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Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts
Showing posts with label potato. Show all posts

Monday, April 18, 2016

Pressure Cooker Potato Leek Soup

In our house, we have potato leek soup a couple of times a month.  The facts that potatoes keep on the shelf so well, are often the last produce around before grocery shopping day, and cook relatively quickly have made this soup one of our main staples.

When I first became a Nutritarian, I really missed the creaminess of thick soups and sauces, so potato leek soup was one of my first favorites because it gives you that creaminess without any cow cream.  To make a similar recipe, but on the stovetop, refer to Katies Creamy Potato Soup recipe here.  This was a recipe I adapted from my sister-in-law that I love love!

Now-a-days, I make my potato leek soup a bit differently, and in "my precious" pressure cooker.  Quite literally, I called it "my precious" in our move last weekend while a coworker of Kevins was packing it.  Yep...  I went full-on LOTR Gollum with an appliance, but if you have one, you will know what I mean.

In the recipe I am about to share with you, I like to add lots of veggies besides potatoes and leeks.  I often throw in whatever sounds good in my fridge that needs to be used up, but this is my general recipe.  In the pressure cooker, this takes only 6 minutes at pressure with a quick release at the end!

Pressure Cooker Potato Leek Soup
Time: 10 minute prep, 6 minutes high pressure, quick release
Servings: 8-10 servings


Ingredients:
        2 lbs mixed white, red, golden potatoes - peeled if not organic and cut into 2 inch cubes
        2 leeks trimmed, washed well, and sliced including most of the green portion
        2 cloves garlic, minced
        3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
        3 medium celery stalks, diced
        1 cup mushrooms, roughly chopped, any variety
        1 Tbsp dried herb mix - see note below
        8 cups of water (boiling when added, if desired to reach high pressure faster)
        1-2 cups unsweetened plant-based milk (optional)

Instructions:
1.)  On the saute function, saute the chopped leeks and minced garlic for 3-5 minutes, adding water as needed to prevent burning.
2.)  Add in the remainder of the ingredients EXCEPT for the plant-based milk.  Lock the pressure cooker lid in place and cook at high pressure for 5-7 minutes.
3.)  After the allotted time, do a manual quick release of the pressure, or allow the pressure to come down naturally.
4.)  With an immersion blender or high-powered blender, blend the soup to your desired thickness, being cautious not to overprocess.  Potatoes can get a bit gummy if they are blended too much.
5.)  Season with salt and pepper, and serve warm topped with fresh herbs, nutritional yeast, and/or green onion.


Amys Notes:

Sometimes I substitute one leek with one yellow onion or two bunches of green onions, depending on the price of leeks during the year and my pantry stock of onions.  I find the flavor to be just as nice, and save me a bit of money as well.

For the dried herbs, I like to mix it up from batch to batch, but I generally add at least 1 Tbsp total of dried herbs.  My favorite lately is Herbs de Provence, but you could also do a mixture of thyme, rosemary, fennel seeds, basil, oregano, parsley, marjoram, sage, etc.



Health and Happiness,

Amy


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Sunday, April 17, 2016

Katies Creamy Potato Leek Soup


Hope everyone is having a great weekend so far!  Ive been busy with cooking, cleaning, and hanging out with friends.  Friday night a few of us went to the Spokane Oktoberfest to try out a few beers from over 20 different breweries.  It was a great time out with friends being beer connoisseurs.
Everyday Vegan Girl
For Healthy Vegan Friday I will be featuring the soup I had for dinners and I featured in this weeks What I Ate Wednesday.  My sister-in-law Katie sent me this recipe after she had described it to me as "Amazing!"  I found it to be a great recipe to use up some of the vegetables I had left from the veggie trays at our reception (the carrots and celery).  It is so simple, yet delicious.  Hope you give it a try!

Ingredients:

  • 2 large leeks, roughly chopped
  • 6 medium potatoes (or equivalent red potatoes), diced
  • 2 medium carrots, sliced
  • 2 medium celery stalks, sliced
  • 8 cups water
  • 2 cups non-dairy milk (optional)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Some suggested spice combinations:
    • 1/2 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp marjoram
    • 1 tsp rosemary
    • 1/2 tsp basil and 1/2 thyme
Directions:
  1. Chop the leeks, carrot, and celery, and water saute in a dutch oven or large pot for about 10 minutes.
  2. Add your selected spices to the vegetables while they are sauteing.
  3. In the meantime, scrub potatoes and chop into 1 inch chunks (peeling optional).
  4. Add potatoes, water, and salt to pot.  
  5. Bring to a boil.
  6. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 20-25 minutes or until potatoes are soft.
  7. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup to a creamy consistency.
  8. Stir in milk to thin and give a creamier taste (optional).
Amys Notes:
This a fairly versatile soup in how you decide to make it.  I used red potatoes and left the skin on, but you could easily use russet potatoes and choose to leave the skins on or off.  Also, if you dont happen to have leeks on hand, you might be able to use an onion or three in replacement.  The spices in this recipe are also very versatile.  Whatever your spice/dried herb preference, give it a try with this soup.  From the pictures you can tell that the soup in the pot is not as light in color as the soup in my bowl.  This is because I added a bit of almond milk once I served the soup.  This worked well for Kevin and I because he preferred to add his regular milk while I added my non-dairy milk.  This little trick also is great for saving room in your fridge with the leftovers.  If you dont add the milk until you are going to eat the leftovers, it will allow you to store thicker soup in smaller containers to save room in the fridge.
What is your favorite versatile recipe or your favorite recipe to use up vegetables in your fridge?
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Friday, April 15, 2016

Kale Mac N Sweet Potato Cheese

This is day 3, week 1 of my Eat to Live 6 week challenge, and I am feeling pretty great!  I have noticed that my usual "time of the month" pains and woes are much less than they usually are, and for that, I am so grateful.  Here is my daily log and a recipe at the bottom: Kale, Mac N Sweet Potato Cheese.

Food log:
  • Breakfast: 2 apples
  • Lunch: Dr. Fuhrmans Warm Lentil Salad, 2 slices of gf bread with hummus
  • Dinner: Kale, Mac N Sweet Potato "Cheese" (see below)
  • Extras: 1 beer
Exercise log:
  • Cardio: 30 minutes stationary bicycle
  • Body weight exercises: calves, abs, back, core
  • Stretching: 5 minutes before and after
How I feel:
Im happy that I was able to get in some exercise today. I know because of that I will sleep a lot more soundly tonight, yay!  I have noticed that I really really felt hungry for lunch today. Once I took that first bite, it was so delicious!  Looking over my food for the day, I feel like I did not get in as many fresh fruits as I had hoped for.  Im hoping to find some time tomorrow to crack into a pineapple I have been saving up.  Yum!  Tonight, I found some time to cook and needed to use up a sweet potato I had had in my produce basket for a while, as well as the rest of the tofu package I used for my last recipe post. What resulted was Kale, Mac N Sweet Potato Cheese.  Hope you enjoy! (Please note, since I am posting daily, my pictures are not being edited, and these are the best ones I could do on my iPad at the time!)

Kale, Mac N Sweet Potato Cheese

Ingredients:
  • Pasta:
    • 1 cup dried macaroni noodles per person
    • 1-2 cups chopped fresh kale
  • Sauce:
    • 1 sweet potato, baked and peeled
    • 6 oz or 1/2 package silken tofu
    • 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
    • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    • 1 Tbsp low sodium soy sauce
    • 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
    • 1/2 tsp onion powder
    • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
    • 1/2 tsp black pepper
    • 1/4 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Instructions:
  1. In a boiling pot of water, begin to boil the macaroni. 
  2. In a high speed blender, blend together all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy.  If the sauce is too thick for your liking, add non-dairy milk one tablespoon at a time. 
  3. Once the pasta has become nearly al dente (with 3-5 minutes left to cook), add the chopped kale and stir.  Frequently stir the pot until the pasta is fully cooked. Drain the kale and pasta in a strainer. 
  4. Return the kale and pasta to the pot and drizzle on the desired amount of sweet potato "cheese" sauce for the entire dish.  Return to the stovetop on low heat.  Remove from heat and serve once the sauce has become hot. 

Amys Notes:
This dish actually came together very quickly.  For the noodles, I used rice macaroni that I had gotten from the bulk bins at the grocery store.  To be honest, they are not my favorite on their own, but this sauce definitely makes them worth eating.  I would suggest that you use a whole wheat pasta instead.  When I made this, I used about 1 cup of kale per one cup of macaroni.  I found that this was a little less kale than I desired, so make sure to overestimate for the greens, they tend to shrink down!  If you dont have kale on hand, you can always use another dark green like collards, mustard greens, or spinach.  Keep in mind that lighter greens like spinach will take much less time to cook in the boiling water.  For the sauce, I have experimented with making several different types of vegan "cheese" recipes including those that are nut base, some that use corn starch to thicken, and some with pretty interesting ingredients.  I found that this has been my favorite one so far.  The sweet potato and tofu add the right thickness and color, while the spices add a great, but subtle kick to it. 

What types of vegan "cheese" sauces have you tried making at home?  Which ones have been your favorite?

This post was submitted to Healthy Vegan Friday.  Thanks to one of the hosts, Carrie from Carrie on Vegan for giving bloggers such a fun stage for recipe creativity!
(Backlink: http://www.carrieonvegan.com/2013/05/10/healthy-vegan-friday-recipes-my-favorite-submissions/)
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Saturday, April 9, 2016

PESTO BAKED COD WITH POTATO AND PEA CRUSH

My health and brain power must be improving with all this fish I have been cooking recently. Arabella is already bored of it but to be honest if she had her way, she would just eat goats cheese for every meal! 

This is a recipe card from Waitrose and it took about 25 minutes in total so perfect for a mid week supper.

Ingredients for 2 people:

Knob of butter
Skinless and boneless cod fillets (about 260g)
2 tbsp of pesto
1 large tomato, chopped
350g potatoes, peeled and diced
150g frozen peas
Finely grated zest and juice of 1/4 lemon



Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

Start by mixing together the pesto and tomato in a bowl and then lightly butter an ovenproof dish. Place the cod inside and then top with tomato and pesto mixture. Cook the fish in the oven for 15-20 minutes - I did 20 as I wanted to make sure it was cooked properly all the way through!







Meanwhile cook the potatoes in a large pan of boiling water for 15 minutes and then add the frozen peas for the last 3 minutes.




Drain and then add back to the pan with a knob of butter. Next lightly crush the potatoes and peas using a masher. Stir in some lemon juice and zest and season to taste.





Once the fish is ready, divide the potato mixture between two plates and top with the cod and tomato pesto mixture.



This was a much more successful meal than expected - Arabella adored the mash as did I - I am not really a potato fan but it tasted so much better when mixed with the peas and a dash of lemon. The tomato, pesto and cod was also delicious - very Mediterranean in flavour. The meal also looked very impressive! This is definitely going to become a regular fixture at our dinner table….healthy, tasty, quick and easy….an all round winner.


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