Tortilla Soup...Crunchy Asian Slaw...Orzo Casserole...Lemon Broccoli Pasta

An incredibly simple soup that gets thrown in the crockpot to simmer while delivering delicious smells throughout the kitchen.

Crockpot Tortilla Soup
4 cloves minced garlic
1 medium chopped onion
1 t hot sauce (like Tabasco)
2 chopped jalepenos
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
1 16 oz can diced tomatoes
4 cups faux chicken broth
tortilla chips
avocado or guacamole

Combine all ingredients in crockpot except chips and avo. Cook on low 4-6 hours. Top each bowl with tortilla chips and avocado.
A not-so-exciting orzo dish...I sauteed onions and garlic in a tad of oil until tender. Then I added some spinach and some white wine and lemon. I cooked my orzo until tender and then tossed it all together with a sprinkling of salt and cracked pepper. Unfortunately, it was totally tasteless!but I was able to transform it the next day into this...I made the alfredo sauce from Creamy Broccoli and Mushroom Casserole (you can search this in my blog and find the full recipe, not just the sauce. In case you are looking for a good orzo dish, this is the one to try!)and threw in the boring orzo I made. It was delicious. I sprinkled it with some bread crumbs mixed with a tad of oil and some garlic powder and Italian herbs. Great results.
Alfredo Sauce (Vegan Yum Yum recipe)
1 cup soy milk
2 T Earth balance
2 T soy sauce
2 T tahini
1 T lemon juice
¼ cup nutritional yeast
¼ cup raw, unsalted cashews
2 T cornstarch
2 t dijon mustard
2-4 cloves garlic



A twist on Morgan's Buffalo Wrap that turned out absolutely perfectly! Yuuuummmmm! Very low fat to boot!
Morgan's recipe called for boiled seitan that is dipped in flour and pan-fried. I tried it this way the first time I made it. When I tried it again, I had some seitan-o-greatness made so I sliced that into strips, heated it in the oven and poured the hot sauce (I have a chipotle "wing" sauce that I used - spicy but yummy!) over it. This took away the frying step and the cosistency was much more like chicken in my opinion. I liked it much better with the baked seitan, although the boiled is still tasty. It also calls for using mayo to make the dressing (which works great) but I have used whatever I have had on hand, including cream cheese (Tofutti non-hydrogenated) or a mixture of unsweetened soy milk and cream cheese or unsweetened soy milk and mayo. The dill gives the sauce an incredible flavor. The original recipe also calls for butter to be added to the hot sauce. I don't think this adds anything other than fat so I have chosen to leave it out alltogether. So, here is my recipe adapted from the original.
Buffalo "Chicken" Wraps (adapted from Morgan's Buffalo Wraps)
Dressing
1/2 cup vegan mayo (or sour cream or cream cheese)
1/4 cup soymilk
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp garlic powder
cracked black pepper
In a bowl, combine all ingredients until smooth

Buffalo Sauce:
1/4 cup Louisiana Hot Sauce (or another spicy chipotle or pepper sauce)

1 1/2 cups sliced baked seitan, heated (like seitan-o-greatness)or if using boiled seitan, dip it in some flour and lightly pan-fry it

Chopped lettuce and shredded carrots

To Make the Buffalo Wraps:
Take a tortilla or wrap and spread 1 T dressing over surface. Place several seitan strips on top. Drizzle hot sauce over seitan. Top with chopped lettuce and shredded carrots. Roll up and enjoy!

A delicious new recipe for slaw - sprinkled with peanuts. Easy and tasty!

Crunchy Asian Slaw
4 cups sliced cabbage
1/4 cup Asian dressing (recipe below)
1/4 cup peanuts

Toss all ingredients and serve.

Asian Dressing
2 T sugar
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 t sesame oil
1/4 cup oil
3 T vinegar
Combine all ingredients until well combined.
I'm back! It has been a very long week of prepping for the kids' consignment sale and I finally dropped off my load of baby stuff yesterday morning (what a relief to be done from the prepping but what a sad moment of letting go too!). I have been cooking, but not many new and exciting things, unfortunately! I have made a few yummies and you will see pics here. Watch for recipes to come (if you don't see a recipe posted yet but would like it right away, post a note and I will get it on here ASAP - otherwise, recipes will be available very soon!). You will also notice, my new menu will soon be posted so stay tuned - I am trying to catch up on a bunch of stuff right now, in addition to the fact that my oldest son turns 5 on Monday and we have lots of family celebrations this weekend. So, bear with me! :-) Happy Cooking!