Carrot Ginger Soup

It's perfect weather here for a nice hot soup. Yes, it actually dipped below 50 degrees!

So I thought I'd whip up some soup and carrot with ginger seemed perfect. But first, let me show you the awesome pumpkin pancakes I had, made with leftover pumpkin puree and served with leftover cranberry sauce:

Are you wondering about that cool coffee mug in the background?? (insert shameful plug here)
That, my friends, is my REAL gig. The awesome mug has our new logo on it, designed by our friend, Amie of NexStitch. My husband and I are a viola duo. We perform and teach lessons (online). If you'd like any of these cool items for yourself or to give as gifts, hop on over to our online shop to get them! And of course, to help out some musicians :)

Where were we before I went off on a silly (but needed) tangent...??

Oh yes, carrot soup!

First I have to mention that I made my vegetable barley stew again last night....so good, and also perfect for this weather.

Carrot-Ginger Soup
(makes ~3-4 servings)

1 1/2 lbs carrots (any kind), cut into chunks and steamed
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, sliced
1 tbsp minced garlic
1" piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1 cup almond milk (use more if you like it thinner)
pinch of nutmeg
salt & pepper to taste

In your medium soup pot, add the onions, celery, garlic, ginger and about 1/4 cup water. Cook on medium heat until the onions are soft.


In a blender (I used a Vitamix), add your broth, onion mix, and steamed carrots. Puree.


Pour the pureed soup back into your soup pot and add the milk, pepper, and nutmeg. Heat on medium-low until it's as hot as you want it. Turn off the heat and add the salt. Stir and serve.

Check out the GIVEAWAY on CzechVegan's blog for Manna Products!


How's the weather where you are? Have you been making hot soups to keep warm? What's your favorite soup?

Eat smart,
T.

Thanksgiving Meal and my first Seitan

That was our Thanksgiving plate! We had Tofurky, a stuffed seitan roast, my mom's stuffing (veganized), sweet potato salad, my kale and carrot salad, and cranberry sauce. All of this, plus cranberry bread and Pumpkin Gingerbread. We had a couple of friends over, so the two roasts were pretty much finished by the end! I adjusted some of these recipes, like using whole wheat flour and cutting down the sugar and oil, etc. 

I think I usually make more for Thanksgiving...including rolls, etc. For some reason, I just didn't feel like making a ton, and I spread it out on three days, so it was pretty easy. You can see my posts of Thanksgiving past here and here.

(Tofurky!!)

This was my first experience making seitan!! EVER!! I was so freaked out. And let me tell you, it was weird.

It was pretty wet, but really stuck together. The problem I had was when I tried to stretch it out to fill it, it kept breaking. Why would that be? And should it be this wet? I followed the directions exactly, oil and all, just because it was my first time making the stuff. This thing was the ugliest roast I've ever seen! (you might want to cover your eyes for the next picture....it's scary).

A big blob. An evil "seitanic" blob. I stuffed it with the bread stuffing (I used sprouted grain bread).

But...it tasted REALLY good! Yay. So I'll have to work on the appearance a little...

Mmmmm......

Then we've got the cranberry sauce and the salads:

....cranberry bread....

And the gingerbread:

That gingerbread is so not good for you.....but it sure was tasty. I only make it once a year!

And of course, some wine....(followed by Belgian beer of course). This is really the ONLY kind of wine I ever drink (from Franconia, Germany, and usually found in these cool round bottles):

(drinking it out of a beer glass, of course!)

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it. 

What did you make? Have you made seitan before? Have you had Franken wine before?

Eat smart,

T.

Rice and Greens

That's right. Rice and Greens NOT Rice and Beans, as they commonly eat down here...

Check out those greens! Sadly, that will shrink into about 1 cup of cooked greens :(

Last night I made a really good basic meal of brown rice, greens, and an Asian style sauce. Very healthy! Here it is:

Rice and Greens with a Korean BBQ Sauce

Warm cooked brown rice (1 cup per person)
*Greens (I used 1 bunch of kale, a HUGE container of spinach, and some chard leaves)


Korean BBQ Sauce:
(makes about 3-4 servings)


1/2 cup soy sauce
3 tbsp agave (or other sweetener)
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tbsp rice wine (mirin)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp powdered ginger (or use fresh!)
drop of sesame oil


For the sauce, whisk everything together until smooth. Should be a little thick. If it seems a little too watery, add a little more applesauce. If it's too thick, at a little water or soy sauce. 


Wash and tear up the greens into small pieces. Put them in a large pan. No need to add water if you use spinach, as it creates its own! Add as much as you can to the pan. As it shrinks, you can continue to add more greens until you have the right amount for you. Sprinkle some salt in if you want. That will also help to bring out the water. When it's a nice dark green color, it's done!


Put your brown rice into a bowl and add the greens on top. Then spoon the sauce over it (it will heat up with the hot greens and rice). Enjoy!


*feel free to use whatever greens you want: beet greens, collards, kale, spinach, chard, etc.

What's your favorite basic meal?

Eat smart,
T.

Thanksgiving Recipe Resources

It's that time of year again, and I'm so not prepared. I just bought my traditional Tofurky. I don't really know what else I'm going to make yet. I love making a Thanksgiving dinner.....it's a tradition for me. S doesn't really care one way or the other and we usually only have one or two friends over. So of course, I'll have lots of leftovers. But you're supposed to! It's Thanksgiving afterall.

I thought I'd try to put together a list of places online where you can find some good vegan Thanksgiving recipes. Since I'm also still trying to find some good ones, it'll help me out as well. I know at least some of you haven't planned out your meal yet either, right??

Here we go!

Julieanna Hever's Thanksgiving Recipe page on Forks Over Knives (I watched her cook it last night)

VegNews Thanksgiving Recipes and Tips (a good list!)

Some of Christina Pirello's recipes on the Huffington Post.

Oh She Glows Thanksgiving Dinner Party PDF (try her Gingerbread with Spiced Buttercream!)

Some recipe ideas from Yummly

Vegan Thanksgiving recipes from Nava Atlas (I used some of these before)

Thanksgiving tips from Kathy at HealthyHappyLife.

Gentle Thanksgiving page.

If you find any more or have your own Thanksgiving pages, feel free to leave them in the comments section for everyone else to see! Thanks.

Eat smart,
T.

Welcome to the NEW Eating Kale!

This is the new Eating Kale blog. My old blog, which you can find here, will stay online and I will periodically refer to it. But any new posts I make will be here. I just thought it would be easier to tell people the url, since it is the same as the title of my blog! And changing the old url would have been more difficult than one would think. So there you have it.

I'm still working on the layout of this one. I think the old one was just so busy with "stuff" on either side. So feel free to become a GFC follower here too :)  Or add this url to your reader feed.

You can also follow me on Google+ and Facebook.  And don't forget Twitter!

Thanks for reading!
Eat smart,
T.