I love soup every day of the year, but especially when it’s cold outside. We’ve been suffering with bitterly cold temperatures below 60° here in California, and we’re coping by stocking up on the soup (and the parkas, scarves, gloves, etc).

If you, too, are in need of some warm wintry recipes, here are our favorites:

Creamy Tomato Thyme Soup

Black Bean Quinoa Soup

Plant Strong Soup

Chinese Vegetable Noodle Soup

Lemon Orzo Soup

Hearty Miso Soup

Curried Butternut Squash Lentil Soup

Irish Farmhouse Soup

Potato Leek Soup

The post 9 Winter Soups appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

If you know anything about Russian fare, you’ll know that it’s centered around three staples—meat, potatoes, and cabbage. However, times are changing. And though Russia isn’t the vegan capital of the world, there are more and more people seeking out vegetarian and vegan alternatives in Russia.

One of our supporters, Maria Porokhovskaya, has shared her delicious, veganized version of Borscht—a widely popular Russian and Ukrainian beet soup.

Borscht

Yields about 2 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Cut the beets in small cubes, grate the carrots, cut the cabbage in medium pieces, and cut the potatoes into 3-4 pieces each.
2. Combine the water with bouillon cubes and potatoes. Bring to a boil.
3. In a separate pan, combine curry, cumin, and bay leaves in the oil and fry for 2 minutes. Add beets and carrots, tomato juice or paste, and lemon juice. Add Italian seasoning or any other herbs you like. Add sugar (optional).
4. Stew the beets and carrots while the potatoes are boiling (around 20-25 minutes). Stir occasionally.
5. When all the veggies are ready, add them to the potatoes. Add cabbage and beans, then boil for 5-7 minutes. Add salt to taste.
6. Let stand for 20-30 minutes before eating. The flavor gets better the longer it sits. After a day or two in your refrigerator you’ll notice an even greater enhancement of flavor.

Recipe Tips/Variations

• Garnish with a tiny scoop of vegan sour cream for each serving!

The post Borscht appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

When I threw these ingredients together, turned on my crock pot, left for a good chunk of the day, and came home to a meal I didn’t have to do any type of preparation for, it felt like I had cheated at making a delicious meal.

For a feel-good bowl of chili on the days you just don’t feel like spending time in the kitchen, this is it.

Chili for When You Don’t Feel Like Making Chili

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

Recipe Tips/Variations

• For a little extra flavor, try adding a dollop of vegan sour cream or guacamole.
• You can also add a handful of vegan shredded cheddar cheese.

The post Chili for When You Don’t Feel Like Making Chili appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

This super simple Creamy Tomato Thyme Soup will satisfy your craving for a warm meal as the fall temperatures continue to drop.

To make this a heartier meal, I highly recommend serving the soup with a vegan grilled cheese sandwich! And if you’re over the age of 10, don’t worry there’ll be no judgment. You’re never too old for grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Creamy Tomato Thyme Soup

Yields 4 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. In a medium-sized pot, heat olive oil on medium low heat and add the onion and garlic. Saute lightly for 2-3 minutes.
2. Add canned tomatoes and all other remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes, until heated through and fragrant.
3. Serve as is or blend to desired creaminess. You can use either an immersion blender or you can transfer to a blender and puree in batches. If you’re using a traditional blender, be sure to let the soup cool before blending.

A big thanks to Renee Press at Fire and Earth Kitchen for sharing this recipe and several others over the past few months!

The post Creamy Tomato Thyme Soup appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

This simple and savory soup recipe was recommended by one of Vegan Outreach’s generous donors, Abtin Samadi. I had the pleasure of meeting Abtin back in March when I was in Texas leafleting various colleges. Our Director of Development, Lisa Rimmert, also had the pleasure of meeting him in April when she passed through his area.

It was clear that Abtin liked to cook, as he shared many of his personal favorite recipes and vegan food websites with both Lisa and me. Several of the dishes he recommended were easy-to-veganize Middle Eastern dishes, which I definitely plan to try in the near future.

Meanwhile, I made this tasteful soup! A few weeks back my mom and I were clumsily looking through the kitchen cabinets and fridge for something easy and satisfying to eat for lunch. I remembered reading this recipe and noting how easy it would be to make. And sure enough, a quick and delicious lunch was the result!

This recipe is from one of Abtin’s favorite websites called Vegweb. If you’ve never checked out this website, I highly recommend taking a few minutes to do so. It has a lot of great resources for vegans, including delicious recipes.

Ginger Peanut Soup

Serves about 4.

Ingredients

Directions

1. In a large pot, saute the onions in oil until translucent (about five minutes).
2. Add vegetables, ginger, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender.
3. Add vegetable stock or water, canned tomatoes, and peanut butter. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

Recipe Variations

• To make this an even quicker meal, try using frozen bags of broccoli and cauliflower.
• If you’re a fan of peanut butter, I recommend adding an extra tablespoon.
• I added a half a block of tofu to make the soup more filling. Tofu can easily be left out or replaced with tempeh, vegan chicken, etc.

Check out the original recipe here.

The post Ginger Peanut Soup appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

By Toni Okamoto

Nothing says comfort like a big bowl of soup, and this particular bowl took me right back to my childhood home! It has the familiar taste and texture of chicken noodle soup, but without all the cruelty.

I originally saw this recipe posted by Justin Lewis, one of the contributors on my blog Plant Based on a Budget. I had been meaning to add more jackfruit recipes to the Vegan Outreach blog, and with his permission I was able to test it out for all of you!

If you haven’t cooked with jackfruit before, it can be a little strange. This recipe calls for you to let the fruit sit in broth for an hour. I made the mistake of not doing that, and began cooking on an empty stomach. Make sure you give yourself sufficient prep time to avoid hangry-ness*. After you let the fruit soak, the rest goes by quickly and easily.

I really enjoyed the recipe. It was perfect for this cold and rainy day!

Ingredients:

• 1 can of jackfruit in brine
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 small onion
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 bouillon cubes
• 1 cup dry noodles
• 8 cups of water

Directions:

• To make the “chicken” you’ll want to open and drain the can of jackfruit and put into a bowl. Add in two cups of boiling water and one bouillon cube. Let that sit for an hour or so. The idea here is that the jackfruit will soak in some of that flavor. Once you’ve let it sit for a while,  fire up the stove. In a skillet, add a couple tablespoons of oil. We use sunflower or safflower oil because their flavors are mild and won’t interfere with our seasoning. Carefully add the jackfruit and fry until each side browns. Save that broth. Once the jackfruit browns you’ll want to take a couple forks to shred it.

• Once it is all shredded, add one cup of broth to the skillet and simmer until most of the liquid is cooked off. At this point your “chicken” is ready for the soup. You can roast it in your oven to toughen up the texture a bit more if desired.

• For the rest of the soup you only need to make some mirepoix, add the “chicken” and more broth, and whatever noodles you prefer.

If you give it a try, please let us know how you liked it!

*Hangry: When you get so hungry that you become angry.

The post Jackfruit Noodle Soup appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

I can definitely see Robin Robertson’s Cook the Pantry being one of my favorite cookbooks this year! She focuses on using staple ingredients paired with vegetables, and makes her recipes flexible for the reader to use what they have on-hand.

Since my favorite food is any kind of soup, I decided to try Robin’s Minestrone. In my version I added carrots, zucchini, and kale, along with quinoa and pasta stars. You can buy the bags of pasta stars in most grocery stores in the hispanic foods section — they are crazy cheap! I think I bought my bag for .32 cents!

This is another great recipe to rid your refrigerator of almost expired produce! It’s really flavorful, filling, and healthy!

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups fresh or frozen chopped vegetables (such as carrots, kale, green beans, zucchini, in any combination)
• 1 (15.5 oz) can chickpeas or white beans, drained
• 1 can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups cooked pasta, rice, or other grain

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in the vegetables, tomatoes, chickpeas, and broth. Season with basil, oregano, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer 15 minutes or until the vegetables are tender. Stir in the pasta or grain, if using. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.

This recipe was appealing to me because I had never cooked with jackfruit. I see it trending online so I thought it’d be easy to find, but it was surprisingly difficult. I went to Sprouts, Raleys, Oto’s Japanese Market, and finally found it in the “Little Saigon” area of Sacramento at a market called SF Market. When I did find it, I was happy to see that it was only $1.39 per can. That’s a really great price for the meat in a sandwich.

It was easy to make and only took me 20 minutes to do all the cooking! The filling was delicious, the flavor was rich, and the leftovers kept well for a weekend lunch.

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 (16 oz) can water-packed jackfruit, drained, shredded or thinly sliced
• 1 (4-oz) can chopped mild or hot green chiles, drained
• 1 cup BBQ sauce
• 1 tablespoon tamari
• 2 teaspoons prepared yellow mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• salt and ground black pepper
• 4 sandwich rolls

Directions:

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the jackfruit and chiles and cook, stirring for 3 minutes. Stir in the BBQ sauce, tamari, mustard, paprika, liquid smoke, onion powder, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, to heat through and blend the flavors, about 8 minutes. Mix well, adding a little water in the mixture if it is too dry. Taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed. When ready to serve, spoon the mixture onto the rolls and serve hot.

The post Minestrone Soup and BBQ Jackfruit Sandwich appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

Vegan Outreach has partnered up with Herbivore Clothing’s Michelle Schwegmann and Josh Hooten to give one lucky Vegan Outreach supporter a copy of Eat Like You Give A Damn: Recipes for the New Ethical Vegan!

This cookbook also happens to be written by Michelle and Josh, a busy vegan couple managing a business and a household. They write:

Often we are asked for the ‘one cookbook’ that would be good for new vegans…. and we think this is it. From breakfast through dessert, simple to sorta fancy (but not really fancy because we are not!), healthy to decadent and always, ALWAYS totally yummers. We honestly live on these recipes. Baked oatmeal? At least twice a week. Kale salad? All the time. Beet burgers, tahini dressing, spinach salad, tofu feta, Sweetpea snickerdoodles… better go, I am getting hungry.

Along with the cookbook, Michelle and Josh are also going to send a combo pack of Herbivore Clothing’s stickers, buttons, and magnets.

This giveaway will run from Tuesday, May 17 through Saturday, May 21. We’ll announce the winner next Tuesday, May 24.

And while you wait for the results of the giveaway, we thought we’d give you a little taste (literally and figuratively) of Michelle and Josh’s book. This No-Bird Noodle Soup recipe comes directly from Eat Like You Give a Damn and sounds absolutely delicious!

No-Bird Noodle Soup

Serves about 4.

Ingredients

Directions

1. To prepare the tofu, put the oil in a large skillet (cast iron if you have one) or mist with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat. When hot, add the tofu; it should sizzle. Don’t crowd the tofu (cook in batches if your skillet isn’t large enough to hold the full amount). Let it cook undisturbed until crispy and brown on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Turn the pieces over and let the other side cook undisturbed until crispy and brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
2. Sprinkle the tamari over the tofu and shake the skillet to coat all the pieces evenly on both sides. Sprinkle half the nutritional yeast over the tofu and shake the skillet to distribute it evenly. Turn the tofu over and sprinkle with the remaining nutritional yeast.
3. To prepare the soup, heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. When hot, add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion starts to brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in the bay leaf, thyme, parsley, and a few grindings of pepper. Add the broth, increase the heat to high, and bring to a boil.
5. Add the pasta, decrease the heat to medium, and cook, stirring once or twice, for 6 minutes.
6. Stir in the reserved tofu and any nutritional yeast in the skillet. Cover and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt and additional pepper to taste. Stir in the lemon juice just before serving.

The post May ’16: No-Bird Noodle Soup + Eat Like You Give A Damn Cookbook Giveaway appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

“Can you cook?” It’s a question I never really know how to answer. If qualifying as a good cook simply requires possessing the ability to read and follow instructions, then yes, I can cook. Though some of my high school teachers would scoff reading that! If, on the other hand, it requires being able to create original recipes that taste good, then no, I can’t cook.

Usually, when I cook a meal without a recipe, I end up wishing I had at least glanced at other similar recipes to get an idea of what to do. This chili is a rare exception to that. And despite the fact that I, ahem, meant to make soup, this chili is now my pride and joy! I hope you like it as much as I do!

Southwestern Bean and Rice Chili

Yields 2-3 servings.

Ingredients

Directions

1. Cook the rice according to directions on package.
2. Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil on non-stick skillet and add Beyond Meat strips over medium heat. Cook, flipping as needed until lightly browned and heated through.
3. Remove Beyond Meat strips from heat and set aside.
4. Drain the beans and wash and chop the tomato.
5. Add beans and tomato to skillet and cook until softened.
6. Add tomato paste and chilis in adobo sauce. Mix well.
7. Add broth and spinach and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes, until spinach is a bit wilted. Remove from heat.
8. Carefully add rice and bean mixture to food processor and mix well. Add more broth if needed to thin out the chili. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed—make sure you taste first because the adobo sauce and the broth already have salt.
9. Garnish with vegan sour cream, cheese shreds, and tortilla chips if you like, and enjoy!

The post Southwestern Bean and Rice Chili appeared first on Vegan Outreach.

If you can believe it, Thanksgiving is less than a week away. This weekend is the calm before the storm, and what better way to savor the pre-holiday serene than enjoying a warm and comforting bowl of chili?

Sharon Palmer’s Three Sisters Chili is the perfect recipe to try this weekend as you’re prepping for travel, spending time with relatives, cooking a five-course meal, and/or hosting a holiday get together!

And if you have any doubts about navigating the upcoming holidays as a vegan, make sure you check out Kim Sujovolsky’s video, Tips for Enjoying the Holidays as a Vegan, for various tips and tricks.

Three Sisters Chili

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients

Directions

1. Soak beans overnight in water.
2. Drain and place beans in a large pot. Add fresh water (4 cups), vegetable bouillon cube, squash, onion, garlic, celery, pepper, bay leaves, juniper berries, sage, chili pepper, tarragon, and corn. Stir well, cover, and bring to a boil. Lower to medium-low heat and simmer for one hour, stirring occasionally. You may need to replace water lost to evaporation.
3. Add tomato sauce and tomato paste. Cook for an additional 15-30 minutes, until thick and beans are tender. Add fresh mint and stir well. Remove bay leaves. Season with salt, if desired. May serve with fresh tarragon and sage if desired.

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