Creamy Tuscan Cannellini and Kale Soup with Lemon – Gluten Free

It sounds weird, but trust me on this.   

Since the moment I saw this recipe on Pinterest, I’ve been [absolutely] pining to do a remake.  To be honest, I looked at the recipe long enough to see that the creator used a cashew cream base, which she homemade using equal parts cashews and water.  And, I knew I needed some sundried tomatoes, kale, and white beans – from the first picture and the recipe’s title.  But, I wanted to switch things up a bit, lessen the cashew to water ratio, and give it a thinner base.  As a result, the flavor needed to be richer, in order to compensate for the richness lost in the thinning of the broth.  And so, instead of sautéing all the vegetables, I chose to roast the carrots and caramelize the onions – alongside the added bonus of using a flavor-intense oil like olive oil instead of a milder, avocado or coconut oil.  Bon appetit! 

Creamy Tuscan Cannellini and Kale Soup with Lemon

1 large brown onion, chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 Tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes (use the olive oil packed kind)
1 cup chopped kale stems
1 and 1/4 cup cooked cannellini beans (feel free to substitute with White Kidney Beans or Great Northern Beans here)
1 cup chopped roasted carrots
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
2 cloves fresh garlic, smashed and minced
3/4 cups raw cashew pieces
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 + 1 + 2 cups water
1 and 1/2 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: In a large saucepan, add chopped onion and 1 Tablespoon oil.  Sprinkle with thyme leaves and season with salt.  Cook over lowest possible heat setting until onions are browned and caramelized.  Increase heat to medium.  Add 1 Tablespoon oil, kale stems, and sundried tomato pieces to saucepan and cook until kale stems are tender.  Next, add cannellini beans, carrots, italian seasoning, garlic, and one cup water to pan.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Continue cooking until all water has evaporated (or, more than 75% – if it absolutely makes you nervous to wait until all that water evaporates).  Decrease heat to low.  Add 2 cups water to pan and cook until heated through.

Meanwhile – add 2 cups water to a small saucepan, place it over medium high heat, and bring to a boil.  Get your *blender* (or Vitamix!).  In it, place the cashews, all of the boiling water, juice of 1/2 lemon, nutritional yeast, and a sprinkle of salt.  Blend until smooth and then, blend for 2 minutes longer – you want it to be REALLY smooth.

Last step: Stir the juice of 1 lemon and the cashew “cream” and season with salt and pepper.  And – eat!

Makes: 4-6 servings, depending on how hungry you are.

Gluten Free Lemon (Snack) Bars

My husband and I are currently staying in San Francisco, California and have recently come from Sonoma County, California – land of wonderful, California wine and home to lemon trees.

With so much access, we decided to pick a few to bring to San Fran with us.

Lemons are an unusual beast.  They’re lovely and fragrant, excellent detoxifiers, and compliments to herbs like oregano and thyme.  And yet.  I rarely find them in recipes online, apart from those containing such edifiers as “pound cake” or “poppy seeds.”  It’s a shame.

And so.  My list of recipes to make with this fragrant fruit began with Limoncello.  Having had some (in-house made) at Pastavino, we quickly found a recipe online and gave it a go.  Currently, it is perched in a glass pitcher in the fridge.  When it finishes infusing, I’ll post the recipe and some pictures!

The next item on my list was a remake of Annapolis Ice Cream Company‘s Lemon-Chocolate Chip, but in a sort of (granola) snack bar form.  However, when it was time to add the chocolate chips, I couldn’t do it – the simplicity of tart and sweet was a beautiful balance, and chocolate seemed almost too heavy for it.  Using a previous posting I made for Chocolate and Oatmeal Raisin Granola Bars as a starting point, I simplified the recipe (took out the chocolate!) and added a Lemon-Coconut Oil and Agave Glaze.  

1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and slightly sprinkled with salt
7 Tablespoons agave nectar, divided
1/4 cup coconut oil, divided
3 lemons, juiced + the zest of two lemons, divided (juice and zest as needed)
2 cups rolled oats

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Place sunflower seeds in a blender and pulse until finely ground into a flour.  (Be careful not to make sun butter!)

In a large mixing bowl, add 6 Tablespoons agave nectar and 2 Tablespoons coconut oil.  Microwave until oil has melted, then stir until smooth.  Add sunflower seed “Flour,” the juice of 2 lemons, and the zest of one lemon to oil and agave nectar mixture in bowl.  Stir until smooth.  Next, stir in rolled oats until coated and ingredients are combined.

Coat a baking sheet or small baking pan with coconut oil.  Transfer dough to pan and spread evenly until 3/4″-1″ thick.  Bake for 15 minutes, or until edges are lightly brown.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Next, place in freezer and allow to firm up for an hour.  (This helps for even slicing and prevents bars from breaking in the process!)  Final steps – cut into bars (8-12, depending on the size you’d like) and drizzle with two coats of Lemon-Coconut Oil and Agave Glaze (recipe below), refrigerating between coats to harden glaze.

To make Lemon-Coconut Oil and Agave Glaze:  In a small (cereal) bowl, add 2 Tablespoons coconut oil, the juice and zest of one lemon, and one Tablespoon agave.  Microwave one minute, or until oil melts.  Stir until smooth.  Drizzle over Lemon Snack Bars and refrigerate to harden glaze.

Makes: 8-12 bars, depending on size

Caesar Salad – Vegan and Gluten-Free

It is amazing how well the flavors of nutritional yeast and lemon juice can dutifully mimic cheesy tastes.  Slight variations on their amounts can yield surprising results.  With no cheese in sight.

My findings:

More lemon juice and less nutritional yeast equals a tangier result.  Think: faux feta.  But less juice and more yeast?  You’ll have a slightly bolder and richer taste, like: hollandaise sauce or even, Gouda replication.

To make the dressing for this recipe, I used the former approach of less nutritional yeast and more lemon juice, in order to achieve a tangy caesar dressing with subtly rich notes.  For a more mellow flavor, decrease the amount of lemon juice.

Caesar Salad

2 handfuls lettuce
1 handful croutons (recipe below for homemade version)
1/2 recipe Caesar Dressing

Directions: Place all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl and toss.  For maximum enjoyment, use hands.

Serves: 2

Caesar Dressing

4 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons water
1/2 Tablespoon nutritional yeast
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 teaspoon sugar (or other sweetener)
2 cloves fresh garlic
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: Place all ingredients in a blender and whirl until smooth.  Serve with Caesar Salad (recipe above) or this Creamy Lemon and Parsley Rice (recipe to come later).

Almost Paleo Spiced Sweet Potato Hash with Tzatziki

I’ve been getting bored with vegan recipes here lately, and I’m trying to cut back on wheat products – not for sure if that makes me “gluten free” just yet – and so, to feed my creative self, I’m starting to turn to Paleo recipes sans all of the restrictions.  For the most part, Paleo can easily be vegan-ized (at least, from my understanding of it), which makes it ideal for inspiration.  Yum!

   

Today’s inspiration came from here, a beautiful blog by Irena with equally beautiful pictures.  In order to be able to use the ingredients that I had on-hand (rather than having to go to the store to buy them, eek!), the recipe was modified to add an extra veggie – and, that’s the one you’ll find below (including a recipe for Tzatziki made from scratch).  Also, save yourself the time and leave the skin on all the veggies – just make sure to wash them thoroughly first.

I hope to give Irena’s recipe an honest try when I have access to the other ingredients listed (maybe I can barter again?).  Either way, along with a tofu scramble, this is a great way to start the day.  

Spiced Sweet Potato Hash:

2 large sweet potatoes, diced (makes between 5 and 6 cups)
2 large carrots, diced (makes between 1 and 1/2 to 2 cups)
3 cloves fresh garlic, smashed and chopped
2 teaspoons smoked paprika (use “Sweet” if you like it on the milder side, or “Hot” if you like it spicy)
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
4 teaspoons oil (for sautéeing)
salt, to taste

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  Place a large skillet over medium heat.  Working in two or three batches, sauté until tender and slightly browned.  Transfer to serving bowl and continue with remaining batches.  Top with Tzatziki Sauce (recipe below).  Makes: 6-8 servings. 

Tzatziki Sauce:

1/4 lemon, juiced
3 Tablespoons firm tofu, drained
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon tahini
2 and 1/2 Tablespoons oil (any mild-flavored kind will do)
1 Tablespoon “milk”
1 Tablespoon water
1 teaspoon dried dill leaves
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup grated cucumber (leave on the peel and the seeds)

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender (except cucumber).  Blend until smooth.  Add cucumber and pulse for 1-2 minutes, or until it is lightly chopped and evenly distributed throughout sauce.  Use as a topping over Spiced Sweet Potato Hash (above) or over falafel-ish items.  Makes: about 3/4 cup.

Don’t have any sweet potatoes?  Try out these recipes instead:

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Hash

Indian Spiced Broccoli Hash

Sausage-Less Hash

Tabbouli With A (Lemon) Twist

Tabbouli with a Twist

If tabbouli were a cocktail, it should be a martini and have a little twist.  Now, THAT’s a conversation starter.  Begin your next “First” date with that one.  I’m sure the other person will stick around long enough to find out how truly deep (and Caring.  Thoughtful.  Amazing.  Attractive.) of a person you are.  What a great.  Person.  What a great.  Conversationalist.  Let’s stick around long enough to go to date number 2.

Erg.

Ok, you caught me.  This isn’t necessarily a tabbouli.  Tabbouli doesn’t NECESSARILY include rice.  Hey man, most people have rice.  And, assuming you get the GF kind (ASSUMING – I said it again – that’s a possibility) and buy a huge tomato that wasn’t rolled in flour, the tabbouli to rice version can be gluten free.  And suddenly, the planet is saved.  Aren’t we all concerned about the planet?  We should be.

Side Note: The ingredients in here are so much similar to tabbouli that I couldn’t resist calling it as such.

Initially, this will make a lot of *juice.*  It’s just the veggies mixing with the salt and releasing water.  It occurs naturally, and there is nothing to fear, dear friend.  Once the rice is mixed in, it will absorb the liquid.  AND, the “Salad” will taste splendidly.

Tabbouli with a Twist

Tabbouli with a Twist

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
3 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon taragon
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 cups chopped tomato
2 and 1/2 cups chopped cucumber
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 teaspoon capers
1/2 lemon rind, pith removed, and outer rind (the part minus the pith) julienned very thinly
3 cups cooked (brown) rice
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions: In a large mixing bowl, combine olive oil, honey, lemon juice, taragon, and thyme.  Stir until blended.  This is the “dressing.”  To the dressing, add the tomato, cucumber, red onion, capers, and lemon rind.  Stir until blended.  Add rice and mix well.  Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate overnight.  Allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Makes 4-5 servings.

Alternative Eating (for some crunch and a little more depth): If you have a handful of walnuts, toast them in the oven at 325 degrees for around 5 to 10 minutes and chop those things up.  Stir in already prepared “tabbouli” and eat away.

Tabbouli with a Twist