Week 52 -- Fresh Chili

Celebrating the end of the year with a chili chock full of fresh vegetables!

Next week's post will contain an announcement about the year 2019!

Fresh Chili

3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 bell peppers, diced (we used one green and one orange)
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
4 mushrooms, chopped
1 can dark red kidney beans
1 can light red kidney beans
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chili
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1. Saute the garlic, onions, and bell pepper in a little water.
2. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms, and 4 cups water.
3.  Add the beans and spices.  Let simmer about 30-45 minutes so flavors blend.

Makes about 4 servings.

Week 45 -- Red Lentil Sweet Potato Chili

Fall is the time for chili!  I usually make plain boring chili, but Mom got a little creative with this one.  The sweet potatoes give it even more of a fall feeling.

Red Lentil Sweet Potato Chili

One onion, diced
Two bell peppers, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
1 cup red lentils

1 can light kidney beans
1 can dark kidney beans
1 28 oz crushed tomatoes
2 scrubbed diced sweet potatoes
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground sage
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp chili powder

1. Saute the onions, peppers, and garlic in a tiny bit of water.  

2. Add water, red lentils, tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and spices.  Let simmer until lentils are cooked and sweet potatoes are tender.  

Makes about 6 servings.

Week 43 -- Simple Chili

Fall is definitely the time for a long-simmered chili.  My crockpot is still packed in storage with the rest of my belongings (just a couple weeks until my new house is ready for me -- we're getting there).  So I've put off making chili, because chili that is made and eaten right away just isn't the same as one that's been bubbling for a few hours.

But this week Mom had an afternoon off from work (in exchange for spending a Saturday working -- I helped but didn't realize it would entail hiking in the mud, but we survived and came home that night to the chili leftovers), so she had time to make chili and let it simmer on the stove top for a few hours.

Veggie chili is a simple crowd-pleaser, and it can be served over millet (my favorite), in a bread bowl, over baked potatoes, with tortilla chips, or as a crucial ingredient in plant-based chili "cheese" fries.

You can see my millet peeking out underneath!

Simple Chili

1 onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 cans of beans (we use light red kidney, dark red kidney, and pinto)
1 quart of crushed tomatoes
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder (we use a single-ingredient ancho chili powder)
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp each sage and thyme
1 tsp miso mixed in a tiny amount of water
(optional: 1/2 tsp lemon juice -- this was in our home-canned tomatoes already and reduces the need for salt)
1 Tbsp carob powder
1/2 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp gluten free flour blend mixed in a tiny amount of water

1. Saute onion in a little water.  Add pepper and garlic and continue to saute until soft.
2. Add other ingredients.  Let simmer for several hours until you are ready to enjoy.

Makes about 6 servings.

Week 34 -- Zucchini Stew

This soup is an old family favorite.  It's a great way to use the abundance of zucchini that people in many parts of the US have from their gardens this time of year.  When I was growing up, my mom sometimes added sliced leftover hot dogs from picnics.  We don't eat hot dogs anymore, so I like to add a can of beans for that same chewy heartiness.  We also used to eat this soup with a nice fluffy bread, so if you have a bread you like this is a great time to indulge in a slice or two.

Full disclosure: I made this soup with mostly leftovers.  I'm moving soon, and I had a small going away party.  I used some leftover veggies from the veggie trays to make this soup come together quickly.  I made it in a crock pot and let it cook all day while I was outside with a yard sale (trying to sell off things I don't want to pack).

Zucchini Stew

1 red onion, sliced
5 cloves garlic, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced in half-moons
1 yellow squash, sliced in half-moons
2 bell peppers (I used one red and one green), sliced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can beans, any kind
Water to cover (about 1 1/2 cups)

1.  Put all ingredients in a slow cooker.  Let cook on low for about 8 hours.

Makes about 8 servings.

Week 29 -- Italian Festival Soup

I"m getting ready to move, so I'm using up the weird odds and ends in my freezer.  This week in my freezer I found two gluten-free vegan Italian sausage patties my mom made for me.  You can see my mom's sausage making method in this demo we did for a local tv show:  https://accesschautauquacountytv.org/episode/9dIYrYrLlpg

I grew up attending Italian festivals at churches every summer, and the signature scent at these festivals was always the peppers and onions served on sausage. Forget the sausage, the peppers and onions were the good part!

To make the broth richer I added a cup of tomato sauce I also found the freezer, the remnant of some past pizza-making expedition.

This soup brings back the atmosphere of those festivals.  Sing along to Volare while you eat for the real experience!

I feel like I'm sitting in a wooden folding chair under a tent.

Mmm...can you smell the onions and peppers?

Italian Festival Soup

1 large sweet onion, sliced

2 sweet bell peppers, sliced

4 cloves of garlic, sliced

2 vegan Italian sausages (optional -- replace with one can of beans and some red pepper flakes)

1 tsp fennel seeds (increase to 1 1/2 if using beans instead of sausage

1 cup tomato sauce

water to cover

1. Saute onion in water until soft.  Add garlic and then bell peppers.  

2. Add tomato sauce and water to thin to desired consistency.  Add fennel seeds.

3. Crumble or slice sausages and add.  Simmer about 10 minutes to let flavors meld.

Makes about 3 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 4 -- Black Bean Soup

This poor soup.  It tastes really good, but it looks awful.  Seriously, it looks like wet concrete.  Not even cement -- concrete.  This is probably not the soup to serve at a fancy dinner when you're trying to convince people that plant-based foods are beautiful.  Unless your party is in the dark -- then it's perfect!

It does taste wonderful, though.

I usually love my black bean soup really salty, but we all know added salt is not good for our bodies (it contributes to high blood pressure and stomach cancer).  I usually cheat and use miso, which adds salt but doesn't seem to contribute to these problems (thanks to the preventative power of soy).  But I didn't want to add miso to the soup every week.  What makes a great substitute for salt?  Acid -- citrus or vinegar.  The sour receptors on our tongues are near the salt receptors, so sour foods trick your brain.  If you try the soup but you really need more salty flavor, add a spoonful of miso mixed with some water at the very end of cooking.

Because of my allergies, I don't often have oranges.  I can usually only get safe-for-me oranges for a few weeks in winter, so I try to make the most of them!

A beautiful rainbow of ingredients!  For now...

I know, but it tastes great!

Safety first with avocados!  I recommend an avocado cutter.

I have one in my kitchen and one in my travel cooking bag.

It's hard to take a great photo when your mouth is watering!

Black Bean Soup

3 cups black beans (or two cans rinsed and drained)

1 purple onion

3-4 cloves garlic

3 small tomatoes or 1 large tomato

1/2 a large bell pepper

2 oranges

2 avocados

1. Chop the garlic and set it aside.  Chop the onion and saute it with a little bit of water.

Add the garlic when the onion is translucent.

2. Add the black beans and about 3 cups of water.

3.  Chop the bell pepper and tomato and add to the soup.  Cut the peel off the oranges, remove the seeds and some of the tough membranes, and chop.  Add oranges to the soup, too.  Let simmer for a few minutes so the flavors can meld.

4. Turn off the heat.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup, leaving some chunks.  

If you don't have an immersion blender, put about half the soup in a blender, blend, then return to the soup pot.  Return to a simmer.  Add more water if desired.

5. Makes four servings.  Top each serving with half an avocado.

Note:  You can cook tomatoes as much as you want and still get all the nutrition.

This is not so for bell pepper.  It's in the soup for flavor, but you'll get almost no nutrition from it when cooked.  Eat the other half of the pepper raw as a snack to keep your body happy.