Soups and more comfort food!

I might have mentioned before already that I'm a huge soup lover! Especially when it's getting cooler outside (well, here not so much yet *sigh*.. but hopefully soon!!!) it's just cozy to have a nice warming soup for dinner or for lunch! 

Have a slice of home made bread or roll on the side and a green salad and you've got a great meal going on!

Regardless of the not-so-cold-yet temperatures, I've been cooking a few more soups again these past days and am just going to share some pics with you! (I'm sure you all know recipes to those kinds of soups.. and if not, google it and you'll get tons of hits! ;) )

Inspired by Isa's AFR recipe (Susan over at FatFreeVegan has a great recipe too I use often: Curried Split Pea Soup )

Also inspired by Isa's AFR recipe.. though I will have to admit, personally I learned that including ACV (apple cider vinegar) is *not* my or my family's taste!!!..

The recipe called for 2 cups (!) of it, I only used ~1/4 c and that was already too much for our liking.. I'll omit the ACV from now on again!..

This is what our version of 'deluxe' salad looks like, which we had for lunch the other day when Hubby had off work. With a slice of bread it was seriously delicious and so filling!

Love, love, love (!) Lemon-Tahini dressing on my salads!!!

 Honestly, I cannot remember on which blog I've found the recipe (I'll have to dig through my tons of printed papers again!) but after having been on the pumpkin kick lately again, I had some leftover in the fridge, as well as some Silken soft tofu, so that recipe inspired me to mix it all up into a healthy, lower cal version of so many vegan 'Alfredo' sauces. Poured over leftover Spaghetti for lunch, it was perfect! (And I was ready for a nap afterwards! *lol*)

This cool looking purple cauliflower sadly didn't hold up too well after cooking as it was already on the limp side when Hubby came home from the market with it  (I used it in a stir fry) but I still wanted to share the pic as I just love the color! ;)

Next post will be about bread again; including the promised recipe for the sourdough dinner rolls! =)

Comfort food II -Spaghetti with 'meatballs'

Nothing spells more 'comfort food' than pasta and fresh bread or rolls to me!

Yesterday we had a classic comfort food (for me), spaghetti with 'meaty balls' from Jo Stephaniak's Vegan Vittles (great book, buy it if you don't own it yet!).

Since you can find the recipe by doing a Google search for it, I feel ok to share it with you all! ;)

In her book she says it makes 12 balls but I actually got 18 out of the mix!

Since I calculated the nutritional value per ball, I can even tell you that info too! =)

~* 'Meaty balls' from Vegan Vittles *~

Ingredients:

1 cup TVP granules 1/4 cup rolled oats 1/2 tsp dried basil 1/2 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp dry mustard 3/4 cup boiling water 2 Tb ketchup 2 Tb lite soy sauce or Bragg's 1 rounded Tb smooth peanut butter 1/4 cup flour, any kind 1 Tb nutritional yeast flakes (optional) Directions: Preheat oven to 350.  Mist a baking sheet with nonstick spray or line with parchment paper. Place TVP and dry spices in bowl and combine well.  In small bowl, combine boiled water, ketchup, and soy sauce and stir until blended.  Pour into the TVP mixture and stir well.  Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Add peanut butter and mix well until it is incorporated.  Stir in flour and optional nutritional yeast thoroughly.  form into 12 (or more) walnut-sized balls and arrange on baking sheet.  Mist tops and sides with nonstick spray and bake for 25-30 minutes, turning over once during baking. Sprinkled with some home made 'Parmesan cheez' (ground sesame seeds, walnuts & some nutritional yeast). Nutritional value (1 ball): 28 calories, 0 g fat, 3.1 g carbs, 0.6 g fiber, 0 g sugar, 2.8 g protein. Guten Appetit!

~*~*~

Speaking of comfort food:
A recipe for some dinner rolls (sourdough this time) will follow soon! ;)