Cookbook Challenge. Week 3. Urban Vegan - Red Beet Soup

I've had my eye on this recipe since I got this book and was waiting until the Cookbook Challenge to make it. Luckily I knew tonight was going to be a cold snowy night in New England so I got all the ingredients I needed last night so I could some straight home and make it. When I looked over the recipe again to get my grocery list together I decided I wanted to make it a more hearty filling soup so I made some huge changes.

The original recipe calls for just beets, the beet water, broth, onions, vinegar, vegan sour cream, salt and pepper. I decided to add potatoes, some extra vinegar, and cabbage. I left the seasoning with just the salt and pepper because I wanted the soup to really focus on the flavors of the root veggies and the cabbage.You can use canned beets, which are great and easy but they don't compare to fresh beets. Canned beets come ready to eat and have a much brighter color as well as sweetness. Fresh beets take MUCH longer to cook but in my opinion are much more worth it because the color is much deeper as well as is the flavor. They still have the sweetness but the earthiness really comes through, which is what I love about fresh root vegetables.

Warning: Chopping fresh beets will make you look like you murdered someone

I am more than pleased with how the soup came out. Paired with some of my crusty Fuckin Awesome Garlic Bread it was the perfect soup to warm me up while being filling enough to have just the soup and bread. I wish I had made this soup at least once as the recipe stated but I couldn't help myself.

Here is the recipe for my version of the soup:

3-4 red beets peeled and boiled until soft and then cubed- reserve all beet water. (or 2 cans of whole beets - reserve beet water)
1 onion roughly chopped
4 small to medium potatoes peeled and cubed
1 tblspn olive oil
2 cups roughly chopped - I used 1 cup green and 1 cup red.
1 cup vegan sour cream
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tspns white vinegar
1 tspn balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste.

In a large soup pot cook the onions in the oil until soft.

Add the beets, potatoes, beet water, 2 cups veg broth, vinegar salt and pepper. Bring to a boil and cook 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are fork tender.

In a food processer pour a few ladlefuls of the beets, potatoes and onions and puree until smooth.  Pour back into pot.

Add cabbage and cook about 5 minutes.

Add sour cream and mix until the soup turns from blood red to deep pink.

Serve with a side of crusty garlic bread or salad.


And don't forget to enter here for your chance to win up to 3 bags of Soy Curls!!!!!!

Week 3 - Urban Vegan - Philly Portobello Cheese Steak

This is the first recipe I have made from Urban Vegan and it was awesome! It is quick, cheap, easy and delicious. All of my favorite things! I halved the recipe and it still made a ton. And, I can't ever leave well enough alone so I made a few changes and additions. I'm not posting the entire recipe so if you want it, google it, email me or better yet, go buy the book! You won't be disappointed.

The original recipe called for 8 portobellos finely chopped. And like I said, I halved it, I still had to use 2 cutting boards to hold just 4 mushroom caps! I added a dash of Tabasco A-1 sauce while the shrooms were cooking for a little more flavor.

Before I cooked the mushrooms I caramelized some onion because really, what is a cheese "steak" without any onion? Next time I need to remember to grab a green pepper.  After the mushrooms and onion were all cooked up it was time to assemble: French roll slathered with Veganaise, hots, the caramelized onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles, some sliced Follow Your Heart Mozzarella(recipe called for cheddar but Mozz was all there was in the fridge) and last but definitely not least was the mushrooms!

And seriously, what is a quick comforting meal without some tots?