Vegan Soups: Cauli-Potato; "New England Boiled Dinner"

Friday morning, day off, looks nice out there, and according to my neighbor's thermometer on the carport, it's headed for the 60's, not bad at all. Last Sunday, the 1st, we had rain(and also on Saturday, the 28th), and quite a bit of it, too. Then in the early afternoon, we had SNOW! Yep, right here in Georgia, we had beautiful, gorgous, fluffy white stuff, and it came down good, too. Sadly, it only lasted a few hours, but it gave us almost two inches, I guess, and the backyard at the Waffle House looked like a fairyland: the trees were just covered in white, and it was lovely. There's a church sort of catty-cornered across the street from my teeny tiny little house, and the kids played out in the yard all afternoon, laughing, screaming, just having a ball. When I went to work the next morning, I saw that they had built a HUGE snowman, and a smaller one beside it! Don't you know those little kids had a great day?!?!

I went to my doctor this past Wednesday, the 4th, and wish I hadn't gone. The good news is that, finally, my b/p is just about normal: 125/85, and my pap smear was fine, along with my cholesterol and sugar. But. Sigh. Sad news: my urinalysis showed a borderline high for creatin(creatine? creatinine? Not sure...), so Doc has taken me off the diuretic and replaced it with something else, told me to cut way back on my pain meds(I can't. I can't work without them. I can't even stand up straight without them.), and back off the protein. Now, that's just plain ironic, because I'd been afraid I wasn't getting enough! My thyroid level is borderline low, which may have something to do with the fact that I'm so tired most of the time, and also with the fact that I'm overweight. Sure. That's it. My weight has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I eat, and that I eat a LOT, lol. Anyway, I'm to go back in six weeks, and have the thyroid and urinalyisis re-done, so if you're a praying person, please include me in your prayers, ok? If the creatin level isn't normal, it means that my kidneys may be failing, and that's, well, that's kinda scary, y'know. Anyway...this is a food blog, so let's talk about soups, ok?

Both of these soups were cooked without using anybody else's recipe, altho I'm sure there are recipes for cauliflower soup all over the place. In fact, I know for sure that there's one in "Laurel's Kitchen." As for the "New England Boiled Dinner Soup," I don't think I've ever seen a recipe like it before. It came about because I realized that the cabbage in my 'fridge was going to turn bad, so why didn't I fix a New England Boiled Dinner, minus the meat, for dinner? Somewhere along the line I realized I could probably make a wonderful soup with the ingredients, so I did. And here's the "recipe," altho it's mostly one of those "to taste" sort of things.

New England Boiled Dinner Soup

Two or three good-sized potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and chunked into about 1/2" piece
Roughly a quarter of a medium-sized head of cabbage, diced.
Two or three good-sized carrots, diced very small.
About ten cups of water, with two vegetable buillion cubes and one big bay leaf.
1/2 large onion or 1 small one, diced very small.
As much garlic as you like.
One or two stalks of celery, diced very small.
Good dashes of dried thyme and tarragon, depending on how well you like them.
Salt and black pepper to taste.
Olive oil and margarine(vegans can use Earth Balance, I use Blue Bonnet)

Put about a tablespoon each of the oil and margarine in a large pot. When it has melted, add the diced onion, celery, stir and allow to soften, about five minutes or so. Add the carrots, garlic, and potato, stir to coat with the oil/margarine, and then add the water, buillion cubes, bay leaf, thyme, tarragon, and salt and pepper. Bring to a full rolling boil, turn heat to low, or whatever will keep the soup simmering gently, cover, and walk away. Cook this as long as you want to. For me, about 45 minutes to an hour is good, because I want the carrots to be extremely soft, and the potatoes to sort of "melt" into the liquid. I've read that if the potatoes aren't allowed to cook long enough to be extremely soft, that they have a tendency to make the soup a little "gluey." I don't know, I always cook my 'taters to death. Anyway, once everything is as tender as you want it, you can ladle it out just like it is, you can blend it in a blender...be very careful, don't put it all in the blender at once, and make sure to use a towel to hold the cover of the blender on tightly. You sure don't want to get burned. You can also use an immersion blender, or, like I did, just mash the whole mess with a potato masher. This thickened it up some, but still left some texture. And don't forget to take the bay leaf out and throw it away.

This made enough to feed me for about three days, if I remember correctly. All I had with it was some biscuits...yup, the box mix, lol. The soup was wonderful, and I'll make it again sometime.

By the way, for those of you who aren't from the New England area, and may not know what the Boiled Dinner is, this is for you: The New England Boiled Dinner has either ham or corned beef in it, along with potatoes, carrots, and cabbage. Some cooks add beets to it, too, but I'm not a beet person. All of this is boiled(duh, right?)in one pot, making it one of the easiest meals to fix. The first day, it's served seperately, each person taking as much of each veggie and the meat as they like. The next day, the meat is simply served cold and sliced, but, oh, the veggies!!! The veggies are all turned into what's known as "Red Flannel Hash," which sounds dreadful, I know, but trust me, it's fantastic. I actually like the hash better than the actual first meal from this. Melt some grease in a large skillet(the thrifty New England housewife would no doubt use bacon grease that she had saved), and put all the leftover veggies in the skillet. As they heat up, start cutting them...my grandmother had a small juice can with both ends taken out that she used strictly for this hash...until they are smooshed up together. Let them fry until one side is brown, turn it over, and let the other side brown. Serve it with butter and, believe it or not, cider vinegar. The beets turn the whole thing reddish, hence the name of Red Flannel. Wonderful stuff, and it can be made without the meat, just boil the veggies together, and then hash them up the next day.

Cauli/Potato Soup
One head of cauliflower, washed, and broken into florets(I cheated and used a 1lb.package of frozen cauliflower, so you can, too, if you want to).
Two or three good-sized potatoes, scrubbed, peeled, and diced.
1/2 large onion, or 1 small, diced.
One or two stalks of celery, diced.
One large bay leaf, or two smaller ones.
Thyme and tarragon to taste.
Salt and black pepper to taste.
About 8-10 cups water, and two vegetable buillion cubes.

You probably don't even need directions for this, right? So, I'll try to make this short and sweet.

Put some oil and margarine(vegans use Earth Balance or all oil, your choice)in your soup pot, get it hot, toss in the onions and celery, let them soften, add the cauliflower and potatoes, and then the water and buillion cubes. Cover the pot, bring to a boil, turn the heat down and let it simmer until everything is as tender as you want it. For me, that's about 45-60 minutes. Take the bay leaf out and throw it away, and then do what you want with the soup: blender, immersion blender, leave it the way it is, or mash with a potato masher, which is what I did with this soup, just like the last one. And that's all there is to that!!!

Good soup, and I know I'll make it again, because I've made it before...it's one of my favorites.

I've been doing some hunting for vegan/vegetarian St. Patrick's Day recipes, and hope to have some for you before the 17th, St. Patrick's Day. What I've found so far is Irish Soda Bread, which I made last night. It didn't turn out too well, so I'm going to have to try it again...whenever I get around to buying more flour. I also found a vegetarian recipe for "Beef and Guiness Stew," which is a challange for me, as I'm a teetotaller, which means I'd have to substitute something for the Guiness. Apple cider? Vegetable broth? Don't know yet. To go with it, of course I found Colcannon(cabbage and 'tatties together), which I actually cook for myself sometimes, and a Pease Porridge, which is green split peas. I'd prefer the yellow ones, but can't find any around here. And of course, Irish Coffee, which I won't make, and some kind of dessert, but I've forgotten what it was, lol.

Oh, well, right? So, until next time, Happy Eating!!!