Spicy Chickpea Soup with Roasted Peppers

Ingredients!

5 cloves garlic, chopped
Oil and/or butter (this is vegan if you skip the butter)
1 can chickpeas
Splash of lemon juice.
About 1 cup worth of chopped tomatoes 
1 red and 1 green bell pepper
Dry spices: thyme, garlic, onion powder, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper
1 and a half cups of broth or water

Steps:

First thing: start your peppers roasting. Do this using whatever method appeals to you or follow the instructions here.

Then start 4 of your garlic cloves in some oil and/or butter. Lately I have been reserving 1 clove and chop it much more finely to throw in raw at the end - when raw, garlic is a prebiotic (i.e. feeds the helpful bacteria) and also has antifungal/antibacterial properties.

While simmering, add spices and lemon juice. For the spices: I added a large amount of paprika because I want that red pepper flavor, and a couple shakes of everything else. Let your nose be your guide. FYI for cayenne & cinnamon, a little goes a long way.

When your garlic is tender add your chickpeas and water or broth. Bring back up to a simmer.

Then smash up your chickpeas somewhat. You can use an immersion blender or, if you're like me and don't have fancy cookware, just use a potato masher! It doesn't have to be a puree, just smaller chunks.

Let this simmer until your peppers are roasted. Peel your roasted peppers (let them cool first, dude, don't get burned!), chop them into bite size pieces and stir them in.

Add your chopped tomatoes and raw garlic and you're good to go!

This is way yummy for dipping bread in or just eating on its own.

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Avocado and Tomato Soup

How have I never made avocado soup before this day? I don't know what my problem is.

Serves 1-2.

Ingredients:
1 avocado
2 cups of broth (I used Knorr's Vegetarian Vegetable bullion)
1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice
half a long hot pepper (or 1 jalapeno, or whatever you feel is right), chopped finely
1 tomato, diced
1/3 of a medium red onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
Black pepper & garlic powder and/or any other spices you may wish to use
Olive oil

Coat the bottom of a medium pot in olive oil.  Chop your garlic finely and start it simmering. The goal is to let it get just a little brown, then turn the heat down or remove it from heat so it doesn't burn.

Add your hot pepper and onions. Let them cook a little bit. If you don't want this spicey nix the pepper. The more the hot pepper simmers in the oil the hotter it will be, so allow that to guide when you add it and how long you let the simmering go.  Add your spices in here.

Remove from heat when you feel your onions and pepper are cooked enough (I like my onions a little raw but I realize not everybody does).

Peel your avocado and remove the pit, and put the avocado into a blender with your lemon juice and broth. Note: if you just made the broth, you should wait until it is warm not hot.  Blend until these things are nicely pureed, then pour this mixture into your pot with the onions, pepper, garlic and oil.  Also, add your chopped tomato.

While stirring, heat until hot but don't let the soup boil. Apparently avocado can separate and get not good.  So don't do that.  Just heat until it is eating temperature.

Serve!

Possible awesome garnishes: cilantro, sour cream, some kind of nice latin american cheese...

SOUP-A-THON 2012: Tea & (Fake) Sausage Soup

Ingredients:
Gimme Lean Ground Sausage - 1/4 of a tube
3 tea bags
3 cups water 
1 red potato, diced
6-8 baby carrots, chopped
1/4 of a large onion, diced
Ground sage - generous dash
Onion powder - generous dash
Black pepper - to taste
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons Lemon Juice
1 tsp Soy Sauce
1 extra large cube Knorr Vegetarian Vegetable Bouillon

Here is my confession: This was an experimental soup-a-thon soup and I thought at first that I had failed.  I originally made this without the last three ingredients, poured myself a small cup to taste, and found the broth pretty underwhelming. Then I went into Emergency Flavor Enhancement Mode and added the lemon juice, soy sauce, and bullion cube and let it simmer for a while and ... viola! it was really tasty!

So, here is how I would make this if I were going to make it properly from the start:

Start off hot water with three tea bags in a medium pot. What I did here was tie the tea bags to the pot handle. If this makes you nervous or you don't have tea bags with strings, you could just make 3 cups of tea first.
Chop your garlic, onions, potato, and carrots and add them in as they're chopped. They should be bite sized or smaller. Add your bullion cube too.
Make your sausage into bite sized chunks or balls and add that right to the pot.
Now, add your spices and also your lemon juice and soy sauce.
Let simmer for quite a while until your sausage is cooked and everything has blended. 20 minutes should be enough. Longer is OK too.

Serve!
If you're not vegan and feeling it, I bet some grated romano cheese would be awesome on this.

Serves 2 in big bowls or 4 people as a side.


Nutrition information: 
Total: 303 calories
Per serving if serving 2: 151.5 calories
Based on MyFitnessPal.com's nutrition calculator.

Fried Portabello Caps

Things you will need!

Portabello mushroom caps (however many you & your food-eaters desire)

1/2 a small glass of red wine

olive oil

garlic, rosemary, cayenne pepper, black pepper

Wash your portabello caps!

Drizzle a little olive oil into a frying pan. Put your mushroom caps in the pan, top up. Shake your spices upon them. (You know by now I'm into being liberal with spices. Careful with the cayenne, it'll get hot fast since you're frying.) Drizzle a little more olive oil on top of them and pour half your wine over them. Medium-low heat, cover them. After a little while, turn them over and pour the rest of your wine inside them. When they seem done (smaller, darker, softer), spatula them out.

You can just eat these as a main thing, like a steak, with some salad and potatoes or something. Or, toss them with some pasta and garlic and oil. Or, throw them into your lunchtime salad. Or do all of these things.

Also, this recipe can be easily modified as an awesome vegan barbecue option. Season them exactly the same way, wrap in aluminum foil (shiny side OUT; aluminum's not the best for you and it's safer that way), throw on the grill and turn over now and again.