Borscht

This winter has been perhaps the gentlest one I can remember. There have been no blizzards, no ten-day stretches where the thermometer doesn't even get above zero. I've needed my hat and serious boots only a handful of times. Now that it's officially March, anything that happens weather-wise can reasonably be blamed on the caprices of spring. I feel a little disoriented, but I'm not complaining.

Lack of extreme weather aside, there's still not a lot of color on the outdoor landscape during these months. Though it's not cold, it's still pretty dark. We've had our fair share of dreary days, and the grass that has been visible much more than normal is looking pretty tired. I find it really encouraging, when the world is languishing in shades of grey, that you can dig up roots that look like this:



They're so thoughtful.

This soup is delightful. Packed with veggies, warm and comforting, and bright, bright, BRIGHT! Beets and carrots get roasted first, for an extra layer of flavor. I wouldn't say no to a dollop of sour cream or plain yogurt and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

(P.S. I'm participating in Soupapalooza with TidyMom and Dine and Dish, sponsored by KitchenAid, Red Star Yeast, and Le Creuset! Come join the party with your soup recipes!)



Borscht

If you happen to have beef stock on hand, you can use that in place of some or all of the water and beef bouillon. You can also omit all beef entirely and just use water for a vegetarian soup. Also, this soup is lovely puréed, if you like that. I find it more satisfying to have something to sink my teeth into, especially if soup is the main course. A puréed version would make a great first course.

2-3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
4 large beets, scrubbed clean and quartered
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium-sized russet potato, peeled and cubed
1/2 head red or green cabbage, shredded
2 tablespoons beef bouillon, optional (use more salt if omitting)
dried or fresh dill
salt and pepper to taste
sour cream or yogurt, optional
balsamic vinegar, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a baking dish or roasting pan, arrange beets and carrots in a single layer. Drizzle one tablespoon olive oil over, and toss well. Add about a cup of water to the dish, and roast for about 45 minutes, until beets are tender and easy to peel. Remove from oven and allow to rest until cool enough to handle. Slip the skins from beets and dice.

In a soup pot or Dutch oven, heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until softened, about 10 minutes. Add diced beets and carrots, potato, cabbage, and dried dill, if using (if using fresh, wait until the end to add it). Stir well and continue to cook for a couple of minutes. Add about 10 cups cold water to the pot, so that all the vegetables are completely covered. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, until all vegetables are tender. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve hot or cold, garnished with sour cream or yogurt, balsamic vinegar, and a sprig of fresh dill.

Roasted Kale and Coconut Salad

Sometimes I just have a day when there doesn't seem to be enough chocolate in the world. Please tell me you have those days. You start eating mini Milky Ways at 8am, and you only stop briefly for meals. Don't worry, I know how ridiculous that sounds. It's OK, it's only for today. Tomorrow, we'll have a banana smoothie for breakfast, vegan soup for lunch, and veggie stir fry with brown rice for dinner. Right? Tomorrow we'll get back on track. But today it's Twix for breakfast, crab rangoon for dinner, and two cupcakes before bed because hey, we just gave up.



This salad is the perfect reprieve for your poor little digestive system; a gift for your body on a day when you are not doing it any favors. It starts with kale and coconut chips, which I must urge you to locate as soon as possible. Coconut chips are a far cry from shredded coconut - they're crispy and crunchy, and really taste of coconut. A miracle. The kale and coconut are tossed in a soy and sesame dressing that will blow your mind. I cried a little. I licked my bowl. I think there should maybe be a spa treatment involving this dressing. It's that delicious. Then it all gets roasted, resulting in a crunchy, chewy delight of a salad.

Roasted Kale and Coconut Salad
adapted from Super Natural Every Day, Shutterbean, and Joy the Baker.



1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce or tamari
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sriracha
6 cups (2 bunches) lightly packed chopped kale, ribs removed
1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place olive oil, soy sauce, sesame oil and sriracha in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, and shake well. Place kale and coconut in a large bowl and pour most of the dressing over. Toss well, and spread mixture in one layer over two rimmed baking sheets. Roast 12-15 minutes, until coconut is well toasted, stirring once about halfway through the cooking time. Remove from oven, return to the bowl, and toss with remaining dressing. Serve over hot farro or brown rice.

Miso-Carrot Soup

We're back to it. Eating our vegetables, buying less stuff, spending more time with people we love. The sparkle of New Year's has worn off, and we're left with clouds and cold, sweaters and snow. How are your resolutions faring?

I am so excited about the food I've been eating lately. So many vegetables, roasted, braised, and sauteed, dressed merrily in herbs and spices, and dancing with citrus. It may be grey and dreary outside, but there is no shortage of color in the kitchen. Carrots! Beets! Blood oranges! Grapefruit!





Treat yourself to a really great lunch of miso-carrot soup and this beet salad, and then use the energy boost to power through a productive afternoon! All those fruits and veggies combine to give you superpowers that no rain/snow mix could dampen. Go forth and do great things!

p.s. Did you know that you can get ten pounds of organic carrots for just under $7 at Costco? Crazy deal.

p.p.s. If you make this salad and pack it for lunch, make double-triple sure the container it's in can't leak. The inside of my lunchbox was fuchsia for a day.

Miso-Carrot Soup
adapted from smitten kitchen

I used ginger-chicken broth in this soup, because I had it leftover, and wasn't a huge fan of it on its own, but vegetable broth is perfect as well. Make sure to choose a low-sodium version if you're not using homemade - the miso is pretty salty, and you want to be able to control the seasoning yourself.

2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
1 large vidalia onion, thinly sliced
4 medium cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
4 cups low-sodium broth
1/4 cup red miso paste
juice of 1 lemon

toasted sesame oil and roughly chopped parsley or cilantro, to finish

Place the oil in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium flame.  Add carrots, onion, and garlic, and saute until onions are translucent, about ten minutes. Add broth and ginger, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender, about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in batches in a blender, or use an immersion blender. Ladle a small amount of soup into a small bowl, and whisk in the miso paste.  Whisk miso mixture and lemon juice into soup and taste, adding salt, pepper, or more miso if necessary. Ladle into bowls and finish with a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and a sprinkling of fresh herbs.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries

It's almost Christmas!  This veggie dish is a holiday table triple-threat: seasonal, healthy, and so festive!  I'm taking it to a Christmas potluck party this afternoon; if you're thinking that bringing brussels sprouts to a potluck is a bold move, you are right.  We'll see how it goes.  But these are so pretty and taste so good!  Good enough that I'm going to make them for Christmas dinner at my parents' house, too, to go alongside the ham and potatoes.  Yum!  Can't wait!



Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Cranberries

2 pounds brussels sprouts, halved, woody ends trimmed
1 bag fresh cranberries, picked over for questionable ones
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Coat a rimmed baking sheet lightly with cooking spray.  Arrange the brussels sprouts in a single layer, and spray them with cooking spray.  Roast sprouts for 15 minutes, stir, add cranberries to the baking sheet, and roast 10 more minutes, until sprouts are slightly caramelized, and berries pop.  Remove from oven, cool slightly, and transfer to a bowl.  Add lemon juice and zest, ginger, and maple syrup, and stir to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice

Thanksgiving in my parents' house always goes about the same way.  Mom wakes up super early and makes coffee and homemade cinnamon rolls with nuts and raisins.  I'm the next to get up, and then we'll sit down together and start going through the stack of old, splattered, hand-written recipes that make up our family's traditional dinner.  Bajee's stuffing, supremely moist and studded with fruit and pecans, Grandmom's traditional cornbread stuffing, candied yams, cranberry sauce and orange-cranberry relish, fluffy pale green jello salad, crescent rolls, the obligatory green vegetable, and 3 kinds of pie: pumpkin, cherry, and pecan.  Nothing changes, and I wouldn't want it to.  This is the one day a year when I believe that nothing can be improved about the meal.

We cook all day, stopping briefly to eat the cinnamon rolls when they're ready and catch a glimpse of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I always feel slightly bewildered when I see recipes for things like appetizers and starters for Thanksgiving.  It boggles my mind that people would put time and effort into fussy, complicated appetizers for people to eat before the biggest meal of the year.  There are so many problems with that!  First, who has time to make them?  Second, if people are munching on appetizers and snacks all day, how will they have room for dinner? 

Even though I think appetizers and new side dishes have no business near a Thanksgiving dinner, I am not immune to the pull of these things in other contexts.  So I'll make sausage, fig, and cranberry stuffing, or twice-baked sweet potatoes with chipotle-pecan streusel, or sweet potato cupcakes with toasted marshmallow frosting (!) some other time.  And I'll also eat mushroom and leek wild rice, stuffed into roasted winter squash, all week for lunch.

Mushroom and Leek Wild Rice

This would be a great vegan entree for Thanksgiving, if you tend that way.

1 cup wild rice, rinsed well
1/2 ounce dried porcini mushrooms
3 large portobello mushroom caps
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 bunch leeks, cleaned well, and sliced
1/4 teaspoon celery seed (or 1 rib fresh celery, chopped, if you have some on hand)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 cup dry sherry
salt and pepper to taste

Place dried mushrooms in a medium bowl, and pour 3 cups boiling water over them.  Allow to steep for 20 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft, and the liquid is caramel colored and very fragrant.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the mushrooms and set aside.  Pour the mushroom broth into a medium saucepan with the wild rice, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.  This can take anywhere from 45-60 minutes, depending on the brand of rice you use, so keep your eye on it. 

While the rice is cooking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil.  Gently scrape the gills from the portobello mushrooms using a spoon, taking care not to scoop out the mushroom flesh.  Slice into 1/2-inch-thick strips.  Arrange on a foil-lined baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and roast for about 10 minutes, until mushrooms are tender. Set aside.

Place olive oil in a wide shallow saucepan or skillet over medium heat.  Add leeks and saute 2-3 minutes, until soft.  Chop porcini and portobello mushrooms into bite-sized pieces and add to the pan.  Add seasonings and stir to combine.  Add sherry, and deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits.  Stir in wild rice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Yield: 4-6 servings

Note: This dish tastes great as is, but if you're not vegan, stir in a couple of tablespoons of butter after removing the finished dish from the heat.  The butter adds a silkiness and finesse that makes it taste even more like a special occasion.

"Your life is an occasion.  Rise to it." -Mr. Magorium

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

Wait, what?

Did I just say "vegan cream" like it was no big deal?  Ew!  EEEWWWWWWW!!

I think it's weird when people decide to go vegan, and then all they eat is super-processed meat and dairy substitutes.  That stuff is the devil!  Tapioca cheese?  Non-dairy creamer, which is basically just corn syrup?  Tofurky?  I just threw up in my mouth a little.  Don't even get me started on vegan bacon.  *shudder*

I mean, why mess with these abominable food substitutes when there are perfectly delicious all-natural unadulterated vegan things you could eat?

This lovely soup has nothing weird or processed in it, and also nothing that came from an animal.  I am totally on board.  Did you know about the magical creamy properties of raw cashews?  It is nothing short of a revelation.  Now, I'm not going to lie to you and say, "Oh my gosh!  It tastes exactly like cream!"  Because it obviously does not taste anything like cream.  But if you eat this soup, which tastes delicious in its own wonderfully nutty way, you'll feel better, and so will your skinny jeans.  Plus, I assume that in eight short days, you will be stuffing your face with many, many delicious things that contain real cream and real butter, so why don't we do ourselves a favor and make up for it now?

P.S. Just for the sake of full disclosure, that toast in the photo has real, non-vegan, from-a-cow cheddar cheese on it.  I am not a vegan.  Clearly.  I just think real plant-based food is fun.

Vegan Cream of Broccoli Soup

adapted from Joy the Baker

Trivia: the thing that makes Worcestershire sauce un-vegan is anchovies.

1 1/2 cups raw cashews
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 heads broccoli, washed and separated into florets
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground mustard seeds
black pepper to taste
juice of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce
4 cups water

Place raw cashews in a bowl with enough water to fully cover, and soak for one hour.  Drain.

Steam broccoli until tender and bright green.  Drain and set aside.

Place the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until translucent, about 5-6 minutes.  Add garlic and cook one minute more.  Add seasonings, and continue cooking for a few seconds.  Toss in the cooked broccoli, mix it all up, remove from the heat and set aside.

Place half of cashews, half of broccoli mixture, and 2 cups water into a blender, and blend until smooth.  Pour into a soup pot over low heat, and repeat with remaining ingredients.  Add lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce, and more water if desired.  Serve warm.

Yield: 4-6 servings.

Carrot-Cherry Breakfast Cookies

Good morning!  Happy Monday!  Oh, I know you're not happy it's Monday.  I'm not terribly happy about it either.  The better the weekend, the sadder it is when it ends.  So I brought you a present to make you feel better.  Cookies for breakfast, jam-packed with healthy vegan stuff!  We are starting this week off on the right foot!

What kind of weekend did you have?  Fun?  Responsible and productive?  Both?  I had the apartment to myself, and I had a whole mental list of things that I wanted to get accomplished, including:

• finally switch my closet from summer to winter
• purge said closet of things that either don't fit me or I hate and never wear
• clean all the things!
• take a yoga class
• buy some new winter clothes
• get the plants in from the porch so that they don't die in the frost

Here's what I actually did:

• drank wine while knitting and watching Cars 2
• danced around the house to Adele and Maroon 5 (I've got the moves like Jagger.  Yes I do.)
• cooked for 8 hours straight
• met friends for drinks at a new-to-me bar in my neighborhood
• brought treats with me everywhere I went

Sometimes you just have to scrap your sensible list and do what feels right.  I mean, obviously you'll get back to the list sometime.  And these cookies are great for that.  They are perfect try, try again cookies.  Yummy, soft, spicy, and so healthy.  Hope you love them as much as I do! 

Carrot-Cherry Breakfast Cookies
adapted from Joy the Baker

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
3 tablespoons millet, rinsed well
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 heaping cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Position racks in the upper half of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Combine dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.  Whisk together oil and maple syrup, carrots, cherries and ginger, and add to the dry ingredients, folding to combine.  Let mixture rest for 5 minutes. 

Spoon mixture by heaping tablespoonful onto pans and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned.  Allow to cool on pans for about 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. 

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

I took a yoga class last week.  My first Baptiste Power Yoga class ever.  I've been practicing yoga on and off for several years, but I've never felt a particular sense of commitment to one form or another.  I like Bikram, but it tends to be hard to fit it into my schedule.  Ashtanga is great; I like the idea of building heat from the inside using breath and flowing through the postures.  I've always felt challenged by the classes I've taken, but Baptiste?  Baptiste should be in a category of its own.  It takes the external heat of Bikram and combines it with the internal vinyasa/breath heat of Ashtanga, and it is SO. HARD.  (Also, I just want to mention Om on the Range - fantastic teachers, clean facility, lots of different classes in two different locations, and such a welcoming atmosphere.  I love it!  Go try it - $20 for your first unlimited week!)

Of course, when you leave the class, you barely remember how hard it was because you're practically high with all the endorphins.  Amazing.  I ended up taking 3 classes last week, and I'm desperately looking for a hole in my upcoming schedule so I can go back again.

Isn't it funny how one little decision can make such a difference in the direction of your whole life?  One day, I'm lethargic, eating Chee-tos on the couch and watching 6 episodes of Scrubs in a row.  The next day, I take a yoga class, and it's like I've suddenly regained the ability to take good care of myself!  I come home from yoga, take a shower, put a clay mask on my face, and make myself a nutritious meal. 

Who knew that the basic laws of physics could be so aptly applied to peoples' lives?  Physics was the only math/science class I actually enjoyed in high school.  I liked exploring the explanations of realities that we experience every day but rarely think about.  Evidently interest is not enough, because my inadequate math skills landed me a C in the class (give me a list of vocab words any day), but maybe it worked out.  I'll just apply my limited understanding of physics to yoga, luscious fall soups and life lessons.

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

When I was growing up, my mom used to make a dish of roasted bone-in chicken, potatoes, apples and carrots, in a yellowish mustard-honey-curry sauce.  It was a fantastic cool-weather dinner, and was easy on her, too, since it only used one baking dish.  This soup is my take on those same flavors, without the chicken.  To make it truly vegan, replace the honey with agave nectar.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 sweet onion, diced
2 stalks celery, sliced
2-3 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1 15-oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-oz can light coconut milk
2 tart apples (preferably Granny Smith), cored and chopped
salt to taste

Place the olive oil in a Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute, stirring often, until it starts to soften.  Add celery and carrots and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add butternut squash.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are starting to brown slightly on the edges.  Add curry powder, honey, and mustard, and stir well.  Add 2-3 cups of water (depending on how thin you like your soup), stir to combine, and bring soup to a simmer.  Cover and simmer for about 5 minutes, until vegetables are almost done.  Add apples and garbanzo beans and simmer a few minutes more, until just tender.  Stir in coconut milk at the very end, and season with salt to taste.

This is great by itself, or over brown rice or quinoa for an even heartier meal.

Yield: about 6 servings.

The Best Hummos

My Papa immigrated from Armenia with his parents when he was a little boy.  He was a small man (only 5'7") with dark, curly hair and sparkly eyes.  My grandmother, Bajee, on the other hand, is a tall Welsh woman (5'8" without shoes on), who loves to wear high heels and big hats. 

I take after Bajee in a lot of ways: We're both tall, loud, and bold.  We both love to sing and read.  We both have very close relationships to God, and relish the beauty of creation.  We both like to make things with our hands.  We both like to be alone.

Southern Colorado, where Bajee lives.  What, don't you go hiking in hats like that?

Though I may seem Welsh through and through, and stick out like a sore thumb at Armenian gatherings, I still have an Armenian middle name, and a thoroughly Armenian nose.

Told ya. (That's my beautiful goddaughter, by the way.)

I also love Armenian food.  If you're unfamiliar, Armenian food is similar to Lebanese or Persian food: lots of lamb and pilaf, stuffed grape leaves, yogurt (or madzoon, as my mom always called it), mint, and hummos.  It's amazing.

I wanted to share our family's hummos recipe with you, because I've never tasted anything that holds a candle to it.  Make this, and you'll never go back.

Armenian Hummos

adapted from The Armenian Cookbook

Please note that you don't drain the garbanzo beans before blending them.  I did that the first time I tried to make this on my own, and it doesn't work.

1 14-oz can garbanzo beans (chick peas)
1 clove garlic, smashed
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 3 lemons)
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup taheen (I know you think it's called tahini.  It's not.  ;-))
olive oil, paprika, and chopped parsley, for garnish

Pour the garbanzo beans and their liquid into a blender, and blend until smooth.  Add garlic, lemon juice, and salt, and blend until combined.  Finally, add taheen, and blend again, just until combined.  Pour into a shallow bowl and sprinkle with olive oil, paprika, and chopped parsley.  Serve with lavash (pita) for dipping.

Blueberry Tart with a View

When I read about this blueberry tart yesterday on Jenna's blog, I knew it was destined to become my breakfast.  Blueberries have recently been making an appearance at the farmers' market, and they are so juicy and delicious!  This tart fits into the following categories:

• Vegan
• Gluten-Free
• No Refined Sugar
• Magically Delicious

How can that be, you ask me?!  I think it's the almond meal.  And the maple syrup.  And the unbelievable seasonal fruit.  But maybe it's magic.

Also magic?  The fact that I get to sit in the morning with a slice of tart, a cup of coffee, and a book, and look at this view:

Sunrise over my garden

Right before I water all my rapidly-growing plants.  I feel blessed.

Blueberry-Almond Breakfast Tart

Adapted from Jenna's blog: Eat, Live, Run.  She billed it as a dessert, which it is absolutely good enough to be, but I like it more as a breakfast.  Or maybe as a part of every meal until it's gone.

Crust:

2 cups almond meal (available at health food stores, and if you're lucky enough to live close, the Dill Pickle)
3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 tablespoon grapeseed oil
1/8 teaspoon salt

Filling:

2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup blueberry juice
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup maple syrup
juice of one lemon
1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds (optional - I didn't have any and it was still amazing)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium bowl, mix together crust ingredients using your fingers, until combined.  Press into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  Prick all over the bottom with a fork to prevent it from puffing up during baking.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Meanwhile, make the filling.  In a Pyrex glass measuring cup or a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup blueberry juice with the cornstarch, whisk together, and set aside.  In a medium saucepan, combine 1 cup blueberries, remaining 1/2 cup juice, maple syrup, and lemon juice, and bring to a simmer.  Cook for 3 minutes, and then slowly whisk in the juice-cornstarch mixture.  Cook for 6-10 minutes, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thick. Add the remaining blueberries, and pour into the baked crust.  Refrigerate for at least 1-2 hours, or overnight if you want to have it for breakfast!  Before serving, sprinkle with slivered almonds, if desired.