Broccoli Cheese Soup and Still on the Veg Wagon!

Yay! I'm still on the veggie wagon and I feel fantastic! I've been drinking my green juice and getting my Pilates in this week, too. I found this yummy soup recipe in Zsu Dever's cookbook:

The recipe uses 2 Tbsp of her Savory Broth Mix for flavoring. This seasoning has nutritional yeast and about thirteen different herbs and spices. It's nice to have on hand in the pantry instead of dragging out every spice in the cupboard! 

This soup is so creamy, 'cheesy' and delicious. I would have liked my broccoli a little more cooked but it was still tasty. The leftover soup really thickened up in the fridge. It would be good spooned over some baked potatoes. 

~ Broccoli Cheese Soup ~ 

Tofu Scramble Tacos

I always love a good tofu scramble and this recipe from Thug Kitchen makes a huge skillet full. 

Lots of ingredients for the scramble-broccoli, red pepper, onion, carrot, spices. 

 Sauteing the onion, broccoli and red bell pepper. 

Everything 'scrambled' together. 

Toppings for my tacos-cilantro, chopped tomato, picante sauce and some chipotle tabasco sauce rolled up in a sprouted grain tortilla. 

~ Tofu Scramble Tacos ~

The mixture ended up being a little dry for my taste. It needs some more seasoning and moisture. 

Cheesy Broccoli-Rice Casserole

This recipe from Cookin' Crunk reminded me of the cheese laden casseroles I used to make so I had to try it to see if it measured up. The only negative is some advance prep before you can eat! 

The day before I went ahead and cooked the brown rice and made the Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup recipe. It makes 4 cups so I halved the recipe as the casserole only uses 1 cup of it. I still had some leftover soup so I froze it in 1 cup size. Hopefully, it will thaw alright and I can use it in another recipe. It will be really convenient to have on hand as I can never find vegan cream of mushroom soup at the store. 

For the cheese component you have to make the Basic Cheesy Sauce. Again, I halved the recipe since I only needed one cup. Very flavorful cheese sauce using nutritional yeast. 

 Saueeting the broccoli and onion. 

Finally, on to the casserole! Really easy to mix everything together now and put in a casserole dish. The mixture is topped with some breadcrumbs. The recipe called for whole wheat but I used some panko. 

After baking, the breadcrumbs get golden brown under the broiler. 

~ Cheesy Broccoli-Rice Casserole ~

Yum! A very healthy, tasty substitute for my old-style broccoli cheese casserole. 

Broccoli Pesto Pasta & Garlicky Spinach

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

~from Everyday Happy Herbivore: Garlicky Spinach

Lots of garlic in the Garlicky Spinach. I used a half and half mixture of spinach and lacinato kale. You saute' the garlic (6 cloves!) in a small amount of vegetable broth and then add Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar and red pepper flakes for seasoning. Very tasty!  

 ~from The Happy Herbivore:  Broccoli Pesto Pasta

After steaming the broccoli it is blended with 3 garlic cloves, fresh basil, tofu and other seasonings. It is then tossed with cooked pasta. I added the optional kalamata olives, some capers and quartered cherry tomatoes for extra flavor. Basically, it is an uncooked pasta sauce so the raw garlic is quite potent. We had a "garlicky" dinner tonight. Along with the garlic in the spinach and pasta I also made garlic bread! Whew! Good thing we were both eating it!

Cruciferous Cravings

Vegcookbookclub January 2014

It seems lately all I have been cooking is kale, collard greens, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and broccoli. I just discovered they are all from the same group of plants! I must be craving some special vitamins and minerals they have. 

Both of these recipes are from Everyday Happy Herbivore.  It's been great this month digging into Lindsay Nixon's two cookbooks I have. I know most of the recipes are pretty simplistic but that makes it so much easier to get dinner on the table at night. And I usually have most of the ingredients already in my pantry and fridge. 

~ Broccoli & Red Pepper Stir-Fry ~

Sauteeing the broccoli and red pepper in savory sauce. 

I wanted to add some protein to make this a one-pot dish so I browned pressed diced firm tofu sprinkled with Butler's Chik-Style Seasoning. 

 I served the Broccoli & Red Pepper Stir-Fry on top of some brown rice. Yum!

~ Gobi Palak ~

This was soooo yummy! After cooking the yellow split peas for about 45 minutes you add lots of spices and cauliflower and let it cook down then toss in some baby spinach. I served it over brown and jasmine rice and garnished with some chopped cilantro and garlic-chili sauce. 

So easy!

Thai-Flavored Coconut Vegetable Soup

It's finally cooling down for some soup weather; still wearing shorts and tank tops though! This recipe is from Nava Atlas' Vegan Soups & Stews for All Seasons. Lots of great ideas for soups and stews. There are even recipes for muffins and breads to accompany the soups. I wanted to try this one because I had two cans of coconut milk getting ready to expire in my pantry. It called for light coconut milk but I only had the full fat kind-oops! What's a few extra coconut milk calories. 

Simmering the veggies in the coconut milk broth.

Optional ingredients I added were cilantro and red curry paste.

This soup only takes about 25 minutes to make and it's so creamy and delicious. I served it with some vegan garlic naan bread. Well, I enjoyed it anyway.  The hubby didn't really care for it so I'll be eating left-overs for lunch!

Cheesy Broccoli Soup

VegCookbookClub October recipes from Chloe's Kitchen:

 

First I had to share the vegan parmesan from Galaxy Foods. I was shopping at Sprouts and was so excited to see that they finally got some in stock. I usually make my own with nutritional yeast but this tastes exactly like I remember parmesan cheese tasting. I get tired of making everything from scratch. I love making garlic parmesan bread though!

Chloe's Cheesy Broccoli Soup

 

This looks nothing like her photo in the cookbook. Well, does anything really ever? No special lighting or food artist on the premises here-hee hee! As you can see, I chose not to put it in a bread bowl but used my garlic parmesan bread for dipping. I don't think I pureed my soup enough so it was kind of thin. The flavor didn't knock my socks off so I probably won't try this one again.

Gerry's Quick Broccoli & Hot Chili Pepper Pasta~pg. 128

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I knew I needed to make something quick for supper last night since we were babysitting the grandkids. I had some broccoli in the fridge that needed to be used so I decided to try out this recipe.

I chose to use udon noodles for the pasta and added 1/2 C. cubed tofu that I had stir-fried in a little sesame oil. The recipe called for 1/3 C. flax oil and that seemed like an awful lot so I reduced the oil and it turned out perfect. It still needed some spice and seasoning so I added some Bragg's and Sriracha sauce to mine since my hubby likes his mild! 

Blessed Broccoli & Tofu Stir-Fry~pg. 146

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

It seems like the days just slip by without a food post. I'm finally going to the spinal doctor today to see if I can get some answers after messing around for the past ten years. When I'm in pain the last thing I want to do is cook. But, if I don't cook I'll eat something that I'll regret later. Just sitting here at the computer is almost intolerable. Okay, enough of the self-pity; let me just say this recipe is a quick, easy to make meal! I didn't even have to cook the rice. I had a package of pre-cooked brown rice I just had to warm up in the microwave. Hubby and I ate the whole thing; no left-overs to deal with. So here's to a great, blessed day! :)

Broccoli Salad

I wanted to contribute something to our Easter dinner last Sunday and I found this recipe for an old-time favorite I loved! Of course the original had lots of bacon in it but that was easily substituted by using Baco Bits. It's delicious; I could have eaten it all by myself! It has broccoli, red onion, raisins, sunflower seeds, and the imitation bacon bits. The dressing is made with vegan mayonnaise, lemon juice and sugar. I found this recipe while looking through one of my new vegan cookbooks; like I don't have enough of those! The cookbook is Give Them Something Better by Sarah Frain & Stephanie Howard. They are two Seventh Day Adventist women who wanted to share some of their favorite healthy recipes.

Jen's Creamy Basil & Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta~pg. 133

La Dolce Vegan! Challenge:

I love fresh basil so this creamy tofu sauce was a hit. I cooked my broccoli separately and then tossed it with the sauce and pasta.

I served the pasta with a fresh salad topped with the Vegan Ranch Dressing I made earlier today and Simple Sassy Soda Bread (pg. 269) broiled with Earth Balance margarine, garlic powder and Faux Parmesan.