Taco soup!

When I visit Sunshine at school, I stay in a hotel room with a kitchenette. There, I can prep food for her to store in the freezer. Her favorites are veggie noodle soup, taco soup, and chicken/black bean enchiladas (not vegetarian). This isn't the most appetizing photo, but it's my little prep kitchen during a recent visit. Taco soup recipe below. It's a winner!

I have been making variations of this taco soup for years. My kids devour it. Honestly, I've never seen anybody turn it down.

Ingredients:

1 can corn, drained
2 cans diced or crushed tomatoes (whatever you prefer)
4 cans beans (black beans, pinto, or tri-bean blend: drained and rinsed)
1/4 cup taco seasoning (store bought or make your own)
1 T dehydrated onion
2 cans of water

Put all ingredients in Instant Pot, high pressure for 4 minutes. Manual release. Top with cheese and/or sour cream and tortilla chips. Also freezes well, and is GREAT as leftovers.

Stove top alternative: place all ingredients in a soup pot and simmer on the stove top until flavors meld and onions are rehydrated.

The Veggie Queen's Black Eyed Peas and Greens

We started the new year off right with this amazing recipe from the Veggie Queen. Y'all, it was so good I made it again the next day!

Vegan *Chicken* & Dumplings

It's winter in Texas, which means we have random cold weather sprinkled into the normal January days. Time for some comfort food! Daddio requested chicken & dumplings, and instead of my regular recipe I decided to try something new. I used the instant pot and the stove top, mainly because I was running behind (what's new?) and wanted to speed the process. With some very minor adjustments, this stove top recipe turned into a mixed IP/stovetop meal.

Ingredients:

3-4 carrots, sliced
3-4 ribs of celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 white potatoes, large dice
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper, freshly ground
1 bay leaf
3 Not Chick'n bouillon cubes (divided)
6 c water (divided)
seitan (rinse and chop to preferred size)
8 oz white mushrooms, rough chop
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c corn meal (I prefer Bob's Coarse Grind for texture)
1 T baking powder
2 T parsley (optional)
1 1/2 c almond milk

Place the following in the Instant Pot and give a stir. Set pot to 5 minutes at high pressure. Manual release.
3-4 carrots, sliced
3-4 ribs of celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 white potatoes, large dice
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t thyme
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper, freshly ground
1 bay leaf
2 Not Chick'n bouillon cubes
3 c water (enough to just cover veggies in the IP)

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While the IP is working its magic, bring the following to a simmer on the stove top in a large soup pot:

seitan (rinse and chop to preferred size)
8 oz white mushrooms, rough chop
1 Not Chick'n bouillon cube
2 c water

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After manual release of pressure, pour contents of IP into soup pot on stove top, add 1 cup of water ( for a total of 2 cup per bouillon cube). Bring this to a boil.

While soup is coming to boil on the stovetop, mix dumpling batter:

1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c corn meal (I prefer Bob's Coarse Grind for texture)
1 T baking powder
2 T parsley (optional)
1 1/2 c almond milk

When soup is boiling, drop batter by spoonfuls into soup. DO NOT STIR. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes. DO NOT STIR. (PS: It is inadvisable to stir, even though you really, really want to. Trust!)

Serve immediately, but also makes for good leftovers!


Some notes worth mentioning:

-I am not a fan of meat substitutes, but like to try them from time to time in certain recipes since we have omnivorous friends & family over for meals often. My family liked the seitan in this dish, but we likely won't use it again unless we make this for non-family members.

-I enjoyed the potatoes in this soup, but I also like my dumpling base to be creamier instead of brothy (is that a word?). Next time, I may add one more potato but mash it to try to adjust the consistency of the broth.

-Served with a hearty green salad (leaf lettuce and spinach) topped with hard boiled eggs for a protein and B vitamin boost.