Vegan

Vegan Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup from The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook

https://www.chicvegan.com/vegan-creamy-vegetable-noodle-soup-from-the-meatless-monday-family-cookbook/

Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup from The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook by Jenn Sebestyen will keep you warm and cozy on chilly winter days. It’s a little bit like potpie filling, but in soup form. This easy recipe is vegan with a gluten-free option.

The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook

I’m super excited to share The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook by my friend Jenn Sebestyen with you today! You probably know Jenn and her delicious recipes from her blog Veggie Inspired.

This cookbook is full of over 100 tasty plant-based recipes. It’s great for those who are just dipping their toe into the world of vegan food and want to eat meatless one day a week. Jenn starts the book with lots of tips for newbie vegans, including pantry essentials and handy kitchen tools.

Seasoned vegans who eat meatless every day of the week will find lots to love here, too. I mean, who can turn down Skillet Chickpea Chilaquiles or a bowl of Very Berry Quinoa Salad?

As you might have guess from the name, this cookbookis full of family-friendly recipes. Jenn has veganized omnivore classics—like Potpie Noodle Casserole and Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese—that will please even the pickiest of eaters. She includes lots of tips on how to the get the kids involved in cooking, too.

Chapters in The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook Include:

Getting Started with Meatless Monday
Hearty Soups
Satisfying Salads
Loaded Handhelds
Bountiful Bowls
Perfect Pasta
One Pot Wonders
Comforting Casseroles
Center Stage Vegetables
Breakfast for Dinner
Sauces and Staples

If you’re looking for family friendly vegan recipes, or if you’re hoping to add more meatless dishes into your diet, this is the cookbook is for you!

Creamy Vegetable Noodle Soup

This thick and creamy soup reminds me a bit of potpie filling, but in soup form. The small ditalini pasta rings are the same size as the diced vegetables, making it easy for kids to scoop up a bit of everything in one bite. Made with no cream, not even homemade cashew cream, you won’t believe how creamy it is. You’ll be heading back for seconds in no time.

Ingredients

2
tablespoons
(28 ml) olive oil
1
yellow onion
diced
3
carrots
peeled and diced
2
ribs celery
diced
1
red bell pepper
seeded and diced
1
tablespoon
(1 g) dried parsley
1
teaspoon
dried basil
1
teaspoon
dried thyme
½
teaspoon
dried dill
1¼
teaspoons
salt
or to taste
¼
cup
(32 g) all-purpose flour
2
cups
(475 ml) unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice, divided
4
cups
(946 ml) low-sodium vegetable broth
2
tablespoons
8 g nutritional yeast
(optional)
1
cup
(110 g) dry ditalini pasta or similar small pasta shape
(gluten-free, if desired)

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add the onion and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes until soft and translucent. Add the carrots, celery, and bell pepper and sauté 4 to 5 minutes until starting to soften.
Add the parsley, basil, thyme, dill, salt, and flour and stir to combine, scraping up any bits of flour on the bottom of the pot. Slowly pour in ½ cup (120 mof milk while whisking continuously, again scraping up any bits of flour on the bottom; a flat whisk is convenient here, but a balloon whisk will work as well. Whisk until the flour is completely incorporated.
Add the remainder of the milk, vegetable broth, and nutritional yeast, if using. Whisk to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the pasta, and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes until the pasta is cooked through, stirring often to prevent the pasta from sticking.
Taste and adjust the seasoning, if necessary.

Recipe Notes

Swap it! For a gluten-free option, use brown rice flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Vegan

Mushroom Parmesan Pasta Bake (1-pan, nut-free, with soy-free and gluten-free options)

Cozy, hearty spinach cheese stuffed Mushroom Parmesan, is a one-pan dinner that your family is going to love! Even the orzo pasta bakes up in the pan with the cheesy mushrooms and marinara sauce! 1 pan, 1 baking Step!

close-up of a fork taking a bite of mushroom parmigiana

I wanted to make a simple mushroom parmesan pasta bake, because I had plenty of mushrooms on hand. And I wanted to reduce the pans and time in the kitchen. Enter this cozy 1 Pan Orzo bake!

The mushrooms are stuffed with this delicious spinach-tofu-cheese mixture that I often use to make stuffed shells, then I top it with a cruncy breadcrumb topping and pair it with a pasta, I use orzo, but other shapes will work too! The pasta and the sauce at the bottom, topped with cheesy stuffed mushrooms, and a crisp breadcrumb topping. Everything cooks in just one pan and one baking step!

close-up of mushroom parmesan in the pan after baking

The prep is very simple. Just make your spinach-tofu-cheese mixture by adding everything to a bowl and mixing it. Prep your mushrooms by removing the stems, and that’s it!

It’s an easy recipe that’s pretty flexible, too. You can add some veggie grounds or vegan ground meat substitute in with the pasta sauce to add extra protein to the meal. The recipe is already nut-free, and it’s easy to make soy-free and gluten-free, too.

You want to use about two- to three-inch mushrooms. Larger mushrooms take longer to cook, and pasta will overcook in that much time, so medium-sized works best here. I also use the mushroom stems in the recipe, so don’t discard them. Just trim away the tough end of the stem and discard that, but save the rest of the stem to chop up into the pasta sauce.

close up of mushroom parmesan on a plate

I paired this mushroom parmesan with orzo pasta, because it cooks up really easily in the baking dish and it works out just amazing. You can add a different pasta of choice, as well, just bake a few minutes longer until the pasta is cooked to preference.