Favorite Fall Soups: Red lentil and tomato soup with Apple and Indian Spices

I've been making variations of this Muligatawny inspired soup for a while, it is a big winner in my family. I love that it can be made with pantry staples, it's really tasty, and it's vegan. Even my dad (who hates anything curry) likes this soup, despite it's Indian roots.

Here's the latest variation in how I'm making this soup these days.

GET READY
Dice:
1 yellow or white onion
2-3 carrots
1 large apple
Optionally, you can chop up other veggies to add, like zucchini or bell pepper.

Grate:
1 TB ginger 
3 cloves garlic

Puree in a blender a few tomatoes, or open a can of diced or crushed tomatoes.

Open a can or box of coconut milk.

START COOKING
Saute the onion and carrot with olive oil and salt until it softens.

Add the apples and any other veggies and cook until they soften a little bit, 3-5 minutes. You can add a tablespoon of water if the pan gets too dry.

Then add ginger, garlic and the following spices, stirring for about 60 seconds until it is fragrant:
3/4 tsp ground cumin
3/4 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
pinch black pepper

Now add the tomatoes (either from can or blender) and stir.

Add 1 C red lentils (masoor dal). If you need more water to cover the lentils (depends on how watery your tomatoes were), then add more water.

Cover and cook on a low simmer until the lentils are soft, 20-25 minutes. (or 9-10 minutes in pressure cooker) 

Finally pour in the coconut milk and warm through. Season with more salt if needed.

Serve over a bed of cooked basmati rice, or with cornbread.

Chris' Banana Chunk Oat Almond Cookies (vegan, gluten free)

Made a non-chocolate version of these today, and had bananas around, so I gave this a try.  Holy crap- incredible! I'm a chocolate lover, and even I think these might be better than the original. 

Can be doubled. Dough can be refrigerated. 

METHOD

Mix up 1 TB flaxmeal and 3 TB water as your flax egg.

Preheat oven 350 F

Combine: 
1/4 C coconut oil
1/4 C nut butter
1/4 to 1/2 C sugar (white or brown). 1/4 C is slightly not sweet enough, 3/8 C is probably just about right for my taste. 

Now add flax egg and 1 tsp vanilla and combine

Now add:
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
scant 0.5 tsp salt
1 C oat flour (blend oats in food processor or high speed blender until fine to make oat flour)
1 C almond flour

Fold in 1 banana, diced. 

Shape into balls on cookie sheet and bake 11-13 minutes at 350 F.

Easy Pineapple Teriyaki Sauce

This is great, and doesn't use up as much soy sauce as the traditional Japanese versions of teriyaki. It works great in stir fries where you'll use it to coat veggies, tofu or chicken.  My parents were hooked on bottled teriyaki sauces, which often have corn syrup or additives-- I think this is easy enough to make in batch to keep on hand instead of store-bought sauce.

METHOD:

Combine in a saucepan, bring to a boil:
2 C water
1/2 C soy sauce
1/4 C - 1/2 C brown sugar (decide how much based on how sweet you want it)
2 TB agave or maple syrup
few cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp microplane minced ginger root

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix up 2 TB cornstarch and 1/4 C cold water. Set aside.

Open a can of crushed pineapple.

Once the sauce pan is boiling, slowly stir in the cornstarch slurry while stirring. Add 1/4 C crushed pineapple, take off heat.

You can keep this sauce in the fridge, which is handy as this makes a lot of sauce!

Vegan Nut butter Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies (gluten free)

These are really good, and they are gluten free and vegan. Just beware of any nut allergies, as these are full of nut butter.  I've adapted it from the incredible Oh She Glows.  Made these for a party and they were a hit!

METHOD

Mix up 1 TB flaxmeal and 3 TB water as your flax egg.

Preheat oven 350 F

Beat until combined:
1/4 C coconut oil
1/4 C nut butter

Add and beat 1 minute more:
3 TB brown sugar
1/4 C white sugar

Now add flax egg and 1 tsp vanilla and combine

Now add:
0.5 tsp baking soda
0.5 tsp baking powder
0.5 tsp salt
1 C oat flour (blend oats in food processor or high speed blender until fine to make oat flour)
1 C almond flour

Fold in 1/3 C chocolate chips.

Shape into balls on cookie sheet and bake 11-13 minutes at 350 F.

Chocolate Almond Pulp Cookies with lucuma or maca

I've been making these cookies quite a bit! They use up the leftover almond pulp from making almond milk (2 C water and 1 C almonds, blended and strained).  These are a great breakfast cookie as they are pretty starchy and not too sweet.  No flour so they are gluten free, and they are vegan.

The lucuma or maca are optional, but are a great way to add superfoods to your diet.  I really like the combination of lucuma and maca with chocolate.

METHOD

Mash together until combined:
1 C almond pulp (from making almond milk)
1/4 C cocoa powder
optional 1 - 2 TB lucuma or maca powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Now add and mix until combined:
1 TB melted coconut oil
1 TB maple syrup

Pour in some vegan chocolate chips.

If the mixture is too dry, add a tablespoon of almond milk or more maple syrup.

Shape into small flattened balls on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 F for 25 -30 minutes or until no longer totally gooey inside.

Gluten free Vegan Blueberry Pancakes (nut-free)

These were quite good, and I didn't have any abnormal sticking to pan problems, beyond that of the blueberries.  It's a double batch based off of this recipe.  Most gluten free recipes use nuts and eggs, so I was surprised how good these were given they are nut-free and egg-free.

METHOD

Combine and let it set to gel:
2 TB flaxmeal
5 TB water

Mix the liquid ingredients:
2 TB melted coconut oil
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1-2 TB vanilla extract

1.3 C non dairy milk

Combine the following in a bowl:
1 C brown rice flour
1/2 C tapioca starch
1/2 C potato starch 
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Now combine the liquids and the dry into pancake batter.

Thaw 1 to 1.5 C frozen blueberries.

In a hot pan, melt some coconut oil. Pour some pancake batter into the hot pan, then add a few blueberries on top.

Once done on the bottom, flip pancakes and cook until second side is done.

Enjoy with maple syrup.

Buckwheat Chocolate Granola

After a few years trying to like buckwheat, I think I've finally figured it out.  Buckwheat's mineral-y taste pairs perfectly with chocolate. Pairing it with oats and big coconut shreds helps make the texture a little more fluffy-- buckwheat all by itself is quite dense.

I have made this granola multiple times, and it makes great gifts.  My sister says it reminds her of Cocoa Puffs.  I started with My New Root's recipe, but reduced the sugar and cocoa powder down.

Mix in a big bowl:
3 C oats
1 C buckwheat (raw or toasted/kasha is fine)
1.5 C wide coconut flakes
1 C chopped nuts (walnut, pecan or hazelnut)
1/4 C chia seeds
optional sesame seeds
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

In a smaller bowl or pyrex cup, combine:
1/3 C melted coconut oil
1/3 C maple syrup
2 TB sugar 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 C cocoa powder

Pour the liquids into the bowl with the oats and stir to combine. Make sure you scrape the bottom of the bowl and get it all combined.

Divide the mixture onto two rimmed baking sheets.

Bake at 300F, stirring every 15-20 minutes, until it is done.  You can check doneness by either the coconut flakes or the nuts; toasted but not burnt is what you're looking for.  Total baking time is less than one hour.  I just keep checking on it until it smells and tastes about right.   If you need to leave the house and it's not quite done, you can turn off the oven and leave the granola in there to finish while the oven cools down.

Gluten free Pizza dough (egg-free)

I've been using Gluten Free on a Shoestring's gluten free pizza dough for quite a while now.  It makes a great pizza.  The dough is more like a normal pizza dough. Many of the gluten free doughs have eggs, but this one doesn't!

Here's how I make it:

Mix
1 C brown rice flour
1/2 C potato starch
1/2 C tapioca starch
1.5 tsp psyllium husk powder
2 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt

Knead in:
3/4 C warm water
3 TB olive oil

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour. If you are using it later, stick in a ziplock back and refrigerate.

Cut into two and roll out to make 2 pizzas

Blind bake at 400 F for 7 minutes

Add toppings. I like to shortcut use tomato paste or canned tomato sauce (and sometimes oregano flakes). I go light on the cheese, and heavy on sliced mushrooms and black olives as well as baby spinach.

Bake another 7-10 minutes at 400 F.  Enjoy with a side salad.

Vegan Baked Potato (with creamy hemp dressing)

I enjoy baked potatoes, but usually they need lots of butter and yogurt (or sour cream) to taste good. This time I tried baked potatoes with a vegan dressing and it was amazing! Tangy, creamy, salty, delicious. My new favorite way to eat baked potatoes.  It's too bad I didn't snap a photo.

METHOD

Pick out one russet potato per person. Poke with a fork. Bake at 350 F for an hour, until soft in the inside and crispy on the outside.

Make (or buy) some spicy tomato salsa.  I like a spicy version of my canned roasted salsa.

Make ultra creamy hemp dressing from Oh She Glows.

Cut open the roasted potatoes, sprinkle with salt and drizzle over the hemp dressing. Add cut tomatoes, sliced avocado, spoon some salsa on top, and optionally drizzle a little more hemp dressing over it. Devour!

Gluten free Blueberry pie

I love pie. Always have.  It's prime Blueberry season. I have already picked a few flats, and look forward to picking more.

METHOD
Prepare gluten free pie crust using this recipe from Gluten free on a shoestring, just omit the sugar.  Mix together with your hands, rubbing and breaking the butter until it's in small pieces:

2.25 gluten free flour (I used a mixture of one part tapioca starch to two parts brown rice flour)
1 tsp xanthan gum or psyllium husk powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
10 TB butter, cold

Now add and mix until combined: 1/2 C to 3/4 C iced water

Chill for 30 minutes or more in the fridge. Roll out using two sheets of wax paper, form it in pie pan. Chill it again.

FILLING
Mix these together and pour into chilled prepared pie crust:
4.5 - 5 C washed blueberries (approximately 2 pints)
1/4 C gluten free flour
<=1/4 C sugar
dash of vanilla extract 
dash of lemon juice 

TOPPING
Prep the crumb topping but blitzing in food processor, until chunky:
1/4 C sugar
1/2 C gluten free flour (rice flours are nice and crispy texture)
1/3 C butter

Sprinkle over the top of the pie. Bake at 375 F for around 40 minutes, or until done/browned on top and bubbling.

ALTERNATE METHOD:
Blueberries make a great hand pie or turnover.  I used the pie crust and stuck a few blueberries (nothing else) and then closed up the pie dough. Cooked it for 15 minutes (?) until browned. Yum.