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Archive for 2011
Quick Sweet and Sour Pickles
This Asian pickle recipe is from an old friend, Helen Wang, who is a great cook, with a real taste for hot food. I still remember her telling me to eat a very hot cherry pepper when I was in eighth grade – “oh no, it’s not hot, just like a pickle” The pain the pain…..
Ingredients:
- Several Kirby cucumbers
- 1 C rice vinegar
- 1 C cold water
- 2 T sugar
- 1 T coarse Kosher salt
Directions:
- Cut the cucumbers into quarters, lengthwise, after cutting off the very top and bottom.
- Place the cucumber spears in glass jars or any other sealable non-reactive container.
- Dissolve sugar and salt in vinegar and water and pour over cucumbers to cover.
- Refrigerate.
The pickles are ok after a few hours, but get better overnight or if left for a few days. One can also use this pickling recipe to pickle almost anything, such as carrots, string beans, jalepenos or beets.
mexican tortilla soup (vegan)
This is a great soup that really can be made either exactly as written or improvised all around. No one really makes it the same, do they? When we do it we use a combination of pinto and red beans. We used about 4 cups of dry beans that we soaked and cooked and 2 cups canned beans. This seems to work well for texture and thickness but you could use 100% canned beans to speed things up.
If the soup gets too thick, as it will over the course of sitting or when served left over, you can always add a bit more water.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 chopped carrots
- 6 cups red and or pinto beans, cooked
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cloved chopped garlic
- 1 pinch red pepper flakes
- 1 t. cumin powder
- 1/2 frozen corn
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 t. hot sauce
- 1 bag tortilla chips
- salt and pepper
- 1 cup shredded vegan cheese, regular cheddar cheese if desired
Directions:
- Saute the onions and hot pepper flakes in the olive oil for 4 minutes to begin to tenderize them.
- Add all the other ingredients except chips and cheese.
- Cook 5 minutes, then take 2 cups out and blend in a blender, and put back in. This will help thicken to the right texture.
- Cook under medium heat for another 15 minutes.
- Put a handful of chips, a bit broken up into serving bowls
- Ladle in the soup, and add vegan cheese/cheddar cheese on top
Maybe have a margarita, or a corona? We would!
czech vegetable soup
Yummy Vegetarian is back from a vacation in Prague Czech Republic, and I made a soup based on something I had for lunch there. It is simple and tasty- called a “potato” soup, although I think it is really better described as a vegetable soup. I will be putting up some more recipes derived from this trip, so Czech back – boy that’s a bad one…
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 1/3 cup chopped white or brown mushrooms
- 4 small potatoes, peeled
- 3 medium carrots, sliced into nickel sized pieces
- 1 cloved chopped garlic
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 tablespoon Earth Balance, or other vegetable spread
- 1 T. arrowroot, disolved in 2 T water
- 1 t. Herbs d Provence
- salt and pepper
- Some chopped parsley to garnish
Directions:
- Saute the onions and mushrooms in the olive oil for 4 minutes to begin to tenderize them.
- Add the carrots and vegetable spread, and saute for another 3 minutes.
- Add the vegetable stock, water, potatoes, Herbs d Provence, and garlic.
- Cook under medium heat for another 10 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are both cooked.
- Add the milk and arrowroot, and turn off heat and stir. Let sit for another 3 minutes, to thicken a bit.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add a little chopped parsley to each serving, on top.
Simple delicious and from Eastern Europe!
spaghetti squash with tomato sauce
Spaghetti squash is a great low fat, nutritious substitute for pasta – it has a good somewhat crunchy texture and a mildly sweet flavor. Serve spaghetti squash with tomato sauce, olive oil or butter-flavored spread.
Ingredients:
- 1 spaghetti squash
- tomato sauce, if desired – homemade marinara recipe here
- a little water for the cooking
- salt and pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Cut squash lengthwise in half and scoop out the seeds and the stringy flesh.
- On a baking sheet or dish, place squash halves flat side down and add 1/4″ or so water to the pan.
- Bake in over for 35-40 minutes, until squash is tender.
- This is the fun part (especially if you don’t have much of a life – ha ha) – using a fork, scrape out the insides of the squash – it comes out like pieces of spaghetti!
- Put in a bowl, top with your choice of: olive oil, tomato sauce, butter, salt and pepper.
Sweet! You can also do this in the microwave. Same as 2,3 above but put in microwave for around 10 minutes. I usually check it a few times during the microwaving to see how it’s coming along.
