Recipe: Mushroom Barley Soup

I love mushrooms. Love them. Mushrooms + Soup? Heaven!

I've made this recipe a few times over the last couple weeks and my, very meat eater friendly, husband asked for more the first time and then about a week later asked for me to make it again. Even the picky toddler likes this.

1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 tsp. ground mustard powder
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained (or 1-16 oz. can drained and rinsed)
2 pinches ground cumin
2 pinches paprika
2 pinches dried thyme
1 pinch dried rosemary
1 pinch dried oregano
1 pinch ground coriander
8 cups water
4 Tbsp. soy sauce
3 Tbsp. lemon juice (fresh is best!)
2 veggie bullion cubes
¼ cup nutritional yeast
1 cup pearled barley
2 packages mushrooms (I use one regular and one baby portobello), diced

Heat a large soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and mustard seeds, sauté until nicely browned, using a little water or veggie broth to keep from burning.

Add the garlic and stir until fragrant (about 1 minute).

Add in the chickpeas, spices and 2 cups of water and de-glaze the bottom of the pan.

With a potato masher or immersion blender, puree until it is mostly smooth (some whole beans and pieces of onion are fine).

Add the remaining 6 cups of water, and all other ingredients, and bring to a simmer for 30-40 minutes until the barley is cooked.

***On a personal note, as a professional photographer, I think a blog without pictures is just not fun...so I am making it a goal to photograph the recipes I make from now on. Hold me to it! ***

Recipe: Corn Chowder

Is this thing on? Um sorry for the absence. I am usually not "that" blogger.

Anyway, I'm not going to make any excuses (okay, maybe I am...it was Thanksgiving!!! And then the day after! And then the week after. And I was lazy lol), but I've been struggling. I got down to about 142 (I started at 156-157 ish) and now I'm about 146. I'm so bummed. I've been staying vegan, but just really eating a lot of vegan junk food (added fat, nuts, avocado, sugar, processed vegan goodies, etc) which in no way helps my weight loss. I know this, but I felt like I was already giving up all the animal products, that I wanted to splurge some.

Anyway, I'm back on track as of....right...NOW! (yeah I even ate tofu in oil this morning at Whole Foods..)

And I just made this awesome corn chowder. I made it up, so here is what I did.

Ingredients
-one onion, chopped
-3 garlic cloves, chopped
-1bag (1lb) frozen yellow corn
-1 cup shelled frozen edamame
-1/2-1 c (I just poured and eye balled) bag of frozen chopped colored peppers (I would normally do fresh, but I wanted to make this super quickly and easily)
-about 6-8 small/medium yukon potatoes, chunked/chopped
-4 c veggie broth
-1 c non dairy milk (I used soy creamer I had that was going to go bad, which has a little too much fat, but I didn't want to waste it, next time I'll use rice milk)
-1 tsp chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (to taste)

1. soften the onions and garlic in a large pot with a little water as they cook.
2. Add in the veggie broth, chipotles, potatoes, frozen corn. Simmer for about 20-25 min or until potatoes are nice and soft.
3. Transfer some (as much as you'd like smooth) to a blender and puree.
4. transfer back and add in peppers and edamame and simmer for about another 15 min or so.

Super simple, So good!

Recipe : Bean & Rice Gumbo

Oh my goodness. This was pure awesomeness. I used to make something similar with sausage, chicken, and shrimp, but I didn't even miss those things! This was so simple to make and very filling. I love recipes where I often have a majority of the ingredients on hand and this is another one of those. As usual, lots of yummy leftovers. :) I made mine fairly flavorful so I will likely mix a small amount in with lots of brown rice for the baby to try tomorrow. I followed a recipe from Dr. McDougall's Quick and Easy Cookbook, but tweaked it a bit:

Bean & Rice Gumbo

Ingredients:

• 1 cup brown rice (dry)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 4 cups veggie broth
• 1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15 oz can black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
• 1-2 tablespoons creole seasoning (recipe below)
  
• 1/2 tsp Tabasco sauce
• 1 16 oz bag frozen okra

Creole Seasoning

Ingredients:

This makes quite a bit, so you'll have some to save for later.

• 2-1/2 Tbsp paprika
• 2 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 Tbsp onion powder
• 1 Tbsp cayenne
• 1 Tbsp dried oregano
• 1 Tbsp dried thyme

Cook the rice separately (2 cups water to 1 cup rice, for about 45 min.) and set aside. I'd start cooking the rest when the rice has about 25 min. or so left.

Place the onion, pepper, celery, and garlic in a large pot with 1/2 c of the broth. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.

Add the remaining broth + 1 cup water, the beans, and seasonings (you can adjust the seasonings to be as spicy as you'd like so keep tasting until you get it how you'd like it).

Bring to a boil and reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the frozen okra and lightly boil for an additional 5-10 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice.

Recipe : Lentil Soup with Kale

Ingredients

• 1 cup lentils
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic, grated or chopped
• 1/2 pound cremini mushrooms, wiped clean and thinly sliced
• 2 yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 1/2 tsp rosemary
• 1 tsp thyme
  
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste
  
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 4 cups veggie stock
• 1 bunch kale, thick stems removed and discarded, leaves torn

In a large pot, saute the onion and garlic in a little water or broth, adding more to prevent major sticking until soft.

Add mushrooms, potato, rosemary, thyme, salt, pepper and the tomato paste. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes.

Add the stock and 2 cups of water, turn the heat up to high and bring up to a bubble. Add the lentils and the kale, stir until the kale wilts in then turn the heat down to medium and simmer 30-40 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Serve.

Adapted from Rachael Ray

Recipe : Lentil & Veggie Stew

This is one of my favorite recipes to make.
It's easy
It's cheap
It makes a ton of leftovers to eat throughout the week on brown rice, a top a baked potato, etc.
Oh, and it's YUMMY!

Lentil and Veggie Stew

Ingredients
1 c chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots peeled and chopped (I always throw in quite a few more since my son really digs the carrots in this and not much anywhere else)
3 parsnips peeled and chopped
6-8 brussels sprouts (tough ends removed, chopped) I do a lot more of these too, like the whole bag
4 fist size potatoes, peeled and chopped (I've used Yukon and red or white sweet potatoes - both great)
1tsp cumin
pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger (I always omit this)
1/2 tsp allspice (I omit this too since I never have it...I just add a little more of the other spices)
4 cup veggie broth
1 cup green/brown lentils
2 tsp salt
3 bay leaves

1. Heat a little broth over medium heat. Add all chopped veggies and cook for about 5-10 minutes.

2. Add all spices (except salt) and continue cooking, just until fragrant.

3. Reduce heat and add veggie broth, lentils, salt, and bay leaves.

4. cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 45-60 min. Stew is done when lentils are cooked.

5. Serve over brown rice or as is.


adapted from: Eating Clean