Lentil & Farro Soup

This soup is what I like to call a stealth recipe. You read it over, take a look at the ingredient list, and you're like, okay, that sounds pretty good. Just pretty good, not amazing. But then you make it... and you are utterly SHOCKED at how delicious and flavorful it is. This recipe is kinda like that. Stealthy. It seems humble at first glance, but the combination of chewy farro, aromatic curry, lemony yogurt, and those occasional sweet bursts of sweet potato combine into something awesome that's soon to be one of your new favorite soups.

Lentil & Farro Soup

From Super Natural Every Day

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large yellow onions, chopped
• 1 cup peeled and diced sweet potato or winter squash
• Sea salt
• 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Indian curry powder
• 2/3 cup whole or semi-pearled farro
• 1 1/4 cups lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 6 to 7 cups vegetable broth or water
• 1 cup plain yogurt or Greek-style yogurt, or creme fraiche
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Stir in the onions and sweet potato. Add a big pinch of salt and saute until the onions soften a bit, a couple of minutes. Add the curry powder and stir until the onions and sweet potatoes are coated and the curry is fragrant, a minute or so. Add the farro, lentils, and 6 cups of the broth. Bring to a boil, decrease the heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 50 minutes, or until the farro and lentils are cooked through. (If you're using semi-pearled farro, the cooking time is about 25 minutes.) Taste and season with more salt if needed; how much you'll need depends on the saltiness of your broth. Don't under-salt; the soup will taste flat.

While the soup is cooking, in a small bowl, stir together the yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and about 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Serve each bowl of soup topped with a dollop of lemon yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil.

Spanish Tomato Soup with Roasted Chickpeas

Between the roasted red pepper, smoked paprika, almonds, and parsley, this recipe puts a major Spanish spin on classic tomato soup. After eating it I basically felt like taking a quick spin around the Prado and then catching a bullfight (and you probably know how I feel about bullfights). And this soup is not only very Spanish but also gooood. Like, lick-your-bowl-clean good. And so pretty (see below)! If I don't make this regularly throughout the upcoming cold weather months, I will be surprised.

Spanish Tomato Soup with Roasted Chickpeas
Adapted from Cooking Light

• Red bell pepper, halved lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 8 garlic cloves, roughly chopped, divided
• 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 28-oz can no-salt-added whole peeled tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (more to taste)
• Salt and pepper
• 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat broiler. Discard seeds and membranes from bell pepper; place, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil 8 minutes or until blackened. Seal in a bag and let stand 10 minutes. Peel. Reduce oven to 450 F.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add 3 garlic cloves; cook 1 minute. Add canned tomatoes (crush them with your hands before adding) and cream; bring to a simmer. Add paprika, a big pinch of salt, and a few grinds of the peppermill. Simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Blend with an immersion blender, or blend in batches in a regular blender. (If using a regular blender, it's safer to let the soup cool for 5-10 minutes first.)

Meanwhile, while soup is simmering, combine 5 garlic cloves and chickpeas in a roasting pan. Drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil, cumin, and a pinch of salt. Toss to combine. Roast at 450 F for 12 minutes, stirring once. Ladle soup into bowls and top evenly with chickpea mixture, parsley, and almonds.

Beet-Tomato Soup & Shaved Zucchini Salad

I've been looking forward to farmer's market season for months. Yeah, our local farmer's market technically goes all winter long, but only the meat/dairy people are there. It's not until May that all the produce farmers set up shop. We have a few weeks still before the veggies really hit their summer stride, but some really great springtime deliciousness can be found.

This soup & salad meal made use of some of the late-spring produce that I picked up yesterday. A big pile of tiny baby zucchini -- only about 4 inches long, and very thin -- became a shaved zucchini salad with sweet pistachios and salty parmesan. (Never eaten zucchini raw? It's great. It's got a really nice crunch to it.) And two bunches of beautiful beets got transformed into a delicious beet and tomato soup with cumin, kind of like a summery southwestern take on borscht. Together, they made a beautiful and wonderfully fresh Sunday dinner.

Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan and Pistachios
From Food & Wine

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 pounds small, firm zucchini, very thinly sliced lengthwise on a mandoline
• 1/3 cup shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (about 1 1/2 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons lightly salted roasted pistachios

In a small bowl, whisk the oil with the lemon zest and juice. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss the sliced zucchini with the lemon dressing. Add the Parmesan and the pistachios, toss again and serve.

Beet-and-Tomato Soup with Cumin
From Food & Wine

• 1 pound medium beets
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 medium shallots, thinly sliced
• 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more for garnish
• 1 quart vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• Creme fraiche (for garnish, optional-- I couldn't find any at the store, so left it out)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (for garnish, optional)

In a large saucepan, cover the beets with water. Bring to a boil and cook over moderately high heat until tender, about 1 hour; if necessary, add more water to keep the beets covered. Drain the beets and let cool slightly, then peel and coarsely chop.

Wipe out the saucepan and heat the olive oil in it. Add the shallots and cook over moderate heat until softened, about 4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chopped beets, season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes release their juices, about 5 minutes. Add the 1 teaspoon of cumin and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in the vegetable stock and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes.

Puree the soup in batches in a food processor. Rewarm the soup in teh saucepan and season with salt and pepper if needed. Ladle the soup into bowls and top with dollops of creme fraiche (if using). Sprinkle with a little cumin and the parsley and serve.

Bread Soup with Spring Vegetables

Do you ever wind up with leftover, stale bread that you don't quite know what to do with? Maybe you don't have time to make French toast in the morning, or you're not really a breadcrumb/crouton kind of person, or bread pudding just sounds too heavy. One great option is to throw leftover chunks of bread into a soup. The Italians are famous for doing this in ribollita, a simple, traditional peasant dish. I did something similar last night, a recipe from this month's Everyday Food magazine (you gotta love Martha, right?) - it's a nice light springtime version, brothy and full of veggies.

If you're saving some of the soup for the next day, add the bread individually to the bowls at serving time instead of to the pot all at once when you first make the soup, as the recipe directs. That way the bread won't get soggy.

Bread Soup with Spring Vegetables
From Everyday Food

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 large celery stalk, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 medium zucchinis, half lengthwise and sliced crosswise
• 1-2 sprigs thyme
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup fresh or frozen peas
• A few slices of day-old crusty bread, torn into bite-size pieces
• Roughly chopped fresh parsley, for serving

In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat oil over medium. Add onion, celery, and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add zucchini and thyme and cook until thyme is fragrant, 1 minute. Increase heat to medium-high, add broth and 1 cup water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add peas and cook until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Remove thyme stems, stir in bread, and season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, top with parsley.

Kale Shorba with Raita

Everyone loves a pretty meal. You know, something that looks fancy and well put-together and colorful. Well, looks aren't everything. Take this soup, for example. It's basically the most disgusting color a food could be, and yet it's totally delicious. Surprise! Also, it's a great way to get more leafy greens into your diet - kale is one of the healthiest foods on the planet, since it's loaded with vitamins, iron, calcium, and beta carotene.

You may be thinking, what the heck is a shorba? Basically, it's just soup. Wikipedia tells me that shorba/chorba/ciorba/shurpa/etc. is "one of various kinds of soup or stew found in national cuisines across Eurasia." This version is distinctly Indian, with lots of aromatic spices and a cooling cucumber raita balancing everything out. It's great with some crusty bread or naan on the side.

Kale Shorba with Cucumber Raita Swirl
From Vegetarian Times

• 1 tablespoon canola oil or butter
• 8-ounce bunch kale, stems removed, leaves and stems chopped separately
• 1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons peeled and sliced fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup tomato puree
• 1 cup fat-free Greek yogurt or non-dairy plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup diced cucumber
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

To make shorba: Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add kale stems, potato, ginger, garlic, jalapenos, coriander, and turmeric, and saute 2 minutes. Add broth, cover, and bring to a boil. Simmer 10 minutes, then add kale leaves. Cover, and simmer 20 minutes more, or until potatoes and kale are tender. Stir in tomato puree, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Blend mixture in batches in blender until smooth.

To make raita: Stir together yogurt, cucumber, cumin, and salt in a bowl. Swirl a few tablespoons of the raita into each bowl of shorba.

Smoky Split Pea Soup

I'm pretty sure smoked paprika is the most beloved spice in our household. Yeah, there are a lot of other great spices, ones that we can't live without. I'd probably die if I went three days without using cumin, cinnamon, or curry powder. But nothing gets me quite so excited as when I find a new recipe that calls for smoked paprika (and hopefully a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, which just compliments it so well). If you don't have smoked paprika in your home, please do yourself a favor and buy some now. (And make this Moroccan pot-roasted eggplant dish that's Joe's absolute favorite.)

So, yeah, this soup was really great. It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it's super easy and tastes awesome when sprinkled with a garnish of fresh thyme from your Aerogarden and scooped into your mouth with a big crusty hunk of whole wheat bread. Which is how I ate it, in case you couldn't guess.

Smoky Split Pea Soup

From Appetite for Reduction

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced small
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon salt
• A few twists of the pepper grinder
• 4 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots
• 1 1/4 cups dry split peas
• 4-6 cups vegetable broth
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Saute the onions in the oil until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, pepper, and salt, and saute for another minute. Add the paprika and thyme, and stir continuously for about 15 seconds to toast the spices a bit.

Add the carrots, split peas, and broth. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, the lower the heat to a simmer and cook for about 40 minutes, until the peas are creamy. Stir occasionally to prevent the soup from burning at the bottom. If necessary, thin the soup with water. Add the lemon juice and taste for salt and seasonings. (I had to add about another teaspoon more each of salt and smoked paprika to get it tasting super delicious.)

World's Easiest Butternut-Apple Soup

This butternut-apple soup is so easy, you can still make it even if you are:

1. Asleep
2. Dumb as a box of rocks
3. Blackout drunk
4. On any number of prescription or illegal drugs
5. Having a psychotic break
6. Hallucinating due to an undiagnosed brain tumor
7. In the late stages of Alzheimer's
8. Experiencing demonic possession
9. All of the above

Also, it's delicious. So really, you have no excuse not to make it.

World's Easiest Butternut-Apple Soup

• One quart-sized carton of vegetable stock
• One package of pre-chopped butternut squash (if it's over 30 ounces, use only about 3/4 of it)
• One yellow onion, cut into big chunks
• Half an apple (any variety), cut into big chunks
• Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

In a soup pot, combine the stock, squash, onion, and apple. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes or until everything is soft and tender. Pour it into a blender (do it in batches if it won't all fit) and puree. (Be careful with blending the hot soup -- don't put the lid on the blender or it will explode due to escaping steam; just cover the top with a dish towel to prevent splatters.) Return to pot and add salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste.

Curried Lentil Soup

My dog had surgery yesterday. He had this nasty mass on his chest that got really infected a couple weeks ago, so the vet decided he should have it removed entirely. When they cut it off him and looked inside it, there was a thorn in there. A thorn. Seriously? That is the world's most expensive thorn. An $1100 thorn, to be precise.

So last night was kind of hectic as we dealt with our drugged-out dog lurching about the apartment slamming into walls, crying, and oozing blood all over the carpet. Fortunately, I had planned to make a soup last night, so it worked out well. When you have a sick patient in the house, soup just seems appropriate, you know? I did the prep work ahead of time, and then after we picked Walter up from the vet, I just let it simmer on the stove while we tended to his crying and oozing. Not my ideal Friday night, but the soup was really good at least.

Curried Lentil Soup
From Bon Appetit

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 2 large garlic cloves, chopped, divided
• 2 tablespoons (or more) curry powder
• 1 cup lentils (recipe calls for French green but I just used the regular brown kind)
• One 15-oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons butter (vegans can omit this)
• 2 green onions, sliced

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onion and carrot; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Add half of chopped garlic; stir until vegetables are soft but not brown, about 4 minutes longer. Add 2 tablespoons curry powder; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add lentils and 4 cups water. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Increase heat and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, puree chickpeas, lemon juice, 1/4 cup water, remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil, and remaining garlic in processor.

Add chickpea puree and butter (if desired) to lentil soup. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and additional curry powder, if desired. Add water by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency. (Soup can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Rewarm before continuing.)

Divide soup among bowls. Sprinkle with thinly sliced green onions.

Bonus picture: Walter in his post-surgery tee shirt (so he doesn't chew his stitches out...)

Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Soup

When the weather is cold, I crave two things:

1. Soup.
2. Roasted stuff.

So I was pretty psyched today when Joe made me a roasted eggplant and chickpea soup for dinner. What?!

This recipe is from what I like to call Martha Stewart's "weeknight magazine" -- Everyday Food. They did a whole feature on roasted soups, but I immediately flagged this one for immediate preparation. I'm glad I did, since it's really delicious. Roasting the veggies gives it a nice full flavor, and a swirl of yogurt adds just the right amount of tang. A sprinkle of fragrant fresh oregano tops it all off.

Roasted Eggplant and Chickpea Soup

• 2 medium eggplants, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 small yellow onion, diced medium
• 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• 6 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• Fresh oregano
• Plain yogurt

Preheat oven to 400 F. In a large bowl, toss together eggplants, onion, garlic, and 4 teaspoons oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer in a roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet, leaving a wide strip of empty space at one end. In the bowl, toss chickpeas with 2 teaspoons oil. Transfer to empty space on sheet. Roast until eggplant is golden and cooked through and chickpeas are slightly crunchy, about 35 minutes.

Set chickpeas aside. Peel garlic and add to a medium pot, along with eggplant, onion, and broth. Bring mixture to a simmer over medium-high. With a potato masher or back of a wooden spoon, mash some eggplant until soup is thick and chunky. Stir in chickpeas and season to taste with salt and pepper. To serve, top with fresh oregano and plain yogurt.

Creamy Root Vegetable Stew

Finally! October has arrived, and there are a lot of reasons why it's my favorite month of the year. For example: cool weather, fall foliage, pumpkins, Halloween, scarves and tights, football, baseball... the list goes on and on. Oh, and fall food is in full swing -- at the farmer's market today, the bins were overflowing with gorgeous squashes, apples, onions, and tons of root veggies.

So for dinner tonight, I made a delicious root vegetable stew that's perfect for celebrating the start of my favorite 31 days. It's creamy, thick, filling, garlicky, herby, and just all-around wonderful on a cool night.

Creamy Root Vegetable Stew

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 tablespoons chopped garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 2 1/2 cups diced Yukon gold potatoes (about 1 pound)
• 2 1/4 cups diced peeled rutabaga (about 3/4 pound)
• 2 cups diced peeled turnip (about 2/3 pound)
• 1 1/4 cups diced peeled parsnip (about 1/2 pound)
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Crusty bread, for serving

Heat oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion to pan; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and rosemary; cook 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Stir in potato and next 5 ingredients (through the 2 cups water). Bring to a simmer; cook, covered, 20 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Place 3 cups soup mixture in a blender. Remove center piece of blender lid (to allow steam to escape); secure blender lid on blender. Place a clean towel over opening in blender lid (to avoid splatters). Blend until smooth. Return to pan. Stir in cream, pepper, and salt. Serve with bread.

Thai Coconut Soup

I always love trying new recipes, so I don't usually make the same thing twice unless it's really good. So you should know it's really saying something that I've made this Thai coconut soup more times than I can remember.

This soup recipe comes from my favorite vegetarian cookbook, Linda McCartney On Tour.* Ms. McCartney was an animal rights activist who refused to "eat anything with a face." Her cookbook is fantastic and contains recipes influenced by all sorts of different world cultures and cuisines. I do have to say that I disagree with her choice of name for this recipe -- she calls it "tom yum soup," but it has pretty much zero in common with tom yum (at least as I'm familiar with it). This soup has more in common with tom kha gai, since it has a coconut base, except this is a vegetarian version with lots more veggies. And in my opinion, more deliciousness.

Whatever you want to call it, this soup has lots of wonderful flavors, and like all good soups it tastes even better the next day.

 Thai Coconut Soup

• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 medium onion, chopped finely
• 1 fresh jalapeno pepper (or other, if your store has interesting types), seeded and minced
• 2 stalks lemongrass (if my store doesn't have it, I sometimes add some lime zest instead)
• 3/4 pound eggplant, cut into half-inch cubes
• One 14-ounce can of diced tomatoes in juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 4 cups vegetable stock
• One 14-ounce can of coconut milk
• Cilantro, anywhere from 2 to 4 tablespoons (or none at all)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 to 1 cup cooked jasmine, basmati, or long grain brown rice
• Chopped peanuts, for garnish
  

Heat a large soup pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. When it is hot, add the garlic, onion, jalapeno, and lemongrass stalks (leave them whole, or at least in large enough pieces that you can easily remove them later). Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add the eggplant and cook for about 4 minutes until it has browned. Stir in the sugar and tomatoes, and mix well. Add the stock, coconut milk, and cilantro (if using). Bring to a simmer, season to taste with salt and pepper, and simmer gently for about 5-10 minutes. Add the rice about 2 minutes before the end of the cooking time. Remove the lemongrass, pour the soup into bowls, and garnish with the chopped peanuts.

*Note: to be distinguished from my favorite vegan cookbook, which is definitely Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero. You'll definitely see recipes from that book cropping up on this blog more than once.

Tuscan Vegetable Chowder

I love the first days of fall. That touch of chilliness in the mornings and evenings just puts a spring into my step. Fall is my favorite season. I love everything about it -- the trees changing color, the holidays (Halloween! Thanksgiving!), the coziness of it all.

And the food! Fall makes me crave nothing so much as a warm bowl of soup. This Italian "chowder" is easy, filling, and comforting on an autumn evening. And it's a complete vegetarian meal thanks to the textured vegetarian protein (TVP). Yeah, that's kind of a weird, gross-sounding ingredient, but I promise it's great. TVP is just soy-derived crumbles that you can add to anything for lots of protein, and it just tastes like whatever you're putting it in. Which in this case is a bowl full of herby, vegetabley goodness.

 Tuscan Vegetable Chowder

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 3/4 cup diced carrots
• 1/2 cup diced celery
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 28 ounce can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 15 ounce can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup dry textured vegetable protein granules (TVP)
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic, about 3 cloves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 2 cups kale, chopped
• 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper to taste

 Heat oil in a large soup pot. Add onion, carrots, and celery. Saute 5 minutes until onion is translucent. Add broth, tomatoes and their juice, beans, TVP, garlic, and thyme. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in kale, green beans, salt and pepper. Simmer, covered, 10 minutes or until all vegetables are tender. Serves 4.

Peruvian Quinoa-Vegetable Soup

I have the greatest memories of my trip to Peru with Joe. There's seldom a day that goes by when I don't think about something we did, whether it was the main event (hiking the Inca Trail) or something random but memorable (like paying a woman 2 soles at a train station so I could take a picture with her llama).

Our culinary adventures were equally memorable. We tried alpaca, guinea pig (hey, I wasn't a vegetarian yet), stuffed rocoto chiles, and those most delicious of cookies, alfajores. And some ceviche when we were in Lima. And lots of Inka Kola and pisco sours to wash it all down!

Dinner.

This Peruvian-inspired soup I made for dinner (borrowed from the lovely cookbook The 30-Minute Vegan by Mark Reinfeld and Jennifer Murray) doesn't have any of that stuff in it, but it does have some traditionally Peruvian ingredients. Like quinoa, which has been an important staple in the Andes for 6,000 years. Even the use of soy sauce is authentically Peruvian, since a lot of the cuisine in that country was influenced by Chinese immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which led to a fusion cuisine called chifa.

The soup's not much to look at, but it's delicious, filling, and healthy, and it reminds me of a great trip I took. Not bad for such quick work.

Peruvian Quinoa-Vegetable Soup

• 7 cups water or vegetable stock (or a mix)
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups chopped potatoes (purple potatoes if you can find them)
• 1 large carrot, sliced
• 3/4 cup diced yellow onion
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup sliced cabbage
• 1 seeded and minced jalapeno pepper
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
• 1/4 cup minced fresh Italian parsley
• 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

Place the water and soy sauce in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the quinoa. Begin prepping the vegetables and place them in the pot as you go. Start with the potatoes, carrot, onion, garlic, cabbage, jalapeno, and tomatoes. Cook until the potatoes are tender and the quinoa is cooked, about 20 minutes from when the quinoa was added. Add the cilantro, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste.

Variations: You can saute the onions and garlic in 2 tablespoons of olive oil for extra flavor before adding the water, quinoa, and remaining ingredients. For extra protein, you could also add 1 pound of extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes, after adding the veggies.

Vegetarian Posole

Vegetarians tend to eat a lot of ethnic food. American food -- with the exception of some delicacies like mac-and-cheese and veggie chili -- tends to focus on meat. We aren't known as a meat-and-potatoes culture for nothing. Anyway, so because of that, I end up cooking and eating a lot of cuisines like Thai, Japanese, Chinese, sometimes Italian and Greek, and especially Indian.

But one of my very favorite cuisines for delicious vegetarian meals is Mexican. Oh man, there are so many great veg-friendly Mexican ingredients. Beans, cheese, rice, peppers, lime, avocado, tomato, cilantro. It's easy to forget about the whole meat thing entirely.

This recipe is one of those classic Mexican dishes that's healthy, filling, and really good. Also, it just so happens to be vegan (no dairy!). According to the history books, posole is a traditional pre-Columbian meal that was made on special occasions -- specifically, the occasion of human sacrifice. After the heart was torn out in the ritual, the rest of the human flesh was chopped up and cooked with corn meal because corn was considered a sacred plant. After the Spanish conquest, cannibalism was banned and pork was substituted in the posole because it "tastes very similar."

Now aren't you glad this version is vegetarian?

Vegetarian Posole

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 cups vegetable broth, water, or a combination
• 2 cups cooked whole hominy, or one 14-ounce can of hominy, drained and rinsed
• One 15-ounce can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups kale, chard, or other leafy green
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• Salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 3 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 medium lime, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pour broth over onion mixture and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Add hominy and beans; cook 2 minutes. Add greens and cook until greens are wilted and just cooked, about 2 minutes more. Stir in cilantro, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Garnish with remaining ingredients and serve.