My Day Off

Most (sane) people take the Monday of a three day weekend to sleep in, curl up with a good book, take a long nap, watch seven episodes of The Millionaire Matchmaker... While I love doing all of those things, I spent today in the kitchen, cooking like a mad woman.

I have to say, I seem to have cooked up a storm, on top of dealing with a glass shower door that completely shattered covering our bathroom in mountains of tiny pieces of glass (long story), vacuuming the living room, and doing all of the laundry!

I began the day chopping up sweet potatoes and some celery root I got at the farmer's market to make soup...

The soup was based on a recipe recently given to me by my friend and coworker, Liron, and featured sweet potatoes, coconut milk, and curry powder... I turned out, dare I say, velvety!

I had been meaning to cook some dried chickpeas I've had in the pantry- that's a piece of kombu seaweed in the pot- apparently this is a great way to get nutrients into the beans you are cooking (thanks for the tip, Prysm!!!)


I made some granola for the week ahead, using up odds and ends in the pantry... I made it extra coconutty by using coconut oil instead of canola or sesame oil...

Granola close up!!!!!!

Since the oven was on anyways from the granola, I decided to throw a whole head of farmer's market garlic in to roast. When it was done, I threw it in the food processor and made pesto!

The chickpeas looked so good I decided to roast some and toss them with white truffle oil. They are supposed to be for a salad, but I already ate most of them... Whoops!

Phew! I think I am ready for that nap I never took...

My Dinner- Quick Chard Stew with Garlic Bread

Will be making this again- quick and easy and perfect for a chilly fall evening. Highly Delicious!

Vegan Mofo Day ?: Two Soups

I am done with saying which MoFo day it is, I have clearly not been true to the whole MoFo project.

We are still enjoying the benefits of having my Mom here this past week- especially the two soups that she left in the freezer! The first was The Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Lentil Vegetable Soup, and the second was Robin's famous Yukon Gold Potato Soup.

Both are naturally vegan, although we added fake-chicken bullion cubes to both to try them out. I'm so glad soup season is officially here!

Vegan MoFo Day 4: Creamy Yellow Potato Soup with Rosemary Oil and Crispy Rosemary

OK, this is kinda cheating- I made this soup on Monday. But we ate leftovers all day and are about to head out for some brick oven (vegan) pizza and olives... Will hopefully be back to cooking tomorrow after work!

Cookbook: Vegan Soul Kitchen
Author: Bryant Terry

Result: An easy, quick(ish) and comforting soup. I love that you make a fresh rosemary infused olive oil first, and then use it to saute your onion and garlic and finish your soup. Homemade veggie stock gave this extra flavor, and cumin gave it an interesting kick you won't find in traditional potato soup. The recipe says to put the soup in the blender in the end and then put it through a strainer or something, but I used my immersion blender and it turned out just fine. All in all the soup still isn't as great as the one my Mom makes (that's a pretty high standard though), but I will definitely be making it again.


I couldn't decide if I wanted to serve the soup with bread or a salad, so I made a salad pizza. Great combo!!!

DIY Veggie Stock

I am sure a lot of people have much more exciting things to do on a day off then sit in their apartment making homemade vegetable stock, but I am not one of them.

Whether you are a vegan or not, chances are you use vegetable stock in your cooking from time to time. Sure, it's convenient to grab some prefab stock at the store, but read the label on one of those sometime- ick!

If you really want to make your food taste extra yum, you have to make your own stock. Luckily, it's pretty easy. There are lots of great resources out there on how to make your own, I particularly enjoy this post at vegan yum yum.

In my neighborhood, I can grab a huge thing of "soup greens" for about a buck fifty at the corner deli. Sadly they are not organic, but I can get a bunch of carrots, celery, onions, leeks, turnips and parsley for cheap. Does this type of thing exist outside of Brooklyn? I find it magical.


Anyhoo, basically I just chop up the aforementioned soup greens and throw them in a some heated olive oil in a large soup pot as I go. I then add eight or so whole peeled cloves of garlic, any fresh herbs I have on hand (this week it was rosemary), a few tablespoons of tomato paste and a few tablespoons of tamari. And salt and pepper, of course.


Finally I add about ten or so cups of water, bring the whole thing to a boil and then down to simmer for an hour or two. When the veggies look very brown, pale and sad I strain the broth a few times, let it cool, then freeze it or put it in the fridge for a couple of days.



It sounds complicated, but it's pretty easy peasy, and strangely therapeutic to make your own stock. And it really does make a world of difference in soups, sauces, etc.

Rosemary Chickpea Tomato Soup

This soup appealed to me today on many levels. I forget what the inspiration was exactly to look for a recipe for chickpea tomato soup, but I found one that was simple enough and decided to give it a go. I intended to cook the chickpeas from scratch (I have a bunch in the pantry) but then realized the whole process would take about 24 hours. Wanting instant gratification, I opted for organic canned chickpeas instead.


I kind of halved the recipe, and probably could have used a little less rosemary, but on the whole it was a very filling and satisfying soup. I encourage you all (vegan or not!) to try it on a dreary rainy day. Get the recipe here.

Happy Passover!

THANKS MOM for making me this delish Vegan Matzoh Ball Soup!!!!

I think I am going to go have the leftovers for lunch now...