FFVK Creamy Zucchini & Basil Soup

This post is Part 2 of my efforts to use the Ginormous Zucchini I inherited from my babysitter. Earlier in the week I used half of it in a Zucchini Curry. I had the bottom half remaining and decided to try this soup someone suggested. FFVK stands for Fat Free Vegan Kitchen which happens to be Susan Voisin's awesome blog.  A friend sent me the link for the Creamy Zucchini & Basil Soup and I tried that tonight!

I loved it!!! It was super easy to make. Instead of the recommended cashews, I used about an eighth of a cup of Almond milk and I added a little more nutritional yeast to make it a little more cheesy :) ! Other modifications had more to do with kitchen appliances. I pressure cooked the zucchini and onions in broth for 5 minutes and I used a stick blender to puree the soup. Thank you FFVK!!! This was amazing!

3 Rice, 3 Berry, 3 Herb Salad

Summer Days call for chilled salads, Summer Days are Berry Days, and Summer Days are Fresh Herb Days as well. We had a 3x Birthday party in the family today and I wanted to make sure I had a plant-based dish to take along. I wanted to try Chef AJ's Quinoa Salad with Currants and Pistachios - but our niece is allergic to nuts and I wasn't sure if she'd ever been tested for Quinoa. But now, my mind was hooked on to memory of that salad :) !!! I decided to make a variation of it. Here's what I came up with. 

3 Rice & 3 Berry Salad

Prep Time: Overall 30 min, or so in 2 stages.

Ingredients: 

1. 1/2 cup White Basmati Rice
2. 1/2 cup Brown Basmati Rice
3. 2-3 tbsp Long grain Wild Rice
4. 2-3 tbsp Raisins
5. 1 cup fresh Red Raspberries
6. 1 cup fresh Blackberries
7. 1 cup fresh Strawberries
8. 2 tbsp Agave Syrup, or Honey
9. 1/8 cup Soy milk
10. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Basil, 
11. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Mint 
12. 2 tbsp fresh chopped Oregano

Directions: 

Boil rice, all 3 kinds together, in ample amounts of water until tender. Add the raisins to the boiling water for the last 2 minutes (this helps plump them up!). Drain and spread thinly on a cookie sheet and put in the refrigerator for 30 minutes (chill completely). Meanwhile wash and drain berries and slice strawberries and set aside. Put Agave syrup (or honey) in a small microwave safe bowl with the non-dairy milk and heat for 10 seconds to dissolve it in the milk. Once rice is chilled, move to a mixing bowl, add agave/milk mixture and toss well. Add chopped herbs and berries and give a final toss. Do a quick taste check - the rice should be just slightly sweet - add more 'agave in milk' if needed.

Cover and chill until ready to serve. The longer it sits, the better the flavors combine - the berry flavors and juices penetrate the rice, the herbs release their essential oils and flavor the rice and the berries! This is a salad where the wonderful aromas invite you to dig in.

My Assessment:  Loved it. What's not to like! The family liked it too :)

Zucchini Curry

Zucchini curry over White rice

So my babysitter has been on vacation since Friday. On Thursday evening, as I was picking my son up, she asked if I'd like some home-grown zucchini. Somebody had given her some and with her leaving on vacation, she didn't want it to go bad. I agreed to take it off her hands and lo & behold .. look what she brought out of her kitchen for me!! Yes, that is the current issue of Time magazine. 

After it sat on my kitchen counter for a day, I posted a picture on FB and asked friends to provide ideas on what to do with it. I got zucchini spaghetti, zucchini pizza, zucchini bread, muffins and soups. All of them sounded really good. In my mind though I was dreaming about Lauki (Opo Squash) Curry - comfort food at its best. I grew up eating lauki in India and its hard to find a good looking Opo here in the US, except at oriental and Indian stores. So some of this bounty had to go towards at least an attempt at making Zucchini Curry!! Here's the recipe ... 

Prep Time: 10 min to prep, and 10 min to pressure cook.

Ingredients: 

3-4 cups of diced zucchini
1 can (16oz) of diced tomatoes, or 2 fresh (medium) tomatoes
1 tbsp Ginger-Garlic Paste
2 tsp Cumin seeds
2 tsp Coriander powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Fresh cilantro leaves, to garnish

Directions:

Peel zucchini (if desired). I left the skin on because it was an organic zucchini from someone's garden. Remove seeds from the core if they're large and woody. Softer seeds are of course more edible. 

Cut into large 1-2 inch chunks and place in a  pressure cooker. 

Add tomatoes, and all spices, and 1/3 cup water and steam under pressure for 10 min. 

Let the steam release on its own. Open and use a wooden spoon to mix everything together. Garnish with cilantro and add salt/pepper, as needed. Serve over white rice. Yum!! 

This was seriously good. It tasted a lot like lauki curry. I'd definitely make this again!! I ate a good size portion for dinner and have 3 portions to freeze and still have of that squash left over :)