Kale and Lentil Soup

I know it's summer, but this week I came down with a cold and so it's time for soup anyway!

Ingredients-
2 Tbs butter
1/2 red onion, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, halved and sliced
1 pound (more or less) of red or white potatoes, cut into small cubes
1 cup Puy (green) lentils
8 cups of rich vegetable stock (more or less)
Approx one pound of kale (any kind), chopped
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
fresh cheese to melt on top
salt and pepper to taste (I used smoked salt because it is so tasty!)
Braggs amino acids, to taste

In a heavy soup pot, heat butter and add onions. Stir on high for 3-4 minutes until onions begin to turn translucent. Add garlic and carrot and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add potatoes and lentils and stir until fully coated in butter mixture. Add stock and turn down to simmer. Cover pot and cook for about 30 minutes, until lentils and potatoes are fully cooked but not mushy. Add more stock if needed to keep a goody soup (not stew) consistency.

Remove lid and add kale and roasted peppers. Cook, uncovered, for another 5-10 minutes on low heat until kale is fulled wilted.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, and Braggs. Serve with a couple of slices of melty stinky cheese on tip and some hearty whole grain bread on the side.

This should serve 4-6.

Basic [Vegan] Pesto

Now, this is sort of cheating, because I have adopted this recipe from this link here. However, it's really basic, versatile, and I use it a lot, so I'd like to share it. Plus, of all the vegan pesto recipes, I like it the best. Non-vegans will like it and won't even know the difference, which is why I hesitate to give it the 'vegan' label that tends to scare people away. It would be great in Alletta's recipe for the Pasta with Goat Cheese and Walnut Pesto.

Ingredients:

About 2 cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and patted dry
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil
1 heaping cup nuts (pine nuts are best, but they're pricey, so we usually use walnuts, pecans, almonds, or a mix of whatever we have)
5 cloves garlic (I usually use 7 or so, because I'm a garlic lover)
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (to taste)

All you do is mix well in a food processor until it's a lovely, tasty green mush. Usually I have to stir it around a few times to get it just right. My quantities are a little different than the recipe linked to because I like to have a little extra. Why? Because it freezes excellently. I always have some in my freezer to quickly de-thaw and easily add to a meal. It usually lasts us several weeks, then I make more. Trader Joes has a great plastic tub of basil you can buy, if you aren't growing any.

Here are some ideas on what to do with pesto:

-mix with noodles (I like the gluten-free brown rice elbow noodles) and a little nutritional yeast, and maybe a splash of Braggs for some yummy pesto macaroni and "cheese" - or add mozzarella cheese if you prefer.

-spread on a whole wheat tortilla with mozzarella cheese (or vegan "cheese") and grill yourself a pesto quesadilla (or you can use slices of bread to make a grilled cheese sandwich ). Add fresh tomato to make it Caprese style! In fact, it's great as a spread for pretty much any sandwich.

-add globs of it as a pizza topping, or spread it on a pizza crust instead of tomato sauce.

-eat it as a dip with pita chips (this was discovered on accident at one of the 4th of July beach house gatherings). Mmm!

-mix it in with a salad instead of using dressing.

As you can see, it's very versatile, easy to make, easy to store for later, and yummy, which makes it an A+ in my book. Enjoy!

Tasty Basic Tofu Recipe

For the longest time we never ate tofu at home because we couldn't find a good recipe for preparing it.

Finally, a couple of years ago in Edinburgh we learned this basic recipe from a couple of vegan friends and we have been making delicious tofu at home ever since!

Ingredients:

1 block of firm/extra firm tofu
1 lemon
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tbs of ginger, minced
1/2 cup of low sodium soy sauce or Braggs liquid amino acids (I use a half and half mix)
1/2 cup of water, or more if needed.

Slice your tofu into 1/4 inch pieces of whichever size you need for what you are serving the tofu with.

If you want an even firmer texture, you can press the tofu first, by placing the block of tofu between two plates in your sink, with the bottom plate inverted and a heavy cook book on top for approximately 30 mins.

Place your sliced tofu in a dish, spreading out the pieces slightly so that at least some of one side of each piece is exposed.

Cut the lemon in half and press over the tofu, making sure to get the juice evenly distributed. The lemon always needs to go first in order to open up the tofu and create a foundation of flavor.

Add the minced ginger and garlic, distributing evenly across the pieces.

Mix the soy sauce/liquid amino acids with the water and add over the top so that all the tofu is covered by the liquid.

Allow to marinate for at least 20 mins or for up to 2 days in the fridge.

To cook, you can fry your tofu in oil, add it to a stir fry, put the slices under your broiler, or add it to a soup. To add some extra texture, you can roll the pieces in flour or cornstarch before cooking. You can also roll the pieces in additional seasonings, such as spicy mesquite mix or sesame seeds before cooking.

Makes enough tofu for about 2 people. Enjoy!!

Veggie broth

This one is really easy. In a big stock pot, add one whole stock of celery, chopped into large chunks, one large onion chopped into large chunks, 2-3 bay leaves (depending on size), some fresh herbs (whatever you have, thyme, rosemary, etc.), and a pinch of sea salt. Fill the pot three quarters up with water. You can add 1-2 carrots too if you like.

Boil the heck out of it for 2-3 hours, continuing to add water as needed until you get a very rich golden broth.

You can store this in the fridge in mason jars and it will keep about a week. You can keep reboiling it each week with more water and more vegetables and pretty much keep it going forever. Homemade stock always on hand is a great thing to have around to add more taste to just about anything in the place of water.