Didn't crack 70 today. Boo hiss. Sugar detoxing taking its toll, caved in today with two chocolate chip cookies, now feeling remorseful. This, after I had a super-duper lunch of salad, and soup that Mr. Happy Vegan delivered piping hot to me from Good Food. Carrot curry, made by Bonnie, at my request yesterday as I was having a hummus wrap.
Overall the sugar intervention was coming along pretty well, until today's cookies. I'm not going to dwell (too much), instead I decided to get back on the wagon and make soup of my own for dinner tonight. That plan was derailed when Mr. Happy Vegan announced "but I don't like split pea soup." Well, neither do I to be honest with you. I just happen to have a lot of organic green split peas in my pantry. I bought too many when I was decorating for the Christmas holiday, and now I've got to do something with them. But, it will not be soup, at least not tonight.
I have decided to make black bean soup. I've never made this before. I know I like other people's black bean soup. I have a stash of organic black beans, bouillon, organic tomatoes, organic onions, organic carrots, organic rice and dozens of organic spices. I began pulling out cookbooks, and then shifted to on line recipe sites. I've decided to throw all caution to the wind, and make my own damn soup. How difficult can it be?
Here's today's "thing" about eating healthier. If we cook at home, we have a lot more control about putting what's good (or not so good) in that dish. Soup is one of the easiest things to make. Even in my pre-B&B days, I could put together a decent soup (most of the time. Hint for this, never drink & make soup, for you will live to regret the outcome).
Vegan soup making tends to be almost as simple as making those smoothies we talked about yesterday. Choose your basic idea first (bean soup? creamy soup? noodle soup? you get the drift), forage through your fridge & pantry, pull out the biggest pot you have and get to it. I swear, this is my formula, and its not a bad idea.
I never use stocks, which ok sure, sue me. I just don't. Instead, I often rely on low sodium bouillon cubes. I can get a few different flavors (un-chicken, vegetable) and I personally really like the brand Edward & Sons. If I don't use bouillon, I will typically buy shelf-stable containers of different bases made by a company called Imagine. This is great for things like chowders, mushroom soups, etc. Anyway, here's the deal for tonight. I'm taking my biggest dutch oven, heating it up, putting some of my best olive oil in there with some diced onion, and maybe some garlic. After that, I'm going to add shredded carrots and a few cups of water with bouillon cubes. Once that simmers, I'm just going to dump in some diced tomatoes, maybe some corn (yup, I have some frozen organic corn), those organic black beans (canned, watch out for BPA in your canned purchases!), some hot sauce and then go crazy with seasonings. I love cumin, so that's definite. Black pepper, white pepper, & red pepper, yup. After that, I'll taste it and see what else I feel like tossing in. I just got some smoked paprika, and am thinking maybe that will do.
So, you see, soup can be easy, even for a novice. You have to decide what you like, and move from there. For cream soups, you can use your favorite non-dairy beverage instead of milk or cream. For cream, without going crazy and making your own "cashew cream" (I just don't have time for that), you can buy something called Mimicreme in many grocery stores. I've never used it, but seen it on line. Its a vegan "cream" replacer. So, without commenting on the nutritional aspect because I've never seen or used it, just know that it exists. Or, you can use some non-dairy coffee creamer in place of cream (COFFEE MATE IS NOT VEGAN!!!) But, my favorite non-dairy choice is coconut milk. I prefer a reduced fat organic version I can only buy directly from Edward & Sons. Its good stuff. I've seen it in supermarkets and health food stores up on the mainland of Florida, and throughout the northeast. I think its pretty mainstream, just not available to me on my little island.
Sometimes, you can take about 1/4 of the soup out of the pot, puree it, then return it to the pot. Um, make sure you cool the soup first. One of my most notorious soup making experiments was when I lived down the shore in a house with very high cathedral ceilings. I filled my blender (pre-Vitamix days) almost to the top with boiling hot soup, secured the lid and turned on the switch. Kids, don't attempt that. No one explained to me about heat expanding. Science was never a strong suit of mine, that includes food science. I swear, whoever lives in that house better not ever look too closely at that very high ceiling, I think they'll still find some butternut squash soup DNA. I'm just lucky my face didn't peel off in that accident. Hot soup burns, I can attest to that.
Making our own soup we can control the amount of sodium that goes in. Did you ever really read any of those cans the supermarkets sell? Seriously, when is it ok to sell something with over 1000 milligrams of salt per 1/2 cup serving. And, by the way, who eats just a 1/2 cup of soup? Yikes!
You can put any veggies you like, fresh or frozen. Don't go crazy and think "ack, I have to make it the way the book says." Why? Are the soup police watching you? Trust me, they're not. The CSI: soup people are still investigating the great Jersey Shore soup explosion from 10 years ago.
Get your soup pot out. Pull out your veggies, get that stock, bouillon, water, or any liquid you like (um, beer not included, remember what I said) and get stirring. When its all finished, you'll have your dinner ready, and probably enough leftovers for a few days of lunches too. What more can we possibly ask for? Happy stirring!
Overall the sugar intervention was coming along pretty well, until today's cookies. I'm not going to dwell (too much), instead I decided to get back on the wagon and make soup of my own for dinner tonight. That plan was derailed when Mr. Happy Vegan announced "but I don't like split pea soup." Well, neither do I to be honest with you. I just happen to have a lot of organic green split peas in my pantry. I bought too many when I was decorating for the Christmas holiday, and now I've got to do something with them. But, it will not be soup, at least not tonight.
I have decided to make black bean soup. I've never made this before. I know I like other people's black bean soup. I have a stash of organic black beans, bouillon, organic tomatoes, organic onions, organic carrots, organic rice and dozens of organic spices. I began pulling out cookbooks, and then shifted to on line recipe sites. I've decided to throw all caution to the wind, and make my own damn soup. How difficult can it be?
Here's today's "thing" about eating healthier. If we cook at home, we have a lot more control about putting what's good (or not so good) in that dish. Soup is one of the easiest things to make. Even in my pre-B&B days, I could put together a decent soup (most of the time. Hint for this, never drink & make soup, for you will live to regret the outcome).
Vegan soup making tends to be almost as simple as making those smoothies we talked about yesterday. Choose your basic idea first (bean soup? creamy soup? noodle soup? you get the drift), forage through your fridge & pantry, pull out the biggest pot you have and get to it. I swear, this is my formula, and its not a bad idea.
I never use stocks, which ok sure, sue me. I just don't. Instead, I often rely on low sodium bouillon cubes. I can get a few different flavors (un-chicken, vegetable) and I personally really like the brand Edward & Sons. If I don't use bouillon, I will typically buy shelf-stable containers of different bases made by a company called Imagine. This is great for things like chowders, mushroom soups, etc. Anyway, here's the deal for tonight. I'm taking my biggest dutch oven, heating it up, putting some of my best olive oil in there with some diced onion, and maybe some garlic. After that, I'm going to add shredded carrots and a few cups of water with bouillon cubes. Once that simmers, I'm just going to dump in some diced tomatoes, maybe some corn (yup, I have some frozen organic corn), those organic black beans (canned, watch out for BPA in your canned purchases!), some hot sauce and then go crazy with seasonings. I love cumin, so that's definite. Black pepper, white pepper, & red pepper, yup. After that, I'll taste it and see what else I feel like tossing in. I just got some smoked paprika, and am thinking maybe that will do.
So, you see, soup can be easy, even for a novice. You have to decide what you like, and move from there. For cream soups, you can use your favorite non-dairy beverage instead of milk or cream. For cream, without going crazy and making your own "cashew cream" (I just don't have time for that), you can buy something called Mimicreme in many grocery stores. I've never used it, but seen it on line. Its a vegan "cream" replacer. So, without commenting on the nutritional aspect because I've never seen or used it, just know that it exists. Or, you can use some non-dairy coffee creamer in place of cream (COFFEE MATE IS NOT VEGAN!!!) But, my favorite non-dairy choice is coconut milk. I prefer a reduced fat organic version I can only buy directly from Edward & Sons. Its good stuff. I've seen it in supermarkets and health food stores up on the mainland of Florida, and throughout the northeast. I think its pretty mainstream, just not available to me on my little island.
Sometimes, you can take about 1/4 of the soup out of the pot, puree it, then return it to the pot. Um, make sure you cool the soup first. One of my most notorious soup making experiments was when I lived down the shore in a house with very high cathedral ceilings. I filled my blender (pre-Vitamix days) almost to the top with boiling hot soup, secured the lid and turned on the switch. Kids, don't attempt that. No one explained to me about heat expanding. Science was never a strong suit of mine, that includes food science. I swear, whoever lives in that house better not ever look too closely at that very high ceiling, I think they'll still find some butternut squash soup DNA. I'm just lucky my face didn't peel off in that accident. Hot soup burns, I can attest to that.
Making our own soup we can control the amount of sodium that goes in. Did you ever really read any of those cans the supermarkets sell? Seriously, when is it ok to sell something with over 1000 milligrams of salt per 1/2 cup serving. And, by the way, who eats just a 1/2 cup of soup? Yikes!
You can put any veggies you like, fresh or frozen. Don't go crazy and think "ack, I have to make it the way the book says." Why? Are the soup police watching you? Trust me, they're not. The CSI: soup people are still investigating the great Jersey Shore soup explosion from 10 years ago.
Get your soup pot out. Pull out your veggies, get that stock, bouillon, water, or any liquid you like (um, beer not included, remember what I said) and get stirring. When its all finished, you'll have your dinner ready, and probably enough leftovers for a few days of lunches too. What more can we possibly ask for? Happy stirring!
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