Soup n' Such

So much to blog about, but truly, so little time...


As Tracy mentioned in her post, it's gotten so cold that soup is an ideal meal. I pulled out Nava Atlas' Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons and made a Creamy Golden Potato Squash Soup. It was so silky and smooth! One thing this recipe made me realize is to not use the crumbled bay leaves that came with my spice set - there's a reason why recipes always say to remove the whole bay leaf before serving (obviously not possible with the bits I have)...those things do not soften up and result in little irritating pieces with every bite.



Another delicious soup was courtesy of one of Sarah Kramer's books - Auntie Bonnie's Black Bean Soup. Delicious! The addition of vinegar was genius! It offered the perfect amount of tang! I was also impressed with how easy it was to put this together.



And still on the whole fall theme...time for pumpkin scones! Some pie pumpkins grew on their own in our garden thanks to our compost pile (I guess some of last year`s pie pumpkins' seeds germinated!), so I roasted them up and made Pumpkin Scones!



Fall also means Thanksgiving. I'm so late in posting my feast, and the pic is of my plate of leftovers! I'm terrible! But I was more concerned with eating my meal than taking a pic of it while the little girl was happy! I made Dreena Burton's Rosemary Tofu Balls into cutlets (I thought they were too spicy but everyone seemed to like them!), and served them with maple-ginger winter squash, mashed potatoes, stuffing and veggies.



And finally, it was little Ash's baptism. We had a big shindig at my mom's after the ceremony, which initially had me a little stressed since I wanted to make lots of food (including a dessert) but would have no time. I decided to outsource the dessert and proceeded to try and find somewhere that could make some kind of vegan cake. I searched on the web for places in Ottawa, but had no luck - one bakery told me they could do vegan, but to expect it to taste 'dry and bland' (what???) and to make a small cake for the few vegans at the party and do a non-vegan cake for everyone else. I knew there had to be a better option out there! Thank goodness one of the moms in my mom's group sent me a link to Lil' Cakes. They were able to do all sorts of vegan cupcakes for me!


I was indifferent about the whole ceremony, but super excited for the five dozen cupcakes that were waiting for us! There was vanilla with buttercream, vanilla with raspberry mousse filling, chocolate with chocolate mousse, pumpkin chocolate chip and gingerbread with lemon buttercream. Best of all, they were absolutely beautiful AND delicious! I think I might need to establish a weekly standing order for cupcakes...

No Creatures Were Stirring in This House

Over the weekend, my friend Sam and I made gingerbread houses. We actually didn't make them from scratch, but rather bought a kit as a fun little task to occupy our time. I was delighted to find out that it was vegan! Well, at least the gingerbread itself, the icing and most of the candies were! I was so excited! I hadn't planned on eating the house once the holidays were over (it would be too gross and stale), but during construction, a few little gingerbread men that were supposed to be decorations outside of the house were casualties instead.

Isn't it so cute, it all of it's tasty veganess? Even the jujubes were vegan! Costco rawks.


For dinner tonight, Kyle and I worked together to create a few faves - a Spinach-Shiitake Salad from Vegetarian Times, as well as a Butternut Squash Risotto from Robin Robertson's Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook. I didn't modify the salad recipe at all, but I did take the risotto recipe, use onion instead of red pepper, and make it in the pressure cooker instead. I'm all for taking 5 minutes to cook dinner that way, versus spending 30 minutes stirring the risotto constantly. I will however use less stock next time, so that the risotto isn't so soupy. Working together, we had dinner on the table in 40 minutes.

Kyle said the mushrooms reminded him of bacon, but I tend to think not.


We then had plenty of time to hit the mall. I had received a $100 gift card today, and I already knew where I was spending it - at the Bay on a Cuisinart 4-slice Belgian waffle maker! I already had a crappy one that made only two waffles at a time, so this will be a big time saver. I'm so excited! It was like an early Xmas present just for me :)

Awash in Squash!

I also made the Roasted Butternut Squash Soup too on Sunday night. Delish!



However, I now know that I will spend more time in the produce section looking for a scale. I bought 3 squash, as the recipe said, but I did not weigh them to see if I met the 5lb that were called for in the recipe. I roasted them, and started adding the squash to my onion/broth combo, and started mixing with an immersion blender. I couldn't add anymore, since the soup was so thick! I had PLENTY of squash leftover, so I guess I could have given Tracy my leftover squash so that she'd have some yummy soup too.

I also made the Fettuccine Alfreda, as I saw pics of that recipe on a few sites out there. I should preface my review by indicating that I HATE the taste of cheese. For instance, as a little kid eating grilled cheese sandwiches, I used to soak them in pickle brine, then layer dill pickles on top to be able to eat the sandwich. To this day, even when I use vegan cheeze, I still have to do the same. Why do I even eat a grilled cheeze sandwich, you ask? I dunno. I guess it’s just an easy meal. But I digress – I have to admit that I wasn’t a fan of the alfreda, not by any fault of the recipe, but for the mere fact that I hate anything that tastes cheesy. Kyle liked it, so I knew that it was just me. So for all those vegans that miss the taste of cheesy food, this is the perfect recipe for you!

I also added mushrooms to the prepared sauce, to give it some texture.

For dessert, I made another attempt at soy ice cream. I had first tried a vanilla recipe using tofu, but I wasn't thrilled with the results. So I tried yet another plain vanilla to go on top of my homemade apple pie (I was a cooking machine yesterday!!!). I used a recipe for Cookies and Cream (sans Cookies) that used soy creamer, and the results were fantastic! I really liked the fact that I didn't have to chisel it out of the container once I left it in the freezer.