Maple Baked Beans

I adore baked beans ~ hot or cold.  I can even tolerate Bush’s vegetarian canned ones if I have to ~ like when Hurricane Ike’s leftover wind sheers came through our area and our power was out for 2 1/2 weeks!  I love to try baked beans at potlucks, but my favorite ones are my own recipe…which can be different every time since I rarely follow a specific recipe.  I like them plenty sweet and full of onions; best served with potato salad in the summer or cornbread in the winter.  Usually, my beans come out juicier than pictured, but I baked them a little too long while I was away.  The time-bake feature is great…usually.

I have to thank my daughter, K, for getting this written down.  I have never measured before when making them.    She wanted my recipe, though, so I held a measuring cup under the different things I poured in to catch what I would normally have drizzled over the beans until it “felt right.”  Then I actually poured it over the beans and checked to see if it was really enough.  It felt very strange, but it worked!  lol  Now K has a recipe and my blog has a new entry.  Nice.    Thanks, dear.

Maple Baked Beans

• 4 cans of pinto beans, drained (or 6-8 cups of home cooked pinto beans)
• 1 can of butter beans, drained (1 3/4 – 2 c. home cooked butter beans, or add more pintos)
• 1-2 large onions, depending on taste  (I err on the side of plenty, because they cook down so much)
• 1/2 c. ketchup (or more)
• 4-6 T. maple syrup
• 1/2 c. BBQ sauce (I use Trader’s Joe’s Bold and Smokey Kansas City Style)
• 1 1/2 – 2 T. nutritional yeast flakes (optional, but adds depth)
• 1/2 – 1 tsp. garlic powder or 1-2 garlic cloves, minced

Preheat oven to 325-400° (depending on how quickly you want to bake them; add extra liquid if you will be baking them for a long time.)  Mix all ingredients together in a 3-4 qt. casserole dish.  Cover with foil.  Bake until onion is soft and translucent.  This will take 1-2 hours, depending on the temperature you use.  Pull the foil back to check on the onion’s condition, or use a glass casserole so you can peek through the side.

These also work very well in a crock-pot!  Since everyone’s crock-pot is different, I can only suggest that longer is better to make sure you don’t have crunchy onions.  I’d opt for 8-10 hours.

Variations:  Replace ketchup and BBQ sauce with tomato sauce and extra maple syrup and more of the other seasonings.  Or replace BBQ sauce with 1/4 c. ketchup and add 1-2 T. mustard and 2 T. more maple syrup.

These are also mighty tasty if you toss in some chopped up veggie hot dogs or Bacos before you bake them.

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

Here’s a quick, simple recipe for your veggie “chicken”-style faux meats, like Gardein filets or soy curls made into chicky strips.  Or use it for a salad dressing, if you dare!  It isn’t a low-fat sauce, but it’s nice for a special treat.  I even think plain pretzels dipped in it might be pretty tasty!

I didn’t capture a picture of it.  I’m sorry.  It was gobbled up too fast last night!

Honey Mustard Dipping Sauce

• 1 part spicy brown mustard
• 2 parts honey (perhaps another liquid sweetener would work as well, such as maple syrup or agave)
• 3 parts Veganaise (mayo substitute)

Whisk all ingredients together and serve with faux chicken strips, chunks, etc., or use as a salad dressing or spread for a sandwich.

Piña Colada Millet Pudding for the Virtual Vegan Potluck

Welcome to the Virtual Vegan Potluck!  I have left you my dish to enjoy (ah, the marvels of technology that allows me to schedule a post days in advance), but I won’t be joining you until tonight or tomorrow.  (I’m a Seventh-day Adventist and we spend the day in worship, rest, and family time from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday.  While this kind of potluck is hardly work, it is something that I focus on intently when I wade through the marvelous recipes, ignoring everything and everybody else completely.  Therefore, I’ve chosen to wait until later.)  Have a wonderful time! 

Most of my pudding recipes are made from non-dairy milk, flavorings, and cornstarch/arrowroot.  While they are extremely tasty, they aren’t as nutritious as they are just plain old dessert.  I decided to mess around with a millet pudding that has some whole grain goodness along with dessert properties.  Then I don’t feel as guilty when I eat a large helping!  And my hungry, hungry teens get more nutrients for their vast calorie intakes.

That being said, don’t think that this dessert is so healthy that it doesn’t taste like dessert…it is wonderful!  You can adjust the sweetness as you desire as long as you use a dry type of sweetener.  Increase, decrease – it shouldn’t affect the overall performance.

Piña Colada Pudding

• 1 c. millet, rinsed and drained
• 4 c. water
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• juice from half a small lemon
• 1 can full fat coconut milk (13.66 oz.)
• 1 can pineapple in it’s own juice, undrained* (20 oz.)
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 c. evaporated cane juice crystals (I have had good success substituting half of this with 1/4 tsp. pure stevia powder ~ and it likely would work with all stevia using 1/2 tsp.)

In a heavy-bottom pan, simmer the millet in the water with the salt for about 30 minutes, turning the heat down as the water begins to be absorbed by the millet.  Cover it with the lid askew to keep it from boiling over.  Keep a close eye on this, because it can all of a sudden scorch – or boil over – if you aren’t turning the heat down soon enough.  If there is any water left after 30 minutes, you will need to continue cooking it for a while.  A lot depends on how hot your simmer is and how heavy your pot is.  If it begins to stick to the bottom, but still seems a bit damp, remove from the heat and cover completely with the lid.  Let it rest for 5-10 minutes and it will loosen from the bottom and finish cooking, absorbing the rest of the water.  Let cool with lid on for about 15 minutes so that you aren’t trying to blend super hot ingredients.  (Another option is to cook your millet in the oven, covered, overnight at 200°.  It will be perfectly fluffy in the morning and can be blended after a 15 minute cooling period.)

While the millet is cooking, blend the rest of the ingredients in a large capacity blender (56 oz.)  Add the warm millet and blend until the pudding is smooth.  (This makes for a VERY full blender.  If you have a smaller blender or just want to make sure you have enough room in a large blender, you will need to do this in batches with half of the pineapple/coconut mixture and half of the millet.)  Pour into a serving bowl or individual bowls and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the pudding.  Chill thoroughly.

*This makes a soft pudding.  If you like a thicker pudding that is closer to sliceable, drain the pineapple first, but it may take longer to blend this way.

To visit the blog ~ Healthy Slow Cooking ~ that precedes mine in the Potluck, click here!
~!To visit the blog ~ Kelli’s Vegan Kitchen ~ that follows mine in the Potluck, click here!
To start at the beginning of the Potluck (there are about 170 of us this time!), click here!

IF there are folks who did NOT post for the vegan potluck like they were supposed to, and you cannot find links to the next blog in line, please, please, please, go to the beginning of the potluck (link is just above this paragraph) and you can click on missing links from there so that you don’t miss any of the marvelous recipes of those bloggers who DID post correctly.

Garbanzo Melt Open-faced Sandwiches

For some reason I had not made garbanzo melts in a long time.  When J and R asked what was for supper and heard this was it, they made the kind of loud, growly “OOOOHH’s” only teen boys tend to make.  I had no idea of the popularity of these, or I would have been making them more often!

The great thing about these is that any leftover filling works for a cold sandwich, too.  You can use your favorite bread, including an artisan variety, which will make these even more amazing!  Gluten-free bread will suffice here, too, as long as you have a tasty one.  The best thing is that these are simple to make, you probably have all of the ingredients in your cupboard already, and they can be quickly thrown together.  Win!

Another option for these is to make them into regular grilled sandwiches on a griddle, rather than open-faced.  They just tend to squish out when you bite them!

As usual, organic ingredients will give you the best flavor and nutrition.

This recipe uses 10-12 slices of bread, but you can easily cut it in half if you want to make less.  Remember ~ any extra filling keeps well in the refrigerator.

Garbanzo Melt Open-faced Sandwiches

• 1/2 of an onion (red is best, but any will do)
• 2 cans garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 T. +/- Veganaise non-dairy mayo
• 1 1/2 – 2 tsp. mustard (yellow will work, but spicy brown is great)
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• salt to taste
• 3-4 T. relish
• 10-12 slices of bread
• extra virgin olive oil in mist-er, or non-dairy butter
• 15-18 slices of Tofutti vegan cheese or more (how many slices will depend on how big your bread is)

Preheat oven to 400°.

Mince the onion in a food processor.  Add the beans, mayo, mustard, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Pulse the food processor until the ingredients are well mixed and the beans are roughly ground.  The texture can be fairly rough to as smooth as hummus depending on your preference.  I like somewhere in between.

Remove mixture to a bowl.  Add 3 T. of relish.  Taste and add more relish and salt to taste.  Your brand of garbanzo bean will make the difference of how much salt needs to be added.

Spray one side of each slice of bread (or lightly “butter” it), placing it oil-side down on a cookie sheet.  Spread garbanzo bean mixture onto each slice.  Lay slices of cheese on top of the open-faced sandwiches, breaking slices in half or thirds if necessary to add enough to completely cover each piece of bread.

Bake for 15 minutes, or until the cheese is soft and melty looking.  The bottom of the bread will be toasted and crispy.

Oatmeal Cookie Journey (gluten-free)

Cookies…cookies…cookies…COOKIES!!!

You guessed it….I love cookies!  (Of course, Cookie Monster was my favorite Muppet.)  Sadly, I haven’t been doing much baking lately, though.  Kinda lost my mojo without wheat flour to make it brainless easy.

Last night and this morning I had such a craving for oatmeal-raisin cookies that I couldn’t help but make another attempt at turning out a good whole-grain gluten-free cookie.  Since I want you to be brave, too, at trying to create new recipes in your kitchen, I am going to take you on this oatmeal cookie journey.  I will tell you what I was thinking as I turned this recipe that I made for years and years with whole wheat flour into this gluten-free version.

First of all, oatmeal cookies are marvelous for attempting to remove the wheat flour, because there isn’t much of it in the recipe at the beginning!  As long as you are using gluten-free oats you are almost home free (or if you are just avoiding wheat and don’t get deathly ill if you get a hold of some teeny amounts gluten, use regular oats.)

To replace the 1 1/2 c. of wheat flour, I decided how hard could it be to use oat flour?  I scooped up 3 c. of oats (because I always double this recipe or they are gone much too soon) and whizzed it up in a dry blender.  (It’s okay if the oats look more like meal than a smooth flour when you are done.)  When I measured the flour after whizzing it, I was 1/4 c. short.  Well, rats!  Rather than try to whiz up that small amount of oats (they get kind of lost in the bottom of the blender and it doesn’t work particularly well), I decided to just throw in some almond meal for the final 1/4 c. that was missing.  Almond meal gives the look and feel of whole wheat flour.  At the last minute, I pondered my coconut flour.  It can help with the baked texture of things to also mimic whole wheat flour.  So, I tossed in a 1/4 c. of that, too!  I figured at worst I would have to add some extra liquid since it seriously soaks up moisture like a sponge left out to dry in the summer sun.

Turns out it was a good choice at the last minute to toss in that coconut flour.  Oat flour can be a little sticky in comparison to whole wheat flour.  The little bit of coconut flour just mopped up any sticky ideas the oat flour might have had and sat back to enjoy the ride.

I chose to add jumbo organic raisins in these cookies – and I made them fairly big since I was in a hurry.  (It only took me an hour to make a double batch from start to finish – not bad.)  Chocolate chips are a nice switch from raisins if you’d rather.  Butterscotch chips are fun, too, if you can find vegan ones.  Coconut flakes are great with any of the above options or by itself (I found some sweetened coconut shreds without any nasty chemicals at Trader Joe’s and I am thrilled.)

I originally thought I was going to have to tweak this recipe again later, but after the whole batch is finished, I don’t think I will need to do so.  They are a little fragile when you first take them off of the cookie sheet, but they firm up nicely as they cool.  If you like, you can leave them on the cookie sheet until they are not so fragile before removing them to a cooling rack.

Oatmeal Cookies

• 1/2 c. Earth Balance buttery sticks (1 stick)
• 1/4 c. melted coconut oil (virgin is best)
• 1 1/4 c. evaporated cane juice crystals
• 2 T. molasses
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder
• 1/4 c. + 2 T. non-dairy milk
• 1 1/4 c. + 2 T. oat flour (1 1/2 c. oats whizzed into meal/flour)
• 2 T. almond meal/flour
• 2 T. coconut flour
• 3 c. oats (I used half and half ~ rolled oats and quick oats)

Preheat oven to 375°.  Cover your cookie sheets with parchment paper (this is vital to make vegan and gluten-free cookies work the best.)

Mix the first 5 ingredients together until smooth.  Stir in the egg replacer powder.  Add the non-dairy milk a little at a time, whipping it into the batter.  By the time it is all in, you should have a lovely fluffy batter.  (Add any extras here, like raisins, chips, coconut, etc.) Mix the dry ingredients in a separate bowl before pouring it all into the wet ingredients.  Mix thoroughly.

Using a teaspoon or a tablespoon, scoop dough against the side of the bowl to press it.  This will give you a sturdier cookie.  You could also press the dough in your hands if you prefer.  Drop spoonfuls onto the cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Remove to cooling rack.

Variations:  Add 1 c. raisins, nuts, chocolate chips, and/or coconut

 

A Word of Concern about Silk Milk Products

Last week in the grocery store I noticed with dismay that my favorite coconut vanilla flavor Silk milk had a “new and improved” label on it’s carton.  In my experience, “new and improved” usually isn’t improved.  It’s usually just cheaper for the manufacturer and somehow less than impressive for the consumer.  This time is no exception.

Upon looking closer at the new label, I discovered one glaring change:  cane sugar instead of evaporated cane juice.  What is the difference you ask?  Regular sugar has been whitened by using bone meal.  So, even though evaporated cane juice is more pricey, I made the decision long ago to use it.

In addition to my coconut milk being almost sickenly sweet now (yes, I did buy some before I realized what the difference was), as well as filtered through bone meal, it also is thinner than before.

I looked at the Silk soy in my refrigerator, and it has the same issue.  I do not know about the other Silk flavors and types, but I imagine they have also been changed, or will be soon.  Check yours.  Make an informed choice.  Personally, I will be trying out other brands.

What it comes down to is that the makers of Silk have decided to lessen their production costs at our expense.  They did this once before when the company was purchased from it’s original owners.  With no notice, it went from being organic to non-organic.  I kept buying it then, because it still had better flavor and texture than most others.  This time, I’m not continuing the march into mediocrity.

If you are as unhappy about this as I am, please contact Silk and let them know.  If enough of us complain and take our business elsewhere, perhaps they will listen and go back to healthier options.

Italian Quinoa

There has been a long dry spell for my creativity in the kitchen.  I’m sure it’s been caused in part by my busy life and in part by my mental focus on creating a dessert for the up-coming Virtual Vegan Potluck (more on that soon.)  Overall, the family has been receiving old stand-bys on the table and some lazy versions of home cooked meals!

No wonder, then, my family just about licked the pan clean last night when I served this.  I was a bit surprised, because most of them aren’t big fans of sun-dried tomatoes and usually pick them out to toss onto my plate (which means I get tons more – yay!)  However, last night I didn’t get any extras on my plate!  None!  If I had known that, I would have put more in the recipe than I did.  I was informed it is a texture issue and these sun-dried tomatoes were soft enough for their palates this time.  Who knew?  Therefore, I wrote a scope of choice below for how many tomatoes you use.  The picture shows the quinoa with about 4 oz. of sun-dried tomatoes (approximately).  It would have been tastier with the larger amount and that is what I will do next time.

You can switch a few things around in this recipe depending on what you have in your cupboards and refrigerator.  I didn’t have any fresh mushrooms, so I used canned, but either works.  If you prefer a stronger tasting olive such as Kalamata, then by all means, try those.  I’m the only one in this house who likes cooked bell peppers – of any color, so I didn’t toss any in, but those would be great here, too – either fresh or frozen.  (I figured I was pushing it by using the sun-dried tomatoes, let alone making it “worse” in their minds by adding peppers.)

Addendum:  You will need a large frying pan with lid or dutch oven.  Mine is 4-5 quarts!

Italian Quinoa

• 1 lg. onion, chopped
• 2 Tofurkey Italian “sausage” links, diced (optional, or reduce)
• 6-8 oz. frozen artichoke hearts (half a bag)
• olive oil (may use oil from sun-dried tomatoes)
• 4-8 oz. sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil
• 4 oz. can of chopped portabella mushrooms
• 1 can black olives, sliced or quartered
• 2 tsp. Italian seasoning
• 4 c. water
• 2 T. chicken-style seasoning
• 2 c. quinoa, rinsed and drained
• soy parmesan “cheese”

Saute the onion, Tofurkey links, and artichoke hearts in just enough olive oil to keep them from sticking or burning.  As the artichokes thaw, they will put off some liquid that will help.  Once the onion is softening some and the artichokes can be mushed with the back of a spoon to break them up and distribute them a bit, add remaining ingredients, excluding parmesan “cheese.”  (Include some or all of the oil from the tomatoes for the best overall flavor.)  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle soy parmesan over the whole dish and stir in.  Serve with extra parmesan at the table.

Best served with cooked greens or a salad.

Gluten-free Vegan Pancakes

We’ve all heard the horror stories about gluten-free pancakes.  I didn’t want any I might make to become another statistic of wasted ingredients thrown into the garbage because the results were abysmal.  While my family is eating “normal” pancakes, I don’t want to chew on cardboard frisbees or disintegrating messes of grainy goo.

If you’ve been reading my other gluten-free posts, you know I am also not a fan of the weird ingredients of starch this and gum that.  My family is accustomed to whole wheat everything, so a hearty replacement is necessary for my palate.  I’m not a fan of white flour anything.

I took my tried-and-true wheat pancake recipe and messed around with different flours.  Although my first attempt could have used some more salt, they were very good.  Fluffy texture, hearty taste…though a little more fragile than typical wheat pancakes.  The next batch I added ground chia seed and extra liquid.  That took care of their fragility!  I’m very happy with the final results.

Gluten-free Vegan Pancakes

• 1/4 c. millet flour
• 1/2 c. buckwheat flour
• 1/2 c. brown rice flour
• 1 T. ground chia seed
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 heaping tsp. baking soda, sieved
• 1/2 heaping tsp. baking powder, sieved
• 1 1/2 tsp. Ener-G egg replacer powder
• 1 1/4 c. rolled oats
• 1 3/4 c. + 2 T. juice, such as organic apple or white grape
• 1/2 c. non-dairy milk
• 2 tsp. non-flavored oil (I use extra light olive oil)
• optional – sweetener to taste.  I find the juice is enough for me with sweet toppings

Whisk the flours, chia seed, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and egg replacer powder together in a mixing bowl.  Whiz the oats with the juice, milk, and oil in the blender.  Whisk the liquid with the dry ingredients for 30 seconds or so until bubbly.  Let rest for a minute while you heat the griddle to 300° F.  It will thicken up as it rests.

Pour 1/4 c.-sized pancakes blops from the batter onto the hot griddle.  Make sure you leave enough space between them for spreading out.  When they begin to be a little dry around the edges, flip them over.  When they are toasty brown on the underside, remove them to a serving plate.

Blueberry Lemon Kale Smoothie

Some of my favorite recipes have come together because of what I did or did not have on hand.  This morning I had no more fresh spinach left due to my forgetfulness to stop at the store yesterday, but there was a slice of honeydew.  My typical morning smoothie contains kale and spinach along with fruit ~ usually frozen.  After tossing in just the kale and the honeydew, I stared at the blender trying to imagine what would go well with them.  I love blueberries and honeydew together.  And of course everyone knows that blueberry and lemon pairing is classic, but would it translate into the smoothie?  I’ve failed before with lemon juice in a smoothie….

…But not this time!!  This smoothie has a bright, summery flavor that makes you want to jump right into your favorite warm weather fun.  The flavor lasts hauntingly in the background of your taste buds teasing you long after the smoothie is a memory.  I have a new favorite now!

Blueberry Lemon Kale Smoothie

• 3 red curly kale leaves, stem removed (if fairly large, just use 2)
• 1 1/2 – 2 c. honeydew melon (about 1/8 of a melon)
• 1/2 – 1 c. frozen blueberries (honestly, I didn’t measure – just tossed)
• 2″ piece of frozen banana
• 2-4 T. ground chia seed **
• juice of 1 small lemon
• sweetener, to taste – I used a few sprinkles of pure stevia powder
• coconut milk (not canned) – I used Silk coconut vanilla flavor, but use the brand you prefer.

Whiz all ingredients up in a blender, using just enough coconut milk to get the blender going at first.  You can always add more as you go, but the honeydew typically will release a lot of juiciness so that you won’t need very much else.

This makes enough for 1 person’s stand-alone breakfast or 2 people’s smaller servings.  Mine made about 3 cups and though I offered sips to other family members, I wasn’t sad when they turned me down and I got it all.    (They are not green smoothie enthusiasts.)

**Not only is this little seed a powerhouse of omega-3′s, but it has loads of protein and fiber, too!  It will give your smoothie staying power so that you aren’t hungry for hours.  If you aren’t a fan of chia seed or haven’t used it much, only use a small amount to begin with until you get acclimated to it.  It will thicken the smoothie, especially if you don’t drink it right away.  If you plan to take it with you as you commute, you might use more liquid or less chia seed.

Cauliflower Butternut Squash Soup

Standing in front of the cupboards in my kitchen and peering into the depths of the refrigerator, I wonder what to make for supper.  (Never mind that I have a weekly menu I usually follow ~ it has already gotten so messed up that it is unrecognizable by this point.)  Although it would seem unlikely that I should make soup this close to the end of March, the fact that we are expecting a significant snow storm tonight belies that thought.  But what kind of soup?

Taking another mental glance at the refrigerator’s contents, I realize that I have a head of cauliflower that needs to be used before it gets all spotted.  Since I have no desire to waste a perfectly good organic cauliflower I get it out and plunk it onto the counter.  What else to go with it…?

Every great once in a while some wild combination pops into my head.  Keep in mind that I am not typically a wild-idea person culinarily speaking, and certainly my family is not adventurous when it comes to eating. I notice a languishing butternut squash on a corner counter.  Ping!  A weird idea comes into my head.  Wondering if anybody else has ever thought of such a soup, I contact my good friend Google to see.  (What did we do before such luxuries?)  Sure enough, many entries are listed.  Back to the kitchen I go to start the creation process comforted by the fact that this shouldn’t come out totally warped.

Here I simply must give a warning note.  If you have never peeled and cut up an uncooked butternut squash, I have to say that it is not for the faint of heart nor the dull of knife!  Yikes.  I had never tried this before, but I have seen plenty of recipes that tell you to do it, so I assume that people have had success peeling squash.  First off I broke one of my vegetable peelers (thankfully, not my favorite one.)  I messed around and fiddled with different processes until I settled on the best way for me.  I got out my large serrated knife and cut

off a relatively thin slice of the blossom end.  Standing it on this now-flat end, I started at the squash’s “waist” and dug the knife in and cut/sawed down toward the bottom, curving slightly around the “hips.”  This actually worked pretty well, but again, it is not an easy process.  You’ll need to hitch up your britches for this one!  My forearm and hand are going to complain tomorrow.  I lay the squash on it’s side to do the top half of it with sideways slices.  Good luck.  (I suppose you could buy it already cut up….)

I have a terrible tendency to make enormous soups.  I have cut this one down for you since I would guess most of you don’t want to make 1 1/2-2 gallons of soup at a time!  But if you want to use an entire head of cauliflower and all of a medium butternut squash like I did, triple the recipe. 

Cauliflower Butternut Squash Soup

• 2 c. chopped cauliflower (small pieces, randomly hacked up)
• 2 c. diced butternut squash (1/2-1″ pieces)
• 2/3 c. chopped onion
• 1/2 c. sliced celery
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 c. water
• 2 1/2 T. chicken-style seasoning
• 1/3 of a bag of chopped frozen spinach
• 2 tsp. Trader Joe’s South African Smoke Seasoning Blend **
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. dillweed
• 1/4 tsp. basil
• 1/3 c. quinoa, well rinsed and drained

Toss everything except the quinoa into a large pot and bring to a boil.  Gently boil for 10-15 minutes or until the cauliflower and squash are tender.  (The onions might not be yet.)  Stir in the rinsed quinoa and simmer for another 10-15 minutes, or until the quinoa’s little curls release and it becomes soft.

**Trader Joe’s South African Smoke Seasoning Blend contains smoked paprika flakes, sea salt, garlic, and basil.  The label states that it “adds that wonderful Umami flavor, which can be elusive and difficult to achieve.”  I’ve never had any Umami flavored anything before, but I think you could probably modified this soup with some hickory smoke drops and some Spike seasoning blend if you don’t have access to a Trader Joe’s.