Roasted Sweet Potato & Corn Soup

A few months back I decided to make the switch from vegetarian to full on vegan. After being a vegetarian for more than a year now, I found it the hardest to let go of cheese. All my life I've been a big cheese lover. But a few undercover dairy farm videos later, and I found it EASY to give up the dairy I'd been hanging on to. 

Both of my blogs sort of fell off the map because I moved from Michigan to Ohio just after my last post. That said, I made an outstanding soup last night so I've decided to revive the blog and start posting recipes again. My 13 year old's first reaction was, "ewww, too many vegetables", then he promptly devoured two big bowls. Then between the two of us we polished off the left overs for breakfast and lunch today! It will definitely be in the regular dinner rotation from here on out. 

Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 (12 ounce) package frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 cup water
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup finely diced celery
• 1 cup diced red onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 10oz can diced tomatoes w/green chilies (Rotel)
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 4 cups vegetable broth 
• 1 can white beans
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 potato, peeled and cubed
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Place the sweet potatoes into a 9x13 inch baking dish, drizzle with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat the sweet potatoes in oil. Roast in the preheated oven until the sweet potatoes are golden and tender, 30 to 40 minutes. Stir occasionally as they cook so the sweet potatoes cook evenly.
2. Meanwhile, measure out 1 cup of corn kernels and set aside. Place the remaining corn into a blender, and puree with the water until smooth; set aside.
3. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the celery, onion, and garlic. Cook and stir until the onion has softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the Rotel and dried thyme leaves; cook 1 minute more. Pour in the vegetable broth, corn puree, bay leaf, salt, and cubed potato. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potato is tender, 25 to 35 minutes.
4. Once the potato is tender, remove and discard the bay leaf. Stir in the whole corn kernels, sweet potato, and chopped parsley. Return to a simmer and season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.

I edited this slightly from the original (which I found on All Recipes) and I think next time I will add another potato or two. It was a great filling soup and even though it took a bit of prep time, it was perfect for dinner on a chilly Fall night!

a couple more recipes

I didn't post when I made these, but they were both delicious so I'm posting here.

 

Potato and Cauliflower Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a medium casserole dish.
2. In a pot with enough water to cover, boil the potatoes 10 minutes, or until tender but still firm. Drain, and set aside.
3. In a pot, place the cauliflower in a steamer basket over boiling water. Steam 5 minutes, until tender but still firm. Set aside.
4. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and whisk in the flour. Gradually stir in the heavy cream until thickened. Remove from heat, and mix in 1/2 cup Swiss cheese until melted. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Arrange the potatoes and cauliflower in the prepared casserole dish. Pour the cream sauce over the potatoes and cauliflower, and sprinkle with the remaining Swiss cheese.
6. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly browned. 

I made a couple of changes to this one. We didn't have any swiss cheese or cauliflower on hand (unfortunately) so I used cheddar and broccoli. And because I was making this as our main course I doubled the recipe. I also used coconut milk in place of the heavy cream because it was all I had. I worried it might make the dish taste too coconutty, when I mixed up the sauce I could really smell it. But once everything cooked, you would NEVER know I used coconut milk at all! It was DELICIOUS and with not even a hint of coconut flavor. I look forward to trying this recipe again with the cauliflower and I think I will use the coconut milk again! 

White Bean Soup

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 (10 ounce) can golden corn, drained
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15.5 ounce) cans white beans
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute garlic until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in carrot and corn, season with salt and pepper, and cook another 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in vegetable broth, beans, thyme and parsley, and bring to a low boil. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook approximately one hour.
2. Separate soup into 2 equal portions, and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled, puree half of the batch in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return both batches to the stockpot, and heat until warmed through. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed. Serve hot.

The changes I made to this recipe are as follows: I diced probably 4 sm-med potatoes and added those to the mix. Then, instead of separating and waiting for the soup to cool I just used the hand blender to puree some of the mix right in the pot! In the end I found it to be a little thin, so I added a small spoonful of flour to thicken it up a bit. Worked like a charm! I served homemade dinner rolls and they were AMAZING dipped right into the soup and used as a spoon to scoop up all the yummy soupy goodness! TASTY! Will definitely be making this one again!!! Maybe adding some barley next time.

HUMMUS

made the BEST hummus EVER today!!

I've been searching for the perfect hummus recipe... tried one, it was gross, threw the whole batch out. Tried another, same thing. Even threw out the store bought stuff. Then I found this!! Posting it here so I don't have to hunt next time I want to make it again! :) And in case anyone else might need a recipe for some tasty hummus.

TIP: warm pita bread IS A MUST!!!

• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans (I remove the skins, but I don't think you have to)
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I find one lemon will generally yield about 2 Tbsp, I roll the lemon between my hand and the counter top -thank you Take Home Chef- to loosen the flesh of the lemon making it easier to squeeze out every last drop of juice!)
• 4 tablespoons tahini
• 1 teaspoon salt
• black pepper to taste

Mince the garlic. Drain and rinse garbanzo beans, remove skins then pour into blender. Add lemon juice, tahini, minced garlic and salt. Add water and blend until creamy and well mixed. (I didn't measure the water, just added a little at a time until I got the consistency that I wanted) Sprinkle with pepper to taste.

The original recipe (which I changed just slightly) called for olive oil on top and garnishing with some whole beans... I had no patience for garnish of any sort since I planned to dig in straight out of the blender. I was not disappointed! Even my boys loved it. Connor's first word after the first bite... AMAZING!!! :) I will definitely be making this one again!!

an update

I'm doing really well with this new lifestyle. I haven't missed the little bit of meat that I did eat before at all. I'd say *at least* 5 days a week I'm eating RAW for two meals, breakfast and lunch.

I've been drinking more water than ever before in my life. I've stopped drinking pop completely. and it's wierd, I've given up pop before, but I always end up going back to it. since I gave it up this time I haven't had a single craving for it like I used to! I even tried to drink an Arizona green tea one day (which has high fructose corn syrup in it, bummer), and it was too sweet. I took a few sips and started to feel a little queasy. So I went back to my water. I think it really helps that I keep a pitcher in the fridge at all time, ice cold is the only way I can drink it.

I've always loved smoothies, but they used to be so boring, milk; strawberries and bananas. Now I've discovered I REALLY love adding carrots and apples and orange juice and coconut milk and SPINACH! which I never would have thought of before. even the kids love them. :) I look forward to trying out more greens and a bigger variety of fruits when they're in season soon!

I haven't completely cut out dairy but I've definitely reduced it significantly. I haven't had any cow's milk since I started (which I used to love), never much liked eggs anyway so that was an easy one. I got this great book about vegan substitutions so I'm excited to bake something without using dairy soon! :) I think the only dairy I've had has been in a couple of the dinners I cooked... cheese.

I've tried a number of new recipes for dinners and I haven't been disappointed yet. I can't say as much for the boys, BUT they've never been real thrilled when I tried to throw a new recipe into the mix, veggie or not. lol I will say, I made a couple of my regular dishes that I would have used ground turkey for in the past and I substituted veggie crumbles. If I hadn't told the boys, they never would have known I made a switch. So that's awesome.

Buying organic where I can. Reading the labels of everything at the store, it's crazy! I've bookmarked a bunch of stuff in the few vegan cookbooks I bought, along with a number of websites. I can't wait to try them all out!

All in all it's been awesome. This is totally the way I've always wanted to eat! Since I was little, I've never been a huge fan of sweets, but always LOVED raw fruits and veggies.

I am a little worried about my first foray into the real world. We're going to my sister's this weekend for three days and I'm worried there will be nothing to eat! lol I can't take my whole pantry/fridge/freezer and I can't afford to buy another set of groceries for the weekend over there. So we'll see. I may live on salad or something for three days. lol

GREEN smoothie...

or maybe brown??? lol 

I just made my first green smoothie (though because of the strawberries it turned out to be more brown than green). Cameron walked in the kitchen as I was adding the spinach and said EW GROSS! when I was finished I let him taste mine... and he wouldn't give it back!! lol yum! Here's the recipe:

1 cup carrot
2 cups spinach
2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 cup orange juice
2 bananas
2 cups strawberries (I use frozen)

I start by adding the liquid first, then the carrots, bananas and apples. After a quick blend I toss in the spinach and last the strawberries.

My blender has a bit of a hard time with this much volume so it takes a bit. I hope to invest in a vitamix someday. :)

RAW!

Raw is easy for me. I can easily eat raw for breakfast and lunch... my kids do like some raw veggies, but I'd say I can probably count the number on one hand. I've been eating raw green beans this past week with my lunch, in place of something like chips or fries. My kids were mortified. lol Then yesterday I made Carter close his eyes and take a bite of a fresh/raw green bean. (keeping in mind that my kids HATE green beans) Carter just finished practicing his violin, came out to the kitchen and asked if he could have some green beans for snack! o.0 picking my jaw up off the floor now.

SMOOTHIE!!!

I have been a lover of smoothies for as long as I can remember. Up until today, my homemade smoothies have consisted of skim milk, frozen strawberries and banana. That's it. Yum... but there's a whole smoothie world out there!! Today I got up early and made smoothies for the boys before they were heading out the door to school. 

Strawberry Orange Coconut Smoothie

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups hulled strawberries
• 1 orange, peeled
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 4 Ice cubes (optional)

Directions

1. Place the strawberries, orange, coconut milk, and ice cubes in a blender. Cover and blend until smooth. 

 

The verdict is in. Everyone LOVED it! I'll definitely be making this one again!! :)