The Soup that Changed Me.

My momma always told me that I should always be myself.  Well, I didn't listen.      That's right.                I didn't listen. Tried as I might, I failed.    Miserably. 

Miriam did the impossible. She actually made me change.   As of Monday the 14th, I became someone else. Know who that might be? Just guess..... 

                                   Gollum.             Yes, that's right.   This creature.

         

For all of you who aren't familiar with this creature (shame on you if that's true because Lord of the Rings is so freaking fantastic I can't even begin to explain), then you should know the basics. He becomes wholly obsessed with this evil ring that slowly poisons his mind into madness. His famous line is "My precious".

I became this. Miriam did this to me... in the best way possible.... if you can follow my train of thought. I made this dish that she has called "cream of leek, zuchinni, and parsley soup." 

                               

                     

                      

This was the BEST Veggie Soup I have EVER EVER tasted in my LIFE!   I can't even begin to explain how delicious and scrumptious this was to my taste palate! It started with cooking the zuchinni and leeks together.  mmmmmm mmmm good.

 Chop up. 

 Slice and dice that leek.

After that it was so simple to just add the ingredients in as you go along. 4 simple steps. That's it!

                              

I think the trick was to let the veggies cook in veggie stock for 45 minutes.  It really lets the flavors soak in and mix together perfectly.  After that it was to just blend it all together.  I used my Ninja blender, which worked wonderfully for this soup. 

                       It may look (as my sister puts it) like "baby poo", but it tastes out of this world.  At this moment in time, I was doing a taste test.  I looked down and saw a spare spoon dive towards my bowl.  As of which I followed up the occurence with a hand swat towards my sisters hand (and maybe a little hiss or two).  She knows the sibling rule. That bowl was my food, my precious. Get her own bowl. My soup. My precious.  :)

 We have a hard time sharing food as a family....when we really love a dish. :P 

   For all those nerds out there, becoming Gollum over a soup is as close as I can get to describing how much I loved this dish.  I can't recommend this soup enough. You HAVE to try it. Someday in your life. Branch out. Do something, or become something, new.

Chili con "Carne"

I love fall/autumn weather.  Jeans, sweatshirt, cool winds, bonfires, and the changing colors of nature calls for a perfect soup.  Like chili.  Now, I can't wait for fall. I can't. I'm too impatient. Can't help it. 

It's 90 degrees here in midwest Illinois with a humidity hot enough to make anyone feel like they are suffocating with each and every breath they take.        ..and I'm making a freaking soup.      This had better taste out of this world. This is the first time I had to use a meat substitute called ground veggie "meat".   Miriam's chili looks soooooo delicious, and I just couldn't wait until soup weather.

 

 BONUS: only 6 steps! 

I was so excited to make this recipe that I ended up taking the whole cookbook with me to the grocery store.  Lazy tip: if you are going to be getting more than a few ingredients from the list, then just take the book with you. I am a list person, but if my list is longer 5 or so items, I take the book with me.  That way I can look ahead  at some recipes and get random ingredients that I may need at a later time.  It's a lazy, yet productive way to grocery shop (personal opinion).  

I'm use to cooking chili only in the crockpot, so to have it on stove top was a new experience for me.  It only took an hour to make, which is faster than I would have thought. 45 minutes cooking on low heat.

and another 15 minutes with the added last minute green peppers..... 

..............and.. bada boom! All done!

This was by far one of the BEST chili's that I've had! I tip my hat off to you Miriam!! 

Breakfast for Dinner?

I have an addiction.  This is my third day in a row in which I have made myself breakfast for dinner. YES, I know!  I can't stop though! I know what you may be thinking.  "Why, Kim?  Why don't you just wake up a little earlier and make it then"? "Stop being lazy, blah-blah-blah" Well, I'll tell you why. 

Chronic Procrastinator.

My name is Kim. I am 22 years old and I have an addiction to procrastination.  

I don't know why I do it. I just do. That being said, let's move on.

Last night was Miriams Scrambled Tofu with Mushrooms.      Ew, did I hear that right? ...but let me tell you something.  IT WAS THE BEST BREAKFAST FOOD EVER! My taste buds had were on fire!  I take back all my prejudgement on this dish and gladly shame myself.  This really set me back a bit to show me that I shouldn't be prejudice.  I like to say I'm not that way overbearingly, but sometimes, a person just can't help themselves to think "hmm, I really don't think I'm gonna like this. At all. Ew, tofu."  However, I take it back. I take it all back. I absolutely love this ambrosial meal! 

                     

I had to buy a few ingredients that I have never even heard of and I was (slightly) frightened that the store wouldn't have them in stock. Lucky for me, they did! Such supplies included tahini and turmeric.

Meat and Dairy eaters:   This is great rendition for scramble eggs! I will Definitely be making this more often than not.

Moral of the store (of this meal anyway): Be open to new things.  Don't go in to any sort of meal with a prejudice mindset, because you never know, it may end up being your favorite after all. 

 

Spanish Night

It's Espanol night!

Breakfast for dinner tonight.     I'm starting to see a pattern here.     Eh, oh well, it's too good not to do. Tonight I did Miriam's Spanish omelette.

Hmmm... an omelette without eggs.   That sounds like an intriguing challenge. 

Let's begin.

These are all the ingredients needed to create my masterpiece.   

I'm not even gonna lie. Omelets in egg form weren't my friends, so needless to say, I was scared to try this one as well.  However, it was delightfully easy to make!  Seriously, it was just sauté veggies and potato for the filling. 

                                   

Create the batter with silken tofu, turmeric, garlic, salt, nutritional yeast, milk, tahini, and flour and BAM! 

PROBLEM: I couldn't fold in half. I tried so hard, but it just wasn't my day. 

                   I tried getting the "best angle". 

BEST solution:  Try again another day. 

Trial and errors are so important in the kitchen.  In a small way, it parallels the real world.  Try as you may, failures will happen.  Best you can do is to just to brush it off and try again until you reach success.  Okay--done being philosophical for a the night.

Buenas Noches

Shopping Spree?

Expensive. 

That was my first thought after buying my ingredients for a couple recipes I tried out. WAY to epensive for my taste, but if you think about it, it makes sense. You have to start somewhere while building a pantry. For example, I could spend 10 bucks on beef OR I could spend 10 bucks on raw cashews from which I can make milk, cream, or butter. I guess it evens out when I think more about it. 

Yesterday I tried to make Miriams famous cashew & leek quiche. 

 Not too bad looking, right?

Well, I had to read the recipe ahead of time because it called for 2 ingredients (from which I did not buy considering the price was a little high for my budget--and yes, I have a budget) that I had to make prior to making the quiche.  Seeing as this is a breakfast recipe and I didn't considering prepping the night before (because I never considered the fact that a recipe may take more than a few hours to make--silly newbie that I am), it ending up being breakfast for dinner sort of night. 

This was a real challenge for me to make and let me tell you why.

1) I had to make a vegan cream.    What? Yes, it was very simple actually. Let raw cashews soak for a couple hours in water, then grind them up with 1 1/2 C water and 2 tsp of agave. That's it.

2) I also make vegan milk at the same time since it was just the same thing as the cream, it just called for another 2 cups of water.

                         --I love mason jars.

3) Vegan Mozzorella.     WHAT?! I have to make that? I saw it in the local supermarket, but I stupidly didn't buy it. Daiya is a great vegan substitute for shredded cheese don't get me wrong. 

      

Well, mine ended up looking like this before I put it in the refriderator for a couple hours to set.

                           

Back to my quiche. Now the pastry was so simple, I literally thought Miriam was joking. 

Pastry

1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose four

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup vegan margarine

Pinch of salt

2-3 tbsp of cold water.     

That's it. Flour, margarine, and water is all it takes.  

The Quiche part was a bit more, but nonetheless all fun to make. For starters, I had to buy a leek.  A Leek? Now, if you are anything like me and new to the veggie world, you would have no idea what to even look for in the store. Well, let me help you out.

                     This is a leek.

                        A look a like green onion jacked up on steroids. 

I have never in my WHOLE entire life ever been so dumbfounded in a grocery store. That's a leek?! I seriously couldn't get over how huge it was and the question of "Now what?". How was I to cook, cut, or clean this thing properly. 

Thank God for the Internet, or specifically Youtube. I'm a visual person so Youtube is my go to place.

This recipe really taught me to be creative on the spot.     For instance, I don't have a vegetable steamer like the recipe calls for to use. So I improvised like a pro.   I used a pot of boiling water, placed a pizza pan on top--you know, the one with the holes in it-- and set the leek strips on top of the pizza pan and put a crock-pot lid on it. BOOM! Problem solved, and you know what?     It worked.    

                             Before Oven  

                                                   Ater

                

                                                                First major recipe. Complete.

                                           Not too shabby.

This may just ruin me.

Okay. So, here's the deal. I became vegan, and no, that isn't what is going to ruin me. I feel like I need to explain a few things before I get to my dilemma. 

Reason: I'll make this very simple. I won't bore you with my long list, but for now I'll cut it down to the basics. I became vegan for 3 reasons. 

 1) health - (I couldn't believe the crap they put in animal products that in the end go in to us such as antibiotics, steroids, the fats and cholesterol. There is plenty of more reasons, but that is a topic for another day.)

 2) environment - (meat and dairy industries are the leading cause of pollution and deforestation on this earth.)

 3) ethical - (it's basically an animal holocaust. Plus they food they do feed the animals is not even the food they need to survive.)

      It all started when I was at work. She is studying to become a dietician. I've never met a person so keen on holistic healing through diet and herbals (coconut oil, essential oils, and so on).  This got me really intrigued about what I was really eating and from which it came. Therefore, the research began. Netflix: vegucated, food inc., etc. documentaries helped me see what was happening.

Youtube: Gary Yourofsky, an amazing yet radical vegan activist. 

Internet: Earthlings.com - this will break anyones heart. This is what was the end straw for me.  There are books and internet articles that are out there that I looked up as well.

Okay enough with that stuff. Back to my dilemma.         

Cooking.

Well crap. I knew how to cook before, but with all animal and dairy products. This veganism is a whole new world. I'm going to have to start from scratch.    Literally.      

My best friend is so supportive of my choices. She even created a Vegan board on her pinterest so we can cook together, considering she's a Pinterest junkie--I found that very endearing. She even bought me a cookbook for christmas, vegan of course called  Vegan Diner by Julie Hasson.

                        

This is a great cookbook for my comfort foods like burgers, fries, and ice cream.

Steph, (my best friend), bought a cookbook for us to share. She kept it at her place so when I come over we can use that to do our kitchen experiences. Some end in tears and sometimes in joy, but that is the best part. Don't you think? It's all about the adventure of creating something in trial and error. This book is the one I'm challenging myself with to finish. 

                       

This is it. This cookbook has over 130 recipes that I want to finish before the new year January 1, 2015. I have 175 days to go as of today. This is challenging me to be disciplined and to stick to something for a short term goal. 

Miriam Sorrell. We are going to have a such a journey a head of us.       > Let's do this.

Vegan Tropical Shake

So this is fairly simple to make. I found this recipe on Pinterest and fell in love with it! Thought I would share it with you all! 

Ingredients: 

1 cup almond milk (sub: coconut milk) 

1 banana

1 mango (peeled)

1 tbsp coconut oil 

1 tbsp of raw honey (sub: regular honey or agave nectar)

1 tsp vanilla extract 

1 handful of ice 

Blend well and you are ready to go!