Peachy Keen Green

In San Antonio, Chelsey served us a delicious homemade tomato soup! She told me how she made it, and I found a similar coconut-milk based tomato soup recipe on the web. What I really liked about Chelsey's was that the base was pureed, but there were still chunks of tomato and kale to give it some texture. Serve with crackers or fresh bread or garlic bread, or top with fresh bread croutons. You could also try adding pasta (gnocchi?) or veggie dumplings to the soup, too. Ingredients 4 cups fresh tomatoes, chopped 2 cloves garlic, chopped 1-2 celery stalks (optional) 1 onion, chopped 1-2 carrots, chopped 1 T canola oil 4 cups vegetable broth 1 cup cashews, soaked - or 1 C coconut cream 1/3 cup nutritional yeast 1 T balsamic vinegar (optional) kale (a few leaves, chopped) Spices: 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp dried basil 1 tsp paprika salt & pepper to taste (optional) 2 tsp 21 spice no-salt seasoning (like Kirkland's or Trader Joes) Garnish (optional): F

We ate at Vegenation  in Las Vegas during our Southwest vacation, and their Chicken Pot Pie Gnocchi was amazing! The Chicky Chicky Bang Bang sandwich came in a close second, followed by the Strawberry Crepes and Lemon Merengue Tart. But oh, the pot pie. It was a comfort food for Larry growing up. For one of our early dates, I made Chicken Pot Pie Nouveau for Larry from the New Basics cookbook; it used pearl onions, snap peas, sliced carrots, fresh rosemary, and puff pastry. I've wanted to make it again - and now I can! Below is an adapted version of a recipe inspired by vegenation pot pie . Larry's sisters Cyndy and Laurie made this when we visited from Vegas a few days later. Serve with garlic bread! (Shown here with delicious  wild rice salad .) Ingredients 1 large onion, diced 4 stalks celery, diced 10 oz mushrooms, washed and sliced 1 large potato, diced 2 T canola oil Liquids: 1/2 cup flour  2 T arrowroot 1 cup water 3 cups veggie broth 1/2 cup vegan milk (almon