Asparagus Soup
Mary’s Homemade, No-fat, No Dairy, Vegan DELICIOUS Asparagus Soup Recipe (Makes 4 servings)
Ingredients:
- 2 big bunches of fresh asparagus
- 2-3 leeks, white portions only
- 2 medium potatoes
- 4 cups of water
- Salt to taste (1/2 tsp.)
- Chop asparagus into 1-1/2 inch lengths. Separate into woody stems, tender stalks, and tips.
- Cook woody stems for 30 mins. Remove & discard the woody stems, saving the broth.
- While broth is cooking, peel and dice potatoes. Also, slice whites of leeks into thin slices.
- Add diced potatoes, sliced leeks, and tender portions of asparagus stems into asparagus broth. Cook another 20-30 mins., until all vegetables are very soft.
- In the meantime, steam the asparagus tips for 5 mins. Then plunge them into icy water to preserve their brilliant green color and crunchiness. Reserve these separately for garnish.
- Once the vegetables have cooked, pour the entire contents of the pot into your blender. Blend on high until it’s all a creamy, smooth consistency.
Serve in soup bowls, with blanched tips for garnish. Yummy and healthy!!!
Brekky: Dollar blue corn pancakes w/pumpkin & sunflower seeds in the batter, topped w/pecans, maple syrup, & bananas, w/ strawberries on the side. Coffee w/rice milk. Yum. Hubby made the pancakes. Thank you, hubby.
Lunch: Green onion paratha (frozen, then fried) with homemade butternut squash soup, which was superb, even if I didn’t have a blender to puree it.
Snack: Made home-made Chinese green onion pancakes. The dough consisted of 1 c. all purpose flour, 1 c. white whole wheat flour, 1 tsp. sugar, 2/3 c. boiling water, and a little cold water to make the dough hold together after mixing. It had to be kneaded, let rest for an hour, and then kneaded again, before being shaped into 4 pancakes. Each basted w/sesame oil, salted a little, and green onions sprinkled on. Then rolled up sequentially about 2 orthogonal axes. After letting rest for 20 mins., rolled flat into 7-inch diameter pancakes which were fried in 375F hot peanut oil. Ate 1-1/2 of these w/a glass of wine before dinner. Scrumptious!!!
Dinner: Homemade Chinese meal: Veggie lo mein and bok choy, mushroom, bamboo shoot dish. Had it w/hot jasmine tea, straight from China, and 1 small orange for dessert.
- 1-1/2 tsp. ground cumin
- 3 tbsp. sherry vinegar
- 1/2 c. extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and well drained
- 2 cups shredded carrot
- 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
- 1/4 c. pitted black olives, halved
- 1/4 c. raisins
- 2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh chives
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
- Vinaigrette: toast cumin over medium heat for about a minute, till it exudes a wonderful aroma, and before it burns. Combine with oil and vinegar, salt and pepper. Shake well.
- Salad: Combine chickpeas, carrot, celery, olives, raisins, chives, and cilantro in a bowl. Add 1/4 c. of vinaigrette, and mix well. Serve and eat. Goes super well with Spaghetti w/Caper Pesto Sauce.
Filed under: Recipes | Tags: anchovy, and flat-leaf Italian parsely pestop, Spaghetti w/caper
For 4 servings:
- 1 lb. brown rice/whole wheat or regular spaghetti
- 4 Tbsp. capers; rinsed, soaked in water for 10 mins., then drained
- 2 cloves of garlic; chopped
- 6 anchovy fillets
- 2 cups packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup grated Parmesan
- Freshly ground pepper
- Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Add spaghetti; cook until al dente=2 mins. less than recommended cooking time.
- Combine capers, garlic, anchovies, and parsley with olive oil in a blender. Transfer sauce to bowl, stir in cheese.
- Drain pasta and transfer to large bowl. Pour sauce over pasta and mix well. Top with pepper, and more cheese, if desired. YUM!!!
Filed under: Recipes
Homemade soymilk
Each week, I make a quart of home-made soymilk. Besides the 0.9 liters of water (that’s all I use), all you need is the small amount of dry (organic!) soybeans shown above. Just soak the soybeans for a few hours, put them into the soymilk maker with the water, and in about 15 mins. you have hot soymilk ready to go! I always sterilize my glass quart container by boiling it and its lid in a large pot of water while the soymilk is being made.
OK. Honey bran bread with a bit o’ whipped butter and home-made grapefruit marmalade has become a current breakfast staple. This past week, hubby decided he liked this better than bagels, so I wound up having to bake 2 loaves for the week! Since there are no preservatives, I slice and freeze all but 2 days’ worth (= 4 slices). They thaw out well and I toast them. Here’s a picture:
Ingredients for one loaf:
- 1-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1-1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
- 1 cup wheat bran
- packet of yeast
- 1-1/2 cups luke warm water: 1/2 cup of this is for the yeast
- 1/8 c. honey
- 1/2 tbsp. oil
- 3/8 tsp. salt
Directions: Add 1/2 c. luke warm water to yeast. Let sit 5 mins. till mixture gets frothy. In the meantime. combine the flours and bran in a large mixing bowl. Once yeast is frothy, add yeast mixture, 1 cup luke warm water, oil, salt, and honey to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Turn out on a floured surface and knead by hand for 10 minutes. (Dough will no longer stick to your hands). Place dough in a WARM, dark place in an oiled bowl, and roll the dough around in the oil, too. (LIGHTLY oiled bowl!) Place towel over dough and let rise for an hour. Punch down the dough. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin (or your hands) to shape the dough into an approx.7 inch x 11 inch rectangle. Roll the dough up jelly roll fashion and place in lightly oiled bread pan. Cover the dough again w/a towel, set in a warm, dark place to rise again: 45-60 mins. Once your dough has risen again, preheat oven to 375 F and bake for 35 minutes. Voila!
Ingredients (for 2 generous servings):
- 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
- 1-1/2 tbsp. minced fresh ginger (I used twice as much, and could even have used more)
- 1-1/2 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and diced
- 2 cups water
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. fresh lime juice
Directions: Saute onion and minced ginger over low heat in olive oil (use veggie broth or water instead if you’re not using oil) until onion is soft. Then, in a small soup pot combine this with the cut up squash, water, and garlic. Bring to boil, then turn heat down and simmer 15-20 mins. or until squash is tender. You know what’s coming next: Puree it all in a blender (in batches). Then, return puree to pot, add the lime juice, season with salt and pepper, reheat, and serve.
- 1 squash (butternut or kabocha)
- 1/2 package of Eden Organic Kamut & Quinoa Twisted Pair Pasta
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1/2 medium onion, chopped
- 2 minced garlic cloves
- 1-1/2 cups of vegetable broth (preferably home-made)
- 2 cups of kale (chopped, after removing stems)
- Some blanched almonds
- Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400 F. Bake whole squash about an hour. Cut in half, remove seeds and skin. Cook pasta, drain and set aside. Heat oil in large skillet, saute onion and garlic a few minutes, add kale, cover, saute until kale is wilted and soft. Cut up 1 cup of the squash into cubes, and set aside. Puree the rest of the squash with the vegetable broth in a blender. Toss the squash puree, cubed squash, and kale mixture with the pasta in a large bowl. To serve, sprinkle with almonds, and use salt & pepper to taste. Frightfully healthy!
Khazari Stew for 2 (vegetarian version)
- 5 cups of vegetable soup stock
- 1/2 c. chopped onions
- 1 large turnip, peeled, cut into 1/2 inch dice
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, cored, seeded, sliced into strips
- 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes, with juice (or boil them fresh, skin them & cut up)
- 1/8 cup tomato paste (2 tbsp.)
- 3/4 tsp. ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp. hot pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
- 1 15 oz. can chickpeas, drained & rinsed (or cook your own)
- 3/8 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
- Salt to taste
- 4 oz. thick Chinese noodles, freshly boiled, for serving
1. Saute onions in olive oil for a few minutes, until softened and slightly colored.
2. Add onions to vegetable stock, then add turnips, carrots, red pepper, tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, hot pepper flakes, coriander, chickpeas, 1/8 c. cilantro, and salt to taste. Bring to a boil, then simmer, uncovered for 30 mins. (or slightly more). Let stand for 15 mins.
3. Ladle into bowls, top with noodles, and sprinkle w/ remaining fresh cilantro.
Filed under: Recipes
Serves 4-6; I should have halved the recipe for 2 people, oh well.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 peeled, minced garlic cloves
- 2 dried red crushed chili peppers
- 6 anchovies (or just 1/3 or 1/2 tube of anchovy paste)
- Salt
- 1 lb. orecchiete (“little ears”, but any pasta similarly shaped will do)
- 2 bunches of broccoli rabe (leaves and tender stems coarsely chopped)
Directions: Cook oil, garlic, red chili peppers over low heat briefly. Add anchovies (or paste) and stir till they dissolve. Bring water to boil. Add salt and pasta. When water returns to boil, add the broccoli raab. When the pasta’s done, drain and mix all ingredients thoroughly. Super easy and delicious!
