Leeksoup with smoked Tofu

Leek and again Leek. I can never get enought of leek. 

Last year I planted autumn/winter leeks and now it was finally the time for using it - before it's getting really bad by too much frost. Well the walk into the garden with snow falling in my nek - brr, but knowing soon I will enjoy a warm soup, made me even work faster. 

I harvest - late I know - about 10 leeks, so they will last for the next few days. 

Freezing as it was I needed a hearthy and stomachfilling soup. This soup was just right and warmed me from inside. 

Hmm, I felt like being in heaven! ;)

Enjoy it..

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Leeksoup with smoked Tofu

Preparation time: 15 minutes (+ cooking time)

Ingredients for 2 servings:
1 leek
1 bulb root parsley
100 g smoked tofu
1 onion
150 ml soy cream
400 ml vegetable stock
sweet paprika
Salt and pepper
some vegetable oil

The root parsley peel and cut into cubes. Heat some oil in a vessel and add the cubes and sauté for a few minutes. Then place the vegetable broth and soy cream in a mixing bowl and my high puree.

Peel the onion and chop finely. Fry until soft with a little oil in the boiler. Cut, add and fry crispy smoked in the cube. In the meantime cut the leeks into rings and wash well. Then, with give and fry in the tank.

With the vegetable deglaze, bring to the boil and simmer on low heat for about 20 minutes. Finally, season to taste with sweet paprika, salt and pepper and serve.

Yellow Pepper Soup

Yesterday I wasn't feeling well, shivering, headache, cought and nausea. Great! The lunch I had to vomit and I was working.....

In the evening I wanted to give my stomach only a soup and a piece of bread. I was hesitating weather to eat just a vegetable broth, but I knew I would be hungry after anyway and so I prepared I vegetable soup - and hoped my stomach will accept it!!! And he did. Uff 
I just eat slowly. 

Homemade soups are always good when you got nausea. 

The day after I woke up with fever and I had to go to work - I couldn't leave my boss alone with no one at the office. That's the bad side when you're the only assistant at a doctors office. Luckely weeking was coming very close.

The next week I passed work and came back on Thursday, a little weak, but health enough to work. Guess I catched a really bad flu - long time since my last one. 

But anyway, here I am not posting just my felt feelings, no - I post a really good soup! AND that's all that matters. 
I love peppers - more if they are peeled (better stomachfeelings). I could it easly in every dish I prepare..... like leek - I love!

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Yellow Pepper Soup

4 Portions

Ingredients:

1 Shallot, finely chopped

1 Garlic clove, finely chopped

vegan margarine or oil for steaming

1 Stalk celery, cut into pieces

2 yellow peppers, deseeded, cut into pieces

150 g of potatoes, peeled, cut into pieces

⅓ Teaspoon turmeric or Curry

7 dl vegetable bouillon

Salt, pepper

100 g vegan cream cheese (optional)

Direction:

Damp shallots and garlic in butter. When translucent add celery, peppers and potatoes and steam. Briefly add turmeric or curry to the stew and steam on.

Deglaze with broth and cook easily covered for 30 minutes till the potato and celery are soften and well to puree.

Puree the soup, you may spread it through a sieve to get the fibrous away and taste with salt and pepper.

Pour soup into pre-warmed great bowls, and garnish  with 1 tbsp. vegan creame cheese. 

Seitan with swisschard-creamsauce and soupentree

I don't know if I have mentioned it, that my last years-planted swisscard is growing again!! Unbelieble, but defently great. I can harves earlier my own vegetable, than even planted and waiting for it again.

Anyway, today I wasn't really planning about to harvest and prepare it. But so fast things changes. A few days ago I invited a friend of mine. But she canceled and yesterday she called me - days later - and said than she would have time today. 

First I was hesitating, cause I wasn't really feeling well and after doing the groceries I changed my mind, though I wasn't really sure what to serve - do I have enough vegetable or a side enought to serve two. Then suddenly the swisschard in the backgarden - jump into my mind, luckely I bought some potatoes and tomatoes and Seitan I was having on hand. The potatoes I will roast with herbs in the pan. 

Born was the dinner. About the sauce I was still hesitating weather to prepare a homemade whitewinsauce or a mushroomsauce. At the end I desided for the mushroomsauce. 

(Homemade Whitewine-sauce I will post later on)

When my friend arrived we enjoyed a great dinner together, for her it was the first time she ate seitan and she really liked it. 

Now it's your turn to  enjoy an evening or dinner together with your beloved ones with a good dish served ;)

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ENTREE

Liquid spicy Tomato Salad



4 Portions

Ingredients:

400 g beef tomatoes

100-150 g tomatillos

1 small white onion, chopped

1/2 fresh Chili, such as Jalapeño, cut

1 Garlic clove, cut in half

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar

Sea salt

1 dl mineral water

Olive oil, cold-pressed

Coriander leaves

Direction:

Cut 200 g tomatoes in half, then in quarters. Peal the Tomatillos from the case, cut in half. Puree with onion, chili, garlic, vinegar and salt.

Add mineral water and 1 Tbsp. oil. 

Set aside covered in the refrigerator for 1 hour.  Cut the remaining tomatoes finely and distribute in a bowls. Add tomato liquid, drizzle with oil and garnish with cilantro.

Note:

A great tasting entree soup-salad!

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MAIN DISH

Seitan with swisscard-creamsauce

Time: 50 min

Ingredients:
One swisschard (or more if you like)
200 g seitan 
sesame seeds 
flour 
Egg substitute for about 3 eggs 
breadcrumbs 

Sauce:
1 onion 
250 g mushrooms 
little oil
250 ml soycream
125 ml of water 
3 tablespoons powder for brown sauce 
1 teaspoon soy sauce 

Vegetable:
2 cloves of garlic 
1 (blood) orange 
pepper 
salt 
fresh herbs 
some grated orange peel (optional)

Direction:
Separate the chard leaves from the stems. Bring some water to boil, add salt and blanch the stems for 4-5 minutes. Then add the leaves until they fall apart. Meanwhile ..

Cut the seitan into slices and bread. For this only distribute some sesame seeds and pepper on the seitan, then roll them in flour, then in egg substitute and finally in breadcrumbs.

Cut the onions and the mushrooms into slices. In some oil fry them together until the onion is translucent and the mushrooms have lost some fluid. 

Dissolve brown sauce mix with half of the soy cream as well as the water, and add along with the soy sauce over the steamed mushrooms. Bring to a boil to thicken the sauce. Turn off the heat. 

In another preheated pan add some oil and give in the swisschard. Crush the garlic into the pan, season with salt, pepper and steam, after 10-13 min add the remaining soy cream.

Squeeze half of the orange and stir the juice into the pan. Those who wish can also add some grated orange peel .

Meanwhile, in hot pan with some oil fry the seitan until it is crispy and golden brown on both sides (5-7 minutes).

Serving:
Arrange the swisschard on a plate, top with the seitan and pour over the sauce. 

Dizzle over the sauce some pressed orange juice and garnish with the left orange and fresh herbs.  Finish

Christmas dinner

Hope you enjoyed a great christmas eve together with you're beloved ones!

We only celebrated on the 24th, as most of us got parents-in-law and wanted to celebrat with them as well.

For christmas eve I made the appetizers and my mother made the whole dinner. A lot of work. Therefore I invited them the next day and my mother could spend a free day from cooking. 

The dinner should be a light one for three persons. 

I craved my books, my mind and the recipes below are what I made. 

Enjoy your days off from work with skiing, relaxing in front of the fire or whatever, just hope you got a nice day. 

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Christmas Dinner

Appetizer

• Preparation time:

15 minutes

• Cooking time:

10 minutes

• Total time:

25 minutes 
Makes: 16

Ingredients
25g trimmed kale, finely shredded leaves

50g blanched hazelnuts, toasted
1 pink grapefruit, peeled and segmented
 ½ Perfectly Ripe Avocado, peeled and stoned
16 individual chicory leaves (from about 2 large heads of chicory - 1 white, 1 red)

For the dressing:

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp white wine vinegar
¼ x 20g pack tarragon, leaves only, finely chopped
1 tsp Dijon mustard

1. Plunge the shredded kale leaves into a pan of boiling water, return to the boil and cook for 30 seconds. Drain and plunge into cold water, then drain and dry on kitchen paper.

2. Roughly break up the nuts in a pestle and mortar. Cut the grapefruit and avocado into small cubes and place in a bowl with the kale and nuts.

3. Place all the dressing ingredients into a bowl, season and whisk to combine. Spoon a little salad into each chicory leaf and arrange on a serving plate.

Beetroot-Soup

Beetroot-soup together with some other ingredients is a traditional Russian recipe called "Borrtsch". I ate Borrtsch a few times - as my grandmother grew (they flee during world war) up some years in Russia she brought back the Borrtsch-Soup and we always ate it on Easter Sunday when being over at them together with my fathers brother's familily.

But for now I'm not posting a russian Borrtsch-Soup recipe. I just had Beetroot on the hand and if you have precooked ones you can make a pretty fast soup. AND I defently needed a hearthy soup as I'm feeling sick today. Cold, hurt throat, running nose, cough etc. This soup will give me some more warm from the inside and hopefully helps.









Red Beet-Soup



4 Portions

Ingredients:

1 Tsp mustard seeds

1 Tbsp. cross cumin seeds

2 Tbsp. vegan butter

1 large onion, finely chopped

500 g raw red or yellow beetroots, coarsely grated.

1 Liter vegetable broth

2 Bay leaves

1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Sea salt

freshly ground white pepper

Direction:

Heat mustard seeds and cumin in hot clarified butter, stirring until it smells good and the seeds are poppin. Add onion, cook at low heat til soft. Stir in the root Beet and cook. Pour in the broth, add Bay leaves and boil. Simmer for 30-40 minutes (less if you used the precooked Betts). Season with Apple Cider vinegar, salt, and pepper, and continue simmer for several minutes.

 

Consistent with freshly grated horseradish. (it gives the special taste to it!!) Love it

Hope you like the "special" soup!

Fresh Tomato & Wholemeal Bread Soup

I had such a hardworking day and coming home and passing through the market lanes, I saw fresh, big and so great smelling italian tomatoes (unfortunatly I forgot their name..). I had to buy them immediatly. First I was thinking about making a tomatosauce for my next tomorrows dinner, but then being back at home I changed for the soup. But this will have to wait till tomorrow

Sunday, one hour back of time changing into winterseason. Every half of year the same and mostly every time I forget it and realize it when waking up, hearing the news on the alarmclock-radio. This year was different, I knew the time would change the day before but I forgot it. When it the alarmclock ran I turned it off - some more sleep, but when getting up the radiospeaker said the hour and I was lightly shocked - what? - oh now... For a sundaymorning a little bit early I have to say.

After I passed the morning through with kitchenwork, I needed a lunchbreak. The idea about making a soup with the fresh yesterday-bought italian tomatoes. This soup would calm my stomachrumors for sure.

As almost every soups, this one is very fast done, perfect if you are in a hurry! AND of course so tasty. Enjoy!

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Fresh Tomato-Wholemeal Bread Soup

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 large onion
800g fresh tomatoes
1 lt vegan vegetable stock
4 medium slices of wholemeal bread
25g pack basil

Direction:
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion for five minutes. Add the tomatoes, cover and cook for a further five minutes. Stir in the stock and bring to the boil.

Roughly tear up the bread and add to the soup. Simmer for five minutes. Add the basil and purée with a hand blender or in a food processor. Season to taste.

Green Gazpacho

During winter a hot soup is what I most want for lunchtime. Well not always of course. During summer time a hot soup of course is too much heating when it's hot outside. Then I mostly eat a good salad, but when I was in italy a few years ago I came to knew how good a selfmade "Nonna" gazpacho tastes like and I immediatly fell in love for it.

A Gazpacho is so easy and fast done. The soup even tastes better the next day and as I knew that already I prepared the soup yesterday - for todays lunch.
Saturdays are mostly filled with a lot of work at home and in the garden. Therefore I was glad that lunch waited in the refrigerator, served together with some crostinis. Yummy :)

 

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Green Gazpacho



Ingredients

600 gr of green tomatoes
200 g  cucumber
1 green pepper
2 Celery stalks
½ Fennel bulb
½ clove of garlic
6 Leaves Mint
some splashes of green Tabasco
Salt
freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 tsp. sherry vinegar

Preparation

Rinse the tomatoes, cut into quarters and cut the stem out. Peel cucumber, cut in half lengthways and remove the seeds with a teaspoon. Cut the cucumber into pieces.

The pepper into quarters, clean, rinse and cut into pieces. Clean Celery and may unlock thread, then rinse and cut into pieces. Clean the fennel, rinse, cut into quarters and cut out the core. Dice the fennel. Peel the garlic. Rinse Mint and shake dry.

Puree very fine the coarsely chopped vegetables, garlic, mint, Tabasco, salt, pepper and vinegar in a blender. Pass the puree through a sieve and put 4-6 hours in the refrigerator and allow to cool.

 

After the hours taste the gazpacho again with salt, pepper and Tabasco spicy and serve.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roasted Cauliflower soup

I saw this image on How Does She’s Facebook page today and it couldn’t be more accurate.

 

Yesterday such nice and well temperature over zero nearly getting into warm and today the same dark and cold day again as we already had enough. Lately I hears some news that last year around this date it already getting into springtime, but this year springtime seams to be far aways. I really can't stand this cold days anymore. 

 

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Well this soup may take you some time to cook but it's worth it, cause it's roasty taste is just that good and you will be glad for doing it so. I for mine really liked the taste.


roasted cauliflower soup with roast-y onions + rosemary


 

serves: makes a large batch

soup:
1 large head of cauliflower, trimmed
1 lb yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed (I use yukon because of the waxy/creamy quality)
2 cooking onions, papery skin removed
1 sprig of fresh rosemary (mine was particularly lush, so perhaps 2 normal sprigs is advisable)
2 tbsp oil
salt and pepper
juice of 1/3 of a lemon (like 2 teaspoons)
5-6 cups vegetable stock

Topping:
toasted bread with some of your favorite oil and herbs

Direction:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the core from the cauliflower and chop it into rough florets. Place the florets into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

Chop the potatoes into pieces about half the size of the cauliflower florets and toss them into the baking dish as well.

Chop the onions into rough 1-2 inch pieces and toss them into the dish. It doesn’t matter if the layers stick to each other.

Remove the leaves from the rosemary sprig and chop/mince them up. Sprinkle the rosemary over the vegetables in the dish. Liberally salt the vegetables and season with pepper to taste. Add the oil and toss the vegetables until evenly coated with the oil, herb and seasoning.

Roast vegetables for about an hour, flipping and tossing them here and there with a metal spatula/spoon to promote even browning. When done, remove from the oven and squeeze the 1/3 lemon over the hot vegetables (I just drop the lemon into the warm pan when I’m done so that it can release some oil too). Using your metal spatula, toss the vegetables with the lemon juice, scraping the browned bits off the bottom.

Once the vegetables are cool enough for you to handle, start blending them in batches with the stock.

Purée until smooth and pour into a big soup pot. Continue blending in batches until you’ve used up everything. Heat the large soup pot full of purée over medium heat until it boils. Add more stock or water to thin the soup out if necessary and adjust seasoning to taste.
Serve hot with the topping.

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Sweet Pepper Chutney

 

Ingredients

450 g red, green and orange peppers
900 g bramley apples
675 g onions
900 g tomatoes
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground black pepper
1 lt pickling vinegar
250 g fruit sugar

How To Cook

Wash the peppers and cut them in half. Then remove the stalk and any seeds and chop the peppers finely.

Peel, core and dice the apples, then finely dice the onions. Wash and dice the tomatoes and place in a large preserving pan.

Stir in the paprika, cayenne pepper and ground black pepper, mixing well, and then stir in the vinegar and bring to the boil. Allow the spiced appleas, onions, tomatoes and peppers to simmer for about 45 minutes until softened.

When the fruit and vegetables are ready, spoon in the fruit sugar, stir until dissolved and continue to simmer until desired consistency is reached.

Pour into warmed jars, cover and label. Store in a cool dark place for at least three months before using.

Aspargus and cilantro soup

We had such good weather but now winter is back with cold and rainy days. These day's are perfect for a warming soup as I mostly eat for lunchtime. I just love soups.
Yesterday I bought the first aspargus this year though it's not yet really aspargus season. When I was a child my mother used to cook them and we ate them with a Sauce hollandaise and potatoes.

As I'm in soup season I just had to make on with them, but I didn't want to make a simple soup it had to taste like a little bit of asian. First I wasn't sure if cilantro would be the right herbs to use but together with the tamari the flavor was just that good, just perfect. Defenetly a soup I'm going to do over and over.


Aspargus and cilantro soup

When aspargus is in season you simply must make this soup. The rather exotic, bitter-tasting aspargus pairs amazingly well with fresh, clean flavor of cilantro.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large onion, coarsely chopped
3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small russet potato, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil
2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
1 tsp. ground cumin
6 cups vegetable stock or water
2 pounds aspargus, trimmed, tips reserved, and stalks cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
1 Tbsp. tamari
2 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

Direction:
1. Heat the olive oil in a heavy stockpot over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic and sauté for 8 min.or until the onion are translucent.

2. Stir in the potato, basil, oregano and cumin. Add the stock and bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally for 10 min. or until the potato are almost tender. Add the aspargus stalks and simmer for 5 min. or until the aspargus is tender and the potato is very tender.

3. Using a handheld immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot until smooth. Stir in the tamari, salt and white pepper. Return the soup to a simmer then stir in the cilantro.

4. Meanwhile cook the reserved aspargus tips in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 min. or until crisp-tender. Drain then cut the aspargus tips in half lenghtwise.

5. Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with the aspargus tips and serve.

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Vegan szechuan shrimps

Finally friday, I'm so glad about that, really. I had a though week with a lot going on.
I work at a doctors office and many people are sick and therefore much of work, even in the team there are two sick.

The first time I ate vegan shrimp I found they tasted weird. My problem was - as I can guess - was that I havn't marinated them very well and so this time I changed and it's taste was just so great a big different to the first time.

Pan-Fried Spicy Szechuan Vegan Shrimp

I decided to crumble up some dried seaweed in with the homemade szechuan sauce to add a bit of that “fresh-from-the-sea” taste

Ingredients
Makes 2-3 servings

1/4 cup water
2 tbsp. ketchup
1/4 tsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. corn starch
1 tsp. agave nectar (you can sub in honey if you have to)
1/2 tsp. dried chili flakes
Pinch of black pepper
Pinch of cayenne powder
1 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp. dried seaweed, flaked
1/2 tsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. vegetarian oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 250g package of vegan shrimp (I used Sophie’s Kitchen brand)
Toasted black sesame seeds for garnish
Lime wedges for garnish

Direction:
In a medium-sized bowl, lightly stir together water, sesame oil, soy sauce, corn starch, agave nectar, chili flakes, black pepper, ginger, seaweed and lime juice. Set aside.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and stir in green onion and garlic; cook for roughly 30 seconds. Stir in shrimp, and add a little bit of additional oil if needed. Gently stir in sauce and cook until all shrimp pieces are lightly coated and bubbles begin to form in residual sauce in pan.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and serve immediately with rice. Enjoy your super-easy mock seafood dish!

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As you may have regonized I love soups, during winter time I could easly live from soups, they are light and give a nice warm in the stomach.

This soup isn't blended in a food processor so there are littly tomato bits to bite. Great and the taste so good. 

Indian tomato-lentil soup

(sorry about the picture, guess my camera is broken)

Ingredients:

2 pounds tomatoes

2 glove carlic

1 oniob

1 red chili

2 Tbsp. butter or oil

1/2 tsp. tumeric

1 tsp. Graham masala

1 tsp. cumin

600 ml vegetable broth

300 ml coconut milk

175 g red lentils

2 tsp. lemon juice

salt, pepper

2 Tbsp. chopped coriander

Direction:

1. Wash and cut the tomatoes into quartes and chop rughly. Peel and chop the onion and garlic.

Cut the cilli into half and waste the seeds, chop finely. 

2. Preheat a big pan with the butter or oil over medium-high. Add the onion and garlic and roast. Add the tumeric, cumin, graham masala and the cilli and roast for another few minutes or until golden. Add the tomatoes and stir well and let roast for about 2 min. Afterward add the broth and coconut milk, stirr well and add the lentils and lemon juice and let it cook up.

3. Let it cook for about 20 min. At the end taste it with salt and pepper and serve with the coriander on top.

Enjoy.

Roasted garlic falafel

I havn't made a lot of falafel before and my first try about a week ago, looked amazing, tasted great but when I picked them up they crumbled up and I had to eat them with a spoon....

I had to retry it and this time they came up perfectly. The first time I used dried beans and I guess that was my fault. The second time I took canned beans and the result was great. Much more moistend.
I served them with some salad.

For all those who like roasted garlic as much as I do, here's the recipe.

Roasted Garlic Falafel

Yummmmmy roasted garlic! I actually made this for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and wanted to post it. They were quick to make, looked amazing, and tasted even better. But when I tried to pick them up, they crumbled into a million pieces. Had to serve them with a spoon. Sad.

But now I come to you with a recipe for the creamiest roasted garlic falafel and they even stay together! Hurrah! And even if the first recipe was a huge mess, I'm very happy to eat these roasted garlic falafel repeatedly. I think the only issue with my last attempt is that I'd used garbanzo beans that I'd cooked from dry, and they weren't as soft as canned. Canned worked perfectly this time!

If you've never made falafel before, I think you'll be surprised at how easy they are. I was. And it's the kind of recipe that you can easily change to suit whatever your tastes are, or whatever you have in your fridge. I like to make falafel to use up herbs before they go bad, since I always seem to have half a box of herbs in my fridge that risk being forgotten.

But who doesn't love roasted garlic? Seriously. I want names.

serves 4

1 head garlic

2 C chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 T whole wheat flour

1/4 t ground cayenne

1 T ground cumin

1 t onion powder

3 T olive oil, divided

1 large clove raw garlic (only for garlic fanatics like myself)

pinch salt & pepper

handful of herbs (you really can use as much as you want; I've made falafel that comes out green - nothing wrong with that!)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut just the top off the roasted garlic - just a little bit, so that you cut at least a teeny from every single clove. Place the little lid back on, wrap the whole head in tin foil, and roast for about 45 minutes. Take out and let cool before making falafel.

Place all ingredients (except two tablespoons of the oil) in a food processor and blend until smooth. Form into patties.

Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan and cook falafel until crispy on each side and warmed through. I like to serve them on a big salad or in a wrap. And I poured over some yummy hummus dressing from Trader Joe's - you could just spread on some hummus or thin some out with soy milk for a dressing. Mmmmm.

Nutrition facts per serving: Calories: 265; Calories from Fat: 116; Total Fat: 12.8g; Saturated Fat: 1.7g; Cholesterol: 0mg; Sodium: 14mg; Total Carbohydrates: 30.6g; Dietary Fiber: 7.1g; Sugars: 4.4g; Protein: 8.7g

serves 4

1 head garlic

2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 Tbsp. whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp. ground cayenne

1 Tbsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. onion powder

3 Tbsp. olive oil, divided

1 large clove raw garlic (only for garlic fanatics like myself)

pinch salt & pepper

handful of herbs (you really can use as much as you want; I've made falafel that comes out green - nothing wrong with that!)

Direction:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut just the top off the roasted garlic - just a little bit, so that you cut at least a teeny from every single clove. Place the little lid back on, wrap the whole head in tin foil, and roast for about 45 minutes. Take out and let cool before making falafel.

Place all ingredients (except two tablespoons of the oil) in a food processor and blend until smooth. Form into patties.

 

Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan and cook falafel until crispy on each side and warmed through.

 

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Sweet Potato and Orange Zest Soup

 

 

 

 

Ingredients
3 cups sweet potato, cubed
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 1/2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and black pepper to season
5 cups vegetarian broth
1/2 tsp. dried cumin
Pinch of dried cloves
1 tsp. orange zest
1 tsp. fresh ginger, grated
Salt to taste

Direction:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In a large roasting pan, toss sweet potato, onion, garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast, uncovered, for 25 minutes stirring once halfway to make sure everything is cooking evenly.

In a large pot, add the roasted mix. You will not need any extra oil since the sweet potatoes will still be lightly coated from the roasting. Add broth, cumin, cloves, orange zest and ginger, and bring to a boil. Add salt if necessary. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, covered, for 10 minutes.

With a hand blender or with a food processor, blend the soup until completely smooth and no chunks remain. Serve hot with sour cream or croutons.

Carrot burgers

I have a thing about magazinese, especially food magazines. I got so many and therefore so many recipes, beside my cookbooks. I have subscribed to two vegetarian magazine, with a lot of vegan recipes. I don't mind receiving vegetarian magazines as the recipe are easy to change into a vegan meal. The only difficult for me is to replace the eggs.

I love to get some inspiration in the magazines. 

 

In the newest magazines I got I found that recipe with the carrot burgers and it just looked and sounded good, that I had to try it out. 

Carrot burgers

 

Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 20 mins

Serve these carrot burgers with salad and a simple tahini sauce to make the perfect dinner or lunch. For a more substantial meal serve with a side of couscous or rice. 

 

Ingredients (6 burgers)

Burgers:

300g carrots

200g chickpeas

1 small onion

1 tbs tahini

1 tbs ‘spices’ (I used a Cajun mix)

Extra salt to taste

50g oatmeal

1 tbs chia or flax plus 2 tbs hot water

1 tbs red palm oil (or other oil) for frying

Dressing:

50g yoghurt of choice (or cashew yoghurt as I used)

2 tsp tahini

2 tbs lemon juice

 

Instructions

Coarsely chop the carrot and onion in a food processor and then add the chickpeas, tahini and spices and roughly mash through. Transfer the mixture to a sauce pan and cook for approx. 10 minutes stirring frequently to prevent sticking.

Once cooked, stir through the oatmeal and gelled chia/flax mixture. The mixture should be sticky but firm, if too sticky add a little more oatmeal. With wet hands form flat burger patties and fry them in a lightly oiled pan for a few minutes on each side until golden.

For the tahini sauce, mix all ingredients together well in a small bowl.

Drizzle burgers with tahini sauce and serve immediately.

 

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'5 minute' miso stew

 

 

 

Serves 1

Ingredients:

1 sachet miso soup mix

1 cup boiling water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 small onion or shallot thinly sliced

1 small carrot grated

½ cup cabbage thinly sliced (use Chinese cabbage if possible, or a white cabbage)

Handful of frozen soy beans

¼- ½ cup brown rice vermicelli (very thin) noodles

Sesame seeds to garnish

Method:

Add the onion, carrot and cabbage to a frying pan with the oil (you could use any veg that could be chopped finely). Fry for 5 minutes, using extra water to steam fry as necessary.

 

Meanwhile boil the kettle and add the miso soup mix to the cup of boiling water- stir to combine and set aside. Add the rice noodles to another cup of boiling water and add the frozen soy beans to another cup of boiling water. Let stand for a few minutes whilst the vegetables cook.

 

Drain the soy beans and noodles. And add to a serving bowl. Pour the miso soup into the bowl and then add the vegetables. Finish with a sprinkle of sesame if desired.



Roasted red pepper soup

The  carnival is over I'm so glad about that, though I haven'd been going near it. Beside the supermarket most store are closed. The only good thing is, that the supermarket was almost empty, no long standing in a row at the cashierdesk. (hope it's written right).

Coming home into the warm, my stomach said "hungry". In my refrigerator I still had some pepper to be done befor getting all wrinkled up and I was thinking what to do with them. A sandwich or a soup? As for the cold weather I decided for the soup and it was pretty fast done.


Roasted red pepper soup

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min

Ingredients:

50 g red lentils- ground
2 tbs olive or coconut oil
1 large onion- half chunky sliced and half finely diced
2 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp roast garlic powder)
1 tin of tomatoes
3 red peppers (half or 1 reserved)
400 g veg stock
Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper to taste

Method:

Halve and roast the peppers (reserve 1 half) until the pepper has blistered.

Meanwhile saute the diced onion and garlic for 5 minutes, and then add the peppers and all remaining ingredients to the pan and cook for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile sliced the remaining pepper half and roast the pepper and remaining onion slices for approx 8-10 minutes until golden.

Puree the soup mixture with a hand blender and serve with the extra pepper and onion slices on top.

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Oat bake with tomato and caramelised onions





 

Ingredients- oat base

 

½ cup oats

¼ cup buckwheat flower

½ tsp heaped baking powder

1 tbs ground flax/chia

1 tbs nutritional yeast (optional)

½ tsp stock paste or stock cube to taste

¼ tsp salt (or to taste)

1 tsp soy sauce/liquid aminos

1 tsp olive oil

¼ cup soy yoghurt

Approx. 3 tbs soy milk as needed

 

Ingredients- topping

 

1 small red onion- sliced

Handful baby vine tomatoes- halved

Few leaves fresh basil- shredded

2 tbs chutney of choice

 

Instructions

1. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add the wet ingredients and mix well well to form a thick but easily spoonable batter.

2. Spoon/pour into a baking rind/mini pie tin/muffin tins. Smooth the top and bake at 180C for approx. 10 mins until risen and just turning golden on top.

3. Whilst the oat bake is cooking, prepare the onion and fry for approx. 5 mins until soft and golden, adding the tomato after a couple of minutes. Just before removing from the heat add the chutney to heat through.

4. Serve the topping mix over the oat bake and top with shredded basil leaves.