Chicken-less Noodle Soup

Here is a quick and easy soup that pairs well with sourdough toast, or open-faced sandwiches, for a quick weeknight dinner.

Chicken-less Noodle Soup
Yield: 4 servings

1 cup rice pasta spirals (or any pasta of your choice)
2 cups water
2 cups chicken-like (or vegetable) broth
1 medium carrot, sliced thinly
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly

1.  In a medium sauce pot, fill with water, add some salt, bring it to a boil.  Add pasta and cook until AL-dente about 8-10 minutes. After cooked, then drain the pasta.
2.  Meanwhile, bring broth and water to a simmer.  Add veggies and simmer until really nice and tender.  Add cooked pasta.  Serve!

*Note: You may add about a cup of veggie meat, or soy curls (reconstituted in boiling water for 10 minutes, and drained). 

Creamy Breakfast Gravy

Here's a nice, rich, creamy, seasoned breakfast gravy to go over your morning tofu scrambles, eggs, toast, or biscuits!  

This is a very versatile recipe, so you can adjust seasonings to your own taste.  I  used to serve this as my go-to recipe for breakfast gravy.  The past several years, I've experimented with lots of different kinds of flavors and ingredients in my breakfast gravies, but this texture is really yummy.  Simple, rich, and compliments your savory Sunday morning brunch quite nicely!

Give it a try, and let me know what you think in the comments below! 


Creamy Breakfast Gravy
Yield: 6-8 servings

3 cups water
1 cup raw cashews
3 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 TB Chicken-style seasoning
1 TB soy sauce, Tamari, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 tsp granulated onion
½ tsp sea salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried parsley

1.  Place everything into a blender jar, except basil and parsley.  Blend on high until really smooth, or about 2-5 minutes, depending on the quality of your blender.  (A good test is to stop the blender, stick your finger into the mixture, and rub your fingers together.  You are looking for a smooth, non-gritty consistency.  If in doubt, blend it a couple more minutes.)
2.  Then add dried basil and parsley and blend briefly, just until incorporated.  (Your gravy will turn green if you blend too long.)
3.  Cook over medium heat whisking constantly until thick and creamy.  Serve over biscuits!

Taco-Style Beans

What's cheap, low fat, easy to prepare, with more protein than any animal product?  BEANS, of course!  Beans, beans, they're good for the heart... RIGHT?!  Right.  They are very good for us.

Here is a very easy recipe for beans that go really well on taco-salad, served as a side dish for any Mexican-style meal, or just over some brown rice with some fresh toppings!  This is a recipe in which all of the ingredients are for sure going to be in your pantry already, and it is very easy to prepare.  NOTHING intimidating here, folks!

Have yourself a happy bean holiday!  Yay!


Taco-Style Beans
Yield: a large crock-pot full

6 cups pinto beans, or a mixture of a few different kinds
1 medium onion, diced
10-12 large cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
1 TB taco seasoning
1 TB dried oregano
½ tsp cumin
1 tsp granulated garlic
1 TB sea salt, or to taste
½ a 15oz can tomato sauce
2 TB organic brown sugar, agave, or maple syrup

1.  Soak beans for 8 hours, drain, rinse, place in crock-pot and cook on low for 8 hours.
2.  In a large, hot, oiled skillet, place onion.  Sauté with a pinch of salt until translucent and almost caramelized.  Throw in garlic, taco seasoning, oregano, cumin, granulated garlic, and salt.  Sauté for a minute or two until everything smells fragrant.  Add tomato sauce (and a little water if it starts to stick). 
3.  Put beans in a colander after they are cooked, rinse them off really well.  Add them to a large pot.  Add seasoning sauté mixture, your sweetener of choice, and enough water to just cover the beans barely.  Bring beans to a simmer over medium heat, then reduce to low.  Let simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  Serve.  

Potato Breakfast Scramble

Here's my favorite recipe for tofu scramble.  Here are a couple photos of when I made this for samples at the Fargo-Moorhead Health Expo on February 22, 2015.  I cooked everything separately, then you throw it together at the end, and serve!

I love the simplicity of this recipe, because I always have the ingredients in my pantry.  And if you like, you may cook any style of breakfast potatoes (boiled, baked, fried, etc.)... and this is pretty versatile, because you can keep the tofu and potatoes separate, or throw them together at the end.  

Depends on who you're serving breakfast for, I guess.  

My husband is not a vegetarian, so he's not the biggest fan of tofu scramble for breakfast.  But, if I'm just making this for my daughter and I, usually I make as directed.  Bon appetite!  

Let me know what you think in the comments below!  Or on our Facebook page "Courtney's Pantry."


Potato Tofu Breakfast Scramble
yield: 2-4 servings

1 pound small red, or gold, potatoes
1 TB oil
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced (any color)
1 14 or 16 oz container extra firm tofu, rinsed
4 large cloves garlic, pressed or minced
3 TB nutritional yeast flakes
1 ½ TB chicken-style seasoning
1 TB soy sauce, Tamari, or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos
½-1 tsp dried parsley
Sea salt, to taste

1.  Cook the potatoes: Bring unsalted water to boil over medium high heat.  Add potatoes and cook until tender, about 15 minutes.  Let cool, and dice potatoes into chunks.  Add potatoes to a hot, oiled skillet in one single layer.  Cook for 10 minutes until golden brown.
2.  Cook the tofu: In the meantime in another skillet over medium high heat, add the onions and peppers.  Cook until 10 minutes, until the onions and peppers are soft and everything is browned as you like it.  Crumble the tofu with your hands into a large pan.  Add the garlic, yeast flakes, chicken-style seasoning, soy sauce, and dried parsley.  Stir everything together, and cook it until the tofu starts to look nice and golden brown.  You may add a dash of oil to help the tofu to brown up a bit.
3.  Mix everything together: In a large bowl add potato mixture and tofu mixture.  Toss together and season with salt, to taste.

Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wow, its this time of the year again!

I know its been quite a while since my last blog post (ah...sorry).  Living in Minnesota makes for short seasons, so we try to soak up as much sun (or anything above freezing) as is humanly possible.  I'm sad that summer has come and gone, again.  But, autumn is (was) my favorite season!  Even thought its winter now in Minnesota.  What a surprise.  Can you say, "hello, subzero temperatures?"  I know, its a phrase never to be uttered- believe me!  Disclaimer; please don't say it if you want to keep your sanity.

Shout out to my homies!!!

Out of all the completely awesome food and recipe blogs out there, and I am very humbled and honored that you would even want to read this post, or anything on my blog.  And if you're reading this far, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.  This post is for you, man.  There are so many recipes out there on the internet that are tremendously better than anything I've ever posted.  So, thank you for reading, homie!

Lets get down to business.  What says "Thanksgiving" more than creamy mashed potatoes?  Because, I seriously can't think of anything.  So, today I'm going to share my top secret recipe for Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes.

That's right.

They are super simple, really fancy, and altogether amazing.  They go great with anything you're gonna eat them with!  Hey, that's a good tag line.  I'm going to use that again.

Every time I bring these to a potluck, they disappear...

And everyone ALWAYS asks how I make them... 

And, they've only got a few ingredients that you most likely already have in your pantry!  So, here you go, just in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas!  Your dinner guests will NOT be disappointed.

(Disclaimer: Neither the Publisher nor Author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages resulting from use of this Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes recipe.  All recipes are for information purposes only and are not warranted for content, accuracy, or any other implied or explicit purpose.  In other words, don't blame me if your friends don't like these mashed potatoes.)

Just kidding.

But seriously, leave me a comment below to tell me what your favorite Thanksgiving or Holiday-style food is.  Also, let me know if you give these a try and how they turned out!  Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes                    
Yield: serves about 4-6 guests

"They go great with anything you're gonna eat them with!"
  

What:
3 pounds potatoes (russets, reds, or golds all work great, and organic gives best flavor)
1 TB vegetable broth powder, or chicken-like seasoning*
1 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup butter or vegan margarine (I use Earth Balance or Smart Balance)
2-3 TB unsweetened non-dairy milk (like soy, almond or rice milk)
2 tsp granulated garlic
1 TB dried parsley
1/2-1 tsp sea salt

How:
Scrub potatoes, put them in a large pot.**  Cover them with water, and add the broth powder, and salt (or, just use vegetable broth).  Bring to boil, simmer on low for about 15-20 minutes, until they're really fork tender and falling apart.

Drain out liquid, but leave about 3/4 cup of it.  Mash up the potatoes a bit with a masher just to break them up.  Then add butter, milk, granulated garlic, parsley, and salt.  Beat the potatoes with a hand beater until everything is creamy and smooth.

Add any extra seasonings to taste, and serve.



Notes:

 *It might seem pointless to some people to cook them in broth.  I know there are varying opinions on this subject.  But, I personally think it gives them an added depth of flavor.) 

**I leave the skins on, especially when I use organic, but you can always peel them if you don't like your taters with the skins on or something.  But, don't worry, I'm not one to judge.  You're just a  weirdo, that's all.

Barbeque Crockpot Soy Curls

Serve these on a bed of Mac and cheese, and you had me at hello!  They're also really good as a sandwich filling.  Or eaten over a bed of mashed potatoes.  Or over a bed of rice.  Over a bed of anything, good they'd be on.  I'm starting to sound like Yoda.  I've gone too far, haven't I?

This is what it looks like when you throw everything in the crock-pot...

                          

Here is the final product after it cooked in the crock-pot...

And here they are pictured over some macaroni and cheese (with extra cheesy sauce drizzled on top)...

Slow cooked... Two words that belong together.  Forever.

Hope you try these.
They're amazing.

Crock-pot BBQ Soy Curls 

Yield: about 4 cups

½ pound (8 oz.) dried soy curls
⅛ - ¼ cup vegetarian beef seasoning
2 cups boiling water
1 small onion, diced
2 cups barbecue sauce
¼ cup water

 Place soy curls in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water and vegetarian beef seasoning to reconstitute.  Stir occasionally, and let sit for 20 minutes.  (Using kitchen shears, you may choose to cut these up a little bit to make them all the same size.)
 Throw the reconstituted soy curls, diced onion, BBQ sauce, and ¼ cup water in the crockpot.  Stir well.
 Cook on high for 4-6 hours until everything is caramelized, or on low for 8-10 hours.  These freeze well.