Instapot Pea Soup and Tempeh Crunchies

vegilante.ca

This is a recipe adapted from www.veggieinspired.com

I wouldn't make the tempeh crunchies the same way again... I will write what I did but then also write what I think I will do next time.

Have you tried Vegilante Tempeh yet? It is just awesome.

1SP for the entire pot on WW Purple.

Pea Soup

1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large potato, peeled and grated or chopped into small pieces
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 bay leaf
1 clove garlic, minced
2 cups split green peas, rinsed well
6 cups vegetable stock
salt

Select sauté on the instapot and set the temperature to medium. Add the oil. When it is warm, fry the onion, carrot and celery until they soften.

Add the potato, thyme, liquid smoke, pepper, and garlic. Stir for a minute until everything is well mixed together.

Add the stock and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze it. Add the peas, a tsp of salt and bay leaf and stir all together making sure the peas are under the liquid.

Press cancel on the instapot. Put on the lid and make sure the vent is turned to "sealing".

Press manual and make sure the temperature is set to high. Set the timer for 12 minutes. Leave the pot to do its thing and allow it to vent at least 10 minutes when it is done before releasing the vent to allow the rest of the steam to escape. Be careful not to burn yourself.

Remove the bay leaf and enjoy! I didn't blend the soup - that is up to you. I did add more salt.

Tempeh Crunchies

1 pkg tempeh
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
Spray of oil

Cut the tempeh into small pieces. You can crumble it if you want but I found it became more of a mushy mess.

Lay the tempeh on a pan and spray with oil then sprinkle with salt, paprika, cayenne and liquid smoke.

I air-fried the tempeh for 5 minutes, tossed then fried again for another 5 minutes. You could put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 then toss them and put them in for another 5, You want them to be crunchy but not burned!

It made little crunchy bits but I found them a bit tasteless. We sprinkled them into the soup and it added a nice crunch but I think that next time I would marinate the tempeh pieces in 1 tbsp soya sauce, 1 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cayenne, 1 tsp liquid smoke, and 1 tsp sugar. It will add a point to the mixture but I think the flavour will be better.

Not Really Korean Kimchi Soup

This soup requires several specific Korean ingredients that I didn't have so this is my version of the kimchi soup that I love. Watch the kimchi as it can have shrimp in it.

WW blue or purple: 2 pts for the entire soup

Ingredients

4 cups vegetable stock
1 sheet of nori
2 cups cabbage kimchi, shredded
1 cup shredded cabbage
1 package of enoki mushrooms
1 block of tofu, sliced, your choice of firmness
1 cup green beans, fresh or frozen, cut in half
2 tbsp shiro miso (or any miso you have)
1 hard boiled egg per person (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

If the beans are fresh, parboil them to soften them and add the tofu to simmer for a few minutes before cutting the tofu into cubes.

Heat the stock and crumble the sheet of nori into the stock. Add the cabbage and allow to cook for five minutes.

Add the mushrooms, tofu and green beans and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the miso. Once the miso has dissolved, stir in the kimchi and allow to heat through but don't bring it to a boil.

Place a peeled egg in each bowl and ladle the soup overtop. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

You can play with the amount of kimchi that you want to add - we added another small scoop of kimchi to our bowl of soup. Great for your gut health apparently!

Broccoli Soup

I like this recipe because it uses a lot of broccoli so that when I buy some, I don't only use half and have this little sad piece looking at me each time I open the fridge. I harvested the last of the broccoli from the garden and used it all up for this thick soup.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

3/4 cup raw cashews
1 tbsp raw coconut oil (the raw is less processed and has a slight coconut flavour)
1 large onion, diced
3 carrots, chopped
7 cups broccoli, chopped
Salt
Pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
6 cups water
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp sugar

1. Soak the cashews in enough warm water to cover them while you make the rest of the soup.

2. Heat the coconut oil on medium in a large saucepan.

3. Fry the onions until translucent (about 3 minutes) then add the carrots, ginger and cumin. Fry for 5 minutes.

4. Toss in the broccoli and fry another 5 minutes.

5. Add 5 cups of water, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

6. When the broccoli is soft, use a blender or immersion blender to make the soup as smooth as possible. It will be very thick. Blend it in batches if you are using a blender and be careful not to get burned.

7. Drain the cashews and blend until completely smooth with 1 cup of water. I used my Nutribullet.

8. Stir in the cashew cream. If the soup is still too thick, add some 'milk' to thin it to the right thickness. It will depend on your preference.

9. Stir in the lemon juice and sugar. Bring back up to a gentle boil but be careful to heat it slowly as it can stick and burn to the bottom and tends to bubble like a volcano and could burn you when it boils.

10. Taste and add more salt as needed. I find it needs a fair bit of salt.

Enjoy!






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Cooking the Book: Cook with Kindness

I love cookbooks and I always want to buy more and more and more. I look through them and if there is one recipe that looks tempting then I want the whole book! Corey suggested that if I wanted to add to my cookbook collection, I should maybe start "cooking the book" and forcing myself to cook three recipes from a cookbook each week for a month to work my way through at least 12 recipes before leaping to my next book. Makes sense.

I decided to start with one of my books that is already on my shelf to see if i can actually do it.

Cook with Kindness is a book published in Canada that my sister-in-law gave to me. It's the best friend of the sister of one of her best friends who wrote it. Not only is it vegan but it's also gluten free. It's a beautiful book.



I have made the recipe on the cover, the peanut butter cups, and they are as delicious and decadent as they look.

I have also made the flax crackers twice and they are scrumptious. They store forever and can be flavoured with spices. I made my second batch with onion flakies. For us, we like to sprinkle salt on top before they bake and we added more onion flakes than we thought they needed and it worked out perfectly. It was also suggested to use salted, roasted sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds to add more saltiness. All my seeds were raw in my recipes.

One recipe covers almost an entire cookie sheet. Make sure you line the cookie sheet with parchment paper.

3/4 cup flax seeds
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp hemp seeds
1/2 tsp sea salt (I added more and add another spice of your choice as desired)

Mix the flax seeds and water in a bowl and leave for an hour until all the water is absorbed. It makes a gluey mess. Kinda gross looking. Add everything else.

Spread onto the parchment paper and bake at 250 for an hour. Turn off the oven and leave it in the oven until it's cool. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.



Tonight we are having Roasted Squash, Garlic and Red Lentil Soup. It,s a blustery rainy evening so it's a good choice. I'm using the hubbard squash from our garden that is leftover from thanksgiving dinner. It's tasty! Garlicky but the garlic is roasted so not overly so. So far the recipes are yummy!




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Tortilla Soup

Not sure where I ever got the taste for tortilla soup but every so often I get a craving for a bowl of this yummy soup. There are many recipes for tortilla soup that just are soup with tortillas in it but I wanted a recipe with tortillas actually as an ingredient. This soup came together quickly and was delicious. Adjust the amount of cilantro depending on how much you like cilantro but don't omit it entirely or else you lose a vital flavour.

Tortilla Soup

4 cups veggie stock
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions, sliced with the green parts
8 roma tomatoes, roughly chopped (or one can of diced tomatoes)
a handful of cilantro, chopped
1 tsp chili powder
1.5 tsp cumin
3-4 handfuls of tortilla chips (and more for on top)
salt, to taste
1/2 cup corn kernels
1.5 cups cooked black beans

In a medium stock pot, bring to a boil the stock, onions, garlic and green onions. When it's boiling, add the tomatoes and bring to a boil again. Toss in the cilantro, the chili powder, the cumin and the tortilla chips. Remove from the heat. Once the chips have gone soggy, use an immersion blender to blend it all smooth.

Taste and add salt to taste depending on how salty your chips are.

Add the corn and beans and heat back up to a boil.

Serve with a few crushed tortilla chips on top. You could also add chunks of avocado if you wanted!

Roasted Asparagus Corn Chowder

This rain is depressing. It's June 7th and I have the fireplace on to warm up because the outside temperature drops to about 6 degrees at night. It shouldn't be time to be making soup but who wants salads and sandwiches when we are wearing scarves and gloves in the morning and at night? Ridiculous!!

I made this chowder in the slow cooker and left it for about 4 hours on low. You could do it in a regular pot and cook it faster. It depends on your time. You could also toss in raw asparagus if you don't want to roast it but I can't guarantee that the flavour will be as good. Play around!

Roasted Asparagus Corn Chowder

2 tbsp canola oil
1 medium leek, sliced thin (see note below)
3 medium carrots, sliced
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 lrg can garbanzo beans or 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans that you have waiting in your freezer
1 red pepper, sliced
1 yellow pepper, sliced
1 tbsp coarse sea salt
2 cups corn kernels, frozen or fresh
1 package powdered coconut milk
5 cups water
1 vegan stock cube
chopped roasted asparagus - however much you have left

If you are making this in a slow cooker, omit the oil and throw all the rest of the ingredients, minus the roasted asparagus, in the slow cooker, mix really well to get the coconut powder to dissolve as much as possible, and leave on low for 4 hours or so. Add the asparagus in the last 30 minutes of cooking. If you are using raw asparagus, add it at the beginning.

If you are doing this in a pot, heat the oil and fry the leek until the pieces start to brown. Add all the other ingredients , minus the roasted asparagus. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat and leave to simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes. Toss in the roasted asparagus and leave to simmer another 5 minutes. If the asparagus is raw, toss in with the rest of the ingredients so that it cooks.

Leek Note: Leeks can be full of dirt. To clean them properly, cut off the root end and slice down the length of the leek so that you cut the rings in all the way down. Don't cut all the way through, the knife should go half way through to the core and then slice down. Put the leek under running cold water and use your thumb to separate the layers to wash the grit caught in-between the layers. You can even pull the leek layers apart, wash them, and then put them back together.

Cheese-Free Mexican

While we were in San Diego we enjoyed many Mexican meals but each meal is laden with cheese. One soup I did not find that I have eaten in Mexico is tortilla soup. It is one of my favourites! So tonight I made a cheese-free tortilla soup. I'm not sure if it usually has cheese as some recipes had cheese and others didn't but this one has the flavour that I was looking for. Corey says it's a bit cilantro-y for him so reduce the amount if you don't like a strong cilantro flavour. I love it! There is another recipe that used nutritional yeast to make a cheesy tortilla soup. I'll let you know what that one is like.

Tortilla Soup

4 cups veggie broth
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 green onions,sliced
1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes (don't use canned tomatoes - use frozen or fresh ones)
1/4 - 1/2 bunch cilantro
1 tbsp chili powder
1.5 tbsp cumin (fresh ground from Abby's - remember?)
3-4 handfuls of tortilla chips
1 tsp salt or more to taste
1/2 cup frozen corn
1.5 cups cooked black beans (one can or the ones you have cooked and in the freezer)
juice of 1 lime (or about 1tbsp of lime juice)
1 avocado, sliced

Bring the stock, garlic and onion to a boil. Turn down heat and add tomatoes. Allow to simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in cilantro, chili powder, cumin and tortilla chips. The chips will soften (duh) and when they do, blend the soup with an immersion blender. Add salt and adjust seasoning to taste. Return to heat, add corn and beans and bring up to almost a boil. Turn the heat down and simmer until you are ready to eat the soup. Crumble tortillas into the soup and add slices of avocado on top.

Thai Coconut Corn Soup

This soup can be as spicy as you want it to be depending on how much cayenne pepper you use and if you add a sliced chili. I used a Thai red chili but you can use a jalapeno. For a milder version but with the flavour of the chili, remove the seeds before adding the chili to the soup. Just make sure to wear gloves when you chop a red chili as the oil burns your fingers and then burns any other skin you may touch!

I used kaffir lime leaves and dried galangal but lime juice and fresh ginger will work just as well.

Thai Coconut Corn Soup

2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 - 3 carrots, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less)
1 chili pepper, sliced - see note above
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed or 1 cup cooked garbanzos
1 sweet red pepper, sliced
1 sweet yellow pepper, sliced
2 cups frozen corn
2 cans coconut milk (about 400 ml each)
2 cups water
1/2 tbsp salt
1/2 tbsp lime juice or 2 kaffir lime leaves
1/2 tbsp minced fresh ginger or 2 pieces dried galangal

Heat the oil on medium in a large saucepan. Add the onion, carrots, garlic, and cayenne. Stir and cook until the onions and carrots start to soften. Add all the other ingredients and bring the soup up to a boil. Turn the heat down and let the soup simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings (salt, cayenne pepper, lime juice) as needed.

Chickpea Barley Soup

At 6 degrees above zero, it's almost getting too warm for soup but our winter has been so mild so far that I feel like I've missed my soup making time this year. I love making soup! Here is a favourite that uses pot barley for added fibre. You can use pearl barley which cooks faster but then you don't get the husk. I like the crunchier texture of pot barley. And a note about miso - it does not like to be boiled. When you add it, bring the soup to a simmer but don't bring it up to a rolling boil. Why? No idea but every time I read about miso, the experts say that it is important not to boil it. Just passing the info on.

Chickpea Barley Soup

2 tsbp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced thin
1 large carrot, peeled and sliced thin
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 pinch dried rosemary crushed in your fingers
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tbsp mirin or water
2 cups cooked chickpeas or one large can drained and rinsed
1/3 cup dried pot barley
7 cups water (or veggie stock if not using miso - see note below)
1/3 cup miso dissolved in 1 cup hot water
1 bunch kale or chard, chopped thin (optional but why not add the vitamins and minerals?)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Turn the heat down to medium and toss in onions and carrot. Fry about 10 minutes until they start to soften. Add the garlic and herbs/spices. Fry for another 5 minutes, stirring so that the veggies don't burn. Add the 2tbsp mirin or water to deglaze the soup pot (you want to try to dissolve all the yummy brown coating on the bottom of the pan which holds a lot of flavour.) Add the chickpeas, barley and 7 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer about 30 minutes. Once the barley is cooked, stir in the dissolved miso and the greens. Cover again and let simmer 15 minutes until the greens are soft. Taste and adjust the seasonings.

Note: Depending on the type of miso you use (white rice, brown rice, barley, etc.) you will get a more or less intense flavour. You can also replace the miso by using vegetable stock instead of  plain water. It will change the flavour and you'll need to adjust the seasoning but I have done it and it is yummy as well. Enjoy!

You can freeze this soup.

Winter White Soup

This soup matches the weather today - we are blanketed in a cloud of white fog. It is almost eerie how quiet the fog makes the world become.

This is winter white soup because the veggies are all white but if you used carrots and turnip it could be a winter pale orange soup. Depends on what root vegetables you have lurking around. I give numbers and sizes for the root vegetables but any combination will work. Feel free to add potatoes. I don't because they aren't good for Corey's diabetes.


Your added salt will vary on the stock you use and the hot sauce is optional or can be adjusted based on your taste. I used sriracha hot sauce (the rooster hot sauce that you can buy anywhere - watch you don't get the version that is sold as "garlic hot sauce" unless you REALLY want to taste the garlic for days afterwards) but you could use sambal oelek or any other hot sauce as you wish. You could even use dried chilies. Be careful though - those dried chilies only require a small amount to make a dish very hot.

Winter White Soup
1 tbsp olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 large parsnips or 8 small parsnips peeled and sliced
1 medium celeriac (celery root) peeled and cubed
1 medium/large rutabaga peeled and cubed
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 cup white wine
5 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a soup pot on medium heat and add the onions. Cook until they are becoming translucent, about 5 minutes. Toss in the root veggies and cover the pot. Let them steam and cook for about 10 minutes. Stir them occasionally to prevent them from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pot. Stir in the wine and stock. Bring the soup to a boil and stir in the thyme. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and leave the soup for 20-30 minutes so that the veggies become soft. Blend in the blender (don't over fill the blender because it will explode with the heat) or with a immersion blender (no kitchen should be without one) so that it is smooth. You may need to add more stock or hot water to make the soup thinner depending on your preference. Stir in the hot sauce, salt and pepper.

This is yummy with a nice veggie sandwich of avocado, lettuce, cucumber and tomato. None of these are in season when the root veggies are but I get a bit tired of the seasonal winter veggies by February.

Xi Nian Kuai Le

Or Gung Hei Fat Choy if you are from Hong Kong but as we celebrated Chinese New Year on the mainland, we learned the Mandarin version of the new year wish. Happy Year of the Dragon! It officially started on Monday but the celebrations go on for 14 days and end with the lantern festival.

To celebrate, Corey and I had a Huo Guo (Chinese Hot Pot) with Kim last night. Anyone who has had a Chinese fondue has had a type of huo guo. In China, a huo guo restaurant has tables with holes in the middle, large propane burners inside the hole, and steaming pots of spicy broth are placed on top of the burners. The pots are 24" in diameter and a rotating platform surrounds the pot has all the little dishes of yummy bits that are put into the soup to cook. Then there is the solid table where each person has a scoop, a set of chopsticks, a small plate and a bowl of garlic and sesame oil for dipping.

While we were in China, we had all sorts of yummy and more challenging bits thrown into the soup to eat including famous Chinese white broccoli (we were very excited about this new vegetable until we received a plate of cauliflower), various Chinese greens, lotus root, tofu, mushrooms, fish, pork, beef, fish heads, freshly killed eels in their own blood, congealed duck blood, frog skin, and my personal favourite - sheep's brain. No chicken because we were there during the bird flu epidemic and we were rarely served chicken at all.

Obviously the huo guo we made last night was a vegan version (and it's hard to find good congealed duck's blood here - sheesh!) We used our new fondue set that Santa brought for us at Christmas and we each had a little netted scoop that you can buy at the Asian market as well as chopsticks to eat with. Corey made the crushed garlic and sesame oil dipping sauce and we feasted on huo guo for Chinese New Year. Yummy!

Year of the Dragon Spicy Hot Pot

For the Soup:
2 tbsp oil
6 dried cayenne peppers (or 1 tbsp crushed dried chilies)
2 tbsp korean chili bean paste (or other chili bean paste that you have)
1 tbsp sambal oelek
3 star anise
1/4 cup dried mushroom pieces (any type that you have)
zest of 1 orange
6 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 tbsp minced ginger
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
8 cups vegetable stock

Heat the oil in a large pot and fry the dried peppers, chili bean paste and sambal oelek until they are fragrant. Throw everything else into the pot, bring it up to a boil and then turn it down to simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasonings as you want to make it spicier or add more stock to reduce the heat. When you are ready to do the huo guo, strain the soup to only have the liquid in your fondue pot.

We eat out food spicy but if you don't want a spicy stock, don't use the cayenne peppers, chili paste and sambal oelek. The important flavours come from the star anise, dried mushrooms and orange zest, garlic and ginger.

Our yummy bits to throw in last night were (from left to right):
- chopped Chinese cabbage (behind the huo guo pot)
- enoki mushrooms
- brown mushrooms (yuck - totally optional)
- lotus root (buy these canned if you want but fresh are divine! Peel and slice THIN so that they soften up a bit. They can be eaten raw so it doesn't matter how crunchy they are but they are QUITE crunchy so be forewarned. They are like crunchier and harder water chestnuts.)
- more enoki mushrooms
- red cabbage
- green onions (not for me as you well know)
- tofu skin (make sure to get the vacuum pack variety that is flexible when you open up the sheets or else if you get the dehydrated variety you will have to reconstitute it first before slicing it. Not a problem, just an added step)
- baby bok choy leaves
- sliced extra firm tofu

You can really use whatever you want. Everyone places whatever interests them into the soup and then lets the soup heat up again and simmer. When you can't stand waiting any longer, you scoop out bits and pieces and put them in the bowl with the sesame oil and garlic. Anything can be eaten raw in a vegan version so you don't have to wait until the soup comes to a rolling boil before you pick out some tasty bits to eat.

Enjoy!