The Backbone Of Vegan Soup

 Many may think that vegan and vegetarian chefs have it hard especially when it comes to making homemade soups and stews. However , there's a little ingredient they use that helps tremendously. It's Not Chick'n and Not Beef bouillon cubes. They are a lifesaver.

I've been using the chicken flavored one for some time.This is great from making everything from the family classic pompeist - Piedmontese breadcrumb soup and straticciella. Italian spinach soup. It's also the base of my celery and cauliflower soups.

I've recently discovered the company's Edwards and Sons beef version. I love this on its' own .It has a rich , definite flavor exactly like the real thing.

I plan on using this in French onion soup and slow cooked beef stew. As you can see, the cubes are a little bigger than the average bouillon cube and two work added to five cups of water. You could use vegetable stock but to be honest it's not as flavorful as these. They can also be used for gravies  and even chilis, producing a much richer version than what most vegans make. Stop & Shop carries these but you can also get them at H-Marts and Shop Rites in the New York City metro area.

These are should be the backbone of any vegan soup and stew. They are perfect for creating copies of much loved and tasty meat stock based ones. Try them today.

A Summer Classic Winterized

 Spinach salad is always a welcome lunch or dinner come summer.Yet it's winter and what do you do? Winterize it. I also gave this an Italian twist with garlic, serving it on polenta rounds.

It's sauteing about sixteen ounces of already chopped baby bellas and sixteen ounces of spinach   along with two cloves of chopped  garlic and olive oil.

I also added one large chopped beefsteak tomato. 

I felt I needed more flavor so I added some I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and a cube of Not Chick'n bouillon.

It cooked  up nicely.

As this was cooking, I sliced the polenta into rounds and fried them on the grill.

I used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter for a more buttery flavor which I feel goes with polenta.

The taste was more intense than a simple salad. It was a delicious blend of veggies that worked well with the polenta. You could add pancetta to copy the bacon in the original salad if you want or chicken strips, soy or the real thing.

Nothing beats a spinach salad . Yet it's winter. Time to winterize it with  heating up the ingredients and creating a hot tasty saute to warm you up.