Creamy Portobello Mushroom Soup

This is from the Student's Go Vegan Cookbook and it is way, way better than canned cream of mushroom soup. Which, who even eats that? No one.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 onion (you guys know how I feel about the partial vegetable issue... I used a whole onion and it was FINE. But I just thought I'd let you know that the cookbook says a half)
• 1 minced garlic clove
• 1 thinly sliced carrot
• 1 diced celery stalk
• 1 chopped portobello mushroom
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried marjoram (I didn't have marjoram and I looked on the Internets and found that you can use ~1/3 the amount of oregano in place of marjoram, so I did that)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 2 cups soy milk
• 2 tsp soy sauce (I think I might reduce the it to 1 tsp next time I make it--to me it tastes a little too soy saucy as is)
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

I bought these cute Porteenie mushrooms since they were cheaper, and I was going to cut them up anyway! I used three of them instead of 1 grownup portobello.

Also, I just used all the leftover carrots and celery from a veggie plate at party so I think it was too much carrot and not enough celery, but whatevs! It tasted great and got all those veggies outta my fridge.

Anyway, what you do is heat the oil in the bottom of your soup pot and sautee all the veggies with the garlic, salt and marjoram (or oregano) for 10 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't burn to the bottom of the pot.

MEANWHILE set aside 1/4 cup of broth. Add the flour and stir into a paste.

After the vegetables have sauteed, add the rest of the broth, the milk, the soy sauce, and the cayenne. Bring it to a boil, and then slowly add the flour paste while stirring. After all the flour is stirred in, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Yum!

Sweet Potato Casserole

I grew up in New England, but between the years 2000 and 20006 I lived in Virginia. For the most part, Virginia is "southern" and they sure eat that way. One of the delicious treats I discovered while there was Sweet Potato Casserole. My mom doesn't like sweet potatoes, so this was never even offered to us. This stuff is super sweet and delicious. I make it once a year, on Thanksgiving. This year, I have been asked to bring two batches because everyone loves it so much.

This recipe is my friend's mom recipe and it is amazing.

Jean's Sweet Potatoe Casserole

3 cups of cooked mashed sweet potatoes (I'm with Renata, just cut up 3 SP and call it a day)
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs beaten
1/2 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all together (add vanilla last)

Topping
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Bake in lasagna pan at 350 for 35 minutes

Enjoy!

AMAZING spicy sweet potato soup

OK this is from The Student's Go Vegan Cookbook, which called it "Chilean Two-Potato Soup" but I renamed it spicy sweet potato soup. I doubt it's even from Chile. Whatev. It was reallllly good. Probably the best soup I've ever made. Maybe the best soup I've ever eaten. So good.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup minced onion (I just used 1 average sized onion, IDK if it was 1/2 a cup or not)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1 cup diced sweet potato (again, I just used 1 sweet potato. Who the fuck would cut up a potato, measure out a cup, and then save the rest? For what? Whatev.)
• 1 diced red potato
• 1 4-oz can green chilies
• 1 cup corn kernels (I used a little can)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 tsp thyme (but I didn't have any)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (but I didn't have any so I used a couple shakes of crushed red pepper)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Fresh lemon or lime juice

Heat the oil in the bottom of a big pot and sautee the onion and garlic for a few minutes, then throw in everything else except the lemon juice. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes ish. Add a little lemon juice to the soup as you serve it. (Except I didn't do that part either because FUCK LEMON JUICE. Yeah, I said it.)

 This is perfect for the winter. Warm and filling and spicy and colorful. Make it today! Make it RIGHT NOW.

You guys, we totally made cheese

Guess what you guys, my friends and I made mozzarella cheese! FROM SCRATCH.

Ever since I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver last year, I really wanted to try making my own cheese. In the book, Kingsolver recommends New England Cheesemaking Supply Company so we got their 30 Minute Mozzrella & Ricotta Kit. It probably took us more like 45 minutes, but still! Easier than I ever thought it would be to make cheese.

I'm not going to post the whole recipe... if you are interested, you really should buy the kit. It has a step-by-step guide and all the ingredients (besides milk).

Curds and whey!

Mary Gen stirring away

Me stretching the cheese

Fresh mozzarella cheese balls! Admittedly not the most aesthetically pleasing cheese, but it was our first try. And it tasted good! I think that we let it cool too much before we tried to shape it. Just something to keep in mind if you decide to make your own cheese.

It especially tasted good once we made pizza out of it!!

awesome vegan chocolate chip cookies

OK, I've been dabbling with different vegan chocolate chip cookie recipes and I hit the jackpot with a slight variation on this one.

Ingredients:

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Earth Balance*, softened (although Earth Balance is the best, you may use any other non-dairy butter/margarine)
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plain applesauce
• 2 cups chocolate chips

I think the real key was my vegan semi-sweet chocolate chips. I got them from the bulk bin at the local co-op, and they were delicious. And I didn't measure them, I just used a whole big scoop of them which I think was more than 2 cups. Lesson learned: don't use crappy chocolate chips! You deserve better!

Anyway, preheat the oven to 375. Then mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. In a bigger bowl, mix everything else except the chips. Then add the flour mix, and finally the chips. Spoon out the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes-ish.

I am serious, these cookies were awesome and everyone I gave them to flipped out about how awesome they were. They were a little soft and cake-y but also a little crispy. And, again, excellent chocolate content. Mmm.