vegan

Creamy Dairy-Free Celery Soup

Dairy free celery soup … wait- can celery soup be made dairy free? Remember those old cans of celery soup? We used them in kinds of casseroles and hot dishes. It was the basis of everything. But I certainly never ate it plain.

But this soup. This celery soup is the bomb. While I’m sure it would be great in all kinds of dishes, it’s stunning on its own. Creamy and silky with just the the right amount of celery essence.

A little handful of cashews take the place of cream and create a dairy free soup while still feeling luxurious. I’m tossing a bit of this in the freezer!

Happy Eats,

Monique

Creamy Dairy-Free Celery Soup

2 tbls olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced (about 1 heaping cup)

5 cups celery, diced

1 garlic clove

1 tsp salt

3-4 cups broth

1/2 cup cashews (preferably soaked)

1 tbls fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup fresh parsley, loosely packed

Warm the oil over medium heat, adding in the onions. Saute until they begin to soften and brown, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the celery and continue to saute another 10 minutes.

Add in the garlic clove, salt and cashews. Stir well and saute another minute. Add in the broth and simmer 10 minutes or until all the celery is softened.

Place the soup in a blender with the lemon juice and parsley, blend on high for 60 seconds until creamy.

To serve: Pour into a bowl. Add a drizzle of olive oil (or a good spoonful of ghee) and fresh cracked pepper.

Grilled 5-Spice Maple Pumpkin Wedges

I love grilling everything. I do mean EVERYTHING. This Grilled Pumpkin Wedge dessert is a new favorite.

I recently served grilled pumpkin wedges in a savory dish with wild rice at one of my pop-up dinner parties and they were so well received! (I’ll get that recipe up soon.) But I ended up with a few extra ungrilled wedges after that night. I was going to grill them and remake that savory dish, but looking around the fridge I found some pomegranate seeds sitting next to the maple syrup and started to formulate this dessert idea.

Chinese 5-spice elevates the maple syrup and clings to the creamy, smoky, grilled pumpkin. Whipped coconut cream lightens the dish while the pomegranate seeds add texture. You could even add a little granola too.

It’s fun, different and delicous.

Grilled 5-Spice Maple Pumpkin Wedges

4 pumpkin wedges from a small pumpkin

1 tbls olive oil or ghee

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 tsp Chinese 5-spice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Pomegranate Seeds

Dreamy Whipped Coconut Cream (click for recipe)

Whisk together the maple syrup, 5-spice, cinnamon and pinch of salt.

Toss the pumpkin wedges in the olive oil. Grill over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes per side until fork tender. Brush the wedges with the maple syrup mix (setting aside the extra) and grill another 2 minutes. Remove from heat.

Plate the wedges skin side down. Top each with a big scoop of the coconut whipped cream and a few spoons of the pomegranate seeds. Drizzle the whole thing with the remaining spiced maple syrup.

Dig in while warm.

Tahini Kale Coleslaw

You can never go wrong with a side of coleslaw and this Tahini Kale Coleslaw is no different. But this one changes up the dressing with creamy tahini and ume paste- a sweet and salty fermented plum paste that offers an addictive flavor. Substitute vinegar and perhaps a touch of honey in place of the ume.

Tahini Kale Coleslaw

2 cups red cabbage, sliced thin

1 cup kale, torn into pieces

1/2 green apple, cut into matchsticks

1 carrot, shredded

2 tbls pumpkin seeds (pepitas)

2 tbls craisins

handful of snipped chives

2 tbls tahini

2 tsp ume paste (or apple cider vinegar + a touch of honey)

6 tbls orange juice

1 tbls lemon juice

1 tbls extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together the tahini, ume paste or vinegar, orange & lemon juice and oil.

Toss the cabbage, kale, carrot, apple, pepitas and craisins with dressing. Top with snipped chives.

Add salt and pepper as desired to taste.

Poblano Avocado Soup with Grilled Corn Salad

Each of these recipes is so good on their own, but when you combine the Poblano Avocado Soup with the Corn Salad, it’s absolutely so good! Perfect for late summer when the corn is perfectly sweet. Serve with a bunch of fresh herbs for extra flavor and presentation. ~monique

AVOCADO POBLANO SOUP

1 poblano pepper, grilled or roasted and skin scraped

1 small avocado

¼ cup raw or toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

2 tbls lime

1 garlic clove, crushed

~1 cup coconut milk

salt to taste

Add the poblano, pumpkins seeds, lime, garlic clove, 1/2 tsp salt and coconut milk to the blender, blend on high until smooth.
Add in the avocado and blend to combine again. This should be a really smooth sauce. Add additional coconut milk or water as needed to achieve a desired consistency.
Taste and adjust salt & lime to taste.

GRILLED CORN SALAD

1 garlic clove, minced

2 ears grilled corn, cut off cob

1/4 cup finely diced grilled red onion

1 tbls minced jalapeno

2 tbls olive oil

1 tbls lime juice

1/2 tsp salt, or to taste

Toss the garlic, corn, onion jalapeno, olive oil, lime and salt

Putting it all together:
Place a scoop of the corn salad into soup bowl, pour the avocado soup around it.

Adorn with fresh herbs: Cilantro, basil, mint, fennel or try parsley, oregano, dill

Garlicky Hasselback Sweet Potato

Hasselback Sweet Potato is the best thing that’s happened to sweet potatoes since… well, actually, I love sweet potatoes so it’s just another really great way to prepare them. Plan for them to bake a long time, but the reward is a crispy outside and creamy inside. ~monique

Hasselback Sweet Potato

1 sweet potato

1 garlic clove

1 tbls of ghee, olive oil or grassfed buttter

Salt and pepper

Preparing the hasselback potato

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the potato into thin slices, being careful to not slice all the way to the bottom of the potato. Slice the garlic into thin slices. Slide the garlic slices into the slits.

Place the potato on a small pan or pie tin. Spread the ghee over the top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 45-60 minutes until the outside of the potato is crisp and the inside is tender.

Top: Try topping with a few fresh chives or try my Cauliflower Cheese Sauce or Cashew Bechamel Sauce

Tips: Place a chopstick on each side of the potato when you are slicing through it, this will help keep from slicing all the way through the potato.

Roasted Banana Ice Cream

Banana ‘nice’ cream is all the rage and I totally understand why. It’s simple and delicious. But my Roasted Banana Ice Cream takes that concept to the next creamy, dreamy level. It’s dairy free though you would never know it by the texture.

2 bananas, sliced

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup + 1 tbls brown coconut sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 can full fat coconut milk, cream only (save the water-like liquid for another use)*

Cinnamon roasted bananas

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the bananas about 1″ thick and place close together on a parchment lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with the cinnamon and 1 tbls coconut sugar. Roast for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool.

Blend the cooled bananas with remaining coconut sugar and vanilla until creamy.

To the blender add the coconut milk, blend until mixed and smooth. I then place the mixture in fridge to chill and allow the flavors to meld a bit more, 2 hours up to overnight. Skip this step if you don’t have time.

Process in ice cream maker and enjoy immediately.

*It helps to place one can of coconut milk in the fridge overnight. Open the can and scoop out the thick cream from the top of the can, leaving the the water-like liquid for another use.

*The roasted bananas give a deep sweetness to this nice cream, but if you like ice cream a little sweeter; add a few more tablespoons of coconut sugar

*Works best if you have an ice cream maker, but you could freeze this in a loaf pan, it will be just a touch icy. Or freeze in ice cube trays, then pop them into the blender until creamy.