Wonton Soup: Fast and Easy

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Do you LOVE a steamy bowl of Wonton soup?

With the tasty ingredients at Trader Joe’s you can have a delicious bowl of Wonton style soup anytime without even leaving your house!

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Here is my bowl of soup- I added some shredded zucchini, ginger and garlic to the broth- YUMMOOO!

Last week the weather started to get cooler here in the Midwest, and there were a few days of heavy rain so my cravings for a big bowl of soup came on strong!

My favorite part was that I could make this wonderful soup at home and watch some fun flicks – all warm and toasty!

Thank You Trader Joe’s!

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Here is the super easy recipe: 

  • 1 box broth (I like vegetable broth, but chicken or beef would also work)
  • 1 bag potstickers or Gyoza – any flavor (We used Shrimp Gyoza this time)

Extras to consider:

  • Ginger root (grate into the broth)
  • garlic (grate into the broth)
  • sesame oil
  • soy sauce
  • leftover cooked vegies

What to do:

Bring your stock of choice to a boil in a large pot over medium heat.

Carefully slip the frozen Goyza into the hot stock and reduce heat to simmer.  Add any extras you are using to the pot such as leftover cooked vegies, garlic or ginger as well and cook for 10 minutes.

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Serve in big bowls with a big spoon!

I also like to drizzle the top of the soup with a little sesame oil and soy sauce when I am serving it. You will see it in the pictures.

This is an AWESOME soup to make when you are feeling a bit under the weather too… Just a few ingredients and it will warm you up from the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

BBQ Garbanzo Beans: An Awesome Vegan Meal!

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Are you ready for our latest obsession? (well, one of them actually…..) It is BBQ Garbanzo beans!

Now the really funny thing is that Kansas City is SUCH a BBQ town… We have a huge selection of BBQ restaurants, cook off events and the like. It is one of those “cheats” that I will do – as I enjoy all the smoky, rich, sweet sauce- Yummo!  So when I found this awesome idea I love that I still can enjoy a vegetarian/ vegan meal and still getting in my BBQ flavors in.

Introducing … BBQ Garbanzo Beans!

Now I found this fabulous recipe idea in this awesome book:

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I have had the book for quite a while, and then recently I was clearing out the clutter (information for another post….) and I was like Yeah! So I started flipping around and found this recipe (p.116) for BBQ Bowl.

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We just had to try it.

It is an amazingly simple combo that I think you will LOVE and like so many other meals, this just gets better and better over the next few days after you make it. What we like to do is make a 3 can batch on Sunday and then eat it for lunch etc.. during the week. DElish!

What you need:

  • Garbanzo Beans
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese (optional, but surprisingly good)

What you do:

This is the super- simple part. This is how we make it, slightly different from the directions in the recipe book:

1. Drain and rinse the beans and the pour into a large pan on the stove.  Add about 1/4 cup of your favorite BBQ sauce to the pan with about half that amount of water. Stir carefully until you have beans sitting in a thin BBQ sauce.

2.  Now turn on the heat to medium and bring to a gentle boil. Continue to cook for a few minutes until the beans are warm and the BBQ sauce starts to get thick again.

3. Serve with a sprinkle of grated Parmesan cheese, or add the cheese and allow to cool and then store in the refrigerator.

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BBQ Garbanzo beans, arugula salad and Sweet Potatoes- with lots of leftovers for work day lunches!

For serving suggestions we have served these with arugula salad greens and some chopped tomatoes. Another time we served it along side some quinoa.  It was also good with sweet potato fries (and extra BBQ sauce for dipping).

So give this interesting and surprising recipe a try… It makes a fantastic office lunch too!

 

Easy Stuffing Recipe

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Are you searching for an Easy Stuffing Recipe to make for Thanksgiving (or any meal ….)??.

Well keep reading and I will give you a very simple recipe that you will enjoy  with Turkey or any kind of roasted meat really…. I will admit that I love the stuffing leftovers (crusty corners) with cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes~ yum!

In my mind there are two important parts to the stuffing… the bread part or maybe stuffing base, and the flavoring parts which can include items celery and onions and also cranberries, sausage and the classic ingredient,  oysters (yikes … not in my stuffing thank you….).

Today I will share a basic/ simple stuffing that you can try as well as some options at the bottom to help you expand out into new flavors.

Easy Stuffing Recipe Ingredients

  • 1 loaf of Challah bread
  • 1 package of Diced Onions, garlic & Shallots (or 1 medium onion, diced fine)
  • 1 apple (optional) I used one large Honey Crisp
  • dried fruit (optional – I am using dried cranberries with orange oil from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1 package Hearty Vegetable Stock (or chicken stock, which ever you like best)
  • Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute ( 1 teaspoon- or more to taste)
  • Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper, dried or fresh Sage leaf –

How To:

1. Dice the Challah bread into 1-2 inch pieces. I like to dry the bread out for a bit, so I chopped it up before work today and then made the stuffing when I came home tonight.

2. Cook the package of diced onions, garlic and shallots together in a pan with olive oil  until they get a bit of color… Add the apple (chopped up small) if you are using and let it cook for a few minutes. Here is where I also add Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute and the dry Sage (maybe a 1/2 to a whole teaspoon or to taste…. this is where the real “stuffing” flavor comes from in my opinion ).

3.  I had some yummy dried cranberries with orange in the pantry and thought why not??  so I chopped them up just a bit and then added them to the pan for a few minutes to warm up.

4. Now add about a cup of the Hearty Vegetable Stock to the pan and let it come to a boil. I like to do this to “clean the pan” a bit and loosen up any brown flavor bits that might be on the bottom. The liquid will also “plump” up the dried fruits a little.

4. Pour the contents of the pan over the bread cubes and toss well. Add more stock from the carton until the bread is nicely moist but not too soggy….

5. Turn out the stuffing into a greased baking dish.

6. Now the stuffing is ready to place in the refrigerator until you are ready to heat it  up. I like to make stuffing a day or two ahead of time to let the flavors all blend together, but don’t worry  you can also make it and bake it right away….

Bake at 350 degrees  for 45 minutes covered. It will sorta steam. Remove foil after 30 minutes and let it get a bit crusty if you like….

Ta-da! You have just made Easy Homemade Stuffing! This stuffing might be OK for Vegetarians or Vegans as there are no animal products in the recipe, just check the ingredients in the Challah bread to make sure it is OK for you.

Ideas/ Options for Stuffing

  • Save up bread scraps/ ends/ toast that the kids did not finish etc… in the freezer and use for your stuffing.
  • Find day old bread specials at the store and use that for stuffing
  • Cornbread or Cornbread muffins are yummy crumbled for stuffing.
  • Try adding items like green onions, celery and other favorite vegetables to your stuffing.
  • For Southwest flavor, add diced green chilies to a cornbread base…. maybe sprinkle the top with cheese?

We hope you found this Easy Stuffing Recipe helpful for you. Leave a comment below or on Facebook and share what you used to make your stuffing…..

 

Vegetarian Thanksgiving Made Easy

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Are you searching for some ideas to make an Easy Vegetarian Thanksgiving this year? Recently we were thinking about different ideas to make our meal a bit more  Vegan and Vegetarian -diet friendly this year.

Think about it… so much of Thanksgiving is about all these crazy-good side dishes and so many of them are vegetable based ~ including many yummy desserts, right.. 🙂

Some ideas to consider for an Easy  Vegetarian Thanksgiving:

  • mashed potatoes
  • baked sweet potatoes
  • Brussels sprouts roasted with nuts and cranberries
  • roasted turnips and parsnips (my family’s favorite)
  • rolls and butter
  • cranberry sauce

butternut squash, carrots, acorn squash…. the list could go on and on….

One easy idea is to just substitute Trader Joe’s Hearty Vegetable Stock for Chicken stock in many recipes… that would be a great and flavorful addition to mashed potatoes, soup or stuffing.

To keep is super easy check out the fresh and frozen sections of the store. Trader Joe’s has some delicious  side dishes that would be perfect for a vegetarian Thanksgiving…  Here I am thinking of the 4 cheese au gratin potatoes, or their new one that is a creamy potato and spinach combo (had a sample of that one last week- yummmooo).

Recently at Trader Joe’s we we talking (and sampling coffee and ginger biscotti pieces- YUM) and the friendly Trader Joe’s employees were talking about…. Tofurkey!

Once an item of legend… now the Tofurkey has arrived and is on the shelf at Trader Joe’s stores ~ At least the one that we shop at in Kansas City.  No one who was working  that day had ever tried this unusual item… but they noted that a LOT of customers were purchasing the faux birds.

So I thought I would mention this  just in case it might round out your Vegetarian Thanksgiving table.

Do you enjoy Tofurkey? What are you serving for your Easy Vegetarian Thanksgiving??

Share in the comments below or on Facebook …. have a GREAT DAY!