Veg Base

         This is just about the easiest thing I make and I use it for all kinds of things. It's a vegetable base that I use for soups and stews. With it I will share the two recipes I use it most for, Minestrone and Tortilla Soup. I find that it works especially well with these two soups in particular. It also works well as a soup just by itself, just add a can/cup of beans in there for some protein and you are all set. I also take a cup of this and blend it up to throw in my pasta sauce recipe, gives it a nice flavor profile without a lot of effort.

Veg Base

3 carrots, small chop

2 stalks celery, small chop

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic minced

1/2 head cabbage, chopped

1 head broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces

1 quart water

1 quart veggie broth

2 Tbsp. no salt seasoning (I use the organic stuff from Costco, its awesome.)

1 C. crushed tomatoes

2 Tbsp. EVOO

salt and pepper to taste

Take a large pot and heat the EVOO up and add carrots, celery and onion, once translucent add cabbage, then add water and garlic, let simmer for 5 minutes, add remaining ingredients and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until veggies are soft enough to be pierced easily by a fork.

Tortilla Soup

Veg Base

1 C. frozen corn

1. C cooked brown rice

1 1/2 C. cooked black beans

1 C. chunky salsa

1/4 tsp. cumin

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1 Tbsp. lime juice

Add ingredients to veg base and let simmer for 15 minutes. Add additional water if necessary. Serve with tortilla chips,  vegan sour cream and cheese.

Minestrone Soup

Veg Base

1 can tomato paste

1 C. cooked garbanzo beans,

1 C. cooked great northern beans or kidney beans

1 C. frozen green beans

2 C. spinach, roughly chopped

1 zucchini, sliced and quartered

1/2 C. seashell pasta

2 tsp. dried basil

1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano

Add ingredients, except for tomato paste, to veg base and let simmer for 20-30 minutes or until pasta is cooked. Add tomato paste, stir to combine, if there is not enough liquid add water. Serve with crusty bread and vegan Parmesan cheese.

Mission Minestrone

Okay, I've been slacking. So here is an oldie but a goodie, I just throw whatever veggies I have on hand in, makes it quick, easy and gets rid of my left over produce that I haven't used yet. So today's, for instance, has yellow squash, zucchini, cabbage, and collard greens. Never got any complaints about it either. Also its a great way to introduce veggies to the little ones, I also found if you like a thicker soup you can throw either the whole thing in the blender or just the beans/tomato mix, still tastes great!

MM mm Minestrone.

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 carrots diced
• 3 stalks celery diced
• 1 whole onion diced
• 4 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 can beans
• another 2-3 cups of veggies (cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, spinach, zucchini, squash)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can or equivalent of tomato/vegetable sauce or juice
• 1/2 c small pasta
• 2 quarts broth (pork, veggie, beef, chicken)

Directions:

1. In a large pot heat up the olive oil and saute carrots, celery, onion. Cook until onion is translucent and add chopped garlic. Let cook for about 1 minute more.
2. Add can of beans, diced tomatoes, veggies, sauce, broth and pasta. Let cook for 30 minutes.
3. Serve with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread, enjoy!

easy lentil soup

Okay so I know I promised to post in here more often but I haven't been feeling to hot. Anyways today I made soup lentil soup. This soup is a great way to get all those veggies in, or use up any veggies you have laying around in your crisper drawers. You can sub out any veggie for veggies you have one hand. Aside from letting the lentils soak overnight this recipe is really, really easy.

Easy Lentil Soup.
1 c. lentils (soaked overnight)
2 cloves garlic
1 c. carrots chopped
1 c. onion chopped
1 c. celery chopped
1 c. broccoli chopped
1 c. shredded zuchini
1 c. cauliflower chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
6 c. water
2 c. veggie juice
salt and pepper to taste

I put all the veggies in a huge pot and sautee them and then add everything else and let cook for an hour. Serve with crusty bread and you are all done. Enjoy!

4 meals from 1 chicken

I just want to take a second to apologize to everyone for not having updated in awhile. I went out of town and I have been dealing with a tooth that needs a root canal but procrastinating with it as long as possible. So to make up for it I have a couple of recipes for you, and the awesome part is, they are recycled meals! If you don't know what a recycled meal is let me fill you in, basically what you are doing is making new meals out of leftovers! Isn't that awesome?!


Okay so first off I had a whole chicken in my freezer just hanging out. It had been in there for at least 2 months so I figured I should use it, and guess what? I did! I've also gotten 4 meals out of it!
How do I do this? Well...first I rotisseried the chicken, but you can also roast it in the oven. All I did was take about 4 Tbsp of butter and throw in 1/2 tsp of rosemary, Italian seasoning, black pepper, and marjoram, also 1 tsp. of salt (I used kosher) mix it all together and spread it in between the skin and the meat. I put this in the rotisserie for about 15 minutes a pound and go do something else.

For the first meal I made wild rice stuffing, pan gravy, and frozen veggies (shh so I cheated a bit).
Second meal I made chicken stir fry.
I just cut up the breast meat and added it to my sauce mix and then threw in some veggies and boiled up some rice.
The recipe for the sauce is:

Stir-Fry Sauce
1/3 c. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 clove garlic (crushed and minced)
1 tsp chopped garlic
1 tsp cornstarch

Mix all ingredients together and pour over chicken and veggies, let simmer for about 1 minute and sauce will thicken.

So there are two meals taken care of. I promised a few more right. The next thing I made was Tinga. Oh the words to express Tinga, it is just absolutely, deliciously, satisfyingly AWESOME!!!
Tinga is a traditional Mexican dish and its combination of flavors had me wheeling. There are not enough good things I can say about it, so here is the delightful recipe for you all to enjoy as much as I do.

Tinga
2 onions sliced
1/2 head cabbage shredded
2 large cloves of garlic
3 tomatoes (pan roasted and peeled)
1/2 can chipotle pepper in sauce
1/4 c. chicken broth
1 chicken bullion cube
handful of chopped parsley (fresh or otherwise)
3 cups shredded chicken (from the roasted chicken...white meat, dark meat doesn't matter)
1/8 to 1/4 c. ketchup

-Saute the onions and cabbage together in a large skillet/saucepan with a bit of oil in it. When onion becomes clear and cabbage is wilting add the 2 cloves of minced garlic.
-In a blender combine the tomatoes and chipotle peppers in sauce, add the chicken broth and blend to a sauce consistency. Pour over the onion and cabbage mixture and let simmer for 5 minutes.
-Add the bullion cube to the sauce and then add the shredded chicken and parsley. Let cook for another 3-5 minutes.
-At the very end add ketchup and mix everything together.
Serve on tostadas with sour cream and fresco cheese.
Trust me, this tastes amazing!

Last but not least I saved some of the shredded chicken and the bones to make some broth. I threw these in the crock pot with some water, onion (with the peel still on), carrots, celery, garlic, black peppercorns (or black pepper if you must) and some salt. I let this cook overnight on low and in the morning I strain it and use it as a broth, its so easy and it tastes very good.

You can use this broth in any recipe that calls for it, you can also freeze it in ice cube trays for later use, or you can use it right away for soup. I made chicken tortilla soup, here's the recipe.

Chicken Tortilla Soup
1-2 cups shredded chicken (still leftover from roasted chicken)
1 can whole peeled tomatoes (mashed)
1 can enchilada sauce
1 medium onion (chopped)
1 can chopped green chile peppers
2 cloves garlic
chicken broth
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
2 c. frozen corn
1 Tbsp. chopped cilantro

Put everything into the crock pot and cook for 8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high. When done serve in bowls over rice and with tortilla chips.

Alright, I hope this makes up for me going MIA on ya. I will also post a new recipe tomorrow complete with pictures. Enjoy!