Asparagus & Watercress Soup w Marjoram & Thyme

Asparagus & Watercress Soup w Marjoram & Thyme
A beautiful, fragrant soup, and nice and light as well. No added fats, and as it's bursting with flavour, salt is optional. And although super quick to make, this soup has loads of character!
Watercress contains more iron than spinach, more calcium than milk and more vitamin C than oranges. It has a the highest amount of vitamin K, has anti cancer properties (through phenethyl isothiocyanates, honestly), and other disease preventing phytonutrients and antioxidants. Definitely worth making a soup of 😉
Cuisine: vegan, nutritarian
Recipe type: soup
Serves: 2
Prep time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 150gr cooked asparagus
  • 1 cup of watercress, packed
  • ½ liter vegetable stock (or ½ liter water + 1.5 tbsp vegetable stock powder, unsalted or salted)
  • 1 packed tbsp of chopped fresh marjoram & thyme (mixed)
  • pepper to taste
To do
  1. (if you want to cook the asparagus in the stock, use a little bit more water, as water will evaporate during boiling)
  2. bring stock to the boil, add asparagus, boil for a few minutes to heat asparagus
  3. add watercress and fresh herbs and blend the soup
  4. serve as entree (makes 2-3 portions) or as main (makes 1-2 portions) with salad, mushrooms or wholemeal bread on the side

 

Kale Chips w Curry, Thyme & Garlic

Kale Chips w Curry, Thyme & Garlic
Kale chips come in all sorts of flavours nowadays, and many of them are really yum. But, they are still quite expensive, and if you have your own dehydrator, it makes much more sense to make them yourself, not only financially, but also because you can flavour them exactly as you like! They are easy to prepare, and this recipe is just one of the many varieties you can make.
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan, raw
Recipe type: snack
Prep time: 
Cook/wait time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 1 bag of curly kale leaves (about 5 leaves)
  • 3.5 tbsp Cashew Cream (mine was quite thick)
  • 1 tbsp toum (or garlic paste, and add ½ tbsp olive oil extra)
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 2 tsp mild curry powder (or hot, if you prefer)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp water (optional)
To do
  1. rip all the soft bits of the stem, roughly tear them up (you want them to fit in your dehydrator) and place in a large bowl
  2. in a small bowl, mix all the other ingredients except for the water
  3. pour the mixture over the kale and use your hands to coat all bits and pieces
  4. if you find the cashew mix is a tad too thick and the leaves have too many dry spots, add the water to the kale in the bowl and massage again
  5. place pieces on your dehydrator trays (without sheet but with mesh)
  6. put trays in dehydrator and run it at 45 or 46C for a few hours; check now and then to see if the leaves have the desired crispiness. If you prefer to dehydrate at a lower temp, it will just take a bit longer. If you have very curly bits, you may want to turn them over during drying.

 

Roasted Sweet Potato w Thyme, Garlic & Sesame Oil

Roasted Sweet Potato w Thyme, Garlic & Sesame Oil
A simple side dish, but with the lovely flavours of toasted sesame oil and thyme 🙂
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: side dish
Serves: 2
Prep time: 
Cook/wait time: 
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You need
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 2-3 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp of minced garlic
  • 1 tbsp of dried thyme
  • 1 tsp of Himalayan rock salt
To do
  1. preheat oven to 200C
  2. mix the oil, garlic, thyme and salt
  3. peel the potato, cut in cubes and place in oven dish
  4. pour oil mixture over potatoes and toss to coat
  5. place in oven and bake for about 40 minutes or until soft and browned to your liking

 

Garlic & Thyme Cheeze

Garlic & Thyme Cheeze
It doesn't have to be cheese! Nut cheese may never taste like real cheese - it just isn't that oily - but it looks great, it tastes great, it slices, cubes and it melts! Pretty good! :-),
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: cheeze, vegan alternatives
Prep time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 1 cup + 2 tbsp of cashews
  • 3 tsp of garlic powder
  • 3 tsp of onion flakes
  • 1¼ tsp Himalayan rock salt
  • 2 tbsp of fresh thyme leaves (or 1 of dried thyme)
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tbsp of nutritional yeast
  • 8 tsp agar agar powder
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp of miso (preferably light miso)
  • 1¾ cup of non-dairy milk (I used a combination of rice milk and almond milk)
  • ¼ cup of rice bran oil (or other oil you prefer)
To do
  1. grind the nuts in the small bowl of your food processor till fine
  2. add garlic, onion flakes, salt, thyme, turmeric and nutritional yeast
  3. in a small sauce pan, bring the milk with the agar to the boil, making sure all the agar is dissolved
  4. with the machine running, pour the agar mixture into the bowl
  5. add lemon juice, miso and slowly pour oil in
  6. let run till all nice and smooth
  7. pour into plastic or silicon container and place in fridge for about 4 hours
  8. take out of mould and that's it 🙂
Notes
Keep in fridge, it will stay fine for weeks. It melts, so you can use it on pizzas, for toasties, stir it into your pasta dishes, ahh... anything 🙂

 

Baby Eggplant w Thyme & Mushroom Ragoût

Baby Eggplant w Thyme & Mushroom Ragoût
We had this for lunch, but it is a great dinner too, or you can serve the two dishes separately 🙂
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: meal
Prep time: 
Cook/wait time: 
Total time: 
You need
For the eggplant:
  • 4 baby eggplants (or 1 large eggplant)
  • oil to drizzle on top
  • fresh or dried thyme
  • salt & pepper
For the mushroom ragoût:
  • about 200gr of mushrooms, cut up
  • 2 tbsp of oil (I used deodorized coconut oil) plus some oil to cook the mushrooms in
  • 6 tbsp of spelt flour
  • 2 heaped tsp of veggie stock powder
  • 2 tsp (or more) of minced garlic
  • 1 onion - or as much as you like, finely chopped
  • non dairy milk
  • salt & pepper or a dash of Bragg liquid aminos instead of salt
To do
To prepare the eggplant:
  1. preheat the oven to 200C
  2. cut the eggplant in halves, arrange in an oven dish, sprinkle with oil, the thyme leafs, salt & pepper
  3. place in oven for about half an hour, the top of the eggplant should be nice and brown but not black
To prepare the mushroom ragoût:
  1. in a skillet, add some oil, heat and add onion, give it a few minutes then add mushroom and a dash of water. Stir and keep on low/medium heat
  2. in a small sauce pan, melt the coconut oil, then add the flour and stir like crazy
  3. the mixture should go sticky and dry (if it doesn't, you have to turn the heat up), then mix in a bit of milk and stir again, the heat should make it go stick and dry again, and so you keep adding milk until it doesn't and it becomes a sauce
  4. add in the mushroom and onions, and add salt & pepper or Bragg to taste, and you're done 🙂
Notes
Arrange both dishes on a plate and enjoy 🙂

 

Broccoflower Coconut Soup w Garlic Croutons

Broccoflower Coconut Soup w Garlic Croutons
An absolutely beautiful, delicate soup. Leave out the garlic croutons or make them of gluten free bread for a gluten free version.
Prepared by:
Cuisine: vegan
Recipe type: soup
Serves: 4
Prep time: 
Cook/wait time: 
Total time: 
You need
  • 1 head of broccoflower, in florets (or cauliflower)
  • 1 can of coconut milk (I used light milk)
  • 1 liter of water
  • 1 tbsp of veggie stock powder
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves of garlic, minced
  • leafs of 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • pepper
  • 1 tsp of capers per person
  • about 1 slice of bread per person
  • 2 tbsp of oil (for the croutons)
  • 2-4 tsp of garlic powder
  • some sprigs of chives per bowl, chopped
To do
  1. cook the broccoflower florets in the water with veggie stock powder, till they are about half soft
  2. add the chopped onion, the coconut milk, garlic and pepper
  3. let gently boil till everything is soft, about 10 minutes
  4. when broccoflower is nice and soft, either use your stick blender to liquify, or pour in blender. A stick blender can easily do the job
  5. add in the thyme leafs and return to stove for another 5 to 10 minutes
  6. in the meantime sprinkle the both sides of the bread with garlic powder, or one side if you like less garlic
  7. heat the oil in a pan and cut the slice of bread in cubes
  8. when oil is hot, throw the bread cubes in pan and fry them, add more oil if too dry, turn them over a few times, keeping heat on medium
  9. soup will be ready by now, so serve and top with a part of the croutons, chopped chives and capers
Notes
Keep some of the croutons on the side, so you can have a fresh crunch half way. Unless you like soggy croutons, of course!

This soup is also awesome with a few drops of liquid smoke per bowl, and the same for Truffle oil. It just depends what you feel like - but there is a beautiful delicate balance between the brocco-(or cauli)flower and the coconut milk. Try without first, you can always add 🙂

Enjoy!