Chickpea and Kale Soup

Time flies! November will pass by in a couple of hours, and I am so ready to welcome my favorite month of December! It's the busiest time of the year for work and it's time for SOUP! I've been in the mood for soup and my whole family really enjoyed this tasty chickpea soup for last night's supper, so I thought I should share it with you all.

This is my bowl of chickpea and kale soup topped with saltine crackers, Mmmm!

This is Nathan's bowl, chickpea and sweet corn soup, he asked for "MORE, please"!

My husband asked for spinach instead of kale and he went to the stove for seconds, YUM!

Chickpea and Kale Soup

Adapted from "Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen"

by Deborah Madison

Ingredients for the chickpeas:

2 cups chickpeas, soaks

2 carrots, peeled (the recipe called for 1 carrot)

1 head of garlic, sliced crosswise in half

2 bay leaves

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried parsley (the recipe called for handful of parsley sprigs, tied together with string)

Ingredients for the seasonings:

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

4-5 tablespoons olive oil

2 onions, finely diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Pinch of dried thyme

3 garlic cloves, minced

Big bunch of kale (the recipe called for spinach)

Method:

1. Put chickpeas in a pot with the rest of the ingredients and 3 quarts water. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and simmer until the chickpeas are tender. Season with a teaspoon of salt and set aside.

2. Heat the oil in a second soup pot. Add the onions, oregano, thyme, and salt. Cook over medium-low heat until softened, occasionally giving them a stir. Add the garlic toward the end.

3. Using a strainer, lift the cooked chickpeas into the pot with the onions and discard the rest of the aromatics. Strain the liquid and add 6 cups in the soup pot, setting the rest aside for the moment. Add another teaspoon of salt, then cover and simmer for 25 minutes. Puree the chickpeas and return them to the pot. If the soup seems too thick, thin it with any remaining liquid. Taste for salt and season with pepper.

4. Wilt the kale in a skillet in the water clinging to its leaves, then chop and add to the chickpeas. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then serve with your favorite crackers. Enjoy!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Tempeh Wrap!

November is finally here and I have to say that I didn't really want October to end!! I have enjoyed experimenting with vegan food and learned so much from other vegan bloggers. It was so fascinating and inspiring to get to learn about other people's lifestyles. To be honest with you, I can't tell you just yet if I feel any better after one whole month of a vegan diet. From the bottom of my heart, I just keep telling myself: "Let's keep experimenting, it's such a wonderful thing to do".

Tempeh Wrap

This was my very quick and easy dinner from last night. If you've read my blog for a while, you should know by now that I always use what I have in my kitchen and I don't usually use too many ingredients!

I cooked tempeh strips 2 minutes a side in a pan with hot oil and set them aside. Using the same pan, sauteed chopped kale with minced garlic, set aside. Clean the pan and put flour tortillas in with low heat, put store-bought vegetarian baked beans on top of the tortillas, about 2 tablespoons. Add cooked tempeh and kale, roll up like a wrap and cut in half just like the photo above. It was super chewy and yummy!!!

What a clumsy day!!!

I didn't plan to post about green smoothie today but this morning, my smoothie needed attention and I spilled it all over my newspaper.

Later on, I dropped my measuring cup, the broken glass scattered all over the kitchen floor.

I am not only an "Easy Veggie", I am also an "Easy Clumsy"! Ha ha ha!!!

Hope you don't have a clumsy day like me!!!

Green Smoothie And Sushi Dinner!!

I am definitely determined to drink "Green Smoothie" every morning starting TODAY! Please wish me luck with this!!!



.....So I picked up a bunch of fresh kale at the grocery store as planned. I had my CLEAN book ready in the kitchen so I was good to go!



The recipe called for: 1 1/2 cups of almond milk, 1/2 cup of coconut water, 2 leaves kale or Swiss chard, coarsely chopped, 1/4 avocado, 1/2 cup mango chunks, and 1/2 cup of ice.



As EASY as I am, I just poured 2 cups of almond milk into the blender and skipped the coconut water because I didn't have it. I used half avocado just because I like it so much and frozen mango chunks (I skipped the ice because I don't like it too cold). Oh, I didn't add any agave syrup though, I put it in the pic because I was at first freaking out by the warning of my husband that I was not gonna like the taste of the raw kale in this smoothie because of the bitter taste. Good thing, I tasted it before I put in the syrup!!!

You know WHY???

Because I L O V E it so very much (without the sweetener), I drank it all up with my big straw out of the blender within no time. Mmmmm, so great and refreshing!!! :)

Our Sushi Dinner on Friday Night!

We have had Sushi Rolls for dinner on Friday night 3 weeks in a row because I wanted to use up all the Sushi ingredients and my family was so okay with that as we all love Sushi. A little more work for me though, I have to make 3 different fillings for each of us. The above picture was my pan-fried tofu and veggie rolls, so yummy! I ate them right from the cutting board because I was too tired to put them in a nice plate, he he he!!! :)

This plate was for my husband, with imitation crab meat and veggies. For my son, Nathan just likes it with imitation crab meat only (No pic). To be honest with you, I don't mind eating crab meat but I thought tofu was a better choice for me. My tummy was so happy that Friday night. YUM!!!

Do you think it's too boring to eat Sushi Rolls every Friday night???