Miso Soup

Hey all!   I hope this post finds everyone well.  I've been away from the blog world for the last couple of weeks, because we are remodeling our kitchen.  We literally have it gutted.  After Christmas I'll post some before and after pictures.  It has been something that we have been wanting to do for sometime now, so we decided to do that for our Christmas.  We were with out a stove for over a week, so that meant a week of eating out.  I never thought I would say this, but I am so tired of restaurant food!   We got our new stove delivered Friday, but it was the wrong one.  Thank goodness Best Buy left it for us to use until we get the right one delivered, which we should get on Christmas Eve. The funny thing is that we have a stove but no counter tops, so it is still very difficult to cook.   It's definitely been an experience to say the least  :o)  But I know it's all going to be worth it when it's all finished.  

We weren't able to get much done last week, because Tony got sick, then I came down with it.  It knocked us both for a loop.  We are on the road to recovery now, so last night I decided to make my first batch of miso soup.  I had to go grocery shopping before I could make it, because I was out of all veggies!  It's not fun being sick and not having veggies in the house!  For the soup, I went by a couple of different recipes and came up with the below recipe.   I thought it turned out great.  It was exactly what my body has been screaming for.  :o)    I also bought some Echinacea tea yesterday, so hopefully we will be 100% well in the next few days.  

Here's the Miso Soup recipe.

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 green onions, sliced
1 cup chopped kale
1 cup shredded carrots
1 cup white mushrooms, sliced
1/2  package tofu, drained and diced
3 tbsp yellow miso paste
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 cups water
2 cup vegetable broth

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, heat olive oil and saute the onions and garlic for 1-2 minutes. Then add the kale, carrots, and mushrooms and saute for another 2-3 minutes. Add tofu, water, vegetable broth, ginger, and yellow miso paste and stir together. Lower the heat and let simmer for another 5-10 minutes.

I probably won't be posting again until after Christmas, so I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  I will be trying to catch up on my blog reading some this week as my work permits, so see you soon!  :o)

~Peace~

A Few Eats From The Weekend

Hey there!  I hope everyone is doing well!  I got a surprise in the mail Saturday.  I got my new Everyday Happy Herbivore cookbook....YAY.   I glanced at it Saturday night and saw a lot of yummy simple recipes that I can't wait to try.  The first one that I tried was a breakfast recipe.  Sunday morning I made the Marmalade French Toast on page 40.  The recipe called for apricot marmalade, which I didn't have, so I used orange marmalade.  Tony and I both thought it was great.  I put a little too much maple syrup on mine, so it was a tad to sweet for me.  I had not problem devouring it though.

Saturday night I made HH's Cajun Meatloaf and Brown Gravy.  The brown gravy recipe can be found here on her website.  I'm trying to stay away from wheat for a while, so I used brown rice flower instead of whole wheat pastry flour, and it was just as good...maybe even better.  :o)   I've tried HH's other meatloaf recipes, but hadn't tried the cajun yet, so I thought it was time to give it a try.  I'm so glad that I did, because it was very good.  I also made twice baked potatoes.  I didn't have any vegan sour cream, but  did have some vegan cream cheese, so I used the cream cheese to replace the sour cream.    I thought the cream cheese was great in the potatoes.  In fact, it was so great that I doubt I'll ever use sour cream again.  I topped it with vegan cheddar cheese and imitation bacon bits.  It's been a long time since I've bought imitation bacon bits.  When I opened the jar, I poured some in my hand and threw them into my mouth.  At that moment I had a flash back into my childhood of getting in trouble for eating all the imitation bacon bits as a snack...ha  I had forgotten how much I loved them.

Sunday night I made some potato soup.    This was the first time that I didn't use a recipe.  I totally winged it, and it turned out great.  I cooked my potatoes in just enough water to cook them, then added a can of cream of mushroom soup, about 1 to 1 1/2 cups of vegetable broth, 1/3 container of vegan cream cheese, 1 tsp onion powder, salt, and pepper. The soup is done once you get the cream cheese incorporated into the mixture..  I then topped it with vegan cheddar cheese and imitation bacon bits....YUM!

Last night we made pizza.  Looks good right?  Well, in this case looks are very deceiving!  First off, I was supposed to have gone some where last night, so I hadn't planned on being home to cook.  Yes, Tony was going to have to fend for himself.  My plans fell through though, and I ended up being at home with no idea of what to cook for supper.  We had a can of crescent rolls in the refrigerator, so we decided to make a pizza crust out of it.  Tony rolled it out and put the dough onto our pizza stone.  He then added the sauce and our toppings and  put the pizza into the oven.  I cooked it for about 15 minutes.  I took a big ole bite of my pizza that looked so good and bleh....  The "pizza crust" was all doughy!  With that being said, we will never use crescent rolls for pizza crust again.  It may have been better if we had cooked the crust some before adding everything, but we didn't do that...oh well.  My half of the pizza is the left side, and the stuff that looks like meat is some cajun meatloaf.  The topping part of the pizza was very good.   We sorta turned into kids and ended up just eating the topping off the pizza....ha 

Oh, one more thing about the pizza.  Tony thought he would sit the pizza stone on the stove eye and try to cook the crust a little more. He had the stove eye on a med/high heat.  BIG mistake!  All the sudden I heard a loud pop and what do you know....the pizza stone broke...it broke into three pieces.  I guess the lesson learned here is to never use your pizza stone to cook with on the stove eye!  :o)  Lucky for us we have an extra one that we have never used.  :o)

~Peace~

Weekend Eats........

Hey everyone! I've been pretty busy, so I haven't taken the time to blog over the past several days. Here's a few pics of what I've been eating. First up is my favorite....a mango green smoothie. I had to post it, because the bubbles on top look like two eyes and two little nostrils. :o)  Do you see it?

 

Last night I made a sweet potato casserole for two.  I was watching the Food Network channel Sunday and saw Anne Burrell make a sweet potato casserole that sounded so good.  I tried to remember her secret ingredients, so I could make it last night.  I didn't want to make a large batch just in case it didn't turn out good.  It turned out wonderful though.  I loved addition of the citrus!

1 large sweet potato
2 tbs vegan butter
1 tsp cinnamon
juice of one Clementine (Ann used an orange, but a Clementine was all I had)
the zest of one Clementine  (Ann used the zest of an orange)
a splash of almond milk

  TOPPING
1/4 cup old fashion oats (I may have used a little more, I didn't measure...sorry)
1 tbs vegan butter
2 tbs brown sugar
a dash of cinnamon

Peel and chop the potato then boil for about 20 minutes or until tender. Once tender, transfer the potatoes to a bowl and mash with a fork, then mix in the butter, cinnamon, Clementine zest and juice. Add a splash of almond milk if the potatoes are to thick. Transfer mixture to a small casserole dish.
For the topping, put the oats, butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar in a small food processor and pulse until everything is mixed and lumpy. Sprinkle topping over sweet potatoes and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I also made a veggie stir fry for supper last night....not the best combo...I know.  It sure was good though.

One night Tony cooked supper and made veggie fajitas.   They consisted of onions, peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and roasted chickpeas.  They were so good.  This was the first time that I put roasted chickpeas in my fajitas, and it won't be the last.  They were a great addition. Tony is now in charge of making fajitas, he just doesn't know that yet.

I did roast the chickpeas though.  I drained, rinsed, and dried the chickpeas, then put spread them out on a baking sheet.  I sprayed them with a little cooking spray and then sprinkled some chili powder, paprika, and a little salt on them .  I put those bad boys in the oven on 350 and baked them for about 30 minutes.

So far this is my favorite spice blend for the roasted chickpeas. The next day I added the leftover chickpeas to a salad and topped it off with some AWESOME Goddess dressing. I've seen Goddess dressing all over the blog world for a year now, and I just finally bought some the other day. Why do I wait so long to try things.....ugh I have really been missing out by not having Goddess dressing!

We went to Tony's parents house for lunch on Sunday for soup and chili.  She made some vegetable soup just for me.  :o)   She sent some home with me, so I added some kale to the leftovers for supper that night.  It had all kind of veggies in it.  Very Very good!  And, I have no idea why the picture ended up posting turned the wrong way. 



I hope everyone is having a good week!

~Peace~

Butternut Squash Soup

Happy Friday!   I'm off work today, so I'm doing the happy dance.  :o)   It's my last 3 day weekend of the year with the exception of the Holidays....boo.  I could easily get used to working a 4 day week!  Last night Maggie and I had the house to ourselves which felt strange!  Tony went to Rum Boogie that's located on Beale Street in Memphis.  Some friends of his were playing in a Blues competition there last night night, so he went along to give them some support, and they won!   I probably would have starved if I had of been there, because I don't think it was a veg friendly place...ha   I'm glad he went though because it has given him a the incentive to buckle down and start playing his guitar more.....yay. 

Anyway...on to the Butternut Squash soup!   I went by a recipe that I found here at Chow Vegan.  I looked at a few different recipes on the internet, and this one sounded like the one that I would like the best.  Now, I have to tell you something and don't laugh.  This was my first time to make and to try butternut squash soup...yes I know, I have lived under a rock most of my life....ha   I can't believe that it took me this long to even try it.  I guess because it always reminded me of baby food.  I never though that something pureed like that could be so good.  Oh, was I ever wrong.  This is the best stuff!  The only bad part about it is peeling and cutting that darn little squash.  I did have to make a few changes to the soup, because I didn't have or want a couple of things in it.   I used 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 cup of water in place of her two cups of water and vegetable bouillon cube.  I also used garam masala in the place of the cayenne pepper.  Oh, and I also put a dash of cinnamon in it.  I also didn't top mine off with the green onions.  I did however top it off with the tofu croutons, which was great!  This recipe is definitely a keeper! 



Maggie didn't like the idea that her daddy was gone last night.  She usually sits between us on the couch every night and she doesn't like it when her routine gets messed up.  She kept giving me this look last night as if she was asking,  "Is he here yet"...lol   People can't tell me that animals don't have souls and that they don't have feelings, because they do!  Don't you think?

Since I'm off work today, I'm gong to be heading to Whole Foods in Memphis....YAY!   I hope I don't forget anything this time.  :o)   I hope everyone has a great Friday and weekend!

~Peace~