It’s Day 1 of my “7 Days of Vegan Eating” blogathon! To celebrate the start of Spring, I’ll be posting recipes and sharing lots of vegan foods throughout the week, including foods I make at home and food I eat out at restaurants here in NYC. At the end of this week, I’m looking forward to the first ever NYC Vegetarian Food Festival in Chelsea. Should be fun! Why am I doing this vegan blogathon? During the past few weeks I read Jonathan Safran Foer’s book Eating Animals and Alex Jamieson’s Living Vegan for Dummies. I’ve learned so much, including a lot of things that terrify me about our food system and factory farms, but on the bright side, these eye-opening reads made me excited about vegan cooking and I want to share that with you! If you’re not already a vegan or vegetarian, adding more plant-based meals to your diet and cutting down on your consumption of animals products is a huge step towards better health, clearer skin, and dramatically reducing your eco footprint.
On to the fun stuff! Yesterday I started my day with a bowl of granola, walnuts, bananas, strawberries, and So Delicious unsweetened coconut milk. Delicious and filling! Then I had a few errands to run before dance class, so I swung by Angelica’s Kitchen in the lower east side and ordered a Tempeh Reuben Sandwich with a side salad and a fresh carrot/apple juice. The sandwich has baked tempeh with caraway, cumin, tofu Russian dressing, sauerkraut, and lettuce on whole grain bread. It was warm and comforting on a cold day. Yes…we are still having freezing temperatures in NYC. But, at least the sun was out.
I was hungry again on my way home from class, so I ordered a little hummus and falafel snack from a small middle-eastern takeout restaurant and picked up groceries on my way home.
When I got home I relaxed for a few hours and watched Little Shop of Horrors on Netflix, so I didn’t end up making dinner for my boyfriend and I until after 9pm. But that’s pretty normal for us. I made asparagus with toasted pine nuts and fresh rosemary (using vegan Earth Balance butter to toast the pine nuts) and also a potato soup garnished with avocado and green onions. Here’s a recipe for the potato soup, plus a few pictures from the whole day.
I’ll be back tomorrow. Looking forward to sharing the rest of my week with you!
Potato Soup w/ Green Onions & Avocado (Vegan)
(makes about 4-6 servings)
2.5 lbs. white waxy potatoes
1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 quart vegetable stock (low sodium)
1 cup water
1 large yellow onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. cumin
2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper (to taste)
Avocado (for garnish)
Green onion (for garnish)
Chop up the onion and toss it into a soup pot with the olive oil over medium-low heat. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the onion begins to turn translucent, stirring frequently. Chop up the garlic, add it to the pot, and sauté for another couple of minutes. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and chop them up into small cubes. Add the potatoes to the soup pot and pour in the quart of veggie stock and the cup of water. Add the tsp. of cumin and salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1 heaping tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. black pepper). Bring up to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 40 minutes, until the potatoes are very soft. Remove pot from heat. Puree the soup using a blender or food processor until very smooth. Pour the soup back in the pot and add the coconut milk. Stir to incorporate the milk and adjust any seasonings as necessary. Serve soup warm topped with plenty of diced avocado and green onions.
Tip: The unsweetened coconut milk (such as So Delicious brand) will not make your soup taste coconut-y. I promise! It is just a healthy vegan substitute for heavy cream, used to smooth out your soup and give it a nice creamy texture.
Breakfast granola, bananas, strawberries, walnuts, unsweetened coconut milk
Asparagus w/ fresh rosemary and tons of pine nuts
Tempeh Reuben Sandwich & Salad (from Angelica's Kitchen)
