The first time I ate chorizo, I was staying with a host family in a tiny town in Spain. Every night after work (and before they ate dinner at about 10:30 PM), they put out bread, manchego (and other similar cheeses) and chorizo. I instantly fell in love with the salty, spicy cured sausage and was really bummed to discover how hard it was to find at home. I wanted to make paella for my family the way I learned how to in Spain, but all I could find was Mexican chorizo, which isn’t the same at all. Although I was not a fan of it at first, I came to love it even more than the Spanish variety.

When I gave up meat a few months ago, I wanted to steer clear of imitation meat products (like soy nuggets and fake lunch meat), but when I saw Soy Chorizo at Trader Joe’s, I had to give it a try. I don’t plan on eating it often, but I LOVE the stuff, and it really does look and taste a lot like the real thing (but without a bunch of random pig parts). I recently bought a package to put in breakfast scrambles, but I wanted to use some in a real recipe. Black bean soup isn’t normally my favorite, but with chorizo, it takes on a whole new flavor that’s totally irresistible. I love how easy this is to put together, and with a salad it’s a nice, light meal.

Recipe:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lg onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
6 ounces Soy Chorizo (or regular…your call)
3 cups black beans, rinsed and drained (about 2 cans)
2-3 cups vegetable broth
lime wedges and fresh chopped cilantro, for serving

Heat the oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper and saute until soft (about 4 minutes). Add the chorizo, salt, and cumin and cook, stirring, another 5-6 minutes.
Stir in the beans and 2 cups of broth and simmer for about 15 minutes. Using an immersion blender, pulse a few times (so it’s partly but not completely pureed). Salt to taste, and add more broth if you’d like your soup a little thinner.
Serve with lime wedges and fresh cilantro.

When we moved into this house back in December, Mike bought a GIANT bag of pinto beans. Since I didn’t think I really liked pinto beans, I thought it would just be that thing that is still sitting there when it’s time to move out (whenever that may be), and we’d laugh about how he thought we’d go through that many beans. I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that now though.

I’m not sure why I was anti-pinto, but this recipe changed that. It’s a little time consuming because of the dicing and roasting of vegetables, but that part is so, so worth it. The flavor that roasting adds makes this soup. I cooked dried pintos because I have millions of them, but I’m sure 2 cans, rinsed and drained, would work well. I also kept the amount of liquid fairly low, so this was more like a stew than a soup, but of course, that part is flexible and you can add as much broth as you’d like.

Recipe:
(adapted from The Voluptuous Vegan by Myra Kornfeld)

1 zucchini, diced
1 red onion, diced
1 ear or corn
1 fresh poblano chile, stem and seeds removed, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
3 cups pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 tsp New Mexico chile powder
1 tsp dried oregano
4 cups vegetable broth

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Cut the kernels off the ear of corn. Toss the zucchini, red onion, poblano, and corn kernels with 1 tbsp oil and salt and pepper. Spread onto two Silpat or parchment lined cookie sheets and roast for about 15 minutes, or until tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Heat the other tablespoon of oil in a dutch oven or heavy soup pot. When hot, add the shallots and cook, stirring, until golden. Add the chile powder and oregano, followed by the beans and broth and stir well. Add the roasted vegetables, and simmer until everything is heated through. Add salt to taste, then serve.

Reading The Language of Baklava by Diana Abu-Jaber has made me crave Middle Eastern food in a way I never have before. It’s a memoir about growing up with an American mother and a Jordanian father (who loves to cook and eat), and I can’t read a chapter without wanting to make all the recipes she includes. This doesn’t happen to be from her book, but it’s from a great Middle Eastern cookbook that Mike checked out along with the memoir (I should just send him to the library for me from now on – I think he’s better at picking books I’ll like than I am!)

This recipe comes from Iran, and it’s perfect to make as the days get hotter. It’s incredibly quick and simple, and would make a nice light dinner with the addition of salad and bread.

Recipe:
(adapted from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden)

Serves 2-3
2 cups plain yogurt (I used nonfat)
1/3 cup sour cream (I used low-fat)
1/3 cup cold water
salt and pepper
1/2 English cucumber, grated
2 finely chopped green onions (green parts only)
a few mint leaves, chopped, for garnish

Beat the yogurt and sour cream together until smooth, then stir in the water, cucumber, and green onions.
Season with salt and pepper to taste, and garnish with fresh mint to serve.

I love French onion soup. Not the way I love tomato soup (for the nostalgia) or vegetable soup (because it’s healthy). French onion soup is just on a whole other level.

There’s just one problem: beef broth. The handful of recipes I’ve tried have all called for it, and back in my meat-eating days, I didn’t think twice about using it. I just kind of assumed that onion soup without beef broth wasn’t worth eating, so I hadn’t bothered to make a vegetarian version of it.

But a nagging craving got the best of me and I figured that even if it wasn’t worth eating, enough cheesy toast on top would at least make it tolerable, so I forged ahead with a new recipe which happens to call for beer instead of the wine I usually use. I can get behind that.

If you eat meat, I don’t see any reason to use vegetable broth… beef broth does give the characteristic flavor onion soup lovers crave. But if you’re vegetarian, don’t worry, this has everything you’re looking for, even without the beef broth. Win-win!

Recipe:
(adapted from McGuires Irish Pub Cook Book)

Serves 8

1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
2 tsp salt, divided
a pinch or two of freshly ground black pepper
4 large onions, thinly sliced (I used a mix of red, white, and yellow)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cups vegetable (or beef) broth
3 cups lager
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp fresh thyme
1/8 tsp ground allspice
2 bay leaves
8 slices wheat bread
8 slices Swiss cheese

Toss the onion slices with the flour, 1 tsp of salt, and black pepper.
Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven and add the onions. Cook over medium-low, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very soft, about 40 minutes.
Stir in the broth, lager, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, allspice, bay leaves, and other tsp of salt. Simmer, covered, for about 45 minutes, removing the lid a few times to stir. Taste and adjust seasonings.
A few minutes before you’re ready to serve the soup, place the cheese slices on the bread and heat under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly.
Ladle the soup out into bowls, then top with the bread and cheese to serve.

I love how so many things in life just seem to work out. I have to admit, when I signed up for Adopt-A-Blogger #4 I was a little skeptical. After all, how do I qualify as a mentor? Yeah, I’ve been doing this for over a year, but I’d hardly call myself a blogging pro. What would I have to contribute? What if the adoptee thought I was lame?

But of course, I worried excessively for absolutely NO reason, because I was matched with Wizzy of Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Punch. Not only are her pictures gorgeous and her writing witty and eloquent, but her recipes are unique and she lives in Trinidad! Since I’ve never been to or eaten food from the Caribbean (except for a Cuban restaurant years ago), it was pretty much a perfect match. Of course, I feel like I’m learning far more from her than I am offering in return, but I’ve been loving our emails back and forth.

I will undoubtedly make quite a few recipes off her site, but this one caught my eye immediately because Mike has been dying to go to Carnival in Trinidad and Tobago since before I knew him. You should probably take a look at her pictures because they are much better than mine, but trust me, this soup is fantastic. The yellow split peas make it thick and hearty, and how can anyone turn down dumplings and sweet corn?

Recipe:
(adapted from Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner & Punch)

Serves 6-8

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
3 garlic cloves
1/3 cup chives, chopped
1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
1/3 cup fresh thyme, chopped
3/4 cup yellow split peas
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup coconut milk
1 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper, left whole
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
2 carrots, diced
6 ears corn, cut into 2inch pieces
8 dumplings
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp salt
black pepper

Dumplings:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
whole milk

Heat the oil in a large, heavy soup pot. Add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes, until soft. Add the celery, thyme and chives and cook an additional five minutes.

Stir in the stock and split peas. Add salt and pepper to taste, then stir in the coconut milk. Simmer partially covered for about 55 minutes, or until the split peas are very tender. Puree with an immersion blender. Add the habanero, potatoes, carrots, and corn and simmer for another 20 minutes, until potato is soft. Stir in the cilantro. If the soup is too thick, stir in a little water until it has a desired consistency.

While the soup is simmering, make the dumplings: Toss the flour, salt, and
cayenne together, then gradually stir in enough milk to make a stiff dough. Knead until smooth, then roll into a thin log and cut in 1″ lengths. Drop them into the soup after the potatoes are cooked through, and wait until they rise to the surface.

Serve garnished with fresh cilantro.

A new development since we returned from Asia is Mike coming grocery shopping with me every week. I definitely don’t mind it, I just had to get used to walking every aisle no matter what was on the list, and random surprises ending up in the cart. Like a 6 pound can of hominy (but that’s okay because it was on sale for $2.18) So what does one do with a 6 pound can of hominy? Make posole of course!

Posole traditionally starts with a whole lot of pork, which obviously wasn’t going to happen here. But that doesn’t mean meat-eaters should feel left out, because you can easily serve shredded chicken or pork for them to stir into their soup. The garnishes are pretty essential to an awesome posole experience. I didn’t have any fresh radishes and didn’t want to go to the store just for them, but they are typically included on the plate of garnishes, so I listed them in the recipe.

Recipe:
(adapted from A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa)

1 1/2 cups boiling water
2 dried ancho chiles, stem and seeds removed
1 dried guajillo chile, stem and seeds removed
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 fresh poblano pepper, chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
2 roma tomatoes, diced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups vegetable broth
4 cups hominy (drained)
salt (to taste)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Garnishes:
shredded Jack cheese
diced white onion
thinly sliced cabbage
diced radishes
wedges of lime

Before you begin, place the dried chilis and boiling water in a small bowl and cover for 20 minutes to soften them. The puree them with their soaking liquid and set aside.

Heat the oil in a dutch oven over medium-high. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring until softened about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and poblano and cook another 5 minutes.

Stir in the cumin, oregano, vegetable broth, hominy, and pureed chiles. Simmer partially covered for 20-30 minutes. Salt to taste, then stir in the fresh cilantro and cook another 3-4 minutes (at a simmer).

Ladle into bowls and serve with garnishes.

As a kid tomato soup meant two things: Campbell’s and cheese nibblets. I don’t know how many cans of Campbell’s soup I ate growing up, but I’m guessing it’s in the thousands. Tomato was my favorite, followed closely by cream of asparagus and cream of celery. Cheese nibblets are really just little cubes of cheddar cheese (always Tillamook) that were an absolute necessity. I don’t know why we called them nibblets, but I still won’t eat tomato soup without them.

I recently decided that since I’m such a strong advocate of making things from scratch, it was time for me to make my own tomato soup instead of opening a can of Campbell’s. This is a quick, easy tomato soup with a little hint of creaminess. After a long cold run last weekend, it was absolutely perfect.

Recipe:
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried oregano
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup veg broth
1/4 cup whole milk
salt and pepper
1-2 ounces cheddar cheese, cut in small dice

Heat the oil in a medium sauce pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring, until the onion is soft (about 5 minutes. Add the oregano, tomatoes, and vegetable broth and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the milk and season to taste with salt and pepper, then puree with an immersion blender. If the soup is too thick, add a little more vegetable broth. Sprinkle with diced cheese to serve.

I happened to stumble across this recipe at the perfect time. I had a partially-used can of coconut milk in the fridge, and a forlorn butternut squash that had been sitting on the counter for over a week waiting for inspiration to strike. That, on top of the cold and rainy weather outside (which always makes me crave soups like this) sent me straight to the kitchen to get this soup on the stove.

The recipe called for chicken broth, so I decided to make my own vegetable broth to stand in for it. When it came time to strain the broth I realized the soup would probably benefit from having the onions and carrots pureed right along with the squash, so I just added the rest of the ingredients to my pot of broth, stuck the immersion blender in, and went to town.

I love the warmth of the cumin and curry, and while the pistachios provide a nice color contrast, I think their flavor and crunch really make this soup spectacular!

Recipe
(adapted from Mango & Tomato)

3 cups water
1″ piece of ginger, quartered
1 onion, peeled and quartered
1 carrot, cut into 1″ pieces
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 small butternut squash (or 1/2 a large squash), seeds removed
1 cup coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne (optional)
cilantro and chopped pistachios, for garnish

Preheat the oven to 400 and grease a small roasting pan.
Combine the water, ginger, onion, and carrot in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Simmer, partially covered, for 45 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, place the squash cut side down on the roasting pan and bake for about an hour, or until very tender. Scrape the flesh out and add to the simmering vegetable broth.
Stir in the coconut milk, cumin seeds, salt, curry powder, and cayenne and puree well with an immersion blender. Taste and adjust seasonings, then serve garnished with cilantro and chopped pistachios.
Combine the

I ate pho at least once a day when we were in Vietnam, but when I gave up meat I knew it would be tough to make a vegetarian version that comes close to the rich, full-flavored broth that makes it so great. While this broth does have a nice blend of spices (star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cardamom, and fennel), it’s missing the beef marrow that makes it so rich and smooth.

Still, for vegetarians, this is a great recipe to try because the flavors are nice, and honestly, one of the best parts of pho is all the things you get to stir into it! Plus, because each person assembles their own bowl, it’s easy to cater to vegetarians and meat-eaters at the same time, like I did here. I just put some thinly sliced tofu on top of my noodles, and some thinly sliced beef on top of Mikes noodles before ladling the broth over everything.

Recipe
(adapted from Into the Vietnamese Kitchen, via Steamy Kitchen)

Broth:
8 cups water
1 onion, quartered
a 2″ piece of ginger, quartered
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 star anise
1 cardamom pod
3 cloves
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar

Combine all broth ingredients and cook in a slow cooker on low for 6-8 hours. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, then bring to a simmer in a large saucepan when you’re ready to assemble your soup. Taste and add more salt or sugar if necessary.

Soup:
7 ounces medium rice sticks (like these)
1/4 pound flank steak, sliced as thinly as possible
6 ounces of tofu, drained and thinly sliced
2 habanero peppers, thinly sliced (if you like spicy food)
1-2 cups bean sprouts
2 limes, quartered
1/2 cup fresh mint leaves (loosely packed)
fish sauce

Prepare the rice sticks according to package directions.
Arrange the peppers, bean sprouts, limes, and mint on a serving plate so people can customize their bowls of soup. Have the fish sauce available for seasoning soup as desired.
Put a few noodles in the bottom of a bowl, then top with either tofu or beef. Ladle the simmering broth over the noodles, then garnish your soup however you like.

What I really feel like eating right now is piles of these No-Bake Bars but I did a little too much of that on New Years Eve. Instead I thought it might be a smarter idea to find some more healthy recipes to throw your way (and make myself, while I’m at it). I don’t know if you’ve made any New Years Resolutions, but shouldn’t everyone always have a resolution to eat more vegetables?

The Healthy Hedonist is a cookbook I’ve come to like a lot over the past few weeks. Although one recipe turned out really disappointing, this one is definitely a winner. It tastes just like the soup at my favorite Moroccan restarant (okay, actually the only Moroccan restaurant I’ve ever been to, but I love their soup!) and is FULL of good stuff like spinach, tomatoes, bulgur, garbanzo beans, carrots, tomatoes, and all sorts of wonderful spices.

I made a few little changes to the original recipe. It called for couscous, but I used bulgur (which is probably much less authentic but I like it more and I think it might be healthier), and I left out the saffron because there were so many other spices going on (plus saffron is EXPENSIVE!). I bumped up the amount of spinach because it’s just so good for you, and I added some extra red pepper flakes because spice is nice. It might seem like too much extra work to make the cilantro puree, but you can easily whip it up while the soup is simmering, and it adds another amazing layer of flavor.

Recipe:
adapted from The Healthy Hedonist by Myra Kornfeld

Soup:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp ground fennel
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp (or more!) red pepper flakes
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 14.5 ounce can whole tomatoes, with liquid
5 cups water
1 medium potato, diced
2 small carrots, diced
1 zucchini, diced
salt
3-4 cups roughly chopped fresh spinach
1/4 cup bulgar
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (drained)
pepper
2 tsp lemon juice

Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat for about a minute. Add the onion, turn the heat down to medium-low, and let the onions soften, stirring occasionally, for about five minutes.
Add the garlic, fennel, coriander, red pepper flakes, ginger, and cinnamon and saute until fragrant, two to three minutes.
Add the tomatoes and their liquid, crusing up the tomatoes with a spoon. Let simmer for about ten minutes.
Add the water, potato, carrot, zucchini, and bulgar, cover the pot, and turn the heat up to bring the soup to a boil. Stir in a teaspoon of salt, then turn the heat down and simmer (partially covered) for 15 minutes.
Stir in the spinach and garbanzos and simmer for five minutes.
Add the lemon juice and black pepper, stir, and taste. Add more salt if needed.
To serve, ladle into bowls and top each with about a tablespoon of cilantro puree (below).

Cilantro Puree:
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove, smashed
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processer and process until smooth. (A blender will give you a smoother puree, but I like the rustic look the food processer gave me).