Monday, April 30, 2007

Soup, Bread and Exciting News!

The other day I threw together some vegetable soup with what I had kicking around the house and it turned out really well. Wee G told me about three times while eating it “I reaaaaally like this soup” so I think I am on to a winner! It’s a very simple soup with lots of tasty veggies and a little kick from the black pepper. I have posted the recipe at the end if you want to give it a go.
To go with the soup I made Harvest Herb Bread from How It All Vegan. Oh wow…this bread is good! I used a mix of white whole wheat flour and whole wheat flour. I also omitted the raisins and nuts and added an extra half cup of soy milk. It turned out deliciously soft and moist…close to cakiness, but still savoury because of the herbs. And it smelled fantastic! My only problem with it was that I was being all sensible and not scoffing the whole thing at once and it went off really quickly. I stupidly didn’t put it in the fridge and it’s been about 30c here so I’m not really surprised…doh! Next time I’ll freeze half as soon as its cool!

Now on to the exciting news… Well it’s exciting for me and Wee G, perhaps no-one else… :) We are moving home to Scotland on 20th June! I am so excited and can’t wait to see all our family and friends, especially my 4 month old niece! We have been here for just over 3 years and while we have had so many good times and done so much we are both ready to go back home. So now I have to get packing and organising…don’t you just love moving?!

Simple Vegetable Soup
(makes about 6 servings)

Ingredients
½ large leek, chopped
1 medium onion, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 small white potatoes, peeled and diced
3 tsps vegetarian bouillon powder/paste or 1½ stock cubes
5 cups water
1 or 2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas, defrosted
1 cup plain soy milk

Directions
Place leek, onion, celery and carrots in a large pot over a medium-low heat with a few tablespoons of water. Cover and allow to sweat for about 10 minutes until vegetables are soft, stirring occasionally. Add water, potatoes and black pepper and bring to boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Add soy milk and peas and heat through. Remove around ¼ of soup from pot and blend in blender or food processor. Return blended soup back to pot along with rest of soup. Best if left for an hour or two before serving.

16 comments:

aTxVegn said...

The soup and bread look really really good! It seems odd that an herb bread would have raisins in it. I would have left them out too.

How exciting that you're moving back home! Almost all my family lives in the same town with me and I am so grateful for that.

wee G said...

Whoah!! There was celery in it!?? I don't like celery :-/

bazu said...

Congratulations on moving home! You sound so excited, and so I'm happy for both you and wee G. Whether you are in L.A. or Scotland, I just realized you're about the same distance from me! Ha ha.

I can't say moving is fun, but it certainly is exciting and invigorating. Good luck, and I can't wait to see your Scottish eats and goodies soon!

{{Hugs}}

Anonymous said...

Ooh that is exciting :) Soup looks lovely too...

laura k said...

That is exciting news! I know it must be hard being so far away from your homeland and your family like that. I know the next several weeks are going to be a busy time, though, but you'll have being in Scotland to look forward to!

Thanks for sharing the vegetable soup recipe... it's always fun to throw together what you have on hand and watch it create something incredible! Ooh, and that bread looks amazing--I wish I had that cookbook just for that recipe...

urban vegan said...

Soup looks so comforting.

I was just going to add your link to my blog under North American vegans. Now I'll have to relocate you to Europe. COngrats!

I must say that I love Scottish accents. I could listen to Scottish folks talk all day long.

Susan Voisin said...

The soup looks wonderful. ANd I'm happy that you're moving back to where you want to be. I don't love moving, but I can understand the need to be close to family.

Vicki's Vegan Vice said...

That's exciting news about moving back home! You'll be busy packing, with Scotland on your mind. :o)
Based on Wee G's rating of the soup, I'll be cooking that sometime soon, & you sneaked some celery in, eh? :o)

scottishvegan said...

aTxVegn, yeah, raisins in herb bread is weird, that’s why I missed them out! I still won’t be in the same town as my family when we move back, but at least we will be a lot closer :)

Wee G, you just think that you don’t like celery ;)

bazu, I am so excited! We’ve been thinking about it for a long time so I am glad we are finally going! NY is kind of a halfway point between here and Scotland, isn’t it? We stopped off there on the way back to Scotland once before, but this time we are going via Philadelphia. I can’t wait to eat Scottish eats and goodies! :)

Lucy, I am just hoping that the weather will still be as nice as it looked in your pics!

laura, it is hard being away from our family…that’s one of the main reasons we are going back home! I did a little search and found the herb bread recipe here so you can try it without the book, but I would still recommend the book :)

Urban Vegan, I think Scottish accents are a bit boring, but I guess I am just used to them!

SusanV, I don’t think anyone loves moving, do they?!

Vicki, I sneak celery in all the time…Wee G just thinks he never eats it! ;)

Johanna GGG said...

You are lucky to be going home to such a beautiful country and so veggo friendly (although I am not sure about vegan-friendly).

It's good you have found a good warming soup that weegee loves - you will appreciate it back home. I lived there a few years and hated the pseudo summers there but the winters are so wonderful for cooking warm comforting food and drinking mulled wine.

Last time I was there I just loved the veggie sausage sandwiches in a Firkin pub because it is the sort of thing I would never get in Oz. Hope you have lots of nice food to look forward to back home.

Emmy said...

Congrats on moving back home. I wish you lots of good luck packing and organizing your move :)

Sheree' said...

Your soup and bread look good!. I lvoe it when you can empty your fridge and have a wonderful healthy meal.

Congrats to you on going back to Scotland. Wow! I can't imagine. Actually I can't imagine moving let alone that far away. It will be so nice for you to be near your family. Half my family lives near me and half lives in Texas. I hate that they are so far away.

scottishvegan said...

Johanna, yes, the UK is very veggie friendly and I think it’s getting more vegan friendly too (fingers crossed!). I think most of the food I like to cook tends to be warm comfort food because of the weather! Mmmm. ..veggie sausage sandwiches! I can’t wait to eat some veggie sausages when I get back!!

Emmy, thanks!

veg-a-nut, it was a bit scary to move so far from our family, but we have had a fantastic time here and they have all been out to visit too, so they all gained good holidays from it! :)

Petra said...

Awesome looking food! I love your blog!

I'm a Canadian living in Edinburgh at the moment - the weather's a bit of crap to be honest. But Vegi-Haggis awaits you!!!

Anonymous said...

I do totally share your opinion and I am glad that there are still people who think so. Let's fight for it,because "Opinions cannot survive if one has no chance to fight for them."

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