Vegan Tomato Soup

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  • 4 cups diced butternut squash
  • 1 medium onion quartered
  • 1 head or 10 peeled cloves garlic
  • 1-2 T EVOO
  • 2 28 oz cans whole tomatoes
  • 1 16-20 oz can of tomato sauce
  • 2-3 T tomato paste
  • 1 qt vegetable stock
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Optional sprinkling of red pepper flakes
  • 1/3 cup fresh basil or 1-1/2 T dried basil
  • Optional ½ cup nondairy substitute for cream (or cream if you don’t need vegan)

Heat oven to 350. Line baking tray(s) with parchment paper. Place squash, onion and head of garlic on tray. If using peeled cloves wait 15 minutes to put them on the tray. Bake 45 minutes.

Heat EVOO in stock pot. Add all tomato items, stock, salt & pepper (including red pepper flakes, if using) at once. Bring to light boil, turn back to low and simmer 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add roasted items & simmer 30 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Use immersion blender or transfer to blender to liquify. Transfer back to stockpot and add basil & cream, simmer 30 more minutes. You can also put fresh basil in shortly before the second simmer and liquify if you prefer not to have pieces of it in the soup, then do the 3d simmer.

Note: I like the way dried basil turns out in this soup better than fresh (very unusual for me) but use whichever suits you best.

Vegan chocolate mousse

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I recently tried out a recipe for a tofu-based chocolate mousse. It was delicious yet at the same time really too rich/sweet for me. And it called for coffee liqueur; I found I could taste alcohol more than coffee. So I tried out a version different enough I’m calling it my own.

Chocolate Mousse

  • 2 packages Silken Tofu (yes, it has to be silken)
  • 1 12 oz package chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 T espresso powder
  • 1/4 cup date syrup or turbinado sugar or maple syrup…

Heat water on low in double boiler until bubbling and leave on low. Pour chocolate chips in, cover & leave for a few minutes. They soften fairly quickly. As soon as you can stir pretty easily, pour in the water, espresso & sugar and mix really well. When it’s well melted and blended, take off heat and let it cool for a bit.

I know a lot of people prefer melting in microwave but it hasn’t worked well for me; I much prefer the double boiler method. If you like the microwave method I’d guess you can melt the chocolate chips part way then stir the other things in and give another round. You could also heat some water & stir espresso & hot water separately. I’d probably add the sugar with it rather than the chocolate.

Pour the chocolate mixture in food processor. Mine isn’t very well sealed at the top so I put liquids at the bottom so they get mixed with solids before they have a chance to leak. If yours is well sealed, order of putting in doesn’t matter. Add tofu and process. It needs to be stopped and a bit of scraping done around top a couple of times but processes up very easily. It needs a couple hours in the fridge to thicken a little. I put a few helpings in separate containers in the freezer.

You don’t really taste the espresso very much, it just deepens the taste of the chocolate.

Non-dairy cream of chicken & wild rice stew

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As I’ve mentioned in other recipes, I have issues about standing very long and other people tell me they have trouble too, so I’m including info on what I did to limit standing. This recipe started off with one I found online and then I tweaked it. The original: https://cookingclassy.netlify.app/creamy-chicken-wild-rice-soup/index.html

The basic amounts are as noted in the linked recipe but I use subs for non-dairy and no wheat and I work the chicken differently. Instead of milk I use a soy cream (most non-dairy milks are thinner, so the cream subs well) and instead of heavy cream a plant based heavy cream. I can’t have wheat so for the roux I use spelt flour. And for ease and less standing I use either frozen or storebought mirepoix (diced onions, carrots, celery) -3 cups. The recipe imo uses a too-tiny amount of herbs and the mix includes several items that are in Italian Seasoning, so I add a tablespoon of Italian Seasoning (Herbs de Provence would also work well) instead of the 1/4 teaspoons of several other things.

I like to make it more of a one pot meal, so I add veggies. Your choices here are endless. I almost always have a lot of fresh baby spinach around needing to be used and also bags of frozen mixed veggies. I thaw a bag of the mixed and toss in whatever amount of the spinach I need to cook up.

Because I’m adding more solid ingredients & also because I find it irritating when recipes ask for an odd amount that takes less or more than 1 container of stock, I add one quart of chicken stock and then 1 to 2 cups of water, so there’s 1/2 to 1-1/2 extra cups of liquid, depending on how soupy vs stewy you want it.

As far as the chicken, I always buy big packages of boneless, skinless tenders and brine the same day, then divide into packages of about 8 each and freeze. To help cut back on the standing time, I cook the chicken the day before I plan to make the soup and get it shredded.

To cut down the standing time on the day of making soup even more, I also cook the rice the day before, measure out the mirepoix, and, if I’m adding frozen vegetables, move those to fridge to thaw. I can spread these jobs out over the course of hours with lots of time sitting or exercising, etc. in between.

When I’m ready to make the soup I heat the pan, add some EVOO, start the mirepoix sauteeing. After a few minutes I add garlic to the mirepoix, give it a minute, then toss in the veggies, followed by the chicken & rice. I stir them with the rest of the ingredients for a couple minutes to let them take on the flavors, then add the liquids. Let those simmer for 10-15 minutes.

At some point while all those layers are going in and sauteeing for a couple of minutes, I start heating a small pan for the roux and get the butter melted. While the big pot heats for a bit once liquid goes in, I add the flour into the butter and once it’s well mixed then the creams, stirring often enough to keep them from getting scum on top. When it’s thickened, I add it to the big pot and stir well, then leave the whole thing to simmer for 10 more minutes.

And note that once you’ve added the liquids and have the big pot heating, if you need to sit down for a bit, the soup can simmer lots longer so you can rest and then start the roux.

It’s a nice, filling meal in a bowl. It also freezes well, so a nice way to have something on hand that you can pull out for an easy complete meal in one easy round of microwaving.

Chicken Pot Pie with a Twist

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Some years ago I tried this Giada DeLaurentiis recipe for turkey pot pie as a way to use leftover turkey at Thanksgiving. From the beginning, though, I was unwilling to fool with the pastry recipe. The corn meal aspect, though, gave me the idea to put cornbread batter on top and wow, do I love that combo!

Over the years I’ve tweaked the recipe quite a bit. For starters, I quit making turkey for Thanksgiving and instead started fixing this chicken and sausage dish. On the theory that her pie is intended to have the flavors you’ve used in your turkey (or chicken dish 🙂 ) I brine, marinate and bake the chicken (sans sausage) as I would to make the T-day dish. Usually I manage the brining and marinating the day before I make the cornbread batter and put the pie together.

The cornbread recipe makes, in my opinion, too much topping for the dish. Rather than cut the recipe in half, I make six cornbread muffins and put the rest of the batter on top of the pan of filling. And another change I make, rather than all that fussy spooning stuff into separate ramekins, is to just pour all the filling into a 9″ square pan and spread batter across the top.

The cornbread recipe I use is from Anna Thomas’ Vegetarian Epicure but I imagine you can use whatever your fave recipe is. Her recipe makes 12 muffins or a 9″ pie pan of cornbread. If your recipe is for more or less you may have to adjust amounts to suit the pot pie.

Chicken Pot Pie with a Twist

brine (I use about a gallon of water, 1 cup kosher salt, a cut up lemon and whatever herbs are around)- bring to boil, then simmer 30 minutes or so, then cool and refrigerate. I usually make it the day before I want to use it.

5-6 chicken tenders, baked with whatever flavors you prefer and cut up into small pieces or shredded

2T olive oil

3-4 slices of bacon

1T unsalted butter

1 small onion, chopped fine

1/2 t salt

1/2 t black pepper

1/2-1 T minced fresh thyme or sage — or add some Italian seasoning

1/4 cup flour

2-1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1/4 cup heavy cream (or use a thick canned coconut cream to replace dairy)

3 cups chopped or shredded cooked chicken

2-1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

1/2 batter from whatever cornbread recipe you wish to use

Brine the chicken at least two hours. Bake at 425 for 22-25 minutes

Preheat oven for pie to 400 degrees

Cook the chopped bacon in a pan large enough to make whole filling. Remove bacon and pour off most of the grease (I like the flavoring from leaving a little).

Add olive oil and allow to heat for a minute. Then add butter and onion and saute for five or six minutes. Add thyme or sage or … and the salt and pepper. Then add the mixed vegetables and stir for several minutes.

Add the flour and stir well. Then add the cream and broth. Stir thoroughly and finally add the chicken. Then put the bacon back in and stir well.

Pour mixture into 9″ square pan. Pour cornbread batter over top and spread evenly. Put in oven and bake 25-30 minutes. Time for cornbread to finish is variable, especially given the wetness of the filling, so check with toothpick and see if you need to add time.

Healthier Copy Cat of Kozy Shack Rice Pudding

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UPDATE: after some more tweaking I discovered you can actually bake this after boiling instead of standing there endlessly stirring and also that you can freeze it.

For quite a while I’ve searched for a rice pudding recipe like Kozy Shack’s but with healthier ingredients. First I hit a bunch of vegan ones that came out more like rice with a sweet coating than pudding. Then I found “copy cat” versions of Kozy Shack and played with substituting for dairy until I finally landed on a version I love:

RICE PUDDING, a little healthier

  • 1/2 cup white rice, do not rinse. I use long Jasmine. Some prefer short arborio. I will be trying a brown rice sub
  • 4 cups nondairy milk with this breakdown – 1 can of coconut cream, (usually seems to come in 13.5 ounce) then fill in the rest with whatever your nondairy milk fave is. I used almond milk.
  • 1T butter or sub
  • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream or sub
  • optional: sprinkle in some dried orange or lemon peel or cinnamon

Preheat oven to 310 degrees

Place the rice, milk, butter, maple syrup and vanilla in an oven-safe pot on stove. Bring to a boil. At this point you have a choice, (1) move the pot into the oven and bake for an hour, stirring once or twice along the way or (2) immediately turn down heat and simmer for 1 hour, stirring frequently. At the end of the hour, beat the egg, temper by adding spoonfuls from the pot to the egg while stirring then stir egg and heavy cream into pot. Let it cool a while, transfer to pan or bowl, cover with foil or cellophane, then refrigerate for 3 hours.

Lasts 4 or 5 days quite well. You can also freeze a portion if you wish. Just make sure you thaw by moving from freezer to fridge and letting it thaw slowly in fridge. This recipe actually followed another but cut in in half, so you can double this recipe if you like and freeze several containers.

Note: the canned coconut cream as opposed to milk is important to get it to thicken as you want it to. And the canned is thicker than stuff that comes in cartons so use the canned.

Tilapia with lemon butter sriracha sauce

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I love figuring out dishes that toss the main and sides together and leave me with complete-dinner boxes I can freeze. I took a sauce idea from a salmon dish I cook pretty often and reorganized some steps to end up with essentially a pan seared tilapia sauteed with brown rice and veggies.

Due to issues about standing for very long I often divide cooking tasks into parts so I never stand too long at once. I often make the batch of brown rice a day ahead. Then earlier in the day I’m making it I make the sauce, mince the garlic, and cut the butter in pieces.

Tilapia with Lemon Butter Sriracha Sauce

  • 2 large tilapia filets, with salt and pepper on outside
  • 2-3 Tb extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/8-1/4 stick butter
  • 1/2 pound frozen mixed veggies (or veggie of choice)
  • 10-12 ounces of fresh chopped baby spinach or kale (I run through slicer plate of food processor instead of chopping)
  • precook one batch of brown rice (1 cup rice, 2 cups water)
  • Sauce:
  • 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
  • 1/2 tsp sriracha sauce (depends on how much heat you want or can take
  • 1 lemon juiced (you want at least 2 T) — cut the remaining lemon into pieces after juicing

Make sauce ahead and refrigerate. Heat olive oil in skillet and add one clove of garlic, distributing so each piece of tilapia will be over half of it. Add salted/peppered tilapia filets. Cook for 3 minutes on one side, flip, cook 3 minutes on the other They’re slightly underdone but they’re going to cook a little more.

Remove tilapia from skillet, put on plate. Add a little more EVOO if needed and put in the remaining 2 cloves of garlic and the lemon pieces. After a minute or 2 of stirring those around, add the butter. While it’s melting, cut up the tilapia. Then add the mixed veggies, stirring well with butter and garlic. After 2 minutes, stir in spinach. When it is halfway wilted, add brown rice and stir well with the rest. Then pour sauce over and stir well. Finally add the cut-up tilapia and stir until everything is well mixed and hot. Remove the pieces of lemon and pitch. You’re ready to start serving.

You can vary the veggies and use more of either type if you wish. This amount of sauce is enough to nicely add the flavors throughout the dish. If you like things saucier I’d say add at least 50% more or double it.

This makes 5-6 pretty good size servings. It freezes well and is easy to defrost and reheat. Also lasts well in fridge for a few days.

Mashed Cauliflower and Parsnips with Spinach

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Cooking in water

Several years ago I saw a Rachael Ray episode on Thanksgiving for which she prepared a dish with mashed potatoes and parsnips with spinach and parmesan stirred in.  It sounded so good but I wanted to try using cauliflower instead of potatoes to make it healthier.

Substituting 2 cauliflower heads for the potatoes, it turned out great but was a lot of work. Since then riced cauliflower has become popular so I hunted for a recipe for mashed cauliflower using the riced version–so much easier.  Then I used aspects of both recipes to create this one.

Mashed Cauliflower and Parsnips with Spinach

  • 3 Tbs unsalted butter
  • 2 16 oz packages riced cauliflower (I used Trader Joe’s)
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 parsnips
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup reserved water from cooking cauliflower
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 6-8 oz fresh organic baby spinach or kale or 10-12 ounces fresh spinach or kale sauteed
  • optional: 1/2 – 1 stick unsalted butter
  • optional: 1/2 cup pecorino romano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Melt the 3 Tbs butter in the pot and add the riced cauliflower to saute.  Saute 3-4 minutes.  While it’s sauteeing, peel and grate the parsnips, then add those in with the cauliflower.  Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and stir in.

Then add the 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.

Cover and cook for 10 minutes.

Drain, making sure to keep 1/4 cup of the water.

Return the cauliflower and parsnips to the pot and stir in the reserved water.

Either use an immersion blender to puree or put mixture in blender (probably will take a couple of rounds). If you want to add more butter, stir that in now.

After immersion blender

After pureeing

Allow mixture to cool a while before stirring in the beaten egg.

Fresh raw spinach is a little harder to stir in and you’ll need to use a little less if that’s your choice but either add the raw or saute 10 or 12 oz of fresh baby spinach just till wilted and stir it in.

Butter or oil a casserole dish and transfer the mixture to it.  If you’d like to top with cheese, sprinkle the 1/2 cup of pecorino romano on top.

Place casserole in oven and cook for 30 minutes.

Finished product

Nostalgia on Third Street

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My dear friend Cecy came back to town on a whirlwind visit on Halloween.  After a long and lovely lunch we decided to go to Third Street, where we met. She had just turned 13 and I was still (barely) 12.  My aunt Mary Jane and my grandmother had moved in up the block and since my aunt knew her mother we were introduced and became fast friends.

We each posed in front of Mary Jane’s former home (the one with the white trim porch) and then in front of Cecy’s house. (the one with the pumpkins):

Cecy at MJ’s house