Chickpea Noodle Soup - the cure for the vegan cold

In my household, most of the time we are healthy. I mean, being superheroes and ninjas must provide us with a heartier constitution. However, today we are dying of the plague or something equally drastic.

Being the mom, I braved the wind and cold to gather supplies, and selflessly came home and made Chickpea Noodle Soup, pausing to lean against the counter every few minutes. Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic, but I do feel pretty awful.

Before making the soup I looked at a few recipes online, but nothing stuck out for me, so I decided to just go for it and wing it. Boy oh boy am I glad I did.

Chickpea Noodle Soup
Serves 6

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
8oz mushrooms, chopped
3 carrots, thinly sliced
2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 1/2 cups chickpeas {15oz can drained and rinsed}
8 cups water
3 tbsp Better Than Bullion No Chicken broth paste
1 cup frozen green peas
1/2 lb linguine or other pasta
1 1/2 tbsp nutritional yeast
fresh black pepper

1. In a large soup pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, and cook until caramelized. Add garlic and sautee until golden brown.
2. Add mushrooms and cook until all of the liquid has evaporated and they are cooked through. Add carrots, celery and thyme. Cook for 5 minutes, until softened.
3. Add chickpeas, water, broth paste, and peas. Bring to a boil. Add the pasta and nutritional yeast, and cook until pasta is tender, about 12 minutes.
4. Ladle into bowls, garnish with fresh black pepper, and serve with crusty bread.

Asian Peanut Slaw

I'm not much of a salad girl, I'll confess. It's not that I don't like them, it's more that I feel the return on investment for my time spent making them is sub par. One exception is coleslaw. I love coleslaw in all its forms. I'll admit it. It makes me sad to see all those little ramekins headed back to the kitchen at restaurants, neglected on the plates of people who see it as a "lesser food form". Coleslaw is DYNAMITE.

My favorite coleslaw variations definitely tend toward the exotic. Okay, so Asian coleslaw isn't exactly exotic, but I can pretend, right? This is my new favorite, fresh shredded vegetables, crunchy noodles, and salty peanuts in a tangy sweet & sour peanut sauce that just will not quit. It is even good enough to bear the Ninjahusband stamp of approval. And because I'm so nice and fabulous and cute and everything, I'll share the recipe with you here and now.

Asian Peanut Slaw
Serves 8

2 packages of Ramen noodles, spice packets discarded {yuck!}, crushed
1 bag of cabbage coleslaw mix {14 oz}
1 carrot, grated
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
cilantro, for garnish

1. In a large bowl, mix together the noodles, cabbage mix, carrot, and green onions.
2. In a separate small bowl, whisk together rice vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and peanut butter.
3. Pour the dressing down over the cabbage mixture, add the peanuts {reserving a few for garnish} and toss until well coated.
4. You can eat this right away, but it's even better if you can let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two. Whenever you decide to serve it, garnish it with the reserved peanuts and cilantro.

Almost Irish Crock Pot Stew

A simple delicious stew from Fresh From the Vegetarian Slow Cooker. Served with crusty bread it was a quick, hearty, and filling meal, not to mention a wonderful thing to come home to.