Vegan Dill Pickle Soup

Hey Sweetums!

It's getting chilly willy in Winnipeg so I figured it is time for yet another Vivacious Vegan soup recipe!  Today, I would like to share a super yummy soup that ATM and I had a version of at a little restaurant just outside of Edmonton.  It was an Italian restaurant, so we were a little weird-ed out when our server informed us that the soup of the day was Dill Pickle.  ATM, a serious pickle lover, ordered it and fell in love.  I became determined to make a vegan version as soon as we got home and it will definitely be on regular rotation during the colder months in our home!  I know it probably sounds a little strange, but it is basically potato soup with pickle brine, pickle chunks and fresh dill.  It tastes just like dill pickle flavored potato chips!

Vegan Dill Pickle Soup
Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, chopped
- 6 cups (about 6 medium sized) Yukon Gold  potatoes, scrubbed and diced (you can use whatever potatoes you have, goldies are my fave <3 )
- 6 cups veggie stock (or water with 3 tbsp tamari soy sauce)
- 1/2 cup pickle brine (from the pickle jar!)
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 cup chopped dill pickles
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill (or 2 tbsp dried) plus a few extra sprigs for a garnish
- S&P

In your fave soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and garlic and cook until fragrant (about two minutes).  

Add the potatoes and saute for ten minutes, stirring often.  Add the veggie stock or water and bring the whole shebang to a boil over high heat.  

Once the soup has reached it's boiling point, drop that heat to medium and simmer until you can easily smush a potato chunk on the side of the pot with a wooden spoon, about 15 minutes or so.

Remove the pot from the heat and puree everything to silky smoothness with an immersion blender.  Add the pickle brine, nutritional yeast, chopped pickles and dill and blitz with the immersion blender until everything is well combined, but there are still some chunks of pickle love left.  Return the pot to low heat and simmer for ten to twenty minutes to let the flavors become BFF's.  Taste, and season with S&P.  

Serve and snuggle!

XOXO,

V.V.

Vegan Potato Salad

Hey Baaaaaaabes,

Today I am posting my recipe for potato salad! It's definitely not your traditional mayonnaise covered, hard boiled egg and chopped pickle laden pile of mush.  I use baby red and yellow potatoes, boil them until tender and then toss them in a tangy vinegrette of wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and fresh dill.  SOOO tasty and such a nice change from the goop you are used to seeing at back yard BBQ's (my apologies to those who like the tradish variety, you can always add 1/2 cup vegenaise to the dressing instead of the olive oil and maybe a chopped pickle or two if you mussssst).

Potato Salad a la Vinegrette
Ingredients:
-1 bag baby yellow fleshed potatoes
-1 bag baby red skinned creamer potatoes
-1/4 cup red wine vinegar
-1/2 cup olive oil
-3 heaping tbsp grainy Dijon mustard
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 red onion, finely diced
-6 scallions, chopped
-1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
-S&P

Put the taters in a large pot and fill it with water up to 1 inch above the taters.  Bring to a boil and cook until you can eaaaaasily poke a tater with a butter knife and it comes out eaaaaaaasily too.  Drain the taters.  At this point, I like to halve most of the potatoes and keep some whole for variety in texture.

In a large serving bowl, whisk the wine vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, minced garlic and a bit of S&P together until it had an even consistency.  Add the hot taters and combine weeeelllll.  The potaties will soak up the vinegrette and be soooo happy :)

Chill the potato salad for about an hour in the refrigerator and then add the red onion, scallion and dill.  Season with S&P and serrrrrrve it up!!

XOXO

Vivacious Vegan <3

Spiced Po and To Matoes

HEY!!!!!


Made brekkie for Bee this mornin'.  Curry spiced potato wedges and broiled tomatoes with garlic, cumin and cilantro.  Some scrambled tofu on the side would make this great to serve for brunch!  I also made baked bananas for 'breakfast dessert' (slice banana in half, top one half with vegan chocolate chips and toasted coconut, put other half on top, wrap in foil and bake at 350 for 10 min).

Curried Potato Wedges and Broiled Tomatoes with Garlic and Cumin

Ingredients:

-4 large russet potatoes, scrubbed and sliced into large wedges lengthwise

-2 tbsp veg oil

-1 tbsp curry powder

-2 slightly underripe tomatoes, washed and quartered

-1 tbsp veg oil

-1 tsp cumin

-3 cloves garlic, sliced

-1/3 cup chopped cilantro

-S&P

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.  Toss the potato wedges with the oil and curry powder.  Bake on a cookie sheet for thirty minutes or so, flipping the wedgies half way through cooking.  Season with S&P.

Set your oven to 'broil'.  In a small casserole dish, toss the quartered tomatoes with the oil and cumin.  Tuck the garlic into the tomato chunks, under the seeds and such and broil the tomatoes until they are melted and oozy.  About 5 min... Then toss the tomatoes with the cilantro and season with S&P.

NOW EAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOXO

V.V.

I Sold My Soul to Seitan

Hey Baybeeees,

Okay okay OKAY!  It appears that I am a little bit obsessed with posting seitan recipes so after this one, I'll try to vary it up!  This is a 'steakhouse' inspired dish that would be perfect date night food (the recipe serves two). 

Sunflower-Crusted Seitan with Mushroom-Garlic Smashed Potatoes

Ingredients:

-2 seitan cutlets sliced in half crosswise

-1/4 cup red wine vinegar

-2 cloves garlic, minced

-1/4 cup shoyu

-2 tbsp fresh chopped herbs of your choice

-1/2 cup water

-1/3 cup flour

-1/3 - 1/2 cup ground sunflower seeds

-2 tbsp olive oil

-4 - 5 medium sized Yukon Gold taters, washed and cubed

-3 cloves garlic, chopped

-1 cup chopped mushrooms

-2 tbsp vegan butter

-S&P

Whisk together the red wine vinegar, shoyu, minced garlic, herbs and water.  Season with S&P and marinate the seitan 'filets' in the mixture for at least and hour.  Remove the 'filets' from the marinade and dredge them in flour.  Then dip them in the marinade again and coat them in the ground seeds, pressing them on so they stick well!  Heat the oil in a skillet and saute the seitan filets until golden on both sides. 

To make a 'jus':  pour the leftover marinade into the hot skillet and reduce until slightly thickened and season with S&P.

Meanwhile, boil the potatoes until tender.  Drain them and mash them with a potato masher or whip them up with an immersion blender.  In a skillet, saute the mushrooms and garlic and then add to the taters along with the vegan butta.  Season with S&P, of course!

I served this up with some roasted baby carrots from (you guessed it) my Mama's garden!

XOXO

V.V.

"Chicky Fingers" and Fries

Hello gorgeous ones,

I have been busy busy busy since Thanksgiving (the home made tofurkey was a HIT as well as the pumpkin pie, I'll post recipes soon!) and haven't been making anything worth blogging about (lots of toast!).  Today, I made a big batch of seitan and was immediately inspired to create a vegan version of my favorite meal when I was little.  Chicken fingers and fries are on just about every family restaurant menu and kids go CRAYZAY for them.  Sadly, they are often full of fillers and all kinds of crap (and chicken of course which is a definite NO for all you vegetarians out there) so they aren't always the healthiest choice.  It should be said that I have a reputation for making the BEST oven baked french fries.  It has taken me years to perfect the combination of oven temp, seasoning, potato variety and timing and I am ready to pass on the recipe to YOU!

There's only a few hours left before Sunday Night Football starts, so get your butt into the kitchen and whip up this classic diner staple - perfect for game night fare!

"Chicky Fingers" and Fries

Ingredients:

2 seitan cutlets, sliced into 'fingers'

2 tbsp djon mustard

1 tbsp shoyu

1/4 - 1/3 cup whole wheat flour

3 tbsp canola oil

2 russet potatoes, scrubbed, sliced into fry shapes

2 tbsp canola oil

S&P

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.  Toss the fries in the canola oil and arrange them on a large baking sheet in an even layer (this is crucial for even browning, you may have to use more than one sheet).  Bake in the oven for about 20 min, then flip and bake for another ten.  Season with S&P as soon as you take 'em out of the oven.

Meanwhile...mix the shoyu and mustard together in a bowl.  Toss with the seitan fingers to coat them well and then dredge with flour.  Make sure each finger is well coated!  Heat the oil in a skillet oven med high-ish heat and saute the fingers until golden on all sides.  

Serve with lots o' ketchup and you fave dipping sauce!

XOXO,

V.V. 

Herbed Gnocchi with Tomato Lentil Sauce

Hello Lovers,

Making homemade pasta can be quite intimidating but it's actually so easy and SATISFYING!  I am kind of obsessed with dumplings of any kind and gnocchi is for me, the perfect Italian specimen.  Light and pillowy in texture but yet substancial and quite filling!  I used beautiful organic Yukon Gold potatoes from my Mama's garden but starchy baking potatoes like Russet work too.  It is extremely important not to over cook the taters otherwise they will require too much flour and will be far too dense.  Texture is KEY here, people!  Most recipes reccomend steaming the potatoes until a knife/skewer can be inserted but the tater is still firm.  I boiled mine, keeping a very close watch over them.  I kept the sauce nice and fresh to contrast the richness of the pasta.  This will serve two or three hungry peeps.

Herbed Gnocchi with Tomato Lentil Sauce

Ingredients:
for the gnocchi:
3 large Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and steamed or boiled until JUST tender 
1 cup flour
1 tsp dried oregano (I use freeze dried herbs, they taste just like fresh!)

2 tsp dried basil

½ tsp salt

for the sauce:
½ cup red lentils
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp chopped basil

½ glass white wine

Pinch chilli flakes

Salt and peppa to taste

2 tomatoes

Using a food mill, ricer, potato masher or a fork and some upper body strength, mash the hot potatoes until fairly smooth (I think a few little lumps make the gnocchi more rustic).  Add herbs and salt and enough flour to make a firm, non-sticky dough (you may not need the full cup of flour, you may need more).  Knead dough for one or two minutes to ensure that it is well blended.  Roll the dough into logs that are about one inch in thickness and cut 1/2 inch pieces from the logs.  Gently use the tines of a fork to imprint grooves on the gnocchi (this helps hold the sauce).  Cook the gnocchi in a large pot of salted, boiling water.  As soon as the dumplings rise to the surface, they are donezo!  Remove them from the water with a slotted spoon and drain well. 

Naked Gnocchi

Meanwhile...cover the lentils with just over a cup of water and bring to a boil in a large saucepan.  Reduce the heat to simmer and cook until lentils are very soft and water is completely absorbed.  While the lentils are cooking, cut the tomatoes in half and broil until soft and melted.  Chop said tomoatoes and add to lentils seeds, juices and all.  Use a fork to mash the lentils slightly with the tomatoes.  Add the wine, garlic, olive oil, chili flakes and continue to simmer sauce for a few minutes so the flavours can meld.  Add chopped basil and salt and pepper to taste.  Gently add the gnocchi to the sauce and let them become BFF's for about two minutes.  Serve right away with extra chopped basil on top!   

Delish, delish, DELISH!
xoxo