The Last Of The Swiss Chard Soup

Sorry about not posting this sooner but I was out of town Saturday and the internet was down Sunday. however, I’m sure you’ll be glad you were patient because this post has some Wonderful things in it.

I’ll start with the soup and work backward, okay?

So Saturday I was visiting my mom and she showed me her Volumetrics cook book. Inside, there was a picture of a swiss chard soup that looked SUPER-yummy. So I used a little imagination and recreated it this evening for dinner. You even get the recipe since I (kind of) made it up as I went along. This soup turned out hearty and totally satisfying. I thought the amount of spice was perfect but if you’re a spice-wimp feel free to leave it out.

Swiss Chard and Garbanzo Soup

1/2lb. pasta shapes (I used brown rice tubatini)
2-3T olive oil
1 small onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/4 - 1/2 red pepper flake
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups of vegetable broth
1T tomato paste
1T Braggs Liquid Aminos
1 bunch of swiss chard, stemmed and chopped
Nutritional yeast for sprinkling

1. Put a pot of water on to boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions.

2.  Meanwhile, heat the oil in your favorite soup pot. Add the onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the garbanzos and red pepper flake and sauté for another 2 minutes.

3. Pour in the broth. Stir in the tomato paste and Braggs and simmer for 10 minutes.

4. Add the swiss chard and simmer for  more minutes.

5. Turn off the heat, add the pasta, and serve with a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

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Yesterday, Mr. Crow picked up our CSA! Look what we got!

Nothing too exotic but I’ll see what I can do about that!

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Last Saturday I showed you a picture of my zephyrs. Today I show you a picture of what I did with them:

So, this is the Hurry-Up Alfredo from Vegan Yum Yum but I added about 1/2 a cup of sundried tomatoes to it. What a discovery! I tossed that with some whole wheat linguini and we topped it with some breaded and baked zephyr. This was super-excellent and a definite “keeper”.

A note from Mr. Crow

Hello, World.  I am Crow Jane’s other half.  You can call me Mr. Crow, though as you might have guessed, it’s not my real name.  I make an appearance here because I’ve been mentioned previously and figured it’s about time for introductions.  Also, I’m slowly learning how to cook, so I’ve decided to post a lovely recipe for you.  Credit goes to The American Vegan Kitchen, page 157 for the marvelous pizza dough and to our blog mistress’ mother for the toppings.

So, our CSA, Wayward Seed, has been providing us with an abundance of swiss chard.  Now, growing up in a family where everything in the fridge, freezer, or cupboards came in box, can, or carton, I didn’t know what swiss chard even was.  Is it like lettuce?  Spinach?  Rhubarb?  What is it good for?  Why is it so colorful?  Why are so many people insane advocates of it?  I have no idea and still don’t.  But since we had so much of it, I had to do something. 

I emailed Jane’s mother, who was quick in providing the following recipe, slightly modified.

 

Swiss Chard Pizza

Preheat oven to 350.  Meanwhile, boil the swiss chard and squeeze dry.

Fry garlic and pine nuts in olive oil until toasty, careful not to burn.  Add swiss chard and separate as you stir constantly over medium heat, as the chard will have gotten clumpy.  Season with salt, black pepper & crushed red pepper.

Roll out pizza dough and brush lightly with olive oil.  Top with swiss chard mix.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until the dough starts to brown slightly. 

It’s super simple to make, even for a novice like me.  The best part is that Crow Jane liked it enough to let me post it here.  I think I may stop by again at some point to share more beginner dishes in the future! 

Things: Bought & Made

I knew what I wanted for dinner, oh yes. I wanted Lauren Ulm’s Hurry-Up Alfredo sauce (check out her cool cook book!). Thus, Mr. Crow and I went to the Ol’e B&N to pick up a copy her much beloved cookbook. While there, I saw a copy of American Vegan Kitchen which was mentioned on the Vegan Dad blog (that rocks my socks) and a book called The Urban Vegan (which I happen to be) so, for whatever reason, like a girl possessed by the spirit of capitalism, I bought all 3 cookbooks. *sigh* Money may not be able to buy you happiness but a cookbook is a very close second, I dare say. So get ready for some recipe reviews and photos, kids!

The herb garden on my window sill got a little revamp, too. There was some scrap wood outside of our apartment so we snagged it and Mr. Crow made a brand new planter for the basil and sage. Sadly, the parsley did not get transplanted as it had strangled itself before the project was done. Ah well, it was the curly-leaf kind anyway.

It doesn’t look like much but it won’t blow over in the tremendous wind we’ve got up here on the 3rd floor and it has this rustic vibe that I really enjoy. Say what you will, but it was a labor of love.

In other news, Clean-Out-Your-Fridge-Freezer-And-Pantry Week is going rather well. All expired food is gone, leftovers are being defrosted and nommed, and the pantry is finally organized. All of this is in preparation for the day when we get to pick up our first installment of our Wayward Seed CSA! Yeay! It’s a real “advengetable”! This particular farm specializes in heirloom veggies so we’ll be getting things as yet uneaten by either of us! I can hardly wait, but I must. . .until the 12th. Pictures will follow along with recipes galore!