Archive for the ‘Soup’ Category

8 Jan

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Posted by meatlessmouthfuls in Musings, Potato, Soup, What Gemma Eats.

We need to go to the grocery store.  Like bad.  Like probably three days ago.  Oh well.  We have tons of pasta and beans, as well as a fair supply of wine, but not much else.  We don’t even have yogurt right now because one of the little jars for the machine has mysteriously disappeared in our 1150 square foot mansion.  Good thing I ordered a whole new set of jars from Amazon (so I can make multiple batches) the other day and that set has an extra jar!!  I bet the cat stole it…she’s always out to get me.  There is no pizza dough (although there are two pieces of leftover green olive and garlic pizza that we ordered last night because neither Jake nor I wanted anything to do with cooking), there is very little cheese, and there is not a bit of romaine or spinach with which to make a salad.  I did notice this morning, however, that there was an unloved cauliflower and bag of broccoli florets languishing in our crisper.   What to do?  What to do?  And the answer is SOUP!!  My love for roasted cauliflower is no secret, but I’ve never roasted broccoli before.  I wanted something simple, easy, and that would highlight the flavors of these two vegetables.  I cobbled this soup together from two recipes that I found online (cited below–check them out…they look good) and my Roasted Curried Cauliflower Soup.  What follows is what came out of my need to feed my family and use up some very nearly past their prime vegetables!

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower Soup

Inspired by The Vegan Yogi and The Italian Dish

Ingredients:

*1 head (smallish) cauliflower

*1 12 oz bag (or 1 head) broccoli

*3 tablespoons olive oil

*6-8 cloves of garlic

*4 cups vegetable broth

*1 medium potato

*Salt and pepper to taste

(*2 tablespoons of Bragg’s Nutritional Yeast Seasoning–optional–adds a nutty and slightly cheesy flavor)

To Make:

*Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

*Cut both the cauliflower and broccoli into manageable florets.

*Toss veggies and garlic in a bowl with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

*Spread onto a baking sheet, and when oven is ready roast for 30-40 minutes. (I check them about 20 minutes in to toss them again and make sure that they are roasting as evenly as possible)

*While veggies are roasting, chop the potato and add it and the vegetable broth to a stockpot.

*Bring to a boil, and then let simmer.

*Once the vegetables are roasted and tender, add them to the pot with the broth and potato.

*Add the Nutritional Yeast Seasoning, if using.

*Cook like this for 10 minutes.

*After 10 minutes, blend with an immersion blender until you reach your desired texture.

*Cook on low for another 10 minutes and then serve.

Survey Says:

This is fantastic!  Super-filling and tasty!  Gemma gobbled up her bowl, as did Jake and I!  It’s definitely not pretty, but it is a main course kind of soup that would be great with a simple salad.  So there you have it.  I managed to feed the family without making a trip to the store.  But we seriously have to go tomorrow.  We’re out of coffee and coffee filters.  Coffee trumps food every time.

19 Oct

Roasted Curried Cauliflower Soup

Posted by meatlessmouthfuls in Gemma, Potato, Soup, What Gemma Eats.

On Sunday afternoon, as I was supposed to be working, I was thinking about what I was going to make for dinner.  I’ve been overworking my slow cooker these days and I decided to give it a day off.  There was a head of cauliflower in the fridge that needed to get used, so I set about looking for recipes for cauliflower soup.  The problem is, dear readers, that SO many cauliflower soup recipes call for cream or half and half.  Now, I’m no vegan, but like I’ve said before…I’d rather have an extra glass of wine (or three) than use calorie laden ingredients that won’t be missed.  My search lead me to the blog Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.  I don’t have a problem with good fats, so fat-free isn’t really my main goal in life, but this recipe incorporates a potato to help add creaminess to the soup.  It works!!

This is just myRoasted Curried Cauliflower made into soup form, so if you liked that, you’ll love this!  Oh and if you do not have an immersion blender, GET ONE NOW!  There is no reason in HELL that anyone should be ladling hot soup into a blender.  Ridiculous.  There are really expensive immersion blenders, but there are also really inexpensive ones.  I have an inexpensive one that I got as a wedding gift 5 years ago.  Go buy one.  Seriously.  Do it.  You’ll thank me later.

Roasted Curried Cauliflower Soup

Inspired by Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Ingredients:

*1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets or chunks

*2 tbsp olive oil

*2-3 tsp curry powder (depending on how currified you like your stuff!)

*5 -6 cloves of garlic, smashed and peeled, but left whole

*1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks

*4 cups (1 box) vegetable broth

*Salt and pepper to taste

To Make:

*Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

*In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, curry, salt & pepper.

*Add the cauliflower and garlic and toss together until well coated.

*Place in baking dish or baking sheet & bake until VERY tender (35-45 minutes, depending on the size of your florets)

*While the cauliflower and garlic are roasting, heat the vegetable broth and the potato in a large pot.

*Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and let simmer until the cauliflower is ready.

*Once the cauliflower is VERY tender, add it to the pot with the broth and potatoes.

*With an immersion blender, blend until smooth.

*Salt & pepper to your taste here if you feel like it needs it.

*Simmer for 10 minutes and serve.

Survey Says:

AWESOME!  This was super easy and so good!  Jake and I inhaled most of it that night, but we saved some for Gemma and she liked it…to eat, as well as to smear in her hair when I wasn’t looking!  We had this with an arugula salad with a little bit of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice…delicious!

15 Apr

Risi e Fagioli con Spinaci

Posted by meatlessmouthfuls in Beans, Rice, Slow Cooker, Soup, What Gemma Eats.

Dear Universe:  It is officially spring, so why are you insisting on being windy and miserable??  <3 Me

It is so incredibly windy today that there is no way in HELL that I was going to attempt the walk that I really wanted to go on this afternoon.  After much debate, Gemma and I set out for our lovely, little (and I do mean little) aquarium this afternoon, and happened upon Jake’s shooting location on our way there.  We stopped and texted to let him know where we were and let him find us.  It was such a happy happening (yes, I’m goofy) for the three of us.  Jake’s friends and coworkers love seeing her, and she was in such a good mood (as opposed to how she is at home…but I digress).  Those poor film workers (Susanna Martinez…I’m looking right at you…glamorous my ass) stuck working in the wind all. afternoon. long.  And just so you know…30-40 mile an hour winds are pretty freaking brutal if you’re stuck in them trying to do your job.  Try it.  I dare you.  Go ahead.  I’ll wait.

I decided to take pity on my poor husband and make sure that he had a good, hearty dinner waiting for him when he gets home after being blown halfway to Arizona.  This soup is nothing but a variation of the Pasta e Fagioli I have been making all winter.  I was inspired to put it together after hearing what a friend on Facebook was making for dinner one evening.  This is one that will definitely justify keeping your slow cooker out for a little while longer (even if it is officially springtime)!

Risi e Fagioli con Spinaci

Ingredients:

*2 tbsp olive oil

*6 cloves garlic

(*I usually use rosemary, but it was too windy to go pick it!!)

*1 can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)

*1 1/2 cups tomato purée (pasta sauce, ground tomatoes, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes…whatever you choose but I really like the ground tomatoes or the puree because you’re not pitting other flavors and textures up against the beans and pasta)

*4 cups vegetable broth

*1/4 cup short grain (Arborio style) brown rice (or whatever kind of rice you like)

*2 handfuls baby spinach leaves, roughly chopped

*Salt and pepper to taste

To make:

*Put slow cooker on warm or low and add olive oil, garlic, (and rosemary) to let the oil absorb the flavors before adding the rest of the ingredients.

*Add the rice and incorporate into the garlic/oil mixture.

*Add the cannellini beans and the tomato.  This is where I add salt and pepper to flavor these ingredients.

*Add broth and cover slow cooker.

*Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or on low for 6-7)

*About 20 minutes before serving, add spinach

Survey Says:

This is a good and easy soup!  I love that I can throw the rice in at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients…I kept forgetting to add the pasta and then we’d have to wait 15-30 minutes more to eat (not good with a starving husband)!

7 Dec

Pasta e Fagioli

Posted by meatlessmouthfuls in Beans, Soup.

Oh how I hate the term “pasta fazool”.  It sounds like “drool”…like a greasy faux-Italian barely literate resident of New Jersey has drooled in your perfectly good pasta and bean soup…yuck!  Whew…now that I’ve gotten that off of my chest I can move on to tonight’s dinner:  Pasta e Fagioli or Pasta and Beans.  Most recipes that I found for Pasta e Fagioli call for a pound of ground beef and a ton of other crap.  This simple soup holds up just fine on it’s own and won’t leave you feeling sluggish!

In the interest of full disclosure, I do need  to tell you all that I made this soup the other night, wrote a post about it, and it was promptly erased by a glitch in the server.  That is probably a good thing!  The soup was good, but I was not happy with the jarred pasta sauce that I was forced to use because it was in the house and I didn’t feel like dragging Gemma to the grocery store for an alternative.  I was also not happy with the fact that I added the pasta way too soon and it was mushy by the time we got to the soup.  Again, it was good, but I am pleased to have a second run at it!

Ingredients:

*2 tbsp olive oil

*garlic and rosemary chopped finely (I used 4 large cloves)

*1 can cannellini beans (drained and rinsed)

*1 1/2 cups ground tomatoes (pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, whole tomatoes…whatever you choose but I really like the ground tomatoes or the puree because you’re not pitting other flavors and textures up against the beans and pasta)

*4 cups vegetable broth

*3 oz (by weight) small pasta (I used ditalini rigati that I brought back from Italy, but any small pasta like shells or orzo should work well too)

To make:

*Put slow cooker on warm or low and add olive oil, garlic, and rosemary to let the oil absorb the flavors before adding the rest of the ingredients.

*Add the cannellini beans and the tomato.  This is where I add salt and pepper to flavor these ingredients.

*Add broth and cover slow cooker.

*Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or on low for 6-7)

*Add uncooked pasta 10-15 minutes before serving and keep an eye on it to make sure it does not get mushy!

Survey says:

AWESOME! So much better than the last one.  I am so glad that I switched from the pasta sauce to the ground tomatoes!  There is, however, no photographic evidence because my camera battery crapped out at the last moment, but take my word for it…great! (I will post a photo the next time I make it!) Perfect on a chilly evening with some toasted bread and goat cheese.  Whew…I feel better that I redeemed myself with a good ingredient swap and finally getting this post written!  Now on to other meatless, yet not fruitless, endeavors!


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