Creamy Butternut Squash Soup 2 - Marcella

Super easy!

It's amazing how little effort goes into this simple soup...it has such a rich flavor. Almost like dessert in soup form.

Creamy Butternut Squash Soup

• 6 cups cubed butternut squash (peeled first)
• 5 cups water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 Tbsp mirin ("Asian" section, sweet rice cooking wine)

Add squash, water, and salt to a large pot and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer on medium-low for 20 minutes

Lift out squash pieces with a slotted spoon and add to a blender along with the soymilk and a couple of cups of the squash cooking liquid. Blend til smooth. Add more cooking liquid if you'd like a thinner consistency.

Add the mirin (rice wine). Return soup to pot to reheat if necessary. If you want to get all fancy, garnish with a bright green sprig of something like parsley.

Minestrone - Marcella

Very quick and easy; eliminates any need to buy the canned variety. I usually make it without any pasta, but in this case I had a mini-box of kamut ditalini, so I used that.

Minestrone Soup

• cooking spray or 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I used 1 Rapunzel cube dissolved in 4 cups water)
• 1 can low-sodium diced tomatoes with juice
• 1 can cannellini beans,WITH liquid
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 lb fresh green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• pepper

 In a medium pot, heat oil or cooking spray. Add onions and garlic and saute about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Turn down to medium-low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes.

I use the canning liquid from the cannellini beans in this case because it imparts some nice viscosity to the soup broth. This is also why there's no salt added.

Recipes - Marcella

Broccoli Cream Soup

• 4 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs broccoli
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup soymilk
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Separate broccoli tops from stems and peel stems. Cut into chunks. Boil the water and salt, add stems and simmer 10 minutes. Add tops and cook an extra 10 minutes. Save the water.

With a slotted spoon, scoop broccoli into a blender and add all remaining ingredients but the lemon juice, plus a half a cup or so of the broccoli water. Blend, adding more water if necessary.

Return to pot (after dumping out the remaining broccoli water, of course) and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Done!

Tartar Sauce for Okara Crab Cakes

• 3 oz soft silken tofu, such as Mori-Nu brand
•  1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 Tbsp brown rice syrup or agave nectar
• 1 tsp umeboshi vinegar (in "Asian" section of grocery stores)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp minced dill pickles
• 1 Tbsp minced onions

 Add the first 5 ingredients to a blender and blend til smooth. Then, with the blender running, slowly add the olive oil and blend again til thick and creamy. Move to a bowl, add pickles and onions, and enjoy with your crab cakes or faux fish. Not something to eat in abundance, it's still a lot better than buying a jar of vegan mayonnaise, in my opinion.

A note on the crab cakes, I realized after posting that I neglected to mention why I have okara - something many have probably never heard of - lying around: I've been making my own soymilk. Okara is the byproduct. That's really the only reason anyone would happen to have it. I plan on posting on the process but I realize that it's not for everyone, being kind of labor intensive if you don't have an actual soymilk machine (I don't, I have a VitaMix). Investing in either of the two is definitely worth looking into, as the cost of whole soybeans is much less than soymilk, the additives are up to you, there's no packaging to throw away, and you get to use the leftover okara (which has a fair amount of protein and lots of minerals) for other things. So, overall it's less wasteful and expensive and I like maximum efficiency.

Experimental Eating- Marcella

I'm trying an experiment. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I ate far more and far less strictly on our cruise and somehow dropped a bunch of fat and looked pretty ripped by the end of the week. While eating desserts and carbs and everything (whole grains and minimal refined sugars of course). In the interest of science, then, I'm attempting to mimic what and how we ate over the week. For example, yesterday's breakfast and dinner:

For breakfast we had our usual protein smoothies, then miso soup and 

Sweet Rice with Tamari Almonds and Steamed Kale

Dinner was a salad with:

Sprouted Corn Tortilla Chips and  Fresh Salsa

Broccoli Cream Soup

Okara "Crab" Cakes and Vegan Tartar Sauce

We ate in courses instead of the usual piling everything on one plate and wolfing it down. Eating slowly and mindfully is never a bad idea. The crab cake recipe can be found here and as for the rest I'll post it later today. I promise.

Food and Menu Pics - Marcella

Here's some food and menu pics from the cruise. I was fortunate enough to grab a cookbook with some of the recipes (Greens and Grains on the Deep Blue Sea: Fabulous Vegetarian Cuisine from the Holistic Holiday at Sea Cruises) and you'll probably be seeing some of my takes on them posted here in the upcoming days!

Vegan Italian Sausage - Marcella

Yet another (modified) recipe from my favorite vegan brunch cookbook: Italian sausage. Yes, there's all kinds of commercial vegan sausage out there and it's delicious, but they do tend to have a lot of fat and sodium. Here, you can choose low-sodium soy sauce and reduce the olive oil even further if you like.

Sometimes I slice them up, sometimes I halve them lengthwise, pan-sear them and serve with sauerkraut and spicy mustard. They make a great side or topping for spaghetti squash with tomato sauce or a bit of whole wheat or gluten free pasta (it's pictured above on einkhorn pasta, the most ancient form of wheat).

And FYI, the wheat gluten you buy to make these can also be used to make seitan. You will need a steamer or steamer basket for a pot of some kind to cook these.

Vegan Italian Sausage
makes 4

• 1/2 cup white beans (cannellini, navy, or Great Northern), drained
  
• 1 cup low sodium vegetable broth
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• 1 1/4 cups vital wheat gluten
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast (bulk and/or natural foods section)
• 2 tsp fennel seeds (ground or crushed)
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
  
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• black pepper
  

Mash up the white beans until there are no whole beans remaining. Add the rest of the ingredients in the listed order and mix well with a fork.


Tear off four sheets of aluminum foil, about 6 inches wide and lay them out. Divide your mix evenly among them. Shape each into about a 5-7 inch log and roll up in the foil, twisting the ends closed.

Place them in your steamer and steam for 30-40 minutes. Then slice, grill, eat as is, or save for later!

Thai Green Curry Dish - Marcella

This is really good. You can find green curry paste in the "Asian" or "International" section of the grocery store...I used some from Whole Foods. The shiitake was actually home grown, from a kit we got as a Xmas gift, and actually way better than store bought. Far less tough.


Thai Green Curry Tofu (or fake Chicken)

• 3 Tbsp green curry paste
• 1 can light coconut milk
• 1/2 pound shredded cabbage or other green
• 1/2 shiitake mushrooms (optional - if you don't use, add extra tofu or vegetable)
• 1/2 lb extra firm tofu, cubed, or fake meat of your choice
• 1/2 cup red or brown rice, cooked, to serve with

Separate caps from stems of mushrooms, if using. In a large saucepan sprayed with cooking spray, stir-fry mushrooms over medium-high heat until juicy...about 10 minutes or so. Add vegetables, stir- fry another 5 minutes.

Add tofu or fake meat and curry paste, mix, and cook another few minutes. Add coconut milk, cover, and simmer on medium for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook the rice - since it's a small amount it cooks faster than brown or red rice ordinarily would take. Package directions for brown rice usually give a cook time of about 45 minutes for 1 cup...I find 1/2 cup cooks in a very small saucepan in about 25-30 minutes.

Real Quick White Bean Chili - Marcella

We eat black beans a few days a week with lunch and I'm tired of them. I wanted something lighter, SO I threw this together late one work night. We didn't have any cans of diced green chilies on hand so I reluctantly substituted some green salsa; however, it exceeded my expectations so I'm sharing it here.

White Bean Chili

• 2 cans cannellini or great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 jar of green salsa
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup tvp
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 green bell pepper, minced

Saute the onion and pepper for a few minutes in a saucepan sprayed with cooking spray. Add everything else, then cover an simmer for about 15-20 minutes. I top ours with half-ass but still delicious "guacamole" comprised of a mashed avocado, a few squirts of lime juice, a cube of frozen cilantro (from trader Joe's), and some salt and pepper.


As an added bonus, here's an adorable picture of Derek holding one of our (sleepy) ferrets, Quinn:

A Week of Work Lunches - Marcella

Working a white-collar job involves the constant presence of donuts, cakes, pizza, candy dishes...My colleagues always express sympathy for me and/or wonder at the discipline I must be exercising when I can't partake but the truth is that I consider myself so so lucky that my principles prevent willpower from ever needing to enter into it. That food never registers in my brain as edible. I work out during lunch, and then eat my container of one of the recipes below, plus a salad and am content.

The only difficulty in having a healthy lunch at work could be prep time, so I thought I'd share some ways to prepare easy lunches in advance. Even simpler than the recipes below: you can always buy some cans of various beans and make about 2.5 cups of brown rice or quinoa over the weekend. Then every day, combine 1/2 can of beans and 1/2 cup of rice or quinoa OR a microwaved sweet potato. Have with a side of spinach leaves and grape tomatoes. Pretty easy.

I'm going to post on a few recipes that you can make on the weekend in one big batch that'll last 4-5 days for one person. Just add a side salad and you'll be set. Here's the first:

Black Beans + Quinoa with Pumpkin Seeds and Cilantro
protein-rich and filling

• 1.5 c water
• 1 c quinoa
• 1/2 c raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 c fresh cilantro OR 1 cube frozen (can be found at Trader Joe's)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 3 cans low-sodium black beans
  

In a small pot, combine water and quinoa and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat down to medium-low, and simmer for 15 minutes then remove from heat.

Dry-toast the pumpkin seeds over high heat til they pop or are a little darker in color - not burnt.

Combine with the garlic, cumin, cilantro and salt in a food processor and process til well minced.

Stir into the quinoa.

Rinse and drain the black beans and combine with the quinoa.

Protein Bars - Marcella

In most cases, you may as well eat a Mars Bar as eat a commercial protein bar. They have - as we used to say in high school - a metric butt-ton of fat and sugar. Derek and I used to order PureFit bars from Amazon.com as they seemed to have the best stats we could find: 230 calories, 6g fat, 15g sugar, and 18g protein. But for the two of us that's around $85 a month of processed protein bar...it all seemed excessive. So I decided to experiment and see how close I could get to the PureFit bars in stats - knowing of course that these were not going to be on the tastier side. Homemade "protein" bar recipes usually have things like chocolate chips and coconut oil and lots of sugar; my opinion is that if I'm going to make and eat something of that sort it will be in cookie or brownie form and that a protein bar's primary function is to get a large amount of protein into you with a minimum of fuss.




These bars contain around 15g protein, 3.7g fat, 12g sugar, and 189 calories per bar, assuming that you cut one batch into 12 bars and that you use similar ingredients. They are best kept frozen or refrigerated until eaten - due to the large amount of protein powder and the lack of preservatives they can get mushy if left out for a while.




Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp DEFATTED peanut butter (I used Bettern Peanut Butter)
• 1 ripe banana
• 6 Tbsp agave nectar
• 1/4 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1/8 cup flax seeds
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 4 scoops of protein powder (mine has 25g per scoop)

Mash the banana. Add peanut butter, agave, and all the seeds and mix. Next, incorporate protein powder one scoop at a time, mixing thoroughly between scoops as it's rather a lot to get in there. Finally, mix in the oats.

Line a rectangular container or baking dish with plastic wrap...try to eyeball a size that will give you 12 bars that are about 1/2 inch thick or so and of the shape you want. Dump your bar mix in and press it onto the container like so:
Put it in the freezer for a few hours to harden, then upend onto a cutting board - tap the container until the sheet of bar slides out - and peel off the wrap. Cut into pieces, wrapping individually for convenience if you like, and store in the freezer or fridge.

They're not covered in chocolate, but I think they're alright...sort of like healthy peanut butter banana oatmeal cookies. SORT of.

Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas - Marcella

Sorry the picture quality is terrible. We were too hungry to find good lighting.

• 1 can reduced sodium black beans
• 1 sweet potato, microwaved
• diced peppers, onions
• tomato-based salsa of some kind
• 15.5 oz crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
• whole-wheat or corn small tortillas
• chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano or enchilada seasoning (if you can find it w/o tons of salt)
  
• optional toppings: can diced green chiles, a few olives, nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce

This is one of those random-crap-on-hand sort of recipes. Rather than make your own enchilada sauce you can of course buy it...usually has a ton of sodium, though. If you DO wanna make your own:

1. In a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of salsa, and 1-2 tablespoons of chili powder.
   
2. Simmer on low for about 20 minutes. That's it.

To assemble enchiladas:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
   
2. Combine black beans, onions, and diced peppers. Season with enchilada seasoning, or with cumin, oregano, and paprika to taste ...you can saute if you like or leave raw - they will cook a bit in the oven.
3. In a small rectangular baking dish - about 9 by 12ish - spread about 1/3 of the enchilada sauce on the bottom.
   
4. On each tortilla, spread some of your cooked sweet potato down the center and top with black bean mixture. Roll up and place in the baking dish - repeat til filled.
5. Pour remaining enchilada sauce over the top. You can also top with a small can of diced green chiles, some sliced black olives, or even - as pictured - some nutritional yeast "cheese" sauce. I normally don't bother with the sauce and it's fine but if you're so inclined it's basically just about 1/4 cup of nutritional yeast, simmered on low and whisked together with water (to desired thickness), garlic, mustard (powdered spice, not prepared), turmeric, and a little optional salt.
   

Yellow Quinoa Dal + Teff Flatbread ("Roti") - Marcella

I love Indian food. Most of what you can get at restaurants is greasy or full of butter or cream, unfortunately. Not ALL Indian food is full of dairy - like other "ethnic" foods available in the U.S. what's available in the restaurants is what sells and American people love creamy and fatty food. These recipes are a little involved but make a lot of food.



Yellow Split Pea & Quinoa Dal (makes lots)

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 Tbsp black mustard seeds
• 2 Tbsp minced ginger (you can buy prepared in a jar)
• 1 Tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 Tbsp ground coriander
• 1.5 cups yellow split peas
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 Tbsp raw sugar (optional)
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste - it makes a whole lot, hence a lot of salt
  
• cayenne (optional)

Heat up oil in a big soup pot and saute onion for a few minutes. Add mustard seeds, saute about 1 minute. Add other ingredients up to split peas and saute another minute.

Add split peas, quinoa, and 6 cups water to the pot and bring to a boil. Add carrots. Bring to a boil again, cover, and simmer for 45 minutes to an hour til the peas are soft, stirring about every 10 minutes.

Season with the sugar, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne before serving. This makes about 6-8 big servings. We had ours with some spicy pickled vegetables (so so salty so we can only have a tablespoons' worth) and mango chutney from the Indian grocery, and the pretty healthy flatbread recipe below for scooping.

Skillet Flatbread

• 1 cup teff flour usually in the "natural foods" baking section
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
  
• 1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup plain soy yogurt ( Silk makes a large container of this)

In a big bowl, mix the flours, salt, and baking soda. Whisk the yogurt and water separately, then add to dry mix. It should have a heavy cream consistency - add more water if necessary. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

Spray a nonstick skillet with some cooking oil spray and heat to high. I really like electric skillets for this - and for making the omelets in a previous post. They seem to heat more evenly and sticking isn't a problem. Anyway:

Use 1/2 cup measure to scoop up the batter and plop in the center, spreading it into about an 8 inch round by tilting and swirling the pan. Cover and reduce to med-low and cook 1-2 minutes. Uncover, flip, and cook the other side about 2 minutes. Repeat as necessary til fully cooked - it should be golden. You can keep them warm as you make the rest by putting them in a loose foil wrap in a warm oven.

To eat with dal or anything you like, tear into pieces and scoop up the food. They're delicious.

New Recipes! - Marcella

Yeah, I've been remiss in posting recipes, I know. Now that all the fuss of the wedding and Derek's birthday is over I have a bunch of stuff I've made to post about...

But before I do, here's a picture of Derek's favorite breakfast that I made for his b-day: Tofu Benedict with vegan Hollandaise...

on brown rice-based English muffins. I won't post the recipe cuz it's from Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For-From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes (see the Omelet post also). Perfect stuff in there for Sunday cheat days; I think Sunday brunch is probly the best meal of the weak to indulge, don't you? And then head back to the gym for 40 minutes of cardio...

I do have some nice healthy recipes to post on too: a heartier eggplant lasagna (noodle-less) with cashew/tofu ricotta AND Indian quinoa dal AND a tasty high protein skillet flatbread made with teff and soy yogurt.

Omelets! - Marcella

Authentically "eggy" and rich, accomplished with tofu, chickpea flour, and black salt. The last two ingredients are really what give it the egg-like taste and texture. It's genius - this recipe, very slightly modified, is one of many awesome recipes in the cookbook Vegan Brunch: Homestyle Recipes Worth Waking Up For-From Asparagus Omelets to Pumpkin Pancakes. This is pretty labor-intensive - best for a Sunday brunch. Makes 4 medium sized omelets.

• a clove or 2 of garlic
• 1 pound soft or silken tofu (recommend Nasoya brand)
• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp fine black salt (note on that later)
• 1/2 cup chickpea flour
• 1 Tbsp cornstarch

**Chickpea flour (great protein source) and black salt can be found at your local Indian market. You can substitute regular salt, but the black salt has a really, really authentic flavor.

In a food processor, combine first 6 ingredients and puree til smooth. Add the rest and puree again til smooth.

Use as big a skillet as you can find - it makes turning the omelets easier. I also highly recommend getting a really wide spatula if you want to get serious about these things. Spray the skillet with a light layer of cooking spray and heat to medium high.

This is the tricky part: add 1/2 cup of "batter" to the center of the skillet and spread out to about 6 inches. It should spread out a little on its own - if it just sits there in a big mound you probably need to add water. I ended up having to add 1/2 cup of water to my batch, but it's really dependent on the brand of tofu. Testing out a spoonful of batter first may be wise.

Let it cook 3 to 5 minutes - or until the top starts to look kind of dry and matte - then flip and cook another couple of minutes. If when you attempt to flip it feels too flimsy just let it cook longer.

Once on the plate, fill with your favorite ingredients and fold.

Again, this recipe is a lot of work but it,s worth it. Try it at least once.

Easy muscle-building meals - Marcella

Here's some of our versions of the bodybuilding-style meal that, in the meat-eating world of Flex and Muscle & Fitness and so on, is the ubiquitous chicken, brown rice, and token green vegetable.

Every day for lunch we eat one of the following combinations of boringly wholesome food, microwaved so it couldn't be easier on a work day:

• quinoa, tofu, and TVP (textured vegetable protein, available dried in the bulk natural foods section usually - the water in the tofu rehydrates it when microwaved)
• quinoa and black beans
• brown rice, lentils, and sauteed onions
• brown rice and kidney beans
• whole wheat couscous, tomato sauce, and tofu...

The ratio of legume to grain is usually 2:1 ish, and I usually just spice it with a bit of salt and pepper. Course we also have a protein shake and salad and grapefruit.

Some dinners:
That's just Yves Lemon Herb "Chicken" skewers over brown rice with onions and peppers with asparagus on the side - a natural diuretic. Just saute onion and pepper in the rice pot before adding the water and continuing as usual. To cook the asparagus use non-stick cooking spray, minimal salt, and pepper, saute on med-high for a while, then add a bit of water, cover and cook a few minutes. Don't let it get mushy.


Gardein "Beef-less tips" (you will not believe how authentic Gardein stuff is - it's kind of frightening - available in the frozen section), thinly sliced and sauteed with onion and shredded cabbage and served with brown rice.


Spaghetti squash and tomato sauce with Gardein "Chicken tenders" (forzen section) and salad, always salad even if it's not pictured in the above meals. Derek says all the fresh greens we eat combat metabolic acidosis that can be a probem on a high-protein diet. Anyway, spaghetti squash is easy - slice in half crosswise, place face down on a baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes. Then shred with a fork onto your plate and top with sauce.

Black Bean Cakes - Marcella

Easy Black Bean Cakes (pictured with roasted corn salsa)

• can of black beans, drained really well
• 1/2 green bell pepper, minced
  
• 1/2 onion, minced
  
• 2 tsp cumin
• salt to taste
  
• whole wheat bread crumbs, or alternative flour (soy, almond, garbanzo bean)
• 1 -2 tsp olive oil or cooking spray
  

1. Mash the first five ingredients together with a fork or potato masher. Add as much bread crumbs or flour as necessary to keep it from being too sticky and form it into patties (if you have cooking spray it helps to spray your hands with it a bit first - that also works for measuring sticky things in measuring cups or spoons).
2. Heat oil or cooking spray in frying pan, add patties and cook on each side til browned - probably 5 minutes per side or so. Easy.
3. For topping you could do sliced avocados, plain salsa from a jar, pico de gallo, and/or roasted corn (available frozen at Trader Joe's).
   

Indian Food, Part 1 - Marcella

I've been cooking a lot of Indian food lately, having been inspired by some Indian feasts at the home of our friends' Deepak and Matt.

We don't go out for Indian anymore, since it's generally very oily and hard for us to stomach these days. Fortunately I have a great cookbook: Dakshin: Vegetarian Cuisine from South India that has a lot of pretty healthy recipes, aside from the deep-fried things, desserts, and so on.

Some recipes to come after this one are: Gobi (cauliflower), Channa Masala (chickpeas) and Bhurta (eggplant) - all stuff you can get when going out for Indian, but easy to make at home. I made all of the above for a Christmas feast, with brown Basmati rice (Trader Joe's), and lots of lentil-stuffed samosas (delicious fried savory pastries) and other appetizers you can get in abundance in the frozen section of an Indian market. All very light and healthy EXCEPT the samosas - great finger food for parties but a dangerous habit to get into at home alone.

Anyway, an Indian grocery - like Laxmi Palace on Parham Rd - is a great source of spices, beans, vegetables, and fruit. You can pick up all kinds of chutneys and pappadum (lentil crackers) there cheaply too for a true Indian feast. Mangoes are way cheaper there than elsewhere, too.

Moong Dal (split mung bean soup)
I didn't measure things exactly - adjust to suit your tastes. Tastes like "exotic" split pea soup.

• 1 cup moong dal (mung beans) - get at Ellwood Thompson's bulk section if you can't make it to an Indian grocer, or use split peas
  
• about 4 cups water
• 1 tsp oil
  
• 1/2 an onion chopped
• garlic and ginger, minced, or garlic and ginger paste - about 1 tsp each
  
• cumin seeds, about 1/2 tsp
• mustard seeds, about 1/2 tsp - optional
• ~6 curry leaves (in the fridge at the Indian grocer, optional)
• asfoetida spice (Indian grocer)
  

1. In a medium pot, on medium-low to medium, heat up the oil. Add the onion and saute for about 5 minutes, then add remaining ingredients. Cook until mustard seeds start spluttering, taking care not to burn.
2. Turn heat up to high and add water and moong dal (mung beans) or split peas. Bring to a boil, then turn down to medium-low, cover, and simmer until beans are soft - about 45 minutes to an hour.

"White Cheddar" Shells and Cauliflower - Marcella

"White Cheddar" Shells and Cauliflower
Healthy comfort food for those cold winter nights

• 1 pckg Mori-Nu Silken tofu, soft
  
• 1 cube Rapunzel Vegetable Bouillon w/ Sea Salt & Herbs
  
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• pinch salt and pepper
  
• soymilk and/or water necessary to blend to a creamy consistency
  
• 5 oz whole wheat pasta shells
  
• 1/2 lb cauliflower
• sliced mushrooms (optional)
  

1. Blend up first 5 ingredients. The Rapunzel brand bouillon really makes the dish - any cream sauce dish. It's available locally at Whole Foods, Ellwood Thompson's, and I think Ukrops also, in the "natural food" section, whatever that means. Nutritional yeast imparts the cheddar flavor and is rich in B vitamins. Find it in the bulk section of Ellwood Thompson's and possibly pre-packaged at Kroger and Ukrop's.
   
2. Saute mushrooms (if using) in small pot, greased with a spritz of cooking spray. Add sauce, cover, and simmer on low.
3. Cook shells. With about 3-4 minutes to go on pasta timer, add cauliflower to the boiling water.
4. Drain pasta and cauliflower. Combine everything and serve.

Apple Butternut Squash Soup - Marcella

Recently we got dinner at the salad bar at Ellwood Thompson's (1/2 off after 8:30 p.m.) and decided to try some of the vegan mashed sweet potato. It was disappointingly gross, having been drenched in margarine and sugar - so unnecessary. You can cube a butternut squash up and roast it on a baking tray in the oven (at around 350 degrees) with absolutely nothing on it and it's plenty sweet and buttery.

I resorted to that quick side dish, instead of the soup I was planning on making, on a Saturday evening because our weekly guild (Maul Rats) raid on The Trial of the Crusader was about to start and I just didn't have time to be messing around with soup. Thank goodness I made that difficult choice - an über caster dps belt dropped. Enough with the gibberish; the point I'm trying to make here is that butternut squash is both delicious on it's own and in the soup posted below.

Apple Butternut Squash Soup
Ridiculously fast and easy

• 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed, cubed
• 1 apple, diced
• 1 tsp olive oil
  
• 1 tsp ginger paste or 1 Tbsp minced ginger
• approx. 3 cups water - add or reduce as necessary
• 1 tsp veg broth powder or 1 cube bouillon
• teeny bit of salt if none is in the broth powder
• pepper to taste
  
• fresh rosemary (optional)

1. In a stockpot, heat olive oil. Add everything but the rosemary and simmer until squash is pierced easily with a knife, about 20-30 minutes.
   
2. Blend with an immersion blender, or in batches in a regular blender. Add rosemary and simmer another 5 minutes.
3. That's it!
   

Simple White Bean and Chard Soup - Marcella

Soup always sounds good when it's cold out. I've decided to do a lot of soup and salad nights, since it's a lot easier to make that particular combo nutritious and filling and bread-less. I have no patience for bread these days.

I made this one up a couple of nights ago, in the midst of dealing with some virus that was making me terribly queasy. I wanted a nice simple and comforting soup, and here it is:

Simple White Bean and Chard Soup

• 1 can canellini (white kidney) or Great Northern beans - don't drain
  
• 1 can no salt added diced tomatoes - don't drain
  
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp olive oil
  
• 1 cube vegetable bouillon, or 1 tsp veg broth powder
• approx. 3 cups water
• 1 bay leaf
• basil, dried or fresh and pepper to taste
• 1/2 lb swiss chard
  

1. In a medium soup pot, saute up the onion and garlic in the olive oil.
2. Add cans of tomatoes and beans. Ordinarily I'd say to drain them, but the salt isn't too bad for a whole pot of soup and makes additional table salt unnecessary
3. Add bouillion, water, bay leaf, basil, and pepper and cover and simmer on low for about 30 minutes.
4. Add chard, cover and simmer on low for another 10-15 minutes. Done.