Meatless Monday: Vegan Chorizo and Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small onion, chopped 
2 cloves garlic, minced 
1/2 cup vegan chorizo 
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika 
1/2 teaspoon paprika 
1/4 cup white wine 
2 tablespoons tomato paste 
1 tablespoon chopped pepper paste (or Sambol) 
2 cups vegetable broth 
6 cups water 
2 tablespoons vegan chicken flavor bouillon 1
/2 pound fava beans
Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, 3/4" dice 
4 cups fresh greens, roughly chopped 
1 (15 ounce) can white beans, drained and rinsed 
1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped 
Salt, to taste

Directions

1. Sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until onions are transparent. Add vegan chorizo, smoked paprika, and paprika; sauté until heated through. Deglaze with white wine, then stir in tomato paste and pepper paste. 
2. Add vegetable broth, water, bouillon, and fava beans and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes. Add potatoes and simmer another 30 minutes. 
3. Add greens, white beans, and parsley and simmer another 15 minutes. Add salt to taste. Turn off heat and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Serve with rustic bread and, if you wish, some tapas. Source of recipe: This is a Spanish, vegan version of one of my favorite childhood comfort foods: Portuguese fava bean soup.

Source: vegweb.com

Tofu Tuesday: Tofu and Mushroom Miso Soup

Ingredients

6 ounces tofu, cubed
4 ounces fresh mushrooms, sliced
handful of leafy vegetable, chopped
1 egg, whisked
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
4 cups dashi or vegetable broth
4 tablespoons miso paste

Directions

1. In a sauce pot, bring the broth to a boil. Add in the tofu, mushrooms and the vegetables. While stirring the broth, slowly pour in the whisked egg. Cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.

2.  Ladle about ½ cup of the hot broth into a bowl with the miso paste. Use a fork or whisk to stir and liquify and soften the miso paste. Pour all of the miso paste into the pot and stir gently. Top with green onions and serve immediately.

Source: steamykitchen.com

Support Local. We Do: The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery

The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery is located just around the corner from our South End store and we have been doing business with them for many years now. Charlotte now has several breweries in town, but OMB was the first! John Marrino is the Founder and Managing Partner at the brewery. There are also five outside investors including two local investor owners: Doug Doggett, Owner of Doggett Concrete Construction Company and Ivan Mijatovic, Owner Partner of VCI Partners (Private Equity). John spent 16 years working in the water treatment industry, five of those years were spent in Europe. One year in England and four in Germany. It was there that he developed a taste for German-style beer, which of course, eventually led to the opening of Olde Meck! 
Some of our employees were lucky enough to visit the brewery a little while back. We took a tour, ate dinner and sampled OMB beer in their Brauhaus (German-style beer hall)! We all had a great time! You can see pictures from our adventure here. Check out their website for more information on hours and tour times. Looking for some OMB to bring home with you this evening? Right now we've got the seasonal favorites: Mecktoberfest, Copper Amber Ale and the Gemischtpack, which includes Mecktoberfest, Copper and Captain Jack Pilsner. Look for Olde Meck at future beer tastings and large events at Healthy Home Market and sample what's on tap!

To learn more about John Marrino, his inspriration and his vision for The Olde Mecklenburg Brewery, please watch this fantastic video!

Meatless Monday: Lentil Croquettes with Mango Jalapeno Chutney

Ingredients

1 cup lentils
1 vegetable bouillon cube
2 bay leaves
Splash of lemon juice
2 tablespoons bread crumbs plus bread crumbs for rolling
2 tablespoons chick pea flour
Dash garlic powder
Oil for frying

For the Chutney
1 tablespoon oil
2 spring onions, or 1 small regular onion
1 ripe mango
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1-2 jalapeno peppers, de-seeded and sliced
Dash of salt and pepper
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch allspice
Pinch cardamom
Pinch coriander powder

Directions

To Make the Lentil Croquettes

1. Put the lentils and 2 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.
2. Add the vegetable bouillon, lemon juice and bay leaves.
3. Cook the lentils until soft. You may need to add more water. Keep an eye on them so that they do not burn or scorch.
4. Allow the cooked lentils to cool.
5. Add the chick pea flour, garlic powder and enough bread crumbs to make the mass stick together.
6. When it is cool enough to handle, roll a tablespoonful of the lentils to form a log.
7. Roll the log in dried bread crumbs and set on a plate to await frying.
8. Continue making all the croquettes until you have used all of the lentils.

To Make the Mango Chutney

1. Slice the spring onions in small rings.
2. saute in a small sauce pan with the oil
3. Peel the mango and de-seed.
4. Cut the mango in small pieces and add to the onions.
5. Add the vinegar, sugar and spices.
6. De-seed and chop the jalapeno in small pieces.
7. Add the jalapeno pieces to the cooking mango chutney.
8. Keep at a low simmer until the liquid has cooked off and it is a well blended mixture.
9. Season to taste with additional seasonings or salt and pepper.

Fry the lentil croquettes in a pan with a small amount of oil, drain on a paper towel and serve with mango chutney.

Source: vegfriend.com

New Product: Suja Juice

Their website tagline: "Keep It Simple! Nourish and Flourish! Refresh, Rejuvenate, Reset!" Sounds good to us! And it is good, very good! Suja Juice is raw, 100% organic and cold pressed! "Cold-pressing, as opposed to centrifugal juicing, which can draw in air and produce friction heat and static electricity, prevents oxidation. Pressing also yields a higher amount of juice and results in a cleaner crisper taste. After pressing, Suja’s cold-pressed juice is HPP’d. This stands for High Hydrostatic Pressure, which is done instead of flash pasteurization. The juice is placed in an ice bath and pressure is applied to all sides of the bottles to kill pathogens." Over two pounds of fruit and vegetables goes into each drink! What's the story behind Suja? "Suja means “long, beautiful life” in Hindi. It was started by several people all of which are committed to healthy lifestyles. Founder and chef Eric Ethans was cold pressing juices for friends and family for years and gradually expanded it into a home delivery business. From there and with the addition of experienced beverage industry team members, Suja expanded to a retail offering. The core ethos for Suja is to help people find a healthy way of living." Currently we are offering the following flavors: Purify, Fiji, Master Cleanse, Fuel, Glow and Green Supreme. Don't own a juicer? Didn't have time to juice today? New to juicing? Just looking for something healthy and delicious? Suja Juices are the answer! Try one or more today, they're located in our Produce Department!

Tempeh Tuesday: Chili Garlic Tempeh Spring Rolls

Ingredients

Makes 6 spring rolls

- 1/2 pkg tempeh

- 4 cups water

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- few drops sesame oil

- 1 tbsp canola oil

- 1 tsp soy sauce

- 1-2 tbsp water

- 1 tbsp chili garlic sauce

- 6 pieces rice paper

- 6 stalks asparagus

- 4 romaine lettuce leaves

- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro

- 4 green onions, thinly sliced

Directions

1. Bring water, soy sauce, and sesame oil to a boil in a medium saucepan. Put tempeh in water and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from water and cool. When cool, coarsely grate.

2. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add tempeh and fry for 3-4 mins, until tempeh browns a little. Add soy sauce and water and mix well (add more water if soy sauce is not evenly mixing through the tempeh). Then stir in chili garlic sauce and remove from heat to cool.

3. While tempeh is cooling, steam asparagus until tender. Roll up all four romaine leaves together and thinly slice. Chop cilantro and slice onions.

4. To assemble the spring rolls, soak a piece of rice paper in water for about a minute. Put 1/6 of the tempeh in row in the middle of the paper. Halve an asparagus stalk and flank the tempeh with the two pieces. Top with 1/6 of the lettuce, cilantro, and green onion. Fold in sides, then roll up, being careful not to rip the rice paper.

5. Serve right away with chili dipping sauce (sold at Healthy Home Market).

Source: vegandad.blogspot.com