Showing posts with label carrot. Show all posts
Showing posts with label carrot. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Vegan Creamy Potato Soup

This soup is based on a recipe from my German mother. It is definitely comfort food, and SOUPer easy to make! This is a recipe where I don't really bother measure anything...this soup usually takes me an hour or less to prepare. 

Ingredients:
2-6 carrots, shredded or diced
1/2 - 1 sweet onion, diced/minced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1-2 stalks celery, minced
1-2 tablspoons parsley, dried or fresh, minced
3-5 potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces (I use Russet or Yukon Gold)
4 tablespoons vegan butter
a few cups non dairy milk - if you want it less creamy, use half milk and half vegetable broth
spices (salt, pepper, etc)
nutritional yeast (optional)
green onion, vegan cheese, diced onion, or whatever you'd like to garnish with

Suggested side: Crescent rolls! Yes, they're vegan! Dash some garlic salt on top before cooking for extra tastiness.

Throw the diced/minced carrots, onion, garlic, and celery into a soup pot with your melted butter over low-medium heat while you chop up your potatoes. You want them to be nice and soft before you add any other ingredients. 

Add the chopped potatoes and just enough milk to cover them. Bring to a low boil and let simmer. 

Once the potatoes get soft, mash them! Either use an immersion blender or potato masher to mash right in the pot, or put the soup into a blender (be careful, it'll expand as you blend!). The goal is a nice smooth consistency, but leave some chunks if you like them. 

Add some nutritional yeast, parsley, and spices. I use salt, black pepper, white pepper, a little paprika, a little turmeric, garlic powder, and a little mustard powder. 

Stir well, throw in a bowl and garnish with some fancy shit, and enjoy!



Sunday, June 30, 2013

Refreshing Summer Salad!

It's summer! That means temperatures of 120 degrees here in Phoenix! Today I cooled off with this delicious cucumber and carrot salad with a super simple homemade vinaigrette.

Vinaigrette!

For the vinaigrette, combine the following in a jar and shake it up. Alternatively, whisk it together in a bowl - not made of aluminum. Aluminum + vinegar = gross flavor...because of science.

Vinaigrette Ingredients:

1 cup olive oil
1/4 balsamic pomegranate vinegar
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
1/3 cup cherry juice
1 healthy squirt raw agave nectar
1 squirt vegan (check the ingredients for honey!) dijon mustard
1 dash salt (to taste)
1 dash white pepper (to taste)
1 dash paprika (you guessed it - to taste)
sprinkling of raw sesame seeds, raw sunflower seeds, and raw-ish slivered almonds*


Salad!

I use a veggie peeler instead of chopping my cucumbers and carrots to get nice long strips of them. Then I slivered up a little bit of onion and added that in, as well. As a German, I like onion at every single meal.

Salad ingredients:
1 carrot per person
1/2 cucumber per person
2 slivers of onion per person





*For information on the drama surrounding "raw" almonds, click here.

Sunday, May 26, 2013

The Most Incredible Potato Salad Of Your Life...That Happens To Be Vegan.

Mayo-based potato salad is gross and unhealthy. Try this instead!

Ingredients:

4 pounds yukon gold potatos
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons vinegar (I mixed seasoned rice vinegar, white wine vinegar, and a small amount of balsamic)
1 or 2 grated carrots
1 bunch green onions (or chives, or both)
1/2 bunch fresh dill
1/3 cup chopped chives
1/2 onion
1/2 cup diced celery
3 teaspoons dijon mustard

Cut those potatoes up into bite sized pieces, then boil them in slightly salted water for 10-13 minutes.

While they're boiling, mix all the other stuff together.

Drain the potatoes, and mix them in!

All done! Let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before serving, so the dressing will soak into the potatoes and the flavors will mix and mingle.

Enjoy!

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Adventures in Juicing: Apple-Cucumber After Dinner Drink

I decided to use up the rest of some of my produce to make a delicious, lighter juice. Not as much of a kick as the one I made a yesterday, but effin' delicious - and healthy! Because I had just eaten a full meal, I mixed the juice with some club soda (approx. 2 parts juice, 1 part soda)...
1 apple
1 stalk celery
1 cucumber
1 lemon
1.5" ginger
1 carrot

1 cup club soda (-ish - don't run club soda through your juicer, that's just silly.)

Garnish this delicious juice with mint, if you like - or muddle the shit out of your mint and add it in. 


Splitting it into three servings...


Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 219 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 
81
Calories from Fat 
3
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 
0.3g
1%
Trans Fat 
0.0g
Cholesterol 
0mg
0%
Sodium 
21mg
1%
Total Carbohydrates 
19.5g
7%
Dietary Fiber 
3.4g
13%
Sugars 
8.2g
Protein 
1.5g
Vitamin A 73%•Vitamin C 36%
Calcium 4%•Iron 6%
Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points
Bad points
  • Very high in sugar (but the "good" kind!")

Friday, May 17, 2013

Adventures in Juicing

I am exploring juicing, thanks to my new juicer! So far, so good - I'm one juice in. 

Here's what I threw together:

One big can of pineapple juice
Six apples
Four stalks of celery
Two cucumbers
Six limes
One lemon
One large carrot
Tons of ginger
Small bunch of mint



This turned out amazing! Super delicious, not too strong / not too weak, and just the perfect amount of spiciness that you can drink it with dinner!

Splitting this huge pitcher of juice into a generous 8 servings...

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 421 g
Amount Per Serving
Calories 
193
Calories from Fat 
5
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 
0.6g
1%
Trans Fat 
0.0g
Cholesterol 
0mg
0%
Sodium 
20mg
1%
Total Carbohydrates 
48.9g
16%
Dietary Fiber 
6.3g
25%
Sugars 
28.7g
Protein 
2.0g
Vitamin A 37%•Vitamin C 68%
Calcium 7%•Iron 11%
Nutrition Grade A
* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Nutritional Analysis

Good points
Bad points
  • Very high in sugar (though this is the "good" kind of sugar!)