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| Piping hot and ready to enjoy! |
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| Ok, I kinda got carried away! |
My latest cooking adventures have included making a carrot ginger soup from a recipe in my Vitamix cook book. It is the first more challenging thing I've made in my Vitamix. Aside from this all I've made to date has been my hummus, which I've done successfully twice now and which I love. Anyway, back to the carrot ginger soup. It turned out to be absolutely fantastic although I didn't follow the recipe. So many of the Vitamix recipes I'd glanced through had simply given an list of ingredients and told you to put the ingredients into the blender in order and then turn on the machine, so that's what I did (sort of). I put in my 4 carrots halved, my 1/4 onion, my 4 garlic cloves (and at this point I was apparently supposed to stop and run the machine, then take the those items out and put them in a pan with oil and brown/cook them for a bit, I don't really remember, but I didn't do that as I didn't see that, I just continued with my list, but did somehow skip over the tablespoon of oil), 1 tablespoon ginger (I just broke off a nice looking piece from my "hand" of ginger), a 1/4 teaspoon of salt (I used the cool sea salt my friend Paula gave me for my birthday), and 2 cups of vegetable broth. Then I went back to the directions, saw my error, but figured I'd gone too far to go back, so I just turned on the Vitamix. It took longer to blend, no doubt because the carrots were so big, but it did eventually blend completely and then I was to blend until steam came out the top vents, 3-5 minutes. I really didn't believe that the blades were turning so fast that it would make hot soup but I did as I was told. Was I surprised to find that the Vitamix does really make hot food. I had a bowl of my carrot ginger soup so pipping hot that I had to be careful not to burn my tongue and there is enough for today's lunch as well. And it was fantastically tasty, in my opinion, so I think in future I'll make it the same way, but with the carrots cut into chunks rather than just halved. It was quite magnificent and felt to me like a real accomplishment. I know it was easy, but it was all fresh ingredients (well except for the vegetable broth which I poured from a container), and it was the first time ever for me to use real ginger, so I was quite proud of myself.
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| Turned out just fine! |
Then for dinner I made another of my so-called stir frys and I've included a photo of that. It was really amusing because I started with one size pan and then had to go to a larger one and even then the lid didn't fit until it had cooked down a bit. Again, I've ended up with two dinners worth which is just fine with me. I did my usual emptying of the fridge with kale, celery, cabbage (I did restrain myself by using only 1/2 the head), the rest of the tofu left from my carrot ginger soup, and mushrooms with some assorted seasonings and it came out just fine. I do have to work more on the seasoning angle, as it wasn't really exciting, but it wasn't just bland either, so I'm getting there.
That soup sounds heavenly. I don't have a Vitamix, but I'm always so intrigued when I see other bloggers post about making soup in them that comes out hot! Is it just the heat from the motor/friction from spinning? Or is there a heating feature?
ReplyDeleteThe stir fry looks good and very nourishing. I love how you load up your dishes with so many healthy veggies! Haha; having to move up to a bigger pot/pan in the middle of cooking is something I'm very familiar with, sometimes my appetite is bigger than my pots!
I wish I had a bowl of that soup right now! Good day for it here (-10º air temp, -20º wind chill). Like Rose, I think that's the coolest feature, being able to make hot soup right in the Vitamix!
ReplyDeleteI responded to your comment on my blog about your recipe missteps and how that nearly always happens to me with new recipes when I don't take time to read through them first, so won't repeat myself here except to say that I'm glad your soup turned out great anyway!
I found that a good stir-fry sauce usually made the difference between "meh" and "yum" stir-fry. As it happens, I got my McDougall newsletter today and the second featured recipe is "Fabulous Stir-Fry," so I thought I'd send it along. I had a recipe for a tasty, healthy, simple vegan stir-fry sauce in my passle o'recipes but can't find it right now. An internet search should turn up bunches, though, so no doubt you can find one (or more) to your liking.
And I'm one of those "hunger is bigger than my first pot selection" cooks too! Your photo of your pan stuffed full of wonderful veggies with the lid perched on top of them just tickles me! :-) (I also love your cheery red soup bowl!)
Hi Rose--yes the Vitamix does, much to my absolute amazement, make hot soup, and yes it is just from the friction of the blades. Who knew! And the stir fry was very good, and it ended up fine that I put more variety/quantities in than my first pot would allow as I then got two dinners out of it.
ReplyDeleteHi Laloofa--that is serious cold! We are complaining at our cold when it is in the 30's during the day and 20's at night, but at least we are on the right side of zero. And yes, missteps are part of the game--I'd even done as you suggest and read through it all before hand, but it obviously didn't soak in, but maybe that was meant to be as I really liked the end result. Thanks also for the link to the Fabulous Stir-Fry! Much appreciated.