Vegetable, Lentil and Dumpling Soup.

We went over to our friend's house for dinner and while the kids were playing Nicole and I made soup.
This is her recipe. I snapped a few shots to post here for you!

You will need: 

Three stocks of celery, three medium sized carrots, half a head of cauliflower,
four small potatoes, an onion, a large handful of green beans and about a cup of peas.

A good sprinkle of your favorite spices, we used parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage and marjoram.

Two vegetable bouillon cubes, salt, pepper, and enough oil to cover your soup pot.

A large handful of red and green lentils.

Let's cook:

Cut up the carrots, onions and potatoes into small pieces.

Over medium-low heat, cover the base of the soup pot in oil, and add the onions, carrots, potatoes,
and cook until onions are almost transparent.

Cut up the cauliflower and celery and add to the pot.

Give it a good stir.

Sprinkle a good dash of your spices, salt and pepper.

Give it another good stir. Lower heat untill you add the water.

In a glass measuring cup, pour some boiled water over the bouillon cubes.

Once the bouillons are dissolved add the mixture to the pot.

We added about eight cups of water, just a little more than twice as much water as there are vegetables.
Raise the heat to medium-high and bring to a light boil.

Add the lentils, these cook fast enough that you don't need to pre-soak or pre-boil them!

Add the green beans, cauliflower and peas.

For the dumplings you will need; soy milk, flower, salt and baking powder.

1 cup of flour; 3/4 cup of milk; a dash of salt and 2 tablespoons of baking powder.
  In a mixing bowl mix the dry ingredients slowly adding the milk until until a soft dough is formed.
Use your hands to mix the dough until is smooth and no longer sticky,
adding more flour or water as needed.

When the potatoes are almost soft, the soup is nearly finished cooking,
pinch small amounts of the dough and roll into balls and drop into the soup.

Cook for at least ten minutes!

This really was the best soup I've had in along time, I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Shepherd's Pie

This is my favourite comfort food, my Mom used to make this all the time when I was growing up.  I have modified it to be vegan friendly and even the meat eaters in our house enjoy it, I hope you do, too!

You will need...

An onion, four cloves of garlic, a small boc of button mushrooms, eight medium sized potatoes.
A package of ground round, and one small can of; corn, cream corn and peas,
About two tbsp of oil or vegan margerine.

*Yukon gold potatoes are best for mashed potatoes.
*I like to use white button mushrooms, but use your favorite.
*Ground round is that mock ground beef soy product; I like the original but you can also try Italian or Mexican for a different flavor.

Prep...

Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.

Finely chop up the onion, garlic and mushrooms.  Rinse, peel, and chop up the potatoes.

Let's get cooking!

In a medium sized sauce pan, or a large skillet,
heat about 2 tbsp of oil or vegan butter over medium-low heat.
Add your onions and cook until transparent, add garlic and let cook for about a minute.
Add mushrooms and cook through, for about five minutes.
Add your ground round and corn, heat through.

In a separate sauce pan, bring enough water to cook your chopped potatoes to a light boil.  I like to chop my potatoes up small and steam them, once the fork goes through them easily I drain most of the water, adding about 1/3 of a cup of the water back to the potatoes to mash them smoothly, you can use milk or butter, too, but the water will add some of the nutrients back and is healthier, a dash of salt and pepper to taste and you've got your mashed potatoes read to go!

Layer the ground round mixture about 1/3 of the way up in your casserole dish.

Layer the creamed corn as the second layer.

Smooth the mashed potatoes over the first two layers,
pop into the oven for 45 minutes.

I usually have about a 1/4 of my ground round mixture left,
which is super yummy with pasta, so I put it aside for another quick meal.

Lite Broccoli, Potato and Chickpea Soup

 When ever someone is not feeling well in the house I like to make this, it's like a warm blanket, and you can double up on the garlic so it really helps you fight a sickness that is trying to bring 'ya down!

You will need;

A can of chickpeas, an onion, three cloves of garlic, two crowns of broccoli, four potatoes, salt & pepper to taste.

Prep;

Dice onions and garlic.

Rinse, peel and chop potatoes, rinse and cut up broccoli, separating the stems and florets.

Ok! Let's make some soup!

Cover the base of your pot with enough oil to coat the base, and heat over medium heat.
Add onions and cook onions until transparent, stirring occasionally.
  Add potatoes and garlic and cook for one minute, keep stirring.
Fill the pot 3/4 with water and toss in broccoli stems, bring to a light boil then lower heat.
Salt & pepper to taste.

Empty can of chickpeas into a colander and rinse well, after lowering heat,
add chickpeas and broccoli florets, cook until potatoes are soft.

Enjoy!
Refrigerate promptly and enjoy within four days!