Vegan MOFO - Day 3 - MMmm MMmm Cream of Mushroom Soup

I'm pretty certain most of the people who grew up in the US in the last few decades have a family recipe that included the famous red and white can of Cream of Mushroom Soup. Over the years this pantry staple has shown up on millions of Thanksgiving tables as part of the ever-popular green bean casserole. A dear friend of mine uses it in her cheezy potato dish - which I plan on veganizing later this month. My mom used to make a giant pan of pork chops and simmer them in cream of mushroom soup. It made them fall-off-the-bone (I know gross) tender. Fred made some type of tuna concoction with it. This was the experiment that failed miserably for me the other day. I'm hoping that with this creation, I can perfect that dish and re-claim my kitchen dignity.

I don't want to break my arm patting myself on the back, but this was teh bomb. It was darn close to the original. The parsley makes it look slightly different, but the flavor is just about spot on. I'm still doing my Biggest Loser Challenge, so sadly I only had a little taste. I don't know how long I can hold out. I may just need to hit the gym for an extra hour or two this week.

Without further ado, I bring you:

MMmm MMmm Cream of Mushroom Soup

6 - 1 cup Servings

2 Tablespoon Earth Balance or canola oil (Earth Balance will give a richer flavor)
1 medium onion, diced fine
1 stalk celery, diced fine
2 cloves garlic minced
8 oz sliced white or cremini mushrooms
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt or to taste
½ teaspoon thyme
¼ teaspoon white pepper
Pinch nutmeg
¼ cup all purpose flour
(if you like your soup thicker use 1/3 cup)
(if you are substituting in a recipe that calls for condensed undiluted, use 2/3 cup)
3 cups vegetable broth, hot
1 cup soy creamer

Fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

In a 2 quart sauce pan heat Earth Balance or canola oil and add onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté until softened, about 5 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms and cook until liquid is released, about 5-10 minutes. Make sure there is still a bit of liquid from the mushrooms. Add dried spices mixing thoroughly. Sauté for about another minute, until herbs are fragrant. Stir in flour and cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, adding a small amount of the broth if needed. Slowly pour in hot vegetable broth, whisking frequently. Bring to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes until thickened. At this point you can use an immersion blender to puree if you like a smoother soup before adding soy creamer. Add soy creamer and simmer for 5 more minutes being careful not to boil.

**If you use this recipe for blogging or posting, I just ask that you make sure to link to this post.

Vegan MOFO - Day 2 - Daiya Cheese to the Rescue

Well, today I was going to post a conversion of one of Fred's childhood favorites, but it was an utter failure. Like totally nasty I could use it as a paste failure. What a drag! So I'm going to have to rework it and post it another day.

I'm working 12 hour shifts this week, so I'm not cooking anything complex to speak of. Simple and quick will be the order of the week if I'm in charge of the cooking. However, I'm hoping Fred will be my pinch cooker this weekend. Maybe if I'm really nice, he'll hook me up!

Anyhoooooooo. I'm going to go back to my childhood repertoire for today. After my miserable failure in the kitchen last night, I had to do some quick thinking. Fred had been working on our new garden most of the day and he was starving. After he choked down some of the paste casserole, I offered up something a bit more tasty. When I was in high school, I worked two jobs and went to school, so I was pretty busy. I figured out a few things I could always make on the fly. I practically lived on eggs over easy and toast, boiled frozen corn, french fries, and grilled cheese. Don't worry, there were vegetables in the mix too. My dad was quite a gardener.

Grilled cheese was one of my ultimate comfort foods. I loved the gooey, creamy, rich cheese oozing out of the bread. Oh yes, and the bread, whole grain, perfectly browned and crispy. Wow, I'm drooling and it's only 630am. Fred used to love Velveeta and I was a big fan of Kraft Deluxe Singles. EW! I know...like one molecule away from being plastic or something like that. Still, I loved the stuff. I wasn't very hopeful about finding an ample sub, but then came Daiya cheese. It was love at first melt. I bought some the other day for another recipe I am hoping to convert next week. I was psyched I had this lovely container of yellow-orange joy in the fridge. I whipped out the iron skillet, slathered some yummy multigrain bread with Earth Balance and made the perfect grilled cheese. It was late, so we shared. It was so freaking good that next time there will be NO sharing!!! Ah thank you Daiya for bringing one of my all time favorites back to life.

I promise, when I have days off, I will get more creative.

Vegan MOFO - Day 1 Farina Remake

Yay! It's time for vegan MOFO (month of food). I am going to do my best to remake family favorites of my friends and family...time and submissions permitting. I've had a couple of recipes sent to me that I am excited about converting!

But today, I'm going to be selfish and go down my own memory lane. When we were kids, both of my parents worked. My mom was prone to some very serious migranes. Many times we were left to fend for ourselves food-wise. When I was very young, my older brother often would have to find ways to fill our bellies. He was a domestic terrorist to me when we were kids. I usually tried to stay away from him because he was so mean. Every so often, he would be very kind. A couple of my fondest food memories are of those times he was kind and cooked for me.

I have a very distinct memory of a big snow storm. There were drifts in our front yard. It was so early it was still dark out. We came in from the cold and my brother made us Farina. This was one of my favorite breakfasts as a kid. I totally forgot about this stuff! I bought it some time back for a test recipe. I found it in the pantry last night and just had to make it!!!

In the day, we had it with whole milk and real butter and sugar. The vegan conversion was pretty simple. I used the recipe on the box and used almond milk for the water (or milk). I put a dollop of Earth Balance on top and sprinkled it with a little sugar. It was the warm creamy comforting stuff I remembered. Oh the simple goodness brought me back to those cold wintery days of my youth. Wouldn't it be fun to go sledding? I better go call my brother.

I'll post the pic later tonight. Happy MOFO-ing!

Vegan Bridal Shower Brunch and Hawaiian Quinoa Salad

I had the pleasure of coming out of catering retirement and catering a lovely bridal shower this weekend. The hostess (and a very dear friend) agreed to keep the fact that it was all vegan a secret from most of the guests until after everyone had a chance to try the goods. It was a great success. There were many happy tummies and requests for recipes. It was fun to serve food to such a nice bunch of people, who were very open minded about the vegan menu. The lovely bride seemed to enjoy the food too, which is the most important thing!! So for those of you who asked for the Hawaiian Quinoa Salad recipe, I am posting it here for you.

Hawaiian Quinoa Salad

Makes 8-10 Servings

1/2 medium white or yellow onion, diced small
2 cloves minced garlic
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
1 cup red inca quinoa (if you can't find red use regular)
1 1/4 cup quinoa
3 cups vegetable broth
1 cup light coconut milk

1 1/2 cup large red bell pepper, diced approx 1/4 inch
1 1/2 cup fresh pineapple, diced approx 1/4 inc (can sub canned but fresh is much better)
1 cup toasted macadamia nuts, coarsely choppped
6 green onions, sliced thinly

Dressing ingredients

1 1/2 Tablespoons white mellow miso
1 1/2 Tablespoons low sodium tamari or soy sauce
3 Tablespoons pineapple juice
1 1/2 teaspoons mirin
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned rice or sushi vinegar
1 1/2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil

In medium size saucepan saute onion and garlic in sesame oil until onions are softened (about 5 minutes). Add quinoa and saute until just toated. Add vegetable broth and coconut milk. Bring to a gentle boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Cover and cook until all liquid is absorbed and quinoa is cooked through (about 25 minutes). Make sure all liquid is absorbed or the salad will have quite a bit of liquid at the bottom. Let quinoa cool completely. While it is cooling dice the red pepper and pineapple. Chop the macadamia nuts. Slice the green onions. They look very pretty if you slice them at an angle. Fold these into the cooled quinoa until evenly distributed.

Stir together all of the dressing ingredients in a small bowl. Pour dressing slowly into the salad Let chill in the refrigerator at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Just a little FYI: The Coffee Chip Muffins, Toasted Coconut Mango Muffins, East Coast Blueberry Coffee Cake and both the Broccoli and Cauliflower Quiches were from the Vegan Brunch cookbook. The Mushroom and Leek tart was a recipe from the Voluptuous Vegan cookbook.

It's coming Vegan MOFO 2010

Last year I joined a kick ass group of vegan foodies for Vegan Month of Food. It is a fun activitiy designed to encourage vegan foodies to update their blogs regularly. Of course it is supposed to be all food related which makes my heart sing. It was quite a challenge to try and blog every day. I did pretty well last year, even when I was on vacation in Montana. I am aspiring to blog every day during October...much to Fred's dismay :) He thought it was totally out of control last year; especially when I insisted on finding a computer at the hotel where we were staying in Montana so I could blog. I think he is getting used to the idea that I am totally out of control sometimes.

This year I have been thinking about a theme for MOFO. It dawned on me today that it would be fun to veganize favorite recipes of my friends and family. So in the next couple of days I am going to send out an e-mail to many of you to see if you have a favorite family recipe that I can attempt to veganize. I'm hoping time constraints don't get the best of me because I think this would be a blast. Who knows, if the veganizing goes well, maybe I will put the recipes in a little cook zine or add them to my growing file of "maybe I'll write a cookbook someday" recipes.

So please check back often in October. If you want to submit a non-vegan family fav. Shoot me an e-mail with the recipe attached as a word file. Let the converting continue!!!

More Testing - Ripe from Around Here

I just started testing for Jae Steele's upcoming book Ripe from Around Here. I'm not sure what the anticipated publish date is, but I will keep you posted. This book will focus on local ingredients and a fresh, healthy approach to cooking. Here are some goodies from my first week of testing.

Savory Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Broccoli Salad

Tomato Chard Bake

Apple Flax Pudding

Morning Glory Muffins

Testing Complete - American Vegan Kitchen

It is with mixed feelings that testing for this yummy book is complete. This was such a fun testing experience I am sad it is over. But I am super excited that the book will be out soon. It can be pre-ordered through Amazon, but if you can wait, please order if from vegan.com once it is released. There are some classics and delicious twists on American classics. If you feel you'd miss some of your favorite foods by eating compassionately, this book will change your mind. Here are some more teaser pictures from the upcoming book.

Chickn and Dumplings

Fried Zuccini

San Fran Wrap/One of my personal favs from testing

Burgers!

Pizza and Lasagne