A Couple Of New Recipes (soy, dinner, food, vegetable)

[Cattknap]

Yesterday in the midst of Christmas decorating I decided to make a couple of new recipes for lunch (which is our main meal)....they both were so good - the prep took some time but I don't mind the prep if the result is good.

First the cauliflower soup was really good...I taste as I cook and I could tell the soup was underseasoned...so my tweaks are included in the recipe. The great thing about this soup is that it is creamy and neutral enough so that it could be the base for many soups - potato, mushroom, etc. I used no additional fat in the recipe but the cashews and soy milk contain fat - the original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of oilive oil to use to saute the vegetables which isn't needed at all and adds an additional 200 calories.

Creamy Cauliflower and Rosemary Soup Amuse Bouche
Ingredients:
1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite size florets
1/2 cup raw cashews (all I had was roasted, lightly salted cashews which worked fine)
vegetable stock or broth
1 large white onion, 2 leeks, chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
2 vegetarian bouillion cube
3 cups water (or part broth, part water), 1 cup soy milk
Mrs. Dash lemon pepper, salt to taste
3/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
lemon zest for garnish
Method:
In a large soup pot, saute chopped onion in vegetable broth of stock over medium heat. Add more stock as needed. After 5 minutes, add garlic and bouillion cubes. Break up the bouillion cubes with your wooden spoon, then add chopped cauliflower and dried rosemary. Saute for 10 minutes. Add water/broth, soy milk and cashews, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes or until cauliflower is tender, add salt and pepper to taste (I also added a rounded tsp. of Mrs. Dash lemon pepper). Let cool for about 10 minutes so it’s not scorching when you blend it. You’ll probably want to blend in two batches (this was a whiz in our VitaMix and only required 1 batch) (I held off on adding all the liquid until I blended most of the liquid and all the vegetables - making sure that the soup was not too thin before adding the rest of the liquid). Add the fresh rosemary and fresh grated nutmeg, and puree soup until there are no lumps left and it’s silky smooth. Serve with fresh grated lemon zest.

I used the leftovers for lunch today also - I chopped some fresh mushrooms and cooked them in stock, letting the stock evaporate after they were done and slightly browing the mushrooms. I cooked the mushrooms with vegetable broth, white wine, garlic powder, salt and pepper. When they were tender and browned, I added them to the leftover cauliflower soup - this was so tasty and rich.

The second recipe is for a warm salad - I changed up the recipe a bit using finely shredded organic kale instead of arugala. Again we had leftovers and I served it again today but I first made a large green salad with baby field greens and cucumber and then added some of the leftover cold squash and quinoa salad - I gave the salad a squeeze of lemon and we didn't need dressing....again the basic roasted buternut squash and quinoa salad was really good.

Roasted Butternut Squash and Quinoa Salad
Makes 4 servings
• 3 rounded cups peeled and cubed (1 inch cubes) butternut squash
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided (I used 1 tsp. for roasting the quash and 1 Tbs. in the
quinoan dressing.
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 cup quinoa
• 1 tablespoon Balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts
1/2 cup very thinly sliced purple onion cut into small pieces
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 2 cups (packed) finely shredded kale (I like black kale)


Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place squash on a baking sheet. Toss the butternut squash with about 1 tsp. of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast the squash for about 25 minutes, until it is soft and slightly caramelized.

While squash is roasting combine the vegetable broth and quinoa and follow directions on package.

While the quinoa rests, whisk together the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and the Balsamic vinegar to make a quick dressing. Once the quinoa is ready, pour the dressing over the quinoa. Add the roasted squash and walnuts, onion and cranberries and toss to evenly mix the ingredients. Add in the kale and mix slightly. Serve

[jasper12]

Yum. That sounds really good. I am having Butternut squash for dinner tonight. I love it slow cooked, with yams, onions, and spiced with ginger, garlic, and curry.

[Cattknap]

Jasper - that sounds delish....one think with vegan food - you really need to bump up the spices but it just is so blah....ginger, garlic and curry = yum.

[Mikala43]

Both sound amazing!!! I'm not vegetarian but I don't eat much meat.