summer soups.

one weekend in august we turned a trip to the market into two wonderful summer soups. we made gazpacho and velvet corn soup. both were wonderfully cool against the august heat, and we fully enjoyed an evening with jason and holli.

many mix-ins for our gazpacho

i can't remember exactly how we made the gazpacho because we combined ideas from several recipes, but here is the recipe for the velvet corn soup, which i found at NPR online.

cold velvet corn soup

makes 4 to 6 servings
6 ears of fresh corn, husked
2 leeks, white parts only
4 cups vegetable stock
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
chopped scallions for garnish

rub the ears of corn with a towel to remove the last silk threads. cut the kernels off of the cob into a large mixing bowl. break the cobs in half and put them into a stockpot.

halve the white part of the leeks lengthwise and rinse them well. chop them coarsely and place in the stockpot. add all remaining ingredients except corn kernels. bring the soup to a boil and simmer for 25 minutes.

remove corn cobs and the bay leaf and discard. add the corn kernels and simmer for 5 more minutes. using a blender on high, puree the soup in batches. (the recipe suggested to strain the soup through a sieve, but we just blended it very well and served as is.) after blending, chill the soup for at least 4 hours before serving.

mock duck.

it's uncanny (seriously, no pun intended) how much this gluten seems like meat.  the texture is quite convincing, and this little can of "meat" is just over a dollar.  we're just careful at our oriental market to grab the least dusty and least faded can.

with a little vegetarian stir fry sauce from the same market, a mongolian duck stir-fry whips up in just a few minutes.

sushi.

we had tried our hand at sushi a couple of times before this summer,  but this time we decided to perfect our skills.  we bought the proper rice and followed the veganomicon recipe for the filling.

tempeh, vegan mayo, sesame oil, and sriracha sauce made up our filling

pressing the rice - cover the bottom 2/3 of the nori

all the supplies are handy - fillings, rice, and water to clean off the sticky rice

ready to roll

reapplying my sandwich rolling skills with the bamboo mat

a cutco knife makes a clean cut

inside-out roll

delicious, of course

update: banana muffin recipe

here is the recipe for the chocolate chip banana muffins posted earlier this summer

ingredients:

1/2 C butter

1 t vanilla

3/4 C sugar

egg replacer for 2 eggs (1 egg = 2T H2O + 2T cornstarch)

1 1/4 C flour

3/4 C oats

1 t baking soda

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

1 C over-ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 C vegan chocolate chips (optional, but delightful)

preparations:

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. cream butter, sugar, and vanilla. add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each. (i also make sure to mix up the eggs with a fork while pouring to ensure all the cornstarch stays in the water).

3. in a second bowl, mix flour, oats, salt, soda, and powder.

4. add the dry mix to the wet mix in two additions.

5. add mashed bananas and mix.

6. add chocolate chips.

7. i make mine in a mini muffin tin, but either will work well. grease it and bake the batter for about 25 minutes.

marble cupcakes

these little delights come from vegan cupcakes take over the world.

ginger peanut tofu salad

this is one of joe's favorites.  i generally prefer not to have it, but i would feel guilty hiding the recipe for him, so i still get the ingredients for it occasionally.  the recipe is from the mercy for animals website.

chocolate chip banana muffins