Virginia Peanut Soup

Here’s another recipe from the cookbook I’ve been using all week: Heavenly Delights. At first I was going to cut everything in half, since it serves 10-12 people. Then I thought, well, 2 quarts halved is only 4 cups (right?). And that just didn’t seem like alot of soup to me. So I kept all the measurements the same. I used veggie stock, fat-free half-n-half (like it matters!), and I ran out of creamy peanut butter at the end, so I had to use about 1/2 cup of crunchy. Toby said that you really can’t go wrong with a peanut soup, and that he liked the little bit of crunch it had. I will make this again, for sure. We enjoyed this with some yeast rolls. Oh, and I had a vat of soup left over. Oh well.

rating:8

Virginia Peanut Soup
(from the cookbook “Heavenly Delights”, put out by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Monroe, NC, 1994)

1 medium onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 stick butter
3 tbsp flour
2 quarts chicken stock (I used veggie stock)
2 cups smooth peanut butter
1 3/4 cups half & half cream

Saute onions and celery in butter until soft, but not brown. Stir in flour, blend well. Add stock, stir constantly to boil. Remove from heat and puree in blender. Add peanut butter and cream, stirring to blend thoroughly. Return to heat and heat until hot, but do not boil. Serves 10-12. Can garnish with chopped nuts.

Tomato Pie

When I was putting this dish together, I was thinking that maybe there wouldn’t be enough flavor to it, and it would be bland. But I was wrong. This pie is RICH. I think it was almost too rich for me. Toby said it was interesting, and had two servings. I don’t love tomatoes or basil enough to make it again. We had this with a green salad (with the leftover Salsa dressing from last night).

rating:6

Tomato Pie
(from the cookbook “Heavenly Delights” put out by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Monroe, NC, 1994)

1 deep dish pie crust, baked
2 or 3 large tomatoes, thickly sliced
1 chopped onion
salt and pepper
basil leaves
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

In baked pie shell, alternate layers of tomatoes and onions, sprinkling each layer with salt, pepper, and basil. Top with mayonnaise and cheese, which have been mixed together. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Let stand 10-15 minutes. Serve.

Super Salsa Dressing

This dressing looks like Thousand Island dressing, but I don’t think it tastes like it. Toby really liked it. I thought it was ok. And I mean, gosh, how much easier could a recipe be? We had this dressing on a green salad with croutons, along with some Gruyere Quorn cutlets and a baked potato. Mmmmmm.

rating: 7

Super Salsa Dressing
(from the cookbook “Heavenly Delights”, put out by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Monroe, NC, 1994)

1 cup Chi-Chi’s or Pace’s salsa (med.)
1/2 cup fat-free ranch dressing

Combine and serve. Delicious on green salads, omelets, and especially baked potatoes. Also can be used as a dip for veggies and chips.

Mushroom Omelette

I didn’t have time to go grocery shopping yesterday, and I had TWO containers of mushrooms that needed to be used quickly. I had to improvise. I decided to make jazzed-up mushroom omelettes for dinner. I sauteed all the mushrooms in butter, then added some Jane’s Krazy Mixed-up Salt, and some garlic chives that were also on their way out. I added some Silk soy milk to 2 beaten eggs (3 eggs for Toby’s omelette), then put them into a buttered omelette pan. Once the inside was cooked, I (tried to) spread out a little of the Alouette light garlic and herb cheese spread, then added the sauteed mushrooms and chives. I served this with some potato pancakes and a light green salad.

rating: 7

Barbecued Tofu, take 2

Wow- THIS is the barbecue tofu recipe you should try. Granted, this is not a recipe that you wake up in the morning and say, you know, I’m going to make some of this for dinner tonight. This is NOT an easy recipe. It’s very time consuming. It’s messy. Did I say it’s time consuming? But- make it, and you will have some of the best barbecue tofu you’ve ever tasted. No lie. I unwrapped 2 blocks of extra-firm tofu and put them on a plate (after draining out the water), then put them in my freezer. I left them there overnight, then put them in my fridge to thaw out. That seemed to take awhile, so I put them on my counter to thaw. I placed the 2 tofu blocks between paper towel sheets, then placed a plate on top for weight (and added another pot on top of that). They were still a tiny bit frozen in the middle when I started to cut them into strips. Once you do the marinade and place them in the oven, it took longer than 25 minutes on each side for my tofu to start looking brown. I probably baked them for about 40 minutes on each side. This barbecue sauce is soooo good, and I munched on it throughout the day, using potato chips as little scoops. If you can trudge through all the steps to get there, trust me, you will not be disappointed in making this!! We had this with corn on the cob and cole slaw.

rating: 9.9

Barbecued Tofu
(from the cookbook “Tofu Cookery” by Louise Hagler

1. Freeze, thaw, squeeze out, and cut into 1″x 3″ strips 2 pounds of firm tofu.

2. Mix together: 3 tbsp peanut butter, 1/3 cup oil, 1 tbsp paprika, 1/4 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 2 tsp salt. Whip until smooth. Pour over tofu strips and squeeze in as evenly as possible. Marinate 1 hour. While it is marinating, prepare Barbecue Sauce.

3. Preheat oven to 350.

4. Lay tofu out on cookie sheet which has been spread with 1/4 cup oil. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Then turn the pieces over and bake about 25 more minutes, or until other sides are browned. Pour Barbecue Sauce over all the pieces and bake 15 more minutes. Serve.

Barbecue Sauce

Saute together until onions are transparent:

1/3 cup oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced

Stir in:

2 1/2 cups tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1/2 cup salad mustard
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 tbsp crushed red pepper OR 3/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I used cayenne)
1 1/2 tsp dried parsley OR t tbsp fresh parsley (I used dried)

Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour.

Add and simmer 10-15 minutes more:

1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce

Garlic & Cilantro Soup

OMG, is this soup good! First, let me say that I didn’t exactly follow the recipe. The recipe calls for fresh cilantro, and I bought this cilantro in a tube, since I usually can’t use the fresh herbs fast enough and they all die in my fridge. This cilantro in a tube is made by Gourmet Garden, and it’s called “Cilantro Herb Blend”. It’s in the produce section of my local Bloom store, in the refrigerated section (near the fresh herbs). I also have a ginger blend from them, as well as a basil blend. So I got my veggie stock going, then added a couple of squirts of the cilantro, then my garlic. Also, I didn’t have any day-old crusty bread lying around, but I did have regular ol’ sliced wheat bread in the freezer. So I toasted a few slices of that in my toaster oven, then tore them into pieces. This seems impossibly easy to be so good! This reminds us of a soup we used to get at a Spanish tapas restaurant in Olde Towne Alexandria, called Las Tapas. I will for sure make this one again. Try it! We had this with a caesar salad.

rating: 9.75

Garlic & Cilantro Soup
(from the cookbook “500 Greatest-Ever Vegetarian Recipes” by Valerie Ferguson)

1 cup cilantro, leaves and stems chopped separately
6 cups vegetable stock
5-6 plump garlic cloves, peeled
6 eggs
3 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed and torn into bite-size pieces
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra to serve
salt and ground black pepper

1. Place the cilantro stems in a saucepan. Add the stock and bring to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Cool slightly, then process the mixture in a blender of food processor. Press through a sieve into the clean pan. Heat gently.

2. Crush the garlic with 1 tsp salt, then stir in 1/2 cup of the hot cilantro stock. Return the mixture to the pan.

3. Bring the soup to a boil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Leave over low heat. Poach the eggs.

4. Divide the pieces of bread among six soup plates or bowls and drizzle the olive oil over it. Stir the chopped cilantro leaves into the soup, then ladle it onto the bread. Stir each portion once, then add a poached egg to each bowl. Serve immediately, passing more olive oil at the table so that it can be drizzled on the soup to taste.

Serves 6

Wild Mushroom Pancakes with Chive Butter

I would for sure make these again. The texture was a little bit doughy, but that may have been because I had the batter ready to go for over an hour (Toby’s train was over an hour late getting in). I don’t think it’s good to let batter sit for so long. Anyway, the flavor was still really good. I didn’t think r the chive butter would add anything, but I made it anything. It really did add a little something! We had these with a green salad with ranch dressing and croutons.

rating: 8.5

Wild Mushroom Pancakes with Chive Butter
(from the cookbook “500 Greatest-Ever Vegetarian Recipes” by Valerie Ferguson)

about 5 cups hedgehog fungus or other wild mushrooms
1/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups self-rising flour
2 eggs
scant 1 cup milk
salt and ground white pepper

for the chive butter
scant 1 cup fresh finely snipped chives
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp lemon juice

1. First make the chive butter by mixing all the ingredients. Turn out onto a 10″ square of waxed paper and form into a sausage. Roll up, twist both ends of the paper and chill for about 1 hour, until the chive butter is firm.

2. Slice one-quarter of the mushrooms and set them aside. Chop the remaining mushrooms finely. Melt half the butter in a frying pan and fry the chopped mushrooms until they are soft and all the moisture has evaporated. Spread them on a tray and let cool. Cook the sliced mushrooms in a pat of butter.

3. Sift the flour into a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Beat the eggs with the milk in a bowl. Add to the flour, stirring to make a thick batter. Add the chopped mushrooms.

4. Heat the remaining butter in the clean frying pan. Arrange small heaps of sliced mushrooms on the bottom of the pan, using five mushrooms slices each time, then pour a little batter onto each heap to make 2″ pancakes.

5. When bubbles appear on the surface, turn the pancakes over and cook for another 10-15 seconds. Serve warm with slices of the chive butter.

we went to Plan B tonight

I was supposed to go to the grocery store today for this week’s meals, but this happened, and then that happened, and well, I never got to it. So tonight for dinner we had Plan B: cheese tortellini, vodka sauce, garlic bread, and a green salad. New stuff coming tomorrow!

Mock Hollandaise Sauce

This is not the recipe I had planned to make at all. I was going to make this polenta dish that had eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash and asparagus in it. Then I started thinking about how Toby wasn’t going to like it, because he hates eggplant and yellow squash, and could eat zucchini about twice a year. So I decided to start weeding things out of my pantry. I found a couple of things and went to plan b: veggie loaf, mushroom and almond rice, and grilled asparagus with this Mock Hollandaise Sauce. How much easier could the sauce be? It tasted a little like hollandaise, but on its’ own, it’s really good! I even ate some of my veggie loaf with it! This is a good sauce to whip up in a minute and is very versatile. I am glad I found it.

rating: 9

Mock Hollandaise Sauce
(from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, 10th edition)

1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayonnaise (or salad dressing)
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp prepared mustard

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook and stir over low heat until hot. Makes 1/2 cup.

Swiss Chard with Chickpeas and Couscous

This was another recipe that I tore out of a magazine (Real Simple) a while ago and forgot about. To me, this kind of seems like a fall/winter dish, but I made it today anyway. And it was good! I am not a big fan of couscous, and Toby is not a fan of raisins, but I made it and we loved it and blah blah. I only bought 1 bunch of Swiss chard (it calls for 2 bunches, but I only wrote “Swiss Chard” on my grocery list), so we could have used more of that. Since Toby hates raisins I left them out and sprinkled them on my dish at the end. I had never cooked couscous OR Swiss chard before, so I am kind of proud of myself. In the magazine there is a little tip by the recipe that says: “It’s easy to vary this basic recipe from one week to the next. Try using spinach instead of Swiss chard, almonds in place of pine nuts, or currants as a substitute for raisins.” This one’s a keeper.

rating: 9

Swiss Chard with Chickpeas and Couscous
(from the magazine “Real Simple”)

1 10-ounce box couscous
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 15.5-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
1/2 cup raisins (dark or golden)
2 bunches Swiss chard, stems trimmed
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Place the couscous in a bowl. Add 1 1/2 cups boiling water and stir. Cover tightly and let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, over low heat, toast the pine nuts, shaking the pan frequently, until golden, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a plate. Return skillet to medium heat, add the oil, and heat for 1 minute. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the chickpeas, raisins, chard, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chard is tender, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Fluff the couscous with a fork and divide among individual plates. Top with the chard and sprinkle with the pine nuts.

Serves 4