creamy carrot ginger bisque

This yummy soup is from Food 52  Vegan, recipes by the wonderful Gena Hamshaw.I have followed her blog for a long time and am enjoying the book as well.

Ingredients:
broth or water
3/4 cup diced onion
1/2 cup diced celery
1- 1/2 to 2 " piece of ginger, chopped finely
4 cups veg broth
1 - 1/4  pounds carrots, chopped- I didn't skin them, but it might have tasted even better if I did.
 1 medium red potato  skinned and chopped
1- 1/2 TB curry powder (I make my own)
1/3 cup savory cashew cream (Make more and you can use it on top of the soup for serving beauty.)
coconut bacon pieces  (I added these and they are marvelous!)

1.Heat a little bit of broth toe saute the onion, celery and ginger. Saute till the onion is clear and translucent. About 8 minutes.
2.Stir in broth, carrots, potato, and curry powder. Bring to a boil. Decrease heat and maintain a simmer. Cook till carrots are tender. About 25 minutes.
3. Transfer  half of the soup to the vitamix. Blend till creamy. Do the same for the other half. Stir in 1/3 cup cashew cream.
4. Top each bowl with a swirl of cashew cream and a handful of coconut bacon.

Savory cashew cream:
2 cups of cashews- soaked for at least 3 hours
1 to 2 TB  fresh lemon juice
1 cup cold water

Put cashews in food processor or high speed blender. Blend a little. Add lemon juice. Then add water till desired consistency.
It can store in the fridge for about a week. You can do so many things with it. Check it out.

mocha cheesecake- no bake!!!!!

I found this in the No Meat Athlete cookbook. I took out the crust.
One note- The coconut milk should be the canned variety. I like the whole food brand as I have had bad luck with some brands that won't separate. Refrigerate this overnight so that the fat and liquid separate. It should have a solid half and a liquid half. remember to soak cashews when you put the coconut milk in the fridge.

Ingredients:

one 13.5 full fat coconut milk can.
1 TB agar powder
1 TB plus  1 teaspoon instant coffee crystals
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup raw cashews. Soak them over night in water.
2 TB unsweetened cocoa powder

Separate the coconut liquid and solids. Put the liquid in a saucepan and the solids in a high speed blender.
In the sauce pan add the agar, coffee, maple syrup, water and vanilla. Whisk to combine. Then over medium heat allow the mixture to come to a simmer. Bubbles should form. Cook about 3 minutes. Agar should be dissolved.

In blender blend coconut milk solids and cashews. Keep scraping from the sides so they blend completely. With the blender on low add the ingredients from the sauce pan little by little.  Combine till smooth and delicious.

Set in the fridge for at least 3o minutes. Decorate as desired. I used fresh raspberries and slivered, blanched almonds.
Next time I will make a crust (maybe of vegan cookie crumbs or sliced banana. On top of that I will add a melted layer of chocolate. We aspire for great... not just good. The burger night crowd agreed.

savory tofu skins (yoba)

My framer, Bosco, gave me some yoba and a brief talk about how to make this. He said any marinade you like will do. I will be experimenting. It's yummy.

Ingredients:
Nori seaweed sheets (I used Emerald Cove)
 1/4 - 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
A few sprays of oil for frying
3 yoba folds
marinade (I suggest one below, but take your choice)

Marinade:
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 cup Tamari
2 TB apple cider vinegar
2 TB balsamic vinegar
2 TB vegan Worcestershire sauce
a few shakes of liquid smoke
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
a little  pepper
a little Tumeric
Mix these together then soak yoba in the marinade.

After they have soaked, dredge in flour then wrap in a nori sheet. Fold the yoba inside the sheet.

Pan fry with a tiny bit of oil. Slice thinly and gobble up!
I used the extra marinade as a dipping sauce.
Thanks Bosco!

Another sauce... this time Bosco's version

soy sauce
garlic
ginger
sesame oil

Pizza!!!!!!

I got the basic outline for this delicious Romesco sauce from the new Engine 2 Cookbook. I changed things to make it faster. I will give you my version. Buy the Esselstyn's new book for their yummy recipe. It's a keeper!

The basics: one Pizza crust , 1 red pepper and a few shavings of vegan Micynos smoked mozzarella cheese.

Sauce:
1 12oz jar Safeway fire roasted red bell peppers
1/2 cup or so of Muir Glen fire roasted tomato sauce
a few cloves roasted garlic (I happen to have it in my fridge- you could just use regular garlic)
1 slice whole wheat bread
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup hazelnuts
2 TB Balsamic vinegar
1 TB smoked paprika
pepper

Toast the nuts and bread at 350 for 10 minutes
Then add everything to the Vitamix or Cuisinart . And whammo! delicious sauce!

I put it on top of the frozen Engine 2 whole wheat pizza crust I had. Next I layered some slivered red peppers, more sauce and a small light layer of the vegan cheese.

Pizza 2-serious yum

On pizza crust put layer of times times romesco sauce and thin layer of tomato sauce. Then layers of artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper, jar of mushrooms and the smoked vegan cheese on top  it was awesome. 

baked blueberry oatmeal

Ingredients

• 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk (or another unsweetened plant milk)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 to 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 cup blueberries (fresh or thawed frozen blueberries)
• 
  

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Mix all ingredients thoroughly in a 4cup baking bowl. Bake 45 minutes or until the top is slightly browned. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon and more almond milk. Yum.
This recipe came from Rip's blog- Engine 2. He makes it in 4 ramekins. I didn't have ramekins.
The more pudding like feel is very different that my hockey puck oatmeal.

Note - This oatmeal is best the day it is cooked. I have refrigerated and microwaved it but it's simply not even close.

kale pesto

I am always trying to sneak more cruciferous veggies into my day and honestly I was a little skeptical when I saw this recipe. Messing with pesto should be sacrilegious, so I thought. But then I followed the recipe and made two small changes and there we are- a total yummers. My changes were: add nutritional yeast and double the  garlic.  I used the pesto as is with pasta and then I mixed it with my left over ratatouille. Paul (my husband) said, "You are going to remember this one, right?" Let me explain- every day is a new experience  in this kitchen. Unless I put my recipe in the blog the chance of it being repeated is pretty low. ha!
The original recipe came from one of my all time favorite cookbooks My Beef with Meat. I just love Jane Esselstyn's recipes!

2 cups kale, stripped and cooked
1 1/2 cups walnuts
4 garlic cloves
1/2 cups water or more to consistency
zest of a lemon
juice of a lemon
1 1/2 cups fresh basil
1/2 cup nutritional yeast

preheat oven to 350
Place kale in large pot with 1 inch of water. Cook for about 5 minutes. Set aside and drain
Toast walnuts in oven for about 5-7 minutes. Watch them closely so they don't burn.

Place toasted walnuts in food processor, chop. Add drained kale.
Blend. Then add garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice,  and basil. Blend.
Add nutritional yeast. Blend and add water or more lemon juice as necessary.

Enjoy!
Thanks Jane!

vegan cornbread

Vegan Cornbread (as requested from Agne)

·       1 1/4 cup cornmeal

·       1 cup whole wheat flour

·       1 cup non-dairy milk (I used almond)

·       1TB to ¼ cup sugar -depending how sweet you want it

·       2 tablespoons vegan butter, melted 

         ½ very ripe banana (I used a frozen one since it what was available- don't use a greenish one)

·       1 tablespoon baking powder

·       1/2 teaspoon salt

·       3/4 cup corn kernels, frozen

Instructions

1.    Preheat your oven to 400F and lightly grease a 8" x 8" pan.

2.    In a large bowl, add everything together except for the corn kernels. Stir until just combined. Don't over mix it. Add the corn kernels in last.

Bake for 20-25 minutes