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Tag: leeks

  • Vegan Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup 

    Vegan Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup 

           

    Wild mushroom foraging season is now over in the upper midwest, but a few weeks back while we were on our honeymoon to the upper peninsula of Michigan it was a great time to go foraging for mushrooms! I honestly have never seen so many varieties of wild mushrooms in my life at one time.  We live in Minnesota and there are plenty here, but while we were hiking there it seemed like the perfect mushroom growing conditions because it had just rained a lot and was fairly warm so they were popping up all over. Eric’s Dad, who lives in Michigan took us mushroom hunting to the places he typically goes to pick them and we found a good haul. 

    I hadn’t previously done anything like this before and although I can recognize some mushrooms as edible (like oyster, puffball and chicken of the woods) I didn’t really want to pick them and bring them home without a guide who could verify them as edible since some mushrooms look alike and some have to be picked at a certain point to be edible.  Also you wouldn’t want to end up with something poison.  So if you are going to go mushroom hunting, bring someone who knows for sure what they are!  But I highly recommend it, it is so satisfying to pick your own and enjoy them later! 

    Our stash included 3 large hen of the woods mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, gem-studded puffballs, some lion’s mane and bricktop mushrooms. We took the hen of the woods and dried them for later use, and vacuum packed  the rest to freeze and use later.  If you can’t go mushroom hunting it seems like you can get a pretty good variety at a lot of farmer’s markets lately from growers at least where I live in Minnesota. So not to worry if you want to make a dish like this Creamy Vegan Wild Mushroom Soup I am going to share the recipe for in a minute! As a side note, did you know you can make a delicious lion’s mane coffee, or tea?  I found this recipe  for a lion’s man coffee and tea made with dried lion’s mane, and I am going to have to try with plant based milk it because I am always looking for new ways to enjoy warm drinks when the cooler weather hits! You can find it on this website: Benefits of Adding Lion’s Mane Mushroom.

    So back to that soup recipe, a couple weeks after we got back, I finally got around to making something with the mushrooms.  I wanted them to be the star, so I thought a creamy soup would be perfect!  People use a lot of cream of mushroom soup here in Minnesota for casseroles and whatnot and I have always liked it but to be honest, home made mushroom soup is best!  This one is substantial enough to be a meal alongside some crusty bread, which is what I served it with! 

    First, I sauteed some leeks, onions and garlic for the base, then added the mushrooms, stock, some thyme to make It savory (I love thyme and mushrooms together), and it made a lovely flavorful stock!  To make it substantial, I added potatoes, and of course the creamy elements, which were coconut milk, and cashew butter.  To give it a more savory flavor I added some nutritional yeast and miso.  The broth was soooo good and so flavorful!  I loved how it turned out, and me and Eric both ate large bowls of it, and there were no leftovers for the next day.  If you are a mushroom lover, give this Creamy Vegan Mushroom Soup a try!

    Vegan Creamy Wild Mushroom Soup 

    Serves 2-4

    Ingredients:

    • 2 tsp avocado oil
    • 2 large leeks, sliced
    • 1 small yellow or white onion, diced
    • 1 stalk celery, sliced
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • 4 cups sliced mixed wild mushrooms (if you can’t get wild, just use what you can find at the store)
    • 3 cups yukon gold potatoes, cubed
    • 1 15 oz can full fat or lite coconut milk
    • 1 1/2 cups veggie broth (or as needed)
    • 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
    • 1/4 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
    • 1/4 cup raw cashew butter
    • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    • 2 tsp white miso dissolved in 1 Tbsp filtered water (optional)

     

      Instructions:

    1. Heat the oil in a medium soup pot with a lid, and add the leeks, onions, celery, and garlic.  Sautee for a few minutes until starting to turn translucent, and add the thyme, potatoes, mushrooms, coconut milk, water, salt and pepper.
    2. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and let cook about 15-20 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
    3. Add the cashew butter and nutritional yeast, and cook until they are well blended into the soup.
    4. If it is too thick, add a little more broth. Enjoy!
  • Vegan Creamy Potato Leek Soup

    Vegan Creamy Potato Leek Soup

    When I was little, one time when my Mom and I were out shopping on a Saturday, we stopped at this restaurant that I considered a little bit fancy at the time. Fancy was anything with ingredients I couldn’t pronounce or where the wait staff wore nice uniforms.  They had a leek soup on the menu and we ordered it.  I had never heard of leeks in my life.  But I ended up liking it, because it was packed with rich flavor.  After that my Mom made a leek soup at home and it was even better.  I decided that I liked leeks.  I was making something with them the other day at work and I decided that I should cook with them more often. 

    So, I decided to make a creamy potato leek soup when I got home.  I knew it would be fairly simple and easy to make which is always a win on a week night when I am tired.  The thing about leeks though, if you have never cooked with them before, is that they are very sandy.  Even when you think you have washed the outside all nicely, when you cut into them you find sand.  So I like to clean them once, then plunge them into a bowl of water, swish them around, let the sand settle, then scoop them out and use them in my recipe.  Then they will be all good and delicious in your soup. 

    For this soup, there is no sauteeing required, and I did not use any oil for this reason.  You just add the veggies and stock to the pot, let it simmer until it is all tender, and then add the “creamy” part of it.  For that, I could have just added some coconut milk and called it a day, but instead I wanted to add a little more protein so I pureed chickpeas into the coconut milk as well as a little cashew butter.  It made for a thick cream that was perfect in the soup! 

    I could not wait to try it!  It smelled amazing and tasted even better.  It has plenty of rich onion and leek flavor, a smooth rich texture and it is perfect served with crusty bread for dipping!  That is one of my favorite uses for crusty bread besides bread pudding, dunking into my soup!  If you are in need of some comfort food, give this a try! 

    Vegan Creamy Potato Leek Soup

    Serves 2-4

    Ingredients:

    • 1 small yellow or white onion, diced
    • 1 large leek, sliced thinly (and washed very well, I like to put mine in water after cutting, then drain)
    • 2 garlic cloves, minced
    • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
    • 3 cups yukon gold potatoes, cubed
    • 1 cup carrots, sliced
    • 1 1/2 cups veggie broth (or as needed)
    • 1/2 tsp sea salt (or to taste)
    • 1/4 tsp black pepper (or to taste)
    • 1 cup full fat or lite coconut milk
    • 1 cup chickpeas
    • 1/4 cup raw cashew butter
    • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    • 2 tsp white miso dissolved in 1 Tbsp filtered water (optional)
    • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
    1. Add the onions, leeks, garlic, thyme, potatoes,  veggie broth, salt and pepper to a medium sized pot.
    2. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and let cook about 15-20 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
    3. Add the coconut milk, chickpeas, cashew butter, and nutritional yeast, miso and cornstarch to a blender and blend until smooth.
    4. Add the mixture to the soup, and cook until they are well blended into the soup and it has thickened.
    5. Enjoy!
  • Creamy Vegan Pumpkin and Leek Penne Pasta

    Creamy Vegan Pumpkin and Leek Penne Pasta

     Creamy Pumpkin and Leek Pasta 2

    I don’t look at a bad day as a reason to throw a pity party.  Instead I think of it as character building.  If you can survive a really bad day, then the next one won’t be so bad because you know you will get through it.  Right?  And when you have good days, you will appreciate them even more.  So last week, Eric and I had both had tough stressful days, but when we got home we went on a walk together to talk it out, and that really seemed to help.  I was forgetting about all the stuff that happened after a while. I try not to hang onto bad thoughts.  So anyways, I thought that some good comfort food was in order since it was a chilly day as well, and I decided that pasta sounded good.

    Creamy Pumpkin and Leek Pasta 3

    I was thinking a creamy pumpkin pasta, with leeks, mushrooms, and kale.  I had some new red lentil pasta  and I wanted to try it out, so this was the perfect opportunity.  I always like adding a bit of protein to my meals, because I need it especially if I worked out a lot that day.  So anyways, the pasta turned out wonderful, it tasted like mac and cheese, and it turns out that is exactly what Eric was craving even though he didn’t tell me before I made it.  This is so simple and fast to make, there is no excuse not to!  And, that lentil pasta was really good too, you would not know it isn’t regular pasta.

    Creamy Pumpkin and Leek Pasta 1

    Creamy Vegan Pumpkin and Leek Penne Pasta

    Serves 3

    10 oz Red lentil penne pasta, cooked according to package directions

    1 large leek, or 3 small ones, sliced 1/4 inch thick

    1 cup crimini mushrooms, sliced

    2 tsp olive oil

    2 garlic cloves, minced

    2 cups pumpkin puree or canned pumpkin

    1 15 oz can organic coconut milk

    1/4 cup nutritional yeast

    2 tsp cider vinegar

    sea salt  and freshly ground pepper to taste

    2 Tbsp arrowroot starch dissolved in 2 Tbsp filtered water

    1 large handful kale, torn into bite sized pieces

    Add the leeks, mushrooms and olive oil to a non-stick skillet, and sautee the veggies over medium heat until softened, about 7 minutes.  Add the garlic, pumpkin puree, coconut milk, nutritional yeast, cider vinegar, and salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the arrowroot mixture and stir well to blend and cook until the sauce thickens.  Add the kale and pasta and cook until they are both heated through and the kale has wilted.