Kong Gook Soo (Cold Soybean Noodle Soup)

Yum, so refreshing, and also one of the cheapest and easiest things to make ever. Seriously I think there were six ingredients, seven if you include water or ice-cubes. In Korean it's called Kong Gook Soo, literally soy bean soup. It is one of the few vegetarian/vegan dishes you will find at authentic Korean restaurants. Most Korean markets sell packaged mixes and they're pretty good, but it's just so easy to make yourself. 

I only wish it were 80 degrees and sunny instead of muggy and gray so I could enjoy it even more. 

Kong Gook Soo

2 cups dried soybeans 

5-6 cups of cold water

optional: pine nuts or walnuts

Somen or Somyeon noodles - thin wheat noodles (look like white soba, they also come in bundles like soba)

salt

sesame seeds

cucumber, thinly sliced

ice-cubes

Soak the soybeans in hot water for 1-2 hours. Boil the beans and let simmer for about 30 minutes. Don't worry if they never get super soft. Rinse the beans in cold water. 

You may have to do the blending in two parts. I did and I used a normal sized processor. I pureed half the beans with about 3 cups of water. Dump that in a bowl, and puree the rest. I also added a small palmful of pine nuts to this mixture. 

Salt to taste

You may want to pour this mixture through a sieve if it's still chunky. Or you can just thin it out with more water. At the end you should have a pretty smooth consistency. 

Put desired amount of noodles in bowl, a couple of ladles of soup in bowl. Garnish with cucumber and sesame seeds. Drop in some ice-cubes to keep it nice and cold. I recommend an 80 degree day without a cloud in sight as the perfect pairing.

BBQ Portobello Garden Burger

I had to go back to back cause I have a lot of recipes I am excited about and want to share and I haven't posted in a while. So here is another one that is great for that perfect spring barbecue.

Portobello Burger

1 portobello cap

1 small onion

2 cloves garlic

1 Roma tomato

1/2 green pepper

1/4 cup chickpeas

1 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp yellow mustard

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp mustard powder

2 cups breadcrumbs

2tsp olive oil

2/3 flour

1/2 tsp celery salt

salt & pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to your food processor and blend until you get a nice crumbly very thick mixture. Put in mixing bowl and make sure its all well mixed together. Form into patties and bake in the oven at 325 for about 20-25 minutes. Once its done in the oven mover her over to the grill and grill on both sides for like 3 minutes each. Get your self some good bread, your favorite BBQ sauce, and all the fixings. Enjoy.

Depending on the size of your patties, it can feed about six with good sized burgers.

Salisbury Seitan with Canadian Wild Rice

I was looking for a real manly meal so I guess this is what I came up with.

Seitan

3 cups Gluten Flour

1 cup water

3tbsp soy sauce

1/4cup crushed tomato

2 cloves garlic

1tbsp cumin

1tbsp onion powder

3 tbsp kosher salt

1/4cup olive oil

1tsp mustard powder

First put the tomato, soy sauce, garlic, oil, and spices in a food processor until you get a nice paste. Then in a mixing bowl add the paste, water and flour until it all comes together. Form it into a log and wrap in tin foil. Steam for 1 hour. After the seitan is done cooking then marinate it in soy sauce, maple syrup and liquid smoke overnight.

The Rice

1 1/2 cups Canadian wild rice

2 1/2 cups of water

pinch of salt

drop of lemon juice

Add your rice, water, lemon juice and salt to your favorite saucepan. Bring to a boil. Then turn down heat to very low, cover and cook for one hour. Its worth it.

Gravy

2/3 cup of vegan butter

1/3 cup of hemp milk

1/2 onion pureed

2 cloves garlic

1tsp chives

1tsp sage

1/2 tsp cumin

2tsp soy sauce

pepper

Add garlic, onion and butter to saucepan. When you smell that wonderful garlic through the whole room add the hemp milk. Then add your spices and soy sauce. Whisk in your flour until you get the consistency you like.

Slice up a couple of seitan steaks, put it over some wonderful wild rice, load it with gravy, sprinkle with some red pepper flakes, grab a beer and enjoy.

Stealin' never tasted so good - Red Lentil Soup with Green Apple Salsa

I admit it, this recipe is not mine. I found it on FatFreeVegan.com, but boy oh boy is it good. So I've stolen it and will share it with you here. There's been some red lentils and coconut milk hanging out in my pantry, so I decided to give them a chance to get to know each other a little more intimately. 

Salsa:

• 2/3 cup finely chopped Granny Smith apple
• 1/4 cup finely chopped celery
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Soup:

• 3 1/2 cups veggie broth/stock
• 1 cup dried small red lentils
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 1/2 cups coconut milk (original recipe suggests light, but really who are we kidding here?)
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the salsa:

Combine the first 4 ingredients; cover and chill. (that was easy)

For the soup:

Combine broth, lentils, and onion in a large pot over medium-high heat; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until lentils are tender. 

Pour half of lentil mixture in a blender; let stand 5 minutes (so that you don't build up to much steam in your blender). Process until smooth and pour the pureed lentil mixture into a bowl. 

Pour remaining lentil mixture into blender; process until smooth. Add coconut milk, tomato paste, ginger, cumin, and turmeric; process until smooth. 

Return coconut milk mixture and remaining pureed lentil mixture to the pot. Cover and simmer over medium heat 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in 1 teaspoon juice, salt, and pepper. Ladle about 1 cup soup into each of 4 bowls. Don't forget to top each serving with 1/4 cup salsa.

 It is so delicious and so easy and fast, perfect soup for the summer

Raw Squash Peas and Tomato Zucchini Artichoke

FOR TWO:

Ingredients

1/2 Tomato
2 Baby Artichoke (soaked prepared)
1/4 Cup Garbanzos
4 Crimini Mushrooms
1 Zucchini
1 Yellow Squash
Olive Oil and Bragg's to taste

Cube the tomato. Throw in bowl. Pitch Garbanzos (once washed) in bowl. Toss picked apart Artichoke in bowl. Slice mushrooms and huck them in the bowl. Use vegetable peeler or mandolin to create pasta noodles with Zucchini and Yellow Squash. Drop them in the bowl. Add your favorite pasta spices. Turn around. Turn back around. Eat. Raw. Pasta. Life is good.

Lasagna Spirals in Vodka Sauce

This is a really easy recipe, though there seems to be a lot of steps. The most intimidating bit is probably the vodka sauce, but it was honestly so simple. This particular dish was not vegan but can easily be made vegan with a few changes. I looked up some alternatives for the heavy cream( ground cashews/or nutritional yeast) and ricotta (seasoned crumbled firm tofu). I'm not sure how those will work out, but I think I might try them out to see.

Lasagna Spirals:

9 boiled Lasagna noodles (depends on how many are being served)

1 cup ricotta (or vegan ricotta mixture made from tofu, garlic powder, salt, nutmeg)

1 cup cooked spinach

1 ½ cup sliced baby portabella mushrooms

salt

pepper

nutmeg

In a medium sized bowl mix the spinach, salt, pepper and nutmeg with the ricotta. Spread a thin layer of the mixture onto a lasagna noodle. Layer some mushrooms on top. Roll the noodle to create a spiral shape.

Vodka Sauce

1 can diced tomato

1 can tomato sauce

½ cup of heavy cream (vegan alternatives are cashew or nutritional yeast)

¼ cup of vodka

6-7 cloves garlic

1 tbl olive oil

crushed red pepper

salt

pepper

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Smash garlic cloves and add to the pan. After the garlic has browned, add the diced tomato and tomato sauce. Add generous amounts of salt, pepper and crushed red pepper (depending on how much heat you want). Bring the sauce to a boil and let simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the vodka, simmer for about 8-10 minutes. Fish out the garlic cloves. Add ½ cup of cream (or ground cashews or nutritional yeast). Simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

Ladle half the sauce into a baking sheet with sides. Place the lasagna rolls onto the sauce. Ladle the rest of the sauce on top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.

We paired this meal with a delicious, delicious gimlet – my favorite cocktail. Ask Stephen for his recipe.