Delicious Vegetable Soup {Vegan Friendly}

This soup is nothing but beautiful vegetables.

Go to your favourite market and pick out some season vegetables.

Some of my favourites are root vegetables such as beets and carrots, a squash, 

some sweet bell peppers, hearty greens such as kale or swiss chard and something from the onion family.

To make a perfect vegetable broth

simply save all the trimmings and ends as you go about preparing your vegetables

and store them in a freezer zipper bag in your fridge's freezer.

Once the bag is full empty it into a large pot and fill it with water.

Bring it to a boil, then simmer for a long time. 

Often I just leave it on the stove all evening until I go to bed.

Separate into more labeled freezer bags and store for later use.

For this soup I peeled and roughly cut up

-one medium sized butternut squash

-two carrots

-a shallot

-some black kale (I reserved the rest for a salad)

-an apple

-a yellow pepper

-half a head of broccolli

- the whites of a leek

- 3 golden beets (red beets are fine too but will alter the colour of the soup)

- a whole head of garlic. (Lob the tips off and leave in the paper. Wrap in foil.)

Spread it all out on a pan and drizzle with a few glugs of your favourite oil.

Roast for about an hour at 400 degrees. 

They vegetables will all cook differently, but ultimately the squash should be able to be pierced with a fork.

You will have some lovely charred bits too, just adds to the flavour.

Take a large pot and add your vegetable broth.

(You can use chicken stock too, but it won't be vegan anymore.)

Add all your vegetables.

Next unwrap your garlic from the foil.

Squeeze it from the bottom and all the fragrant cloves will just pop out.

Bring this all to a boil and simmer for at least 35 minutes.

All the vegetables should be soft now.

If you have a hand held emulsion blender use this to puree the soup.

If not, transfer portions of the soup into a blender until it has all be pureed.

Keep over heat.

Next, add your flavours and aromatics.

This is where you get to be really creative and do what you please.

Explore different culinary worlds and make your soup

Moroccan, Indian, a bit bold and spicey.

Or you could leave it simple by seasoning it with some fresh ground pepper and salt.

If you wish, add a dollop of creme fresh or sour cream on the top and some fresh cut chives.

Bon Apetit! 

Smoked Salmon Pasta with Lemon Garlic Sauce

Every once in a while,

I make pasta.

I absolutely love pasta,

so I always need to practice self control

and make it only on special occasions.

And what other special occasion

is there then having guests for dinner?

Tonight we are having Alex and Alex over.

Alex M. is in his twelfth quarter and finishes in just a couple of weeks.

Alex and Alex both played football with Spencer at UBC,

and both are down here going to school with Spencer.

Sometimes we have them over for dinner,

I make something yummy and homemade for them. 

(I know if my son was going to school away from me,

I'd appreciate knowing that someone was making them a mom-like meal once in a while.)

The boys hang out and talk about "the good ol' days" when they played ball.

I love listening to their stories.

Tonight I'm going to make them one of my favourite pasta dishes.

Something I concocted a while back with smoked salmon, peas,

bell peppers and a lemon super garlic-y sauce.

Here's the recipe:

What you'll need:

-smoked salmon

-frozen peas, 1 bell pepper diced, 1/2 yellow onion diced.

-butter or margerine

-milk

-flour or cornstarch

-1 lemon

-4 or 5 cloves of garlic (fresh local garlic has more flavour, I recommend using it) 

-salt and pepper

-pasta that can hold a heavy sauce, I like bow tie

Method:

1) Heat about 1 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan. Slice the smoked salmon into thin strips. Add them to the pan. Next add the onion and bell pepper. Heat over med-low.

2) While that is cooking, make a simple roux with butter/margerine, flour and milk. Zest the rind of half a lemon. Add your garlic, salt and pepper. Then add fresh lemon juice a bit at a time to taste. If you wish, add a bit of thyme and/or dill, but just a touch. The real stars in this sauce are the garlic and lemon.

3) Whisk together, and do a taste test. Turn on med-low and keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. It should begin to thicken. 

4) Put a big pot of water on the stove and bring to a boil. 

5) Next, add some garlic to your smoked salmon and vegetable mix if you wish (I do!) 

6) Add the pasta to the water, cook al dente (a slight firmness in the centre of the pasta.) Check your sauce. Once the pasta is close to being finished, and your sauce is beginning to thicken, add the frozen peas to the smoked salmon pan.

7) Drain the pasta, and add the sauce to the smoked salmon pan. Add the pasta and stir to combine. 

ENJOY!