Smoky Chipotle Split Pea and Barley Soup

Thank you all so much for your kind words regarding our engagement, Steve and I are very excited! I have been swept up in the excitement of wedding planning and the holidays, and have been neglecting the blog. That's not to say that I haven't been cooking! Most of my meals lately have been previously blogged recipes, such as Pumpkin Black Bean Chili, Butternut Rancheros, and White Chili with Tomatillos and Roasted Mushrooms, all worthy repeats I might add!

This weekend I made another old favorite, Split Pea and Barley Soup, but I decided to give the recipe a makeover. And what a makeover it was! Armed with ground chipotle and liquid smoke, I transformed my classic split pea into something totally new. If you are looking for a hearty, warming soup with a kick, this one is for you. Both standard stove top and pressure cooker methods provided below.


Smoky Chipotle Split Pea and Barley Soup
Serves 6

1-1/2 cups green split peas, rinsed and picked over
1/3 cup pearled barley
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large or 2 small carrots, peeled and sliced
2 ribs of celery, sliced
10 cups water
4 not chick'n bouillon (or sub your preferred bouillon)
2 tsp thyme
3/4 tsp ground chipotle pepper (or try canned, diced. Start with 1/2 a chipotle pepper and adjust)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
dash cayenne
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1 tbsp lime juice


Toppings:
Amazing Homemade Vegan Bacon
vegan sour cream

Stove top method: Heat 1/4 cup water in a large pot and saute onion and garlic until the onion is translucent.  Stir in thyme, chipotle pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, and bay leaf, and saute for 1 minute stirring constantly.

Add 10 cups of water, bouillon cubes, and peas. Turn up to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and partially cover. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.

After 1 hour of simmering the peas should be starting to break down a bit. Add in the barley, carrots, and celery and continue simmering (partially covered) for 45 minutes to an hour, until the peas have completely broken down. If the soup starts to thicken too much add extra water 1 cup at a time as needed, maintaining the thickness that you prefer.

Once the peas have completely broken down, and the barley, carrots, and celery are tender, remove from heat. Remove bay leaf and stir in liquid smoke and lime juice. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve hot, topped with a tablespoon of vegan sour cream and a slice of vegan bacon, fried and chopped.

Pressure cooker method: Put 6 cups of water, split peas, and barley into the pressure cooker. Cook at high pressure for 6 minutes and allow pressure to come down naturally.

While the pressure cooker is doing its thing, heat 1/4 cup water is a large pot. Saute onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Stir in thyme, chipotle pepper, cumin, smoked paprika, cayenne, and bay leaf, and saute for 1 minute stirring constantly. Add 4 cups of water, bouillon cubes, carrots, and celery and turn up heat to bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and partially cover. Simmer 30 minutes or until carrots and celery are tender. By this time the pressure cooker should be done releasing the pressure. Empty the contents of the pressure cooker into the other pot and stir to combine. Remove bay leaf, stir in liquid smoke, lime juice, and water if needed to reach the desired thickness. Taste and season with salt and pepper if desired. Serve hot, topped with a tablespoon of vegan sour cream and a slice of vegan bacon, fried and chopped.

(A third option is to cook everything in the pressure cooker. The only downside is that the carrots and celery may be overcooked. To combat this slice them thicker. Start by sauteing the onion and garlic in the cooker for 5 minutes, then add all of the other ingredients less that liquid smoke and lime juice, and cook for 6 minutes at high pressure, and allow the pressure to come down naturally. Stir in the liquid smoke and lime juice at the end).

---

Other haps:

Check out my new ornaments!

A wee candy cane monster compliments of Panda With Cookie. This etsy shop offers monsters in all sizes, tofu pirates, adorable onesies, and more. This is not my first Panda original, you may remember the tofu pirate apron I nabbed earlier this year. Hooray for vegan crafters!

I am submitting the wee monster photo to the festive photo round of No Croutons Required. Entries accepted until Dec 20, voting opens the 21st at Tinned Tomatoes.

My other new ornament this year is one I bought in Tennessee the day that Steve proposed. I don't normally buy the clay personalized ornaments, but it seemed meant to be when I saw it!

My Christmas present to myself this year was a box of goodies from Pangea Vegan Store. I wanted to try several vegan products that I have not been able to find locally including vegan white chocolate chips, soy curls, parmazano, and dried soy creamer packets. I also decided to try out 2 gravy mixes, vegetable broth powder, and a few cheezly flavors (on sale $.99 each!). I was super impressed by how quickly my order arrived. I placed my order mid-morning, it shipped the same day and was on my doorstep 2 days later!

I am looking for suggestions of how to use these precious white chocolate chips and soy curls. What are you favorite uses?

A Soupy Cinco de Mayo and Vegan Sour Cream

Guilty. I totally jumped on the Cinco de Mayo bandwagon. I would not normally be seduced by such a holiday, but the circumstances were just right this year, and I am so glad they were! We are all friends here, so there is no need for me to be modest. This soup seriously rocks. It is everything I could ask for in an entree soup. I am in love with this combination of beans, greens, and grains. This soup is accented by roasted tomatoes and sweet chewy bites of hominy, all in a spicy smoky broth. The name I had really wanted to give to this soup was Mexican Black Bean & Barley Soup with Hominy and Collard Greens, but I reigned myself in a bit. I dropped the Hominy and Collard Greens from the title, mind you they are just as prominent as the black beans and barley.

I thought this soup would do well with a dollop of vegan sour cream, so I decided to make some. This was my first experience with vegan sour cream, but with Vegan Epicurean as my guide I knew that I could do no wrong. I am also very enthused about these results! I had a couple of non-vegans around to try it and they were also impressed. Wouldn't you know, it is less than half the calories of dairy sour cream, at just 14 calories per tablespoon. You better believe you'll be seeing it again around here.


















Mexican Black Bean & Barley Soup
Serves 5-6

1 medium white onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 serrano pepper, finely diced (about 2 tbsp)
2 ribs of celery, chopped
8 cups vegetable stock
1/2 cup pearled barley
2 tsp dried thyme
1-1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2 large collard greens, center rib removed and chopped
1 15 oz can hominy, drained and rinsed
1 15 oz can diced fire roasted tomatoes (or regular) with liquid
2 cups cooked black beans (or one can, drained and rinsed)
2 tbsp tomato paste
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper

Garnish:
Tofu sour cream (recipe below)
Toasted tortilla strips
Green onion

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in onions and saute for about 4 minutes. Stir in garlic, serrano pepper, and celery and saute for another 3 minutes.

Pour in the stock, barley, and spices, and turn up the heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling lower heat to medium and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

Stir in the collard greens and continue to simmer for about 8 minutes minutes. Test the barley for tenderness, and when it is to your liking mix in the hominy, tomatoes, and black beans and heat through, about 2 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, lime juice, salt and pepper, and serve.

The toasted tortilla strips offer great extra flavor to the dish, as does the sour cream. Chopped cilantro is another option for garnish.

---

Vegan Sour Cream
(Adapted from Vegan Epicurean)

12.3-ounce package of Mori Nu lite silken tofu (firm)
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon agave
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Process several minutes, until very creamy and smooth. This will firm up a little when it chills. It is important to use the firm silken tofu to get the correct consistency. Refrigerate sour cream until it is ready to be used.

---

I am submitting this soup to the No Croutons Required blogging event. This month's challenge is to create a Mexican inspired soup or salad. Perfect timing! You can vote on your favorite soup or salad May 21-31 over at Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen.

Potato, Corn, and Leek Chowder

We now interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you this chowder. By regularly scheduled program I mean India blog posts. I know, and just when I promised some actual food from India! Thank you for your patience, I will make good on my promise in the next couple of days.

No need to adjust your screen, you are actually seeing chowder in late April. Before you click away in hopes to find a more springtime-appropriate meal, stick with me and give this a chance. This is a very light chowder, and thanks to the roasted corn kernels and vegetarian chicken-flavored broth it has a rich buttery flavor without the presence of dairy at all. Rather than being made creamy by whole milk and flour, a touch of rice milk is stirred in at the end for a light creamy finish.

And how about the leeks? They might seem like they are behind the scenes, but they really are a headliner in this chowder. In fact, I built this recipe around the leeks. Tinned Tomatoes is hosting this month's No Croutons Required blogging event. The challenge this month is to create a soup or salad featuring veggies from the allium family (onions, shallots, leeks, garlic, etc.). I knew right away that I wanted to create a soup featuring leeks, so without any specific soup in mind I went out and picked up some. For nearly two weeks the leeks peeked out at me from the shelf in the fridge before I decided that chowder was their calling.

I am not the first person to put potatoes, corn, and leeks together in a creamy broth and call it chowder, although this might be the first vegan version out there. This is a great single pot meal that comes together in 30 minutes or less. I am fortunate enough to have access to frozen roasted corn at a local Trader Joe's, but if you don't have access plain frozen corn will do just fine.

Potato, Corn, and Leek Chowder
Serves 4

2 leeks, white and light green parts, halved and sliced
3 ribs of celery
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups chopped potatoes (bite sized pieces), I used yukons
2 cups frozen roasted corn kernels
3 cups water
2 "Not-Chick'n" bouillon
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp rubbed sage
1-1/2 tsp dried mustard
1 tbsp dried parsley flakes
1 bay leaf
2 cups rice milk
salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 tbsp oil in large soup pot and stir in leeks. Saute over medium heat for 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and celery and saute for another 2 minutes. Mix in everything else except for the rice milk, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium low and simmer until the potatoes are tender--about 15 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf, and stir in the rice milk, salt, and pepper, and serve.

Creamy Garbanzo-ball and Wild Rice Soup

  

I recently picked up some black short grain rice without any big plans on what I would use it for. The first thing that came to mind was coming up with a vegan friendly creamy chicken and wild rice soup. This sounded tasty and I was up to the challenge. 

I worked out all of the vegetables and also what the creamy dairy-free broth would be composed of, so the only thing left to figure was the chicken substitute. Chicken flavored bean balls would be fun, yes? Ah, yes, and I knew that garbanzo beans would be up to the task. 

The end result was creamy, hearty, and exactly what I was going for. My only complaint is that when I stirred the rice into the pot of gorgeous creamy white soup it discolored the broth a little bit. Of course this did not make the soup less delicious, it just made it a teeny bit less pretty for its closeup.

 

Creamy Garbanzo-ball and Wild Rice Soup

Serves 4

2 cups cooked short grain black rice (or wild rice, or blend of choice)

3 carrots, chopped

3 ribs of celery, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

1 cup of frozen peas

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

2 bay leaves

5 cups water

2-1/2 not chick'n bouillon cubes

1 cup rice milk

1 cup firm silken tofu (1/2 package)(or more for a thicker soup)

3 tbsp chickpea flour

Garbanzo-balls

1 15 oz. can chickpeas

1/2 not chick'n bouillon cube

1/2 tbsp tahini

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tbsp dried parsley

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp dried thyme

3 tbsp water

1/2 cup chickpea flour

Spray soup pot with olive oil cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add onions and saute for about 5 minutes, or until translucent. Add a couple of tablespoons of water if onions start to stick. Stir in garlic and saute for another minute before mixing in carrots, celery, thyme, parsley, and bay leaves. Continue to saute, stirring often for 5 minutes. Add water and bouillon cubes and stir until bouillon dissolves completely. Turn up heat to bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer. Meanwhile start the garbanzo-balls.

Combine all ingredients except the chickpea flour in food processor and puree. Add in flour gradually and pulse until fully incorporated. The flour should dry out the mixture a little bit, but it should still be moist. The mixture should be easy to roll into balls, and shouldn't be overly sticky and moist. Spray a large non-stick skillet and heat over medium heat. Grab a heaping tablespoon of the bean mixture and roll into a ball and add into the skillet as you go. The mixture should make about 20 balls. Roll the garbanzo-balls around in the pan every 2 minutes or so, to brown all sides. You just want these to lightly brown and crisp up on the outside, but watch carefully to not darken them too much as this will dry them out. 

The garbanzo-balls should be done in 10-15 minutes, and by this time the veggies in the soup pot should be tender and ready to go. Remove the bay leaves and mix in the frozen peas. Puree rice milk, tofu, and chickpea flour in your blender and then stir into the soup pot. Lastly stir in your garbanzo-balls and rice and bring to temperature. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

---

I am submitting this soup to the March No Croutons Required blogging event, in which the theme is soups and salads featuring chickpeas. Vote for your favorite soup or salad starting March 20.

Don't forget to enter my Primal Strips giveaway, open until the end of the day this Friday, March 5!

Split Pea and Barley Soup

I have never been a picky eater, but like most people, there are a few things I just never cared for. For most of my years the biggies were mushrooms, olives, and celery. I am not sure what changed, but at some point over the last 5 years I have grown to love mushrooms and olives.

Where does that leave celery? ehh..

Despite how it may appear, to this day I cringe at the thought of any crunchy celery bits in my food. I took a chance and bought my first head of celery last year when I started making lots of homemade soups. I found that as long as I cooked it until tender, that I loved it.. success! I felt like such a grown-up being able to cook with my greatest veggie nemesis.

My grown-up food tastes continue to surprise me sometimes. Perfect example, earlier this week I dreamt about split pea soup and brussels sprouts all day at work. I would settle for nothing less than these two things for dinner that night -- and my (kind-of) friend celery even made an appearance.

In the last month I have had two different versions of Split Pea and Barley Soup at different restaurants. I was hooked and I knew that I had to come up with my own. This soup was everything I hoped it would be. The peas break down while cooking, and then the barley steps in to give the soup some great chew. As far as I'm concerned, this legume and this grain were meant for each other.

You can make this the quicky way by tossing everything into the pressure cooker (so long as you don't mind very tender carrots), or you can simmer in separate pots on the stove. I will provide guidelines for both methods below.

Split Pea and Barley Soup
About 5-6 servings

1-1/2 cups green split peas, rinsed and picked over
1/2 cup pearled barley
8 cups good tasting vegetable broth  
1 large white onion, diced
3 carrots, sliced
3 ribs of celery, sliced
1-1/2 tsp thyme
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
squeeze of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Pressure cooker method:
Spray pressure cooker with cooking spray, or if non-stick add a few tablespoons of water. Saute onion for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Stir in garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Add in peas, barley, broth, carrots, celery, thyme and bay leaf. Seal pressure cooker and cook under high pressure for 6 minutes, and then allow the pressure to come down naturally. Remove bay leaf, stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Depending on how hearty you like your split pea soup, you may need to add more water. It thickened up after sitting and I ended up adding 2 cups of water.

Standard stove top method:
Spray a large pot, or if non-stick add a few tablespoons of water. Saute onion for 5 minutes, or until translucent. Stir in garlic and saute for another 2 minutes. Add in peas, broth, thyme, and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Cover pot and simmer over low heat for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, or until the peas have broken down.

About an hour in start your second pot (a medium sauce pan will do). Bring 4 cups of water to a boil and stir in barley, set temperature to medium low and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Stir in carrots and celery and simmer another 15-20 minutes, or until the barley and veggies are tender to your liking.

When it is time to combine both pots, drain some or all of the liquid in the pot with the barley, depending on how thick you want your soup. Remove bay leaf from the first pot, and then pour the barley/veggie mixture in. Stir in lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Another option would be to keep this all in one large pot, by timing the addition of the barley and vegetables appropriately for everything to be done cooking at once (adding water as needed). Either way works!

---

Three more things:
 
1. Have I told you lately that I love my pressure cooker? Oh yes I do!

2. Other things that make me feel like a grown-up: the comment that my dad left on my last post. (By the way, thanks again for all of your nice comments!)

3. This soup is my submission to February's No Croutons Required blogging event. This month is The Copycat Round -- a challenge to recreate a soup or salad that you enjoyed at a restaurant. As I mentioned, I had split pea and barley soup at two different restaurants, but this version is most like the one that I enjoyed at California Pizza Kitchen. They call their soup Smashed Pea and Barley, fun eh?

Belated Thanksgiving Post

This exact time last week I was busy roasting and pureeing butternut squash, baking maple glazed pecans, and "carving" tofu turkeys to try to get ahead of the game on the dishes I was bringing to Thanksgiving dinner the next day.

This is my first Thanksgiving since I joined the food blogging community, and I found myself overwhelmed with inspiration. While I usually bring one dish to my family dinner, I brought three this year (four if you count the gravy). There was so much more that I wanted to make, it made me wish that I was hosting the meal myself.



















My favorite (and obviously cutest!) was the Cider Marinated Tofu Turkeys and Cider Gravy, created by Hannah over at BitterSweet. I was particularly excited about bringing these alternative birds for more than just the obvious reasons. This was the first Thanksgiving as vegetarians for my aunt and her husband, and what a great way to celebrate their decision to not partake in the turkey! These were so tasty, that even my turkey-loving father was impressed. (Oh, and these turkeys are not actually carved, it's a cookie cutter).

I had my eye on this butternut squash lasagna for months now, but it isn't a practical dish to make for just a couple of people.  I knew Thanksgiving would be the perfect excuse to make this. Loads of roasted butternut squash puree smeared between layers of noodles, freshly shredded mozzarella and a creamy basil sauce. So delicious!

Lastly, I made this Brussels Sprout Slaw with Mustard Dressing and Maple Glazed Pecans. The word slaw has negative connotations to many, because it is usually associated with mayonnaise drenched cabbage. Well, there is no mayonnaise in this recipe. Who would have thought that brussels sprouts based salads would be so amazing? Well, I'm not the only one doing it, so don't just take my word for it!

Well Thanksgiving is over and hopefully you got lots of rest, because I don't need to remind you of what is right around the corner!

I got the tree up on Sunday, and the kitties took an immediate liking to it. They arranged themselves this way beneath the tree on their own and sat there for ages while I clicked away with the camera!

I am submitting this photo of Arnold and Evie under the tree to this month's No Croutons Required event, hosted by Jacqueline. This month they are taking a break from the normal soup and salad challenge and inviting bloggers to submit festive photos instead. What? An excuse to make people look at pictures of my kitties? Sign me up!

Roasted Beet and Garlic Soup in Acorn Squash Bowls

I am a big fan of No Croutons Required, a monthly food blogging challenge featuring vegetarian soup and salads. I am excited to finally join in with the talented cooks that have been inspiring my soups and salads for some time now.

This month Lisa's Kitchen is hosting, and the challenge is to create a soup or salad featuring root vegetables. Oh! This month's challenge called my name, er rather, the fresh beets in the bottom of my produce bin called my name. These little guys were just begging to be made into a creamy soup. While the beets take most of the credit in this soup, several of my other root-friends also made an appearance.


















The inspiration came from Gourmet to put beet soup into a roasted acorn squash bowl, but this beet soup is my own. I loved the idea immediately, but rather than going the direction of very sweet soup like theirs (featuring apples and brown sugar), I decided to go more savory with mine, featuring ginger and a head of roasted garlic. A very slight sweetness was satisfied by a swirl of coconut milk stirred through just before serving. A big handful of fresh dill would have been ideal, but using the dried dill that I had on hand was also delicious.

Be sure to visit Lisa's Kitchen starting on November 20th to root for your favorite soup or salad. Although I can't imagine what will beet this soup.. Gosh, I'm sorry, I can't help myself.

Roasted Beet and Garlic Soup in Acorn Squash Bowls

2-8 acorn squash (as many as you want, but the soup will fill up to 8 squashes)

olive oil for brushing

salt for sprinkling

6 small beets (about 2 cups after roasting and chopping)

1 head of garlic

2 c potatoes, chopped into ½ inch pieces, skin on

1 rib of celery

1 carrot, chopped

1 medium onion, diced

2 tsp ginger, minced

2 tsp dried dill (or use fresh if you've got it!)

4 c water

2 not-chick’n bouillon cubes

½ c coconut milk

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

SQUASH: Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut off the top portion of the squash about 1 inch down, and reserve. Scoop out seeds (save these to toast later if you please). Cut a thin slice off of the bottoms of the squash, as thin as possible but that will still provide a flat and stable base. Brush the insides and the squash lid with oil and sprinkle with salt. Place squash bowls and lids in shallow baking pans, bowls right-side up, and lids cut side down. Roast squash for 60-75 minutes, or until the flesh is just tender.

BEETS/GARLIC: Once you’ve got the squash going you can start prepping the beets and garlic. Wash and trim beets, wrap each beet in foil, and place into a small baking dish. Trim ¼ inch off the top of the head of garlic to expose the cloves. Set the trimmed garlic head cut side up onto a piece of foil, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and then close up the foil into a little packet. Put the garlic into the same dish as the beets and put dish into the oven to roast alongside the squash that is already underway. Take the garlic out after 30 minutes (or when the cloves are nicely browned), set aside to cool. The beets are done when they are fork tender, for my small beets they took about 45 minutes. Once the beets are done allow them to cool for a bit, then peel and chop them into 1 inch pieces.

SOUP: Heat oil over medium heat in a large soup pot. Add onion and ginger and sauté until the onion softens – 5-7 minutes. Add celery, carrots, and potatoes and sauté for another 5-7 minutes. Stir in water, dill, and bouillon cubes and bring to a boil. Simmer over medium-low heat and cover. At this time I worked on peeling and chopping my roasted beets and gently squeezing out the cloves of roasted garlic. Once complete add the beets and garlic to the pot for the last bit of simmering. In total the soup should simmer 15-20 minutes, or until the potatoes and other veggies are tender. Transfer soup in batches to the blender and blend until smooth. Transfer back to pot and stir in coconut milk and season with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle soup into acorn squash bowls and serve.

This dreamy hot pink soup paired excellently with the acorn squash, but is also a great soup all on it's own.