I thought, since I’m at home this week, I’d make most of the dinners. I am, however, a rather lazy cook and often look for things that are simple, easy and will last a while (or so I hope). So crockpot/slow cooker recipes as well as large stew/soup recipes are favourites of mine. It also helps stretch that ever shrinking dollar. K and I had been talking about what soups she likes and she does sorta like Amy’s Black Bean but said that often they lack a “omph” as far as flavour/spicyness goes. So I thought why not make a nice spicy black bean soup for her? The internet happens to be my favourite recipe book ever. And in my searches I found this simple recipe: Black Bean Vegetable Soup. I pretty much stuck to the recipe with two exceptions:
- I used a slow cooker at the end rather than a soup pot. I stuck it on low and let it simmer away for a couple of hours. The apartment smelled great!
- I add in some cajun spices my aunt gave me over the holidays. Lots of ‘em!
It wasn’t enough to cure K’s cold but was good enough for her to have two huge bowls of it. The recipe technically feeds 8 but I think K ate enough for 4! (I also had two small bowls myself along with some bread and vegan mayo I made). K’s cold, however, got worse over night and she canceled a date with a dear friend to stay at home in bed. Of course, everyone knows what the fix is for that: chicken soup. But since we’re vegan, that’s a definite no-no so I searched for some nice vegan “chicken” soups. And found this one on About.com. Again, I stuck with the recipe as is but made a few minor changes:
The local grocery stores have “vegetable soup kits” in their produce aisle. I got one that cost me about $3.25 and had all the basics needed for soup: turnip, leek, onion, celery, fresh basil, fresh parsley, carrots, parsnip. I used that to replace some of the ingredients listed. I added a couple of potatos.
- Used pre-minced garlic and added a couple of large slices of ginger
- Used Whitewave StirFry Seitan Strips and coated them with salt and pepper (next time will marinate over night in No Chicken Broth)
- Used 8 cups of No Chicken Broth
- Used 2 cups of vegan vegetable sea salt and herb bouillon
- Add a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme to the parsley/basil bundle
- ground in the fresh pepper and added in about another 1-2 tsp of black pepper
- added sea salt
- added cajun spice (about 1-2 teaspoons)
- used 2 tbsps sunflower oil (didn’t have any olive oil on hand)
- let it simmer for two hours and served with saltines (salted kind)
- added 2 cups of water after removing the bundle
This is comfort food. It’s not about diets and losing weight. And it definitely seemed to help K a bit.
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Here’s one I made for a couple of vegetarian friends… It’s one I’ll be making regularly now!
I think the yoghurt could be replaced by tofu quite easily to make this properly vegan.
Ingredients
1 medium aubergine, about 250g/8¾oz
2 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
1 red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
250g/8¾oz sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cut into cubes
1 medium courgette, about 200g/7¼oz
400g/14¼oz canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
400g/14¼oz canned chopped tomatoes
250ml/8¾fl oz unsweetened coconut milk
sea salt, to taste
For the spice paste
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
½ tsp cardamom seeds, about 10 pods
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
5cm/2in fresh ginger, peeled and grated
4 garlic cloves
1 tsp turmeric
1-2 chillies, de-seeded, or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tomato, cut into quarters
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sugar
To serve
steamed basmati rice
sprigs of coriander
mango chutney
Greek-style yoghurt
Method
1. To make the spice paste, dry-toast the spice seeds in a frying pan, shaking until they pop and turn lightly golden. Transfer to a blender or spice grinder, add the remaining ingredients and six tablespoons of water, and grind to a smooth paste. Set aside.
2. Roast the aubergine directly over a high gas flame until charred and softened, about 15 minutes. Alternatively, roast in a preheated oven at 220C/425F/Gas 7 for about 40 minutes. Let cool, then peel and discard the skin. Don’t worry if a few charred bits remain – this will add extra flavour.
3. Heat the oil or ghee in a large, heavy-based saucepan, add the onion and cook until softened. Add the spice paste and stir for two minutes to release the aromas, then add the pepper, sweet potatoes or yams, courgette and chickpeas. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes and 250ml (8¾fl oz), then bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.
4. Put the peeled aubergine in a blender, add the coconut milk and pulse to a coarse purée. Add to the pan and bring back to a simmer. Add salt, if necessary. Cook for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat, cover and let stand for at least 30 minutes or preferably overnight.
5. Reheat, then serve with rice, coriander sprigs, yoghurt and mango chutney.
Emily’s last blog post..24th March: Ada Lovelace Day
Hrmm.. I’ll have to try that in a couple of weeks when I’m off again. That might be a good mid-winter meal. Thanks!
I love this post! plumpqt fact for ya Kim Fields is my cousin on my daddies side. Nope I never met her, she doesn’t attend the fam reunions. ;-( I found out sadly one day when I was watching living single and complimenting Regine’s outfit and how hot she looked. Then my dad dropped the bomb lol I have never been right since, I went to the vagina monologues a while back, though I loved them I still felt awkward when she came out to speak. Mad love for you and this post! Marian
Wow, thanks for your kind words Linus! I’ll get right on posting that in the next couple of days.
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Phbbbbbt! I did your challenge and RAISED you. Ha
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