Tag Archives: chipotle

Clint Would Bring Out A Smoking Gun Out For This Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder

Posted on by
Reply

Ohhh Vegan Corn Chowder I love you so. You are a beautiful filling and thick vegan cream-based soup, a great vegetarian alternative to clam chowder.

I’ve been meaning to make a soup with these beautiful yellow niblets for sometime as we had a bag of frozen ones in our freezer. I was skeptic that frozen corn wouldn’t be as tasty as fresh organic corn, but I was so VERY wrong to do so!

The Verdict of Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder

Well, lets just say that this soup is a match made in heaven when treated with a smoking gun. It’s begging for some smoke and mimicking Clint Eastwood saying “Go ahead make my day”.  Don’t get me wrong, this soup is a superstar without the smoking process, but the it adds a manly smokiness leaving you begging for seconds. If you don’t have a smoking gun, your second best tactic is to use a few drops of liquid smoke, usually packaged in a little glass bottle found in most grocery or gourmet food stores.

 

What I love about this soup is that it is nice and creamy. Using cashews with the almond milk is a perfect touch and one may guess that there is a bit of cream in this soup and not a vegan soup. Oh ya, make sure you keep a reserve of corn and bright red pepper morsels on the side to add as a garnish in the end!!

Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped fine
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
  • 1 parsnip, shredded
  • 1 yukon gold potato, chopped fine
  • 1 red pepper, chopped fine (reserve some for garnish)
  • 2 cup veggie broth
  • 1 (16 ounce) bag frozen corn (reserve some for garnish)
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dired oregano
  • 2 cups almond milk
  • ½ cup raw cashews
  • 2 chipotle chile in adobo sauce
  • 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro (chopped fine)

 Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder Instructions

  1. Heat oil, sauté onion and garlic until soft on medium
  2. Add parsnip and potato, sauté for about 3-55 minutes more.
  3. Add corn, salt and pepper
  4. Add in broth
  5. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to simmer
  6. Add oregano, almond milk, and simmer 10 – 15 minutes (or until your potatoes are tender
  7. While the soup is simmering add the cashews and chipotle with 2 cups of the soup and puree in blender. If using a smoking gun, add the hose in while you are blending the soup for best smoking.
  8. Stir mixture back into the soup. Add lemon juice. Add in red pepper (remember, keep some for garnish).
  9. Heat back up
  10. Optional: give the soup another punch of the smoing gun here if you wish (with lid on of course).
  11. Serve in bowls.
  12. Garnish with reserved red pepper, corn and cilantro
  13. Bam, enjoy!

Original recipe. I combined ideas form the following two recipes:

What I changed from the original recipe(s):

  • I did not use celery nor carrot
  • I used a parsnip instead of the carrot, and I shredded it into of fine chopped.
  • I used almond milk and not coconut milk
  • I used cilantro instead of chives
  • I used oregano instead of coriander
  • I used lemon instead of red sherry vinegar, and more of it. I seem to favor lemon juice most of the time to give a punch to soups to lift the taste.
Soup Mistress Rating For Vegan Chipotle Corn Chowder Soup:
Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4.5/5) 
Presentation: (4/5 )
Taste: (4.7/5) 

Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup

Posted on by
2

Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup

Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 11

The completed Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup with Goat Yogurt and Cilantro as garnish.

Puddy Salivating

In the wintertime I like to make a thick chili with stewing beef in my Crock-Pot. I  prepare all the ingredients in the morning and turn on the Crock-Pot all day. Unfortunately, my all day Crock-Pot cooking drives my dog crazy. He seems to hang out more in the kitchen smelling around and salivating – poor fella.

But yesterday,  I decided to take my regular chili recipe and make it a little different by adding a fair bit of tasty broth. So, I am going to call it Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup instead.

The verdict? In the past, I would just add more water to make my chili thinner, but with this recipe I added one of my favorite vegetable broths (and more of it) and boy it make a BIG difference. I can just lap up this chili soup with a few pieces of yummy buttered bread. But wait, maybe I can attribute the taste bud enhancements to another new ingredient I added to my chili? The new ingredient was Skillet’s Chipotle Pumpkin Sauce (a sister product of Skillet Bacon Spread that I so love). I’m thinking the combination of all ingredients, the broth and the Chipotle Pumpkin sauce made a very tasty chili soup. Or maybe it was the slow and long cooking process of my Crock-Pot? Hmmn, maybe so, but this one is a keeper and I am happy a made a big batch to freeze.

Note: The recipe below serves about 15 – you can half all ingredients. I made a big batch with intentions of freezing a few Ziplocs.

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups white onion, chopped
  • 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 750 ml diced can tomatoes in juice
  • 2 x 150 ml cans of tomato paste
  • 2 serrano chiles, finely chopped (seeds and white out)
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 2 tablespoon tex mex spice (or chili powder)
  • 2 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
  • 2 tablespoons skillet chipotle pumpkin sauce
  • dash of pepper (to taste)
  • 1.25 Kg stewing beef, in chunks
  • 5 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/4 cup goat yogurt (or sour cream)
  • fresh cilantro

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Add the following ingredients into Crock-Pot: diced tomatoes(with juice), tomato paste, serrano chili, cumin, tex mex, oregano, cayenne, chipotle pumpkin sauce, and pepper.
  2. Turn the Crock-Pot on low to get it heated up.
  3. Heat olive oil in heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic; cook 5 minutes, or until onions are softened. Add to Crock-Pot
  4. Using the same heavy pan brown beef cubes in batches. Add to Crock-Pot
  5. Add vegetable broth to Crock-Pot.
  6. Place lid on Crock-Pot and simmer for at least 7 – 8 hours
  7. Add in strained kidney beans, place lid back on and simmer for 20 minutes.
  8. To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls. Garnish with some goat yogurt (or sour cream) and fresh cilantro. Serve immediately.

What I changed from my original chile recipe:

  • Added 3 cups of low sodium vegetable broth
  • Add Skillet Chipotle Pumpkin Sauce

Soup Mistress Rating for Crock-Pot Mexican Chili Beef Soup:

Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4/5)
Presentation: (4/5) 
Taste: (4.5/5)

Potato, Yam and Parsnip Chipotle Soup

Posted on by
Reply

Yam Potato Parsnip Chipolte Soup

Yam Potato Parsnip Chipolte Soup
◄ Back
Picture 1 of 11

The completed Yam Potato Parsnip Chipolte Soup (vegetarian version with no chorizo)

Just yesterday, I made parsnip, yam and potato hash with poached eggs for breakfast. I really liked the buttery spicy taste of parsnips and how they played well with yams and potatoes. I thought to myself, “why not mix the three together in a soup?”

So I was on a hunt for a recipe and went on my merry way to Google. I must have looked at more than 20 recipes online and I decided to do my own rendition and simply call it Potato, Yam and Parsnip Chipotle Soup.

The verdict? Well, this soup is definitely one of my top five soups so far. I can’t wait to make this soup for friends or family. I really think the superstar ingredient is chipotle pepper in adobo sauce!

This soup is:

  • vegetarian (if you exclude the chorizo from recipe or use a soy-based alternative)
  • vegan (if you exclude the chorizo from recipe or use a soy-based alternative)
  • gluten-free

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 large white onion, chopped small
  • 3 large garlic cloves, minced
  • 4 cups yam, peeled and chopped small
  • 2 cups new potatoes, peels on and chopped small
  • 3 cups parsnips, peeled and chopped small
  • 6 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 2 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped small
  • 1 – 10 oz chorizo sausage, cut in thin slices
  • 1 bunch of chives

Cooking Instructions:

  1. Heat olive oil in heavy pan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic, saute until soft, about 5 minutes.Season with dash of pepper.
  2. Add yams, potatoes and parsnips, saute about 3 minutes.
  3. Stir in vegetable broth and cumin, bring soup to boil. Reduce heat, simmer covered 20 minutes.
  4. Keeping 3 cups of potato, yam, parsnip aside. Puree the soup with chipotle pepper in a blender or food processor. Puree in batches if you need to.
  5. Return soup to pan with 2 cups of reserved solids (potato, yam, parsnip) and chives, gently heat through. If you want a thinner soup, add vegetable stock to your liking.
  6. In a separate pan, fry up chorizo for 2 minutes on medium to high heat.
  7. To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls and top with reserved solids, chorizo sausage and chives. Serve immediately.

The closest recipe I found was Sweet Potato and Chipolte Soup here.

What I changed from original recipe:

  • added chives
  • added parsnips
  • added potatoes
  • added additional clove of garlic
  • added chorizo sausage
  • replaced chicken broth with low sodium vegetable stock
  • omitted sour cream and tortilla wedges

Soup Mistress Rating for Potato, Yam and Parsnip Chipolte Soup:

Healthy (+ slimming + low sodium): (4/5)
Presentation: (5/5) 
Taste: (5/5)