Vegetarian Corn Chowder 4/5 Spoons

The other day I was cleaning my room (pre-Spring cleaning?) and found my swimsuit. I held it in my hands and stared at it. I miss summer. Only a few more months, I can make it. I am also excited for juicy berries and fresh sweet corn. This soup would be amazing in the summer with freshly shucked corn cut right off the cob. Ahhhh, I'm drooling.

Well, it is February not July so I made this soup with frozen corn. It was really good but this would be bumped up to 5 spoons with the substitution of fresh corn.

(Photo courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod)

Here are my notes:

-- I skipped the butter, it seemed a tad unnecessary.
-- I didn't have a red pepper, so I doubled the carrots and celery.
-- I omitted the poblano pepper but threw in a few dashes of red pepper flakes.
-- And instead of all skim milk, I had like 1 c. of half & half in the fridge and used that. It made it deliciously creamy.
-- The thyme was not enough flavor for me so I added like 1/4 t. cumin, a lot of black pepper and a dash of paprika.

I served this with a spinach salad with homemade balsamic vinaigrette and some whole wheat dinner rolls. It was really delicious and all 3 of my guests thought so as well! I saw the end of the pot within like 45 minutes. So I would say that is a successful meal. It had a nice sweet flavor with a hint of smokiness from the added cumin. This is something really easy to make and a real "toss everything you have in the fridge" kind of soup. My favorite kind of meal!

Up next, this will be epic. Pumpkin Spice Latte Cheesecake!

JACKIE'S TOP 5

So, I know I was going to review Red Velvet Waffles with Coconut Cream Cheese Topping first but I just wanted to come here and throw out some of the recipes I can't wait to make. I always have a long list of things I'm dying to make, but these are my top 5 as of right now. My stomach is just not as big as my desire to make all this food! Here we go (and these aren't any order, I'm just listing them off):

#1: Sweet Corn Arepa Pancakes

(Photo courtesy of roboppy's Flickr page)

I've never had an arepa.... until this morning. Well let me say that I had an arepa style pancakes at Tweet (my favorite brunch spot in Chicago) and they were dynamite. They were covered with creme fraiche, soy chorizo, over easy eggs, avocado, some sort of amazing hot sauce and black beans. Every bite was a dream. I want to re-create some of those same flavors at home with this recipe. It calls for some orange juice which I think is a great compliment to the strong corn flavor. This is an easy meal with a ton of flavor and my favorite thing of all: a vehicle for a million condiments piled on top.

#2: Cookies and Cream Fudge Brownie

(Photo courtesy of BBC)

Not gonna lie, I have a huge crush on Lorraine Pascale.

(Photo courtesy of Tory Burch)

Sigh.....

Anyway, she has a show on Cooking Channel called Simply Baking. She made these on her last show and they looked so fudge-y and decadent, they are totally going to be made for like Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert. They are not everyday brownies but I bet they are just what I'm looking for.

#3: Vegan Nanaimo Bars

(Photo courtesy of One Green Planet, which is an awesome website BTW)

I had no idea what Nanaimo Bars were until like last week. I had heard of them but literally my mind always went blank when people talked about them. For some reason the name alone evoked feelings of numbness. Don't ask me why, I don't question my motives anymore.

I don't know what I was so scared of.... these are veganized bars filled with chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, nuts and a creamy pudding filling. WHAT HAVE I BEEN MISSING ALL THESE YEARS???? I can't wait to make these and review the hell out of them here. Then we can all share in the joy.

#4: Spicy Pumpkin Soup with Coconut Milk (Vegan and Gluten Free!)

(Photo courtesy of Gluten-Free Goddess)

I love pumpkin anything. Pumpkin soups are amazing. The last time I made pumpkin soup I had told my roommates that I was making it and to not eat dinner after work because there would be delicious food waiting for them. I felt like a jilted wife when they both came home at 10 pm having had dinner and ready to go to bed. Don't I sound sad here? I don't want to equate fall soup with depressing dinners! Anyhow, I divided up the soup into portions and ate it for a week and it was just as good on the 7th day as the 1st. This one is vegan and gluten-free and sounds amazing.

#5: Fettucine NoFredo with Roasted Butternut Squash (Vegan)

(Photo courtesy of Kreeli)

This is my friend Christa's dish (she used to run VeganMania in Vancouver, she is pretty amazing and you can find awesome recipes there). Vegan alfredo sauce? You are joking. But that picture is no damn joke. I plan on making this on a really cold day which will be coming sooner rather than later.

Thank you for indulging in my food fantasies. There will be a waffle recipe review this weekend. Until then, take care of yourself and eat some great food!

Vegan Refried Bean Soup 5/5 Spoons

Oh my gosh, it is totally fall right now. I'm wearing leggings and a cardigan and I finally had to bust out my light jacket for the commute to work this morning. I get giddy in this weather even though I adore summer. It is like you can almost smell the firewood and spices in the crisp air.

This is a whole lot better than me talking about farts. But oops, here we are. I'm going to just come out and say it, vegetarians and vegans fart a lot. Now I'm sure no one wants to hear about gastrointestinal distress on a food website but it is a part of my life and a result of my diet. I freakin' love beans. And cauliflower. And broccoli. And cabbage. And all those other things that make me a totally gross smelly person. I try to keep it to myself but we all know that is impossible. Anyhow, I just want to warn you what will come of eating this soup. You will be a fart machine but it will be totally worth it. (This is now the end of my gross talk. Now for the delicious food!)

(Photos courtesy of Love and Olive Oil)

This soup was SO EASY TO MAKE. I came home from work determined to eat something delicious and healthy and this took me 30 minutes flat from start to finish. It had a nice warming, spicy heat but with some sweetness from corn. And it is chock full of protein and fiber, you won't even know what to do with yourself. Here are my tiny bit of notes:

-- Can I just say, why haven't I used fire roasted tomatoes before now? They are amazing.
-- I definitely put in more hot sauce than was called for and then had some red pepper flakes. So yeah, spice it up however you want.
-- As for accoutrements, I put out green onions, sour cream and tortilla chips. The tortilla chips really made it though, so perfect.

I am putting this on my very long list of soups to make over and over again. And when it is this cheap, easy and delicious... why the heck not?

Hopefully I will be back again soon with a dessert recipe. Maybe something pumpkin-y? You will have to wait and see! xoxo

Vegan Chickpea Cutlets and Vegetarian Gravy (and other fixins!) 5/5 Spoons

IF I COULD GIVE THIS MORE THAN 5/5 SPOONS, I WOULD!!!! But it's my blog, so I can do it if I want, right? I actually equated this meal with making love to a beautiful stranger. And since I can't really say that I've done that (ahem, in the last few years), I imagine it is like eating this meal.

I've made the Chickpea Cutlets quite a few times before and they are kind of time consuming but totally taste like a cruelty-free Thanksgiving stuffing formed into a patty. And I can't really say that I was ever one for gravy but knowing I can easily make this recipe without any meat is amazing.

(Photo courtesy of Soundly Vegan)

And now the notes:

-- I always double the cutlet recipe. It gives you about 8 really big cutlets and I love having these leftover the next day for lunch or dinner. As long as you are making them, go all out. And as I'm typing this I realize that I should bake these instead of pan frying them and stick them in a sandwich. YUM!
-- You could bake these but I prefer to fry them to make them crazy crispy. A little oil never hurt anyone.
-- All I can say about the gravy is BE PATIENT. I have a lot of patience when it comes to food (sometimes) but even I kind of rushed the thickening process. I made a slurry as to not make my gravy lumpy. Next time I might try supplementing some cornstarch the same way to speed up the process.
-- This makes a lot of gravy. I doubled the recipe and had to freeze about 4 c. of it. And that's after I totally doused my food, so remember that when making it.
-- I used dried parsley instead of fresh. Whatever, I don't think it does all that much in general.
-- And you could easily make this vegan with some Earth Balance or your favorite vegan butter alternatives. All I had was unsalted butter in the house, so that's what I went for.

(Photo courtesy of Pham Fatale)

And since this was like my Sunday Night Dinner gone wild (and um, on a Monday) I made roasted asparagus and creamy mashed potatoes. I have no recipe for the potatoes because I always change it up depending on what I am feeling and what I have in the fridge. This time I used milk, butter, sour cream, fresh dill from my herb garden, salt and pepper. And I always use Yukon Gold potatoes because I think they are by far the creamiest for mashed spuds. This meal is just a melange of salty meatiness. And if that sounds gross to you, sorry. I love salty and meaty tasting foods just like the rest of America. I recommend you take a few hours out of a slow day and make this meal and take in the delicious flavors!

Up next, (if it works, since I'm baking it right now), Seitan Pepperoni!

Pumpkin Brownies 4/5 Spoons

I took about a bunch of Excedrin (ok, 3) and now I'm back with the fury of one thousand suns! I cooked and baked and chopped veggies this morning, went for a walk, talked to my temp contact through Northwestern, watched an episode of Big Love and woke up at a decent time today. I'm proud of me even though my body aches and I have cramps up the wazoo. Ok, enough about my lady drama.......

So I know for sure I'm not the only one who flips when there is talk of a canned pumpkin shortage. I even bought a fancy can of organic pumpkin this past summer because I crave pumpkin all year long. I was overzealous and went bonkers this past fall and bought like 10 cans of the stuff. Now that we are moving and want to try to eat all the food we have so there is less to take with, I've been looking for pumpkin recipes. This is the second time I've made these Pumpkin Brownies.

(Photos courtesy of Eating Is Art)

Here are my notes:

-- As usual, I used half of the sugar called for and I loved it even better this time around.
-- I don't use the entire bag of chocolate chips... that is just too much for me. Yes, I love chocolate but with the chips I use (Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chips) I think it would become overwhelming.

This is a perfect combo of tender cake and dark chocolate gooey-ness that I crave on almost a daily basis. I think the warm spiciness of the ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg always go well with the dark, richness of bittersweet chocolate.

I give this recipe:

4/5 Spoons!

I'm on a roll, more from me later!