Kale, Vegan Sausage, and White Bean Soup

This is one of my very favorite soups, perfect for a dark winter night. It’s full of healthy, fiber-filled vegetables and protein-rich beans. Normally I make this soup with diced Italian sausage but after my mother-in-law made it using Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage, it’s become my new favorite way to make it. I finally wrote down my recipe to share with you all! There’s a method for a pressure cooker and a soup pot.

My favorite meals are often a soup and that is especially true when winter rolls around here in Alaska. Ever since soup has been my jam. I remember getting a ‘soup’ cookbook from my grandma when I was below double-digits in age. #thatishowmuchilovesoup My blood is basically soup and this is one of my most beloved.

There’s a lot of recipes online for this type of soup. Basically they all involve kale, beans, and sausage… but there’s not a lot of vegan recipes, though not to worry. I got you covered. I think you’ll for sure love this soup as much as my family does. I could eat this for weeks nonstop, seriously.

Kale, Vegan Sausage, and White Bean Soup

By Kathleen @ Produce On Parade

Published 11/05/2018

This is one of my very favorite soups, perfect for a dark winter night. It’s full of healthy, fiber-filled vegetables and protein-rich beans. Normally I make this soup with diced Italian sausage but after my mother-in-law made it using Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage, it’s become my new favorite way to make it. I finally wrote down my recipe to share with you all! There’s a method for a pressure cooker and a soup pot.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14 oz package Lightlife Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• 2 15 ounce cans white cannellini or white beans, drained and rinsed
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 credit card size piece of kombu, broken into small pieces (optional)
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp liquid smoke
• 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed and chopped
• Seasoning or table salt, to taste

Instructions

1. In a pressure cooker or large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and softened. Add the sausage and saute an additional 5-10 minutes until somewhat browned, breaking the it into small bite-sized pieces with a wooden spatula.
2. Increase the heat to high and stir in the remaining ingredients except for the kale.
3. Using a pressure cooker: Bring to a boil and pressure cook on high for one minute. Remove from heat and allow to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes, then run cold water over the lid to completely depressurize. Stir in kale and salt according to taste; serve hot.
4. Using a soup pot: Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes then remove from heat and stir in kale. Salt according to taste; serve hot.

Yield: 8 servings

Tags: vegan, vegetarian, soup, sausage, kale, white bean, cannellini, easy, quick, healthy, potato

Now go forth and enjoy winter!

Street Vegan Cookbook Review + Homemade Potato Pierogies w/ Horseradish Cream

I have a confession. Before becoming vegan I rarely consulted cookbooks and certainly never bought any. What kind of food obsessed person am I? I'm not really sure why but I find that whenever flipping through a cookbook there's only ever a handful of recipes that tickle my fancy. That was not the case with Adam Sobel's new cookbook Street Vegan. He is the owner and chef of the renown Cinnamon Snail food truck that roams the busy streets of New York City, doling out mouth-watering vegan food to the masses. 

Adam's and my tastebuds must have been cut from the same cloth because pretty much everything in this book...I was looking to whip up and scarf down! From his Bourbon Hazelnut Pancakes to the Polenta Sage Cashew Cheese Wedges to Rosemary Hemp Seed-Crusted Tofu and Lavender-Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee. I would happily consume every meal in his cookbook. 

The book is divided into the usual chapters like Breakfast, Beverages, Appetizers, Soups, and Desserts. However, there is also a Sandwiches chapter as well as Cinnamains (main meals), Veggies and Sides, Donuts, and The Saucy Stuff. Yep, you read that right, he has an entire chapter on donuts. Genius. 

Adam discusses, "Some kooky (and not-so-kooky) things in the snail's pantry". Most of the items I think of as staples in a vegan kitchen such as tofu, almond milk, vegan mayonnaise, tempeh, etc. However, there were some ingredients that I have yet to discover in our rural Alaskan grocery stores such as Umeboshi Plum Vinegar, Chestnut Flour, Lucuma, Gochujang, and Asafetida (umm, whaaa?) to name a few. 

Street Vegan is filled beautiful matte photos (not a photo for each recipe, to my great misfortune) and short stories about the Cinnamon Snail's adventures, such as acquiring daily parking tickets and the like. Adam has a unique and very comedic voice that had me giggling and smiling all throughout the book. He has funny lines all throughout the book. Take this one from his Acknowledgments:

“A giant-size set of lips bigger than buildings for the smooches for Kim Ima from the Treats Truck, for all her mentoring and support. You are my food truck mommy.”

Or this one pulled from the introduction to his recipe for Cinnamon Snails. These are actual quotes. 

“...But then a Sasquatch snatched up all the puppies, and we had to save the day by riding on a giant cybernetic snail dousing the bad-guy Sasquatch with cinnamon, until he stopped being mean and did a lot of giggling, and we all ate cupcakes, and yayyyy!”

I really appreciated that the index was ordered by ingredient (which isn't always the case), however, I found the recipes to be a bit cumbersome to follow for a few reasons. 

1. The layout of the recipes are a strange in that they're arranged in long vertical columns as opposed to the usual shorter, horizontal sentences. I found myself losing my place many times while making the recipes.
2. Some of the recipe staging and flow could have been more efficient. For example, in the pierogi recipe he instructs you to make the cream sauce first, but to me it made much more sense to start with putting the pot of water on to boil for the potatoes and make the dough because it needs to rest for 30 minutes. I think it made the entire recipe just take a bit longer than it needed to.
3. Oftentimes, the recipes were quite ambiguous. Adam instructs to "heat the canola oil in a saute pan..." What size saute pan? I was lucky that I used my largest one to saute the onion because later in the recipe, two pounds of mashed potatoes were added! Little things like that sometimes popped up and I found myself scratching my head. 

The only other criticism I have is that many of the recipes were pretty heavy. Perhaps it's a personal preference that I gravitate away from greasy, oil-drenched foods. Also, if you don't prefer to fry your homemade donuts, you're out of luck because there are no baked donut recipes in his entire chapter dedicated to donuts (sad face). This excludes an entire chapter of the book! Also, the spine of the book doesn't lay flat, which is a petty pet peeve of mine.  Okay, now I'm just being nitpicky...

BOTTOM LINE

That being said, this is one of the most unique and personally appealing books I have ever reviewed or had the pleasure to own. It's full of new and inventive recipes that will delight you just as much as his writing. I highly recommend Street Vegan! It's snagged a 4/4 star review on Amazon and is available wherever books are sold in a ebook and paperback format. 

It was hard to pick out a single recipe to test in this book but I finally decided to try my hand at the Truffled Potato and Fried Onion Pierogies with Horseradish Mustard Cream. Todd is from Cleveland and I'm pretty sure it's the pierogi capital of the USA. Correct me if I'm wrong. There must be a lot of Polish influence in Believeland.

I'm somewhat ashamed to divulge that I've never actually had a pierogi before (despite my many adventures in the wonderful West Side Market)! They're absolutely delicious, though I did find them to be a bit heavy for me. Next time I'm in Cleveland I will have to pick some up at the Market to compare.

I did make a few changes to Adam's recipe, notably the "truffled" part. Surprise, our local grocery store does not in fact carry truffle oil, nor (at the time) fresh horseradish; I did manage find the stuff jarred however. I hope you enjoy my adaptation of Adam's recipe! Here's a few things I changed:

• Drastically mixed up the flow of the recipe.
• Left the potatoes unpeeled, as opposed to peeled.
• Extended the boiling time of the potatoes.
• Extended the sauteing time for onions and decreased the cooking time for horseradish.
• Used onion instead of shallots.
• Used coconut milk instead of almond milk.
• Increased the flour by 1 cup.
• Changed the mustard quantity. 
• Used rice wine vinegar instead of brown rice wine vinegar. 
• Doubled the quantity of oil for frying. 

These creamy, potato filled pierogies with a delicious homemade dough and horseradish dipping cream are browned to perfection and sure to wow anybody!

Homemade Potato Pierogies w/ Horseradish Cream

These creamy, potato filled pierogies with a delicious homemade dough and horseradish dipping cream are browned to perfection and sure to wow anybody! Adapted from Adam Sobel's cookbook, Street Vegan.

Yield: 30 pierogies

Ingredients

• Pierogies
• 5 medium russet potatoes (about 2 lbs), unpeeled
• 4 cups all-purpose flour + additional for rolling out the dough
• ¼ cup vegan sour cream
• 1 tsp kosher salt, divided
• ¼ tsp ground black pepper
• 1 cup of water
• 3 tbsp canola oil
• ¾ medium yellow onion, diced
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp coconut or soy milk
• ½ cup olive oil, divided (for frying)
• Cream
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ medium yellow onion, diced
• ¼ cup jarred, extra-hot horseradish
• 6 drained capers
• 1 tbsp stone-ground or Dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp agave nectar
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 6 oz (half a block) of firm silken tofu

Cooking Directions

1. Scrub the potatoes clean and quarter them. Place them in a large pot and cover completely with water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to a low boil and cook, uncovered, for about 10-13 minutes until fork tender. When done, drain and set aside.
2. While the potatoes boil, make the dough by whisking together the flour, ½ tsp kosher salt, and black pepper in a large electric stand mixing bowl. Stir in the sour cream with a wooden spoon. Then, with the dough hook attachment, drizzle in the water with the mixer on speed 2. Increase to speed 4 and knead for about 5 minutes, until a semi ball of dough has formed. It’s okay if it’s sticking to the bottom of the bowl a bit. This is a somewhat sticky dough. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a heavily floured surface. Form into a ball and allow to rest for about 20-30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, make the cream by first heating the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium. Sauté the onion for about 4 minutes, until it begins to soften then stir in the horseradish, capers, mustard, agave, and vinegar. Cook another 2 minutes then remove from heat and allow to cool slightly, about 5 minutes, before placing in a blender along with the tofu. Blend on high for 1 minute, until very smooth. Transfer to a medium serving bowl and place in fridge until ready to use.
4. While the dough rests, make the filling by heating the canola oil in a large, cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for about 8 minutes until it begins to brown. Remove from heat and stir in the olive oil, coconut milk, and ½ tsp kosher salt. Add the boiled potatoes and mash until mostly smooth with a potato masher. Set aside.
5. Once the dough has rested, roll it out into 1/8th inch thickness. Using a small mason jar lid ring or small wine glass (about 2.5 inches in diameter) cut circles. Form the scraps into a ball and roll out again, making more circles until all the dough has been used.
6. Place 1 heaping tbsp of the filling into the middle of each circle and dot the edges of the circle with water. Fold in half, closed, pressing the seams together with the twines of a fork. Be sure to gently smoosh down the filled belly of the pierogi so it’s somewhat flat and can brown easily (I learned this the hard way).
7. Heat the ¼ cup of olive oil in the same large, cast iron skillet. Once the oil is hot, add as many pierogies as you can fit in the pan. Fry for about 3 minutes per side, until they are a golden brown. Place on plate lined with paper towels to remove any excess oil and repeat with remaining pierogies.
8. Serve warm with the chilled cream. Place everything in respected Tupperwares, in a backpack, and run them 2 miles through the woods to your Dad’s house to share like I did (optional).

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

*DISCLAIMER*  PRODUCE ON PARADE IS A PERSONAL BLOG WRITTEN AND EDITED BY MYSELF ONLY, UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED. MY REVIEWS ARE COMPLETELY BASED ON MY OWN OPINION OF THE PRODUCT REVIEWED. THESE PRODUCTS WERE SUPPLIED TO ME AS GIFTS TO TEST AND REVIEW. OTHERWISE, IF I MENTION A COMPANY BY NAME AND THERE IS NO DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST, I AM MERELY WRITING ABOUT SOMETHING I LIKE, PURCHASE AND/OR USE. THE FACT THAT I DO RECEIVE A PRODUCT AS A GIFT TO TEST AND REVIEW, WILL NEVER POSITIVELY INFLUENCE THE CONTENT MADE IN THIS POST.

Ranch Pitas w/ Roasted Potatoes & Chickpeas

This is a super easy and perfect way to use up those russet potatoes you found in the back of the cupboard that might have started sprouting (guilty!) The roasted chickpeas add a wonderful little crunch, and the homemade ranch dressing lends a nostalgic creaminess, all cozied up in a soft, warm pita! 

Thank you all for your support on my cookbook announcement and for the birthday wishes. You're all so incredibly sweet and kind. It's been a crazy few months over here, but in a good way. Todd and I just found out that we will be able to secure the builder we wanted for our house as well!  Hopefully, we'll be excavating in just a few weeks. Hurray! Are there any things you wish you had known when you built, bought, or renovated your home?

Between the house, the book, and a full-time job...whew doggy...some things can fall to wayside. Namely hair-brushing, using makeup, and my running regime. Do I look like a scraggly, homeless chef most days? Maybe. Some things though have been on the upswing though! Mostly my chocolate consumption...

“Don’t limit yourself. Many people limit themselves to what they think they can do. You can go as far as your mind lets you. What you believe, remember, you can achieve.”

— Mary Kay Ash

Potatoes hiding in the back of the cupboard that were about to start sprouting. Fresh spinach from my CSA box. Chickpeas taking up residence in the fridge after I used the liquid from the can (to make vegan meringue). That's basically how I came up with these drop dead delicious pitas. I was thinking of what could tie it all together and a homemade ranch was just the ticket! Just look how scrumptious! Comfort food! 

Ranch Pitas w/ Roasted Potatoes & Chickpeas

Recipe by Kathleen Henry @ Produce On Parade

This is a super easy and perfect way to use up those russet potatoes you found in the back of the cupboard that might have started sprouting (guilty!) The roasted chickpeas add a wonderful little crunch, and the homemade ranch dressing lends a nostalgic creaminess, all cozied up in a soft, warm pita!

Yield: 4 pitas

Ingredients

• 3 medium russet potatoes, cut into wedges
• 1 15 oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed (save the liquid for vegan meringue!)
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp salt
• ¼ tsp pepper
• ½ cup vegan mayonnaise
• ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh celery leaves, chopped
• ½ tbsp apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
• ½ tsp mustard (I use stoneground)
• ¼ tsp dried dill
• ¼ tsp dried tarragon
• 4-5 cups fresh baby spinach
• 4 soft pitas
• ¼ cup sprouts or microgreens, optional

Cooking Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450°F and line a large baking sheet (or two smaller ones) with parchment paper.
2. Dry off the potatoes and chickpeas and place in a medium bowl with olive oil, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Stir well to coat and transfer to the baking sheet, roast for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes are golden-brown. Flip the taters halfway through and give the chickpeas a shake.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayo through and including the tarragon to make the ranch dressing. Place the spinach in a medium bowl and stir in the dressing.
4. To serve, warm the pitas for about 20 seconds in the microwave. Divide the spinach evenly between the four pitas and top with a few wedges of potato, chickpeas, and sprouts each. Serve warm. There might be a few remaining potato wedges leftover, which are great with a bit of ketchup!

Dutch Word of The Day

Potato --> aardappel (ard-apple)

Information of The Day

"Back in April 2012, the Food and Drug Administration launched an effort to address a problem that had been festering for decades: the meat industry's habit of feeding livestock daily low dose of antibiotics, which keeps animals alive under stressful conditions and may help them grow faster, but also generates bacterial pathogens that can shake off antibiotics, and make people sick." (Mother Jones) Between 2009 and 2013, use of medically important drugs used in livestock grew 20%.

CDC