Scraps and Snippets ~ Roasted Veggie Stew

 I had some cauliflower puree on hand, a bunch of green onions thinking about going to the bad place, two stems of fresh rosemary and some not so prime potatoes = dinner inspiration. 

Roasted Vegetable Stew

5 - 6 potatoes, chopped

2-3 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, diced

1 med onion diced (or green onion bulb ends - 1 whole bunch) 

2 stems of fresh rosemary 

3/4 cup of red lentils (uncooked)

1 1/2 cup cauliflower puree (steamed cauliflower, garlic, salt and lemon juice see recipe here...)

5 cups of vegetable broth

Splash a bit of garlic infused grape seed oil or oil of choice in a 9 x 11, 10 in round, or 9 x 13, preheat oven to 425-450. Dump the chopped vegetables into the pan, stir well, shake a bit of sea salt over the batch. Roast for 35 - 45 minutes stirring a few times.  During the last 15 minutes place the rosemary stems on top of the dish.

Place veggie broth, cauliflower puree in a large saucepan. Mix well, Remove veggies from oven and remove the rosemary stems and discard them. Add roasted veggies (I had a few left over that I'm going to use in another dish) and lentils to the broth and puree. Simmer approximately half an hour. 

Scraps and Snippets ~ Broccoli Caulicheezy Soup

Eww excuse the boiled over water stain. 

We have a local organic  co-op deal that provided a screaming good deal on veggies and a delivery is coming Saturday. So I had to make room. I love broccoli cheese soup. Well, I loved it and miss it on occasion. I just can't bring myself to use vegan cheeze shreds to put the cheeze in the soup. But I had broccoli that was looking a little limp on hand and I have been experimenting with cauliflower based soups with great success. So...

This soup is mostly veggie and completely crazy good.  The weird thing I noticed is that one bowl with a few crackers and a small slice of bread stuck with me all night long. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it did. 

Broccoli Caulicheezy Soup

Serves 4

3 Cups or so of cauliflower florets

1/2 onion or leek (I used a whole leek and it was pretty strong, so I'm cutting back a bit next time)

2 ish Cups of finely chopped broccoli

4 Cups of veggie broth (I used the veggie paste boullion with water including the cauliflower steam water)

8 - 10 garlic cloves

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 TBSP miso (or soy sauce or liquid aminos)

1/3 Cup nutritional yeast

Steam the cauliflower until tender. Approx 10 minutes.

Toss the leek/onion, garlic, lemon juice, a cup or so of veggie broth and miso into a food processor. Run it until pureed. Add steamed cauliflower and whir until incorporated. 

Transfer the mixture to saucepan, add the additional vegetable broth and broccoli. Simmer for 1/2 an hour or so. Add the nutritional yeast and stir well. Serve. 

Suggested add ins: potato chunks, brown rice, additional veggies of choice, vegan bacon bits.