Spinach and walnut soup, artichoke and almond soup and other fantastic Vegan delights

Here comes Spring at long last....although we in So. Cal. are still waiting for the great  local asparagus and this week it is going to be in the 80f's..maybe too hot for asparagus.

The menu for tomorrow brings together some of the best reasons to become a Vegan, the most flavorful dishes with the most unusual ingredients, all are inspired by International cuisines, and all are absolute winners,and apart from the cookies the whole menu is light and tasty Vegan.

The menu for tomorrow:

A spinach, apple and walnut blended soup, I also added some mustard greens..when blended it is a very tasty soup

An artichoke and almond, blended soup..to this one I added potatoes, garlic, sweetcorn, fresh parsley stalks, celery and creamy RAW almond butter, very Spanish in origin, and finished with Spanish smoked paprika and coconut milk.

The Entrees:
A wonderful Thai inspired coconut-sunflower seed butter vegetable ragout, also finished with coconut milk, basil, garlic, red pepper flakes and served with steamed red rice.
The vegetables are yam, mixed bell peppers, ginger, onions, carrots, broccoli, chickpeas,  red potatoes.

Always mix the nut butter with some of the stew liquid to form an emulsion, then add to the stew. Adding directly to a hot soup or stew it will curdle

The nut butter and stock emulsion

allow the whole dish to marinate overnight then drain and pack with half the liquid..this is a wonderful nutty-lemony sauce, great over rice or noodles.

The other choice of entree herald's originally from Italy..Pasta Primavera, usually there is some nice and new asparagus, but I can't find any I like so I am using, carrots, zucchini, green beans, yams, onions, celery, sweet corn and "hearts of palm"(these are usually bought in cans as they are an import..just drain and rinse well, I am soaking mine overnight in filtered water and dried basil to remove some of the acidic flavors from the canning procedure).
This began as a saute in olive oil and then a steam in fresh water , salt & pepper, then remove from heat, drain add coconut milk and tomorrow fresh lemon zest and chopped parsley..begin the saute with the root vegetables and onion, then add vegetables in the order that they cook in, zucchini added last.
This is a wonderful and light dish over pasta or gnocchi.


The side is "smoked carrots" with walnuts..sauteed new carrots with smoked paprika and fresh raw walnuts


The dessert of choice is dried Cranberry & Pacific Rose Apple oatmeal cookies..these are nice and light with hints of cinnamon and apple, and somewhat chewy, from the fresh grated sweet apples.