Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Whenever I don't really feel up to cooking or I'm worried abut
time, I make soup. It was one of those 'what needs to be used
in the fridge' days. I didn't have a lot of open kitchen time
and had a ton of broccoli that needed to be used, so cream of
broccoli soup it was.

I like adding potatoes because it adds a heartiness and
thickness that is so yummy. You can either use a variety of
vegetables or keep it simple with some foundation onions and
garlic then add a dash of nutmeg!

Monkey-man likes his soup with all the big vegetable chunks,
but if I'm cooking for guests and such or if I used some funky
or odd shaped veg I'll blend the whole batch. It is also good
if I want to hide a certain vegetable from my picky Mom. Even
blending half is good and gives you the best of both worlds.

I served these with some baked potato cakes. They are super light
fluffy biscuits. I also added a little bit of kale to keep the super green
color. It is important to try and chop everything around the same size
so that it cooks evenly.

Simple Broccoli Vegetable Soup



2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, minced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 small crowns broccoli, chopped
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 leaves of kale, shredded
1 bouillon cube
1 1/2-2 cups unsweetened soymilk or nondairy milk
2 tbsp braggs
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp sage
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt and pepper to taste
water

Saute the garlic and onion briefly with water, until tender
and fragrant. Add the remaining vegetables (except kale) with
about a cup of water and cover. Continue to cook, stirring
occasionally until potatoes are almost soft. Add the kale and
cook for about 5 more minutes.



Either add to a blender and add soymilk slowly until you get
your own desired thickness or just add the soymilk and
nutritional yeast if you're not blending. Keep on low-med heat
to heat added soymilk, but do not boil.

If blended, add nutritional yeast last. It adds a nice subtle
cheesy taste that rings of old cream of broccoli.

No Posts= High Grades

Yes my friends, I have discovered a relationship with a very high
level of statistical association. Finally squeezed through midterms
and emerged triumphant. Now to just actually start my final projects
and start studying for finals. Ha. I got my midterms returned and
only have three weeks of classes left for the quarter.

I have been cooking quite a bit when I am at home, naturally.
Much of that has been experimental, so no solid recipes unless you
wanna be a tester for the book.

Here are some of the highlights since St. Valentines Day...


Monkey Man's Potato Pierogies



Creamy Fat-Free Basil Pesto


Luscious Vegan Lasagna




Bad lighting, sorry.


Back to making my 'Cutie Quiche', but this time around its all vegan.
At one point I was known for the palooza of quiche I'd make and now
it may happen again.


I love the pie pan that I finally got to use. I actually had not
made any sort of pie since my pie series and my friends had given me
a gorgeous ceramic pie dish that I had not gotten to use yet.

Maybe I'll make them a quiche to say thanks! This one was a whole
wheat crust and stuffed with broccoli and garlic.

All of these were amazing, if I do say so myself and you could taste
absolutely no difference between these and their non-compassionate
counterparts.

I have some great recipes and series coming up soon, so don't fear!

Vegan Mac and Cheese revisited: Blast to the past

I will not lie, when I was growing up we ate a CRAPLOAD of
kraft mac and cheese. My Mom was a decent cook, but she hated
it. My Dad was a cook for a long time, but he worked alot!
So the last thing he really wanted to do after 12 hours in a
kitchen all day was come home and cook. Cooking is not all
love and glamor. Far from it. That is why I am admitting
my childhood staple was the ole neon orange noodle in a box.

About 4 or 5 months ago I posted this recipe for mac and cheese.
Well, I've made it pretty often since the Monkey-man is an
ex-cheese nut. But I don't just use it on pasta for mac and
cheese. We use it on pizza sometimes, calzones, puff pastries,
on veggies, chili and fries, etc etc etc

But I've departed from what I originally posted and simplified
it quite a bit, losing none of the flavour.
I would compare this to the Annie's version of mac and cheese,
as the nutritional yeast gives it the aged taste.



To be honest, I never liked the idea of adding a thickener.
It seemed unnecessary, so I just took out the water from
the original recipe. That was also the only reason you needed
to boil it- which I've discovered kills the vit B-12 in the
nutritional yeast- yowzers! So sometimes, I just whisk it right
up without cooking it, unless you're making a hot dish and
then I only heat it up to as low as I can keep it.

The original:
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups water
1 cup plain soymilk
1 cup nutritional yeast
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon salt
1-2 cloves garlic pureed
1/2 small onion, minced as finely as you can
1 teaspoon mustard
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1-2 teaspoon turmeric
pinch cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon mellow white miso
black pepper to taste

The New

1 cups soymilk and then some to thin as much as you need
1 cup nutritional yeast
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons pureed onion or 1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp mustard
1 tablespoon nut butter
1 tablespoon miso or more salt

The spices? totally opt in my opinion.
They are mostly for color.

I really like my mac and cheese with apples for some reason.
And we steamed up some broccoli.




Here are a couple shots of our unbaked pizza. Monkey-man makes
the best pizzas ever! I think this was his rosemary
crust... sorry for the grainy pics, they were taken impromptu
with an iphone in bad light.

































So it bakes up fine, just stays pretty creamy.


I recently discovered what exactly it needed to get that
kraft 'cheese' taste. Butter, or rather earth balance in this case.

I found this one stressed out day, doing a huge pile
of homework and policy data analysis, with no time to cook.
I had some plain left over pasta, was out of olive oil and
thought to myself... oh I'll just use some earth balance and
do a quick garlic-butter sauce. Half way there, after I had
already tossed a little earth balance with the pasta I remembered
I had some left over cheese sauce in the fridge. Well, I
thought what the heck and tossed it in there too. I'll be
damned if it wasn't more like the kraft stuff than you can
imagine. So take that new recipe and just toss in a tablespoon
or two of earthbalance and see what you think...

But let me just say the ultimate thing to go with mac and
cheese is something else from my childhood... a classic
80s flick. In this case it was Monkey-mans first time
(pss he's a 90s kid) to see Farris Bueller's Day Out.

Dinner Pie, Oh My: Part Five

I've heard it said "Eat Dessert first, you never know when

you're gonna die." I strongly concur.

However, what if your dessert was hijacked by a dinner

disguising as a dessert. Like a pie, that wasn't your

average pie...

Yes my friends, I am talking about the dastardly meal

that is shepherds pie or worse yet pot pie. Shepherds pie

though is very often mislabeled... It actually is just a

veg and meat pie topped with potatoes and baked. Pot

pie actually has a pie crust.

I remember my dad making shepherd's pie when I was

a kid and I hated celery, so I never wanted to eat it.

And you have to admit that dinner pie isn't the most

photogenic or appetizing looking meals... So naturally,

as most children do, I had to give it a suitable nickname.

My Dad's shepherd pie became "Shepherd's Hulgh" --

as in a puking noise. I'm not sure how to spell that, but

you get the picture.

I feel pretty bad about this because my Dad is a damn

good cook and he doesn't cook nearly as much as he used

to, very sad. Also, I know that if I had his shepherd's pie today

I wouldn't be complaining.

We did a special take on the whole shepherd's pie idea today

for dinner... Our filling was just a load of mostly broccoli that

could be the base of a very good soup. (onions, garlic, broc,

carrots, sage, rosemary, bay leaf, soymilk, salt, pepper,

and a vegan roux).

Now the crust is what brings us back to the traditional sense

of shepherd's pie-- taders. Instead of lobbing some potatoes on

top we made a potato crust, as follows.

Potato Pie Crust

2 cups mashed potatoes, cooled

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup olive oil

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp water

Mix all but water. Slowly add water until a ball is formed.

Divide and roll out in to about 1/8" thickness.

This is good for a 9" crust and up. We used an 8" pan and

still had some dough left over. Once the bottom

of the crust is in place, pierce some holes in it with a fork

and prebake for about 8 minutes at 350F.

Pour in your filling and apply the top crust. Cut a couple of

slits in it, so the heat can escape. Bake for 30 minutes or

until golden brown.

My Shepherds "hulgh!"

Hee hee looks like the pie puked though!