipes for avocado fries that interested me, but most called for eggs. When I found this recipe, I thought it was perfect; it combined the two things I love the most-avocados and ales. This would be a great recipe for Super Bowl weekend. We had it today with wings and beer and it was perfect for munching in front of the television.
The batter fries up soft with a little crunch, while the avocado stays soft and creamy. It was really nice with some dipping sauce; I stirred together 1/4 cup Tofutti sour cream and 2 tablespoons chunky salsa which worked well. You could just use salsa as well.
I’ve had a lonely acorn squash floating around my kitchen for weeks now. I kept moving it from surface to surface, hoping I’d find the proper night to cook it. In flipping through the few cookbooks I own, I found a recipe for a roasted root vegetable soup that called for butternut squash. I figured I couldn’t go wrong substituting it with acorn squash and I was right. (I love being right.)
The original recipe can be found in this book, and calls for turnips and leeks, but adds the note that you can use other vegetables depending on what’s in season. I think celery or sweet potatoes would be a wonderful addition as well. I tasted the soup partway through cooking and thought it needed a little more sweetness, so I added brown sugar. You could alternatively roast the acorn squash with brown sugar instead of adding it later. I hope you enjoy, it’s a perfect recipe for the cold winter months.
Avocados and Ales 