Made a great soup from this website I found yesterday. http://www.ethnicvegan.com/index.html
Forgot to take the photo of the finished soup~oops...
This vegan barley soup, which uses dried shitakes for an extra flavor dimension, will warm you up right down to your toes.
~ mushroom barley soup~
4-5 dried shitake mushrooms
3 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/4 cup celery, diced
1 medium yellow onion, chopped fine
1 large carrot, diced
12 oz. white mushrooms ( I used Crimini)
8 cups water
1 cup pearl barley
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. sage
1 tsp. thyme
Pinch of Hungarian paprika
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley, chopped (I used cilantro, chopped finely)
1. Place the shitake mushrooms in a bowl; pour boiling water over them. Cover the bowl and let the mushrooms soften for about 45 minutes. Remove the mushrooms and pour the soaking water through a cone coffee filter to remove any sediment. Reserve the strained liquid. Dice the shitakes.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large stew-pot over medium heat. Sauté the garlic, celery, onion, and carrot until the onions are translucent. Add the white mushrooms and shitakes and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.
3. Add 8 cups of water, the reserved mushroom soaking liquid, barley, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Partially cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add remaining spices; cook, stirring occasionally, until the barley softens (about another 30 minutes).
5. Stir in chopped parsley right before serving.
We also made the beer batter bread (cheated a little) w/ some old home-brew Vlad had, pretty good. No butter needed...
* beer batter bread
This bread recipe is so easy, it's perfect for a fast weeknight meal. Try pairing it with veggie chili or bbq veggie chili.
2 cups self-rising flour*
3 Tbs. sugar
1 12-oz. can or bottle of your favorite beer
Olive oil
Grease a loaf pan with olive oil. Heat oven to 350°. Combine flour, sugar, and beer. Pour into loaf pan and bake for 20 minutes. Brush top of loaf with olive oil; return to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until loaf is golden brown.
*If you don't have self-rising flour on hand, make your own. For each cup of self-rising flour, sift together:
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Check out the link:
http://www.ethnicvegan.com/index.html
They really have a good variety of different ethnic types of vegan food.
Lenten cooking can be simple & taste good.
I found this delicious hummus recipe on another website...
Cumin and Smoked Paprika Hummus
INGREDIENTS:
1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, with about half the water drained off
1/4 cup tahini
1 medium-sized garlic clove
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice (or more, to desired consistency)
1 tsp smoked paprika (can use regular if you don't have smoked)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
DIRECTIONS:
1. In a food processor, puree all ingredients together until smooth. Add more lemon juice to get your preferred hummus texture. Serve with chopped vegetables or baguette slices.
Makes about 2 cups of hummus.
