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Cauliflower and Cannelini Bean Soup

Continuing my love affair with cauliflower, I wanted to make a soup that was creamy and dairy-free. Rather than using potato to add creaminess and thickness, I pureed a can of cannelini beans. Adding the beans for protein also made it into a soup I could use as my main dish for lunch.

Roasting cauliflower brings out its sweetness; if you’ve never roasted a cauliflower before, you’re going to want to give this a try, and you might become as addicted to it as I am.

I crisped some sage leafs as a garnish when I first served it, but for a subsequent serving fried up a little chorizo and arranged it on top. Now I think a combination would probably be perfection.

What you need:

1 large cauliflower

1 garlic bulb

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

1 leek

4 cups chicken stock

2 teaspoons fresh sage, plus more for garnishing

olive oil

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. As soon as you’ve turned it on you can toss in a bulb of garlic. Just slice off the end, wrap it in foil and throw it in the oven.

2. Cut the cauliflower into florets and then cut the larger ones in half if you need to. Roast for 25-40 minutes, or until the cauliflower has browned slightly.

3. While the cauliflower and garlic are roasting, heat the broth in a large pot.

4. Drain the cannelini beans and add them to the broth, and then add the sage.

5. Chop the leeks into rounds, rinse them, then add them to the broth. Bring this to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes.

6. When the cauliflower is ready, add it to the broth. The garlic should be ready when the cauliflower is done, so unwrap it from the foil and squeeze it into the pot as well. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes.

7. Remove the pot from the heat and puree the soup for several minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

8. For the garnish, heat a little olive oil in a small frying pan. Add several sage leaves and fry them until they have crisped. They can turn brown pretty quickly, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the pan while they are still green. Arrange on top of each serving of soup.

This soup freezes well, so you can make a big batch to save for a rainy day. It’ll warm you right up.

Portobello-Poached Egg

I had a spare portobello mushroom from a dinner I made last night, and I wanted to find way to eat it on salad, so I made this up. It is not a poached egg on top of a mushroom, but instead I cooked the egg right inside the mushroom cap. I made it soft-cooked so the egg yolk would ooze all over the salad. And it was good. Really good. I was even patting myself on the back as I was eating this one.

I served this one on top of this salad with Glory dressing, and it made my salad into a meal.

What you need:

1 large portobello mushroom

1 small egg

olive oil for the pan

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Remove the stem from the mushroom.

2. Heat a frying pan to medium, then add a little olive oil. Put the mushroom into the pan, hollow side down.

3. Flip the mushroom over after a few minutes, then let the mushroom cook for a few more minutes. If the pan is getting dry, just splash in a little water and put a lid on it.

4. When the mushroom seems done, crack the egg into the hollow of the mushroom. Put a little water in the pan, then put a lid on it and let it sit for a minute. Check it to see if the egg looks cooked, making sure the egg yolk stays runny, but the white is cooked.

5. Serve it right away on top of a green salad and grate on a little fresh salt and pepper.

You could serve it with a piece of bread to soak up some of the yolk and dressing.

Green Salad with Beets and Mango

Here’s a simple salad with some tasty toppings and the amazing Glory dressing. Easy, light, and scrumptious!

What you need:

mixed salad greens

a beet, finely grated

a mango

Glory dressing

plus anything else you’d like; nuts would be great, maybe some toasted pumpkin seeds

What you do:

1. Make the dressing ahead of time.

2. Put lots of salad greens on each plate, then toss with a little dressing.

3. Grate the beet right onto the salad until it looks like enough

4. Cut some slices of mango and place them on top. Enjoy!

Whitewater Glory Salad Dressing

Yum! A friend recommended the Whitewater cookbook to me, so while waiting to get it out of the library, I did a search online. I found this salad dressing recipe and made it up for my salad tonight. I love the creaminess of it, and recall tasting a dressing like it once before in a restaurant, but couldn’t figure out how to replicate it. I know that not everyone has nutritional yeast sitting around, but if you buy it you can also put it on popcorn (recipe to come!)

I find making salad dressing to be so easy, even one like this that requires a blender. I like knowing exactly what is in the dressing, and I can add more or less of some ingredients if I want. It always tastes better than the store-bought ones, doesn’t have preservatives in it, and is way cheaper.

What you need (for a half recipe):

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

3 tablespoons tamari or soy sauce

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon tahini

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

What you do:

1. Put all the ingredients except the oil into a blender and give it a good mix. I used an immersion blender, so feel free to do the same.

2. In a steady slow stream, add the oil until it is all blended in.

Ready to go, although it’s great if you can let it sit a bit, or keep it in the fridge overnight. A jar of it should last a few weeks in the fridge.

Honey-Ginger-Lemon Healer

When my sweetheart was suffering from bronchitis, and everyone else around me seemed to be getting sick, I concocted this hot drink. It soothes a sore throat, with the honey acting as an anti-inflammatory, fighting infection and tasting great. Ginger has antibacterial and pain-killing properties, and warms you up. The lemon has vitamin C and boosts the immune system. Black pepper can help ease a sore throat and is an appetizer. The warmth of a hot drink itself makes you feel good, and drinking liquids is important, and since this is so yummy you should have no problem getting it down. You can also add whiskey, which will numb your throat a bit, and might make you sleepy so you can get the rest you need when you’re sick.

What you need:

a knob of ginger

black peppercorns

honey

fresh lemons

whiskey (optional)

What you do:

1. Slice the ginger and put it in a small pot with some water and 8-10 peppercorns. Let this boil for at least 10 minutes.

2. Boil some water.

3. Put about 1/3 cup of the ginger liquid into a mug.

4. Squeeze the juice from 1/2 a large lemon, or one whole small lemon. Pour this into the mug.

5. Add about a teaspoon of honey, or more to taste.

6. Add a shot of whiskey if you are using it. Top the mug up with the boiling water, give it a stir, and it’s ready to go.

Lentil Bacon Soup

I’m not usually a fan of canned soups, but my friend Sarah recently introduced me to Baxter’s Lentil and Bacon soup, and I thought it was pretty yummy. It inspired me to make up my own lentil bacon soup. I’ve made lentil soup before, but I like that in this one the lentils are pureed, and the little bit of bacon adds a lot of flavour. It’s pretty easy to make, and just takes a bit of time to cook the lentils.

What you need:

3/4 cup green lentils, uncooked

4 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2-1 cup dry white wine

about 1-2 cups water

2 stalks celery, chopped

3 carrots, in about 2 cm chunks

1 large potato, in about 2 cm chunks

1 leek, sliced into rounds and rinsed

4 whole cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

5-6 slices of bacon

What you do:

1. Put the lentils in a large pot with lots of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 50 minutes.

2. Fry the bacon and let it cool on paper towel. Chop the bacon once it has cooled. I use a cast iron pan with a large capacity so I can add a lot more ingredients to it after frying the bacon. If you don’t have a frying pan large enough just do the next steps involving the vegetables, then transfer to the pot that you cooked the lentils in, which should be large enough to hold everything.

3. Remove most of the bacon fat from the frying pan. Chop the carrot, celery, leek and add it to the frying pan. Add the whole garlic cloves . Cook for about five minutes, stirring from time to time. Add the chopped potatoes. Now add the chicken stock and wine, along with enough water to cover the vegetables, and simmer until the vegetables are tender.

4. When the lentils are very soft you can drain them and add them to the vegetables and broth. I actually pour it all into the pot that the lentils were cooked in. Continue to simmer until all the veggies are tender.

5. Puree everything with an immersion blender or wait until it has cooled a bit and whiz it in a blender until it is smooth.

6. Stir in the chopped bacon, then add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup freezes well!

Pickle Skewers

Here’s a yummy, pretty and easy party appetizer. There’s a mixture of sweet and salty pickles and olives, and a sweet grape to finish it off.

What you need:

pitted olives

sweet pickled onions

dill pickles, sliced into rounds

sweet grapes

wooden skewers

What you do:

Skewer everything starting with the grape. That way the last flavour will be sweet one.

Mennonite Cabbage Borscht

A little while ago I posted a recipe for my Mom’s borscht. While this is a great soup recipe, I recently found out it’s not actually her recipe. Oops! So this is really my mom’s borscht recipe; it’s on the same page of The Mennonite Treasury of Recipes, the bible of Mennonite cooking. The real difference is that this one has a can of tomato soup; not very old-world traditional, but it’s the yummy soup I grew up with. A lot of people think borscht has beets, but the beetless version is part of the Mennonite culinary tradition.

My mom makes a few changes when she cooks it: she doesn’t always use potatoes, and she usually adds some carrots. As well, she doesn’t use cream, but adds yogurt while serving.

It is best to make the broth a day ahead of time so it can cool, and the fat can be removed.

What you need:

2 lbs of beef meat and bones (or a combination of beef and chicken)

1 large onion, chopped

1 small head cabbage

3 carrots, chopped

a few tablespoons of fresh dill

1 can tomato soup (I used Campbell’s)

salt to taste

plain yogurt for serving

What you do:

1. To make the broth, cover the bones and meat with cold water and bring to a low simmer. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Strain the broth and let it cool. Remove the meat and pull it into bite-sized pieces. Put the meat and broth in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

2. Remove the cold fat from the top of the broth and discard it. Pour the broth into a large pot and bring it to a low boil.

3. Add the chopped onions, meat, cabbage, carrots and dill and let it summer until the vegetables are tender.

4. Add the tomato soup and let it heat, then add salt to taste.

5. Serve with a dollop of yogurt.

This soup freezes well, and makes a big batch for leftovers or for sharing.

Maple-Nut Granola

For breakfast I usually eat a bowl of fruit and homemade yogurt. It’s so delicious, but I find sometimes it’s not enough to get me through the morning. I haven’t made granola in ages, so I thought this would be a good time to rework an old recipe. I’ve used maple syrup for a little sweetness, and a bit of olive oil to make it nice and crunchy. I think the amount of sugar and fat are quite reasonable, especially when you look at the fat and sugar content of commercial granolas. The nuts themselves have a high fat content, but it’s a healthy fat, and one of the reasons why serving of granola should be small.

What you need:

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup raw almonds, roughly chopped

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

What you do:

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.

2. Combine the oats, almonds, pecans, walnuts and salt in a large bowl. Add the oil,maple syrup and vanilla to this and combine thoroughly.

3. Spread this mixture evenly on a baking tray. Bake for 2o minutes.

4. Add the pumpkin seeds and coconut to the baking tray and combine with the other ingredients. I like to add these later in the cooking process so they don’t get too toasty.

5. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 minutes. You will want to watch it towards the end of the cooking time, just in case your oven in running a little hot. The granola should be a golden colour, but not browned. I think it tastes burnt when it gets browned.

6. Allow to cool completely on the baking tray, then store in an airtight container.

Chicken in Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce

Recently I had a craving for a Thai peanut chicken I remembered making many times a few years ago, but for the life of me I couldn’t find the recipe. I finally realized that it was in a cookbook I gave away in one of my purges of my book collection before moving apartments. Thankfully I was able to find the book at the public library and I able to make the recipe once again. It was as good as I remembered it; a little spicy, and the chicken tender and tasty. I made a lot more broccoli than the original recipe called for, and I served it on brown rice.

This recipe comes from Charlotte Solomon’s Thai Cookbook.

What you need:

1 kg chicken breasts and/or thighs

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

2 teaspoons grated fresh or frozen ginger

1 tablespoon red curry paste

2 tablespoon peanut oil

1/2 cup spring onions, cut into 5cm lengths

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped, or 2 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter

2 teaspoons brown sugar (or palm sugar, if you have it)

1 tablespoon fish sauce (optional)

1 cup coconut milk

3 cups broccoli florets

What you do:

1. Cut each chicken breast in half. If you are making brown rice you can start it now.

2. Combine the garlic, ginger and curry paste and coat each piece of chicken with it. Let the chicken sit for at least 20 minutes.

3. Heat the peanut oil on medium-high heat, and add the spring onions to the pan. Stir them for a few seconds, then remove them from the pan.

4. Add the chicken to the pan and cook until each side has browned.

5. Add the peanuts, sugar, fish sauce and coconut milk. Cook until the chicken is cooked through and tender.

6. Steam the broccoli.

7. Serve the chicken over rice with broccoli and top with sauce and spring onions.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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