Creamy Vegan Chanterelle Soup

If you love mushrooms, this creamy and earthy soup is for you.

I make soup often in the winter and rarely find recipes that are worthy of posting. I adore this one and have made it a few times. The recipe works well with some modifications such as gluten-free flour, vegan butter, vegetable broth instead of chicken and a mix of mushrooms. Fresh chanterelles aren't always available so I re-hydrate one package of dried chanterelles and use whatever fresh mushrooms I can find.

Ingredients

• 1 pound chanterelle mushrooms, sliced (about 5 cups of fresh mushrooms. You can also use a mix of available mushrooms - fresh and dried)
• 6 cups low-sodium homemade or store bought vegetable broth
• 6-7 tablespoons vegan butter, divided (e.g., Earth Balance)
• 1 1/2 medium shallots, thinly sliced (about 1 cup), plus a couple of minced green onions for garnish
• 3 medium cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free flour
• 1 cup dry sherry or white wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 thyme sprigs, plus 1/2 teaspoon picked thyme leaves (or substitute dried thyme if that's all you have)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Optional: TB cornstarch mixed with small amount of cold water

 

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, add veggie stock and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and keep warm.
2. Melt 2 tablespoons of vegan butter in another medium saucepan over medium heat (olive oil could be used if you prefer). Add shallots and garlic and cook for about 8 minutes. Stir constantly until very soft but not browned.
3. Add mushrooms to saucepan with garlic and onions, stirring frequently for about 10 minutes. You want excess liquid to evaporate and mushrooms to sizzle.  
4. Add flour and stir for about 30 seconds. Add sherry or white wine, stirring constantly and scraping bottom of saucepan until it is thick and syrupy, about 1 minute.
5. Combine contents of two saucepans: Add veggie broth to the saucepan containing onions, garlic, mushrooms, flour and wine. Add bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Discard bay leaves and thyme and transfer soup to a high speed blender and pulse for about a minute. On full speed, add 4 TB of butter – one at a time until soup is completely smooth.
7. Depending on the flour and mushrooms you have used, you might want to add a slurry of cornstarch to thicken the soup a bit. 
8. Season to taste with salt and pepper or extra dried thyme
9. Ladle soup into bowls and add green onions for garnish. If you are not serving soup immediately, the original instructions suggest that you heat oil in a medium saucepan over high heat until lightly smoking. Add 2 tablespoons water and the remaining tablespoon of butter. Ladle soup into bowls, add garnish and serve immediately.

Note: I've cut out some steps and tried to clarify the original instructions but feel free to follow all the steps listed by the author, J. Kenji López-Alt.

Cabbage slaw

This cabbage slaw recipe is intended for fish tacos but I'm sure it can be made into a vegetarian dish. While cabbage and creamy coleslaw aren't my thing, I really enjoy this tangy slaw as a side salad.

Ingredients

• 4 cups shredded cabbage

• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro (or more if you like)

• 2 green onions, minced

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 3 tbsp distilled white vinegar

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 2 tsp coconut sugar or sweetener of choice

 

Instructions 

Combine all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Let it marinate for a few hours before serving. It's even better the next day!

Almond flour banana muffins

These are great as a quick breakfast or healthy snack. The author, For the Love of Basil, recommends slathering the muffin with peanut butter. I prefer a few chocolate chips :)

Ingredients

• 2 ripe medium bananas
• ½ cup almond flour (I use homemade)
• ½ cup rolled gluten-free oats
• 2 tablespoons flaxseed
• ¼ cup almond butter
• 1 organic egg
• 2 tablespoons honey or liquid sweetener of choice
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Optional: vegan chocolate or carob chips

 

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Add flax and oats to food processor or blender until it reaches the consistency of flour. Add the rest of the ingredients and pulse until it is completely mixed (Note: original recipe throws all ingredients in at once).
3. Grease your muffin tin (e.g., coconut oil) or use silicone liners. Equally divide the batter among the cups- it should make about 12 muffins.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops of the muffins start to brown a little.

Baby bum spray

I've tried a combination of recipes and this one seems to work best for us. Most recipes include boiled water, soap, oils and disinfectant.

• 4oz water - boiled 
• 1 TB olive oil 
• 1 TB coconut oil (warmed)
• 4-5 drops of tea tree oil 
• 5-10 drops of essential oils 
• 1/2 - 1 TB liquid castile soap (you don't want it too "soapy")

Adding the water last, combine all ingredients--- swirl, don't shake (it will foam). Place into a 4oz spray bottle.  Spray directly onto skin or on a wipe.  Mixture can also be used on sticky hands when you are on-the-go.

Check out this website for additional recipes:
http://www.zany-zebra.com/cloth-wipe-solution.shtml

Satay Sauce

My toddler will eat kale and green beans if smothered in this sauce. He HATES green beans.

The original recipe is intended to be a satay dipping sauce but I think it can be used in a variety of ways. It only takes a few minutes to make and I always have the ingredients on hand.

Makes 3.5 cups and lasts a while in the refrigerator.

 Ingredients

• 3/4 of a 13.5-ounce (400 ml) can of full-fat, unsweetened coconut milk (original recipe calls for the whole can but the coconut flavour is too overpowering for my taste)
• 2 teaspoons of Thai red curry paste
• ¾ cup unsweetened natural creamy peanut butter (or more, to taste)
• ½ tablespoon salt
• ¾ cup coconut sugar
• 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• ½ cup water
• 1 TBS Sriracha sauce
• optional: tsp of freshly grated ginger 

 

Instructions

1. Gently boil all of the ingredients in a pot, whisking constantly.
2. Let the mixture simmer for 3-5 minutes over low heat. 
3. Take the pot off the heat, let the sauce cool down to room temperature and serve (e.g., with fried tofu). OR store the sauce in a mason jar and heat it up in a pan, along with vegetables, rice, tofu etc. The sauce will thicken considerably in the refrigerator - add some water to thin it out if desired.

Thai Chili Sauce

I have always liked sweet & spicy thai chili sauce but never considered making my own until recently. My mother-in-law brought over a dish that she usually serves with store-bought thai sauce, which she forgot at home.

I made it in under 20 minutes.  Doing it yourself allows you to modify the sugar content, control the spice and you can be sure that the ingredients are fresh.

This recipe works well with coconut sugar - you can easily get away with less than one cup. You can also try a slurry of gluten-free flour or tapioca flour as a thickener instead of cornstarch if you prefer.

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger root, minced
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons hot chili pepper flakes                               
• 2 teaspoons ketchup
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch (mixed with about 1 TB of cold water)         

Directions

1. In a saucepan over high heat, bring water and vinegar to a boil. Stir in sugar, ginger, garlic, chili pepper, and ketchup.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
2. Stir in cornstarch. Remove saucepan from stove to cool. Transfer to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.

Protein bars (easy, no-bake)

So 2015 was not a stellar year for this blog, with a baby and little to no help in the kitchen...

Our lovely Ana went on to pursue a graduate degree but we are so grateful to Heather who recently joined us! For our first experiment together, we made these easy no-bake protein bars from one of my favourite sites. They came out beautifully, thanks to Heather. The only substitution was a homemade "chocolate" drizzle (carob) instead of using store-bought chips.

Ingredients:

    • 1.5 cups gluten-free rolled oats, blended into a flour
    • 1/2 cup unsweetened/unflavoured vegan protein powder (I use Manitoba Harvest hemp protein)
    • 1/2 cup rice crisp cereal (I used puffed rice since that's all I had)
    • 1/4-1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
    • 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or butter of choice)
    • 1/2 cup pure maple syrup (or liquid sweetener of choice)
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I prefer alcohol-free)
    • 3 tablespoons mini dark chocolate chips (or make your carob chips)
    • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

Directions:

1. Line an 8-inch square pan with a piece of parchment paper. 
2. In large bowl, mix the dry ingredients together: oat flour, protein powder, rice crisp, and salt. 
3. Add the nut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla. Stir well and add a bit of non-dairy milk if it's too dry. Press the mixture into the pan and roll it out with a pastry / or pasta roller until smooth. Put it into the freezer. 
4. Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil together in a small pot over low heat. When half of the chips have melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. OR make your own melted "chocolate" by mixing these ingredients in a small pot on the stove. Leave it on a very low heat until your bars are ready (no need to freeze in a container. You're not making chips).
5. After freezing the bars for about 5-10 minutes, remove them from freezer and slice into 12 bars. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and freeze again until set.

They are delicious straight out of the freezer.