Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup and Kale Chips

Vegan Carrot Ginger Coconut Soup

This soup is the picture of health.  Sweet carrots are cooked down and mixed with spicy ginger and creamy coconut.  It’s vegan.  It’s healthy.  Your insides will totally throw a parade in your honor.  I like to serve this soup with crusty bread… I like to serve everything with crusty bread.

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serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

3 tablespoons minced ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

4-5 cups diced carrots

3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup light coconut milk

salt and pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.  Add onions and saute until onions are translucent, about 4 minutes.  Add ginger and saute for another 4 minutes, until softened and fragrant.  Add coriander and diced carrots.  Stir to incorporate.  Add the vegetable broth, reduce heat, and simmer mixture until carrots are completely softened, about 30 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Using a blender, blend soup in batches until smooth.  (You can also use an emulsion blender in the pot and never have to move the soup… if you’re into that sort of convenience.)  Return soup to pot, stir in coconut milk.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve soup warm with crusty vegan bread.

Kale Chips

These are not potato chips.  Don’t let anyone tell you that they taste as good as potato chips.  They don’t.  Potato chips are uuuuhhhh-mazing.  These chips are also delicious.  Believe it or not, kale bakes up into a crisp paper, chip-like consistency.  The flavor is light, but green… and you can add just about any seasoning you’d like.  Old Bay Seasoning?  A total dream come true.  Try them.  The crunch is addicting.  Oh!  I like using dinosaur kale (the flatter kale variety) because they leaves are more easily removed from the stalk.  Try any kale you can get your hands on!

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1 pound bunch of dinosaur kale

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon olive oil

any seasoning you’d like:  Old Bay Seasoning, Grill Seasoning, smoky paprika, chili flakes, sea salt and coarse black pepper.

Preheat oven to 275 degrees.  Thoroughly clean and dry kale leaves.  Remove the fiberous center stalk from the kale by tearing the leaves away from the stalk.  The center stalk will bake up very tough, that’s why we remove it.

Place kale leaves on one or two baking sheets.  Leaves should be in a single layer for the most part.  Sprinkle with olive oil and seasoning.  Toss with your hands.  Add more seasoning if you’d like.

Place pan(s) in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Remove sheet(s) and toss leaves with tongs.  Return to the oven to bake for another 15 minutes.  after 30 minutes of baking, turn the oven off and allow the leaves to dry in the cooling oven for another 30 to 45 minutes.  They’ll be crisp and ready to snack on in no time!

Store kale chips in an airtight bag.  They’ll last anywhere from several minutes (because they’re an irresistible snack) to several days (because your husband doesn’t like kale).