Vegan: Chai

Status: Vegan
Mood: Cozy on a grey, cold day
Labor: Minimal
Prep Time: 12 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups of water
  
• 1 cinnamon stick
  
• 8-10 cardamom pods
  
• 10-12 whole cloves
  
• 3/4 cups soy milk
• 6 teaspoons sugar (or to taste)
  
• 3 teaspoons unperfumed loose black tea
  

Le Process:

1. Add water, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves to saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Cover and reduce heat to a simmer for 10 minutes.
   
3. Add milk and sugar. Bring to simmer again.
   
4. Add loose leaves, cover, and turn the heat off. Let steep 2-4 minutes and strain into a cup.
   

Vegan: Potato gnocchi with creamy sauce, purple cauliflower, and purple poatoes

Status: Vegan
Mood: Starch cravings, purple cravings
Labor: Minimal/Moderate
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• Frozen vegan potato gnocchi
  
• Purple cauliflower
  
• Purple-flesh potatoes
• Potato onions
• Purple garlic
  
• 1 tablespoon Earth Balance
  
• 1 cup soy milk
  
• 1 cup nutritional yeast
  
• 1 teaspoon miso paste
  

Le Process:

1. Cut potatoes into eighths. Cut cauliflower florets into small pieces. Save the stalks and leaves to make something else with! Boil cauliflower and potatoes, strain.
   
2. Boil gnocchi.
   
3. Make creamy sauce by melting Earth Balance in a small saucepan over medium heat, then add flour and wisk together to make a roux. Add soy milk, nutritional yeast, miso paste, and salt/pepper to taste. Wisk all together until thick. I finely minced old lacinato and curly-leaved kale because it was all I had and I wanted to add an accent of green, but I'd recommend using an herb like basil for extra flavor.
   
4. Chop onions and garlic. Sautee for a hot second (...) in the potato/cauliflower pot, add the cauliflower and potatoes back to the pot, add the gnocchi, and pour creamy sauce over all. Gently combine.
   
5. Mash purple potatoes. Add Earth Balance, soy milk, or both.
   

I would have tried making my own gnocchi if I weren't lazy. Maybe another time. Also, this was just a cutesie dish that arose out of coincidence of the produce I had. Please don't think I'm being all that serious. You don't have to specifically use potato onions or purple garlic, but it fit with the "theme".

Asparagus Soup

Status: Vegetarian. Vegan potential.
Mood: It's cold outside. You want soup. Green soup.
Labor: Minimal/Moderate
Prep Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 pound asparagus
• 1 onion
• 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 squeeze of lime or lemon
• fresh Parmesan

Le Process:

1. Chop off ends of asparagus, then chop into roughly smaller pieces. Chop onion. Put asparagus, onion, and 1/2 cup vegetable broth in a pot and heat until vegetables become vaguely soft.
2. Put mixture in a food processor, puree until smooth. Then add butter & flour; puree again until smooth.
   
3. Pour mixture back into pot, turn the heat back on. Add the rest of the vegetable broth, milk. Whisk in yogurt. Allow to cook for a short while longer. Pour into bowls.
   
4. Grate the Parmesan, sprinkle on top--liberally for more flavor (and fat), conservatively for less.

I ripped this recipe from online and changed a few things--it said to use soy milk and I used regular, it called for lemon and we only had a lime, and it was more particular about the butter & flour step, while I ended up just processing it with the asparagus mixture. For a soup, this involved very little labor, few steps, and it still tasted lovely.