Happy Beltane!

Beltane is May 1st. Here's what's cooking at our house this May Day:

Beltaine Sorrel Soup

WeightWatchers POINTS® Value: 2, Servings: 7

This is a May Day tradition in my family. Our daughter and I pick the sorrel right from our garden in the morning, after washing our faces in morning dew -- supposedly doing so will give you lifelong youthful beauty. Of course eating this soup is so deliciously good for you it will surely contribute to true beauty...the kind that radiates from within as a result of good health!

The lemony taste of sorrel is distinctive, but any green could be substituted to make a delicious brew.

Ingredients:

1 pound potatoes

1 medium onion

8 oz asparagus

1/2 pound baby carrots

2 1/2 cup cooked lentils
2-3 cups chopped sorrel

Instructions:

In the bottom of a large heavy pot lightly coated w/grapeseed oil, saute the onion till softened. Add 4-6 cups veggie broth, the diced carrots & potatoes. Simmer till nearly tender. Add lentils & chopped asparagus, simmer till all veggies are soft. Add the sorrel, waiting just a minute or so for the sorrel to wilt. Salt & black pepper to taste.

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I am serving this soup with a salad of spring greens and a May Day basket of bread twists -- braids, knots & weaving are symbolic of the season. I'm purchasing the dough this year and baking them off myself.

After lunch we'll be hanging May baskets on some of our neighbor's doors -- a sweet old custom. We've made our baskets out of decorated recycled soymilk containers and have filled them with pansies. Read my Earth Day blog entry for more about these.

When we get back home, for dessert we are having these wonderful cupcakes, dusted with powdered sugar and topped with a strawberry slice:

Easy Chocolate Cupcakes

WeightWatchers POINTS® Value: 3, Servings: 12

These cupcakes are the yummiest I've tried -- moist, light and soooo easy! I halved the recipe from the original, so double it to make a traditional sized cake. Aside from my substitution of applesauce for some oil, the recipe is exact as gotten from: http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/cake.html

Ingredients

1/2 tsp table salt
1 Tbsp vinegar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup water
1 tsp baking soda
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

Mix the dry ingredients. Add the wet ingredients. Stir until smooth. Bake in papered muffin pan at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Happy spring!!!!

chunky tomato & zucchini soup

Another simple soup with zero WeightWatchers points -- perhaps since the cold weather is pretty much behind us I'm getting all my last "soup hurrah's" out till autumn. Actually, this would make a lovely summer soup when the zucchini is prolific and fresh tomatoes could sub for the canned.

1 lb zucchini (2 average sized)
1 medium onion
3 (or more) cloves garlic
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes, flavored ok
1 qt vegetable broth

In the bottom of a soup kettle brushed w/grapeseed oil, saute the onion & zucchini till softened. Add smashed & minced garlic till it releases it's fragrance. Add the broth & tomatoes, simmer till veggies are nice & tender.

golden cauliflower soup

This delicious recipe came by way my mother's friend. It is amazingly delicious and too easy to be this good. The golden color is beautiful and the lesser amount of curry powder is not too overpowering for kids. Speaking of which, next time I'm going to try this recipe with purple cauliflower -- maybe I'll call it, "purple-people-eater soup"...now that should tickle the fancy of any kid :)

I am calculating it as zero WeightWatchers points. The recipe makes about 5 servings.

1 head cauliflower, roughly chopped small
2 small onions
2 (or more) cloves garlic
2 (or more) teaspoons curry powder
1 quart of vegetable broth
1 cup water

In the bottom of a soup pot brushed w/grapeseed oil, saute the onion till translucent. Add the smashed & minced garlic clove and saute long enough to release its fragrance. Add the cauliflower, broth, water & curry powder. Simmer till cauliflower is soft & tender. Using either an immersion blender (my choice) or by small batches in a blender, puree soup to desired consistancy.

This was great seved with a vegan "cheese" sandwich on toasty wheat bread.

Stir-fried tofu 101

Tofu seems to mystify alot of people -- even many vegetarians. This is one of the ways we prepare tofu at our house.

When you purchase tofu make sure it is organic. For stirfrying, firm or extra firm is best and it should be water-packed -- usually you can find it in the produce department. As soon as you get it home, throw it in the freezer, right in the package. Freezing and thawing tofu gives it a firmer texture and keeps it from crumbling, particularly great for stirfrying. Defrost the tofu in the package as well, best done in the fridge.

Gently squeeze as much water out of the tofu as you can with your hands. Wrap it up in a clean kitchen towel, place it on a plate, place another plate over it, and then put something heavy like a can or jar on top. The longer you leave it, the more water you get out -- but 15 minutes is sufficient.

Now, you can slice it or dice it in any way you choose. I prefer rectangular chunks that are about 1/2 inch thick -- easier to turn while cooking.

At this point some people marinate the tofu -- but I don't. I lightly fry it first and then put it in the marinade. I just set it aside to hang out and soak up the sauce flavors while the veggies are stir fried. At the end I add the tofu & marinade back in to the skillet for the last few minutes to heat thru and flavor the dish. I find this way it is easier to control the oil and the "doneness" of the tofu, plus it doesn't fall apart from too much abuse with a spatula :)

The more oil you use, the crispier the tofu. But it also adds ALOT of fat to the dish. I simply use 1 or 2 teaspoons brushed in the bottom of my handy AllClad skillet and lay the tofu out evenly in the pan. I keep testing one piece to see when it "gives" freely -- meaning that the bottom is golden and the tofu can be flipped without tearing. Then I flip each piece and do the same again.

After the tofu is removed and sitting in the marinade I stir fry the veggies and then combine it all for a simple supper. Oh, and this make great leftovers. You can serve it over brown rice for dinner and then for lunch the next day wrap it in wheat tortillas for an asian inspired fahita.

For marinades you can make your own or use store-bought -- the sky's the limit. Often I do a very simple one of a splash of soy sauce and a splash of mirin (rice vinegar), a tablespoon or so of hoisin sauce, a dash of toasted sesame oil, a minced garlic clove and about 2 tablespoons of grated fresh ginger. Thin this out with some veggie broth. That's it.

Hope this inspires you to try tofu if you haven't -- and if you already enjoy this soy wonder food I hope I've given you some new ideas on how to cook up an old favorite!