Tastes like fall.....

So the phone seems to have taken a permanent leave of absence and there is no sense in crying over spilled almond milk. This means I am attempting to take pictures with Photobooth off of my macbook (I will pretend you are impressed by my commitment to posting if not by the picture quality). Normally I'm a from scratch muffin maker but I found a box of corn muffin mix in a cranny of my cupboard that I had neglected to peruse. I must have picked it up at Loblaw's:

The recipe does call for an egg but I used one egg replacer instead as well as plain rice milk with a tsp of apple cider vinegar in lieu of the cup of water (mix them together and let it sit for a few minutes). I also like my muffins muffin sized so I made 11 instead of 12.

Results are in.......

I'm munching on one of these with a cold glass of rice milk right now and I have no complaints. The egg replacer and vinegar-milk combo must have done the trick because this corny baby is fluffy and delicious. I give it a solid thumbs up though next time I'd def. make things a little more interesting with some fruit or maybe chopped jalapeños woulda been amazing. Either way these will be pretty sweet just toasted with a little margarine or to accompany the soup you mighta been hoping to make.


Oh did someone say soup? Funny you should mention that..... Dinner tonight is a lentil sweet potato soup with tempeh croutons and corn muffins. Weird how that worked out right?

It was cold and rainy today and nothing fights the sniffles like fortifying your body with everything it needs to keep you running tip top. So check it out....

Sweet Potato Lentil Soup with Tempeh Croutons

Soup:
1 1/2 tbsp veg. oil
3/4 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot
2 1/2 cups peeled & cubed sweet potato
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
1 bay leaf
4 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp maple syrup
salt & pepper to taste

In a pot over low-medium heat, warm up the oil then add the onions. I wanted them to caramelise so I sauteed them for 10 minutes, stirring several times until they really softened and got golden. Put the ginger, cinnamon & chili flakes in and saute for another minute before following that with the carrots and sweet potato and sauteeing for another 5 minutes.

Mix in the lentils and pour in the 4 cups of veggie broth. Bring everything to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and let the stove work its magic for another 25 minutes or so until everything looks nice and softened. Remove bay leaf before next step! Use a food processor or an immersion blender (I don't know what I'd do without mine) to puree the soup. Return the soup to pot and mix in the maple syrup and lemon juice - Don't leave these guys out they really ring the flavours together. Soup's on!

Should serve 4

Tempeh Croutons:
1 cup tempeh cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp soy sauce (I used Braggs)
1 tablespoon of veg. broth (I used a dash of Herbamare veg. salt with a 1tbsp water)
1 tbsp canola/olive oil

Mix all ingredients (except tempeh) in a bowl. Toss cubes in the bowl until they are well coated in the mixture.

Line the tempeh up on a tray covered in foil and pop them in your toaster oven (or oven) at 375 for 20 minutes. Give them a shake halfway through so they toast properly.

Drop a few on top of your soup or throw them in a salad because they'd be even more at home there.

I love fall.