Creamy Vegan Not Clam Chowder

November 14, 2013 Kathleen Henry

Some of these cold, icy nights call for chowda. We've been having plenty of those nights this week. This morning, I woke up to my Subaru literally enveloped in a rock hard, thick coat of solid ice. Wonderful. Bob's morning walk was more of a morning ice skate... Thus, clam chowder time. Being vegan, I saw this as a tiny, potential obstacle. Once again though, I've discovered that I can still have the delicious things I loved as an omnivore. Everyday I become a little more confounded about why more people don't go vegan. It's fun to create new ways to make your favorite dishes without harming animals, and all with better consequences for health of the planet! Think you're leaving the world a better place for the children with your Prius? It's a good start, but being vegan would do so much more. Hippie propaganda alert!

Moving on, have you watched the public tv channel "Create"? I've seen one of the cooking shows they feature, Cooking with Nick Stellino, a couple times. Both times Chef Nick was making soup with a confit. He is extremely flamboyant and vivacious. Todd thinks he's obnoxious, but I adore him. He's everything I'm not...Italian, large, male, hairy...and of course super gregarious. I think that's why he appeals to me. This really has nothing to do with this post besides the confit connection. I just really wanted to share my love of Nick with you all.

Anyways, this vegan, smoky mushroom clam chowder is ultra creamy and super thick making it very rich and hearty. It'll take your mind off the fact that you may have to jack-hammer your way into your car to get to work.

Creamy Vegan Not Clam Chowder

Inspired by Happy. Healthy. Life.

Serves 4

--Soup Base--
1 cup raw cashews, soaked
2 medium red potatoes, cubed
1/2 cup plain soy creamer
1 cup plain soy milk
1 cup fresh water
1/3 cup nutritional yeast
1/2 small yellow onion, diced
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4-1/2 tsp. kelp granule seasoning(optional)
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. powdered garlic
1 lemon, juiced
splash of liquid smoke
--Mushroom Confit--
2 tsp. olive oil
10 oz. shiitake mushrooms, cut small
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 small yellow onion, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
splash of liquid smoke
dash of kosher salt

To start, you'll need to soak the cashews. The best way to do this is overnight in the fridge, but if you're strapped for time use boiling water and soak for half an hour. When ready, drain and rinse well before use.

Next, place the cubed potatoes in a microwave safe, shallow bowl and cover with saran wrap. Microwave for about 5 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender. Set aside until ready to use.

Place all the soup base ingredients in a blender, including the soaked cashews and cooked potatoes. Blend on high for a couple minutes, until the mixture is silky smooth. Add additional water as needed to achieve your desired soup thickness or thinness.

Transfer to a soup pot and heat on low, whisking occasionally.

Now it's time to make the confit. Heat the oil in a small saute pan over medium heat. Add the chopped mushrooms, celery, onion, and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, turning the heat to medium-high. When almost finished cooking, sprinkle in the salt and the liquid smoke, to taste. Stir well. The confit is done when the celery is somewhat softened. The mushrooms and onions should be cooked thoroughly.

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Serve a small piling of the confit in the middle of a hot bowl of the chowder and enjoy!

Don't judge me...Lenka – All My Bells Are Ringing

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Roasted Ratatouille with Polenta

November 13, 2013 Kathleen Henry

Ratatouille. It's always seemed much too fancy for me to make. Too fussy...and too intimidating.

Boy do I feel like a fool.

Ratatouille is easy as pie and it's a straight up snazzy way to get in all those great veggies. I made it for a dinner with my dad and his better half and I thought dismally, "Oh surely they'll hate it. I'm sure it's no good." This was of course, before actually tasting it. How good could it be anyway? It's just some veggies and tomato puree, essentially. It all seemed terribly effortless. A fool. Again.

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Roasted Ratatouille with Polenta

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

This ratatouille is simple, delicious and downright lovely. Roasted eggplant, zucchini, yellow summer squash, and red bell pepper all roasted to perfection and perched atop a cheesy, creamy bed of polenta. Inspired by The Comfort of Cooking and theKitchn.

Ingredients

1 11 oz. can of tomato puree
½ medium yellow onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, sliced thinly
½ tsp. dried thyme
¼ tsp. dried oregano
¼ tsp. kosher salt
sprinkle of ground black pepper, to taste
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
1 small eggplant, sliced thinly
1 medium zucchini, sliced thinly
1 yellow summer squash, sliced thinly
1 skinny red bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cups of water
1 cup of dry polenta
1 tsp. kosher salt
½ up nutritional yeast

Instructions

Start by pouring the tomato puree into a medium baking dish. Scatter the diced onion and garlic evenly on the bottom of the dish, on top of the puree. Atop that, evenly scatter the herbs, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Slice up all the vegetables into very thin disks. Then, starting with two disks of eggplant layer atop that, two disks of zucchini, two of the squash, and followed by one of the bell pepper. When layering, ensure only a small crescent of the bottom vegetable disk is showing. Repeat until all the vegetables are used up. The vegetables may have to be in stacked lines atop one another and that's okay. It doesn't have to be perfect.

Drizzle the veggies with olive oil and a little dried herbs. Cover with a sheet of parchment paper and bake for about 50 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling up and the vegetables are cooked.

Bring the water and salt to boil over high heat. Add in the polenta and whisk vigorously, until it's thickened slightly. Then, turn down to low and cover. Every 10 minutes, stir vigorously scraping along the bottom and sides. Cook for about 40 minutes, or until it's smooth and thick. Remove from heat and stir in the nutritional yeast.

Serve the ratatouille over the polenta. Drizzle with a little olive oil if you want!

20 minutes

00:50

01:10

6-8 servings

Head bobbin' to Eliza Doolittle – Skinny Genes

Simple & Healthy Pecan Pumpkin Pie

November 12, 2013 Kathleen Henry

I love me some pumpkin pie. Do you know what I love even more than my go-to Thanksgiving pumpkin pie? Pumpkin pie that tastes like my definitely-not-healthy and definitely-not-vegan pumpkin pie, but is actually super healthy! There's times when, yes, it can be almost criminal to conjure up some "healthified" version of a cake, pie, cookie or whathaveyou. My birthday cake? That's no healthy affair. Yep, if there's ever been a pumpkin pie purist...it's me. The recipe from the back of the Libby's pumpkin puree can. Every time. No straying. Don't be messin' with my pumpkin pie!

But this pumpkin pie. Oh my goodness. Why keep making an unhealthy, sugar and cholesterol laden dessert when you can have this one? Why?? Just look at it. It's perfect! I couldn't believe how wonderful the texture was and how the pecan crust perfectly complimented it.

And it's even better than my old Libby's recipe. Also, it features a wholesome pecan crust. This recipe couldn't be healthier, easier or tastier!

Oh and did I mention that it's vegan, sugar-free (except for the fruit) and healthy? Whips up in a snap ta boot. Clean eating at it's finest.

I grinned the most impish, ludicrous grin when I asked Todd how he liked it and then told him it didn't have any added sugar or animal products. Muah-ha-ha! He couldn't tell the difference. A wonderful success!

Simple & Healthy Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Inspired by NutritionFacts.org

Makes 1 pie

--Crust--
1 cup pecans
3-5 medjool dates, pitted
1 Tbsp. coconut four (or 1 1/2 Tbsp. of other flour)
splash of maple syrup (optional)
a pinch of kosher salt
--Filling--
1 15 oz. can of canned pumpkin
1 12 oz. box of silken tofu, drained
12-16 medjool dates, pitted
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
a few gratings of nutmeg (to taste)
10 drops of liquid Stevia (optional)
--Notes--
I like the Mori-Nu boxed tofu. It doesn't have a "tofu" taste at all. It's found usually on the shelf (non-refrigerated) in the organic section.

In a food processor, combine the crust ingredients and process for about 3 minutes. The dough should stick together when pressed between your fingers.

In a pie dish coated with a non-stick cooking spray, press the dough to make the crust. Set aside until ready for the filling.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Wash out the food processor and add in the filling ingredients. Process for about 3-5 minutes or until the dates are just tiny little specks. The filling should be very smooth.

Scoop the filling onto the crust and smooth over with a spatula. Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes. If the top of the crust looks like it's getting a little too brown you can add some strips of tinfoil or a pie crust protector over it.