Vegan Lasagna Soup

 Winter continues around here this week with some frigid temperatures and the possibility of more snow (Yay!).   That means there is plenty of time to get cozy and snuggle up with a big bowl of Lasagna Soup.  

Lasagna, although delicious, can be a very time consuming meal to prepare.  You have snow to play in, a couch to curl up on and movies to watch.  This soup has all of that lasagna yumminess (I'm sure that's a word) and it comes together in about 30 minutes.   Who doesn't love quick, easy and delicious?

Here's the recipe:

Lasagna Soup

ingredients:

2 tsp olive oil

7-8 lasagna noodles

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic

1 TBSP tomato paste

1 15.5 oz can diced tomatoes

1/2 cup meatless crumbles

2 TBSP nutritional yeast

4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 tsp pepper

1.5 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 cup oat milk

1 TBSP lemon juice

1 cup fresh spinach

directions:

Heat oil in large pot on medium heat.  Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes.

Stir in broth, meatless crumbles, tomatoes, tomato paste, pepper and Italian seasoning and bring to boil.

Break lasagna noodles into bite sized pieces and drop in boiling soup.  

Cook for 8-10 minutes or until noodles are completely cooked.

Add lemon juice, plant milk, nutritional yeast and spinach and stir.

Remove pot from heat and serve.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*Any plant milk will work.  If you are not vegan, you can use regular milk.

*Meatless crumbles are plant-based crumbles that are made to look like meat.  They add texture and give the soup the lasagna vibes.

*I add in a splash of wine while making this soup.

This would be a great addition for your meatless Monday menu.   

If you make Lasagna Soup, let me know what you think in the comments.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Lemon Cookies

This recipe for Raspberry Lemon Cookies has been on my list of things to try to make for a long time. now.  It has been a tad cold here (we're talking -11F) and I thought this was the perfect moment to try making these cookies.  It's a cold day, why not bake some cookies, right?   I found the recipe for the Raspberry Lemon Cookies here.  Check out the page for some beautiful pictures of these cookies.

I made these vegan by using a plant-based butter.  My only regret is that these cookies flattened out in the oven.  That didn't stop anyone from eating them.  These come out as delicious, soft cookies.  The combination of raspberry and lemon are delightful.  These cookies are similar to raspberry scones except they are a lot softer.

Here's the recipe:

Raspberry Lemon Cookies

ingredients:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup butter, cubed

2/3 cup heavy whipping cream

Juice and zest from 1/2 a lemon

1 cup frozen raspberries, chopped

Lemon glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 TBSP lemon juice

directions:

Oven 350F.  

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In large bowl, whisk flour, baking powder and sugar.  Add in small cubes of butter.  Mix using a pastry cutter until ingredients are combined.

Stir in cream, lemon zest and juice and mix until combined.  If dough is dry, add a Tablespoon of cream.  It should be a thicker dough.  Then, fold in the cold raspberries.  Drop dough onto cookie sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes.  

Let cool.

For the Glaze, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice and drizzle over cooled cookies.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *  * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I made these vegan by using plant butter in place of regular butter.  The cookies did flatten out quite a bit.

To make the heavy whipping cream vegan, substitute combination of oat milk and oil and whip together.

I cut the glaze recipe in half and it was more than enough glaze for all of the cookies.

Enjoy!

That Person

I think this post lists some valid reasons on why I should not drive the child to the bus stop in the morning.

Frigid temperatures here led me to drive the child to the bus stop in the morning.  Yea, I know.  Drive to the bus stop?  Why not just drive them to school?  BECAUSE IT'S 6AM, THAT'S WHY!!   As I was saying, I drove the young child to the bus stop, and we waited.  Kids started showing up as the bus pulled up.  As the bus was about to leave, I noticed a kid running down the street.  Instead of waiting for the kid, the driver took off, heading to the next stop.  I decided to do my best to help out in this situation and started honking my horn like a mad woman to get the drivers' attention.  I even rolled down the window and asked the kid if he wanted me to drive him to the next stop.

I'm going to stop the story right there and we can step back and analyze look at this scenario. 

It's 6am and I am honking my horn like a crazed lunatic in a quiet suburban neighborhood.  Yea, not much to say on that subject.  Moving right along we have the fact that I am offering a kid a ride to the next bus stop.  Let's add in the fact that I have no idea who this kid belongs to or where he lives in the neighborhood.  So, in simple words, we are strangers.  The kid is probably thinking that I am a psycho lunatic and just wants to get away from me as quickly as possible.  

Getting back to the story, as suspected, the kid declined my offer for a ride, was turning around to head back home when I noticed the bus stopped.  I yelled, "Hey, the bus stopped!  Hurry up and you can go hop on!"  

When I got back home, I realized that I must have appeared as some scary psycho perv offering some strange kid a ride in my car.  One of us could have gotten hurt (probably me).  

You will be happy to know that no one was harmed in this situation.  The police were not called.  I was not taken away to jail.   I was not kicked out of the neighborhood (yet).  Oh, and the kid was able to get the bus and make it to school.  

Veganuary

 We are halfway through Veganuary and I thought I would check in and see how everyone is doing on their journey.  If you haven't tried the vegan diet, now is a great time to test it out.  There are plenty of easy vegan dishes for you to make and most restaurants are willing to make an entree vegan upon request.

Oh, you don't want to be inconvenienced. 

You are worried about what you will eat for the day.  

You don't care about the health benefits of a plant-based diet.  

Well, while you complain, consider these facts:  Going vegan for just one day saves

40 pounds of grain*

1100 gallons of water**

30 square feet of forest

1 animal

20 pounds of CO2

*That grain can feed hungry populations around the world

**equivalent to four months' worth of showers

I'll make it easy for you to get started.  Here is a list of vegan recipes here on the blog.  Pick out a few and plan your day so you will know what you can eat.  

Appetizers:

Thai Coconut Curry Soup

Avocado Jalapeño hummus

Red Lentil Tomato Soup

Roasted Cauliflower

Tuscan Soup

Entrees:

Black Beans, Cuban Style  add rice to make as a meal

Black Beans and Spanish Rice
Black Bean Tortilla Pie
Broccoli Salad
Cajun Tofu, Sweet Potato, Cilantro Rice Bowl
Cauliflower Fried Rice, Vegan

Chick Pea Salad Sandwiches
Chick Pea Tikka Masala

Collard Greens with Beans

Crispy Tofu 

Dolmades Vegetarian

Eggplant Patties
Fakes (Greek Lentil Soup)

Falafel, Baked 

Green Beans (Greek Style)

Jambalaya, Vegan

Manicotti

Meatballs, Vegan

Mexican Quinoa Bake

Moroccan Couscous with Roasted Vegetables
Pad Thai, Vegan

Poblanos, Roasted and Stuffed

Roasted Vegetables and Pesto Penne Pasta
Putanesca Sauce with Angel Hair Pasta

Tabbouleh

Vegetable Stir Fry 
Vegetarian Chili
Vegetarian Hoppin John

And, of course, dessert:

Black Bean Brownies (Vegan)
Black Bean Protein Bites

Brownies, Vegan

Brownies, Vegan 2 

Chocolate Chip Blondies, Vegan

Energy Bites

I hope you give vegan a try, even if it's just for one day.  

If you decide to try vegan for a day, let me know how it went in the comments below.

Vegan Tuscan Soup

Looking for a quick easy meal to warm you up on a cold winter night?  This recipe for Tuscan Soup fits the bill.  And no crazy ingredients requiring you to make a special trip to the grocery store.   This is a perfect recipe if you are participating in Veganuary.  Not vegan yet?  Check my notes at the bottom of the recipe and see what you can substitute for those vegan items.

Here's the recipe:

Tuscan Soup

ingredients:

1 can 15oz crushed tomatoes

24oz vegetable broth

1/2 small onion finely chopped

1/2 lb. vegan sausage, chopped*

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

black pepper, to taste

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 cup kale, chopped

1/4 cup oat milk

1/4 cup vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast

1 cup penne pasta

directions:

In dutch oven, sauté sausage, onion and garlic 3-5 minutes.  Add vegetable broth, tomatoes and seasonings.  Bring to boil.  Add penne pasta and let cook for another 15 minutes or until pasta is al dente.  Add in vegan parmesan and oat milk and let cook for10 minutes.  Add chopped kale and cook for another 10 minutes.  

Serve with vegan parmesan or nutritional yeast.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*I chop the vegan sausage in bite sized pieces.  

*Feel free to add less garlic.  I like garlic and 4 cloves was pretty good.  

*Not vegan?  You can substitute meat sausage, heavy cream and parmesan cheese.  

If you make this vegan Tuscan Soup, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Enjoy!

The Greek Alphabet

So, there has been this invasion annoyance pandemic going on for a couple of years now.  Something called the coronavirus (COVID-19) has invaded the planet.  To make matters worse, it decided to mutate instead of just going away.   We went from discussing and fearing Covid-19 to taking cover  hiding from  learning about different variants of this virus.  In order to distinguish between the variants so we can further discuss and learn more about them, we needed some new names.  The Scientist's got together and said, hey, let's name the variants by using the Greek alphabet!  This is where all of the Greeks start to cringe.  "Great, people across the world mispronouncing the Greek alphabet.  How fun."

First up, the Delta variant.  Delta is a good, strong letter (some people might argue that it's a great letter).  It isn't that difficult to pronounce, right?  Delta.  This happened to be one of the stronger of the variants, so, we will accept your hard "D" sound and move right along.

Next up is the Omicron variant.  Pronounced oh-me-crohn.  Please note those long "o" sounds.  Feel free to practice that a few times.  Omicron.  That means that it is not pronounced, omni-cran.  Don't even think of saying, "ahv-rahn" which is Google's mis pronunciation.  And it is definitely not omni-crayon.  The last time I checked, there were no crayons in the Greek alphabet.  Omicron.  See how easy that is to say?  You can now go and impress your friends.  

I guess we will have to stick around and see what letter gets destroyed  ruined  used with the next outbreak.  And to the Greek people in the world, brace yourselves.  I don't think this is going to get any better.

National Pizza Week

 This year I thought I would pepper the blog with some fun National Weeks throughout the year.  

This week we are celebrating National Pizza Week.

Pizza, it's not just for lunch or dinner.  You can have breakfast pizza, using eggs, cheese and bacon as your toppings.  You can have a dessert pizza with fruit and some type of whipped topping or cream cheese.  How about a keto pizza using a cauliflower crust?  And, since we are doing Veganuary, you can make your pizza vegan by not adding cheese or trying a vegan mozzerella. 

Some fun and interesting pizza facts:

Every day in America 100 acres of pizza is consumed.  

That's roughly 350 slices of pizza per second.  

Five billion pizzas are sold each year throughout the world.  

Superbowl Sunday is the biggest day for pizza sales.  

Thin crust is the most popular.

Saturday night is the most popular time for eating pizza*.

How to celebrate National Pizza Week?

Eating as much pizza as possible all week long.

How about having a pizza party?

Try different toppings on your pizza.

Order pizza and have it delivered.

Have a "make your own pizza" night.

Go out for pizza.

Eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Try a new pizza place.

Have a pizza and movie night.

Share your pizza on social media using #NationalPizzaWeek

Invite your brother over and have him make pizza for you!

What kind of pizza will you try this week?

*I might have to change my Friday night pizza night to Saturday.

My Weird Dog - The Snow Pants

It's interesting the effect an article of clothing can have on any one person (or dog).  Toss on a pair of sweatpants and people ask if there is something wrong with you (are you sick?).  Put on a dress or some nice, clean clothes and everyone asks where you are going "all dressed up?"  

The other day it started snowing.  If you know me, then you know how much I love snow.  I like shoveling and all of the fun things to do in the snow like making snow angels, sledding and hiking.  Another fun thing I do in the snow is play with my dog.  Luckily, Pippen loves the snow as much as I do.

The snow was coming down, beautifully decorating the trees and fences.  RT suggested going for a walk in the snow.  

A little side note:  We don't say the word "walk" in our house.  The word is understood by the child  Pippen and gets him overly excited.  Various words are substituted: hike or adventure.  Pippen has yet to catch on to these replacement words.

I quickly went downstairs and pulled my snow pants from the closet.  The minute Pippen hears the snow pants are making an appearance he knows exactly what is about to happen and all h*** breaks loose he starts to go a little crazy.

I have had these snow pants for, wow, maybe I don't want to share the age of these pants?  How about... These snow pants have been a staple in my winter wardrobe for quite a few years now.  That sounds much better.  I am glad that they are still bringing everyone (including the dog Pippen) some joy.

Icing for Sugar Cookies

 I noticed that I posted my favorite sugar cookie recipe and forgot to post the icing recipe.  This icing recipe is very easy to make, and has only 4 ingredients!  The icing can be made ahead of time and placed in the refrigerator.  Just make sure to take it out 30 minutes prior to decorating your cookies!

Here is the recipe:

Icing for Sugar Cookies

ingredients:

2 cups powdered sugar

1.5 TBSP corn syrup

1/2 tsp vanilla*

2 TBSP milk*

directions:

In a medium size bowl, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, milk and vanilla until the mixture is smooth.  It should be thick if you are using it as piping.  Tint the icing using your choice of food coloring.

You can use a bag or knife to spread the icing onto your cookies.

Allow the icing to harden (dry) before stacking cookies for storage.

Leftover icing can be stored in the refrigerator.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

*Want to veganize this recipe?  I substituted oat milk for milk.  The icing came out wonderfully and was very easy to use.

*Feeling a little crazy?  Substitute orange or almond extract for a different flavor icing. 

Enjoy!

Veganuary Challenge

 The new year is always a great time for a change.  Some people view change as adding more exercise to their life while others are drawn to a healthier diet.  If you are one of the healthy food people, why not try the Veganuary Challenge?  

Veganuary is pretty simple.  Let's break it down.  Vegan, no meat or animal products for the entire month of January.  It's only 31 days (less, if you start right now!)  You won't be alone on this challenge, either.  You will be joining over 500,000 other people around the world!

Veganuary is based out of the UK and was started back in 2014.  Their goal is for people on this journey to learn about animal suffering on farms, the impact on the environment and climate change and to improve their own health.

What's in it for you?

Well, how about your impact on the environment.  A vegan diet produces fewer greenhouse gases while conserving water and land.

It can also lower your sugar intake.  Processed foods are known to have a high amount of sugar than, say, plain old fruits and vegetables.  Eliminating these foods from your diet will help lower your chances of diabetes and heart disease.  Speaking of your heart, eating vegan eliminates red meat and dairy, which are major sources of saturated fats and high cholesterol, and are linked to heart disease and strokes. 

Going vegan is also a great way to lose weight.  Red meat and dairy are high in fat and calories.  Eating less of these options can result in weight loss.  Throw in a little exercise and you are good to go!

How to start?

You can head on over to Veganuary.com to sign up.  It's free!  When you sign up, you will be given a free e-cookbook, nutrition guides, easy meal plans and 31 days of encouraging emails.

You can also participate without signing up.  Maybe enlist a friend to join you?  How about trying it out for one week?  There are several apps out there that can help you with your vegan journey, too.  Check out Google play or the app store.

If you do decide to try Vegan, here are a few tips for you.

A little worried about what you will eat?  Do a little research on meals and snacks.  Knowing what you can eat will make the challenge much easier.

How about trying to go vegan for a day or two at a time.  You know, baby steps.  You can trick the brain by saying it's only two days.*  If you survive the two days, try to go a little longer next time.

Make sure to watch your B-12 levels.  Vitamin B-12 is hard to come by on a vegan diet.  Look to nutritional yeast or taking a Vitamin B-12 supplement. 

There are several recipes here on A Scary Journey.  Just tap Recipes on the right or search vegan on the blog.

If you decide to do the challenge, let me know in the comments below.

*Going vegan for a day has a big impact on the environment.