One of my Favorite Soups

Squash Apple Sweet Potato Soup
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

This is one of those recipes that I've made a million times. I've made it for family dinners, work pot lucks... in fact, I've tried to bring other things to work pot lucks, but my several of my coworkers insist on this soup.

It's from one of my favorite cookbooks- How it All Vegan - which has a lot of great recipes.

The other good part about this is that it's one of those recipes that's so easy- cut everything up and throw in a pot and cook.

I always end up making a double batch, because the recipe calls for 2 cups butternut squash, and whatever butternut squash I buy, I always have double. It freezes well, though.

Squash Apple Sweet Potato Soup
1 medium onion, chopped (I actually use half an onion)
1 tsp oil (for frying the onion)
2 cups veggie stock
2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
2 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2-3 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (if you put in the called for 1/4 tsp cayenne, this soup is going to be incredibly hot. I put in maybe an 1/8 tsp for a double batch)

In a large soup pot, sauté the onions in oil until translucent. Add the stock, squash, apples, sweet potatoes, and all seasonings. Mix and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes or until all the pieces are soft. Take 3-4 ladles of soup out and puree in the blender, then return creamed soup to pot and mix and cook for a few more minutes.

Enjoy!!

Modified Moosewood

Last garden bounty
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

If you've ever been a vegetarian, chances are you had a copy of the original Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen. Yellow pages, handwritten type, weird indexing, interesting recipes with not a lot of flavor... Yes, I know, it's a classic, I'm not supposed to criticize it. I own a copy and cook from it semi-regularly. In fact, we used to have two copies. (We kept the hardcover.)

1970s vegetarian cooking was seriously lacking in spices. I'm not sure if spices weren't really readily available like they are now, or people's palates weren't up to them, or if vegetarians were just trying to go for ingredient "purity," but I own several 1970s vegetarian cookbooks, and the Moosewood is not unique in this.

That said, if you punch up the recipes, they're pretty awesome. The Mexican Pepper Casserole is one of my favorites, but the original needs a little modification. The first time I made it, I wasn't sure what exactly was Mexican about it, it was so bland.

Tonight's Pepper Casserole was inspired by the last batch of vegetables from the garden- there have been two frosts in the past two weeks, and I don't think I can let them ripen any longer. We picked a TON of peppers- mostly green & red bell peppers, but also a lot of Zavory peppers, which have the flavor of habenero, but are not as hot.

Preheat oven to 375F.

Sliced garden peppers
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

6 sliced peppers- I like using a variety of colors- today's was made with the last of my garden peppers, so colors were limited
1 small hot pepper, chopped (more if you're into more heat)
1.5 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced/pressed
2 T oil or margarine (original calls for butter or oil)
1 t each salt, cumin, coriander
1/2 t dry mustard (honestly, I skip this)
1/4 t each black and red pepper (add way more, to taste)
modification- 1 t chili powder
You can also add crushed red chili pepper in the spice sauté.
2 T flour
4 eggs
1.5 cups mixture (dairy free) sour cream and (dairy free) yogurt- I usually use 1 cup yogurt, 1/2 cup Tofutti sour cream- I use more yogurt than sour cream because fake sour cream has a TON of calories.
1/2 lb cheese- sharp or mild goat cheddar - grated, not sliced like the recipe calls for

Mix eggs with yogurt/sour cream until smooth.

Slice peppers in rings. Heat oil and saute onions with spices & garlic until onions are translucent. Add chopped hot peppers and saute for a minute or two.

Add peppers. Saute over low heat for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and mix well. Saute until the liquid from the peppers is gone.

Oil the casserole, spread in half the pepper saute, add a little less than half the cheese, then add the rest of the saute and almost all the cheese. Pour the egg/sour cream/yogurt mixture over the top, and sprinkle the last of the grated cheese on top. Garnish with paprika.

Bake covered at 375F for 30 minutes, then 15 more minutes uncovered. Let cool a few minutes before serving.

Serve with chips & salsa.

Enjoy!!

More Pizza, of the frozen variety

If you have a lot of food allergies like I do, you know that pre-packaged foods are often 1) impossible to eat, 2) completely disgusting when they are possible to eat.

As my post earlier this week proves, I love pizza. Most days, I prefer to take the time to make a tasty pizza with good ingredients. But some days, all you have the energy to do is turn the oven on and stick something in it. These are the days when the Tofurkey Pizza steps up.

Now, the problem with fake cheese products (in my own very personal taste opinion) is that they don't taste like cheese. I guess this is OK if this is a limitation you've chosen, but when it's one your body imposes on you, it's not so great. I've now tried two varieties of the Tofurkey Pizza, and while the plain "cheese" was OK, the Pepperoni Pizza was by far the winner. Maybe because I like the taste of fake meat products better than fake cheese products? I don't know. But it was pretty good.

A little zingy, melty, pizza-like. And clearly produced by stoners, for stoners, since you have to preheat the oven to 420. Easy to make, yummy to eat, best when you don't feel like cooking and just need a frozen pizza.

I'm even having the leftovers for lunch!

Pizza!!I

I love pizza

Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

I really love pizza. One of the sad things about being allergic to cow's milk is the utter lack of pizza delivery.
I make up for this by spending a little extra to make an awesome pizza at home.
I've recently discovered that Pillsbury (of all things) makes two kinds of dairy free pizza dough- the kind in the tube. I've tried both kinds, and prefer the "Classic" to the "Thin" because the thin is really hard to unroll and get on the pan evenly. I also pre-bake the dough- it seems to cook better pre-baked with the toppings on it.
This particular pizza has all sorts of garden goods on it- tomatoes, red peppers, and fresh basil. I also chop up spinach and mix it in with my tomato sauce, so it's well coated and doesn't burn.
I also advocate $$ cheese- in particular, water buffalo mozzarella. Tasty, delicious, not too strong (I realize that goat cheddar, which is also what I use, is an acquired taste.) Think of it this way- you're spending the money on cheese instead of delivery and tip!

So, this pizza recipe:
Pillsbury Classic Pizza Dough
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup baby spinach, chopped
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 medium red pepper, sliced
5-6 leaves of fresh basil, sliced
1 package fresh buffalo mozzerella
4 oz sharp goat cheddar, grated

Grease the pan, and pre-bake the pizza dough for 8 minutes. Chop the spinach and mix it in the tomato sauce, and spread the tomato sauce mixture on the pizza dough and add the toppings.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the dough edges are toasted.
Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!!

Adventures in Cake Balls

Cake Balls
Originally uploaded by zombie amelia

My cousin made these for a baseball themed wedding shower, and I talked her through the ingredients... and to her amazement, there were several easily-available name brand cake mixes and frostings that were dairy free.

Many of the Duncan Hines mixes are dairy free (these were the Classic Yellow Cake mix) but they also make:
Deluxe Dark Chocolate Fudge
Moist Devil's Food
Angel Food
Deluxe Fudge Marble
Deluxe German Chocolate
Red Velvet
Swiss Chocolate

In general, the Vanilla and White cakes tend to have milk in them. These cake balls also had dairy free frosting and vegan chocolate on them. (The white "regular" baseball cake balls were not dairy free, due to the fact that she couldn't easily find a white chocolate substitute that was dairy free.) So we made do with dark chocolate baseballs. Very tasty.


Again, many of Duncan Hines frostings are dairy free, including:
(avoid the cream cheeses and butter frostings)
Caramel
Classic Chocolate
Classic Vanilla
Coconut Pecan
Dark Chocolate Fudge
Lemon Supreme
Strawberry Creme


Yes, I know, these all probably have processed ingredients that aren't the best for anyone, but really, it's cake. and frosting. and sometimes you just need either something easy or something you can easily recommend to a friend who is cooking and wants to make sure you can enjoy something at the party.


I'm very tempted to try the Red Velvet.

Hotels and feathers

Why is it that the new "luxury trend" at hotels is down bedding and pillows? I stayed at the Marriott the other night while traveling, and had to call them to remove the down comforter and feather pillows from my bed. I don't think they changed the sheets, either, since I spent half the night not sleeping, but coughing, hacking, and sniffling.

It seems like an unwise practice since I know there are many people who have a feather allergy. Hotels? shape up! I don't think I'll be staying at a Marriott any time soon.

Pumpkins and Contact Dermatitis

I cooked 4 of my garden pie pumpkins last night (so I could puree and freeze the pumpkin flesh for later use) and discovered that I have yet one more allergic reaction- contact dermatitis to the skin and/or flesh of the pumpkin. :(

My hands started peeling right after I put the first two in the oven. I thought at first that there was something on the outside of the pumpkin that I just couldn't get off my hands, but after washing my hands a few times, I realized that the stuff I was trying to wash off? It was my peeling skin.

Charming, right? I have actually noticed this before with squash, but blamed it on waxing the squash skin. Now I'm not so sure... it may be one more symptom I can blame on my old friend Oral Allergy Syndrome, which makes up the more annoying part of my food allergies. If you're not familiar with Oral Allergy Syndrome, it's an allergy to the pollen of the fruits or vegetables- so a raw food allergy. When you cook the offending fruit/veggie, the pollen is killed and the food is edible. I am allergic to raw apples, some pears, citrus, celery, carrots, tomatoes, cilantro... and now maybe squash and pumpkins.

Last night my hands (especially my left hand- the one not holding the spoon but holding the pumpkin) were raw and peeling and cracked. They felt like they had a layer of stiff wax over them, but that was really my skin. I found a few sites that recommended putting cortisone cream on them, and that helped, but they're still raw this morning. But better, and less peeling.

So, I'll try handling the rest of the pumpkins (which also need to be cooked & pureed before they go bad) while wearing gloves and see if that helps.