Terrific Vegetable Soup

I just made a big pot of wonderful vegetable soup. For some reason, the combination of vegetables yielded a gentle, fragrant soup, perfect for a cold day.

2 leeks
4 Celery Stalks
2 large zucchini
8 mushrooms (I used brown cap mushrooms)
2 medium-sized potatoes
2 tbsp hawayej mix
2 tbsp dried, ground vegetables

Slice everything thinly, cover with water, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 45 mins or longer.

Stunningly Wonderful Carrot Soup

I've just made a simple and marvelous carrot soup! I'm not usually fond of pureed soups, but I had fresh organic carrots and coconut milk and this turned out to be a rousing success. Here goes:

5-6 carrots
1/2 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp olive oil
1 tsp grated ginger
1 tsp baharat
1 tsp cumin
1 cup coconut milk
1 cup water or broth

Heat olive oil in smallish pot and add onion, garlic, ginger, baharat, and cumin. Sautee for a few minutes until fragrant. Add carrots, water, and coconut milk. Cook for 10 mins, or until carrots are soft. Puree the entire thing in the blender and eat. Enough for two big bowls or four little ones.

Just for a few days! Casa Corazones blog

Just for the next three days, I'll be blogging about the comings and goings of robins and other small birds on the electrical cables around my backyard. Enjoy!

Middle Eastern Summer Dinner

Our friend Daniel is staying with us for a couple of days, and we were very happy to host him and his son for dinner. It was a nice summery affair--corn on the cob, roasted eggplant with tahini, salad, green beans in tomato sauce, whole wheat pita and hummus--and it was quickly gobbled up before I had a chance to take a photo.

A few fun tips:

• After lightly cooking fresh corn on the cob, it's nice to give it a rub with a bit of vegan butter (thank you, Miyoko Schinner!) and Dipping Herbs. 
• Take a big eggplant. Use a knife to make about ten slits in it, and stick half a garlic clove (sliced lengthwise) in each slit. Wrap in foil and bake for 45 mins. The garlic melts inside the eggplant and lends it an amazing flavor. Slice lengthwise and serve whole with tahini on top or on the side. The guests scrape out the eggplant goodness.
• The wonderful spicy tomato sauce used in khreimeh (a Libyan fish dish) can be used to sautee green beans. Lots of taste, none of the suffering.

Vegan Mac-n-Cheese

I was craving something creamy and delicious this evening and settled on a vegan version of mac-n-cheese. This is not my recipe; I made it using Isa Chandra Moskowitz's classic recipe.

A couple of small substitutions: the pasta is Tolerant lentil pasta (boosting the protein component of the meal) and the seasoning, rather than standard pizza seasoning, is Pike Place dipping herbs. I didn't sautee the onion and garlic in oil before adding to the blender (I'm sure it would have improved the sauce, though not by much, as it was damn tasty as it was). Other than that, the recipe's there and I can attest that the results are, indeed, comforting, creamy, and fantastic.