Lentil Soup

My friend A has been asking for this recipe and this morning my daughter said she used The Joy of Cooking recipe because I hadn't given her one. I am sure that the recipe she found will make delicious soup, but it won't be fat-free and it won't be vegan. When two people mention a recipe, I know that it is time for me to get busy.

This is a quick and filling meal we rely on when I have been at the pool too late to spend time cooking. Serve it with a salad and/or a loaf of rustic bread.

I like to use Amore Concentrated Tomato Paste in a tube. I used to throw out half used cans of tomato paste and feel guilty about it. Then I discovered the pastes in tubes, widely available in grocery stores. The pastes keep in the refrigerator indefinitely and make it easy to use a couple of tablespoons without waste.

Lentil Soup

1/2 cup water
1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1-quart vegetable broth
2 cups water
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 pound dried lentils, sorted and rinsed


In a 5-quart pan, cook the onion in water over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the carrot, celery, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, adding more broth as necessary to keep liquid in the pan. Add the broth, water, and tomato paste, stirring until the tomato paste is combined. Add the lentils and cook over medium heat until the lentils are soft, about 40 minutes.

Serve piping hot. Like so many soups, this one tastes even better the second day.

Makes 4 servings.

Thanksgiving anytime

First I have to tell you about the Wonderful Wacky Women. The Wackies, started about 3 years ago, is a group of 10 women who take turns planning "adventures" for the group to share. We have been on about a dozen adventures, including a sunset cruise off Key Largo, on a Diva Duck tour of West Palm Beach, and to an art show where we met Suzi Toronto, the artist who inspired us and provides our logo. We have so much fun together that we expanded our activities to include occasional dinners with our husbands.

A few days ago, we had one of those dinners. Several of the Wackies and their husbands are trying to eat less meat, so in addition to the Cornish Hens prepared for the omnivores at the table, my friend prepared a Tofurky Roast for the first time. I assured her it would be a hit. Jerry and I have enjoyed several of them since we discovered them at our local Whole Foods Market. She asked me to bring Dirty Rice and I decided we also needed mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and cranberry sauce.

For the mashed potatoes, make them just like you used to but substitute rice milk or soy milk and just leave out the butter. I find that soy milk adds a soy taste to the potatoes, but rice milk cannot be detected.

I follow Bryanna Clark Grogan's recipe for Rich (Fat-Free) Brown Gravy along with her suggestion to add mushrooms to the gravy, but I roast the onions and mushrooms together rather than saute them and add fat. This is my adaptation of Bryanna's recipe.

Mushroom Gravy

1 small onion, very thinly sliced
8 ounces Baby Bella mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 ounces Shitake mushrooms
1/3 cup white flour
1/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
2 1/2 cups water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet or other gravy browner

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.Spray a non-stick baking pan with vegetable oil. Clean the mushrooms. Remove the stems from the Shitakes and discard them, then slice the mushrooms thinly. Spread the onions and mushrooms in a single layer in the pan. Bake until lightly browned, stirring them around a bit once or twice as they bake. Remove from the oven and set aside.

In a 5 quart saucepan over high heat, stir the flour and nutritional yeast together until there is a toasty smell. It is not necessary to brown the mixture. Remove from the heat and whisk in the water, soy sauce, salt, and Kitchen Bouquet. Stir constantly until the gravy thickens and comes to a boil. Add the mushrooms and onions and simmer for about 4 minutes. The gravy can be made ahead and reheated on top of the stove or in a microwave.

Cranberry Sauce

One of many good cranberry sauces in Holly Garrison’s “The Thanksgiving Cookbook”, this recipe is well worth the little time it takes to make. It will keep for a few weeks in the refrigerator.

1 cup sugar
½ cup water
¼ cup white vinegar
7 whole cloves
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
3 cups fresh or 16 ounces frozen cranberries

In a 3-quart saucepan bring the sugar, water, vinegar, cloves, and cinnamon to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the cloves with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the cranberries and simmer for 10 minutes until the berries pop. Remove the cinnamon stick and discard. Remove the sauce from the heat and cool slightly. Pour into a bowl with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate.

Veggie Party

Earlier this week, we had an afternoon party for family spending a few months this winter in Florida. Everyone enjoyed the opportunity to be together, if only for a few hours. And the food was wonderful, as it often is when everyone brings something. We always appreciate it when people make an effort to bring food that we can eat. One of my sisters-in-law brought this appealing platter of vegetables and two hummus dips, one spicy and one mild. And we got to keep the leftovers, which became several meals.



The first day, I roasted the leftover pepper and onion slices in a non-stick roasting pan in a 350 degree oven, stirring them a few times to help them brown evenly. Wrapped in a fat-free flour tortilla with refried beans and salsa and served with fresh Florida corn, another quick and easy meal was ready with very little effort. The refried beans are mostly canned, but with flavor greatly enhanced with the adaptations in the recipe below.

Refried Beans

1 small onion, minced
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 cup water
1 jalapeno pepper, minced
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can fat-free refried beans

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, simmer the onion, garlic, and jalapeno in the water for a few minutes until the onion is soft. Mash the pinto beans with a potato masher or a wooden spoon, leaving some of the beans whole. Stir the mashed pinto beans and the refried beans into the vegetable mixture until well mixed. Cook until heated throughout.

The next day, I revived the cucumber slices by soaking them in 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar for 20 minutes and then drained off the liquid. The cucumber slices with the remaining broccoli pieces, baby carrots, and hummus became an appetizer we ate before dinner.

Mardi Gras Rice

Dirty Rice

The only thing dirty about this rice is the color. It is spicy and flavorful like its Southern namesake but without the animal parts of the traditional dish. Since Mardi Gras is Tuesday and the flavoring makes me think of Cajun seasonings, I decided to call it Mardi Gras Rice.

Lasst night, we were not thinking about Mardi Gras. We went going to a Valentine's party and needed to take food that would pair with Tofurky for the vegans and Cornish Hens for the omnivores. The hostess actually is one of my cheerleaders who encourages me to continue creating a cookbook of healthful fat-free vegan recipes. My friend has cooked dirty rice several times since I gave her the recipe a few weeks ago and asked me to bring it as my contribution to the party.

At home when I have leftovers of this rice, I roast sliced red and yellow bell peppers, sliced onions and diced sweet potatoes. I wrap a scoop of rice in a flour tortilla along with leftover rice and have a delicious and easy meal.


Based on a recipe in "Eat More, Weigh Less" by Dean Ornish.

Dirty Rice

1 cup short grain brown rice
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
1 14.5 ounce can red beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium tomato chopped
1/2 cup corn kernels

In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, combine rice, onion, garlic, carrots, and celery. Add the spices to the rice and vegetables, stirring to distribute the spices. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

In a 5-quart saucepan, bring the stock and bay leaf to a boil and carefully add to the rice mixture. The rice may foam up if it is very hot. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.

Stir in the beans, chopped tomato, and corn. Cover and simmer for another 25 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked.

Valentine's Day

The best gift I have ever given my husband is saving his health and maybe his life by learning how to cook vegan meals without added fat.We are so careful about our diet that we decide to splurge from time to time on something like this cake. And what better time than on Valentine's Day? The recipe for this fabulous vegan chocolate cake is from "Entertaining for a Veggie Planet" by Didi Emmons.

It is not fat-free, but it is vegan with a base of grated zucchini and soy milk. The cake tastes way better than it looks since a cake without frosting has such a plain appearance. When I put the pieces of cake on serving plates, I make fans out of fresh strawberries and put them on the plate on each side of the cake. I can't show you that though because I really need to use this cake for a party tomorrow! The cake keeps several days in the refrigerator and for a few weeks in the freezer. Well, it would keep if it lasted that long. For unexpected guests, I have even microwaved a frozen quarter section of a cake for 30 seconds 2 or 3 times until it is partially thawed. By the time the coffee is ready so is the cake.

The changes I have made in the recipe are that I use whole wheat pastry flour, unsweetened soy milk, and instead of cocoa powder I use Ghirardelli Sweetened Ground Chocolate and Cocoa. I have also found that the cake takes 15 to 20 minutes longer to bake in a 9-inch pan and twice as long as the instructions say for cool enough to get it out of the pan without having it fall apart.

If you are not familiar with melting chocolate, check out the instructions provided by Baker's Chocolate before you begin the process.

If the link above doesn't work for you, do a Google search using Emmons+ "vegan chocolate cake"+ recipe and look for a link at books.google.com.

Thanks to Susan V for the idea to participate in "Vegetable Love" for Valentine's Day. I am sure that this cake has too much fat for her criteria. Be sure to check out her outstanding fat-free vegan blog. On Tuesday she plans to post a round-up of all of the recipes people who participate in "Vegetable Love" send to her, so you should find many ideas for what to serve along with the cake.

Vegetable Barley Soup

This one is for all of my friends who are buried in six feet of snow with another couple of feet still to fall. Of course, the soup tastes just as good when the temperature is 80. This soup can simmer for longer and makes the whole house smell like a wonderful meal is on the way. It is a good excuse to make another loaf of the rustic bread.

If you are lucky enough to have leftovers, it will taste even better on the second day.



1 quart water
1/2 cup pearled barley
3 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon dried dill
1 bay leaf
1 14-ounce package frozen Fordhook lima beans
2 14-ounce cans vegetable broth
1 medium onion, diced
2 large stalks celery, diced
1 large potato, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 tablespoon paprika
salt and ground black pepper to taste

In a 5-quart saucepan, combine water, barley, garlic, dill and bay leaf. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat so it simmers for an hour or so. Add lima beans and cook for another 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour 1 can vegetable broth into a skillet along with the diced vegetables and cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Stir in the paprika, salt and pepper.

Stir the cooked vegetables from the skillet into the barley in the saucepan and cook another 30 minutes or so, adding the second can of broth if the soup needs more liquid.

My old chili

For decades my family has enjoyed my own version of chili. In fact, this recipe was mine before I was a mother; that's how old it is. Until recently, my chili was made with ground beef, and now it is made with an excellent soy product, Boca Ground. I am not sure that my husband would remain a vegan without the Boca products, but happily, he eats this chili as often as I make it.


I serve it with a salad and a loaf of rustic bread. Ever since enjoying a loaf of No-knead bread made from a recipe from Jim Lahey at the Sullivan Street Bakery via Mark Bittman at the New York Times, I have baked bread at least once a week. I have used only all purpose flour, half and half all purpose flour and bread flour, and half and half whole wheat flour and bread flour. All of them are delicious.

To make about 8 servings of chili

1 5.5-ounce can tomato juice plus a can of water
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, pressed
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 red bell pepper, coarsely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
1 28 ounce can plum tomatoes with juice
1 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
3 tablespoons chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne or more depending on how spicy you like it
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 bay leaf
1 28 ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 28 ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 or 2 4-ounce packets frozen soy protein ground burger

In a 5 quart casserole, add the tomato juice, water, onion, garlic and peppers. Cook about 15 minutes over medium heat until the onion is soft, but the peppers are still firm. Add tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, cayenne, basil, bay leaf, and beans. Cook over low heat about 30-40 minutes.

Remove the bay leaf. Add the soy ground burger and heat until hot throughout, about 15 minutes. Serve very hot.