Food, Feminism, & life

Baked Potato Soup.

Frank does not eat soup of any kind, except loaded baked potato. After talking to my friend Erica last night, who was making potato soup at home, I decided that I should make this for him. He loved it! The only other person who loves potatoes as much as Frank is my sister, who’s going to my house to get leftovers this afternoon.

This soup is a lightened up version of the loaded baked potato soup you would get at Applebee’s or any other restaurant. It’s so filling & perfect for a cold day. My recipe is adapted from Cooking Light’s. I subbed chicken stock for some of the milk & really liked the result. Top it with some extra crispy bacon, low fat shredded cheese, and scallions!

Baked Potato Soup.

Servings: 8 ● Points Plus: 8 (does not include toppings)

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2- 3lbs baking potatoes (4 potatoes total)
• 2 TB Smart Balance
• 1 TB butter
• 2/3 cup flour
• 3 cups fat free, reduced sodium, chicken stock
• 1/4 large onion, diced
• 3 slices bacon, cooked crispy
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper (more to taste)
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup reduced fat sour cream
• 1 cup fat free half & half
• 2 cups 2% milk
• 1 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar
• Toppings: Crispy bacon, shredded cheddar, sliced scallions

Directions:

1) Pre-heat oven to 400. Pierce potatoes all over with a fork, wrap in aluminum foil, and bake for one hour. Once cooked, immerse in cold water & peel. Mash 3 of them, and dice the 4th.

2) Melt the butter in a large soup pot & add the onions and garlic. Reduce heat to medium and saute until soft, about 5-8 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high & add the flour. Whisk together. Slowly whisk in the half & half, and the low fat milk. Whisk like crazy until the flour is incorporated & it begins to bubble. Let it bubble, then reduce heat to medium & add the chicken stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat again.

3) Add all of the potatoes, salt, pepper, onion powder, and bacon. Turn off the heat & fold in the sour cream (it will separate if too hot). Place back over medium heat and add the cheese. Stir & simmer for 20 minutes.

4) Ladle into bowl & top with whatever toppings you like.

Wintery Kale & Chickpea Soup

This is one of those amazing one pot meals that comes as the result of being towards the end of the week with random groceries left in the house. I basically looked through my fridge & pantry & pulled these ingredients together. The result was a warm & hearty bowl of soup that tasted a little like ginger, a little like garam masala, and a lot like winter.

Wintery Kale & Chickpea Soup

Servings: 6 ● Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

• Large bunch of kale, washed & stems removed
• 2 sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into 1” cubes
• 1 TB olive oil
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• Mushrooms (1-2 cups sliced)
• 1 online, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 TB garam masala
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 TB ginger
• 15 oz can chickpeas, drained & rinsed
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• hot sauce for topping if desired
• 8 cups water
• 2-4 vegan bouillon cubes, or as many needed on package for 8 cups water

Directions:

1) In a large soup pot, saute the onion, garlic, sweet potato, & carrot with the olive oil for 5 minutes.

2) Add the garam masala, salt, pepper, red pepper, and ginger & saute until fragrant. Add the chickpeas & mushrooms & toss.

3) Add the water, bouillon cubes, & quinoa. Add the kale in bunches & let it wilt into the soup. Bring to a boil & simmer at least 30 minutes. If you have time simmer at least an hour.

4) Top each bowl with a little hot sauce & serve.

VeganMofo 2: Soup! All is not lost.

Today was the first day that it truly felt like fall in the last month. As soon as I felt the crisp fall weather when I woke up I knew that soup was going to be on my menu. That’s when I turned to the Creamy Roasted Tomato, Garlic, & Onion Coconut Soup I had saved from Oh She Glows. I thought that vegan eating would make me really miss the creamy soups I love to devour in the fall, but this soup delivered on the creaminess factor. I couldn’t even tell that there was no cream in it. All is not lost (thanks, coconut milk!).

I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to find decent tomatoes since the season just ended, but I lucked out & found great ones. I’m pretty sure this is the last batch of good tomatoes left so I’m glad I got my hands on them.

I planned to follow this recipe exactly as it was written, but I did wind up slightly changing a few things. Here’s what they are:

• I roasted a few heirloom tomatoes with the regular romas. The heirlooms were just too pretty to pass up at the store.
• I used 4 cups of vegetable broth & 1 cup of coconut milk instead up 3 cups broth & 1 can light coconut milk. I only had regular on hand & didn’t want the amount of fat an entire can would be.
• I used my food processor because I don’t own a blender.

Servings: 6 ● Points Plus: 4

Please try this soup. It was just as head spinning as the blog post described.

Curried Sweet Potato & Quinoa Stew

Yesterday was one of those perfect Sundays where it was chilly but sunny. It made me want to do nothing but stay in my sweats and veg out on my couch with all of the windows open & a big pot of soup on the stove. After a trip to Whole Foods and the farmer’s market that’s exactly what I did. I loved the way my house smelled from this soup was simmering.

This comes out thick, which is why I’m calling it a stew. I actually planned on having it be a soup, but it was thicker than expected. What does Rachel Ray call that? A “stoup?” Anyway, when I had some in between lunch & dinner I had 1 cup of the stew plus 1 cup of vegetable broth. That’s probably how I’ll eat it all week so I made sure to have a container of vegetable broth in the fridge.

I think this would be incredible topped with some vegan sour cream and roasted pumpkin seeds.

Curried Sweet Potato & Quinoa Stew

Servings: 8 (10?) ● Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled & cut into about 1” cubes
• 1 poblano pepper, diced
• 1 carrot, sliced
• 1 celery stalk, split in half & diced
• 1 large vidalia onion, diced
• 8 cups water
• 3 vegan vegetable bouillon cubes, low sodium
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 TB olive oil
• 2 TB vegan low fat butter substitute
• 2 cups uncooked quinoa, rinsed
• 2 TB curry powder
• 2 TB minced ginger (I buy it crushed in a jar)
• 1/2 tsp cayenne
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp salt, more to taste
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 4-6 cups vegetable broth for serving (if you like it thinned out)

Directions:

1) In a large soup pot, melt the butter together with the olive oil. Add the sweet potatoes, onion, carrot, celery, poblano & garlic. Saute about 5 minutes until they begin to soften.

2) Add the spices: ginger, curry, cayenne, coriander, cumin, salt, pepper. Toss all of the vegetables with the spices & let cook about another 3 minutes. Crush the bouillon cubes over the vegetables & add the water.

3) Make sure the quinoa has been rinsed under cold water in a fine mesh strainer. Add the quinoa to the soup & bring to a boil with the lid on. Once the soup is boiling reduce to simmer & cook for 30 minutes, stirring every once in a while. The quinoa will absorb a good amount of the liquid.

4) Taste for seasoning & adjust the spices if you think necessary. Scoop 1 cup of the stew into a bowl & top with 1 cup warm vegetable broth if you want it soupy. Top each serving with an extra dash of curry powder.

Wonton Soup

Out of all the things I’ve made, I think this might be my favorite so far. I had a horrible stomach ache all night & when I finally got my appetite back I wanted a hot bowl of wonton soup. I immediately thought to make my own version. After some Googling & recipe reading, I came up with this recipe. The wontons are a bit tedious, but the flavor & final product of this soup is so worth it. The only thing I would do differently is cut down a bit on the ginger next time. I brought my mom a quart of this & then froze the leftover wontons. They’re a great thing to keep in the freezer! You just have to boil them in some chicken broth when you’re ready to eat them.

You have to try this! Filling the wontons took over an hour, but it was relaxing & perfect for a breezy spring afternoon. I put some music on & enjoyed the entire process. This recipe makes about 12 servings. Each serving is for 4 wontons, 1.5 cups of broth, and 1 tsp of sesame oil. If you use 5 wontons in your soup then the points go up to 7 per serving.

Wonton Soup

Servings: 12 ● Points Plus: 6

Ingredients:

For the Filling:

• 1 lb ground pork
• 3 green onions, minced
• 1/4 cup minced ginger root
• 1/2 cup minced bamboo shoots
• 7 shitake mushrooms, minced
• 3 TB soy sauce
• 2 TB sesame oil
• 2 TB cornstarch

Other Ingredients:

• Wonton wrappers (I like Nasoya brand - any brand of about 48 wrappers will do)
• Small bowl of water
• 18-20 cups chicken stock
• Scallions for garnish
• Sesame oil (1 tsp per bowl of soup)
• Pot of water

Directions:

1) Boil a large pot of water. Add 1 TB sesame oil & salt to water when it begins to boil.

2) Make the filling:

• You can either mince the onion, ginger, bamboo shoots, & mushrooms on your own, or you can place them one ingredient at a time in a food processor. I used the small bowl of my food processor for this. I honestly don’t know what people did before these things.
• In a large bowl, combine the minced ingredients with the pork, sesame oil, cornstarch, & soy sauce. Mix together until all ingredients are combined.

3) When water is beginning to boil, start making your wontons:

• Using either a cookie scoop or small spoon, scoop a little more than a tsp of filling into the center of a wonton wrapper.
• 
• Wet the edges of the wrapper & fold into a triangle. Pinch all of the edges together & try to get out any air bubbles as you do this.
• Wet the two points & fold them so that they cross at the corners.

(don’t they look like tough little warriors?)

4) When the water is boiling, add a few wontons at a time (I did about 6-7 per batch), and keep making other wontons as you go. By the time I made 6 more, the 6 I put in the water were ready to come out. You will know your wontons are cooked because they will float & bounce around in the water. They will sink when you first put them in.

This is what they look like when they’re cooked:

5) Keep making wontons & boiling them in batches. Make sure not to overcrowd your boiling water and keep the batches to about 6-8 wontons at a time.

6) Remove wontons from water & set aside. When ready to serve your soup, heat up the chicken broth & chop some scallions for garnish. Place 4 wontons in each bowl, top with 1.5 cups of chicken broth & 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Garnish with scallions & serve with soy sauce on the side. Enjoy!

*Note: These are very gingery. If you aren’t a huge fan of ginger then I would only use 1/8th of a cup.