Vegetarian Tortilla Soup

It's been pretty cold and windy here on the East Coast. I've been looking for some hot and tasty dishes to warm me up.

We just celebrated Purim the other day and I wanted to have a fun and festive meal to honor the holiday. I wanted to have a fun vegetarian menu that everyone would enjoy.

I came up with vegetarian tortilla soup, make-your-own burritos with an assortment of mix-ins, fish tacos, a giant green salad and a spanish rice. I love of all of the flavors that go along with this menu.

I've never made a tortilla soup before. Many of my friends make it, but it's often made with chicken or other things I don't eat. I wanted to make this dish my own.

It turns out that I love tortilla soup. Who knew? I also wish I had made double so I could have leftovers. Lesson learned.



Vegetarian Tortilla Soup
Ingredients:

1 tbsp. Mazola corn oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. salt
3 tsp. ground black pepper
2 14 oz. cans of fire roasted tomatoes mixed
1 4oz. can green chiles, diced (or less if you can't handle the heat)
5 cups vegetable broth
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 cup corn (frozen is fine)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp. corn oil
corn tortillas
cilantro, chopped
avocado, sliced
cheese, optional


Directions:

Heat up the oil in a large soup pot.  Add in the chopped onion and garlic. Cook a couple of minutes.

Add in the diced peppers and the spices and cook for another 2 minutes.

Add in the canned tomatoes and chiles as well as the soup broth.

Add in the zucchini, corn and black beans.

Let the mixture come to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook for about 45 minutes or so.

With an immersion blender, puree some of the soup. It should still be a little bit chunky.

At this point, you can serve the soup right away, or you can put it away for later. I like when it sits for a half a day in the fridge to let the flavors develop more.

In preparation for serving, cut your corn tortillas in to strips.

Pan fry the tortillas in a small amount of corn oil for a couple of minutes on each side. You just want them to crisp up a little.

Serve your soup with some sliced avocado, lime wedges, chopped cilantro and the tortilla strips.

Enjoy!

Categories: avocado, pepper, salsa, soup, spicy, tortilla, vegan, vegetarian

Farro Salad with Carrots, Mushrooms and Baby Spinach

I'm always looking for fun ways to use grains in my meals. I am a total carb fiend. Definitely not the best for me, but I love them and can't stay away.

I try to get whole grains in to my meals as much as possible. One of my favorite grains is farro. Farro is a variety of wheat and can be cooked in a multitude of ways, with several delicious outcomes. Around the High Holidays, I cooked up a creamy risotto style farro, which was amazing. More recently, I decided to go with a simpler approach. I wanted a dish that would taste great - both as a room temperature salad and also when served warm, fresh from the stove. This farro dish fits that need.



Farro Salad with Carrots, Mushrooms and Wilted Spinach
Ingredients:

1 cup farro
2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
3 shallots chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 cup shredded carrots
5 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1.5 cups baby spinach
additional salt and pepper to taste


Directions:

Place the farro in a pot over medium-high heat. Pour in the vegetable broth. Let the mixture come to a boil. Once it's boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and cover the pot. Check on the farro every few minutes and stir a little. Once all of the liquid has evaporated, fluff the farro with a fork and remove from the heat. Set aside.

Heat up the olive oil in a large saute pan.  Add in the shallots, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper.  Cook the mixture for a few minutes until softened. Add in the carrots and the mushrooms and cook for a few more minutes. Do not overcook. You want the veggies to have a bit of a bite left. Once the mushrooms are slightly cooked, turn off the heat.

Stir in the baby spinach and let it wilt a bit. Take a bite. Add in additional salt and pepper if necessary.

Mix in the already cooked farro.

Serve warm or cool down and serve room temperature. It's excellent either way.

Enjoy!

Categories: farro, grain, salad, side dish

Caprese Salad

I was so happy when I found out that Matan and Ali of AliBabka, a fellow blogger, were getting married. The Kosher Connection group of bloggers is hosting a virtual sheva brachot to celebrate with them. The Sheva Brachot are the seven blessings said at a Jewish wedding and it is customary to hold special meals for the new couple for the days following the wedding. We call these meals Sheva Brachot.

For today's meal, I decided to contribute one of my favorite salads. The caprese salad is a simple dish, but always looks elegant and is the perfect salad starter for a dairy or vegetarian meal. Remember to always use a good olive oil and balsamic vinegar and the freshest mozzarella you can find when making this dish. It truly makes a difference.




Caprese Salad
Ingredients:

1 pound fresh mozzarella
2 medium-sized vine ripened tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves  - a handful
Olive Oil for drizzling
Balsmic Vinegar for drizzling
sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Slice up your tomatoes and mozzarella in to 1/4-1/8 inch slices and wash and stem your basil leaves.

Lay out the tomato, mozzarella and basil in alternating layers on a serving dish.

Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Drizzle with about a tablespoon or two of olive oil and vinegar.

Serve and enjoy!

Categories: cheese, dairy, salad, vegetarian

Pasta and Veggies with Cashew Cream Sauce

Sometimes I make something and I wonder why I rarely or never make it. This dinner was one of those situations. It was that good and that easy.

As I do every day, I ask my husband what he thinks would be good for dinner the following night. He mentioned to me that he had a craving for some sort of pasta with a cream sauce. I knew I didn't really want a heavy and rich cream sauce. Between the butter and heavy cream, I wasn't ready for a stomachache.

I had one of those light bulb moments. Yosef from This American Bite recently had me drooling over his cashew based Mac and Cheese dish. In the past, I have been successful with various cashew based dishes. Cashews somehow add a wonderful nutty creaminess to a dish and can mimic what dairy and cheese can do. What if I made this Alfredo like sauce out of cashews? I had plenty of leftover cashews from when I made the candied nuts the other day.

I am so glad that I remembered about the cashews. It was so easy to make and I think I may even like using them more than a dairy based cream sauce.  The family couldn't even tell the difference that there was no cheese or cream in the dish. Will definitely be making this again.



Pasta and Veggies with Cashew Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup cashews
water
1 pound pasta (I used medium shells), cooked to al dente (reserve 1 cup cooking water)
1 cup vegetable broth
5 cloves garlic
juice of one lemon
2 tsp. basil, dried
2 tsp. thyme, dried
2 tsp. oregano, dried
2 tsp. sage, dried
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 cup peas
red pepper flakes (optional)
additional salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Start out by soaking the cashews in a bowl of water. Let it soak for at least 4-5 hours. I left my bowl in the fridge while I went to work.

Rinse and drain the cashews.

In the bowl of a food processor or blender, process the cashews with the vegetable broth, 3 cloves of the garlic, lemon juice and spices. Everything should be completely pureed.

Heat up the olive oil in a large saute pan.  saute the onions and 2 cloves of chopped garlic for a few minutes, until soft.

Add in the sliced mushrooms and peas, and any other veggies you may like. Cook for another few minutes.

Turn the flame to medium and add in the cream sauce. Let the sauce warm for a couple of minutes.

Add in the cooked pasta. Slowly add in the reserved pasta water until you reach your desired consistency.

Serve and Enjoy!

Categories: pasta, vegan, vegetarian

Honey Sesame Ginger Roasted Cashews and Almonds

I've got Purim on the brain right now. My schedule is off and I have been procrastinating on everything, but Purim is one of my favorite holidays. I want to make it special. Ever since I was a kid, I loved the whole process of giving Mishloach Manot. As a kid, it meant driving around the neighborhood with my parents and running in to houses to hand off the goodies to our dear friends. I now have a more active role though. I love to get creative with what we put in our little packages. I always try to include something homemade and something somewhat useful.

My parents recently mentioned a dinner that they made some candied nuts. My mother went on about how easy and tasty they were. I thought back to some honey sesame cashews that I used to buy from Trader Joe's. They were so good. Unfortunately, they aren't kosher. I set out to make my own - with a few adaptations on flavor. These were very tasty and came together pretty easily!


Honey Sesame Ginger Roasted Cashews and Almonds

Ingredients:

2 cups raw cashews
2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup sesame seeds
2 tbsp. coconut oil
4 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, chopped finely
4 tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 tbsp. water
1 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300.

Spread out the cashews and almonds on a baking sheet and toast in oven for around 15 minutes. Check on the nuts at around 10 minutes to see if they are beginning to brown. Do not let them burn.

Spread the sesame seeds on a small baking sheet and toast in oven for 10 minutes. Again, keep an eye on these as well so that they don't burn.

Transfer the nuts to a large mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, melt together the coconut oil, honey, cinnamon, ginger, brown sugar, water and salt. Heat it on medium until the entire mixture is melted.

Pour the mixture over the nuts and stir well until everything is well coated.

Mix in the sesame seeds. Stir well.

Transfer the entire mixture to a parchment covered baking sheet. Spread out mixture well so everything is in a single layer.

Place baking sheet in oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely.

Break up the mixture with a wooden spoon.

Once it's cool, it's ready for eating! Place in pretty bags for mishloach manot distribution, or serve in bowls. This mixture should be kept in an airtight container. Happy Purim!

Categories: nuts, Purim, snacks

Veggies and Merguez Sausage over Basmati Rice

So happy to be back here, cooking and writing about food. Thank you to all of my loyal readers who have stuck around these parts during my unexpected hiatus. Was dealing with some messy stuff related to Crohn's Disease, which managed to take over my life for the past couple months. Thankfully, things are good now and life is looking up. Always remember to take care of yourself and never ignore your health.

So...back to cooking.

Recently, I've been ordering some of my meat from Grow and Behold. They are a wonderful small company that delivers glatt kosher pasture-raised beef and poultry. You can read more about them on their website. Word has been getting out online that they had the good stuff. I had to see for myself. I am not the biggest meat eater, but some of my family is. I love their ethics and their selection is great. Additionally, they deliver to my front door! You can't beat that! So I hopped online and browsed through their selection. I picked up a selection of various sausages, beef bacon, and other goodies. I was very impressed by their customer service and helpfulness when it came time to delivery. Everything arrived perfectly.

A recent order featured some amazing wonderful looking merguez sausage. Being that in recent weeks, I haven't been doing too much cooking for the family, I decided to surprise the husband with a wonderful meat meal.

Dinner success. This merguez cooked up beautifully! No complaints from anyone.




Veggies and Merguez Sausage over Basmati Rice
Ingredients:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 lb. merguez sausage, sliced
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cumin
2 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. allspice
1-2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
1 red pepper, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
5 oz. baby bella mushrooms, sliced
1 can diced tomatoes, drained ( I like the kind that has some onions pre-added to the can)
2 cups Basmati rice, cooked per directions on package

Directions:

Heat up oil in large saute pan.

Add in the sliced sausages and brown the sausages a bit. After it begins to brown, transfer the sausages to a plate for a bit.

Add in the onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.

Add in the spices. We like some heat in our food, so I also added some red pepper flakes. Always good!

Add in the rest of the chopped veggies and cook another 5-7 minutes, until they begin to soften.

Once the veggies are soft, add in the diced tomatoes. Stir the mixture so all of the flavors come together.

Add the cooked sausage to the veggie mixture and cook another 5-6 minutes.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Serve over some rice, or another grain of your choosing.

Enjoy!

Categories: dinner, fleishig, main course, meat, vegetables