Category Archives: Main Dishes

Main Dishes

Broccoli ‘Cheese’ Soup

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Sorry that this bowl is not even half full, and more than half empty.  

Every Saturday, my family gets together for dinner (which ends up being pizza 95% of the time).  I either make my own gluten-free, dairy-free pizza, or a soup.  Last Saturday I made this broccoli soup.  I figured that since I doubled the recipe there would be plenty of leftovers so I could take a picture of it the next day.  However, it was so popular there was barely a half-cup left.  Even my 18-year-old nephew liked it.

Broccoli 'Cheese' Soup
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  2. 2 pounds of broccoli florets
  3. 1 large onion
  4. 2 medium garlic cloves
  5. 2 teaspoon mustard powder
  6. pinch cayenne pepper
  7. Kosher salt
  8. 4 cups water
  9. Rounded 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  10. 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  11. 2-1/2 ounces baby spinach
  12. 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  13. 3/4 cup dairy-free cheddar cheese (Recommended: Daiya)
  14. Freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Heat oil in large, heavy-bottom pot over medium-high heat. Add broccoli, onion, garlic, dry mustard, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup water and baking soda. Bring to simmer, cover, and cook until broccoli is very soft (you should be able to mash it with the back of your spoon), about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  2. Add broth and 3 cups water and increase heat to medium-high. When mixture begins to simmer, stir in spinach, dairy-free cheese, and nutritional yeast. Cook until spinach is wilted, about 1 minute. Transfer to blender in batches (you don't want to fill it more than 2/3 full or else you may have an explosion) and process until smooth. Transfer soup to medium bowl and repeat with remaining soup. Return soup to Dutch oven. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve.
Adapted from Cook's Country
Adapted from Cook's Country
One Fine Tomato http://onefinetomato.com/
One thing that may seem strange, is that you are basically supposed to cook the broccoli to death to get the real flavor out.  The baking soda speeds up the process, and the spinach gives it the bright, green color. 

Main Dishes

Grandma’s ‘Cheese’ Soup

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This cheese soup recipe is another comfort-food classic for our family.  This is surprising since there are quite a few vegetables in it, but then I do remember my brothers would take their time ladling the soup to try and get as few vegetables as possible.  

While I can no longer serve it in the bread bowls we’d usually have it in, I was able to figure out how to make it without the original recipe’s cheese whiz, half and half, butter, and flour. 

Grandma's 'Cheese' Soup
Serves 8
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Ingredients
  1. 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1" cubes
  2. 1 cube non-hydrogetnated vegan margarine (Earth Balance)
  3. 3/4 cup sweet rice flour
  4. 1 teaspoon mustard powder
  5. 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  6. 1 teaspoon onion powder
  7. 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (largely for color, so it's optional)
  8. 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  9. 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  10. 1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
  11. 5 cups So Delicious Coconut Milk, unsweetened (or other non-dairy milk)
  12. 1 quart low-sodium chicken broth (or veggie broth)
  13. 1 16-ounce bag frozen California blend vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots)
  14. 1-1/2 teaspoon salt
  15. 1-1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
Instructions
  1. Put potatoes in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, reduce to simmer and cook until just tender. Drain and reserve cooking liquid.
  2. In a separate pot, melt Earth Balance over medium heat. Sprinkle in rice flour. Cook for one minute. Whisk in mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric powder, chili powder, and nutritional yeast. Cook for another minute. Slowly whisk in chicken broth, and coconut milk. Add vegetable blend. Bring to boil, reduce to simmer, and cook until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add potatoes, salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Add some of the reserved potato water if a thinner consistency is desired. Serve.
Notes
  1. Depending on the brand of vegetable blend, the vegetables may need to be thawed slightly and cut into smaller pieces. I once got a blend that had broccoli florets over 3" wide; not exactly bite-sized
One Fine Tomato http://onefinetomato.com/
According to what my Grandma wrote on the original recipe, this recipe freezes well.  I can’t attest to that, however, because with our family, there were never leftovers to freeze.

Main Dishes

Celery Root Soup

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“I simply love celery root, and what should they be serving but celery root!”

Can you name that movie?

If you guessed ‘Emma,’ you’re right!  Since seeing that movie some fifteen years ago, I’ve been curious about this root that Mr. Elton professed his love for.  However, it wasn’t until recently that I got up the courage to try.  I decided to go with a simple soup. 

 

The mysterious celery root
The mysterious celery root

One thing that I wanted to use in the soup was Chinese 5-spice powder, which is a blend of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, sichuan pepper, and fennel seeds. I know that may sound like a strange addition, but celery and fennel are in the same family after all. 

Now that I think about it, that really is a crazy choice for me.  I’m not the biggest fan of fennel. In fact, I can’t stand it.  What’s also crazy is that I like anise (another relative of the fennel family), but only in sweets such as pfeffernusse and black jellybeans.  Yet this recipe has fennel and anise, yet it’s not a dessert.  I also am not a big fan of celery.

I know, I’m a walking paradox, but stick with me here.  

Celery root is much more mild, and less fibrous (which is the primary reason why I’m not a celery lover) than the regular celery.  The 5-spices marry so well with the subtle celery flavor.

This recipe is simple, quick, and delicious.  Now with Mr. Elton, I too can say, “I simply love celery root”.  

Celery Root Soup
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Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
20 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 tablespoon olive oil
  2. 1 medium onion, diced
  3. 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
  4. 1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder
  5. 2 medium celery root (about 2 lbs total), peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
  6. 1-1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  7. 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  8. 6 cups low-sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  9. 1 cup So Delicious coconut milk, unsweetened
Instructions
  1. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt, sauté until softened, about 3 minutes. Add 5-Spice powder, chili powder and sauté for 1 minute. Add celery root, sauté for another minute.
  2. Add broth, and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer, and cook until celery root is tender, about 10 minutes. Puree soup in batches in a blender. Transfer back to pot and stir in coconut milk, salt, and pepper. Add more salt to taste (depends largely on how much salt is in the broth you use.)
One Fine Tomato http://onefinetomato.com/
Fast-and-Fresh-Dairy-Free-Time-Trials-Recipe-ContestThis soup is simple, and fast and can be done in less than 30 minutes. I decided to enter it in the So Delicious Fast and Fresh Dairy-Free Time Trials Contest in the 30-minute category.  What I like about this soup is that during the cooking time you don’t need to keep a watchful eye on it.   That way I can get side dishes and cleanup done while it’s cooking.