This soup is a complete meal unto itself and has delighted us for days! It’s hearty and full of flavor, and the flavors continue to develop with time, making for wonderful leftovers!
After prepping the first 3 items on the ingredients list, transfer to a large pot and add remaining ingredients. Fill with filtered water until vegetables are completely submerged.
Add:
1/2 tbsp oregano
s & p
Bring to a boil and let simmer until everything is cooked thoroughly. Approximately 30-45 min.
While soup is cooking:
Prepare brown rice and season it with olive oil, garlic powder and sea salt.
Roast pecans in ghee, stovetop.
Once vegetables in soup are cooked to desired consistency (you want them to be soft)
Add:
an abundance of fresh dill
1 can of light coconut milk
Blend with a hand blender until soup thickens, leaving large chunks. Add the prepared brown rice and top with ghee roasted pecans when serving.
I modified the recipe to include ingredients I already had on hand. I only had one sweet potato for instance, and I used Tarragon as a garnish instead of scallions as the recipe originally calls for.
Ingredients I used:
1 large sweet potato
equal amount chickpeas as sweet potato (I used frozen, thawed)
Kale, fine chopped
Garlic
Coconut Milk
Coconut Oil
Seasoning: paprika, cayenne, red chili flakes, curry powder, nutritional yeast, salt & pepper
Fresh Herbs I used: Thyme & Tarragon
Directions:
Boil sweet potato & prepare chickpeas (frozen, thawed on stove)
Sautee garlic (briefly, until fragrant)
Add Kale and reduce heat to low, cover and steam (very briefly)
Season with: Paprika, cayenne, red chili flakes, curry powder
Add thawed chickpeas and stir well.
Combine in a large bowl with sweet potato mash, 3-4 tablespoons of coconut milk and nutritional yeast.
Add S & P and any additional seasonings. I added fresh Thyme and Tarragon from the garden.
Bake in a greased muffin tin (coconut oil works well for greasing) – 20 minutes at 450 degrees.
I am often creating dishes from whatever I have and here is an example of something I threw together in a hurry before work recently. I am really pleased with how it turned out and have since recreated this dish several times.
I recently started eating a lot of zucchini noodles, and this is by far my favorite version I’ve made yet. If you’ve never used or even heard of a spiralizer be sure to check out this link:
Without a Prime membership to Amazon.com there may be a cheaper option available (I didn’t check shipping prices) however, with Prime I found this to be the cheapest option. If you are not used to unusual kitchen appliances, do not be intimidated! Here’s a link to a video I like that shows just how simple and straightforward using it really is:
Ingredients:
Raw zucchini noodles, spiralized
Pine Nuts
Cilantro
Shelled Hemp Seeds
Pairs well with Avocado
Sauce:
Almond Butter
Water
Hoison Sauce
Gluten Free Soy Sauce (or Braggs Amino)
Lime juice
Coconut Milk (optional)
Udo’s oil (add last, also optional)
To make the sauce I whisked together a fair amount of Almond Butter (main ingredient, be sure to use enough) with just a bit of water until the consistency was smooth and creamy. And then I added about a tablespoon of Hoison Sauce, a dash of GF Soy Sauce, squeezed the juice from about half of a lime, a tablespoon or so of coconut milk and at the end I also added a bit of Udo’s oil for added nutrients.
I hope you give this a try and enjoy it as much as I have!
A wonderfully comforting dish for a chilly winter day or anytime.
Ingredients:
Quinoa
Mung Beans
Onions
Garlic
Kale
Ghee
Nutritional yeast
Seasonings: mustard seeds, curry powder, cayenne, and S & P
Directions:
Prepare Quinoa and Mung Beans together, 1/2 C Quinoa with 1/2 C Mung Beans and add 4 C of water or broth. (I used half water and half broth and the flavor is wonderful!)
Prepare Vagar (Ghee with seasonings): adding mustard seeds first, and once they pop add curry powder, cayenne or spices of choice, then saute onions, adding garlic towards the end.
Once mung beans and quinoa are cooked fully, texture should be a soft consistency (about 20 minutes) add onions and chopped Kale, cover and let simmer on low for an additional 10 minutes or so.
Add extra seasonings if needed and top with nutritional yeast before serving.
Enjoy!
*Note: Before adding water/broth I like to allow quinoa to rest for a moment on the hot surface of pot to enhance it’s toasty flavor.
A sweet hello from a beautiful friend this morning.
Cook quinoa: 1 part quinoa to 2 parts water, bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer until water is absorbed and quinoa is a soft and fluffy texture, about 20 minutes.
Add coconut oil (or ghee) generously, almond milk, maybe 1/4 cup only, a little at a time, and seasonings: a generous amount of cinnamon, a dash of clover and nutmeg, just a hint of salt to balance the sweet from a dash a maple syrup (or agave) and coconut sugar.
Once seasonings are mixed, add any ingredients you’d like. I used raw cashew pieces, dried cranberries, halved pecans, and thinly sliced banana.
This recipe came together this morning when I was craving something warm and soothing, a dish high in protein and nutrients and not too heavy on the digestive system. This is what I came up with and I’m very pleased with the results. If you decide to give it a try, I’d love to hear from you, see how you liked it and what other ideas you may have come up with.
This recipe is inspired by my dear friend Katherine Croll of Gentle Earth Retreats (Mundo Tranquilo in Costa Rica) who has treated me to this dish on a number of occasions. I have replicated her dish many times before, and find that each time it is always just a little bit different. Beets and Potatoes make for such a nice combination, and when using red beets to complement this dish an otherwise ordinary looking potato salad manifests into a pink delight.
I realize a lot of people don’t actually like the taste of beets. If that’s the case, try using golden ones, I find the flavor to be mild by comparison, and you can always just use a small amount. With any success you just might be able to mask the flavor and still receive the health benefits. Personally, I love the taste of beets and enjoy using a decent amount!
I will like to play around in the kitchen and find a nice homemade recipe for vegan mayonnaise, until then I am grateful Veganaise: with Grapeseed Oil is readily available. It’s delicious and I’ve served it to plenty of people who say they either couldn’t tell a difference from original mayonnaise, and many who even prefer it’s taste over any other kind.
The leafy beet greens are wonderful, I always look for the best looking beet roots as well as healthy greens because it feels like a 2 for 1 deal. I love adding the greens to smoothies and have yet to try cooking with them.
Directions:
Prepare beets and potatoes by washing and scrubbing them thoroughly, remove tips and tops of beets and peel. (I peel only the beets, and leave the potatoes’ nutritious skins intact.)
Boil beets and potatoes separately until tender when pierced with a fork. Beets take awhile longer to cook. (upwards of 30-45 minutes) To expedite the cooking process cut the potatoes into bite size pieces before cooking, and cube the beets into even smaller pieces.
Allow both to cool in the refrigerator until potatoes don’t easily fall apart. (at least 1-2 hours ideally)
Sautee Onions with coconut oil for a few minutes before adding sliced celery, and then add garlic towards the end.
Once everything is cooled off, combine everything in a large bowl, adding together: beets, potatoes, sauteed veggies, vegan mayonnaise, cilantro and S & P to taste.
Spiritual Foodie 