Creamy Cauliflower and Kale Soup

My love affair with the vitamix continues.   This morning I made another batch of almond milk (and have more yummy crackers in the dehydrator), and for lunch I made a quick soup.  I love that I can make a hot creamy soup so quickly.  I love soup.  So today I raided the fridge to see what produce needed to be used.  We had some Cauliflower leftover from our farm share, half a red onion, and some kale that all needed to be finished up. So this is what I came up with...

  

Ingredients:

1 head of Cauliflower

1 bunch of Kale

1/2 large Red Onion

1 cup of vegetable broth

1/2 cup raw cashews

1/4 nutritional yeast

thyme, oregano, sage, and salt to taste

 

Chop and lightly steam the veggies (if you aren't using a vitamix I'd let them go longer- until they were very soft) 

 

While the veggies were steaming I prepared a base for the soup- 1 cup of veggie broth, blended with the cashews, herbs, and nutritional yeast

 

Throw in your steamed veggies and blend on high for 4-5 minutes until you see steam in the lid. 

 

Not quite munchkin approved, but he was completely distracted by how awesome the salt shaker is for all of lunch.   Micah and I, however, thought it was quite tasty.

My New Toy- Vitamix Turboblend VS

 

Michy and I bought a Vitamix as our holiday present to each other.   I have been lusting after this machine for a long time and last week the coop where Michy works offered them as a special item, which was just enough of a push to convince me to make the commitment. We got an awesome blender, get her employee discount, and supported the co-op.  Wins all around.

Michy brought it home yesterday, and I was so excited to get started... but didn't have a chance until this morning.   I've used it four times today.  I can tell this is going to become a staple of my cooking.

One of the main reasons I wanted a vitamix was to make smoothies.  I love to have smoothies for breakfast, and I kept killing our immersion blenders... they just weren't holding up to the daily abuse.  I also wanted to be able to get a smoother consistency with veggies and be able to include more veggies in my morning drinks.

My first experiment was more of a juice than a smoothie but still yummy and gave me a good idea of how to work the machine.

 

1 apple, 2 carrots, 1 beet- chopped

 

1 cup of water, the fruits and veggies, followed by about a cup of ice. I also threw in a tablespoon of Udi's DHA Oil blend

 

It took less than a minute to reach the right consistency

 

The munchkin and I enjoyed glasses of this all day long.

 

clean-up was super easy.  rinse, add water and a couple drops a dish-soap and run for a minute. 

The next thing I tried was making pancake batter.  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures while I did this, so you will just have to trust me that it worked great and tasted wonderful.  I had a great recipe for oat flour pancakes from Renee Hastings, who has been doing nutrition counseling for a program I have been involved in at Heartsong Yoga.  Basically it involves grinding oats in your food processor to make a flour to use for vegan/ gluten free pancakes.  The vitamix easily ground up the oats to a great flour consistency.  Oats are so much cheaper than some of the gluten free flours out there- so I have a feeling I'm going to be making oat flour alot. 

One of the coolest things I had heard about the Vitamix was that it would actually make hot soup- right in the blender.  I decided I had to try that.  So I combined a cup of water, a half cup of raw cashews, 4 tomatoes, 2 cloves of garlic and some spices to make:

 

Delicious creamy tomato soup!

 

Munchkin approved (and notice he is still enjoying his apple carrot beet juice!)

My final experiment of the night (which I am enjoying as I type) was a couple squares of 100% cacao baking chocolate, coconut milk, vanilla, and stevia for a frothy hot chocolate. 

Right now I've got some raw almonds soaking on the counter that will turn into fresh almond milk first thing in the morning. 

I also picked Michy up from work today and got a ton of produce so we can experiment with some green smoothies.   I am already in love with this machine.  I can't wait to see what else we can come up with.

Very Veggie Marinara

First- big news! The munckin has gone from a high chair to a booster seat! We picked up a cheap one the other day to give it a try.  He's been getting more and more reluctant to sit in his high chair.  I figured he probably wanted to be at the table with everyone else instead of separated.  He seems so much happier to be in the action.  I still have the high chair out for times when I want to give him a snack while I'm make dinner, but for meals I think he is going to transition full time to the booster.  I can't believe how big he is getting.

 

First meal in his big boy chair!

In this week's farmshare we had a bunch of beautiful heirloom tomatoes.  I knew I needed to do something with them quickly so that they didn't go to waste.  So it was time to make marinara.  yum.  Making pasta sauce is one of my favorite, albeit time and labor intensive, cooking tasks.  There is really nothing like homemade sauce, jars just can't compare.  I put a ton of veggies in my sauce, whatever is on hand, which mellows the acidity of the tomatoes and gives the sauce a really complex flavor. Plus it is a great way to hide some of the veggies the munchkin might not normally eat and get him even more nutrients. (though to be fair this kiddo is a great eater and hardly ever gives me a hard time about veggies *knocks on wood*

Like with pesto, I don't really follow a set recipe.

Ingredients:

10 or so tomatoes (in the winter two cans of diced tomatoes is a good substitute for fresh)

1 large onion

5-6 cloves of garlic

An assortment of veggies- I always have at least carrots and celery- altogether about 4-5 cups of chopped veggies

1/4 cup olive olive

Herbs and spices to taste-  I used salt, oregano, thyme, parsley,  and basil.  When I know Ian wont eat it, I throw in a teaspoon of cayenne pepper.

1/2-1 cup of red wine

 

Here are the veggies ready to go. 

 

1. Get some water boiling 

 

2. Prepare an ice bath

 

3. Once the water is at a rolling boil, take your tomatoes, remove the stems and drop a few in at a time.  Once the skin starts to wrinkle (about 1 minute)...

 

Pull them out and drop them in the ice bath.  

 

4. Peel the tomatoes and squeeze out the seeds.  The hot water and ice bath makes the skin practically fall off.  Ian tells me that running them over the fire on a gas stove also works.  I've never tried that. 

 

Peeled and seeded tomatoes. Notice the baby monitor- the munchkin was actually napping in bed. sweet!

 

5. Chop your veggies and saute with the olive oil.  In here I have onion, garlic, carrots, celery, a bell pepper, a cucumber, a summer squash, some broccoli, and 3 beets. The beets give a great color and sweetness to the sauce.  All these veggies came from our farmshare. Have I mentioned how much I love having a farmshare? I <3 Red Fire Farm

 

6. While your veggies soften blend up your tomatoes

 

7. When the veggies are a little soft you can add the tomato puree... then add your herbs, bring everything to a boil, then set it to a simmer.

8. Simmer the tomatoes until all the veggies are soft, about 20 minutes.

 

9.  Throw it all back in the blender and puree.  You will probably have to do this in batches or use an immersion blender.

 

10.  Add your wine.  

11. Simmer, simmer, simmer, simmer.  The longer you simmer the richer the sauce becomes.  I let this batch go about 3 hours.

 

The munchkin playing an awesome pots and pans drum solo while I cooked

This delicious looking eggplant

 

became this even more delicious dairy and gluten free eggplant parm.

 

definitely munchkin approved.

Enjoy!

 

Pesto!

This week in our farm share we got over a pound of basil.  A pound of basil goes a long way, so I knew I had to do something with it quickly so it didn't go to waste.  The obvious choice was pesto. I love pesto, it tastes like summer.

I don't really have a pesto recipe.  I always kind of wing it, but it always comes out tasty. 

So here are my guidelines for a tasty vegan pesto:

Ingredients: Amounts are appoximate, I do this by sight/ taste- play with it until it looks and tastes right to you!

Fresh basil- washed and larger stems and flowers removed.  About 3 cups
A nut- pine nuts are traditional, but I don't like them so I use walnuts instead About 1 cup
Garlic- 3-4 cloves
A good quality Extra virgin olive oil- I drizzle this in last until the pesto has a nice texture, about a quarter cup.
Nutritional yeast- about a 1/4 cup
An acidic liquid- lemon juice works, today I did sweet cider vinegar- about a tablespoon
Salt- about 2 teaspoons- more than you think you'll need
I don't use pepper because Ian is allergic, but it would work nicely

 

Throw everything into your food processor but only about half the olive oil you think you will use, pulse a few moments and give it a taste.  The nutritional yeast, acid, and salt are key here because they replace the tangy, salty Parmesan.  Here is where I play with the ingredient proportions until it tastes right.  I always end up adding more salt than I think I need.  Then start blending, adding olive oil until you achieve a smooth, creamy consistency.  

 

NomNomNom. The munchkin was eating it with a spoon as I got it into jars. 

 

We had it with brown rice pasta.

 

Munchkin approved!

 

Easy Gluten Free/ Dairy Free Eggplant Parm

 Last week we got the most delicious looking eggplant in our farm share.  For me to say "delicious" and "eggplant" in the same sentence is really saying something.   Until I experienced my first fresh, local, organic bought-at-the-farmer's-market eggplant a couple of years ago I thought eggplant was the most foul mushy grey veggie known to man.  But on a whim I bought one, made ratatouille, and realized I hadn't given it a fair chance.

I looked at my luscious, shiny, purple eggplant and decided it wanted to be Eggplant Parm.  It was so yummy, I had seconds.

with a side of quinoa pasta

While I love making food totally from scratch, there wasn't time for that today with errands and taking the munckin to his swimming lesson... so I relied on some of my favorite gluten free and dairy free brands for this dinner.

Ingredients:

Gillians Gluten Free Bread Crumbs
Dayia Mozzarella
Gluten Free Bisquick
Bove's Marinara Sauce ( I really enjoy making marinara, but when I don't make my own this is my go to, it is really delicious!)
2 large eggplants,
Enough egg to help the breadcrumbs stick (While I'm eating mostly vegan, I happened to have pasture raised eggs from a nearby farm on-hand, to make this vegan omit the egg and use whatever breading method works best for you)
oregano, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, nutritional yeast- personal preference, I tend to have a heavy hand with herbs.
A neutral flavored oil that can hold up to higher heat- I used canola, enough to thoroughly cover the bottom of the pan.

1. Preheat the oven to 400.

2. Cut your eggplant into thin slices (about a 1//4 inch)

 

3. Salt the eggplant and let it sit for 10-15 minutes.  Seriously! This is the best trick I've learned for drawing out the excess moisture in the eggplant and avoiding that soggy mushiness that I don't like about eggplant.

 

4. Combine your herbs into the breadcrumbs (or use Italian style breadcrumbs) Bread the eggplant slices- I do a layer of gf bisquick, then dredge in egg, then coat in breadcrumbs.  

 

5. Heat your oil to medium high. Pan fry your eggplant slices- it takes about a minute each side

 

I suggest wearing an apron- this can be messy. I particularly enjoy my "baking is science for hungry people" apron.

 

6. Layer your eggplant, daiya, and sauce.  I also sprinkled some more of the herbs on top with a nice pinch of nutritional yeast for more of a "cheesy" flavor.

 

7. Bake for 30 minutes.

 

Munchkin approved!

Curried Coconut Corn and Tofu Chowder

Poor Ian is allergic to pepper... and I love spicy, especially curry.  So since he was going to be out for the evening on Monday I decided to use up some stuff in the fridge and make something a little spicy.  So here is what I came up with.

4 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil
1 Large Onion
4 Carrot
6 small ears of fresh corn
4 cups of vegetable broth
4 cups of coconut milk
1 package of firm tofu
3 Tablespoons of Curry Powder
Salt and pepper to taste

 

Heat 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in your stock pot on medium

 

toss in your chopped onion and your corn 

 

add carrots

Saute until the veggies are soft

 

Prep your tofu.  Drain it, wrap in paper towels and press out the moisture.

Once the veggies are soft add your liquids and bring to a boil, stir in 2 of the tablespoons of curry powder

 

Cube the tofu and fry it up on a medium high heat with the other 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and the final tablespoon of curry powder

 

Mmm... curry

 

Reserve a few of the curried tofu chunks for your ravenous toddler

 

If you like use an immersion blender to blend up the liquid and veggies a bit.  It makes it a bit more creamy, but leave it a little chunky.

Stir in the fried tofu and let everything simmer until you are ready to eat.

 

Enjoy a nice glass of wine

 

Delicious

 

And munchkin approved.