Vegan gulyas soup (I’m nothing if not part-Hungarian!)

Ingredients:

1 Onion (chopped)
Grapeseed oil
Paprika (2 tablespoons)
Garlic
Tempeh or tofu (firm)
Veggie broth (low sodium)
vitamix/blend sesame seeds (1/4 cup)
5 large red tomatoes—diced into half inch cubes
purple Viking or Yukon gold potatoes
boil for 20 minutes or when the potatoes are soft
himalayan salt to taste

Directions:
– place oil in saucepan, onion, garlic, shallots–til translucent
– add tempeh or tofu, broth, sesame seeds
stirring all this for 3-5 mins
reduce heat and simmer for 20 mins.
season with himalayan salt if needed.

in the middle of a busy day….
i use the chopping and slicing as a way to transition from one mission to the next….
and i always make more than i need because, living communally, there are always takers 

Chopped salad #1

Ingredients:
Spinach chopped
White onion chopped finely
Tomatoes diced
Quorn meatless and soy-free turk’y roast (optional)
Hearts of palm chopped
Sunflower seeds
Dr shultze’s superfood plus (sprinkle some on at the end) optional
Olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Himalayan salt to taste
Squeezed lemon
Avocado slices
Edamame (optional)

This soup is one that I drool over when I think about it…..
I had the privilege of having anna thomas over to my house to teach me and 25 of my girlfriends how to make soups for fall (see HuffPost article)

The bliss factor was super high, can you imagine….

I took her brilliant recipe from her book “love soup” and added my own personalization to it.

Kale and sweet potato soup with cumin and lemon:

2 large leeks (both light and green parts)
1 large yellow onion
2 tbsp grapeseed oil*
1 tsp himalayan salt
12 oz sweet potatoes
1 small Yukon potato
12 oz Russian or dino kale
4 green onions sliced
2/3 cup chopped cilantro
ground pepper
2 and half cups low sodium veggie broth
1 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tbs lemon juice
cayenne
2 large carrots (optional)
garnish: green olive oil

*heating up olive oil turns it into a fat that is not good for you or your heart…stick with canola, grapeseed or even hemp oil if you can when heating
potatoes (cut to ½ inch dice) and kale you can cook at the same time, bring to boil and then lower to simmer for about 15 minutes.
Cut the greens into one-inch strips. I take the leaves off the stalk, but you don’t have to if you like the texture (FYI the more of the plant, the more nutrients of course)

after chopping the onions and leeks on a non-stick pan (grapeseed oil or even water if you want to use less oil) stir them til they are translucent

throw all ingredients together and let it simmer for a short amount of time…and yummmmgeeez.

I love this one….my son ever LOVES making them with me. especially moistening the rice wraps when we begin wrapping in earnest. We have a big garden at our house that is teaming with kale, collards, carrots, tomatoes etc…and we start the prep by going into the garden as a gang and pulling out what we want to have in the wraps. So much fun.

Ingredients
Banh Trang Rice Wrapper
Red chard
Green cabbage
Kale
Cilantro
Cucumber
Yellow onion
Red and green bell pepper
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Firm tofu

Optional sauces
Grama’s Sweet Chili Sauce
Vegenaise (leah also adds cranberry jam into hers…sounds unusual but is Amaze…)

Directions
Thinly slice the onions and cabbage

Have the chard pieces be cut as large as the rice paper. All the other veggies, chop into bite sized pieces

Cut tofu into long strips.

In a large bowl of warm water soak rice paper for about 15 seconds or until it’s pliable.

Lay the rice paper wrapper on a flat surface.

Add the red chard first then chopped veggies and tofu.

Add your desired sauces. We used Grama’s Sweet Chili Sauce and Vegenaise.

Wrap like you would a burrito. Fold the bottom up, top down and then start rolling up one side to the other.
Awesome. I love bringing these with me on airplanes…always starts a funny conversation as I awkwardly eat it, attempting to look as demure as possible.

This is my favorite veggie burger in the world. I would eat one every time I went to London. I would hightail it straight to neal’s yard (neighborhood) and sit in rapt silence (as I often like to eat while completely focus on my food as opposed to eat while distracted and then miss the whole sensual experience!) while I blissed out with every bite.

I had the privilege of be-friending the chef, who remained when the place changed ownership and stopped making the burger.

This incredibly generous chef saw my brokenhearted face and quickly scribbled the ingredients.

I am going to perfect this one down to a science. But in the meantime, these are the raw ingredients, and I use any amount to taste…bring out your inner intuitive culinary artist and experiment.

Yam potatoes
Onion
Finely Shredded carrots
Coconut milk
Couscous
Coriander
Garlic
Oat flour
Tomato puree

For fancy, go with a brioche bun. For quick and delish, go with a whole wheat or gluten-free bun if you can find it. if you perfect it, give me some tips!