Quick and Easy Soup

There are all sorts of soup recipes available on the internet, but this soup, invented by my sister Leslie, is one of my all-time favourite soups.   It's so easy to make, you could easily go from start to finish in thirty minutes, so it makes a great, quick dinner after a long day at work.   The longer the soup is simmered, the more flavourful it becomes.  It's also good as a cold soup.

Leslie's California Mix Soup

• 1 large Spanish or Vidalia onion
• vegetable broth (use a low sodium brand, or your own home-made, then add your own salt to taste)
• 1 bag of frozen California mix vegetables (this is carrots, cauliflower and broccoli)
• spices and seasonings of your choice - I use freshly ground pepper and rosemary and thyme and a touch of cumin and coriander

Directions

1. Add about a half cup of the vegetable broth to a heavy soup pot and bring to a boil.
2. Coarsely chop the onions and add them to the pot.
3. Saute the onions until they are translucent.
4. Add about a pound to a pound and a half of the frozen vegetables to the pot.
5. Add enough vegetable broth to the pot to cover the frozen veggies, add your seasonings and bring to a boil.
6. Let the veggies boil for about five minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer for about ten to fifteen minutes.
7. Using an immersion blender, puree the veggies.  You could also transfer the veggies in batches to a food processor and then return the puree to the pot.
8. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Options

• I like to open a can of black beans and add them to the soup after I have pureed the veggies.  This turns the soup into a complete meal.
• If you cut up a potato or sweet potato and add it to the pot with the frozen veggies, you will get a thicker and creamier soup.  

Easter Dinner

For Easter dinner my also-vegan sister made a very nice pie containing gardein beef tips.  It was excellent.

In my experience, all of the gardein products are really tasty, and certainly well worth checking out.

A Nasty Cough & Cold

Just when we thought that we would make it through the winter unscathed, a nasty cough & cold has hit my family.

It started with my DH, then me, then my DS.   Both my husband and son have been sick for much longer than I was, and with symptoms more severe than mine.

I have to think that I was not as sick because I'm a veg head.

That's the only variable.

My New Blog

This is the first post of my new blog!

I've been thinking about writing a vegan blog for quite some time now, but have always hesitated due to the sheer number of amazing vegan blogs that are already out there, and which were the inspiration for this idea.  So here I go.

I envision that I will be writing about my recipes, my travels, my art,  my family and my cats.   I hope to have some giveaways that might encourage people to look in to my blog on a regular basis.  And I hope to attract some followers who might be interested in what I have to say.

I have added an email feed to the blog so people can receive posts directly into their email.