Apr 13, 2011

mexican-inspired black bean and kale soup

It is when I have to come up with a name for a recipe that I find how much I lack in creativity! It's a shame. I'll ask the kids next time, but for now, this soup is a Mexican-inspired Black Bean and Kale Soup. Since we are trying to incorporate as much greens into our diet as we can, the kale seemed an ideal choice in this recipe. Sweet potatoes and black beans are a natural with some smoky cumin and green chilies.

This soup got better with age; David took it for lunch the next day and raved about it. It's also a very easy one to pull together and is packed with protein and calcium. Kale and black beans are both high in both. Add some vegan sour cream, avocado, cilantro and/or tortilla chips and you have the making of a delicious soup.

Use either an excellent vegetable broth or a vegetable concentrate for the soup base. 
  
Cost Breakdown

celery, carrot, garlic, onion: $1.50
sweet potato, red pepper: $2
can green chilies, tomato paste, veg broth: $2
black beans: $2
spices, lime: $.50
kale: $2
Total to make 6 servings:
$10.00




Apr 11, 2011

tunisian skewers with harissa sauce

Tester

Now that Tami Noyes of American Vegan Kitchen has finally come clean and announced her new cookbook, I can finally reveal that I have been a recipe tester for her for the past half year or so.

Her concept is a grilling cookbook and I have had the pleasure to be a part of making sure that the recipes that you all will indulge in soon will be as good as she intends them to be.

While I cannot divulge ingredients or recipes, I can let you in on the name of the dish and let you know how lucky you will be to own this book.

First off, I have to say that there is not a vegan/vegetarian grilling cookbook on the market of this caliber. I own the few odd vegetarian books that try their hand at grilling, but not like this. This IS the definitive grilling cookbook for vegans and vegetarians.

I am not going to blog about the other 50 recipes I've tested so far; I'll just jump in on the recipes I make as I go. I made this dish, Tunisian Skewers with Harissa Sauce and Lemon-Kissed Couscous, the other day and I could hardly keep myself from licking the plate. Not only are the recipes I've tried great, they are for the grill AND they are easy and quick.

This dish was no exception.