Foodie Friday : Vegan Leek and Potato Soup

Quick Vegan Leek and Potato Soup for Busy People

Directions:
- Peel and chop a few potatoes + slice a medium sized leek
- Place in covered bowl and microwave for 5 minutes- Pour into blender; cover with a non-dairy milk of your choice (I like almond milk); add fresh or dried thyme, salt, and a pinch of nutmeg to taste
- Blend until smooth (approx 1 minute, depending on your blender)
- Dish, garnish and serve! In this image, I've topped the soup with more dried thyme and a sprinkling of coconut bacon

Voilà! Fresh, home made soup in 7 minutes or less, no joke Enjoy!

Recipe by Milena of Just the Goods

Foodie Friday : Mennonite Red Borscht

Growing up in a Mennonite family had its perks, and that included the food. My dad is the cook in our home and still to this day when he makes something traditional his children get an invite to either dinner, or to come and snag some leftovers if we can't make it to dinner. My father's mom is his inspiration in the kitchen and her love shows through the food as much as his does. This Borscht is no exception.

Mennonite Red Borscht

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of chopped Meat (ham or ground beef)
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 small head of cabbage, diced
• 4 medium potatoes, diced
• 2 cups chopped Carrots
• 1 cup chopped Celery
• 1 tbs Dill
• 1 tbs Parsley
• 1 can of Tomato soup

Instructions
Bring meat to a simmer in water for 2-3 hours, include ham bone if you have. Add vegetables with the Dill and Parsley and cook until vegetables are tender. Add Tomato Soup and let simmer for 10 more minutes. 
Serve with a dollop of sour cream or heavy cream. 

Foodie Friday recipe submitted by Amanda of Silver Moose Arts

Foodie Friday : Summer Squash Soup with Coconut Milk and Banana

Hi everyone! It's Foodie Friday and I'm back again this week to share another recipe that I whipped up intuitively. This time it's a soup and while I apologize for the absence of measurements to accompany each ingredient, this dish welcomes even more flavour flexibility, so you're able to fine tune it as you wish :)

Summer Squash Soup with Coconut Milk and Banana

Ingredients:

• Summer squash
• Bananas
• Fresh or dried garlic and onion -- I used both
• Water
• Spices: coriander seed, red chili flakes, cardamom, ginger, cassia, turmeric, clove and nutmeg
• Coconut milk (if desired)
• Minced herbs for garnish (if desired) -- I used chives and shiso leaf

Method:

1. Wash, peel, de-seed and chop/cube summer squash
2. Sautée squash in a well heated pan with olive oil with a bit of dried onion until lightly golden on all sides. If you're making a lot of soup using a lot of squash, you may need to do this in multiple batches. In either case, when finished, set it aside. The purpose of sautéing in advance is to enhance the natural flavours of the ingredient before boiling it into soup. This step also helps the squash cook faster, so you can dig into the soup faster :)
3. Using the same pan, sautée bananas into a mushy consistency, and put them aside as well.
4. In a soup pot, brown finely diced onion and garlic until the scent increases, then add the squash and banana and stir everything together.
5. Once stirred, add enough water to cover the contents of the pot.
6. Add the spices mentioned above to taste, and don't be shy about the quantity. You might have noticed this recipe doesn't use soup stock, so all of your flavour will come from the ingredients you've added, including these spices.
7. Allow the soup to boil briefly, then lower the heat to a simmer
8. Taste the blend and add more spice if desired
9. Allow the soup to simmer until the squash has soften enough to either transfer to a blender, or use an immersion mixer to purée everything to your desired consistency.
10. Ladle the soup into bowls, heavily pour coconut milk so it creates an aesthetically pleasing swirl and top with fresh  fresh herbs for garnish. 

You will probably have left over coconut milk. If so, add it to the leftover soup still in the pot and stir -- tomorrow's soup will taste different without any work to create variety ;) Whooo! Who says leftovers are boring? *lol*

Enjoy!!

Post and Recipe by: Milena from Just the Goods 

Check out her Etsy shop HERE