Fall Is For Soup

I love new recipes. And I love soups on fall days. I found this new soup recipe in my ReadyMade magazine, when it was still being printed (let's not talk about that).

It tasted amazing and had wonderful colors (don't you love colorful foods?).

My version

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Stew:

INGREDIENTS:
1 T canola oil
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1-inch cubes
1 onion, peeled and roughly diced
1 red pepper, seeds removed and chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
1 jalapeño, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 T chili powder
1 t cumin
1 t cayenne pepper
3 c vegetable broth
14.5-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
14.5-oz can diced tomatoes with juices
1 c frozen corn
1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 c freshly squeezed lime juice

PREPARATION:
Heat canola oil in a large, heavy-bottom stock pot over medium high heat. Add sweet potatoes, onion, red pepper, jalapeño, and garlic, stirring to coat. Sauté until onion and peppers are soft, about 4 minutes.

Add chili powder, cumin, and cayenne pepper and stir well. Reduce heat to medium, cover pot, and allow sweet potatoes to soften, about 7 to 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

After sweet potatoes are fork tender, add vegetable broth, black beans, and tomatoes. Bring stew to a boil, stirring well and scraping the bottom of pot to incorporate all of the spices. Add frozen corn, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook for an additional 15 minutes.

Before serving, stir in cilantro and lime juice. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve stew with additional cilantro, if desired.

***The recipe allows for shredded cheddar cheese. But I went the vegan route.
***You can find the recipe here.

Vegan Orange Cornmeal Pancakes

I found this recipe in the February/March 2010 of ReadyMade magazine. [ReadyMade website]

I altered it a little bit because the taste of oily oranges just wasn't for me.

My vegan cornmeal pancakes

  
Ingredients:

1 C. whole wheat flour
1/2 C. cornmeal
1 t. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
3/4 t. salt
1 1/4 C. plain soy milk (I use almond milk)
2 T. canola oil
1 T. maple or agave syrup
1 t. cider vinegar
1 orange, peeled and sliced across the grain

Directions:

1. Stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Whisk together milk, oil, syrup and vinegar, and stir into dry mixture until just moistened.

2. Pour 1/3 cup of mixture onto nonstick skillet (basically, cook your pancakes) for 2 minutes on each side. Serve with syrup and orange slices.

Clove syrup:
1 1/2 C. maple syrup
1 t. ground cloves

Heat syrup and cloves in saucepan until warm and serve over pancakes.

*****

The original recipe sautes the orange slices in canola oil and then adds the 1/3 cup of pancake mixture over one slice to cook. But I didn't like the taste of oranges sauted in oil. Yuck. The fresh orange slices on top of the pancakes with the syrup worked though.