Category Archives: Recipes

Roasted Red Pepper and Quinoa Soup

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I went for a brisk two kilometre walk tonight after work. The sun was shining brightly and it was only minus two, degrees so I figured I might as well go enjoy the day.  I had already done a weights workout at six in the morning today, so this wasn’t a workout, just a way to get some fresh air after sitting at work all day.

One of the best things that I have noticed lately is that the sun is rising earlier and earlier.  I can open drapes before I go to work in the morning and our timer light has been moved back until 5:40pm  - crazy how that happens every year isn’t it :) .  Every extra minute of daylight in the day makes me feel so much better though.  We are getting closer to twelve hours of daylight again, which reminds me of when were in Central American and year round they have twelve hours of daylight.  Maybe I should move down there…food for thought.

Tonight I am making a batch of my famous sweet potato soup which everyone loves, to round out our lunches for the rest of the week and on Sunday I made roasted red pepper and quinoa soup, which is now a contender for our favourite soup.  I love roasting vegetables for soups – it creates such a nice nutty flavour.

Roasted Red Pepper and Quinoa Soup

This is the blog that provided me with the inspiration for this soup, but true to form I had to change a few things to make it to my liking and you can do the same. At first I didn’t really think I would need to add the almond milk, but in the end I’m glad I did, it made the soup very creamy.

2 red peppers, seeded and cut in half
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 or 3 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 or 2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 cups vegetable broth
¾ cup cooked quinoa
½ cup almond milk (or milk of choice)

Turn on the broiler and flatten the seeded peppers, skin side up, on a cookie sheet. Roast for about 10 minutes, until the skins are blackened. Remove from the oven and immediately place the peppers in a ziplock bag or a bowl with a lid. After 15 minutes, remove the peppers and rub off the skin. Slice into 1” pieces and set aside.

roasted peppers

roasted peppers

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrots and sauté until the vegetables are translucent. Add the tomatoes, red peppers, vegetable broth and spices. Bring the soup to a boil and turn down to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 – 25 minutes.

veggies ready for the pot

veggies ready for the pot

Add the cooked quinoa and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove the soup from the heat and blend with an immersion blender or a blender until smooth. Transfer back to the pot and stir in the almond milk. Serve immediately.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

This recipe made three 1 1/2 cup servings and three 1 cup servings and it was nice and spicy, just right for lunch on a cold day.

Enjoy !

 

 

 

 

Navy Bean and Bacon Soup

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Now that we are well into January and trying to stay warm, I thought a hearty navy bean and bacon soup recipe would do the trick.

The last few weeks have been really busy for me at work with year end and of course I tweaked my back again in the usual places, the L1 and L5.  So I have been visiting a chiropractor and it is starting to get better, but all the sitting at work doesn’t really help. Not to blame work, it is sitting in general that makes it worse, but that is where I do the most of it.

We have also been working on renovating our main bathroom.  We are finally getting rid of the original cream coloured 33 year old, builders-grade steel tub and getting a new one; one that we can both fit into with ease…;).  So far we have ordered the tub, tile and fixtures and we have a tentative date for the contractor to start in mid-Feb and we both couldn’t be happier. So after shopping for bathroom accessories I came home to make this week’s side.

Recently, we have been buying bacon from Barrie’s Asparagus and Country Market. They raise their own pigs and the bacon is fantastic – hardly any fat on it and for the price and amount you get you can’t go wrong.

I also used dried beans that I soaked overnight for 8 hours and then cooked on high in the slow cooker for 3.5 hours.  Alternatively you can use canned navy beans to keep it simple.

Navy Bean and Bacon Soup

4 slices bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup celery, diced
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp.poultry seasoning
fresh ground pepper
4 cups navy beans (see note above)
4 cups broth (I used vegetable)

Dice bacon and cook over medium – low heat in a skillet for 4 – 5 minutes.  Once the bacon is as crispy as you like it, remove from pan and drain on paper towels.  Drain off the excess bacon grease, reserving some in the skillet to cook the onions. Cooking the onions in bacon grease will not only caramelize them, but give them a really great flavor that regular oil will never be able to replicate.

Add onions to the skillet and sauté for 2- 3 minutes; add garlic and celery and sauté for 4 -5 minutes more until tender.

Add remaining ingredients while stirring to combine.  Increase heat to high and bring to a boil.

Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 30 minutes or until navy beans are tender. Remove the bay leaves.

Purée about half the soup in food processor or with hand blender. Return to pot and stir to combine.

Remove from heat and serve.

This recipe made six side dishes for Al and I; three one cup sizes for me and three one and a half cup sizes for Al. He could have had more but he decided to have a spoonful, which became two spoonfuls, which became…well, you get it. Actually, maybe you don’t – Al was licking the remnants in the bowl afterwards and then the pot I cooked it in. That’s how much he liked this soup!

Navy bean and bacon soup

Navy bean and bacon soup

 Enjoy !

Quinoa Shepards Pie

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Now that Christmas is over and we’re buckling down for winter, I thought I would make Shepards’s pie.  Who doesn’t like Shepard’s pie?  I decided to make a variation of Shepard’s pie with Butternut Squash and Quinoa.

Roasted butternut squash cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 handfuls of kale leaves, stems removed, washed and massaged with your favourite oil.  (Mine right now is garlic grapeseed)
Half a red pepper, diced
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
Sea salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 350F

Cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds and goop with a spoon.

Cut into big chunks and place into a baking dish with a 1/2 inch water and cover with a lid.

Bake until fork tender about 45 minutes or so.

Once cooled, cut the skin away from the flesh and set aside.

Bring quinoa and water to a boil; reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes with the lid on.

Once cooked, set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in frying pan over medium heat until hot

Add onion and garlic and cook, until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes.

Add kale and red pepper cook for 2 – 3 more minutes until kale is wilted and red pepper is softened.

Remove pan from heat

Add lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, sea salt and pepper.

At this point assemble the Quinoa Shepards pie.

Layer a bowl first with quinoa, then onion and kale mixture, then top with pieces of roasted butternut squash.

What could be easier after work on a cold day! It should be noted that after the picture was taken and we dug in, we mashed up the butternut squash and mixed all the ingredients together like a true Shepard’s pie should be eaten. Overall, it was an okay vegan meal – it’s hard to replace the real thing! I have found a product by Yves that I might use to give this another try. Stay tuned!

Top view Quinoa Shepard's Pie

Top view Quinoa Shepard’s Pie

Quinoa Shepard's Pie

Quinoa Shepard’s Pie

Enjoy !

 

Kale Salad and Baked Tofu Parmesan

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Back in the summer I decided to try grilling tofu on the BBQ for the first time. Both Al and I really enjoyed it and it started to make a regular appearance in our meal rotation.  With the cold weather we won’t be BBQ’ing anytime soon so I was thinking of a new way to get our tofu fix in.  I started flipping through my cookbooks and the Happy Herbivore had a recipe for Baked Tofu Parmesan.  I like chicken parmesan…so I thought I would give this a try.

True to my style I changed the recipe a little to fit my needs.  The original recipe called for extra firm tofu, but I have never seen extra firm – if someone knows where I can get some please let me know. These little tofu-parm sticks turned out really well and tasted awesome, so it looks like we’ve found our winter replacement for the grilled tofu. Now if only I can get Al to stop saying “Ahhh….Tofutti” (from the movie Overboard) every time I make tofu.

I also decided to make a massaged kale salad with some kale I had on hand.  I have ordered massaged kale salads a few times at restaurants and always wondered why they call it that.  I recently found out that if you “massage” the kale in oil or your favorite salad dressing and let it sit for a minimum of 15 minutes then the kale will become quite a bit softer and much easier to eat raw.  I massaged my kale in 1 tbsp. garlic grapeseed oil and let it sit for almost two hours to soften.  While the kale was “marinating”, I got busy chopping up a storm! Whatever veggies I have in the crisper go into my salads. Today I used radishes, cucumber, carrots and yellow peppers. I then added some salt and pepper and voila – a fantastic salad that I will be making more often now that I know the secret.

Massaged kale salad

Massaged kale salad

Baked Tofu Parmesan

1 block firm tofu
1 cup breadcrumbs – I used Rosemary and Olive oil Crispy Baquettes
4 tbsp. vegan parmesan
2 tbsp. italiano seasoning
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/2 cup non-dairy milk (I used soy)
1 tbsp. cornstarch
Half a jar of marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 350.  Line a cookie sheet with tin foil and set aside.

Turn tofu on its side and cut 12 evenly sized cutlets

Combine breadcrumbs, parmesan, seasoning, salt and pepper, then finely grind in a food processor to a sand like consistency

Pour ¼ cup of the crumb mixture into a shallow bowl.

In another shallow bowl whisk together the non-dairy milk and cornstarch

Dip each tofu cutlet into the non-dairy milk mixture, briefly submerging, then immediately dipping into the breadcrumbs.

Flip the tofu over and press into the breadcrumbs again, repeating as necessary until cutlet is well coated.

Repeat with remaining cutlets, placing the finished cutlets on the cookie sheet.

Add more breadcrumbs as needed (it is good to separate the crumbs so that the entire mixture does not get too wet too fast or else it won’t stick to the tofu)

Bake for 20 minutes and then flip and bake for 12 more.

Arrange cutlets on a plate and top with marinara, garnish with more vegan parmesan if desired.

Enjoy !

Baked tofu parmesan

Baked tofu parmesan