Uncategorized – Life as a Garden

Soup is one of my favorite meals at any time of the year. There is no need to purchase soup stock as the ingredients used creates its own. This Super Greens Soup is one I make often, always using fresh organic ingredients. Enjoy.

Super Greens Soup – Vegan and Vegetarian

Butter or Avocado Oil for sauté

Salt to season

½ onion finely chopped*

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

4 medium size baby bella mushrooms, finely chopped

1 bunch baby bok choy finely chopped

2 handfuls fresh super greens finely chopped

1 tbsp tomato paste or a squeeze of tube tomato paste (optional but gives it great flavor)

1 small potato chopped (substitute noodles for potato for Vegetable Noodle Soup)

1 hefty tbsp freshly grated ginger

Boiling Water to add to sauté for soup**

Sauté onions, garlic and mushrooms in butter for 5 minutes. Add a pinch of salt.

Add butter or avocado oil.

Add bok choy and sauté for 2 – 3 minutes.

Add tomato paste and mix.

Add a pinch of salt. More butter or oil if needed. Add super greens. Sauté.

Add potato. Sauté 2 minutes. Add ginger to mix all.

Add 2 cups boiling water, then add more water to create soup consistency you want, thick or brothy.

Add salt to taste. Bring to boil.

Simmer covered 5 minutes on low heat.

Take off the heat and let it sit covered for 5 minutes.

Uncover. Let cool. Then warm it up for eating.

For me personally, this process works the best for integration of flavors.

*Finely chopped or to your chopped size preference

**I add boiling water to the soup mixture so I don’t have to wait for it to boil.

Variation: Add noodles to soup after it boils, (instead of potato) for Vegetable Noodle Soup.

This is my first post in a long time. Thank you for your patience. I plan on posting more often as my life has opened up more time to share Life as a Garden. I am having to re-learn how to post on this Blog. I will get better as I do it more.

Vegetarian Nutmeat Loaf

This recipe is the closest taste to beef in a meatloaf I have ever eaten. You may even ‘fool’ your meat eating friends. I use all organic ingredients. Side dish recommendations are cole slaw, steamed vegetables, a salad.

Pre-heat oven to 400° F (200° C) Grease a 3 ¾ “x 2 ¼” x 8” loaf pan

2 ¼ cups shelled walnuts, then, finely chop them in a food processor
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
2 medium Roma tomatoes, blanched, skinned, de-seeded, finely chopped, squeezed of moisture*
salt to taste
pepper to taste
1 Tbsp basil
1 egg, beaten

Put in a large mixing bowl, the chopped walnuts, onion, shredded cheese, tomatoes, salt, pepper, basil and lightly mix together. Add the beaten egg and mix well.

Put the mixture in the greased loaf pan and push down to firm. Bake for 35-40 minutes or when the top is well browned. Take out of oven and cool in the loaf pan. Slice and serve warm.

*How to blanch the tomatoes and de-skin easily: Cut an X on the top of the tomatoes to cut the skin but not the meat. Boil enough water in a pot to cover 2 tomatoes. When water boils, add the tomatoes to the boiling water for 20 seconds only. Remove promptly and place in ice to prevent them from cooking more. The skin will come off easily. Quarter the tomatoes, de-seed, and chop finely. Take a handful of the chopped tomatoes, squeeze out the moisture and add to the nut loaf mixture.

Interesting information about tomatoes: For a close to a lectin-free tomato, I skin and de-seed them. When tomatoes were introduced to Italy, the Italians discovered the skin and seeds in tomatoes caused health issues. Therefore, they skinned and removed the seeds before cooking them. Roma tomatoes were developed by Italians for more meat and less seeds.

Category: Uncategorized

Super Greens Soup-Vegetarian or Vegan

Vegetarian Nutmeat Loaf