Food You Can Eat: Simple Food for Stressful Times

The other weekend I made a big batch of Asian slaw, a huge pot of vegan-friendly vegetable soup, and a smaller batch of herbed pretzels.

Asian Slaw: This Asian slaw recipe came from the mother of a co-worker in the early 2000’s. It is a great snack, side dish, or even main course. I serve it on holidays when I am hosting a crowd, it is kid friendly. Also, I bet vegans could switch out the ¾ stick of butter for some sesame oil.

Sauté 2 packages of Ramen noodles, crumbled up, and ½ cup slivered almonds in 3/4  stick of butter.  In a separate bowl, whisk together ¾ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup vinegar, ¼ cup brown sugar, and one seasoning packet from the Ramen noodles. Pour the dressing over 2 bags of broccoli slaw and the sautéed Ramen and nuts, mix well. Top with ½ cup sunflower seeds and a few green onions, chopped. This “ages well”, just refrigerate and stir before serving.

Vegetable Soup: This soup also came from a coworker in the early 2000’s. She had a soup stand at a farmer’s market on the weekends, so the recipe takes two big pots and makes enough for months of soup. It freezes well and gets a little sweeter/richer with each subsequent heating. It also endears you to friends, neighbors, and coworkers, as you will have more than enough to share. Maybe make this recipe after social distancing.

This is a very forgiving recipe, add or delete ingredients to your own taste. Just do not use canned vegetables – you end up with vegetable mush. I eyeball the ingredients, and split it all between 2 pots, close enough.

Sauté 2 cups chopped onion, 2 cups chopped celery, and 1 cup sliced carrots in one stick of butter (or ¾ cup oil) on low till tender – 15 minutes or so. Add 1 large box veggie stock (28-32oz) and 1 large can Campbell’s tomato soup (23 oz.) and stir.

Add 2 cups ( 1 bag) each of frozen green beans, yellow wax beans, petite lima beans, shoe peg corn, and petite peas. Add 2 cups chopped cabbage, 2 cans stewed tomatoes, and 2 large cans of kidney beans (I use one light and one dark). Stir it all up.

Add 2 packets George Washington brown sauce mix, salt and pepper to taste, stir it up. Sprinkle with fresh parsley, cover, and simmer on low for hours.

Herb Pretzels: Our “across the alley” neighbor makes these for the neighborhood during the holidays, delivering little bags to the block. Every now and then I get a craving for them. I realize the photo just looks like a bunch of pretzels (sorry about that).

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Whisk together ¾ cup vegetable oil, 1 pack hidden valley Ranch Dressing Mix, 1 teaspoon dried dill weed, ½ teaspoon white pepper, and ½ teaspoon powdered garlic. Dump a bag to a bag and ½ of broken wedge pretzels in a large baking pan, pour the oil mixture over, and stir. Bake for 20 minutes, mixing every 5 minutes to coat thoroughly.  

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About Elliecoo 542 Articles
Four dogs, one partner. The dogs win.

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