Tortilla Soup

Most tortilla soups are made with chicken, but this is a vegan one.

I started by making a vegetable broth of green and red bell peppers, onions, garlic, pablano peppers, ancho (dried pablono) peppers, salt, black pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, oregano, basil, and chili powder. Sautee all these ingredients in some olive oil until they've cooked down, then add some boiling water and let everything simmer for a while.

Next, add cooked beans (I used black and pinto), corn, fire roasted tomatoes, and some slices of corn tortilla or tortilla chips, and let them all cook in the soup. Squeeze in a bit of lime juice. And that's it!

Many people eat this with cheese or sour cream (or other garnishes), but since I am 98% dairy-free, I added a few more chips, and raw tomato and onion.

Vegetable Pizzette

A few days ago, I asked some friends what dishes they would like to see on this blog. One answered (specifically on Saturday at 7:36pm), "Something with peppers and onions."

And so begins the peppers and onions series.

The first thing that came to mind is what I'm calling a pizzette, a sauceless, cheeseless pizza. I bought gluten-free pizza crusts, one by Against the Grain and a pair by Whole Foods, both my first foray into pre-baked, gluten-free pizza crusts.

The crust only needed about 10 minutes of baking, which wasn't going to be enough to cook the vegetables through, so I sauteed the peppers, onions, and mushrooms in some olive oil until they were half cooked. I then dressed them with some sea salt, garlic, and lemon juice, and topped the crusts with the semi-cooked vegetables and fresh, diced tomatoes. After they baked, I sprinkled fresh oregano leaves on top.

This is the Against the Grain crust. It's fairly light and crispy, and has some cheese in the dough. It tastes like a cross between a croissant and a cheesey breadstick.

These are the Whole Foods crusts. They taste surprisingly like traditional pizza crusts! And they are denser and chewier than the other one. I'll definitely use both brands again

If I had worked with a raw dough, the vegetables would have baked into the crust. But in this case, they sort of slid off! But that's fine. :) 

Though both of these crusts have dairy, I'm going to tag this dish as "dairy-free" and "vegan," because it could easily be made that way with a vegan crust.