operation use up pantry items

Between finishing up my dissertation and applying on a bajillion jobs, I haven’t had much time to cook anything overly exciting (nor the time to post about it if I did). With a move looming somewhere in the future (not sure where yet…depends on the outcome of the bajillion job applications) it is my mission to use up the abundance of items I have in my pantry. My cupboards are full of miscellaneous beans, grains, pastas, and other assorted goodies. Sometimes I use recipes, sometimes I throw a bunch of random things together and hope it turns out.
Like this stew. I had a tiny bit of red lentils and a tiny bit of split yellow peas so I combined them. I added some diced tomato, vegetable broth, onion, garlic, spices, and kale, and voila, a nice lentil-split pea soup (not the prettiest thing in the world I realize).

A few weeks ago my husband was in the Bay Area for a work trip. On the way home he picked me up a loaf of sourdough they were selling in the San Francisco airport. Imagine my surprise when I go to pick him up at the airport and he gets off of the plane with a bag of sourdough.

I had a sweet potato in my fridge that needed to be used, plus some butternut squash in my freezer, so I made a sweet potato-butternut soup to go with the bread.

Finally, I also had a handful of couscous left in a jar. Not enough couscous to really do anything with, so I combined it with some chickpeas and topped it with roasted butternut squash, zucchini, eggplant, and onion. This was inspired by a dish from The Kind Diet which I finally got from the library…I’ve been on the waiting list since it first came out months ago.

Portuguese Kale Soup…vegan style

A friend at a cooking forum mentioned that she was making Portuguese kale soup. Being a kale lover, I was intrigued and asked for the recipe. The original had sausage (linguica or chorizo), so I made a batch of this vegan style (and fat free!) and it was fabulous.

Portuguese Kale Soup

• 1 large white onion, diced
• 5 of Julie Hasson’s sausages (I omit the olive oil from mine and they’re fine…I also tend to make mine spicier…whatever floats your boat)
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 gallon water
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 cup potatoes, diced large
• 1/2 lb. kale, chopped roughly
• 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tsp. red pepper flakes (adjust to suit your desired level of spiciness)
• salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, saute onion in water (or veggie broth) for 5 min. Add garlic and sausage and potatoes and continue to saute another 5 min. Add 1/2 gallon water (I don’t like my soups very watery, add more if you prefer). Add in kale, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper. Simmer approximately 2 hours. Add in kidney beans and adjust seasonings. Serve.

I made mine quite spicy. I really liked the hearty rustic feel of this soup. It was so tasty that I even had leftovers for brunch this morning. Yum.

Soup again?

Yes yes, I’ve been a neglectful blogger. Anyhoo, I haven’t cooked much of late, but here are some recipes that fit the Eat to Live program. First up, Vegan Dad’s cauliflower soup (thanks to Happy Herbivore for pointing out this recipe). I made it as the recipe states without the oil and salt and it was quite bland. I was pondering what magic ingredient to add when the bf suggested making a curry soup. Brilliant! Some curry powder, cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes were added and the result was a spicy curry cauliflower soup with no salt or oil. Everyone is happy.

Next up, the chickpeas romesco from Veganomicon. I made this once again without the oil, and I also omitted the almonds. It was really good, I enjoyed the tanginess of the sauce….a lot. Since following Eat to Live I’ve been eating a lot of chickpeas. And I mean a lot. I love how versatile they are.

My camera really hates taking pictures of red things in artificial light. Oh well. As an aside, the Eat to Live program has been going great, it’s been just about two weeks. I feel great!

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I adore butternut squash. I adore all sorts of squash. But why on earth had I not tried roasted butternut squash?? I gave roasted butternut squash soup from Vegan with a Vengeance a try and words cannot express the amazingness that was this soup. I roasted the squash the night before and kept it in the fridge. I didn’t roast the squash with oil as recommended, but merely just placed it cut side down on a cookie sheet and let the squash work its magic. The next evening I followed the rest of the recipe, with the exception of replacing the chiles with crushed red pepper flakes, as that was what I had in stock. Served with some homemade bread and there you have it, a yummy comforting meal.

Smoky Refried Bean Soup

I had been craving Mexican for awhile and I was leaning toward a burrito night or some other such thing…but then I remembered the wonderment that is taco soup. I decided to make Susan V’s smoky refried bean soup. If you love beans and spicy goodness, this is the soup for you.

I changed the recipe a bit. We don’t have smoked paprika or chipotle chili powder, so I used regular paprika and chili powder and added a teaspoon or so of liquid smoke. I also added a bit of this chipotle salsa we have, but that’s more or less because I am addicted to it. Oh yes, and hot sauce. Because we like it spicy. Another change I made was to blend about half of the soup with my immersion blender. So it still had hunks of beans and veggies in there, but was more thick and creamy. Top it off with some crushed tortilla chips and diced tomato and there’s dinner. It’s so filling that we didn’t serve it with anything else…one big bowl was plenty for me. I look forward to devouring the left overs.

Next time I make it I think I will make a nutritional yeast “cheese” sauce to swirl on the top. But I like to put cheese sauce on everything.

Vegan MoFo: Curried Pumpkin Black Bean Soup

If you are looking to make a pumpkin soup, I highly, highly, highly recommend curried pumpkin black bean soup over at 28 Cooks. We both loved it.

As an aside, the next day I was taking leftovers to school for my lunch and somehow the container opened in my backpack, which has never happened before. Ever. So as good as this soup is, it’s not nice to walk around smelling like curry all day. HOWEVER, I was whining about my curry soup-filled backpack, and someone pointed out, “hey, at least your laptop is still broken so it wasn’t in there…” I guess there really is a bright side to everything?

Cheezy Jalapeno Cauliflower Bisque

We had a few jalapenos in the fridge that I wanted to use up, so I decided what a perfect time to try cheeze jalapeno cauliflower soup from the PPK. Based on the reviews, and my own love for thick, creamy soups, I did change the recipe a bit. Excuse the bad picture, but we all know I am inept at taking soup pictures.

Cheezy Jalapeno Cauliflower Bisque (Adapted from PPK)
-1 head cauliflower, chopped into small florets
-2 tbsp. olive oil
-1 large onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-3 jalapenos, seeded and minced (keep some of the seeds if you want it spicier)
-1 1/2 tsp. salt
-2 tsp. paprika
-1/8 tsp. turmeric
-1 tsp. cumin
-4 c. water + 1 veggie bouillon cube
-2 c. water
-2 tbsp. arrowroot (or cornstarch)
-1 c. nutritional yeast
-1/2 c. frozen corn kernels
-1/4 c. salsa
-1/2 tsp. lemon juice
-2 tsp. dijon mustard

1. In pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until tender (about 5 min.). Add garlic, jalapeno, salt, paprika, turmeric, and cumin. Saute for additional 2-3 min. Add 4 c. water and the bouillon cube. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil.

2. Mix arrowroot and 2 c. water together in a separate bowl/measuring cup/whatever. Stir until dissolved. Add this to the soup. Also add the nutritional yeast. Stir until dissolved. Lower to a simmer. Once simmering, add the cauliflower and corn kernels. Cover and let simmer for 20 minutes, or until cauliflower is quite tender. Towards the end, add the salsa.

3. In batches, transfer the soup to a blender and blend for a few seconds. You don’t want it to be completely pureed, I like to still have some chunks of veggies in there. Alternatively, just use an immersion blender in the soup pot. Once it is blended, transfer back to the soup pot and heat the soup back to temperature. Taste to see if the salt/pepper/spice suits you. If not, tinker around with it. When done, serve.

Serves 4.

I think this soup would also work quite well with potatoes instead of cauliflower. That would definitely make it more filling. I ate just this soup for dinner (along with bread) and found I was hungry again in a little while. It’s definitely a soup to be eaten along with something else.

Cheezy Potato Chowder

The other night I had a bit of a sore throat and really wanted soup. I had condensed tomato soup in the cupboard, but that wasn’t sounding too appealing. So I decided to make a potato chowder of sorts. As I have said before, I rarely measure anything when I cook, so the recipe below is my best guess of what exactly I did. So feel free to tinker with it. That’s the best part of making soup…is tasting it and adding a bit of this and a dash of that…or so I find.

Cheezy Potato Chowder
-1 tbsp. vegetable oil
-1/2 a large white onion, diced
-4 cloves garlic, minced
-4 sage leaves, chopped
-2 tbsp. fresh oregano, chopped
-2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
-1 tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
-1 1/2 tbsp. fresh thyme, chopped
-6 medium sized COOKED potatoes (I used Yukon gold..but whatever you have would be fine, and I cooked them in the microwave), chopped
-3 cups soymilk
-1 tbsp. arrowroot (or I am sure cornstarch would work just as well)
-1/2 cup nutritional yeast
-1/4 cup red pepper, chopped
-1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
-salt and pepper to taste
-chives (for garnish)
-simulated bacon bits (for garnish)

1. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and onion. Saute until onion is tender. Be careful not to brown onion and garlic.
2. Add chopped potatoes and saute for a few minutes.
3. Add chopped fresh herbs and stir for 2 more minutes.
4. Lower heat to medium-low and add soymilk and arrowroot, stir. Add nutritional yeast.
5. Let soup simmer for 15 min. or so. Add corn and pepper. Taste for salt and pepper. Let simmer another 10 min. If it is too thick, add some water and let simmer.
6. If desired, top each serving with chives and bacon bits.

Serves 4.

Note: Like I said, this is just my best attempt at remembering what I did. My recipes are very “tweak-able” so feel free to do your own thing.

Tomato-Rice Soup with Navy Beans

Tonight I made the tomato rice soup with roasted garlic and navy beans from Veganomicon. Only my version was sans roasted garlic. I didn’t have garlic bulbs on hand so I just added minced garlic to the onions. It was pretty good…I did play around with the spices but I always do that with soup. It’s part of the fun of making soup. Well, to me anyway.

Next time I make this I will add less water as I like my soups pretty thick. It wasn’t detrimental or anything, I just reduced the soup before I ate it. I served the soup with a nice thick piece of the sourdough I made a couple of days ago. The sourdough along with the tang of the tomatoes was sooo right on.

Seitan Baguette & Potato and Greens soup

Tonight for dinner I was all by lonesome, as the bf is out of town all weekend. I made the Vietnamese seitan baguette with savory broth dip and the baked potato and greens soup from Veganomicon.

First things first, the sandwich. This was my first time baking seitan, and I can’t say I was a fan of the texture. It was okay, but I prefer boiled. I have 5 cutlets leftover though so they’re going in the freezer and I’ll find some use for them.

The sandwich itself was pretty good. I usually don’t go to that much work for a sandwich. I’m not sure why, I never have. I guess I see sandwiches as more of a convenience type meal than a “spend 30 min. in the kitchen prepping” kind of meal. But I did enjoy the fancy sandwich and perhaps this will motivate me in the future to try out more sandwich recipes.

Now on to the soup. I’m hesitant to write this, as it seems a lot of people love this soup, but honestly I wasn’t a fan. I didn’t care for the seasonings and the greens seemed out of place to me. In fact, I don’t even know what to do with the leftovers because I don’t think I’d eat them. Oh well, live and learn. Almost everything else from that cookbook I’ve loved, so I was bound to hit a recipe I didn’t care for eventually.