I love a good potato soup, and when it’s hot outside cold potato soup, otherwise known as Vichyssoise, tastes so good. In Dina Cheney’s new book The New Milks, she brings together the classic combination of potato and leeks with fennel to make a fantastic tasting soup.
When I tried this recipe, I needed to make some adjustments due to allergies and flavor choices. Even with the tweaks, this is a rewarding recipe.
I normally use soy milk for my soups. This time I chose a recipe that called for cashew milk, something I hadn’t tried. Many of the recipes in this book gave me a new way of thinking how to use different “milks” in my cooking.
I went to work making this recipe and was rewarded with a rich, creamy soup with a depth of flavor. I garnished it with chives and shared it with my friends, who all said the same thing: Amazing.
As mentioned above, I made a few substitutions. In our house, we don’t use flour. I omitted the step of making a roux (butter and fat cooked together and then added to sauces and soups as a thickener). The combination of fennel, leek, and the cashew cream was going to provide enough body to thicken the vichyssoise. I did add the margarine and a little bit of arrowroot at the end to ensure the thickness.
A note about the recipe from the book, the roux was made from butter, making it not vegan, but you can easily make one with margarine and flour. The point is to use some kind of fat and flour.
Here’s the recipe, with the substitutions.
Vichysoisse
2016-08-28 23:45:17
Serves 8
A delicious twist on an old classic. In this recipe the author Dina Cheney uses fresh cashew milk as the cream base for this soup. I took it a step further and made sure it was vegan and gluten free.
2 tbsp vegan butter (here at TVC we use Smart Balance)
2 leeks, trimmed, halved, sliced and rinsed (2 cups)
½ large fennel bulb trimmed, cored, and coarsely chopped (1 cup)
1 starchy medium large potato, such as Idaho or russet, peeled and thinly sliced (2 scant cups)
2 ½ cups Vegetable Stock
1 tbsp arrow root
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 cup plain cashew milk
¼ cup minced chives, fresh
Instructions
Melt the vegan butter in a large stockpot (the recipe calls for a dutch oven). Once the butter is melted, add the leeks and fennel, cover and cook until tender, about 8 minutes.
Add the potato and stir. Add the stock and salt and bring to a boil over high heat.
Cover and reduce the heat to medium low/low. Simmer until the potato is very tender, about 30 minutes.
Make a slurry out of the arrow root (add two tablespoons water to the arrow root and stir until smooth). Add into the soup mixture and cook for a few extra minutes.
Transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender. Add the cashew milk and puree until very smooth, about 45 seconds. Chill until cold.
Serve, garnished with the chives.
By Dina Cheney
Adapted from The New Milks
Adapted from The New Milks
Things Vegans Cook http://www.thingsveganscook.com/
For more great soup recipes see the Kitchen Shaman’s Kindle book
Cool drinks are in demand in the summer and most people go right for the lemonade or iced tea. In the Amercian Southwest, however, agua frescas are growing in popularity. Literally translated they are “fresh water” infused with fruit and herbs. Some popular flavors of agua fresca are strawberry, jamaica(hibiscus flower), and tamarind.
The recipe we’re sharing today features watermelon. It seemed appropriate, given that this is National Watermelon Month. Try it out and let us know how you like it.
Watermelon Agua Fresca
2016-07-23 20:16:40
A cool "fresh water" drink popularized in the Southwest.
1/2 watermelon, peeled and seeds taken out (use seedless for less work)
6 cups water
1/2 cup ginger infused simple syrup or 1/2 cup sweetener (if using stevia, use less)
juice of 1 lime
several sprigs of mint
Instructions
Peel watermelon and discard seeds, if necessary.
Blend 1 cup fruit to 2 cups water at a time with sweetener and 8-10 leaves of peppermint. Strain mixture and pour into pitcher. Add sweetener and mix..
Serve chilled and garnished with mint and lime slices.
Notes
To make simple syrup, check out this base recipe and then add 6-8 wafer thin slices of ginger.
By Chef Johnna Gale, AKA the Kitchen Shaman
Things Vegans Cook http://www.thingsveganscook.com/
Chef Johnna, AKA the Kitchen Shaman, will be appearing at VeggieFest 2016 outside Chicago this very weekend. If you’re in the area, please consider stopping by. Admission is free!
If you’re looking for Vegan and Vegetarian Festivals that might be near you, check out these summer-time upcoming events.
Summertime is burger time — even in a zombie apocalypse. Have you ever wondered what you will eat after the zombies take over? Will it even be possible to maintain a vegan diet? Yes, it will — at least if you believe The Vegan Zombie.
The video below offers a recipe for Spicy Black Bean Burgers that you may want to try now, rather than waiting for the apocalypse.
As the temperature rises, people seek out foods that are colder. If you’re looking for a cold summer soup, you may be thinking gazpacho. Now most people think of gazpacho as a tomato soup, but there are lots of variations. You can find recipes featuring avocado, grapes, cucumber, and non-vegan stocks. This version highlights one of the ubiquitous summer fruits: watermelon.
The refreshing, raw soup combines watermelon with habenero chilis to provide a kick. You can adjust the amount of chilis to find the perfect heat level to offset the sweet coolness of the watermelon.
Watermelon Gazpacho
2016-07-12 12:22:17
Yields 6
This refreshing, cold soup takes advantage of the freshness of summer watermelon.
Does it seem like most people equate “vegan” with “healthy” as in “healthy diet” or “healthy alternative” or “healthy lifestyle”? Let’s be clear: not all vegan food is healthy and not all vegans want to spend all their time eating healthy foods. That’s why we have vegan candy and desserts and snack foods and, even fried foods.
For vegans who are seeking the occasional indulgence in crunchy, oily, fried foods, there’s a cookbook for you. Things Vegans Fry: Crunchy Comfort Food for Vegans is now available as an ebook. Chef Johnna Gale spent years developing and testing recipes for a variety of deep fried foods. The result is over a dozen recipes for tater tots, fries, and potato chips.
Want to know how to fry mushrooms or tofu? Or world cuisine like falafel, pakoras, and sopapillas? They are all there, along with toppings and dipping sauces — all vegan and all gluten-free.
Next time you’re looking for a guilty pleasure, try one of the recipes in this book. It’s available on Amazon for use on all Kindle devices and apps.
Summertime is great for both grilling and partying. What party food can benefit from a grilling? Salsa!
Join Chef Johnna Gale in the video below to learn how easy it is to make a spicy roasted salsa that will be the hit of any picnic, party, or cookout.
In addition to walking you through the recipe from the kitchen to the grill and back to the kitchen, Chef Johnna shows you how to safely peel your peppers and just how “roasted” your ingredients need to be.
The full recipe can be found here — and more salsa recipes (sans roasting) are available here.
Do you have a favorite salsa ingredient? How do you feel about salsas that go “beyond the tomato” to feature tomatillos, mangos, watermelon, or even cactus?
When looking for a vegan-friendly cookbook, it helps if it is at least free of dairy products. That’s exactly what Dina Cheney gives us in The New Milks. All the recipes use almond, hemp, oat, coconut, flax, cashew, and even pumpkin seed milk.
All of these milks can either be made yourself or found on the grocery store shelf. Almond, oat, and hemp milks are usually the easiest to find at the grocers. When I first heard about this book I thought it was going to teach me how to make nut milks. Actually, it’s about how to use these new milk products instead of cow’s milk.
It turns out this is extremely useful information for me. I haven’t used cow’s milk for more than a dozen years in cooking and baking. The author shows new ways to use these milks. I’m excited to try some of the unusual milks like pumpkin seed. I’ve attempted making my own almond and soy milks. We’ve decided over the years that it’s an even cost to either make your own or buy them.
I’m eager to taste the recipes in this book. While most of the breakfast recipes are out (they use eggs), I’m giving the Vichyssoise made with cashew milk and the Vegan Blueberry Cream Tart a try.
The recipes are simple to follow, with step-by-step instructions. Cheney includes dietary tags for each recipe to help guide you in making the correct choice for your particular dietary needs.
Vegan, dairy-free, paleo, and gluten-free diets are all represented.
One of the largest vegetarian festivals in North America is fast approaching – and our very own Chef Johnna Gale, aka the Kitchen Shaman, is on the schedule this year.
This year’s event will be held on July 23rd & 24th in Lisle, Illinois, just outside of Chicago. 2016 marks the 11th year for this premiere event that includes food demos, international lifestyle and nutrition speakers, music, a huge food court, an art show, and a children’s parade & tent. Admission is free and the festival runs from 11 am to 8 pm both days.
Chef Johnna will be presenting two demos. Learn to make “Watermelon 3 Ways” and “Red Chili Tofu Tacos.” Mark your schedule for Saturday at 2 pm and Sunday at 1 pm so you don’t miss out seeing the Kitchen Shaman at work.
In addition to Chef Johnna, you can see demos by Beverly Lynn Bennet (The Vegan Chef), Chef Sam of Vegan Plate, Ellen Jaffe Jones, and the Raw Team. The Food Court will feature over 20 booths of delicious vegan (and vegetarian) food. There will be dozens of vendors offering food products, health and beauty items, and memorabilia and 20+ speakers talking about health, nutrition, environmental impact, spirituality, and general vegetarianism/veganism.
In an age that is loaded with books on vegan cooking, how to become vegan, what not to eat, and advice for the new vegan, V is for Vegan comes to us with a straightforward tactic: here’s some food. Cook it. Eat it. It’s vegan. It’s good.
The author, Kerstin Rodgers, has created a book that anyone can enjoy. Looking over the recipes it is obvious that almost anyone can create this food (13 things on Toast is probably my favorite). Rodgers even explains what you need to have in your pantry to cook the recipes in this book.
Rodgers has been writing about food for quite a while over on Ms. Marmite Lover. She is also the instigator of The Secret Garden Supper Club in the UK, teaches many classes, and enjoys traveling. She has won numerous awards for her writing.
I did enjoy the recipes in this book. As someone who creates recipes myself, it’s a pleasure when I can follow along and be successful. The layout of the book is fun and playful with dual colored pages. One teensy, tiny complaint: many of the photos are dark or “busy.” This seems to be the way of producing recipe photos these days. Just thought I’d make a note of it.
The book is laid out in sections, so if you want to look up snacks (my favorite), or dinner recipes, just turn to those sections. I can’t imagine not wanting to make any of this food. I was drooling a little while skimming these tasty items. There’s even tacos! Tacos in the UK!
I love a good potato soup, and when it’s hot outside cold potato soup, otherwise known as Vichyssoise, tastes so good. In Dina Cheney’s new book The New Milks, she brings together the classic combination of potato and leeks with fennel to make a fantastic tasting soup.
Chef Johnna, AKA the Kitchen Shaman, will be appearing at VeggieFest 2016 outside Chicago this very weekend. If you’re in the area, please consider stopping by. Admission is free!
One of the largest vegetarian festivals in North America is fast approaching – and our very own Chef Johnna Gale, aka the Kitchen Shaman, is on the schedule this year.
In an age that is loaded with books on vegan cooking, how to become vegan, what not to eat, and advice for the new vegan,