Corn Chowder

Every time I went to Mimi's Cafe, I’d order the corn chowder. It’s warm, sweet, savoy, basically the perfect comfort food. I've had their recipe for several years and love to make it at home but like everything else I've modified it to make it plant based.

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegan butter
1/2 cup onion chopped
1 cup celery, large dice
3 cups hot water
2 1/2 cups raw potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 cubes
16 oz bag frozen corn (white or yellow)
1 Tbsp sugar
2 tea salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
5 Tbsp flour/gluten free flour
5 cups of plant milk (I use hemp milk)
Fresh ground pepper

Directions:
In a large pot or dutch over, melt vegan butter. Add onion, celery, simmer until softened but not browned. Add water potatoes, corn and seasonings. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until tender. Whisk flour into 1 cup of plant based milk and stir into soup. Add remaining plant milk, adjust seasoning if needed. Simmer 15 minutes, until soup thickens. Add salt and pepper. To thin add a little more milk, to thicken simmer 5-10 more minutes. Serve with fresh ground pepper. Enjoy!

Vegan Persimmon Pudding

This is one of my favorite desserts, it just tastes like Christmas to me. It’s one of the first desserts beyond sugar cookies I learned to make back in high school. You have to have super ripe and squishy persimmons for this. I get mine from the farmers market, they save them for me every year. I used walnuts but you could also use pecans. If you like raisins you could add those as well. For the pulp I strained the persimmons through a colander into a large bowl. (Remember to compost the skins and stems).

Persimmon pudding

2 cups of persimmon pulp

3 egg replacement (I used Follow Your Heart’s)

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 nutmeg (or pumpkin pie spice)

1/2 cup melted vegan butter

2 1/2 cups almond or cashew milk

1 1/2 cup whole wheat or unbleached flour

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In a large bowl add the egg replacement to the persimmon pulp, whisk in the sugar.  Add baking powder, soda, salt and spices.  Pour in melted vegan butter, stir & pour in the almond milk.  The mixture will be sort of soupy, whisk in flour, fold in chopped nuts.  Pour into a greased 9 X 13 pan.  Bake for 1 hour or until knife comes out clean.  Serve warm or room temperature with vegan whipped cream.

Cashew mozzarella

Caprese salad is one of my favorite summer dishes. So when I went plant based it was definitely something that I missed. Tomatoes perfectly ripe, mozzarella, basil, good quality olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or glaze with a little salt and pepper. That right there is near perfection.

I experimented with quite a few cashew cheese recipes, it took a bit of tweaking to find the right combo. The garlic powder in this is totally optional, I’ve made it with and without and both are great. I didn’t let my cheese set up very long before slicing, more like tearing the cheese when I made this. You can soak the cashews anywhere from 2 hours to overnight, I’ve done both and it’s come out fine either way. The longer it sets the easier it is to cut. I love this cheese on pizza and of course there’s always good ole grilled cheese (with tomato soup please). Anyway, use this anywhere you would normal mozzarella.

Cashew Mozzarella

2 cup raw cashews, soaked & drained

1 1/2 cups water

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2-3 Tbsp nutritional yeast

1/2 cup tapioca starch (this is what makes it stretchy)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic powder (optional)

bowl of ice water

Blend all ingredients in a high powered blender (a regular blender will work too, it just takes a little longer) until smooth.

Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium to medium-high heat, whisking continuously. (Don’t walk away this happens really fast!) As the mixture heats, it will form clumps. Keep whisking until the mixture is smooth, thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

Using a small scoop, make balls and drop them into the ice water bath. You can shape them into small or large balls. It will stay fresh a few days in the fridge, if you don’t use it all immediately, like I usually do. Enjoy!

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla Soup

I love tortilla soup and have for years. I think the first time I had it I was in high school and I've been trying to perfect the recipe ever since.  While experimenting I came up with a vegan version that’s just as good if not better than one with chicken. For the broth, I like to use veggie bouillon cubes & hot wader. Usually, I add 2 or 3 types of beans and frozen corn. I like Trader Joe's taco seasoning or a combination of chili powder, garlic, cumin & coriander. I add carrots and zucchini, once I was out of carrots and used small chucks of butternut squash and my daughter said it was the best version I’d ever made. Basically use what you have. I add the zucchini towards end so they don’t get mushy. You can use fire roasted tomatoes if you want it a little more spicy.

Tortilla Soup

32 oz vegetable broth
1 onion diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
3-4 carrots chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
2-3 small zucchini chopped (optional)
1 can black beans
1 can pinto beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 bag of frozen corn
1/2 package taco seasoning
1 tsp sugar (optional)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4-1/2 bunch cilantro

Toppings:
cheese
lime
avocado
salsa
tortilla chips

In a large soup pot, saute with onion, carrots, and garlic until almost done. Add broth, tomatoes, beans, taco seasoning, salt, sugar, pepper, and corn. Bring to a boil and turn down to very low, after about 10 minutes and add zucchini and cilantro. Simmer for about 20 minutes, serve with your choice of toppings. Enjoy! It’s best when shared.