Chickpea & Cashew Cream Soup

This soup, adapted from Post Punk Kitchen, revealed the wonders of cashew cream. I had no idea that this little nut could make soups and stews creamy and delicious. It's a secret weapon ingredient.  

3/4 cup cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours or overnight
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
Fresh black pepper
3/4 cup rice 
3 ribs celery, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, diced chunky
5 cups vegetable broth
1 24 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (about 3 cups)
4 cups chopped kale

Drain the cashews and place them in a blender with one cup of fresh water. Blend until completely smooth, scraping the sides occasionally. 

Preheat a pot over medium heat. Add onion and saute in olive oil with a pinch of salt until translucent. Add garlic, salt and pepper and saute a minute more.

Add rice, celery and carrots to the onion and then pour in the broth. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, add the chickpeas, and let cook for about 15 more minutes, until rice is cooked and carrots are tender.

Add the cashew cream and kale, and simmer until kale is wilted, 3 to 5 more minutes. You may need to add water to thin the soup if it seems too thick. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Kale Chips

I just got back from a week-long work conference. I firmly believe that they use food to induce people to sit through hours of talking in one setting.

Breakfast, talk, snack, talk, lunch, talk, snack, talk, dinner. Retire. Repeat.

This week was a little better because the setting was a beautiful farm in Pauma Valley about an hour outside San Diego. We saw purple mountains at sunset and were accompanied the entire time by two inseparable roosters who loved picking through our compost bucket. I named them Bert and Ernie.

The organizer is a vegan so there were great food options. A lot came directly from the farm, fresh as fresh can be. I still grazed the whole time and drank way too much coffee. So coming home, by body thinks it still needs to be eating every hour of the day.

Sitting on the couch wanting to munch, I thought I'd try my hand at the oh-so-popular kale chips. You can buy them in the store already made, but it couldn't be easier to do it at home and is much more economical (we can even say cheap).

1 bunch kale
drizzle of olive oil, about 2 tsp
sea salt to taste

Remove the hard ribbons from the kale and divide the leaves into 1 1/2 inch sections. The kale will shrink while cooking so make them a little bigger than bite size.
Lay the kale on a pan and drizzle with oil. Toss to coat and sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 20 minutes on 275 degrees F. Turn halfway through baking.
Enjoy! 

Pumpkin + Kidney Beans + Kale

This year for Halloween I got a couple of little pie pumpkins. I painted the outside - a bat and a ghost - so that I could still use them in the kitchen later. I peeled and chopped them, and put them in the crock pot with enough water to cover the bottom. A few hours later, they were soft yumminess. This thing didn't even need any butter or salt or anything else! I was spooning it out of the pot! 

It made a lovely combination with kidney beans and kale. I simply put it all in a pan together over medium heat until the kale was cooked and the beans were hot. I added salt and pepper. This is the type of dinner that makes me feel good because I'm eating healthy foods, lots of lovely colors, and enjoying every bite!