Cool Weather Comfort

Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

3 small onions, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
3 small potatoes, cubed
4-5 large carrots, chopped
3.5 tsp ground ginger (or 2 inches of grated fresh ginger)
1.5 cups vegetable stock
1.5 cups coconut milk
1/2 tsp sea salt to taste
1/2 tsp ground pepper to taste

1. In a medium to large soup pot, on medium heat, sauté onions in the olive oil until translucent.

2. Add the potatoes, carrots and ginger and sauté for another 2-3 minutes.  Stir constantly to avoid sticking.

3. Add the vegetable stock, coconut milk, salt, and pepper, stirring all together well.

4. With a hand blender or food processor, blend all or half the batch at a time until smooth.  Be very careful when blending hot liquids!

5. Return to pot, reheat, and serve with green onion garnish.

Makes about 8 servings.

This soup was amazing! Both my partner and I loved and devoured it.  You can also make this soup with other vegetable options like sweet potato, broccoli, beets, corn, etc.  which I am hoping to do myself this season.

Cheers!

Quinoa is the New Soup Good for the Soul

Quinoa Vegetable Soup
Original recipe from You Won't Believe It's Vegan, p.74

I wanted to make this recipe but realized I was missing a few things but I went ahead and did it anyway, made a few substitutions and add-ons, so here is the version I made:

1 cup of baby carrots, washed and diced
1 large red onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
3 tbsp of extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups of vegetable broth + 3 cups of hot water
1/2 cup quinoa, well rinsed
1 cup spinach, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste (optional)

1. In a 4- to 6-quart stockpot, sauté the onions, garlic, carrots, sweet potato and spices in the olive oil, over medium heat for about 10 minutes.

2. Add the vegetable broth and hot water and bring to a simmer.

3. Add the quinoa to the pot.  Let cook until the quinoa start to plump and soften, about 15 minutes.

4. Add the spinach at the end of the quinoa cooking time, and cook just until the vegetables are softened and wilted.

5. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Enjoy!

My New Vegan Cookbook

For my birthday, my wonderful girlfriends bought me a great big vegan cook book - 500 recipes! I was very delighted but I only had time this week to finally make something from it.

I chose something simple, with few ingredients, but warm, yummy and a perfect dish to welcome the cool weather ...




Coconut Curry Carrot Soup
From 500 Vegan Recipes, p 134

2 cups vegetable broth
1 can (414ml) coconut milk
1 lb peeled and chopped carrots
1 tbsp yellow curry powder
1 tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper, to taste (optional)

Add all the ingredients in a large pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer for about 10 minutes or until the carrots are tender.  Using a blender purée the soup until smooth and "creamy."

Yield: 5 servings

Mike and I, who both enjoyed the soup last night, thought adding ground ginger would have been a really nice touch - next time!