Spicy Sweet Potato Soup with Quinoa

I've been eating leftover soups this week as well as going with my fallback of barley and split peas, so tonight I thought I'd get a little exciting with my food choices. I had a lot of good ingredients sitting around so I came up with this soup, which is a variation of of sweet potato soup I've made before.

I cut 2 medium sweet potatoes into small wedges and boiled them until soft. I also added about 1tst of fresh ginger. When the potatoes were done I added another 1tsp or so of fresh ginger, some chipotle powder, chili powder, and salt. I blended with the immersion blender and added 1 cup of soy milk and 2 TB of red wine vinegar. I'm pretty sure I should have added the vinegar in before the milk, but oh well.

In another pan I sauteed 4 cloves of garlic in a little bit of olive oil and then added 1c water and .5cup quinoa. Once that was done, I added 6 chopped scallions, salt, and juice from 1/2 of a lime. I scooped the soup in a bowl and, surprise, surprise, added the quinoa mixture to it.

It was pretty spicy but delicious.

Black Bean Soup with Mango Relish

I bought a bunch of dried beans a few weeks ago at the organic market by my house. I used them in some amazing chili, which sadly never made it to the blog. But I'd been really wanting to use the black beans separately, and I was hoping to come up with something involving mango and rice. So I Googled black bean mango rice recipe and came up with this Cuban Black Bean Soup with Mango Relish.

Unsurprisingly, I didn't have a lot of the ingredients. So I improvised and made it my own way. The ingredients I used:

1TB olive oil
2 diced red onions
4 chopped garlic cloves
1-2TB chili powder (I ran out of cumin...)
2tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight
6-8 cups water
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
salt

I sauteed the onions and garlic in the olive oil until clear and soft and then added 4 cups of water, the beans, the vinegar, some of the salt and chili powder, and 1tsp of the ginger. I cooked it for 30 minutes or so and then added more salt, chili powder, and ginger. I scooped out some of the beans and blended the rest of the mixture until smooth. I added back in the beans and some additional water, which turned out to be too much.

As the beans cooked I made 1cup of whole grain rice and the mango relish, which I decided to change a little.

1 mango, diced
3 roma tomatoes
juice of one lime
3 scallions
5 or 6 leaves of purpil basil
.5tsp ginger
pinch of salt

I scooped the rice into my mug (all of my bowls were in the dishwasher, which necessitated the mug, which refused to produce a good photo for me), added the soup, and topped with the relish. The soup on its own was not amazing. But the relish made it stellar.

Baked Apples and Peaches

Fruit is amazing when it's cooked. Baked bananas with some unprocessed cocoa are my favorites. But other fruits cook well, too.





I sliced one gala apple and one little peach and put them in a pyrex dish with about .5 cup of milk and some ground cinnamon. They baked on 375 for 15 minutes and I turned and added 2TB flax seed because I was reading something the other day about how great it is and I remembered that I still have quite a bit of it in my fridge that I haven't used in ages. My original plan involved peanut butter. They baked for another 15 minutes or so.

The picture isn't the greatest, but it tasted nice. I should have put the cinnamon on closer to the end and it possibly could have cooked 10 or 15 minutes longer.

Purple Basil Tomato Soup

This isn't really different from my last attempt at tomato soup. I sauteed 1 medium red onion in a little olive oil and added water, 1TB tomato paste, 2 large tomatoes, and 6 roma tomatoes. I brought to the boil and added a few leaves of purple basil since I think the regular basil in my aerogarden killed it. (The purple basil had fallen over last night when I got home. I suspect the regular basil was blocking light or otherwise bullying it.)

Once it boiled for about 15 I added 8 or 10 white mushrooms that I'd chopped up. I let these cook for just a few minutes and then scooped out half of the chunky parts so I could use my immersion blender on the rest. I also added in about .5 cup of soy milk just to make it a little creamier and a few more basil leaves for flavor.

The real best part of everything was the lentil couscous salad I made to go in the soup. First I cut up 3 cloves of garlic, added some salt, a few chopped basil leaves, and 1TB olive oil. I let it sit as long as I could so the garlic and basil would infuse into the oil. Meanwhile, I cooked 3/4 cup lentils until just done so they weren't yet mushy, and I made 3/4 of couscous. Once all the cooking was done, I mixed the oil mixture, lentils, and couscous together and put about 3/4 cup into each of the 4 servings I made. Then I garnished with a gigantic purple basil leaf.

It was great- the raw garlic added extra zing to the soup. I promise I'll get more creative with tomato soup in the spring.

Sorta Chunky Tomato Soup

Since it's 6 degrees outside I thought I'd make some nice warm soup for lunch. And since I've been watching TV all day because it's 6 degrees outside and because I hurt my back running on Friday and have consequently been spending a lot of time with the heating pad, I decided on tomato soup because Sandra Lee (semi-home) made it and it seemed like the right thing to do.

My initial idea was the roast the tomatoes, but since I don't write these things down until after I've made them, I forgot. So, I started with 1/2 a red onion, sauteeing it in a little olive oil until translucent. Then I added 6 tiny cloves of garlic for a few more minutes and deglazed the pan with some red wine vinegar. I've wanted to use rwv in my tomato soup, but I didn't know how it would react to soy milk. But today I'm daring. Bold, even.

After deglazing, I added some water, 6 small plum tomatoes, 1 TB tomato paste, and 8 white mushrooms. I let it cook a few minutes then added 1cup of unsweetened soy milk. After stirring it all up, I scooped out half of the mixture and used my immersion blender to smooth out the rest. Once I added the pulp back in I tore up a few leaves of basil from my aerogarden. It's growing ridiculously high so I had to cut it back a little. What a shame to have fresh basil that I was forced to eat...

Now I don't ever remember having a single bowl of tomato soup in my life until the past year. So I never experienced what I understand is true tradition- grilled cheese and tomato soup. However, Sandra Lee reminded me of this true American meal and I thought I'd follow suit with my own version. I toasted a few pieces of whole wheat toast and spread with a thin layer of french onion Better than Cream Cheese. My favorite part was removing the crust and letting it sit in the soup to get a little soggy. While not exactly what everyone else grew up with, it hit the spot. And made just enough for another meal.

Roasted Potato Soup

More potatoes. Hooray!

I've been salivating over the idea of roasted potato soup for days. More than a week, in fact. I've decided to throw together my favorite things- taters (as Little Mommy calls them), onions, and garlic. I wedged up 2 medium taters and tossed them with .5TB olive oil. I also sliced up a red onion (both because the produce was lacking and because of my possibly false belief that it has more nutrients because it's red) and tossed with .5TB olive oil. Really, between the two I used .75TB in case you are a stickler. Then I got 6-8 cloves of garlic with paper on them. I put them on baking sheets on 375-400 and stirred every 10 minutes or so until they started to brown. The garlic went on the sheet with the onion- paper on but no oil.

Before we go any further, you may be concerned about all the garlic. Don't. I'm a huge garlic lover, and I could easily add more. When it's roasted, it becomes much milder and really soft. It's good to spread on bread. But I digress.

I then added one cube of veggie bullion to some boiling water (3ish cups) and half of the roasted veggies, blended with my immersion blender, and added in the rest of the veggies. Pretty simple. You can use any type of broth- it's really to add a little flavor and thin it out some. You may also want to add salt, but it depends on how salty the broth is you use. The whole thing makes 2 sort of small servings at about 250 calories a piece by my estimate. So I added in some couscous (I used .5 serving- 110 calories) and topped with Better Than Sour Cream.

It was exactly what I wanted. Only there's not enough.

Roasted Potatoes and Onions with Cheeze Dipping Sauce

I bought some regular potatoes at the grocery store on a whim. Mostly because I wasn't ready for more sweet potatoes. I'd been dreaming of ways to cook them since they seem like a special treat because I consider them a forbidden food.

The first up in my potato madness is to continue with my roasting obsession. I cut up 2 medium potatoes into wedges, added .5 TB olive oil and some salt, and roasted on 375-400, turning every so often. I also roasted an onion (sliced then sprayed with cooking spray) because I can't stop thinking about them. And I also dreamt about a dipping sauce- Better than Sour Cream and nutritional yeast. It tastes like French onion dip to me. Amazing. Greatest dinner ever.

Roasted Garlic Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut squashes are delicious but laborious. And sometimes I OD on them a little. But I got my first one this season and saved it for just the right moment.

It was really pretty easy and is the best tasting thing I've ever put in my mouth. I can't describe how amazing it is- beautiful, creamy, and flavorful. Wow.

I roasted a whole butternut squash (which was a little on the small side) in the oven on 350 until the inside was soft (45 minutes?). I also had 6-8 cloves of garlic (whole cloves with some paper still on them) and 2 cut sliced red onions roasting at the same time. I added just a touch of cooking spray and stirred them 3 or 4 times as they got delicious.

I made a special trip to the organic store today because I needed some nutritional yeast and wanted to get some Better than Cream Cheese because, well, it's like crack. While I was there I saw some vegan bullion (flavored with sea salt and herbs) and spontaneously threw it into my little basket. So, I dissolved 2 cubes in a couple cups of water (2ish cups, maybe 3cups) and added 3 TB of Better Than Cream Cheese. Pureed with the immersion blender and voila, amazingness. So what about the onions? I added them to couscous to add to the middle of the soup, which makes me feel a little fancy.

Roasted Veggie Delight

I had a (not unusual) craving for onions this afternoon but I didn't feel like standing over the stove to cook them. So I found a great alternative- I roasted them. While those were going, I cooked some lentils and seasoned them with salt, pepper, and basil. And I made cooked whole wheat rotini. Strangely I had some leftover Brussels sproutsd (which is a sin), so I tossed those in a bowl with everything else.

Crap, I just realized I meant to put capers in it but forgot. Oh well, it was tasty.

Red Beans and Bulgur with a Side of Roasted Green Beans

Culinary mental block is no joking matter. Especially when you rely on yourself to prepare all of your meals.

I thought long and hard all day about what to make for dinner to no avail by the time I got home. A quick trip to the corner grocery netted peanut butter and oatmeal- no good for dinner. Somehow, luckily, while I was walking the dog in the bitter cold I thought of red beans and rice, probably because I associate chili with the cold weather. I have something against rice, even brown rice, though. So I went with bulgur, the grain love of my life (as are barley and quinoa).

It was pretty simple- I sauteed some red onion until translucent, added 3TB tomato paste, .5c bulgur, and 1 can dark red kidney beans. Seasoned with Tony Sacheries and voila, dinner.

I also made one of my favorite things of all time: roasted green beans. Really, you can pretty much roast any vegetable and it will be my favorite. I just rinsed from fresh green beans, snipped off the ends, and tossed lightly with some olive oil and salt. I roasted them on 400ish for 20ish minutes, stirring every so often. These barely made it to the table before I devoured them.

Ugly Soup

My recent lack of culinary innovation is scaring me. I guess I used it all up at Christmas.

Lately I've been a little obsessed with nutritional yeast. A "stand by" of mine is yellow split peas and barley with nutritional yeast, so I went with what I know. I jazzed it up with some red onion, plum tomatoes, and portobellas. I knew that the shrooms would make it a little gross, but it was pretty ugly. Tasted alright, though not as nutritional yeasty as I'd wanted.