Soup of the day: Creamy Ginger Vegetable Soup

Another warm, comforting soup sounded really good today.

I'm still on a mission to use up the stuff in the fridge and freezer so I made this soup with what I had on hand: 4 Red and Yukon gold potatoes, 2 white sweet potatos, 1 large onion, 1 shallot, 2 small zucchini, 1 medium head of cauliflower, and about an inch of fresh ginger.

I pealed and roughly chopped the regular and sweet potatoes and spread them on a baking sheet with a little oil to roast in the oven at 350. I also chopped up the whole cauliflower and did the same on a separate baking sheet. Once that was in the oven, I chopped and sauteed the onion, shallot and ginger in a pan until everything was just nicely caramelized.

After about 45 minutes in the oven all the root veggies were nice and soft, I wanted cooked, not french-fries. The Cauliflower took a little less time.

I mixed everything together in a bowl, let it cool a bit, then blended it with some water in batches in the blender. I like soups like this to be pretty smooth. After each batch, I put finished soup into another bowl so all the batches could be mixed together at the end.

Even without chicken or vegetable broth, this soup turned out delicious. Of course I'm having a bowl for dinner, but I was also able to put 8 servings back into the freezer for lunches!

Soup of the Day: Lentil Vegetable Soup

I'm sure I'm not the only person who has leftover ham today! Our family had a wonderful Christmas holiday and the Honey-Baked Ham was certainly a hit.

Today I made a lentil soup with the leftover ham. I boiled the ham bone, covered in chicken broth for a couple of hours, until all the extra meat pieces were falling off the bone, getting the meat separated from the bone and any pieces of fat was a fairly straightforward procedure, but I had to let the meat cool a bit first.

To the broth I added:

2 cups Lentils
1 large carrot (peeled & chopped)
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 small bay leaves
2 tsp thyme
2 Tbs Italian seasoning
(celery would have been nice, but I didn't have any on hand)

I let this boil until the lentils and carrots were very soft, then pulled out the bay leaves.

I actually ended up with way too much broth, but it was pretty easy to pour some off without loosing any lentils to get the soup to the consistancy I wanted. This left me with about 2 cups of delicious broth to use in another recipie sometime.

When I divided this into containers for lunch size portions, I made sure that each one had some ham and lots of lentils.

Thanksgiving Test #5: Mashed Potatoes

I grew up eating mashed potatoes with just a little bit of melted butter and milk. So my two mashed potatoes tests turned out fine, even better than the original, perhaps slightly plain potatoes I grew up with. The addition of chicken broth really improves the flavor. However, if you grew up with fancy, heavy-cream, and sour cream mashed potatoes with lots of butter, these potato options might not be flavorful enough for you.

I boiled the potatoes in one pot, with some salt, then mashed them with a potato ricer and divided into two bowls. The recipes below list the ingredients I added “to taste” – Sorry no measurements this time!

Mashed potatoes test #1
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Chicken Broth
Vegetable Spread (melted)
Soy sour cream
I don’t think the soy sour cream is necessary; hence the second test, although it does make the mashed potatoes creamier.

Mashed Potatoes test #2
Yukon Gold Potatoes
Chicken Broth
Vegetable Spread (melted)

These potatoes might be plainer than some, but I like them!!

Thanksgiving Test #4: Stuffing

The main ingredient in stuffing is BREAD! Since I am allergic to Wheat and Yeast, bread is quite difficult. There is however, one bread available to me: 100% Rye, 100% Sourdough bread. Whole foods has one type in their freezer section: French Meadow Bakery Organic Sourdough – I like the European Sourdough rye the best. This bread is very thinly sliced and is always best when toasted, even for sandwiches.

I modified a recipe from LivingWithout.Com to make my stuffing, I have included the ‘egg’ version here although I did not use eggs, and added extra liquid as noted in the recipe

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Gluten-Free Apple Vegetable Stuffing

MAKES 12 TO 14 CUPS
1 pound gluten-free sausage, diced or crumbled
¼ cup olive oil
2 leeks (white and pale green parts only)
2 medium tart green apples (Granny Smith), peeled, cored, chopped
1½ cups chopped celery with leaves
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning ( I used a seasoning blend of thyme, rosemary, lavender, parsley,)
10 cups BREAD cut into 3/4-inch cubes, toasted
Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
3 eggs, optional (if eggs are omitted, add ½ cup additional liquid)
1 to 1½ cups gluten-free chicken broth
¾ cup chestnut or walnut pieces, toasted, optional


1.Brown sausage in a skillet and transfer to a large bowl. Drain excess grease from pan.

2.In the same skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add leeks, apples, celery, carrots and poultry seasoning. Sauté until leeks and carrots soften, about 4 to 6 minutes. Pour into the bowl with the cooked sausage and blend ingredients.

3.Add seasonings and toasted bread cubes to sausage mixture. Stir gently to combine. Season stuffing to taste with salt and pepper. (This recipe can be prepared a day ahead to this point. Cover and refrigerate.)

4.Beat eggs with 1 cup chicken broth. Add mixture to stuffing and toss. (I omitted this step)

5.Add chestnuts, if using. Stuffing should be moist but not wet. If it’s too dry, add more broth. Check seasonings by browning a spoonful of stuffing in a skillet or heating it in the microwave until cooked. Taste and adjust seasonings.

6.Divide the stuffing into two portions. Cook one portion in the turkey, if desired.

7.Place remaining stuffing in a lightly oiled baking dish and cover with oiled foil. Bake alongside the stuffed bird about 45 to 60 minutes (in 325-degree oven). Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes until stuffing is golden brown on top.

*Tip: Ten cups is roughly equivalent to 1 large loaf of bread. Toast the cubes in a 350-degree oven for about 15 minutes.

Thanksgiving Test #3: Creamed Onions

I did two tests of the creamed onions. Both involved “Mimic Cream” which actually worked great

Onions Test #1

Cook larger onion pieces in half vegetable broth, half white wine, blend up the pieces in all that liquid until smooth, turn the blended liquid into a sauce by adding "Mimic Cream"

Boil little onions in just white wine, drain and add to the sauce. Bake in oven at 350 to re-heat uncovered part-way through to brown the top slightly.

I think this would actually taste just as great without the cream. I later re-read the ingredients of the “Mimic-Cream” and it is made primarily from Almonds, which I am allergic to. This was pretty disappointing, since it is a pretty good cream replacement product.


Onions Test #2

Boil onions in wine. Remove onions and reserve all the remaining wine and add the cream. In a clean pan melt 1 Tbs butter for each cup of wine. Mix in an equal amount of gluten free flour, such as rice or barley flour. When thoroughly blended, stir in wine & cream mixture and while stirring constantly bring to a slow boil. Allow to thicken, remove from heat. Add onions. Bake in oven at 350 to re-heat uncovered part-way through to brown the top slightly.

This turned out very much like the onions I typically make for Thanksgiving. I prefer option #1, simply because of the almond content in the Mimic Cream

Thanksgiving Test #2: Apple Cobbler

My Second Apple Cobbler has a crumbly top and turned out great, Thanks to “EverydayGF.Blogspot.com for the original recipe.

LINK: http://everydaygf.blogspot.com/2008/09/apple-cobbler.html

After a first trial, I made some changes from the original recipe and cut the spices in about half, maybe I was just using a significantly smaller apple or something – but I wanted it to taste like apple, not cinnamon. Here’s how the recipe ended up.

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Apple Cobbler

6 medium apples, peeled and sliced
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice

Topping:
¾ cup softened vegan butter (earth balance)
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown rice flour
¾ cup gluten free rolled oats
½ tablespoon cinnamon

Grease the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
Toss the apples with the cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, and arrange in the pan.

Mix together the topping ingredients until crumbly. Spread over the apples.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

Thanksgiving Test #1: Apple Cobbler

Even with a good gluten free crust, pumpkin pie is a little too daunting to make egg and milk free, I didn’t love the idea of making a tofu pumpkin pie, so I chose an apple cobbler instead.

Thanks to the “going gluten free” blog for this recipe which I modified to make it dairy free.

http://goingglutenfree.blogspot.com/2007/01/apple-cobbler.html

To me, cobbler has a crumbly top, which this recipe does not. Instead, it has a batter on the bottom, with apples baked into the top. It needs a new name, but it did turn out just about as delicious as it sounds. I used brown rice flour, and there is a slightly noticeable texture from the rice flour. However, since as a dessert it doesn’t resemble a cobbler, and it tastes great, I give it a B+. Once it has a real name, maybe it can graduate to an A.

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Apple “Cobbler”:

3 medium pink lady apples
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup rice flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup rice milk
1 stick butter or substitute, unsalted, cut in cubes (DON’T ADD THIS UNTIL YOU READ THE RECIPIE!!)

To prepare the apples, peel, core and slice. Sprinkle the 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon over it. Mix well to cover all the apples.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Add milk and whisk until well mixed.

Cut butter into a baking dish (I used two 8x8 baking dishes) Place in a 350 degree preheated oven. (be careful not to let it scorch).

Pull pan out of the oven and pour the batter into the pan.

Lay in the apple slices pressing into the batter. Pour the juice created in the bowl of apples over top.

Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. (start checking it every five minutes after 45 minutes, it’s done when a toothpick comes out clean)