Black Bean Chipotle Soup

Delicious

Great soup for cold weather. Uses up leftovers from your fridge and is a nice twist on chilli. Serve with corn bread or good bread for dipping or flax seed tortillas as I did here.

Ingredients:
Box of vegetable stock/broth
1 can black beans
1 small can diced fire roasted tomatoes or diced tomatoes and green chilles
1 red onion
2 ribs of celery
2-3 carrots
1 zucchini
2 cloves garlic
2 chipotle peppers
1 TBS cumin
1 tsp coriander
1tsp chille powder
3-4 cups kale leaves
1 cup frozen corn
2-3 small potatoes cooked (I had some leftover baked potato)
cilantro and scallions for garnish
salt to taste (note about salt: make sure to salt each layer of the dish so it is not over or under salted. ie. salt veggies while cooking, then add liquid, taste, and salt again if needed, cook then taste salt again and so on. I find if you salt components as you cook them you wont need much when liquid is added and remember the more spice and flavor the soup has the less salt you need.)

Saute onion until soft, add diced celery, carrots and zucchini. Add garlic and cook together for 5 min. Add chipotles, salt and spices and cook for an additional minutes. You can do this sauteing in EVOO I like to use just a little and if pan gets dry add some of the canned tomato liquid. When all veggies are soft add broth, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and cook together for 30min. Add cooked potatoes, frozen corn and kale 15 minutes before serving. You could also put pasta in here or really any veggies you have on hand. Spinach, peppers, squash, sweet potato and peas come to mind! Happy fall!

Minestrone

Delicious

In Boston it is pretty cold, and while I wish it was spring, I try to enjoy the winter with hearty soups and stews. The minestrone is great because you can put any veggies you want in it. Here is my version

Ingredients:
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
3 leeks
1 yellow squash or zucchini
2 cloves garlic
5 cups vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes (you can get some flavored with italian spices and balsamic and those would be good here)
1 can garbanzo or kidney beans
1 cup pasta of your choice
1 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
Fresh basil and spinach (optional)
Bread for dipping (optional)

Clean leeks by cutting off dark green parts of leaks (discard or save for stock). Chop white and light green parts into rounds about 1 inch thick and then in half. Place in a sink filled with cool water or bowl so sand will fall to bottom of bowl. While soaking cut up celery, carrots and squash into bite size pieces. Start sauteing carrots in TBS of EVOO and when they start to soften add squash, celery and drained leeks. Cook for 2 min and add 2 cloves crushed garlic, hot pepper flakes, bay leaf and oregano. Cook for 1 more min and then add veggie broth. Bring to a boil and add beans and tomatoes and cook for a bout 20 min so flavors can develop. About 8minutes before serving add pasta (check cooking time on your pasta) then 3 minutes before add fresh spinach and basil. Serve with forcacia for dipping!

September Entertaining Menu

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Cranberry Pear Salad
Our friends Joanna and Dan came over this weekend for my first entertaining experience since being a vegan. I decided to serve them a three course meal and started with this salad, which turned out to be something that I would eat any day of the week!
This salad is easy but so pretty so the key is getting really great ingredients. I used locally grown red leaf lettuce, organic frisee and red pears. Tear the lettuce and slice the pears as thin as you can. The dressing is a shallot vinaigrette of one part balsamic, two parts EVOO, one sliced shallot and a little agave syrup. The really special part of this salad are the toppings, and although they are simple and easy to find they really make it more impressive. Sprinkle sliced toasted almonds, dried unsweetened cranberries, and fried onion pieces from Trader Joe's. I had never had these before as my family never had this "green bean casserole" I've heard so much about, but they are totally delicious. RELAX about the calories and remember that you're entertaining and it is supposed to be indulgent and remember you're probably eating a small amount.

Lentil Soup
The next course I served was lentil soup. Below is the recipe for the soup and the garlic croutons on top!
2 Tbsp EVOO
1/2 a diced onion
2 Cloves Garlic
1Tsp cumin
1Tsp cayenne
3/4 cups green or brown lentils
1 cup of canned peelled tomatoes and their juice (about three of the tomatoes)
4 cups low sodium organic vegetable broth (I used Trader Joe's)
1/2 head escarole
Cilantro or parseley (optional)

Start by heating the EVOO and sauteeing the onion untill translucent. Add crushed garlic, cumin, cayenne, and brown lentils. Stir untill garlic is fragrant but not browning, then add liquid (tomatoes and broth). Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer for about 40min. Then add the escarole to cook and finish with cilantro or parseley before serving.
This soup has a lot of room for variation and as long as you keep the ratio of 3/4 cup lentils to 5 cups liquid you could use whatever you like to flavor it. I was thinking next time I might use some leeks instead of onions or add some potato (sweet or otherwise) after adding the liquid. enjoy making the soup anyway you like!

Roasted Garlic Croutons
1/2-3/4 loaf french bread day old or fresh
4 cloves roasted garlic
1/4 cup EVOO
Tbsp Lemon juice
salt to taste

Roast garlic for about 30-45 minutes at 400 degrees or untill cloves are light brown, soft and yummy! Mix EVOO, lemon juice, and garlic into a paste using a fork. Toss to coat bread and lay in one layer on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for 10-15 minutes at 350 tossing every five minutes.

Three Berry Crisp
This dessert is adapted from a rasberry rhubarb crisp in What To Have For Dinner: The Best of Martha Stewart Living it can be done with almost any kind of fruit but I wanted to utilize the last of the summer berries.
3 Cups strawberries
1 pint rasberries
1 pint blackberries
1/3 cup evaporated organic cane sugar*
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
Zest of one orange

1 cup all purpose white or whole wheat flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 Tsp cinnamon
8 Tbs unsalted butter substitute
1/2 cup rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350
Combine strawberries, zest, juice, cane sugar in a bowl. In another bowl combine flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Use your fingers to incorporate butter until large crumbs form. Add oats and combine. Pour the strawberry mixture into a baking dish, 1 and 1/2 quart is suggested, and scatter rasberries and blackberries on top. Add crumb mixture evenly and bake for 45 minutes until top is crisp and juices bublling. Let cool for 10minutes before serving with your favorite non-dairy ice cream.

*If using rhubarb or green apples, increase evaporated cane sugar to 2/3 cup