Garlic Soup

Thanks to the other Vegan MoFo writers for all the fantastic blogging this month.  Posting five days a week has been a challenge for me, but it has pushed me to try new things, spend more time cooking, and diversify my diet.  My goal now that MoFo is over is to continue posting twice a week, most likely one original recipe and one recipe review per week.  I'm excited to try out some of the many other MoFo posts I've starred in my Google Reader.  And without further ado: Garlic Soup.

This, folks, is my most coveted recipe.  Garlic soup sounds homely, and doesn't look like much.  It isn't polite food, and it will make you smell like garlic for at least a day after you eat it.  Furthermore, thinly slicing an entire cup of garlic is tedious tedious work.  It's worth it.

The ingredients
1 1/2 cups margarine
1 cup thinly-sliced garlic
2 cups finely chopped yellow onion
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour (which sounds like too much, but isn't a typo)
5 1/2 cups vegetable broth
5 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 cup Silk creamer (plain flavor)
2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely chopped
salt and cayenne pepper to taste

The process

1. Melt margarine over medium-low heat, then saute sliced garlic and onion in margarine for about 7 minutes, or until completely softened.
2. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes.  
3. Whisk in 1 1/2 cups broth, then add remaining broth and cook over low heat 12-15 minutes, stirring a few times.  
4. Add minced or pressed garlic, and simmer 5 minutes.
5. Add creamer and return to a simmer.  Cook, stirring frequently, 10 minutes.  Season with salt and cayenne to taste (if using canned broth, you probably won't need to add salt).
6. Remove from heat, stir in tomatoes, and let stand 10 minutes.
7. Serve with bread for sopping up the broth.

Pomegranate, unadorned (but adored!)

I planted several pomegranate trees in my yard when I bought my house three years ago. At long last, one of them finally gave me a fruit.  I thought about making a gourmet fancy-pants meal with pomegranate seeds elegantly sprinkled on the plate, but lust won out and I ended up eating the entire fruit plain, straight from my sticky red fingers.  It was magnificent.

Thanksgiving recap

As promised, here is a picture of my campfire Thanksgiving feast: pan-fried green beans; skewered veggies, seitan and potatoes; mushroom gravy; and canned cranberry sauce.  It did not disappoint.  I also made camp pies by rolling tortillas around canned apple pie filling, and tossing them in the fire wrapped in foil. Utterly delicious.

And just because I love him, here is a cute picture of my dog Jasper, who thought snow was the best thing in the world and would like me to move to a cold climate.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
As much as I've been salivating over everyone's Thanksgiving posts this week,  I won't be making any of your recipes (that is, not for Thanksgiving) because I'm going camping instead.  After 3 years in a row of hosting big vegan Thanksgivings for non-vegan friends and acquaintances, I decided to take a break, so my husband, my dog and I are heading to Yosemite.  I'll be doing my best to convert some of the flavors I associate with the holiday into dishes I can easily cook over the campfire.  The planned menu is:

• Skewered seitan, fingerling potatoes, onions, butternut squash and mushrooms (grilled over the fire)
• Mushroom gravy (made ahead of time and reheated on the camp stove)
• Green beans (pan-fried over the fire)
• Cranberry sauce (straight from the can)
• tortilla pies (tortillas folded around pie filling, grilled in foil packets over the fire)

I'll do a follow-up post on Sunday to share photos of the feast.

Dirty Dumpling Soup

Usually when I think "dumpling soup," I envision the kind that contains asian-style dumplings, as in yesterday's post. However, reading MoFo posts lately, the other kind of dumpling soup has been catching my eye—the kind that contains dumplings consisting of simmered biscuit dough. I think I might have had this type of soup a time or two in my childhood, but since then it's been totally off my radar. It was therefore a delight not only to rediscover this tasty dish, but also to experience how wildly it exceeded my expectations.  The moist exterior and fluffy biscuit interior of the dumplings is the best texture contrast I can imagine. I call this soup dirty because it contains two things I'm ashamed to have in my pantry: Bisquick (which I only recently learned is vegan) and instant mashed potato flakes (which I mostly use as a thickener, but sometimes eat as mashed potatoes if I'm desperate and the blinds are closed).

The ingredients
Soup:
about 2 T olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
6 cups assorted chopped vegetables (I used green pepper, butternut squash, cabbage, carrots, and fava beans)
6 cups vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 cup kale, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups seitan, chopped
1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

Biscuits:
2 cups Bisquick
2/3 cup milk alternative
1/2 t ground thyme
1 t ground sage
1/8-1/4 t black pepper

The process

1. In a stockpot over medium heat, saute the onion in olive oil until softened.  Add garlic and continue to cook another 1-2 minutes.  Add the assorted vegetables (but NOT kale or mushrooms) and continue to cook, stirring, about 5 minutes.
2. Add broth and water, raise heat to high, and bring to a boil.
3. Meanwhile, make biscuit dough: in a small bowl, stir together all biscuit ingredients just until combined.
4. Add mushrooms, seitan and potato flakes to broth, and return to boiling.  Drop biscuit dough into broth and gently boil, uncovered, 10 minutes.
5. Push the dumplings aside and slip the kale into the soup, then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes, or until dumplings are cooked through.