Creamy Mushroom-Vegetable Soup

I love “chicken” potpies…but I never take the time to make them ~ and they are much too expensive to buy if I want to fill up my hungry hordes.  This tastes like the inside of a potpie in thick, creamy soup form.  If I had more time before I had to rush out the door for a meeting, I would probably try to make some kind of dumplings for the top of this, or serve it with biscuits.

This is the perfect place to use those crumbs of soy curls from the bottom of the bags or box that you buy.  Since I get a 12-lb. bulk box, I get plenty of those crumbs.  I put them in ziplock freezer bags to save them until I’m ready to use them.  You could use any very small pieces of the soy curls for this, but I like the crumbs best.  It has a very satisfying chewiness with them.

This soup actually happened because I had some mushrooms languishing in the refrigerator that had to be used.  My boys are sick and not very hungry and I thought soup would tempt their appetite.  However, if they aren’t interested, I am more than happy to eat this myself!  I hope there is some left when I get home from my meeting.  🙂

(Note:  I came down with the flu my boys had the day after making this recipe.  Nobody felt up to eating it, or taking pictures of it.  In an effort to get a recipe up and out to you, I am posting it without a picture.)

Creamy Mushroom-Vegetable Soup

• 8-12 oz. portabello mushrooms
• 1 lg. sweet onion
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• olive oil and/or coconut oil
• 1 lb. frozen spinach (organic, if possible)
• 1 lb. mixed vegetables (organic, if possible)
• 8 c. hot water
• 1 c. raw cashews
• 1 pkg. Morinu extra-firm tofu
• 1/2 c. cornstarch or arrowroot
• 1/4 c. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
• 3 T. onion powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 T. chicken-style seasoning
• 1 c. soy curl “crumbs”, optional

Finely chop the onion and then the mushrooms in a food processor.  Saute them in olive and/or coconut oil for several minutes until they are softened.  Stir in the garlic and saute for another minute or so.  Add remaining 5 cups of water and frozen veggies to the onion/mushroom mixture, bringing it to a boil.  Allow it to simmer while blending 3 c. warm water with cashews, tofu, cornstarch, Bragg’s, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and chicken-style seasoning.  Stir into the vegetables.  Stir constantly until it thickens.  If using the optional soy curl crumbs, stir them in now.  Turn the heat down and let simmer for 10 minutes or until the veggies are tender.

Tofu “Egg” Salad

Here is the 2nd sandwich spread of the 3 that I made last week.  Everybody had their own personal favorite.  This was the favorite of my teenage bottomless pit.  He piled it onto bread, rice, and ate it plain ~ and was more than willing to eat it all himself!  Good thing I made a double batch.

Honestly, just like with regular egg salad sandwiches,you have to be careful, or you’ll end up with a lot of the filling on your plate, or lap.  I preferred to make an open-faced sandwich with it, as it couldn’t squish out from between the bread that way.  A slice of tomato and a leafy piece of lettuce beneath the filling on the open-faced sandwich was very good.

These ingredients are guidelines ~ you can increase or decrease any of them to your preferences.  You may also add chopped celery, radishes, or green onion if you want more veggies in your sandwich filling.

Tofu “Egg” Salad

• 1 pkg. Morinu extra-firm tofu
• 1/4 c. minced/diced onion
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• a dash of garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp. dillweed
• 2 T. Vegenaise or other vegan mayo
• 1 tsp. mustard (or to taste)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 T. sweet relish

Using a pastry blender or potato masher, squash the tofu into small pieces (similar to small-curd cottage cheese if you are familiar with it.)  You can see from the picture how small I made mine.  Stir in all the remaining ingredients.  Taste test to make sure the flavor is the way you like it, keeping in mind the flavors will meld more if you make it ahead of time by an hour or two.

Yields approximately 2 cups

Vegan Custard Rice Pudding

This rice pudding is reminiscent of the old-fashioned custard rice pudding I grew up eating (minus the raisins that I always picked out ~ why did Daddy like those?)  Mama used her mother’s thin, age-darkened recipe written in a spidery hand, which, instead of giving an oven temperature, called for a “slow oven” ~ because grandma had used a wood stove! It has always been my standard against which to measure all other rice puddings.

No wonder I was so unhappy with the rice pudding recipes I found when we became vegan.  Who wanted sweetened rice in a puddle of non-dairy milk?  Where was the pudding?  Where was the custard?  Was it even possible to get that without dairy ingredients and eggs?

This is a combination of several internet recipes from a few years ago.  It has the wonderful custard that so many sadly lacked.  It is not low fat, but it is exactly what I was aiming to replicate.

And if you must add raisins to duplicate your childhood memory, then *sigh* I guess that’s allowable.  🙂  Grandma’s recipe says to add 1 c. raisins.

Vegan Custard Rice Pudding

• 6 c. cooked brown rice (I have used as little as 4 c., but 5-6 c. is much better) *
• 4 c. Silk vanilla soymilk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1 package Morinu extra-firm tofu
• 3 T. Ener-G egg replacer powder (no liquid added)
• 4 T. Earth-Balance non-hydrogenated stick “butter” (1/2 stick), softened
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3/4 c. evaporated cane juice crystals (or sugar)
• 1/2 tsp. pure stevia powder (or 1/2 c. more evap. cane juice)
• sprinkle of cinnamon (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Whiz in blender all ingredients except rice and cinnamon.  (If you don’t have a 56-oz. blender, then leave 2 c. of soymilk out and mix it with the blended mixture before adding rice in the next step.)  Stir blender mixture in with rice in a 3-4 qt. dish (a 9″x13″ cake pan is 3 qt.)  Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.  Bake for 45-60 minutes at 350°.

The top will split and crinkle as it cools just like grandma’s recipe! May be served warm, but I like it best cold.

*Note:  My cooked rice in this batch was a bit firm and somewhat dry to start the recipe.  It absorbed more of the “custard” than usual.  It was still very good, but since my favorite part happens to be the custard….I, therefore, recommend brown rice that is soft and moist, or use only 5 cups.

Unburgers

When I was 18 I worked in a health food store in western New York called Ye Olde Nut Tree.  They served something called Unburgers that Jean Young created when she worked there.  They were made daily for the snack bar.  (The “batter” kept in the frig. for a day or two.)  Hard-working, non-vegetarian, construction workers would come in just because they loved them.  They were served on buns with alfalfa sprouts, tomato, etc., or on split open pita bread with cream cheese, avocado, cucumbers, and alfalfa sprouts, topped with an oil and vinegar dressing.

I made Unburgers so many times that I had inadvertently memorized the recipe.  When I quit working there, I wrote my memorized recipe down and made it for my growing family.  Unfortunately, the original recipe contained 9 eggs!!  Needless to say, I had to turn them into a vegan version when we gave up eggs. 

The recipe makes 12-16 patties, but they freeze marvelously.

The Nut Tree (the shortened name) exchanged owners and names, moved, and eventually went out of business.  For any of you who used to go there to eat lunch, now you can make your own at home.

Unburgers

• 1 pkg. extra firm Morniu silken tofu
• 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 large onion
• 2 T. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos or soy sauce
• 2 tsp. sage
• 1 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2-1 tsp. salt
• 1 T. Savorex, Vegex, or Marmite paste (from original recipe)
•                OR (my preferred method)
•                2 T. Brewer’s yeast flakes
•                1 1/2 tsp. Spike seasoning
•                1/2 capful Liquid Hickory Smoke
• 1 1/2 c. walnuts
• 3 c. quick oats (you may use half rolled oats for a chewier texture ~ for gluten-free, use certified gluten-free oats)
• 1/2 c. raw sunflower seeds

Whiz in blender everything except walnuts, oats, and seeds until fairly smooth.  Add walnuts – allow blender to run until no large pieces remain.  Pour into large bowl and stir in oats and sunflower seeds.  Let stand for 5 or more minutes.

Preheat electric griddle to 250-275 degrees F.  (I suppose you could use a square stove-top griddle, but you couldn’t cook as many at a time on it.  Use medium-low heat.)  Drop large scoops of mix onto griddle and flatten into patties.  (Sometimes this isn’t a quick process – be patient.)  When browned (about 8-10 minutes), turn them over and continue cooking another 3-5 minutes.  If you flip them too soon, they will be gooey inside.

Serve with gravy, on sandwiches, or alone with guacamole and slices of tomato on top.  Try one crumbled onto a salad.

Makes 12 large patties, or 16 medium patties.  Freezes well with waxed paper between layers.

Vegan Coconut Cream Pie

I’ve had coconut cream on my mind a lot lately.  It started with another blogger’s recipe for vegan cheesecake that wasn’t quite what I was looking for and had more the texture of a cream pie.  Or maybe it started when my BFF told me about Tropical Traditions’ coconut products – and then I won a quart jar of their virgin coconut oil.  However it began, next Katie over at www.chocolatecoveredkatie.com posted a vegan whipped cream recipe using coconut cream.  (All of her pictures make my stomach growl.)  Well, I just about couldn’t stand it any more!  I had to find a coconut cream pie recipe by search engine.  I spent a good chunk of time looking…and wasn’t satisfied.  None of the pictures looked like what my imagination was projecting and some of the ingredients were pretty bland and used cornstarch to obtain a thick product.

So, I gave up.  Well, sorta.  I gave up the computer search and went to the kitchen to play.  I had enough ideas of what not to do and some ideas of what I wanted to do – at least enough for a trial run.  It was more of a trial runny.  If I froze it, it was too hard to slice.  If left in the refrigerator, it was more like a soft pudding and wouldn’t slice well that way, either.  Don’t get me wrong – it tasted good and we ate every last crumb!  🙂  But I knew I wasn’t done.

The second one I made for the weekend when I knew my daughter and son-in-law would be over to help eat it, so I doubled the recipe into a 9″x13″ pan.  This time it worked!  Everybody really wished there had been more of it.

If you have friends who are gluten sensitive/intolerant, this dessert recipe is for you.  There is no grain used in the whole batch – not even the crust (unless you used flour-covered date pieces.)

This recipe is for a 9″ deep-dish pie pan.  You will have a little of the filling leftover than won’t fit that you can put in a bowl for pudding.  It might work to fill 2 smaller pie crusts, but the crust recipe would have to be adjusted – probably 1 1/2 times.

Vegan Coconut Cream Pie

 Crust:

• 1 c. walnuts
• 1/2 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/4 c. raw almonds
• 15 pitted soft dates (or 1 c. date pieces, may be oat flour-covered)
• 1 – 1 1/2 T. virgin coconut oil (this is optional, but highly recommended)
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 1/16 tsp. salt

Filling:

• 1 can chilled coconut milk (chilled at least 8 hours)
• 1 c. raw cashews (may soak 4-8 hours before using)
• 1 pkg. extra firm Morinu tofu
• 1/2 tsp. powdered stevia extract (or 1/4-1/2 c. more sweetener)
• 1/2 c. evaporated cane juice crystals or sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 – 1 1/2 T. virgin coconut oil

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts, coconut, and almonds until tiny pieces. Add the remaining crust ingredients, pulsing and processing until the dates are completely incorporated and you can press some together and it sticks well.  Press this into a 10″ deep dish pie pan.  Be patient – it takes a little bit to get it evenly distributed.  Also, if you are using a glass pie plate, you can hold it up and look through the bottom to see if there are thin spots.

Open the chilled can of coconut milk carefully.  Scrape out the hardened coconut cream into a high-powered blender.  Add 2 T. of the thin liquid from the can of coconut milk.  (Save the rest of the liquid for making smoothies.)  Add the remaining ingredients and blend until there are no grainy pieces of cashew left on a spatula dipped into the cream.  Pour into the crust.  Chill for 4-8 hours.