Roasted Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

Tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich has been one of my favorite things to eat since I can remember having favorite things to eat. At the beginning of January I had a pretty bad cold so I started putting ginger into everything, and this soup was born! It freezes and reheats really well, which is handy because when you're just trying to make soup for one every recipe seems to make enough to feed a village. If you don't like ginger feel free not to add it, but if you've got a cold it does an amazing job of clearing out your nose. Prepare your kleenex.

I've burned many a grilled cheese sandwich in my life, but I've found that using the heaviest pan you can (cast iron frying pans are awesome for this) work best and is the most even. On lower heat than you would expect, especially if the bread you're using is a bit thicker. Putting a lid over the pan while you're grilling it also helps the cheese to melt faster.

I don't know why it took me this long to add hummus to grilled cheese, but smearing both sides of the insides of the bread makes things extra amazing. So does adding tomatoes, if you're into that.

Roasted Tomato Soup
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon minced ginger
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 14 oz can roasted tomatoes
2 carrots, chopped
salt and pepper
a bay leaf
4 cups vegetable stock
1/2-1 cup almond milk

Heat the oil in a soup pot and add the garlic and onion, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir fry until soft, then add the tomatoes, ginger, chopped carrots, and bay leaf. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil and let simmer for 10 minutes. Take out the bay leaf and blend in batches in a blender until smooth, adding the almond milk. If you'd like it a little thinner add more veggie stock.

Vegan Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
2 slices bread(I used sprouted whole grain bread)
Hummus
Vegan Butter
1/4 cup Daiya cheese
1 thin tomato slice

Butter one side of each slice of bread, and the insides of both slices with hummus. Butter side out fill the sandwich with Daiya cheese and the tomato slice. Grill in a preheated pan on low, flipping over halfway through.

Vegan Minestrone

Although it's summer out and Toronto is a balmy 25 most days, I was craving soup the other day. Minestrone in particular, so I set out to make some. Maybe I was just missing the cosiness of being home in Vancouver, or maybe some devious thing inside me is getting excited for fall and sweaters and boots. Either way, the soup pot was the only pot I hadn't yet used from a new set I purchased recently, so it was time to break it in.

Making soup for one person is difficult. With inspiration from a few other recipes, I sort of cobbled this variation together, but I think I have enough to last me until next year. I've been mixing the leftovers into stir fry's for a sort of weird pasta sauce/stew hybrid. It sounds a bit bizarre, but if there's anything being a vegan has taught me is to be open to strange combinations. If most of the ingredients sound like they taste good on their own, they usually taste good together. Usually.

In IIN they've been discussing the principles of macrobiotics, which is more a way of life than an exact diet. It involves the quest of always searching for balance, in your life and in your diet. If you are feeling more on one side of the scale, you can try to bring yourself back by eating things more on the other spectrum. I've been feeling a bit out of sorts at the moment regarding the future, and since soup is such a grounding, comforting food, and it helps bring you back.

You could replace the quinoa with another pasta, if you like, but I like the thickness and extra protein quinoa provides.

Minestrone

1 sweet onion, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 can of diced tomatoes, blended(14 oz)
1 carrot, diced
1 zucchini, diced
6 cups vegetable stock(low sodium preferred)
1 small tin of tomato paste
1 can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2/3 cup dry quinoa
2 cups packed shredded kale
dried basil, parsley, and a bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
juice of half a lemon

Cook quinoa in 1 1/3 cups water with a lid on the pot. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and leave to simmer for 15 minutes. Don't peek! Fluff with a fork after.

To a large stock pot add the onion, garlic, and oil, and cook til soft(about 10 mins).

Add in the tomatoes, stir and simmer for 4-5 minutes.

Add carrot, zucchini, chickpeas, and stock and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in tomato paste.

Turn off heat, add quinoa, herbs, s&p, lemon juice, and kale.

This soup tastes better after it's had a couple hours to let the flavours meld, and thickens up a bit!