Soup's On

Oatmeal

It was a cold snowy day in Baltimore and time for some comfort food.  I started the day with some loaded oatmeal.  I cooked steel cut oats with raisins, ground flaxseed, cinnamon, almonds, and diced apple.  It was topped off with some blueberries.  That was a good filling breakfast that lasted all morning.

Chili

Chili is the ultimate comfort food.  This one was loaded also.  I sauteed a couple of yellow onions, garlic and green pepper.  Then I mixed in pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, a ground beef substitute, corn, diced tomatoes and pureed tomatoes. It was spiced with salt, black and white pepper, and chili powder. For good measure, I poured in 1.5 cups of red wine.  Very hearty lunch.  I do not like to use too many processed foods, but chili seemed the right time to add some mock meat.  This one from Yves, has the texture of ground meat and is made from texture soy protein and wheat gluten.

At dinner we had some more soup.  This one was a super charged minestrone.  A little of everything was in it - acorn squash, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, whole wheat pasta, broccoli, corn, kidney beans, cannelloni beans, diced tomatoes, and spinach.  It was seasoned with salt, pepper, thyme, marjoram, and tarragon.  I used a fresh batch of homemade stock for the liquid. It was a perfect meal to end the day.

Philly Finale

Independence Hall

This is the last post from the Thanksgiving trip.  It is just a week late.  I did not take a picture of my apple tart.  For the crust, I used phyllo sheets with Earth Balance brushed between the layers.  Of course, the loft did not have any type of food brush, so I had to use paper towels.  That resulted in a a little less buttery taste but it helped in the calorie department.  I made a syrup of vanilla bean, turbino sugar, apple peel and white wine.  This was used to coat the apples which were layered on the phyllo then baked. This was a nice light dessert.

Mashed Potatoes

One must have mashed potatoes over the Thanksgiving holiday.  These are Yukon Gold potatoes that were boiled and mashed with Earth Balance and Tofutiti sour cream.  Two bunches of green onions  and garlic were mixed in.  Seriously addictive.

Honey Pecan Tart

The big dessert was the pecan tart.  The pecans were cooked with honey, almond milk and silken tofu and mounded in a tart shell.  An empty wine bottle makes a good rolling pin for the crust.  A top layer of crust was placed over the tart.  Then I poured a chocolate 'granche' made with dark chocolate, Earth Balance, almond milk and silken tofu.  The remaining pecans were mounded on top.

Tart slice

We brought lots of leftovers home and I had to be very creative to find ways to store them from the trip.  Any container that could be used was saved.  Everything made it home safe.  This was a great trip and we are looking forward to many more Thanksgiving trips.