Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup with Baby Spinach

I took a trip to Border's the other day and bought a few books to help with my journey. One of them was 1,000 Vegan Recipes, by Robin Robertson. It has some wonderful recipes in it!!! Since spring isn't here yet, we're still making soups, and found this one that sounded very different from what we usually make. It turned out really good, and had a bit of a kick from the cayenne!!

Sweet Potato and Peanut Soup with Baby Spinach

makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 1/2 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch dice

6 cups vegetable broth, homemade or store-bought, or water

1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

1/4 tsp cayenne

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Salt and freshly ground black peper

4 cups baby spinach

 

Directions: 

1. In a large soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and broth and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes.

2. Ladle about a cup of hot broth into a small bowl. Add the peanut butter and stir until smooth. Stir the peanut butter mixture into the soup along with the cayenne, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. 

3. About 10 minutes before ready to serve, stir in the spinach and serve.

Hot and Sour Soup with Tofu and Snow Peas

 

This is a delicious recipe that we found in the Clean Eating magazine. It's not your typical hot and sour soup that you would get at a Chinese restaurant, but it's wonderful in it's own way.  We switched it up a bit this time, but here's the original recipe. 

Hot and Sour soup with Tofu and Snow Peas

Ingredients:

4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth

2 medium carrots, peeled and julienned (2 cups)

2 cups sliced snow peas (cut on a diagonal)

1 small jalapeño pepper, seeded and chopped

1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, chopped (2 Tbsp)

2 tsp low-sodium tamari or soy sauce

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

2 tsp arrowroot powder

2 12-oz pkg silken tofu, drained and cubed

4 small scallions, slivered

Instructions:

1. In a 4-qt pot, bring broth to a boil over high heat. Add carrots, snow peas, jalapeño and ginger and return to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 3 minutes, just until vegetables are crisp-tender.

2. In a cup, stir together tamari, vinegar, 1 cup water and arrowroot. Stir mixture into simmering soup for 1 minute. Carfully add tofu and stir gently. Turn off heat and let tofu warm through for about 2 minutes. Serve sprinkled with scallions, dividing evenly. 

Nutrients per 2-cup serving: Calories: 230; Total Fat: 4g; Sat. Fat: 0g; Carbs: 31g; Fiber: 6g; Sugars: 4g; Protein: 16g; Sodium: 340mg; Cholesterol: 0mg

Note: We forgot to cut the snow peas this time, and honestly, I'm not sure we did last time. No big deal! Also, we decided to add about 2 cups of shiitake mushrooms. Last time we used the silken tofu and it was just too soft, so we got light firm this time, and only used one 16 oz box, since we added so many mushrooms.We also added a tad bit more tamari to flavor it a little more. =)

Spicy Tomato Soup

When we were on our trip to Vermont a few weeks ago, we stopped to eat lunch at a local food restaurant called Green Goddess Cafe in Stowe. They had a delicious spicy tomato soup, that we decided we would have to try and recreate. Sarah found a recipe online and we decided to try it as well! It came out delicious! I had a bowl with a vegan grilled cheese on sprouted spelt bread and Rich had a beautiful wild-caught hake filet with garlic. And we finally got to use our brand new immersion blender!

 

Spicy Tomato Soup

Ingredients: 

 1 carrot

1 onion

A few cloves of garlic

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/4 ts cayenne

2 28-oz. cans of whole peeled tomatoes

1 cup vegetable broth

Directions:

 Chop carrot, onion, and garlic. Add thyme, red pepper flakes, and cayenne. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the cans of tomatoes and vegetable broth and simmer for 25 minutes. Blend well and serve.

Note: We added an extra two carrots for flavor. This soup is relatively spicy, so cutting down on the spices is a good idea if you don't want too much spice. 

Rich's hake filet with garlic

Pho!!

Vietnamese soup is a favorite of ours, and I haven't had it since I decided to go vegan. I was a little unsure if they offered a vegan/vegetarian soup, so I had to try and find the menu online of our local Pho restaurant. Luckily, I managed to find it and they do! I was expecting somewhat of the same soup, simply without the meat. Boy, was I surprised!! It was loaded with vegetables!! Yum!!

Vegetable Stir Fry with Tofu

I never really thought I'd be a fan of tofu, but after exploring a few different options, I can honestly say I really like it. It takes on whatever flavor you cook it with. Wegmans has great prepackaged fresh cut veggies for stir fry that we pick up when we are in a hurry or don't feel like cutting for an hour prior to dinner. We started out our stir fry with three different packages of vegetables.

 

One thing we've been doing whenever we have a recipe that needs garlic (pretty much everything) is chopping it up and soaking it in olive oil for a while before we start cooking, so it can absorb the oil. It really brings out the flavor. We also added some ginger this time, and soaked that in oil as well. 

 

The last time we made a stir fry, we cooked the tofu first with the garlic and olive oil to try and flavor it well. This time we did the same thing, but instead of extra firm tofu, we used firm, which definitely seemed to soak up the flavor better. 

 

After that was cooked for a while, we put it in a bowl and covered it, and cooked the veggies separate, minus the mushrooms, until they were cooked completely.

 

The mushrooms were cooked separate as well, and then everything was added together in the wok. It came out perfect!

We made some wild rice to go with it, even though the tofu and vegetable alone are very filling!! It was definitely one of my favorite meals so far =)

Sautéed Mushrooms and Onions

Last night, I didn't feel like eating a heavy dinner at all. Since I had to stop by the store on the way home from work, I picked up some portabello mushrooms and onions to sauté. I've really had the urge for mushrooms lately, and I truly feel that when you get down to the basics of eating healthy, you should listen to your body and go with it. So why not!! I had two pieces of sprouted spelt toast with earth balance butter spread on the side. It really hit the spot!

Note: Even though it was a light meal, portabello mushrooms do have a decent amount of protein in them. Meat is not the only source of protein! =)

Roasted Vegetables

During the winter/fall months, roasting in the oven is one of the best ways to cook veggies! There's so many different choices as to which vegetables to cook. Usually, we throw in lots of different types of veggies, including brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips, beets, onions, garlic, and potatoes. If we have any herbs handy, like rosemary, thyme, or sage, those go in as well. Another delicious combination is carrots and sweet potatoes with cinnamon and a dash of salt sprinkled on top. Typically we roast the veggies around 400-425 degrees for about an hour, or whenever they feel soft enough. Be creative!! =)