Potato Soup

Posted on by jeffreylatty

It only seems fitting to have a spring soup session with this never-ending winter the midwest is experiencing. This is a Potato Soup without an overload of Potatoes.

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Mashed Cauliflower was the basis of this wonderful Soup. In a Skillet, light Oil, Celery, Carrot, Onion and Garlic were pan-fried. Boiled and strained Cauliflower was mixed in and seasoned with Sea Salt, Pepper, Sugar and Cayenne before being slightly scorched on an fiery skillet. Balsamic and White Wine Vinegar put out the fire in my pan. After being stirred around, Almond Milk was added and stirred in, also. After cooling a tad, the concoction was blended slightly chunky. Added back to the pan, Almond Milk controlled the consistency of this goldmine of smells.

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Riced Broccoli & Cauliflower, Ⓥ ‘parmesan cheese’ and Dill Weed were added and stirred in while keeping an eye on the desired consistency.

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I like what I like. You like what you like. Recipes are guidelines. Let’s not take cooking too seriously. Have fun and create!

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NOW, some Veggies were roasted while the Mashed Cauliflower simmered down now, warmly. Potatoes and Carrots were chopped and seasoned with Cracked Pepper, Sea Salt and Garlic. Cubed Tofu was also roasted, but separately. Veggie Broth was simmered in the BIG POT and diced (raw) Celery & Onions were added with the roasted Veggies & Tofu. Fresh Dill and the Mashed Cauliflower was eventually added and cooked down as much as possible.

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To infuse all of these flavors together the best way in my head, they were blended to be further cooked down. Served with a side of Lemon Dill Potatoes and Garnished with fresh Dill and a simple cracker, a few pictures were taken before being devoured.

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Cheers. Have fun!

Celery Soup

Posted on by jeffreylatty

My new blender/food processor was finally utilized yesterday. Cream of Celery soup without animal lactations cannot be titled Cream of Celery soup, in my opinion, for the record.

Time is everything with soup construction. My Celery Soup was a ten hour project. For lunch, I enjoyed a Fauxwich, consisting of Vegan meat substitutes and Daiya.

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Celery Soup started with obviously Celery pan-fried with light oil, Onion, Carrot and Garlic. After achieving the correct color, Liquid Smoke, Sea Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Lemon Juice, Vegan Bouillon, Dill Weed, Cayenne and White Wine were added to be cooked down. A couple of Bay Leaves (later removed, duh) were added with Veggie Broth and brought to a boil and then simmered for a while.

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After cooling, the greatness was blended, added to soup pot and thickened with Instant Mashed Potatoes. Extra Firmly crumbled Tofu and Almond ‘milk’ was then added and simmered for hours to only be seasoned with Celery Salt and Celery Flakes. Blended one more time and Celery Leaf added for garnish, this soup is readible edible.

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May your winter hibernation attempts be as good Beer plentiful as mine.

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Happy Sunday!

CaⓋun Bean Soup

Posted on by jeffreylatty

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I have been slacking on a bicycle as of late and mostly just commuting everyday. I took the day off of the bicycle last Sunday, but went for a kickass 80km (50mile) ride last Saturday. Even though my longer rides have dropped, my (usually hard ridden) commutes keep me strong and ready-to-go. I messed with some wind on Saturday, but muscled through it.

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#RideOn

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My mother bought me a Cajun Bean Soup bean mix and I utilized them wonderfully. This Soup simmered for over five hours.

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Truly a tasty (trick or) treat with a little seasoning, no oil and lots of Veggies and Beans. Nothing was purchased by myself just to be included in this Soup. Utilization of on-hand ingredients were my ingredients. I did use remaining Daiya ‘cream cheese’ and Earth Balance ‘butter’. Technically, they probably consist of some oil, but no oil added other than that already in those ingredients.

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I used the Cajun seasoning mix that was included with the Beans. It wasn’t much and did not consist of any animal products. I boiled the beans for a bit and rinsed before starting the actual base of the Soup. I heated Veggie Broth with some leftover Salsa and chopped up Onion, Celery, Green Pepper, Mushroom, Jalepenos, Serrano and Potatoes. I utilized a little Pumpernickel Bread, finely chopped. The seasonings were the Cajun seasoning, Sea Salt, Pepper, Chipotle, Garlic & Onion Powder and some Chipotle Lime Powder. Lentils, Beans, (frozen) Corn, Jasmine Rice, Daiya ‘cream cheese’ & Earth Balance ‘butter’ were all thrown in and brought to a boil before simmering for hours. Water was added as needed.

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This Cajun Vegan Bean Soup is plentiful and absolutely deliciously edible. I did not figure out the cost of this batch, but I’m sure for the numerous flavorful servings this involves it should be in my LBV (Low Budget Vegan) ‘series’ as it seems fairly inexpensive.

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This daylight savings changing ridiculous angers me. It needs to be lighter later, not earlier in the day. I hope a Mars civilization wouldn’t partake in a time change.

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Ⓥeatballs

Posted on by jeffreylatty

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Back Burner Ragu Marinara ingredients:

  • Celery, finely diced
  • Carrot, finely diced
  • Onion, finely diced
  • Garlic, diced
  • Balsamic Vinegar
  • Veggie Broth
  • Tomato Paste
  • Chopped Tomatoes, canned or fresh (deseeded)
  • Sugar/SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne/GarlicP/OnionP

  

Steps:

  • Cook Garlic, Celery, Onion & Carrot before adding everything else.
  • Simmer for hours, stirring.
  • I used Brown Sugar this time and I put a splash of Liquid Smoke

I decided to cancel my plans on making Seitan ‘Parmesan’ in order to ride a Gran Fondo on my only day off in the last week. At times, I have been motivated to suffer through various rides. One, to make me stronger and two, to deplete any frustrations and stress life can bring. This stress killer was a ride with 20-35 km/h headwind. I chose to turn my Back Burner Ragu Marinara into a soup.

Gran Fondo

  
Creating things that are versatile keeps you on your toes and free to motivate your imagination in the kitchen. Just like recipes, plans do not have to be kept and should be open for changes and involve freedom.

  
Roasted Ⓥeggie Soup ingredients:

  • Back Burner Ragu Marinara, simmering
  • Cashew Milk
  • Tofu, soft
  • Eggplant, chopped
  • Potato, chopped
  • Cauliflower, chopped
  • Green Pepper, diced
  • Asparagus, chopped
  • Tomato, chopped
  • Celery, chopped
  • Mushroom, sliced
  • Onion, diced
  • Sugar/SeaSalt/Pepper/GarlicP/OnionP
  • Nutritional Yeast

   

 High Dive Double Backflip:

  • Roast Veggies to desired doneness.
  • Add Tofu & Mushrooms towards the end of desired doneness, or not.
  • Simmer Cashew Milk with seasonings while Veggies are roasting.
  • Add roasted greatness to Sauce and enjoy 🙂

Last night I spontaneously decided to make pasta from my Soup. And also decided and brainstormed Ⓥeatballs. The last time I made meatless ‘meatballs’, I was not even Vegetarian yet. I took a different approach and had fun with the idea. The results were very rewarding and extremely tasty.

  
Ⓥeatballs ingredients:

  • Fennel Seeds, roasted
  • Eggplant, roasted & diced
  • Garlic, minced
  • Raw Cashew, pulverized
  • Raw Almonds, pulverized w/ skin
  • LightLife, ‘beef’ & ‘sausage’ – diced
  • Bread Crumbs, plain
  • Corn Meal
  • Vital Wheat Gluten, not too much
  • Idaho Spuds Instant Mashed, classic
  • Cashew Milk
  • NutritionalYeast/Sugar/Cayenne
  • GarlicP/OnionP/Turmeric/Thyme/Oregano
  • SeaSalt/Pepper

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 Cannon Balls:

  • Roast Fennel Seeds and Eggplant together and cool slightly before dicing.
  • Start mixing dry ingredients first before wet and more wet ingredients just to ease my anal-ness.
  • I decided to add Vital Wheat Gluten last just because I was unsure of how it would mix. I added a bit at a time while mixing with one hand until I found my ideal consistency.
  • Form into balls and bake before broiling to finish with some color and char flavor.

  

Pasta ingredients Ⓥ:

  • Bow Tie noodles, cooked entirely in Sauce
  • Roasted Ⓥeggie Soup, simmering
  • Spinach, sliced like Basil
  • Ⓥeatballs, fresh out of oven 🙂

  

Snow Angels:

  • Make sure noodles have cooked in sauce.
  • Add sliced Spinach.
  • Plate Pasta with Ⓥeatball.
  • Enjoy a beer and be happy:)

  

Currently on Netflix incase you’d like to GEEK OUT:

Mysteries of the Unseen World

The Physics of Light

  

Ⓥ Souper

Posted on by jeffreylatty

  
My choice of Vegan lifestyle obviously started with the easy decision of Vegetarianism close to three years ago. And while maintaining 100% Vegetarian lifestyle, I progressively made Vegan adaptations.

  
Social media is a tool and often a tool for me to reference statistics or dates. Today I’m gonna search through my social diary in Twitter. At some point in my life, I want to write a book with basically just my tweets.

  • First purposely #VeganVriday was 1.9.15
  • First purposely #VeganVeekend was 5.29.15

I did not survive every VeganFriday and I think I failed only one VeganWeekend after starting. I did, however, notice a difference in my digestive system and stomach between Vegetarianism and Veganism. Ultimately bringing me to the no-brainer decision of upgrading vegetarianism into Veganism as of 7.8.15.

  
I have finally found my love for Earth Balance Vegan ‘butter’. “Better late than never.” Says everyone.

  
I made SOUP for the first time in this colder turning time. And I was going to name it Souper Ⓥ Supe, but chose to shorten to Ⓥ Souper.

  
I found out that Sweet Potato skins are very edible and very good.

  
I resurrected my very first “real” bicycle in honor of his second birthday on September 22nd, in a 2014 Trek CrossRip. I’ve named him the HulkRip. I’ve ridden him through hell and back at over 7,000 km. He needed new cables, brakes, chain, cassette, chain ring and tape and pedals which I put on. He sat up at the bike shop for a good month awaiting a chain keeper. I’d like to keep HulkRip rideable for a long long time. And rode him for the first time in months yesterday. Happy Birthday, HulkRip!

   
    
 Ⓥ Souper ingredients:

  • Tofu, soft
  • Soyrizzo, had to add another ‘z’ because I’m a cubbies fan
  • Mushroom, sliced
  • Sunflower Seeds, shelled & I used non salted
  • Garlic, minced
  • Radish, sliced
  • Onion, Diced and julienne sliced
  • Green Pepper, shorter julienne sliced
  • Tomato, beefsteak diced and grape-whole
  • Spinach
  • BalsamicVinegar/Oil
  • Earth Balance ‘butter’, mmmmm
  • Jasmine Rice, cooked
  • Lentils, cooked
  • Kale, frozen & NonGMO mmm
  • Eggplant, chopped
  • Zucchini, chopped
  • Sweet Potato, chopped w/ skin
  • Red Potato, chopped w/ skin
  • Russet Potato, chopped w/ skin
  • Cilantro, frozen cubes mmm
  • SeaSalt/Pepper/Cayenne
  • Serrano & Hot Peppers, diced
  • Veggie Broth

Insanity:

  

I actually started out making a breakfast stir-fry and severely enjoyed it before later making into soup.

  

  • Cook Rice and Lentils together while stir-frying and later drain before adding.
  • Heat Oil and add Garlic, Hot Peppers, Potatoes, diced Onion and Eggplant.
  • Add Tofu, Soyrizzo, Sunflower Seeds and diced Tomato. Cover and sauté.
  • Add Seasonings, Rice/Lentils and BalsamicVinegar with generous Earth balance! Cover
  • Always stir occasionally…duh
  • Add Kale, Zucchini, Green Pepper, Julienne Onion, Radish, Mushroom, Cilantro& Grape Tomatoes
  • Can’t forget the SPINACH
  • Cover and simmer low

  
I served the stir-fry w/ wheat toast with Earth balance. I FREAKING LOVE EARTH BALANCE.

  
Rano Pano – Mogwai

  
To make Soup, I honestly just added Broth as it mixed and thickened extremely well. Very flavorful! And powerfully nutritious!

   
   
Go Cubbies as it’s almost playoff time! Have a good beer, take a good pic and ride a bicycle before the cold hits! Happy Thursday and Happy Weekend! Do something out of the ordinary!

  
  

Ⓥegan Pasta

Posted on by jeffreylatty

  
Yesterday was my very first experience buying, cooking and consuming Earth Balance Vegan ‘butter’. It was extremely enjoyable and I’m officially now a lifelong customer. Along with Vegenaise, Earth Balance is better than animal-based dairy. SERIOUSLY. It could be the evolution of my palate, but serious tastiness anyway you consume these wonderful plant-based products is a no brainer.

   
   
Saturday night, immediately after work, I went for a ride via towpath to drink some beers and make a small night out of it. I noticed the super moon and was extremely impressed with the visuality of a normally immensely dark (death metal) towpath. I still used my light, but would’ve been fine without my NiteRider Lumina 700. When the moon casts shadows, you (me) know its close to our earth. For the second time this year, I completed a (my) local bars Hall of Foam where you get your name on a plaque for drinking 50 different beers. It was a great night! (Warning: not all in one night)

   
   
Here in northern Illinois, it has been unseasonably warm this September. And yesterday was the first Fall-like day this year (2015:). Chili (and Soup) season is HERE! Last night, after work, I had to make a buttery pasta with the amazing Earth Balance. I decided to make a Mexicano (Ⓥ) Pasta and I’ll just go ahead and call it Mexicano Ⓥasta.

   
 Mexicano Ⓥasta ingredients:

  • Earth Balance ‘butter’, mmmmmmmmm
  • Garlic, minced
  • Carrot, sliced small longways
  • Onion, (red) diced
  • Sweet Potato, WITH PEEL ON (try it!) chopped
  • Oil/BalsamicVinegar
  • SeaSalt/Pepper/ChipotleP/Cayenne/C.R.P./Paprika/FennelSeed
  • Cilantro, I used frozen cubes
  • Kale, frozen & NONGMOProjectVerified
  • Corn, kernels
  • Tomato, grape sliced
  • Rice, Jasmine & cooked
  • Lentils, cooked
  • Radish, sliced
  • Mushroom, sliced
  • Eggplant, chopped
  • Squash, Zucchini & chopped
  • Angel Hair pasta, cooked al dente & not rinsed
  • Thickening agent, instant mashed potatoes

  

T minus ______ until blastoff:

  • Added a bit of Oil to heated pan and sautéed Garlic with Carrot, Sweet Potato, Onion & Eggplant while cooking Jasmine Rice and Lentils on another burner.
  • I added seasonings, Corn, BalsamicVinegar & Zucchini, covering for a few minutes.
  • Once Rice/Lentils are done, I strained and added with Earth balance ‘butter’, Cilantro, Tomato, Radish & Mushroom, covering on a simmer.
  • I cooked Angel Hair (Capellini for those Italians:) al dente and strained. If you’d like, a little Oil on pasta…
  • I added a few pinches of instant mashed potatoes as a thickening agent and served over plated pasta!

  
I couldn’t stop eating this pasta. Not literally, but just about. I might eat the leftovers for breakfast!

  
I hope everyone is having a great week! I also hope no one witnessed any crazies during this Super Moon.

  
And go Chicago Cubbies! Happy Wednesday!

  
I also made Sweet Potato Chips 🙂 (to be mastered)