Vegetarian French Onion Soup

Roomie and I have been having a hankering for French Onion Soup, and we had a friend over for dinner so we decided to make it!

Mollie Katzen's French Onion Soup Recipe from is such a classic. It's like a no brainer to make at this point.

Melt about 3 TBSP butter in a big pot.

Take a **** ton of onions - 5 -7 of them, depending on the size. Slice them up, then. You have to use white or yellow, not red.

Put the onions in a pot and start frying. and then you fry and fry and fry forever.

after about 10 minutes, add 1 TBSP thyme (dry or fresh.) and about 1-2 tsp dry mustard (or if you don't have it, whatever mustard you have)

And then, fry it for 30 minutes or so.

Add 5-6 cups of good quality Veggie broth

2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce

2 Tablespoon White Wine (or, you know, as much as you need to help the taste, with a good portion left over to drink ;)

Some fresh pepper

Simmer for about 10 minutes until heated through. Soup's done!

So the thing about French Onion Soup that makes it so delicious is that you have cheese melted/broiled on the top. Well you do if you have oven safe bowls. For those among us that are still using the random collection of bowls that you've gleaned over the years, and are afraid of what chemicals might leak should you put them in the oven, you can use the following method.

take some bread, cover it in swiss. Turn the oven on to broil.

Broil those suckas up! About 2-3 mins should be fine, or until the cheese is nice and melty.

You know, I've been thinking about going vegan for lent. but i'm really really really not sure I can do it. (as my mom helpfully reminded me - most chocolate has milk. thanks mom). It's mostly cheese that's holding me back. That and the brownies that seem to be made 3x a week in this house. Is it any wonder I've picked up running?

Anyway - put the bread in a bowl, and add the soup on top! Enjoy!

Lentil Curry Soup

This has been the week of delicious soups! Perfect for our 7th snow fall this month. Ugh. Record snow fall really isn't all that exciting. Just saying...

anywho. shortly after new years, I came into the office and there was a green present sitting on my desk. My aweso

me boss (who i've

reference before, and is genuinely one of the coolest people i know) got me what has to be one of the the

most fantastic presents ever.

The Political Palate: A Feminist Vegetarian Cookbook.

It's this cookbook from the 70s put out by a group called the

Bloodroot collective, which runs a restaurant in Bridgeport CT. The book's out of print, but they have a whole series.

There are some awesome awesome things about this book.

1) It's broken up seasonally! (this recipe comes from the early winter section - Dec 22nd, to Feb 2)

2) It promotes eating locally (like 30 years before the locavore movement even came about. suckas)

3) this is probably the coolest part: on each page next to the recipe are feminist writings - a sort of "feminist bibliography" as they call it: Mary Daly, Audre Lorde, Judy Chicago, a bunch of names that I wish I recognized and am a bit embarrassed that I don't)

My boss heard about it on the radio and thought that I would like it, and then went on amazon to see if it was still available and read reviews on it. Most of them said that the like the reciepes but didn't want to have to read all that "feminist, lesbian, theory" and in my bosses words she thought "oh, that'd be perfect for Miriam." haha. she knows me so well.

anyway - here's the first recipe (with a few changes)! It's delicious!

1 cup lentils - soaked overnight (or, you know, soaked before you leave for work in the morning), and then cook in 3 cups water until done. (depending on your lentils 30 min-1 hour). Set aside

In a large soup pot:

Chop 2 onions (i used red, they called for 4, but that seemed a bit much...) - fry in olive oil.

Add 3 cloves garlic minced, 2 peppers (green or red, depending on your preference) chopped roughly

Add spices (or if you want to be fancy, cook

in the oil first): ok. so here's the deal on the spices. I added what they said, and it tasted rather bland. so then i just started throwing stuff in, which roughly doubled it. so i'll tell you what they said, and then but in whatever you want.:

1/2 t ginger

1 t ground tumeric

1 t ground coriander

1/4 t ground cloves

1 t chili powder

1 t ground cumin (or fry up some cumin seeds and use a mortar and pestle if you're super-duper fancy)

1 tsp salt (apparently my love of salt is well documented, so we all know that i probably put at least a tablespoon in)

(we also added some cayenne pepper and "curry" powder from the bodega in brooklyn - which is suspect in it's ethnic background.)

When the onion/pepper are done, add the cooked lentils to the pot (adding water as needed - soup should be kind of thin).

Boil together with 1 quart canned toma

toes (we used our winter CSA tomatoes! yay!), and 1/4 cup - 1 cup raisins (depending on how much you like raisins)

They also said to add the juice of 1 lemon, but we didn't and, frankly, i'm not sure how much it would add.

Garnish with yogurt, cashews, etc! (they suggest a slice of apple) ENJOY!

For your reading pleasure, and feminist edification, here's the quote on the page of this recipe:

"The nineteenth century produced many other vegetarian feminists - Margaret Fuller, Louisa May Alcott, Victoria Woodhull, Mary Shelly, and the Grimke sisters. The Vegetarian society held huge feasts during the 1850's, with honored feminist guests such as Lucy Stone, Amelia Bloomer, and Susan B. Anthony."

"The Oedible Complex: Feminism and Vegetarianism"

The Lesbian Reader

Carol Adams; Ed: Gina Covina and Laurel Galana; Amazon Press

(Can I just say how jealous I am that I can sit in on those dinners?!)

Black Bean Soup!

so....sorry? for not posting in forever? I feel like all I've eaten in the last month has been salad. and kale. ohhhh kale. so delicious. oh and then christmas happened. and all i did for a week was bake and eat and get a nice healthy layer of blubber on. that was delicious.

BUT! The very best life partner ever visited this weekend and we made so many delicious root veggies that i was inspired to make something new. this is one of the most delicious things i have eaten in such a long time. so perfect for a day when it managed to not get above freezing.

Also, it's supposed to snow AGAIN this week. i don't think there's been a week since the blizzard the day after xmas when it hasn't snowed. If that groundhog predicts more winter in February i'm going to go down to PA myself and kill Punxsutawney Phil...jk, jk.

Black bean soup just seems so perfect to ke

ep winter away. And it's super easy! (plus. i'm pretty much in love with cilantro, and i always forget until I eat it again, know what i mean?)

It's also from this great book called "Hope's Edge" written by Frances Moore Lappe (famous for diet for a small planet, from back in the 70s) and her daughter Anna Lappe. Not only does this book have really really awesome critiques about the food we eat, where it comes from, and how our consumption is f*ing everything up, but it also has these super delicious vegetarian Recipes!!! YAY! Delicious!

Black Bean Soup:

2 cans black beans or 1 cup dry black beans

1 cup frozen or canned corn

1/2 red bell pepper, chopped into small bites (opt)

2 cloves garlic minced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1 heaping tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dry oregano

3/4 tsp salt

veggie stock (opt)

If you're using dry beans - pick through and discard stones/weird ones, and rinse. boil them with 5 cups of water in a 4 quart dish. Simmer, partially covered, for 1 1/2 to 2 hours (adding water as needed), until tender.

If you're starting with canned beans, put 'em in a pot and heat it up. (don't drain!)

When heated through, add other ingredients. Simmer until warm - about 15 minutes (until Corn is done)

Add veggie broth as needed, if you want it to be thinner.

Enjoy!!! Nom nom nom!

Sweet Potato and Split-pea Soup!

Ok - whoops I haven't posted in a while. you know how life gets. (thanks emily, for the reminder)

I love that Whole Food puts out recipes. They are usually delicious and healthy. And this one's no exception. The Italian in me told me to add three cloves of garlic. It was right. Also, you're supposed to blend it, but i was too hungry to do that. Finally, I increased the ginger, but I imagine that it would also be delicious if added cumin (ie fried up about a table spoon of cumin seeds) or added curry powder. But it's delicious on it's own, and super cheap, and easy!

Ingredients

8 1/2 cups water

1 large onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

3 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 cups dried yellow split peas (be sure to pick out any stones)

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes

1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds (opt for garnish)

Method

Bring 1/2 cup water to simmer in a large saucepot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook about 5 minutes or until translucent. Stir in ginger and cook 1 minute, stirring. Add remaining 8 cups water, peas and sweet potato cubes and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Uncover and continue to simmer 15 minutes. Carefully purée soup with a hand held immersion blender or in batches in a food processor until smooth and creamy. Garnish with pumpkin seeds.

"ethiopian" style chickpea stew

Don't be fooled. this tastes nothing ethopian food. it's not bad - it's actually pretty good. but it's no meskerem. sigh. i miss dc.

also - this recipe takes foooorrreevvvveer. (and by that i mean more that 10 minutes. cause i be super lazy tonight. i blame the exercising). I didn't try toasting the chickpeas - so it might taste differently. also - did you know that whole foods has recipes on their website? It's TRUE!

Thanks Whole Foods! ALSO! fun fact about Fenugreek - IT'S A GALACTAGOGUE (well.. so the old wives say) - it increases breastmilk production!! But! It may make your baby's pee smell like maple syrup - so be sure to tell the pediatrician that you're taking fenugreek so that the pedi doesn't think your baby has "maple syrup urine disease." and now none of you want to think about food, because i just mentioned breastmilk. you'll get over it. cause this dish is pretty good. also breastfeeding's a part of life. a really great part of life. and you should hear the things we talk about during dinner - breastfeeding's nothing :)

Ingredients

1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom (so they say-i hate cardamon)
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek (optional)
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 (15-ounce) cans no-salt-added chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 (8-ounce) can no-salt-added tomato sauce
1 quart low-sodium vegetable broth
1 pound red potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks
4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
Flatbread

Method

Preheat oven to 450°F. Stir together paprika, salt, allspice, black pepper, cardamom, cloves, coriander, cayenne, fenugreek (if using) and ginger in a small bowl; set spice mixture aside.

Toss chickpeas with a tablespoon of the oil on a large rimmed baking sheet and spread out in a single layer. Roast chickpeas, stirring occasionally, until somewhat dried out and just golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes; set aside.

Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and chopped ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. Stir in reserved spice mixture and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until spices are toasted and very fragrant, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce and cook 2 minutes more.

Stir in broth, potatoes, carrots and reserved chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until potatoes and carrots are just tender, about 20 minutes. Uncover pot and simmer until stew is thickened and potatoes and carrots are very tender, about 25 minutes more. Ladle stew into bowls and serve with flatbread on the side.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2441