Rutabaga - Pistachio/Pecan Soup with Leftover Polenta-Vegan Sausage

We had a rutabaga that came in our on-line farmer's market order this past week. Since 2007 when I first tried rutabaga, I've roasted it and served it raw, but don't have a lot of experience with it.

I thought it would be fun to make a soup and found a simple Sweet Rutabaga Soup recipe online. It was appealing because of its simplicity and because it calls for mixed nuts; for the past short while, I've found pistachios to be particularly appealing (I found an amazing sounding recipe for pasta with pistachio-arugula pesto and have to make this soon!).

Here is my modification, but I'll cut to the chase - all of us, my wife and I and even our toddler, loved it! This is what I did:

1. I washed and peeled a rutabaga. Maybe because this was organic, it was easy to peel; I understand that supermarket rutabagas often are waxed, and are more difficult to peel.
2. I also washed and peeled a medium sweet potato, then cut both vegetables into reasonably small (1/4" or so) cubes.
3. I put the cubes and a vegan bouillon cube into a pan and brought it to a boil, then reduced heat and simmered for about 10-15m till the vegetables were soft. I tried the rutabaga - it was sweet and tasty, so I'll have to again work with this nutritious vegetable maybe for a rutabaga mash.
4. I drained the liquid (but in the future I'll reserve it; see below) and put 2 1/2 cups of water and the vegetables in my Vita Mix blender, though other blenders would probably work fine to simply puree.
5. I added a cup of almond milk (we always have it on hand - my wife makes fresh almond milk with no sweetener, as we prefer it, every few days) to the blender, which I still hadn't started.
6. I measured out 1/2 cup mixed nuts; I used maybe a third pistachios and two thirds pecans (obviously the nuts were shelled first!). I put most of the nuts in but reserved maybe a fifth.
7. I added two tablespoonfuls of vegan non-sweetened soy yogurt and considered adding a quarter jalapeno pepper, but wanted to do without for my toddler's benefit.
8. I blended to a puree, ramping up on variable speed and then going to high. I sampled and loved what I tasted, but the soup was thicker than I'd like, so I added another half cup or so of almond milk and 3/4 cup or so of water. (For future reference, I'd just use 1 1/2 cups almond milk and a full cup of the drained liquid from boiling in step 5 above.)
9. I then added the reserved nuts and briefly, over maybe 10 seconds, blended on medium to get small chunks of nuts to be left in the soup.

The soup was really tasty and second only to the carrot-ginger soup that I occasionally make and really love. If I had some walnut or roasted pistachio oil, it would have been great to have a dash served on top of the soup, along with a sprig of lemon sage. I served it with leftover polenta filling from the pizza that I had made a few days ago.

Leftover Vimala's Sambar and Idli, Falafel on Bagel, Raw Kale w Carrot-Ginger Dressing (2219)

Kale with Carrots and Brussels Sprouts, Limed Jerked Seitan over Brown-Wild Rice

My aunt and Dad came over for dinner tonight and I wanted to serve something that my Dad in particular would eat - he generally eats Indian food. I made my signature lime-marinated jerked seitan served over a mixed brown and wild rice, but omitted the seitan for my Dad (actually, I think I gave him a few pieces, and he said he liked it). Otherwise, I made a simple kale saute with Brussels Sprouts and carrots. It was a tasty and filling dinner.

Falafel, Purple Sweet Potato, Kabocha Squash, Whole Wheat Couscous

I made a simple roasted root vegetable dinner with falafel. My aunt and Dad joined us for dinner; I skipped the falafel balls in my Dad's pita as he avoids garlic. I had forgotten to serve it before photographing, but I also made some whole wheat couscous with onions and bell peppers.

Kale-Ginger-Carrot Soup with Vegan Sausage-Zucchini Saute

For tonight's dinner, I started making the carrot-ginger soup that we love so much (substituting raw cashews for the tofu), but saw that we had a lot of kale, so added two leaves - stem and all - of the green kale. My wife had made a curried potato side dish a few nights ago when I was picking up my sister-in-law from the airport; I added a handful of the cooked baking potato cubes.

I made a simple side dish, sauteeing a vegan apple-sage Field Roast sausage with 1/3 of an onion and a zucchini. I added some dried oregano, salt, and pepper and served.

Dinner was good - oregano lends itself well to slightly overspicing, which is what I did. I used maybe 1/4t for our two servings, and it gave a pronounced but not overpowering taste. I thought that our "standard" carrot-ginger soup was much better, but the kale added even more nutrition and the soup still tasted good.

Vegan Italian Sausage Pizza for One

Tonight, my wife was hungry and while I was making my daughter's dinner, so she ate a simple meal on her own. I love Vicolo Pizza organic conrmeal crust deepdish pizza shells and made a tasty pizza with Daiya cheese and vegan Italian Field Roast artisanal sausage that I had sliced then sauteed. It was filling and tasty (I had several slices)!

Eggplant Fillets over Brown Rice Pasta