Pho Noodle Soup with Tofu

Ack! This week completely escaped me for food blogging!

Hopefully this week I will be more consistent.

This week also marks VegFest Minneapolis 2013! It is coming up already! I will be volunteering at the festival, so come check it out!!!! Lots of fun and food!

OK. So the photo above is a quick soup I threw together. Again, I got major help from the Pacific Vegetarian Pho Soup Base that I added to thinly sliced garlic and onions. I threw in vermicelli rice noodles, then removed from heat and stirred in some "power greens" which was a mix of spinach, baby kale and baby red chard (mainly spinach).

For the tofu: I grilled them on the George Foreman Grill for a bit, then slathered on some quick cilantro-ginger-hot pepper sauce, cut into mini triangles and set on top of the soup.

What can I say? The temperature is dropping here and soup is comforting and fairly easy to make.

Kimchi Soup with Tofu, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Veggies

Confession: I have never had kimchi.

Until now!

It is really common for kimchi to have fish sauce in it, so...not vegan. However, vegan/vegetarian kimchi does exist! I picked up some from Trader Joe's and have been hanging onto it for some time, not sure of what to do with it. Well, tonight it became part of a soup.



I started with some thinly sliced onion and sauteed it in coconut oil until translucent. I added mini sweet bell peppers sliced into strips and thinly sliced garlic - 1-2 cloves. Then some frozen shiitake mushrooms, an entire container of firm silken tofu (the little ones in the aseptic containers). I cubed half the tofu block and just tore the other half into chunks. Then I poured in a bunch of broth - I used Pacific Vegetaria Pho Starter soup base, along with some water and soy sauce. I brought everything to a boil, then turned off the heat and added a handful of baby kale and some cilantro.

This was a pretty easy, tasty soup. I had a ton left over for more than one lunch. I would maybe use a different base if I made this again and I added a lot of spice later on because it was not spicy enough for me.

DDOW Thai Coconut Farmer's Market Soup

Part two of this week's Delivered Dish...



From the website:

Thai Coconut Farmers Market Soup (V, Paleo, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) Like a vegetable chowder but with Thai flavors and coconut milk. Simmering it with corn cobs add extra sweetness. Expect some chopped collards or kale.

The soup was great. Nice coconut flavor. It had potatoes, corn, greens (collards?), carrots, and tomatoes. I added some spice because I love spicy food, but other than that I ate the soup as-is. Great as always.

Next week for DDOW: ratatouille and polenta!

Cheezy Broccoli Soup/Puree - Vegan MoFo 2013

This was a fun experiment. Broccoli soup was one of my favorite soups as a child. So much so, it was my choice of birthday meal shared with my less-than-enthusiastic fellow five-to-seven year olds.

The "cheez" is a mix of blended (soaked) cashews, nutritional yeast, and coconut milk beverage along with some pimientos, salt, lemon juice and a tiny tiny bit of Kala Namak (black salt).

The broccoli is 2 bags of frozen steamers along with a little bit of peas leftover from another meal. I pureed everything together and made a soup-like meal. Not terrible, not blow my mind soup, either. I garnished with black pepper and red pepper flakes along with a touch of chimichurri sauce.

Go-To Remedies for Colds - Vegan MoFo 2013

I must admit, Auto-Posting is a wonderful thing that I only started using during this Vegan Month of Food 2013.

It is great to do a slew of posts in one day and schedule them to post during busy weeks, or worse - when sickness strikes.

Well, today I've been struck.

My personal philosophy of how to cure myself while having a cold includes the following:

1. Only spend a small portion of the time wallowing in sickness. Everyone needs to feel those "poor me" sick feelings once in a while, but that attitude will not help at all in the long run.
2. Watch at least one new (to me) movie, preferably a good one. (Binge-watching TV on streaming service of choice is acceptable, but at least one movie.)
   
3. If at home during the day, watch The Chew.
   
4. Drink lots of liquids (mainly tea & water), eat berries, and drink broth. The spicier the better.
   
5. Shower. At least once. It makes me feel human again. Same goes for brushing the teeth, and probably time to buy a new head for the toothbrush.
   
6. Step outside at least once. Even if it is just to check the mail or bring recycling to the curb.

So far today, I have done very little on this list other than drink broth. (And I am halfway through today's The Chew.)

Thankfully, the broth I made today was pretty tasty and easy! Still have some left. I boiled 2-3 cups (half to three quarters of a liter) water, added a bit of a veggie bouillon cube and a small chunk of mild miso paste. I then cut up (with kitchen scissors) half a jalpeño as well as 4-5 dried chiles I had on hand. I want it to be as spicy as possible. In a small magic bullet, I blended ginger paste and 3-4 large garlic cloves and added it to the broth. Brought everything to a boil, then simmered for a minute or two. I added fresh lime juice at the end, and drank out of a mug.

Clear Noodle Soup: Mushroom Edition - Vegan MoFo 2013

Halfway through Vegan Month of Food 2013!

http://www.veganmofo.com


Remember that soup from yesterday? Well, there were about three portions total, but we only had a bowl a piece. So I ate the rest later, except this time I used mushrooms. I sauteed mushrooms in the same pan that the mock duck had gotten all crispy in and was able to deglaze the pan, making the mushrooms even more delicious. Added hot peppers, arugula and kale, as well as cilantro. Spooned this mix over the last bowl of soup, garnished with lime and cilantro.

Clear Noodle Soup w. Mock Duck - Vegan Mofo 2013

Can you make me some soup? Mr. Coconut asks.

Sure.

"Soup" means one of three varieties of instant ramen or rice noodle soups in the pantry. Flip through the food we have in my head. I mentally mix and match flavors, textures, colors.

ginger garlic onion greens - will arugula work? - rice noodles peppers - jalapeno or Thai? - tofu mock duck what vegetables do we have soy sauce coconut oil hot sauce


Got it.

One can of mock duck - drain, rinse, tear into smaller pieces. Coconut oil to saute in a pan while water boils for the broth and noodles of this soup:




Spicy Thai chili peppers get tossed in with the mock duck, along with a good pour of soy sauce. Seasoning powder into the boiling water, along with the rice noodles. In the mock duck pot - a handful of kale and turn off the heat for both pots.

I ladle broth and noodles into the bowl, then place the greens and mock duck on top of the soup. Garnish with limes and cilantro.

DDOW - Spicy Chile Verde w. Beans - Vegan Mofo 2013

As promised, here is the Spicy Chile Verde with Beans from this weeks Delivered Dish of the Week order. From the website:

“Spicy Chile Verde with Beans (V, GF, soy-free, no added sugar) An opportunity to see why chef Crescent Dragonwagon in her book Bean for Bean insists there is no substitute for Santa Fe Green Chilies from New Mexico. With green bell peppers.”

This had a ton of vegetables, as you can see. It actually had quite a bit of broth, too, but for the sake of the photo, I emphasized the veggies and beans.
I enjoyed this dish – it was a satisfying lunch that I will have more of tomorrow. I added a little bit of spinach because I add greens to as many things as possible if I have them around, and adding them to soups is one of my favorite ways to incorporate greens easily.

It was not quite what I expected – but then again, most of the dishes I have received so far are different than what I expected – and that is great. I love the semi-unexpected surprise of trying new foods or foods prepared in different ways than I would. It has been really invigorating and inspiring for my own cooking.

Next week for DDOW, I will be getting (and blogging) a container of Zucchini Linguine with Raw Tomato Sauce as well as a container of Heirloom Bean & Veg Cassoulet with Rosemary. Sounds great!!!!

Vegetable soup for a snowy April night

That's right, it is April 22nd and it is snowing on MN.  Not a flurry, or a light dusting of snow, but several inches are falling outside.  I like winter, but enough is enough. 

So I channeled my never ending winter blues into some vegetable soup.  Pretty standard: onion, garlic, white beans, frozen mixed vegetables, one small can of tomatoes.  What makes this soup unique - Anaheim peppers diced up, as well as a lot of shredded cabbage.  I had a lot of bagged raw coleslaw mix, and needed to use it up.  Salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, veggie broth and water make the rest of the soup. 

Curried Split Pea Soup with Dumplings

I essentially made the curried split pea soup from
VWAV. (I make that soup regularly because it's so easy and cheap.) I added in frozen carrot slices and some whole wheat dumplings.

I had no idea how to make dumplings. I was making drop biscuits and had a lot of dough left over so I made tiny little balls and plopped them into the soup to cook. They turned out dumpling-like and tasted fine.

Another shot:

Vegan Pho With Tofu and Garnishes

Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup consisting of a very flavorful broth usually made from beef. Thanks to a generous co-worker who provided me with a recipe and some ingredients, I made a vegan version.

A quick note: I didn't have a lot of whole spices, so I subbed ground. I would not necessarily recommend this but it still worked out great.

Recipe: Reposted from Food.com, with some changes in directions by me as well as substitutes in bold and italics
BROTH
1 small unpeeled onion, quartered -- I used an onion that was about 91g
2 unpeeled shallots, halved
8 garlic cloves, halved -- I peeled these even though the recipe didn't specify
Ginger, coarsely sliced -- I wound up using about 1/8 of ground ginger because I did not have fresh ginger. I would recommend 1 inch of fresh ginger.
2 [3 inch] cinnamon sticks -- Again, I only had ground, so I used 1t ground cinnamon
2 star anise pods -- I subbed 1t ground star anise
4 cloves -- I subbed 1t ground cloves
8c clear veg stock
3T Soy Sauce
salt, to taste

SOUP:
1lb Rice Noodles
8oz fried tofu or cooked seitan
6 scallions, thinly sliced
1.5c bean sprouts
1 lime, sliced into wedges
basil or mint or cilantro (or all of them); a big handful left whole
hoisin sauce, to taste
sriracha chili sauce, to taste

1. In a large pot, heat to medium-high heat and dry roast onion, shallots, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. Stir occasionally until vegetables begin to char. I would recommend leaving the spices out until the vegetables start to char and then adding the spices in. I burned a few spices before the vegetables could char, but the broth still tasted great in the end. Prep the other vegetables/garnishes during this time as well.

2. Add the veg stock and soy sauce, bring to boil. Then lower heat to simmer, cover for 20-25 minutes. Start another pot boiling to cook the rice noodles.

3. Strain broth into a clean pot and discard the solids. Taste and add salt if necessary, set aside. Check noodles and drain them, rinsing thoroughly. Make a plate for the garnishes. I set mine up into little bowls for some items and larger items just on a plate, like bean noodles and chopped bok choy.

4. Put noodles into bowls; ladle the broth over the noodles. Garnish as you see fit. Enjoy.

The broth is the key along with a bunch of garnishes to really punch up the flavors. Fresh herbs and bean sprouts along with lime juice and soy sauce makes for a fantastic meal. I also added some fried tofu, but mock duck or other faux meats would work great as well.

Above is a photo of my garnish plate: bean sprouts, sliced jalapenos, cilantro, scallions, basil, and chopped bok choy are the ones I had around.

Below is my soup bowl, fixed up with everything. Rice noodles [I used larger flat rice noodles rather than the vermicelli style I usually get] with the broth ladled over it and then I topped mine with sautéed mushrooms, fried tofu, and all of the fixin's from the garnish plate along with some lime juice and shoyu.

Curried Split Pea Soup from Vegan With a Vengeance

Homemade curried split pea soup, recipe from Vegan With A Vengeance. I dressed the soup up with dulse flakes, spicy tamari roasted pumpkin seeds, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. The soup was paired with an apple and a small spinach salad with cherry tomatoes and balsamic/olive oil vinaigrette.

Hearty Vegetable Soup with Toasted English Muffin

Homemade soup with lots of fresh vegetables, served with a toasted sprouted grain English muffin.

Ingredients:

2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Mirepoix (onion, chopped carrots, chopped celery)
3T olive oil (optional)
frozen veggies
1-2 Potatoes, diced/chopeed

seasonings: poultry seasoning, SALT, pepper, celery salt, oregano

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes, along with 2 of those cans filled with water added to pot


1. Sautee the onion, garlic, carrot, potatoes, and celery and the dry seasonings.
2. Add frozen veg and oil.
3. Add tomatoes with juice, stir, add water.
4. Boil, then bring to simmer.
5. Cook until poatoes are tender.

DONE!

Creamy Tomato Soup and Peanut Butter Sandwich

This is my ultimate comfort food. I dip the PB sandwich in the tomato soup, because it's good. The only way I can eat this is with Campbell's condensed tomato soup made with (soy)milk. Other tomato soups just are not the same.

Lentil Soup and French Bread

Or maybe it's Italian bread. Or a generic white bread. I'm not sure.

This dish is from a local café on campus called Espresso 22. It's a "spicy" lentil soup with a LOT of bread on the side (a whole mini loaf as you cna see). The soup is very filling and made from scratch and cheap. A medium coffee and a bowl of soup with bread is less than five bucks. I think it's great.

Another picture:

Lunch: Soup and Salad

Here's a typical lunch at work for me:



And:



The salad comes from a "salad bar" called Greens to Go, which is a counter service style place where they limit what you can have on the salad (3 veggies, 5 pcs protein, portioned out items). While that is unfortunate, it's still the freshest and most nutritious food I can get other than bringing food from home.

What's in the salad?
Mixed greens, romaine, broccoli, tomatoes, portobella mushrooms, cucumbers, snow peas, sunflower seeds, craisins, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

The Nile Spice soup is actually quite tasty for an instant soup. 110 cals total, 1.5g fat; 12 fiber, 12 protein. A little high in sodium, but that's ok with me.

I also have some carrots that aren't pictured for me to snack on for the rest of the day. I'm not sure when I'll eat next, but I have plans for what it will be.

So, I have now becomes completely obsessed with photographing every piece of food I eat. I can't promise that I'll keep up this crazy amount of posting. This blog is like a new toy to me. All food, all the time. The great thing is that my ultimate hope that this blog would motivate me to cook more is coming true. I'm really excited to make all sorts of food experiments I've been meaning to make for a long time. Somehow, the ability to post the food and share it with everyone makes it much more appealing to cook. I'm also excited to finally create and fine tune a few recipes of my own.