Kale, Vegan Sausage, and White Bean Soup

This is one of my very favorite soups, perfect for a dark winter night. It’s full of healthy, fiber-filled vegetables and protein-rich beans. Normally I make this soup with diced Italian sausage but after my mother-in-law made it using Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage, it’s become my new favorite way to make it. I finally wrote down my recipe to share with you all! There’s a method for a pressure cooker and a soup pot.

My favorite meals are often a soup and that is especially true when winter rolls around here in Alaska. Ever since soup has been my jam. I remember getting a ‘soup’ cookbook from my grandma when I was below double-digits in age. #thatishowmuchilovesoup My blood is basically soup and this is one of my most beloved.

There’s a lot of recipes online for this type of soup. Basically they all involve kale, beans, and sausage… but there’s not a lot of vegan recipes, though not to worry. I got you covered. I think you’ll for sure love this soup as much as my family does. I could eat this for weeks nonstop, seriously.

Kale, Vegan Sausage, and White Bean Soup

By Kathleen @ Produce On Parade

Published 11/05/2018

This is one of my very favorite soups, perfect for a dark winter night. It’s full of healthy, fiber-filled vegetables and protein-rich beans. Normally I make this soup with diced Italian sausage but after my mother-in-law made it using Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage, it’s become my new favorite way to make it. I finally wrote down my recipe to share with you all! There’s a method for a pressure cooker and a soup pot.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoons olive oil (optional)
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 14 oz package Lightlife Gimme Lean Veggie Sausage
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, diced
• 2 15 ounce cans white cannellini or white beans, drained and rinsed
• 8 cups vegetable broth
• 1 credit card size piece of kombu, broken into small pieces (optional)
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp dried thyme
• ½ tsp liquid smoke
• 1 large bunch of kale, stems removed and chopped
• Seasoning or table salt, to taste

Instructions

1. In a pressure cooker or large soup pot heat the olive oil over medium heat. Saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and softened. Add the sausage and saute an additional 5-10 minutes until somewhat browned, breaking the it into small bite-sized pieces with a wooden spatula.
2. Increase the heat to high and stir in the remaining ingredients except for the kale.
3. Using a pressure cooker: Bring to a boil and pressure cook on high for one minute. Remove from heat and allow to depressurize naturally for 10 minutes, then run cold water over the lid to completely depressurize. Stir in kale and salt according to taste; serve hot.
4. Using a soup pot: Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes then remove from heat and stir in kale. Salt according to taste; serve hot.

Yield: 8 servings

Tags: vegan, vegetarian, soup, sausage, kale, white bean, cannellini, easy, quick, healthy, potato

Now go forth and enjoy winter!

Wild Mushroom, Cream and White Wine Fettuccine

Nutty, meaty wild mushrooms mingle with sweet coconut cream and floral white wine in this wonderful fettuccine dish that’s quick enough for a weeknight but fancy enough for company.

Is there anything better than wild, foraged mushrooms? Yes! Wild, foraged mushrooms that were gifted to you. Nah, not really. I really like foraging for mushrooms actually, but I literally jumped for joy when my mom gave me one pound (yes, 1 lb!!!) of fresh, hedgehog mushrooms that she gathered in Seward, Alaska. It’s a three hour drive from where we live, which is a little far to take the wee one, so obviously I was beyond ecstatic.

I’m new to mushroom hunting; this year I gathered and cooked up some birch boletes and puffballs, basically whatever I found on our walks. Oliver helped, carrying around a small wicker basket filled with our finds: wild mushrooms, and raspberries and kale from the garden. #cutestthingever Check out my instagram @katiecski for those photos, you won’t be sorry. Next year I hope to seriously go out mushroom hunting in our area. I would die to find some morels and chanterelles! What about you? Are you a master of wild mushrooms?

Wild Mushroom, Cream and White Wine Fettuccine

Recipe by Kathleen @ Produce On Parade

Nutty, meaty wild mushrooms mingle with sweet coconut cream and floral white wine in this wonderful fettuccine dish that’s quick enough for a weeknight but fancy enough for company.

Ingredients

• 1 lb dry fettuccine pasta
• 1 tbsp vegan butter
• 1 lb of wild mushrooms or cremini (I used wild hedgehog mushrooms), cleaned and sliced
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup vegan white wine
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 tbsp red miso
• ½ cup canned coconut milk
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (or ½ tsp dry thyme)
• ½ tsp seasoning salt or table salt
• ½ tsp lemon pepper

Cooking Directions

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Once boiling add a dash of salt then cook pasta according to the package so it’s al dente. Drain and set aside.
2. Melt butter in a large high-rimmed frying pan. Saute the mushrooms in three batches, so that there is one single layer of mushrooms in the pan. Saute each batch for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms just start to stick to the bottom. Transfer to a medium bowl.
3. Once all the mushrooms are cooked, deglaze the pan a with a little water and saute the onion and garlic for about 5-8 minutes until just starting to brown.
4. Add all the mushrooms back to the pan and deglaze it with the wine, stir in the broth. Whisk the miso into the hot water and add to the pan. Whisk the milk and flour together then whisk slowly into the pan.
5. Stir in the thyme, salt, and pepper then the cooked pasta. Serve hot.

Vegan Asian Meatballs

We used to make these all the time when I was a kid. I’m now thrilled to be able to eat them once again, but without harming animals! A sweet and salty sauce smothers delicious onion and mushroom ‘meatballs’ that everyone will absolutely love. My recipe was adapted slightly from msvegan.com.

Meatballs are one of those foods that I really enjoy, but am too lazy to ever make... or even buy. I'd rather have my spaghetti without than go through the motions of adding meatballs (I need to take a closer look at my life). Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me? 

This week I had a huge craving for meatballs. It was unrelenting and I began to reminisce on the times my parents used to make delicious Asian meatballs that we'd take to parties, steaming, in a piping hot crock pot. They were always the most scrumptious food at the party and I'd sneakily eat my weight in them and nothing else, until I made my way to the dessert table where no brownie or cookie was safe. Of course, now, I am obliged to make them vegan and cruelty-free, and guess what? They taste even better than I remember.

I have implemented limits on dessert now as well. #adulting

Vegan Asian Meatballs

Recipe by Kathleen @ Produce On Parade

We used to make these all the time when I was a kid. I’m now thrilled to be able to eat them once again, but without harming animals! A sweet and salty sauce smothers delicious onion and mushroom ‘meatballs’ that everyone will absolutely love. My recipe was adapted slightly from msvegan.com.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 1 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• Scant 1/2 cup vegan white granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp ketchup
• 1 tsp chili garlic paste
• ½ tsp liquid smoke
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced small
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 2 cups finely chopped cremini or white mushrooms
• 1 tsp sesame seed oil
• 1/2 cup vegan breadcrumbs (I use panko)
• 3 tbsp sauce just made
• 1 14 oz tube of uncooked Gimme Lean Lightlife Sausage
• 1 prepared Ener-G Egg Replacer (or 1 tbsp of ground flax mixed with 2 tbsp water)

Cooking Directions

1. In a small saucepan, whisk ½ cup water through the liquid smoke over medium-high heat. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and whisk in the cornstarch that’s been mixed with 1 tbsp of water in a small bowl. Simmer for 5 minutes over low heat.
2. Dry-saute the onion, garlic, and mushrooms in a large skillet for about 8 minutes; until the onions are tender and the mushrooms have darkened and shrunk. Stir in the sesame seed oil and remove from heat.
3. Preheat oven to 400°F and spray a 9x13 inch baking dish with a nonstick cooking spray. In a medium mixing bowl, using your hands, combine the breadcrumbs, 3 tbsp of asian sauce, sausage, and vegan egg until well combined. Mix in the slightly cooled mushroom mixture.
4. Form into 10 two inch meatballs an arrange in the baking dish. Drizzle half of the sauce over them and roll them in the sauce. Bake for 10 minutes.
5. Flip the meatballs and again drizzle half of the sauce over them and roll them in the sauce. Bake for another 10 minutes.
6. Serve hot and with whatever you like; saving the sauce from the baking dish to use over rice or vegetables. We ate them with broccoli and brown rice, or serve as a side or appetizer!