Mark and I are just back from a 5-day trip to Charleston to visit his family. When we arrived home, I was famished and there was no food in the house, so I had to go to Wegmans and do some grocery shopping, after which I quickly shoved a frozen burrito and some chips & salsa down my throat so I didn’t pass out from hunger, effectively spoiling my appetite for dinner. Then around 9, of course, I wanted something else to eat, but didn’t want to eat a huge meal. I also wanted to have something to take to work for lunch tomorrow. So, as is my wont, I made a big pot of soup. Today’s feature: Old Bay soup. Which is basically just a soup I dumped a bunch of Old Bay into. I’m a Baltimore girl, but since I haven’t eaten seafood in 22 years, I have to get my Old Bay fix in other formats…and soup’s a favorite.

I was hungry and not thinking of saving the recipe, so even more than usual, these amounts are estimates. Soups like this one are very much taste-and-season-as-you-go.

Old Bay Soup

1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
4-5 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
a couple of squirts of Bragg’s liquid aminos (or a tablespoon or two soy sauce)
1 tsp dried seaweed, your choice (optional; I used wakame)
6 cups vegan broth or water + vegan bouillon (your favorite flavor)
1/3 cup bulgur
1/3 cup long- or medium-grain rice (or 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed – as I was eating it I wished I’d used quinoa!)
diced “meat” of your choice – I used Gardein Chick’n Scallopini, but any seitan, tofu, young jackfruit, or commercial vegan “meat” will work, or you can just skip it
1/2 tsp kelp powder (optional)
handful or two green beans, trimmed and chopped or french-cut
1 cup frozen or fresh corn
1/2 tsp thyme
1-2 Tbsp Old Bay
1/4-1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Heat some oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, carrots, garlic, and celery seed; cook until the onions are soft. (If your “meat’ needs to be browned, add it with the onions as well.) Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until bulgur and rice are cooked, about 45 minutes. Season to taste – you probably won’t need any salt as Old Bay is very salty.

So, as I mentioned, we just returned from Charleston. A tidal stream runs past Mark’s mom’s house, and I was visited by ducks each morning as I sat on the porch and ate breakfast.

There is also a pond about a block from the house, where about a minute after you arrive, turtles will swim up to you. They’re huge!

The most startling and surprising wildlife I saw, though, was Din! Din was Mark’s cat when Mark and I met. He gave Din to his parents when he moved in with me because Tigger and Brachtune would have killed Din. Well, Din never forgave either of us – she hates us – and sometimes we don’t catch a single glimpse of her the whole time we are down there. She’s getting braver and has been making appearances after a day or two, but this is the first time I’ve been able to capture her on “film”. Here she is peeping around the corner to assess the situation. Very exciting.

I showed a little too much interest in her, so she ran under a chair for safety. Big sissy.

Mark’s family lives near Folly Beach, which is home to the Morris Island lighthouse.

And here we are being cute in front of the lighthouse:

In her years of extensive research into our family history, I don’t think my mother has found a single Italian ancestor for me (nor does Mark have any, despite his father’s spurious claim that he had “hot Italian blood coursing through [his] veins.”) Nonetheless, I believe I’d make a good honorary Italian for this recipe. Essentially, I had about a third of a loaf of bread leftover from last week’s bake, the crust of which was rock hard, but the inside of which (thanks to my latest invention the “long life” bread bag, and yes, I’ll be making a second one soon for your benefit and doing a tutorial) was still soft. So basically I could get a knife through it, but the crust would have broken your teeth. Like many Italians, I didn’t want it to go to waste, though, so I decided to make bread soup. In fact, practically this entire soup was made from leftovers of one sort of another. I am thrifty!

Italian Bread Soup

1/2 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
6 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
4 cups vegan broth (I used the broth leftover from making Smoked Seitan Butt last night)
1 14.5 oz can Roman or white beans
1 cup diced or crushed tomatoes (I used leftover homemade tomato sauce from Friday night’s dinner)
3 cups baby spinach (I had some that was a bit past its prime and thought it would be great for soup)
salt, to taste
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
stale white bread, like sourdough, cut or torn into medium-large pieces (you’ll often see “day-old” bread called for, but mine was a full week old)

Heat some olive oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat, then add the onions, celery, and carrots. When the onions are translucent, add the garlic and cook for a minute or two, then add the broth, beans, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the spinach and cook for another minute or two, then add the bread and let it become soaked through.

It’s a beautiful day here in Northern Virginia! I’m about to go run some errands, with the top down on my car, it’s so nice! The only downside is the kittens are starting to once again think maybe they should be going outside.

Will I ever be not busy? It doesn’t seem like it, but I think my life should calm down in January, so hopefully then I’ll be back to posting more regularly, with my normal obnoxious photographing-every-little-step posts. In the meantime, here is a quick post featuring some soup I made for dinner tonight. It’s really just this Cream of Asparagus Soup recipe on AllRecipes, veganized, though it is also very similar to the Creamless Cream of Asparagus Soup I made earlier this year.

“Cream” of Asparagus Soup

3 Tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups vegan broth
1 bundle asparagus, chopped
1 large or 2 small potatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp soy sauce
freshly ground pepper, to taste

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven, then add the onion and celery and saute until soft and golden. Stir in the flour, stirring until completely smooth to avoid lumps. Add the vegan broth – I like to heat water to a boil in my electric kettle, then pour it into the pot and add the bouillon – and stir until smooth and thickened. Add the asparagus, potatoes, and soy sauce and bring to a boil …

… then reduce heat and simmer for half an hour or until potatoes and asparagus are soft. Season with as much freshly ground pepper as you’d like. Remove from heat and puree using an immersion blender, or let cool for a while and transfer to a blender in batches and blend …

… then return to pot and bring back up to temperature if necessary before serving.

It doesn’t look all that exciting, but looks can be deceiving – this is really tasty. Mark informed me this was “completely awesome” and had two huge servings…then later while doing the dishes lamented the fact that he ate too much. Mark added rice to his for some texture; I ate mine plain and spooned barbecued beans over my portion of rice. Either way it’s quick, easy, healthy, and delicious.

LA is beginning to seem like so long ago, but I promised you a Cats of LA photo essay, so here you go:

My gosh doesn’t this look like Brachtune?!

Oh wait, that last cat isn’t of LA….yet ..?