Butternut Squash Soup w/ Crispy Eggplant Strips

Paula's Butternut Squash Soup

1 tsp olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 apple, diced
1 tsp curry powder
1/3 chipotle pepper, pounded to powder
1 veg bouillon cube
1-1/2 cups water
1 butternut squash, cooked, peeled and cubed (or 4 cups puree or 2 packages frozen squash)
orange juice to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot. Add the onion and apple and saute for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the curry powder and chipotle dust and cook for 1 more minute, stirring. Add the bouillon cube, water and squash and let simmer for 20 minutes, or until everything is soft. Puree about half the soup with a stick blender. Taste and add orange juice until all the flavors wake up.

Crispy Eggplant Strips

1 eggplant, cut into 1/4-inch thick strips
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup bread or cracker crumbs
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
a few shakes black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
all-purpose flour
plain soy milk or water
canola oil
1/3 cup marinara sauce for dipping

Sprinkle the eggplant strips with salt and let sit for a few minutes. Mix the bread/cracker crumbs, yeast, pepper and garlic powder together in a bowl. Set up your assembly line: eggplant strips, bowl of flour, bowl of soy milk, bowl of breadcrumb mixture, frying pan. Heat a thin layer of canola oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Take each eggplant strip, dip it in flour, then in soy milk, then coat it in breadcrumbs. Fry on each side for 3-4 minutes. Serve warm with warmed marinara sauce.

Cajun Beans-n-Greens w/ Sausage & Polenta

I came up with this after a vigorous late afternoon of pulling ivy out of our neglected flower bed. We were both hungry, so I needed something quick and hearty. This was one of those peruse the pantry, peruse the refigerator, pull stuff randomly out of both, throw in pot and cook until tasty recipes. It cooked in just under ten minutes, and we gobbled up every last scrap.

1/2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
10 or so 'tamed' jalepeno slices, chopped (or canned diced green chiles)
1 Tofurky sausage, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Cajun seasoning
2 Tbsp tomato paste and/or salsa
1/3 cup water
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
2 shakes liquid smoke
3 big handfuls baby spinach or 1/2 pkg frozen greens
More salsa or pickle relish for garnish

Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed soup pot. Add the onion, jalepeno slices and diced Tofurkey and cook for 5 minutes, or until things are starting to brown and stick to the pan a little. Add the garlic and Cajun seasoning and stir for another minute. Add the tomato paste, water, beans and liquid smoke and cook for 2-3 more minutes. Add the spinach or frozen greens and cook until wilted/thawed. Serve over grilled polenta and topped with more salsa or sweet pickle relish (Yes, I like sweet pickle relish on beans... it's a weird childhood thing).

Microwave Polenta
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I took this from Fat Free Vegan's blog. What a miracle! So easy, and so convenient to use once it's cooked up. I've been throwing slices of polenta in everything this week.

2 cups water
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp. yellow cornmeal or boxed dry polenta
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil (optional)
black pepper to taste

Combine cornmeal, salt and water in a microwaveable bowl. Cook for 6 minutes. Stir. Cook for another 4 minutes. Stir again, adding the olive oil (I forgot to add the oil, and it came out just fine). Spray a smallish dish with olive oil and pour/ladle the cornmeal goop into it. Cover and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, you will have delicious, homemade polenta!

You can then slice it about 1/4 inch thick, spray the slices with olive oil, and grill it, brown it in a pan, bake it on a cookie sheet, or microwave it topped with something tasty (like pesto! or tomato-olive sauce! or leftover soup!).

Chickpea-Spinach-Tomato Pasta/Soup

The leftovers of this pasta topping makes for a tasty, hearty soup the next day.

For the pasta:
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp olive oil
2 cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 cans tomatoes, drained
1 tsp dried dill
pepper to taste
a few shakes Tobasco
6-8 oz. baby spinach, rinsed
4 oz (half a box) of linguine
splash lemon juice

Put on water to boil. When boiling, add the linguine and cook until no longer crunchy. Drain, then toss with a little olive oil and lemon juice and cover until ready to eat.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a soup pot. Add the garlic and dill and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the chickpeas, tomatoes and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until wilted. Serve over pasta.

Makes two servings of pasta, plus a lot of topping leftovers.

For the soup:
1 can kidney beans, drained and rised
1/3 cup dry quinoa
2 cups veggie broth (or 2 cups water + one bouillon cube)

Add beans, quinoa and veggie broth to the pasta topping leftovers. Turn the heat up and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the quinoa has become translucent.

Swiss Chard & Chickpeas Over Polenta

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 smallish onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 dried chipotle pepper
2 tsp tomato paste
1 bunch swiss chard or spinach leaves, torn into bite-size pieces
1 can chickpeas, undrained
1/3 cup water
1 splash coconut milk (optional)
1 tube polenta

Rinse the swiss chard leaves by swishing them around in a large bowl of water. Slice the polenta into 1/4 inch slices, spray with olive oil, and grill or bake until golden. Smash the garlic with the coriander, salt and chipotle in a mortar and pestle until a paste is formed (or use a food processor, or just mince everything up really finely). Mince the onion.

Heat the olive oil over medium-high heat and add the onion, sauteing until golden. Add the garlic & tomato paste and cook for another minute or so. Add the swiss chard, chickpeas + liquid and water and simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until the liquid has mostly evaporated. Add the coconut milk and heat through.

Spoon the chickpea mixture over the polenta slices and consume!

Barbecue Chick'n Pizza

This is truly phenomenal. My boy, who loves barbecue chicken pizza, absolutely loved this. The trick is to turn the heat up at the end so that the cheese melts.

1 pizza crust
BBQ sauce of choice
1/2 pkg LightLife Smart Chick'n Strips
1/2 red onion, sliced into thin strips
1 tsp olive oil
5-10 jalapeno slices
1/2 pkg Follow Your Heart Vegan Gourmet Mozzarella cheeze, shredded

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Toss the chik'n strips with enough barbecue sauce to coat. Slice the onion into thin strips. Heat the olive oil and saute the onion strips over medium heat until juicy and just slightly browned. Spread a layer of bbq sauce on the pizza crust, followed by the chik'n strips, cooked onions and jalapeno slices. Top with shredded cheeze. Cook for 15 minutes, then turn the heat up to 425 and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the cheeze is melted.

Ingredient Notes: We use frozen pizza crusts that we get from our health food store. The chik'n strips were remarkably tasty, especially when tossed in the barbecue sauce. We got the jarred 'tamed' jalapeno slices available at our grocery store, but you could, of course, use full strength jalapenos if you like it spicy. The Vegan Gourmet cheese is the only vegan cheese I've found that melts well. You just have to be patient and turn up the heat to over 400 degrees.

Updated: For you DSM-ites, I figured I should let you know where to get all of the above ingredients. I got the Chik'n strips and the jalapenos at the IngerDahl's. The pizza crusts came from Campbell's on University, and the 'cheese' is available at New City Market. We used Cookie's BBQ sauce, which is available just about anywhere.

BBQ Beans & Sausage (Beanie Weenies)

1 TB olive oil
1/2 red or yellow onion, diced
2 Tofurky Italian sausages, sliced
2 tsp mustard powder (optional)
2 cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup tangy barbecue sauce
1/2 cup water
2 tsp rice vinegar
2 TB sorghum molasses

Dice the onions and slice the sausage. Heat the olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot and add the onions and sausage. Saute for 5-10 minutes, or until the onions are juicy and translucent and the sausages have started to brown. Add the garlic and mustard powder and stir for another 2-3 minutes. Add the pinto beans, bbq sauce, water, vinegar and molasses. Partially cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve w/ a green vegetable.

Beanie Weenies on Parade

We made beanie weenies again tonight, only with the Boca meatless Italian sausages (the health food stores were closed, and HyVee had no Tofurky). It was still good, although the Italian seasoning conflicted a little with the barbecue sauce. Next time I might go for the Bratwurst flavor.

We were out of broccoli, so I steamed some cubed sweet potato in hard cider. Mixed it with a little Cajun seasoning and Earth Balance. Yum.

Tomorrow for lunch... avocado and pesto sandwich! I shall now commence drooling.