MoFo Day 13! Pho: First Try

Pho. I've only had it in an actual restaurant once, but that one time was enough to open my eyes to the awesomeness that is pho.

I've made it on my own, once before, but I couldn't find the recipe I used before. I'd heard good things about the one at Veglicious, so I decided to make it for MoFo.

The flavor of the broth was great, but I made a few silly mistakes that would have greatly improved the meal. I made a batch of V'con seitan yesterday, sliced it thinly and dropped it in the broth while it was cooking. I really should have sauteed the seitan. The texture was way too rubbery. The Veglicious recipe calls for rice noodles, but I accidentally bought bean noodles. Whoops. They weren't terrible, but rice noodles would definitely have been better. I think next time I make it, I'll cut the onion smaller and sautee them a little more.

I think I'd also like too try it again with tofu or mushroooms. Pho's a great warming soup for the chillier weather that's right around the corner. Since it's fairly inexpensive and easy, I'll definitely try it again with a few variations

MoFo Day 9! Chickpea Noodle Soup

I caught a cold over the weekend, so I’ve been hopped up on cold medicine since Sunday. Yesterday was bad--runny nose, stuffy sinuses, mild headache. My nose is still red and chapped from wiping it so much. When I got home from running errands, I had such an intense craving for Veganomicon Chickpea Noodle Soup, but I was too hungry to wait and make it.

Today, I had time. I love, love, love this soup so hard. It’s one of the first recipes I ever tried from the PPK recipe bank. The recipe isn’t on the PPK site since the revamp, but if you don’t already own Veganomicon, you need to buy it. NEED. Just do it. Not just for this soup, but for the general awesomeness.

This is one of my all-time favorite soups, and fall is the ultimate soup season. Even before I got sick, I knew I wanted to make it soon, but it’s so perfect when I’m under the weather. It’s warm and flavorful, simple and comforting without being unnecessarily complicated. It’s almost, almost worth getting sick.

ETA: D'oh! I was eating a bowl this afternoon, and realized that I'd forgotten to add the kale I usually add to this soup. I knew something wasn't quite right. It's delicious either way, but I do kind of miss the kale now that I know.

MoFo Day 4! African Quinoa Peanut Soup

Things are a little down at IWEAtF HQ. One very big reason why I have so much time to cook these days is that I'm on medical leave from work. I'm experiencing some post-surgical complications and since my position is so incredibly physical (and a topic for another day), work won't let me come back until my restrictions are manageable. Manageable to them means zero. Yesterday was the two month-iversary of my surgery. After today, I'm pretty much completely broke until my short term disability check arrives. When that is? I have absolutely no idea.

My fridge has been looking pretty barren for the last few days, so I went grocery shopping this afternoon. I took a list of ingredients for 9 different meals (all soups, oddly) and stuck completely to that list aside from replenishing a few pantry staples. I love soup in the fall and winter, especially since I can spend one day cooking and have anywhere from 4-8 meals. So, I definitely have enough to get by for quite a while. It's a good thing I like soup.

If you can read my scribble, you can probably figure out what I'll be making soon.

So. Look for a bunch of soup recipes in the coming weeks. Aside from pantry-based baked goods, that's all that'll be around for a while. Thankfully, I love soup. A lot.

Enough sad stuff. Food!

Tonight, I made the African-Inspired Quinoa-Peanut Soup from Vegan Soups and Hearty Stews for All Season by Nava Atlas. Despite my love of soup, I haven't really explored this book much. Since I had some zucchini already cut from the quiche I made the other day, I decided to make this recipe first.

I wasn't totally sold on this soup from the look of it. But once I tasted it, I found it to be warming and subtle and slightly sweet. The peanut butter gives it a nice richness and the quinoa adds an almost crunchiness. I used chunky peanut butter and was glad I did. The few bits of peanut I had really added to the soup. I'm all about texture.

Even though I'm in a money crunch I don't want to get too repetitive with my meals. I portioned out the soup into some old hummus containers. I'm going to freeze a couple so I can pull one out in the coming weeks. I'm bummed that I have to be so frugal, but I'm kind of excited to see if I can pull it off. Thankfully, most of the recipes I'll be using call for ingredients that will keep well in the fridge until I can get around to them.