Sweet Potato, Tomato and Quinoa Soup

Get ready for a delicious, hearty and tasty soup my friends! I have adapted a recipe that was originally posted by http://thatwasvegan.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/sweet-potato-tomato-and-quinoa-soup/.
A few small changes were made, but I feel at least the 1st 2 changes listed below made a world of difference.
1. I used 2 cups of fresh tomatoes vs a 16oz can of tomatoes. I think the flavor is worth the extra work!
2. I cooked the quinoa in Not-Chick'n broth for extra flavor.

 (I think vegetable broth would be delicious as well)
3. I also made less quinoa then originally called for in the recipe linked above.
Anyways, this soup is one of the best soups I have ever had, and I didn't know something could be this delicious and creamy without added cream. I must say, it was a very pleasant surprise! This soup is pretty good for you too, and you wouldn't know it if you try it because it tastes sinful. It is tasty with or without the quinoa as well.
Enjoy!!

Sweet Potato, Tomato and Quinoa Soup

Ingredients:

For Soup-
1Lg Vidalia Onion (or sweet onion), chopped
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
3 Lg Sweet Potatoes, chopped (Use hannah yams if you can find them!)
2c. Chopped Tomatoes
4c. Veggie Stock
1T. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

For Quinoa-
2c. Quinoa
4c. Broth

Directions:
Cook the Quinoa according to directions. Set aside. Sauté onions with EVOO for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and sautee for 1-2 minutes longer. Put sautéed garlic and onions in a large soup pan or stock pan with tomatoes, sweet potatoes, and veggie stock. Simmer ingredients together until sweet potatoes are tender.

When the potatoes are tender, transfer this to a blender or food processor. Process/Blend until smooth.
Serve the soup with a generous amount of quinoa on top, and enjoy!
I did not have the quinoa ready to top off my soup in the picture, but I think you get the picture anyways! ;)

Just a few ingredients...

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with some of the ingredients I have used in the recipes on this site, I have attached some pictures of them for you here, so that you know what you are looking for. This one is for you Dianne!
:)
Miso:

 Nutritional Yeast:

Liquid Aminos:

Danny's Salsa

Danny's Salsa

Thanks to Priscilla Marquez, we have some of the most delicious salsa in town. :) When Gabe and his family were out here a year or two ago, they made us the most fantastic mexican food, and one of the items we fell in love with was the fresh warm salsa. We could have drunk it from the bowl. Luckily, Priscilla was wonderful enough to tell us how to make it and it is now a staple item in our kitchen. Best served warm, but it is delicious any way you have it!
Feel free to adjust the amount of ingredients to your liking. Some like it spicy, while others may want it a little toned down. Maybe you want more or less garlic-make it your own. ;)

Ingredients:
4 Large Tomatoes
2 or more Jalapeños
1T. Garlic, minced
Salt to taste

Directions:
Boil H20 in a large pot. Throw in jalapeños and boil for 5 minutes. Then throw in the tomatoes and boil until skin breaks. Remove tomatoes and jalapeños and place on cutting board. Remove skin from tomatoes, and chop everything into smaller pieces. Throw all ingredients into blender or food processor. Process until you reach desired consistency. Pour into a serving dish and serve immediately with chips or anything with which you like salsa.
It's so easy, you gotta try it! You won't regret it!!

Finadene Sauce

Thanks to a friend of ours - Jason, we have a new addiction. It's a common item often served with red rice in Guam and it's called Finadene Sauce.
Unfortunately he tantalizes us with this every time we get together, and I can never get enough and always crave more. He plans on opening a restaurant soon, which we will frequent often, because his food and sauce are AMAZING, but until that time I needed to find a way to satiate my craving. Well last weekend, all I wanted was this damn sauce couldn't get it off my mind, so I set out to find a recipe.
This is my modified version.
We like it SPICY! So, feel free to adjust to your liking.
:)

Finadene Sauce  

Ingredients:
2 Serrano Peppers, minced
2-3 Serrano Peppers, sliced finely
1/2 Red Onion, finely chopped (we do small, but feel free to try larger pieces instead, if that is what you would prefer)
1/4c. White Vinegar or Lemon Juice (we have tried both, but the vinegar taste more like the real deal)
1/4c. Soy Sauce
1/4c. Liquid Aminos (if you don't have this, just use soy sauce instead).

Directions:
Cut up peppers, set aside. Pour vinegar in to a bowl. Slowly add soy sauce and liquid aminos, until you have the right balance. Sometimes we have added slightly more soy or liquid aminos than listed above to get the desired flavor. Add the onion and peppers. Chill until ready to serve, or eat immediately.
This is delicious over rice, you may like it over chicken or other meat. I like to make rice, top it with the sauce and have some veggies thrown into the mix. I will generally use red, yellow and orange bell peppers, corn, peas, and tomatoes. Yum!
Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!!
As soon as Jason opens this restaurant of his, I will make sure to post about that as well, since it is sure to be a FABULOUS establishment. Until then-this will have to do. :)

Vegan Pizza

Oh pizza, how I missed you. How many times you lead me astray from my diet cause I just couldn't live without you-until now!
Let me be upfront -if you are looking for a gooey cheese pizza, look somewhere else-you will not find that here! I haven't tried any of the vegan cheese yet, and I am not sure I will. It looks so gross on a pizza-or on anything for that matter, that I am not sure I will ever come around to it. MAYBE, if someone is really convincing and asks me to give it a whirl. But I am a girl from Wisconsin, and I know what cheese is supposed to taste like, and that stuff just does not appeal to me even slightly.
BUT, if you like the flavor of cheese on a pizza and everything else about a pizza-then I have a delicious recipe for you!

Ingredients:
Pizza dough or pre made crust (we used Whole Foods pre made dough)
Pizza sauce
Your favorite toppings (we used spinach and mushrooms)

Cheese aka Tofu Ricotta:
http://www.pbs.org/food/fresh-tastes/stuffed-shells/
BTW-those stuffed shells are AMAZING!!! You should totally try them-and feel free to feed them to your friends who are non believers in anything vegan-they won't know the difference-I SWEAR!

Directions:
Prepare the Tofu Ricotta from the above link as directed. Set aside.
Prepare the dough, if you are starting from scratch. Place rolled out dough onto a baking sheet and cook (at suggested temperature) for only 3-5 minutes. You are just looking for the crust to be slightly cooked. Remove from oven, and allow to cool for a minute or two. **If you are starting with a pre made crust-dont worry about this step.
Next spread the Tofu Ricotta on the crust. You will not need entire batch that you made from the recipe above, but feel free to apply liberally. We put it on the crust because we tried it crumbled on top once, and it just dried out a little too much for our liking-although the flavor was still good.
Top that with your pizza sauce and the load on the toppings! I think good suggestions would be: mushrooms & onions (both good fresh or sautéed), garlic, spinach, tomatoes, black olives, artichoke hearts etc. What we have learned is to make sure to apply more than you will think is necessary cause they will shrink up on the oven.
Toss the prepared pizza in the oven for maybe 5-10 minutes (checking it often enough just to prevent an over cooked crust).
Take it out of the oven, slice, serve and enjoy!
Satisfies my craving~hope it does yours the same.
:)

Artichoke Crostini

A few weeks ago Dan and I decided to go to a vegan cooking class at Whole Foods, and boy am I glad we did!

One of the items Chef Hillori Hansen made for us was phenominal and made Dan a believer in just how tasty artichokes can be. Finally!! We have made this several times since then, and will for many years to come. It was also our first experience since the diet switch to making some sort of sauce out of cashews-which made me a believer. ;)

So, here it is. Get ready for your minds to be blown!

Artichoke Crostini-

Ingredients:

1T. EVOO

1/2 Yellow Onion, finely chopped

1/2c. Raw Cashews

1t. Miso

1T. Lemon Juice

1T. H20

2 Cloves Garlic, minced

2T. Nutritional Yeast

1can Artichoke Hearts in H20, drained and chopped

1 French or Sourdough Baguette

Green Onions or Chives, chopped

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

Soak Cashews overnight in H20 (enough to cover them completely).

In a medium saucepan, saute the onion in EVOO until translucent and tender (about 5-10 min).

Drain and rinse the cashews and place them in the food processor with the onions, miso, lemon juice, garlic and H20. Blend until smooth. If needed for consistency, feel free to add a little extra H20, but do so cautiously a little at a time.

Once the sauce is smooth, add the artichokes, nutritional yeast and the S&P to taste. Blend just enough so that the ingredients are well mixed, but you do still want pieces of artichokes present in the dip.

Slice the baguette on an angle, set the pieces onto a baking sheet and spray or brush each piece of bread with a little EVOO.

Place the baguette in the oven on the top rack under the broiler for about 4-5 minutes until lightly toasted (about 2 minutes on each side).

Remove the toasted baguette, and top each slice with about 2T. of the artichoke dip. Garnish with green onions or chives and serve.

*This will keep a few days in the fridge-provided you can resist the urge to eat the entire thing in once sitting that is...

Enjoy!