The Basics No. 4: Lentil and Spinach Stew

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A taste of serious soup weather blew through East Tennessee over the last couple of weeks, which means it's time to share maybe the most satisfying vegetarian staple there is: lentil and spinach stew. It's easy, tasty, comforting, economical, full of protein, and can easily be a pantry dish.

This version purees a head of oven-toasted garlic, which you'll add into the broth along with a bit of red miso at the end of cooking to give the broth extra depth. The beauty of this method is that the garlic does its thing in the oven while the lentils cook. Which means the only time added by the garlic is peeling the cloves. But, in a pinch, or in the case of low energy, skip the fresh garlic and add a dose of garlic powder instead.

Unless you're feeding a crowd, this recipe makes a ton of leftovers. Keep it fresh by playing with side dishes and toppings. Fresh cantaloupe is especially nice on the first day. Try it with a fresh, crusty loaf on the second. Toast up some olive oil and rosemary croutons for a texture switch later in the week. When you're down to the final third, reheat the stew in a dose of olive oil with a minced fresh hot pepper. Then add garam masala and your other favorite curry-related spices (ground amchoor, coriander, and cumin always make for a nice combination) and serve the whole thing over rice.

Lentil and Spinach Stew

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serves about 8

1 head garlic (about 10 large cloves), peeled

1 tsp oil

8 1/2 cups water, divided

1 lb small green (or brown) lentils

1 lb frozen chopped spinach

2 no-salt-added vegetable bouillon cubes

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 TBSP red miso

salt

freshly cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 400. Toss peeled garlic cloves with oil in a small baking dish or pie plate. When oven is ready, let garlic cook until just tender and light golden, about 15-20 minutes, watching very carefully toward the end to avoid burning. (If the garlic burns, the whole pot of stew will taste bitter.)

Set aside one half-cup of water and add remaining eight cups to a dutch oven or soup pot, then heat on the stove over high heat. Add lentils, spinach, bouillon cubes, nutritional yeast, marjoram, and paprika. Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low, or as needed to maintain a steady, strong simmer. Leave covered and cook until lentils are tender, about 25 minutes.

When lentils are tender and garlic is ready, add remaining half-cup water to a small food processor (or use a wide-mouth mason jar with an immersion blender) along with garlic and miso. Blend until smooth. Stir into pot until thoroughly combined. Add salt and freshly cracked black pepper, to taste.

Dead Simple Warming Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

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This brightly colored bowl really puts the potato back in sweet potato. Leaving the skin on the sweet potatoes here emphasizes their earthy quality over their sweetness, and spiking the pot with two chile powders adds a lovely warmth in the back. Nutritional yeast, a touch of garlic, and a bouillon cube add extra savory notes. To bump up the protein, plus add texture and visual interest, toss in a can of black beans at the end. (And to bump up the protein even more, you'll puree in a can of chickpeas.)

In the end, you have a simple, comforting, portable (tip: store leftover soup in mason jars), everyday meal that contains a bunch of stuff that's good for you (and a ton of it, too). And the only thing you have to chop is a couple of sweet potatoes. How's that for everyday eats?

But if you want to take an extra minute to whip up a little coconut bacon to sprinkle on top while the soup cooks, no one would question you.

Dead Simple Warming Sweet Potato and Black Bean Soup

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serves 10-12

8 cups water

24-26 oz sweet potato (2 large), cubed

1 15-oz can chickpeas (or white beans), drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1 clove garlic

1 Not-Chick'n bouillon cube

1 tsp ancho powder, or other mild chile powder

1/2 tsp cayenne powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

1 15-oz can black beans

Add all ingredients, except black beans, to a soup pot over high heat. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to maintain a strong simmer and let cook, covered, 25-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse black beans in sieve. Set aside to let drain well.

When the potatoes are tender, remove pot from heat. Carefully puree the soup with an immersion blender until very smooth. Return pot to heat, add black beans, and heat until beans are warmed through. Adjust salt, if needed.

Party Animals No. 37: Chili Dinner for Mom's Birthday

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Peeking out to the left there is cornbread. To the right, a brownie recipe in progress.

It's definitely getting there.

And in the tureen, the only red chili recipe you'll ever need.

It's very good. The mushrooms sometimes don't make their way into chili around here, but otherwise, follow the recipe faithfully, and you will be rewarded.

On top there (and too far to the left of the frame to be seen in the picture up top), homemade vegan sour cream. To make your own, first make a batch of soy yogurt. Once you have that, combine two tablespoons of yogurt with one cup of soy milk and one-quarter cup of refined coconut oil. Leave, covered, on a warm counter for 24 hours. Whiz with the immersion blender after adding a pinch of salt, and that's it. Keeps for a week to 10 days in the refrigerator.

Zsu has a sour cream recipe on her site, but it calls for adding some other stuff. Which is fine, of course. It may be just the thing—let me know if you try it. But this version is so blissfully straightforward (from a dairy recipe here) that it's likely to become the go-to around here on the rare occasions we might really want some sour cream on the table. Like a chili dinner for four on a gray, rainy day. It's mild in flavor, but cool and creamy and does just what it's supposed to with no fuss.

See you next week with a new recipe.

Dead Simple Red Bean, Collard, and Hominy Soup over Rice

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Brothy, nutty, warming, satisfying soup without touching a knife? Check. This dish a symphony of textures: tender greens, creamy kidney beans, and plenty of chew from hominy and rice. It all rests in an unassertive medium-bodied broth made savory and decidedly nutty from peanut butter and red miso, two potent ingredients added here in small quantities.

Serving this over brown rice will echo and deepen the nutty flavor, but feel free to use another variety to play with the dish's perfume.

Dead Simple Red Bean, Collard, and Hominy Soup over Rice

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serves 4-6

5 cups water

2 no-salt-added vegetable bouillon cubes

8 oz frozen chopped collards

freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

1 15-oz can kidney beans

1 15-oz can white hominy

1 TBSP smooth peanut butter (look for a brand that contains nothing but peanuts)

2 tsp red miso

1 TBSP rice vinegar

cooked brown rice, to serve

Begin cooking rice according to package directions.

To make the soup, in a medium pot, bring water to boil with bouillon cubes, stirring to dissolve. Add greens and black pepper. Bring back to a boil. Cook, uncovered, at a high simmer over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain and rinse beans and hominy in a sieve. Set aside to let drain while the collards are cooking. After the first 10 minutes, add beans and hominy, and simmer, uncovered, another 10 minutes.

Add peanut butter and miso to a small bowl. Ladle out half a ladle of broth (1/4 cup), add to peanut butter and miso, and whisk until smooth. Remove pot from heat, stir in the slurry, then stir in vinegar. Adjust seasoning, if needed. Serve hot over rice.

Warming Cannellini Bean and Wild Rice Soup with Mushroom Broth

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Winter's only days away now, and soup is definitely in order. This one is simple but lovely and woodsy, with plenty of gorgeously nutty wild rice and plump, tender beans for heft. A generous addition of white pepper gives the bowl an assertive but not aggressive warmth that will be welcome for months to come. (Though of course, if you're sensitive to heat, start small and season to taste.)

The broth gets a nice body and depth from two concentrated flavor sources: red miso and a bunch of ground dried mushrooms. Grit can always be an issue with mushrooms, but you're grinding this right down to powder to ensure every last bit of flavor makes it into your soup. The above from Everything Mushrooms have been ground into several soups and a couple gravies with no texture problems yet. Good stuff. And all that immediate flavor makes the soup nearly effortless. If you can wait for wild rice to cook, you've got this one down.

Warming Cannellini Bean and Wild Rice Soup with Mushroom Broth

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serves 2-4

1/2 oz dried mushrooms of choice

6 cups water

1 no-sodium-added vegetable bouillon cube

1/2 tsp dried sage

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup wild rice

1 15-oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 TBSP red miso

1 tsp red wine vinegar

Grind the dried mushrooms to a powder in a coffee grinder. Add 5 cups water to a pot. Whisk mushroom powder into remaining cup of water, then whisk that into the pot. Add bouillon cube, sage, thyme, and bay leaf, cover, and bring to a boil. Add rice, cover, make sure the pot returns to a boil, and reduce heat to low. Simmer steadily without disturbing for 45 minutes. Check rice. Cook longer, if needed.

Remove bay leaf. Increase heat to medium-low. Add beans and white pepper. Let simmer gently, uncovered, until beans are warmed through, 5-7 minutes. Meanwhile, add a ladle full of soup to a small bowl and whisk in miso. Remove pot from heat, stir in miso mixture, and add vinegar. Stir, adjust salt, if needed, and serve.

Vegan White Chili

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While this pot contains a little less added fat than our go-to red chili recipe, the end result is still comforting and winter-ready, brimming with two beans and a generous addition of white hominy. Meanwhile, tomatillos not only give this stew a refreshing brightness, they also add body, making this bowl thick without sitting too heavy. Garnish with diced avocado for extra heft and for the gorgeously creamy texture.

Vegan White Chili

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serves a serious crowd, adapted from Saveur

1 lb dried Great Northern beans, soaked 8 hours

12 oz dried pinto beans, soaked 8 hours

12 cups water

2 dried bay leaves

1 tsp liquid smoke

3 dried chipotle chiles

1 dried ancho chile

1 tsp dried thyme

1 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

4 habaneros, slit lengthwise

1 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

12 cloves garlic, minced

2 large white onions, finely chopped

2 lbs (20 2- to 2 1/2-inch) tomatillos, husks removed

2 15-oz cans white hominy, drained and rinsed

1/4-1/2 tsp ground white pepper, to taste

Optional garnishes: chopped cilantro, diced avocado

In a large pot, combine soaked beans, water, bay leaves, liquid smoke, all dried chiles, thyme, oregano, coriander, cumin, and slit habaneros. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a very low simmer (you should barely see movement in the pot), and let cook until tender, about an hour. Remove peppers, add 1 tsp salt, and set aside.

Heat oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until golden, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, add the tomatillos to a food processor and pulse until broken down, but still a bit chunky. When onions have begun to brown, add the tomatillos, beans with cooking liquid, hominy, and white pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a low simmer. Let cook for one hour, stirring occasionally.

Party Animals Nos. 26 and 27: Christmas Eve Dinner and Christmas Day Brunch 2013

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We celebrated Christmas Eve this year by putting together a comforting spread of homemade foods inspired by some of the U.S.'s favorite bits of Japanese cuisine. We kicked off the evening with a cocktail, which we found here.

This Shiba Dog, as they're calling it, is a lovable, dead simple drink. We made one adjustment to the suggested recipe by using nigori sake. We suggest you make an additional adjustment by forgetting the salted rim altogether. It was an overwhelming nuisance. But by all means, mix equal parts nigori sake and grapefruit juice at every opportunity. (And check Barnivore before buying your sake. We somehow failed to back when we bought this bottle, and ended up with a brand that isn't vegan-friendly.)

Next up, Miso Soup with Mushroom Wonton Dumplings. We're working to nail down MSV's official dashi, so the soup recipe isn't quite ready to share. In the meantime, we're enjoying every last test bowl.

For this special occasion, we added some gorgeously salty and savory mushroom wonton dumplings using our gorgeously salty and savory mushroom filling recipe. We omitted the cashews, so the only crunch in the soup would come from the spring onion garnish, and we substituted for the morels the shiitakes we used to make the dashi. Feel free to use nothing but button mushrooms, and you'll still have tasty morsels on your hands.

With time running out after a quick look around town yielded not a single commercial vegan wonton wrapper, we decided we'd have to make our own pasta for the dumplings. Method here, but we used a dough much easier to work with by using roughly 1 1/3 cups flour, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/2 cup warm water. The great little folding tutorial we used is here. Adorable.

Vegan nigiri sushi trio: roasted red pepper (jarred, and we looked for a variety that, contrary to our usual preference, contained added sugar to make sure we got a lovely shot of sweetness); sliced avocado; and blanched, pressed tofu marinated in a simple, addictive soy-miso sauce from Kansha. (Knoxville readers, remember that Lawson-McGhee has a copy of Kansha you can check out--highly recommended.)

And finally, for dessert, we continued the theme by using both matcha and ginger, but also included a nod to the common Western European-American Christmas tradition by including a heap of sorghum (in lieu of molasses) and other spices. The result was a dense, moist, terrific gingerbread cake with a matcha glaze. (Cake veganized from Tartine, matcha glaze spotted in Pure Vegan.) You can see the cake at the very top of this post. It wasn't very pretty, but it was incredibly tasty. And paired beautifully with straight nigori sake.

The following morning, brunch! The MSV kitchen doesn't host this brunch, but we do make a few contributions.

Almond-crusted zucchini strips. So incredibly good. You can find our coating recipe here, but instead of using mushrooms, we cut one giant zucchini into 6 1/4-inch-thick planks. Bake on one side for 15 minutes, flip, and bake another 10-15 minutes, until golden (more golden than this shot indicates, sorry) and mind-blowingly fragrant.

On the side, fluffly little corn muffins seasoned like hush puppies. Yum. This was a first test of this recipe, and we have some ambitions for it, we think. It may reappear before long, depending on our progress with these.

And, finally, Apple-Blueberry Doughnut Cobbler. This bit of ridiculousness comes from BHG. Be warned, the mini doughnuts got a little too crispy in spots (they tasted fine, but were a bit difficult to cut), so we suggest using either full-size doughnuts or covering the cobbler for the first half of baking. And, if you hadn't already guessed, this is only for the serious sweet tooth.

Our version is different from BHG's a little, so here goes:

We made old-fashioned doughnuts the day before to make this a snap to assemble. For the filling, we used two Granny Smith apples, two Honeycrisp apples, and one cup of frozen blueberries. First, measure out the blueberries, but keep them in the freezer. Slice the apples, and cut those slices in half. Toss them with the juice of half a lemon (or lime, of course, but juice the whole lime, if substituting). Whisk together 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg. Toss the apples with that mixture, then carefully stir in the blueberries. Top with the doughnuts, drizzle with 2 TBSP of melted nondairy butter or coconut oil, and bake at 375 for 45 minutes.

See you all next year.

Dead Simple Winter Tomato Soup

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This is one pretty mini-meal in a mug.

Pureed soups are terrific not only for their comforting texture, but also because it means none of the ingredients have to be carefully chopped. Whether you're feeling too busy or too lazy for a big production, this thick, flavorful tomato soup has you covered. Keep this go-to recipe on hand for a warming, seriously sunny bowl that leaves you feeling energized rather than in need of a nap. All winter long.

For a slightly less smooth, but higher protein, variation, replace some or all of the potatoes with any cooked white bean or chickpeas.

Dead Simple Winter Tomato Soup

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serves 4-6

2 TBSP olive oil

1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1 28 oz-can whole tomatoes with their juices

1 lb gold or white potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cups water

1 dried bay leaf

1/2 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/4 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

2 TBSP smooth natural peanut butter (look for one that contains only peanuts)

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Heat the oil in a soup pot. Add onions and garlic, and saute until tender and beginning to color, 5-7 minutes. Add all other ingredients except peanut butter and nutritional yeast. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and cook until potatoes are tender, 20-25 minutes.

Remove from heat, add peanut butter and nutritional yeast, and puree until smooth with an immersion blender. Adjust seasoning and return to the stove to warm through.

Party Animals Nos. 24 and 25: Post-Thanksgiving Party 2013 and a Christmas Party

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Talk about festive. To get everyone started at our post-Thanksgiving party (held annually at the MSV house on the Friday after Thanksgiving) this year, we offered a pitcher of Cranberry-Rosemary Sangria. Really good. We recommend topping off each glass with a bit of dry bubbly to make this drink perfect.

(Also, note that we had the wrong apples on hand when we made the test run, which is what was photographed. We did use the Granny Smith apples called for in the recipe the day of the party.)

The post-Thanksgiving party is mostly about leftovers, but we always provide a couple of soups and a couple of loaves of crusty bread to supplement. This year we made miso soup with a shiitake dashi from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites. (This also made for the best possible breakfast the morning after the party) and a carrot-ginger soup from The Curry Book.

And now this weekend is our first Christmas party of the season, and to it we're taking a pitcher of Horchata White Russians. This is a genius idea for a dairy-free, gorgeous, and winter-ready mixed drink. Our recipe came from Pure Vegan, and the sweet, cinnamon-packed horchata, like everything else we've tried from that book, is pretty stunning in this drink.

But it's not the only ingredient, of course. To assemble the drink, add a half-cup of horchata to an ounce each of vodka and coffee liqueur. We made our own liqueur using this super-fast recipe. Ready in days, not weeks. Bring on the cheer.

White Corn Chowder

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It's worth repeating that corn stock is really good. That goes double for corn chowder made with corn stock. With fresh dill, a head of cauliflower, and an armful of corn, you've got a summer dish worth lingering over. We indulged our love of heat by adding a habanero to the stock, but feel free to omit it, if you prefer.

White Corn Chowder

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serves 8 

6 medium ears corn

4 large (or 6 smaller) cloves garlic

1 habanero pepper (optional) 

4 cups water

1 TBSP olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

generous 2 cups small cauliflower florets, from about 1 medium head

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 tsp dried marjoram

1 dried bay leaf

1/2 tsp fine sea or kosher salt

2 TBSP chopped fresh dill

2 cups nondairy milk

black pepper, to taste

Remove the husks and silks from the corn. In a large mixing bowl, place the cob tip-down in the center and, holding the end, use a small knife to cut the kernels off in a downward motion so they're caught by the bowl. Repeat with remaining ears and transfer the stripped cobs to a soup pot. Set the kernels aside.

Add the garlic and habanero, if using, to the soup pot and add the water. Boil, reduce heat, and simmer, covered, for 45 minutes. Strain. This should produce about 3 cups of stock.  If you're short, add enough water to make 3 full cups. Set aside

In the now-empty soup pot, heat the TBSP of oil and saute the onion until translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the cauliflower, celery, marjoram, bay leaf, salt, and stock. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook for 5 minutes. Add the corn kernels and dill, and simmer, uncovered, another five minutes. By now, the cauliflower should be tender (if not, cover and simmer a few minutes more). Remove from heat.

Add the milk and black pepper. Pulse with an immersion blender until thickened, but still chunky. (If you don't have an immersion blender, remove a couple of cups of soup, carefully blend/process with the milk, and return it to the pot.) Adjust seasoning and reheat gently. 

Black Pepper Chickpea Crackers Plus Cauliflower Soup with Smoky, Blood Orange-Scented Oyster Mushrooms

Warm, layered, and simple to put together, this meal is perfect for winter evenings, and versatile, too. The blood orange oil from The Tree & Vine on Union Avenue was a gift from a friend, and while it adds a touch of complexity to this otherwise traditionally comforting soup, it's not essential. Feel free to use any good olive oil you have on hand--or even melted unrefined coconut oil--for a milder fruity note (or if you're really craving straight-ahead comfort, substitute melted nondairy butter). Meanwhile, these crackers are addictive when crunchy, but they also make great savory little flatbreads: just roll them into small rounds and reduce the baking time a bit to leave them soft and pliable.

Black Pepper Chickpea Crackers

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adapted from Everyday Food, March 2011

1 15-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1/2 tsp prepared yellow mustard

1 1/2 tsp ground coriander

3/4 tsp finely ground sea salt (or kosher salt), plus more for sprinkling

3/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper

1 cup whole white wheat flour (we use King Arthur, or use all-purpose [see Note])

1/2 cup nutritional yeast (we get ours from the bulk bins at the co-op--if you've never tried nutritional yeast before, this is a great way to find out that it's convenient, flavorful, and versatile)

1/4 cup oil (we used peanut)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a food processor, process the chickpeas, mustard, coriander, salt, and pepper until the chickpeas are finely chopped. Add flour, nutritional yeast, and peanut oil, and process until combined. 

With the motor running, add 5 TBSP cold water, one TBSP at a time, until a ball of dough forms. [Note: if you use all-purpose flour instead of wheat, you likely won't need as much water. Just add water 1 TBSP at a time until your dough forms.] Divide the dough in two and roll out each ball to 1/8-inch thickness. Use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into 1x3-inch strips.

Place the crackers on a parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle the tops with coarse salt, and bake for 25-30 min. (This will make two very large batches, so if you have the equipment, you can bake them on two racks simultaneously. We did ours in batches.)

Cauliflower Soup with Smoky, Blood Orange-Scented Oyster Mushrooms

serves 4, adapted from Eric Ripert's A Return to Cooking

about 8 oyster mushrooms, very tender caps only, 4 oz total, cut into 1/2-inch dice

1 TBSP blood orange oil

1 tsp liquid smoke

5 cups water

1 cube no-salt-added (or low-salt) vegetable bouillon

1 large head cauliflower, trimmed and roughly chopped

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup hemp seeds (or cashews, if you have a powerful blender)

1 1/2 cups water

4 small sprigs fresh dill, stems discarded

finely ground sea salt and white pepper

Stir together the chopped mushrooms, orange oil, and liquid smoke. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat the 5 cups water together with the bouillon. When it has dissolved, add the cauliflower, reduce heat, and simmer until very tender, 25-30 min.

While the cauliflower cooks, blend together very thoroughly the 1/4 cup oil, hemp seeds, and 1 1/2 cups water. (Alternately, you can substitute the hemp seeds/cashews and water combination for 1 1/2 cups of any nondairy milk you have on hand--it won't be as rich, but it will still be tasty).

When the cauliflower is cooked, use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Add dill, season to taste with salt and white pepper, and return the pot to low heat. Stir in the cream mixture and adjust seasoning as needed.

While the soup gently reheats, sear the mushrooms--which should have absorbed all the oil and liquid smoke--just until tender, a minute or so. (We used a countertop electric grill for easy double-sided searing.)

To serve, add a couple spoonfuls of mushrooms to the bottom of a bowl and ladle the soup on top. Serve immediately.

Stacked Vegetable and Creamy Tofu Sandwich with Garlic, Greens, and Butter Bean Soup

A light meal that's guaranteed to hit the spot, this soup and sandwich combo is definitely not light on flavor or color. Earthy beets, crispy carrots, sweet pear slices, and tender spinach are piled high over a tangy, fluffy spread made in a snap by combining firm tofu with a potent prepared hummus. To go along, we knew the classic pairing of creamy butter beans and dark greens bolstered by a sprinkling herbs was just the thing to go with a surplus of garlic we had on hand. Together, they're a welcome antidote to the rich fare that abounds in December. On the other hand, if you need a little more heft, simply make a larger batch of tofu spread and slather it on thick. Or save that extra room for an after-dinner dip into the Christmas cookie jar.

Stacked Vegetable and Creamy Tofu Sandwich

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serves 4, adapted from Everyday Food, November, 2010

8 slices wheat bread

2 oz extra firm tofu

2 oz prepared hummus (we use Tomato Head's)

1 medium beet, shredded

juice of 1 lime, divided

1 pear, thinly sliced

1 cup shredded carrots

2 cups loosely packed baby spinach, or green of choice

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/8 tsp cracked black pepper

In a food processor, combine the tofu and hummus until a fluffy, creamy mixture forms. Divide the tofu spread into four equal servings of about 1 TBSP each.

Stir the juice from half of the lime into the shredded beets. Pour the juice from the other half of the lime over the pear slices and toss gently. In a small dish, stir together the salt and pepper.

To assemble the sandwiches, divide one serving (1/4 of the whole batch) of the tofu-hummus mixture in half and spread a layer on two slices of bread. Top one slice with beets, carrots, pear slices, and spinach leaves. Sprinkle a little of the salt and pepper over the tofu spread on the other slice and place on top. Grill on a counter-top electric grill or on a griddle/pan on the stove top until golden.

Garlic, Greens, and Butter Bean Soup

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serves 4

8 cups vegetable broth

1 head garlic (about 8 large cloves), minced

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 bay leaf

freshly cracked black pepper, to taste

1 bunch Italian kale, or other dark, leafy green, chopped

1 15-oz can butter beans, drained and rinsed

Bring the broth to a boil in a covered soup pot. Add garlic, oregano, thyme, cumin, bay leaf, and pepper. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf and add the chopped kale. Cook with the lid cocked for an additional 10 minutes. Add the beans and continue to cook until warmed through.

Party Animals No. 5: Post-Thanksgiving Party 2012

Thanksgiving for us has historically been packed with family. So every year, we throw a Post-Thanksgiving Party on the Friday evening following Thanksgiving wherein we blow off steam and swap leftovers with friends. To fill in the leftover gaps, we always make two soups, two loaves of crusty bread, and two other brunch-friendly pastry-type items designed to feed a crowd.

This year, we were so enamored with our Thanksgiving strudel--and admittedly, we had plenty of filling leftover (and leftovers is some of what this party's about, after all) after making the first--we decided to roll with that for the party, too. We made one spinach-sage, and the other mushroom-thyme.

Soups this year were both from Moosewood Daily Special: Spiced Mexican Squash Stew (pictured in the rear) and our personal new favorite comfort food, Egyptian Red Lentil Soup.