JamieR's Cook Nook (including Recipe Redemption)

[Nettie]

"Redeemed" Hearty Potato Soup (Crockpot)

I love anything with potatoes in it. Can't wait to try this!

Nettie

[JamieR]

I love anything with potatoes in it. Can't wait to try this!

I agree with you! I love my potatoes...and love that they can be a core part of this way of eating. Been one of my favorite things so far!

I've always loved making potato soups...especially in spring/summer when I can unusual potatoes and local leeks at my farmer's market. I make a potato leek soup that is just potatoes, leeks, and water...and it's fabulous! Since my DH never has liked dairy in "creamy" soups, I've always made my "creamy" soups with potatoes as a base.

Regards,
Jamie

[JamieR]

Jamie, I was looking for a potato soup recipe and I happened upon yours!! Can't wait to make it this week! Thanks!

Great, Carol! Let us know how it turns out.

It's not really "my recipe" (I haven't tried this particular one yet), rather I'm find interesting recipes that are close to being good and healthy, and make 'em so.

I see you use the same weight loss ticker, and by your forum name...my guess is that your a singer? I'm a music person, too, though I am a piano player.

[JamieR]

Recipe Finds for February 15:

It was a good day at the papers today...some good choices that could be made healthy easily with just a few changes...and a good informational article about salsify...

Zesty Vegetable Pasta Sauce in the Bergen Record
Not only is this pasta sauce chock full of veggies...it should be a snap to prepare in the crockpot. I imagine it would also be good over baked potatoes. To make it on-plan, just use a 100% whole grain pasta; omit the olives and optional cheese. If you have a sensitivity to sugar or prefer not to cook with it, that could easily be omitted or reduced (I like to add a finely diced carrot to my pasta sauces for a "sweet" flavor.)

Bean and Barley Soup in the Bergen Record
Saute in water instead of oil and omit the Parmesan...and you've got a lovely veggie-bean-grain soup! Cranberry beans (AKA borlotti beans) are wonderful if you can find them, very mild and creamy. If you can't find 'em, just use a mild white bean, like cannellini or navy.

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew in the Erie Times-News
This sounds like a really different, interesting stew...with chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and some warm spices. Just saute in water instead of oil, and it's completely on-plan

Lentil Soup with Chilies in the Detroit Free Press
Opt for the veggie broth and leave off the dairy garnish, and you've got an interesting on-plan soup!

Mexican Minestrone in the San Francisco Chronicle
This is a complex soup! Full of vegetables, fresh cooked beans and pasta. Saute in water instead of oil, use a whole grain pasta, swap veggie broth for the chicken broth, and simply omit the cheesy-oily cilantro pesto...perhaps finishing each bowl with a few fresh leaves of cilantro and a sprinkle of powdered chipotle (or slivered canned chipotle).

Information on Salsify

[CarolSoprano]

Jamie, yes, I'm a singer - mostly classical, lots of Bach. My hubby is a choral conductor at a state university and we also have a vocal ensemble which performs a cappella vocal music and Bach cantatas. Good life, you know?

What kind of music do you play? It's great "meeting" a fellow musician here! Thanks again for this thread - it's great to have a clearinghouse of vegan and veganized, "McDougallized" recipes!

[JamieR]

Here's a recipe that I made tonight. I LOVED it, so I had to share.

As I posted on another thread, my previously over-salted and over-fatted palate was finding much of the program entrees a trifle bland (not bad, but not flavorful). So despite the fact that my DH is not a fan of spicy...I decided to try a zippier dish to see if I could engage my palate.

This soup did the trick! Wowser...just a ton of flavor!

It's basically a riff on one of Mary's dishes in the Quick and Easy Cookbook, Mexi Soup.

I've decided that I am not wild about the flavor of onions sauteed in water; they taste very harsh to me. So rather than use a fresh onion, as in the original recipe, I decided just to use some dried onions. We had toasted ones on hand, and I thought they would add more flavor that just plain onion powder. If you don't mind onion sauteed in water, feel free to go ahead and use a small chopped onion.

The original recipe used just a cup of veggie broth; I went ahead and used a whole small can--I like my soups "soupy". The original recipe used a small can of tomato sauce. That totally did not make it on to my shopping list for some reason, so I subbed a can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes in adobo seasoning (a new flavor for Muir Glen) that I happened to have in my pantry.

Finally, instead of using taco seasoning, I chose to use the spicier Salsa Salad seasoning from Penzey's. But if you just have regular taco seasoning on hand, it should be fine in the dish.

As I said above, I LOVED this dish, and am looking forward to it tomorrow as leftovers. I plan to have it over boiled potatoes. I think the broth would be just yummy soaked in to potatoes.

It was a little too spicy for my DH; next time I will do it more to the original recipe to see if he's more OK than that.

This is one of those easy pantry soups, where you just have to gather the cans, open, and add a few spices...and it makes a delicious, hearty meal.

Spicy Adobo Bean Soup

1 28-ounce can fire-roasted crushed tomatoes, undrained
1 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes in adobo seasoning, undrained
1 16-ounce can cream-style corn
1 16-ounce can vegetarian broth
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, undrained
1 15-ounce can kidney beans, undrained
1 tablespoon dried toasted onion (you could also just use onion powder or a small onion)
1 tablespoon Penzey's Salsa Salad Seasoning (or Taco Seasoning)

Dump everything in a 4-5 quart soup pot. Bring to a boil; turn down and simmer 25 minutes. Can be simmered for a lot longer; the tastes just meld as it perks.

[JamieR]

Recipe Finds for February 23...

It hasn't been a good week for recipes so far, which is why you haven't heard from me lately. Lots of just bad looking recipes out there!

I did find a great cache of salsa recipes at the Sacramento Bee. Just one has a little added oil that could easily be left out.

Mango Salsa

Caribbean Salsa

Fresh Mango Salsa

Tropical Fruit Salsa
This is the one that has a little bit of oil, which could be easily omitted.

Kiwi Pineapple Salsa
Some might find the amount of honey a bit high; you could cut it down to where you are comfortable.

Recipes for Health in the New York Times had a couple of great sounding recipes this week.

Black-Eyed with Vegetables and Small Pasta
This recipe uses a lot of oil! The bulk of it is just dumped in with vegetables that are simmered...just leave it out and simmer the vegetables!

Greek Baked Beans with Honey and Dill
This recipe again, uses a lot of oil, first for sauteeing onions, and rest for "flavoring," I would guess. You could omit the "flavoring" oil completely with no ill effect and water-saute the onions...no oil at all now!

Finally, there was an interesting salad combination that featured roasted beets and oranges on arugula. It had an oily white wine vinegar/Dijon mustard vinaigrette, which is why I won't post the link.

[JamieR]

Recipe Finds for February 28, 2010...

Shepherd's Pie: The Vegetable Version in the Concord Monitor
This recipe is half wrong and half on plan. The mashed potato topping has butter and cheese; just make your favorite on-plan mashed potatoes (and do add garlic like the recipe to make your mashers special!). The Filling ingredients star lots of veggies...onion, fennel, tomatoes, broccoli/cauliflower, kale, cabbage, bell pepper. Just water-saute that onion...and this will be on-plan.

The Frugal Potaco Bar in the Concord Monitor
Most of the ideas for the Potaco bar are not on plan, but some are. I just thought this was a fun idea that could be zazzed up with any number of on-plan veggies and beans.

Peasant Sauce in the Detroit News
This is an exceedingly easy, from-the-pantry sauce, that could be made on-plan if the onions are water-sauteed.

Francie's Classic Lenten Lentil Soup
Except for the oil, this recipe is completely on-plan. I think it is rather bizare that the onions are cooked separately in the oil any way. I would just water saute the onion and garlic at the start, and then add everything in the pot and bring to a boil, then simmer until the lentils are cooked through.

Moroccan Pumpkin Soup
This recipe, reprinted from "The Vegan Cook's Bible", could be made on-plan by water sauteing the onion and leek.

[JamieR]

I burned my right hand today while sterilizing some lids for my homemade salad dressing, so I couldn't do any chopping of veggies for dinner. So I made up this soup on the fly with cans from the pantry, leftover salsa in the fridge, and frozen hashbrowns. Surprisingly tasty! We both loved it. My DH asked if I would make it again, which I will quite gladly. Yay!

You could really change up the flavor of this soup by the type of salsa you use. I used Arriba's Medium Roasted Tomato.

BTW, the (ish) below means that I am not sure of the exact can size...anywhere from 14-16 oz, but I don't know for certain for each can.

Salsa Bean Potato Soup

2 TB dried onion (could use one small onion, diced)
1 12-oz can V8 (I used the low sodium)
1 16-oz (ish) can vegetable broth
1 16-oz (ish) can vegetarian refried beans
1 16-oz (ish) can black beans
1 16-oz (ish) can cream-style corn (don't worry, no dairy in cream-style corn!)
1 cup homemade or prepared salsa (your favorite), whizzed in a food processor if you don't like it chunky
3 handfuls of frozen shredded hashbrowns, about 1 cup

Throw everything in a large soup pot; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer at least 10 minutes. We ended up simmering for over a half hour, giving the potatoes time to not just thaw in the pot, but also start to break down. That and the refried beans made for a pleasantly thick broth.

[JamieR]

Recipes Finds for March 2, 2010...

Chickpea and Zucchini Saute with Couscous in the Washington Post
Just leave out the oil, and this recipe from the new cookbook "Supermarket Vegan" is on-plan (not MWL though as it has WW couscous)

Basic Baked Polenta in the Grand Forks Herald
This is more of a method than a recipe, so I you could definitely leave out the cheese and butter without effecting the outcome.

Article on Whole Grains in the Fayetteville Observer
A nice article with recipes...not all the recipes would be on-plan, but some could be adapted rather easily.

... Hot Amaranth Cereal - on-plan!

... Wheat-Berry Salad with Curry Vinaigrette - The salad part is on-plan if you omit the olive oil. Beets do not need to be roasted in oil. I've seen Toni Fiore on Delicious TV's Totally Vegetarian roast whole beets without peeling...and without oil. She simply wraps them in foil (but you could wrap in parchment paper if you don't like to use aluminum in food prep) and pops 'em on a pan to roast. The dressing...well...take your favorite homemade no-oil dressing and use lemon juice and red wine vinegar for the acid and flavor it with ginger, garlic, and curry powder

... Red Quinoa with Green Beans and Tomatoes - Dry saute the onion and garlic instead of using oil...and it sounds good.

[airfigaro]

Recipe finds for February 9th....


Cabbage, Cauliflower and Potato Chowder
This one is so close to being McDougall friendly! Just saute the onions in a little bit of water instead of the oil...and follow the rest of the recipe (using vegetable broth, of course). I think this is one we are going to try this winter!!

I made this last week, just left out the oil. So good! I was worried that it would be under-seasoned, but the mustard, salt and pepper were plenty. I will make this again, thanks for posting it!

[JamieR]

Cabbage, Cauliflower and Potato Chowder

I made this last week, just left out the oil. So good! I was worried that it would be under-seasoned, but the mustard, salt and pepper were plenty. I will make this again, thanks for posting it!

I am so glad that you tried this recipe...and that it worked out for you!

Regards,
Jamie

[JamieR]

Here are the recipe finds for today...

Tomato Saffron Soup with Orange Essence in the Detroit Free Press
I believe this recipe is completely on plan! (Not sure if juice and wine in a recipe is OK.)

Classic Rice Pilaf in the San Jose Mercury News
If you water saute the onion, the basic recipe is on-plan if you make it with brown rice (just cook longer). The top three variations would be on-plan if you don't use the cheese or egg.

Cauliflower and Fennel Soup in the Washington Post
With a couple of tweaks, this recipe sounds like it would be interesting! Just water saute aromatics; omit the cream to finish (you could either add more water or stock, or leave it more chunky depending on your taste--or do my favorite "cream" soup trick...just add some finely diced potatoes to the mix and let them break down). I am not sure why flour is added, perhaps to thicken; I would just omit it as unnecessary.

Cranberry Bean and Kale Soup in the New York Times
This sounds like a great soup! Just water-saute the aromatics (and omit the garnishing oil)...and this soup is on-plan.

Pasta and Lentils; Barley, Mushroom and Onion Soup in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Two recipes attached to this article are on-plan if you saute the onions in water, and omit the garnishing cheese and/or oil.

Enjoy!

[airfigaro]

Recipe Finds for February 23...

Recipes for Health in the New York Times had a couple of great sounding recipes this week.

Black-Eyed with Vegetables and Small Pasta
This recipe uses a lot of oil! The bulk of it is just dumped in with vegetables that are simmered...just leave it out and simmer the vegetables!

Greek Baked Beans with Honey and Dill
This recipe again, uses a lot of oil, first for sauteeing onions, and rest for "flavoring," I would guess. You could omit the "flavoring" oil completely with no ill effect and water-saute the onions...no oil at all now!

Made these two recipes and posted a blog about them. Left the oil completely out and they both tasted great!

Thanks again for the posts, I'm enjoying going through them!

[momhanks]

I made the pasta and lentil recipe tonight for dinner. It was wonderful. Using the pressure cooker made it so easy. Highly recommended.