Week 51 -- Noodle-y Oodle-y Soup

After a morning spent making cookies for a work cookie exchange, I was feeling nostalgic and ready for a low effort lunch.  I've been thinking lately about how, as kids, we ate a lot of Oodles of Noodles.  This soup is a more grown-up version but still not much work.  I used bean thread noodles, which are gluten free, but you could use ramen noodles if you wanted.

I wanted little bits of parsley in the soup like in a packaged soup, but I was out, so I used kale that I dehydrated and ground to flakes last summer.

It looks different from childhood,
but it's a lot healthier with the same fun of noodles.

Noodle-y Oodle-y Soup

2 servings of dry noodles (bean thread or your choice)
water to cover
1/4 tsp each sage, celery seed, savory, and turmeric
dash of black pepper
1 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/3 block extra-firm tofu, cubed
1/2 carrot, grated
1 Tbsp dried greens (parsley or kale)
miso to taste

1. Cook noodles according to package directions.  Drain off some water to leave desired amount for broth.
2.  Add seasonings, carrots, tofu, and greens. 
3.  Add miso to taste.

Makes two servings.

Week 49 -- Kik Alicha

Let me start by saying I know this is not authentic.  I do my best, but I am an American girl who has never been to Africa, though I have enjoyed this dish at many Ethiopian restaurants.  It is my favorite of all the Ethiopian stews. 

Kik Alicha is a mild but flavorful yellow split pea stew.  (Alichas are mild yellow stews, kik are yellow split peas; you can substitute lentils for messir alicha.)  It is traditionally served and eaten on a teff flatbread called injera.  I love injera.  It's one of my very favorite foods in the world.  One of the great tragedies of my cooking life is that I have never been able to make an acceptable injera, though it's not for lack of trying.  Thankfully, this stew is also great on its own or eaten with millet (although then you have to use a fork instead of just scooping it up with flatbread).

This weekend we didn't have to resort to eating it with forks.  Mom has been making wonderful red lentil flatbread that we knew was amazing for burritos, but now we know it can substitute for injera, also! 

Again, though this stew is great on its own, I like to make it with my second-favorite Ethiopian dish -- gomen.  It's easy to make.  Double the seasoning mixture and put half with your split peas and half with chopped and cooked greens.  I love it with collards, but spinach works, too.  You can start with fresh or frozen.

I should mention that I love making green split pea soup, but I find yellow split peas much more temperamental.  I always either scorch the bottom or boil over.  This time, my first try making them on an electric stove top, I managed to do both.  Be watchful.  Also, I've said it before, but it bears repeating.  Slice your ginger against the grain first, then mince it with the grain.  If you go with the grain first, you won't be able to mince it small enough.

Kik alicha with collard gomen on red lentil flatbread.

You can see in this picture how thick this stew is. 
It should be almost a porridge consistency.
The black flecks are the nigella sativa seeds.

Kik Alicha

1 pound dry yellow split peas, rinsed
6+ cups water
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
1/4 tsp turmeric
pinch black pepper
1/4 tsp nigella sativa (black cumin seeds), optional
1/4 tsp ajwain, optional
miso to taste

1. Put yellow split peas and water in a large stock pot.  Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.  Keep an eye on them and add water as needed.  Let simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours until tender to mushy.
2. In skillet, saute all seasoning ingredients in water.  Let cook down until soft and mushy.
3. Mix seasonings with split peas.  Taste for seasonings and add miso as desired.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Week 36 -- Not Chicken Soup

I'm now moved out of my apartment and living with my parents until things are settled with me buying a house, so I'm cooking in mom's kitchen for a few weeks.  Mom and I, though we both eat WFPB, have some very different cooking styles (and the different cooking equipment that comes with that), so it's taking some adjustment.

But the perk of living at home for a while is mom-made comfort food when you aren't feeling well.  I was feeling sup-par and mom and I (but mostly mom while I moaned melodramatically from my bed) made the classic comfort food of Not Chicken Soup.

This soup uses one of mom's favorite WFPB ingredients:  soy curls.  We avoided them for years, thinking they were highly processed protein chunks like those "chicken style" tvp chunks we ate in our early vegan days, but they are actually just whole soybeans that are somehow magically transformed into "meaty" strips.  Don't question the magic.

My dad loves his Not Chicken Soup with noodles.  We dove into the Bag O' Pasta that I brought from my apartment and decided to try the green bean vermicelli.  They were very strange looking -- clear and goopy and not unlike a sea creature -- but they tasted surprisingly perfect in the soup.

Tastes like coming home!

A big bag of soy curls ready to be transformed.

Not Chicken Soup

1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp sage
1 tsp savory
1 tsp thyme
Black pepper
2 Tbsp parsley
1/2 onion 
3 garlic
3 celery with leaves
4 carrots
1 tsp molasses
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
Miso 2 Tbsp
Soy curls 1 cup
Noodles (optional)

1.  Chop all vegetables.  Put in pan with seasonings (except miso) and about 3-4 cups of water.  Simmer as long as you can stand it. (Add about 2 more cups of water eventually.  Add it gradually as needed.)
2. Rehydrate soy curls according to directions on the bag.  Add miso and soy curls to the soup and simmer a few more minutes until soy curls pick up some of the flavor.
3. Serve over noodles if desired.

Makes about 3 servings for hungry people.

Week 26 -- Creamy Vegetable Soup

I was in the mood for peas and carrots, but I didn't want a tomato-based soup.  It was a little on the cooler side today and I was home sick dealing with seasonal allergies, so I was craving something hot and comforting.

This soup reminds me of the creamed tuna on toast my mom used to make when I was little, just without the tuna.  It would be very good served over toast or cooked grains. 

This took a while to simmer, but it wasn't very difficult and that gave me time to get this week's baked oatmeal in the oven. 

There's the finished soup.

And here's what it looked like before blending.

Creamy Vegetable Soup

Creamy broth:
1 red onion diced
2 large cloves of garlic diced
1 1/2 carrots diced
2 stalks celery diced
1/4 cup dried mushrooms, broken into pieces
1 can cannellini beans with liquid (or 1 1/2 cup cooked white beans)
4-6 cups water to taste
1/2 tsp each sage, thyme, parsley
1/4 tsp celery seed
pinch black pepper

1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 1/2 cup diced carrot

1. Water saute onion and garlic until soft.  Add other broth ingredients.  Simmer about 45 minutes.
2. Blend broth.
3. Thaw peas.  Steam diced carrots.  Stir into broth.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 17 -- Nacho Soup

I love nachos.  I have several different nacho cheese recipes, depending on the mood I'm in, but they all have one thing in common -- nuts or seeds, so they're high fat.

This soup doesn't have that problem.  It's nut free and the creaminess comes from cauliflower.

The soup is great on its own, but it's even better garnished with salsa and avocado.  I don't currently have any corn-safe olives, but a few sliced olives thrown into the soup would probably be a nice addition.

Here's the finished soup, ready to eat with all the extras.

This is what the veggies look like before cooking and blending.  

Here's the blended soup with the beans, tomatoes, and peppers thrown in.
You can tell my eyes were bigger than my soup pot.  I should have used the stock pot!

Nacho Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large carrot or 2 smaller carrots, chopped
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
5 cups water, divided
1 bell pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 Tbsp miso
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can black beans

1.  Saute the onion and garlic in a little water. 
2. Add the carrot and cauliflower.  Pour in about 1-2 cups of water, cover, and let steam until veggies are tender.
3.  Turn off the heat and add the miso.  Blend the veggies, adding more water to get to desired consistency.  Turn the heat back on to warm soup, but try not to boil it.
4.  Add the seasonings, black beans, tomatoes, and bell pepper.  Let all warm up.
5. Serve with salsa and avocado if desired, or eat as is.

Makes 6 servings.

Week 12 -- Lentil Soup #2 and Magic Sprinkles

Happy St. Joseph's Day!  I mentioned last week that I'm not a big fan of St. Patrick's Day, but that is not true for St. Joseph's Day!  This is one of my favorite feasts.  I have a lot of memories of family and church traditions from this.  Who doesn't love a holiday that includes a tradition of sharing cookies with your friends and neighbors?

Another great thing about St. Joseph's Day is that it's traditionally a meatless feast.  And what is our family's traditional meal?  Why, our favorite pulse, of course!  Welcome back, lentils!  

(Our other traditional food is carduni, burdock stems cooked in an egg batter.  We don't eat eggs now, but Mom and I both have our own ways of preparing this.  Mom uses garbanzo batter.  I use silken tofu and, usually, green beans, because I'm too lazy to prepare real carduni.)

This lentil soup is closer to our traditional St. Joseph's Day lentil recipe.  Grandma used to make it with a packet of onion soup powder.  Our family replaces that with savory herbs and molasses.  Mom adds liquid aminos (feel free to add some if you aren't strictly limiting salt -- it does add a lot in this dish, but you can still enjoy it without).

Our family tradition also dictates that you should add water without measuring it.  If the soup ends up thick, you serve it over pasta.  If it ends up thin, you add some pasta to it and eat it with a spoon.

One last St. Joseph's Day tradition is "St. Joseph's Sawdust," a condiment made by frying seasoned breadcrumbs.  To replace that, I make my "magic sprinkles."  These sprinkles are great on pasta any time of year.

So much promise in a bag of lentils...

There's the soup!  As you can see, it's in the middle for thickness, 

so I jarred up some as soup and ate the rest over pasta.

Here are the lentils served over pasta.  It's actually red lentil pasta.

Mom says this is as silly as eating a seitan sandwich. 
I agree, but it's my favorite pasta, so I don't mind being silly! 
There are the magic sprinkles on top and extra on the side.

Lentil Soup #2

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 carrots, diced
1 lb green or brown lentils, rinsed and sorted
6-8 cups of water
1 tsp each savory, sage, and thyme
black pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 Tbsp molasses

1. Saute the onion in a large soup pot in a little bit of water.  Add the garlic and carrots.

2.  Add the lentils with at least 6 cups water.  You can decide if you want to play lentil roulette and add water without measuring.  It's a fun surprise!  Add the seasonings, too.  Let everything simmer about 30 minutes until the lentils are tender.

Makes about 4 servings.

Magic Sprinkles

4 Brazil nuts
3 Tbsp flax seeds (ground or whole)
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 - 1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 tsp miso paste

1. Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor.  Process until finely ground and crumbly.

Everyone should eat 4 Brazil nuts each month to keep cholesterol levels healthy, but no more or you'll get too much selenium.  This recipe makes one month's worth of cheesy statin-substitute.  If you want more than this in a month, replace the Brazil nuts with more flax seeds or other nuts.

Week 9 -- Walnut Soup with Broccoli

I use cashews when I want a creamy soup or sauce, but I have a big bag of walnuts that I love, and they're full of healthy fat, so I decided to experiment. 

This soup isn't spectacular, but it's nice for a winter evening.  It has a rustic old-world taste, but the broccoli brightens it up. 

I have two big glass "veggie bowls."  I like to fill the bowls to the brim with veggies to steam.

These steamed veggies have no idea they're about to become a lot more close...

I didn't use my immersion blender because I wanted the soup really smooth,

plus I needed to use my regular blender for the walnuts anyway.

Lots of herbs!  The more, the merrier.

There's my beautiful soup, ready to be dished up.  The steamed broccoli is so bright!

After I jarred up my soups for lunches, I didn't have a full serving left for dinner.

The potatoes there were about to become pizza potatoes.  They have nothing to do with the soup, 

but they were so cheerful and my soup cup was lonely, so I let them join the photo.

Walnut Soup with Broccoli

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

3 stalks celery

½ cup walnuts

3 cups water

2 crowns broccoli

1 tsp each thyme, sage, and savory

¼ tsp celery seed

black pepper

1. Chop the broccoli and set aside.  Ideally, you want to let it sit at least 30 minutes.  This gives the enzymes time to activate and you get more nutritional benefit.

2. Chop the onion, garlic, and celery.  Put them in a saucepan with a little water so they can steam over medium high heat.  Once tender, turn off and let veggies cool a little.

3. Blend the walnuts with 1 cup of water.  Once smooth, add the onions, garlic, and celery to the blender.  Blend again, adding more water as needed.

4. Return soup to saucepan.  Bring to a simmer.  Add seasonings.

5. Lightly steam broccoli.  Add to soup and let simmer a few more minutes so the flavors can meld.  Don't overcook or you'll get mushy broccoli.  It's nice when it's still a little crisp.   Add water to soup to get to desired thinness, if needed.

Makes about 4 servings.