Apple Pancakes and Tomato Soup

Lacking cooking creativity, I've been looking at other people's blogs for inspiration. I finally looked through Smitten Kitchen's recipe list - yum! Gorgeous pics, a wide range, lots of veggie recipes. I was drooling over her apple pancake recipe, so I adapted it tonight.

Apple Pancakes
Ingredients
3 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups soymilk (or milk of your choice)
1 TBSP vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla

Clean and grate apples and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Add the soymilk, oil, and vanilla and stir until just mixed (a few lumps are always okay in pancakes). Fold in the grated apples.

Heat a large frying pan with enough oil to coat over medium heat. Spoon in about 1/2 cup of batter, spreading it out slightly (the apples keep the batter from spreading out very well itself and they'll be gooey in the middle). Cook until golden brown on the underside, flip, and cook 2 or 3 minutes more.

Serve with maple syrup, breakfast potatoes, veggie sausage, etc.
I'm not actually sure how many pancakes this makes - at least a dozen large ones! I only fried up two 6-inch pancakes for dinner tonight and hardly made a dent in the batter. I'll try to keep count as I use it tomorrow and let you know!


On to soup! Some time last year, I spent a good part of my lunch hour flipping through the worst magazine ever. There was not a single interesting article in the whole thing. Some how, I made it to the last page where there was a recipe - turns out it was delicious. Best tomato soup I have had in a long time. The recipe served the soup with what were essentially chickpea croutons, but I don't think they were worth the effort. Delicious with hearty bread or sandwiches.

Tomato-Coconut Soup
2 TBSP canola oil
1 large onion, diced
2 tsp garam masala
1 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 28oz can fire-roasted diced tomatoes - undrained
3 cups vegetable stock
1 13.5oz can coconut milk
1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and saute for 4-5 minutes, until translucent. Add garam masala, ginger, and garlic, cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add tomatoes (with juices) and stock. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down to low, and simmer (covered) for 25 minutes.

Puree the soup either with an immersion blender or in a regular blender (it'll be two batches). Put back on the stove on medium-high heat, stir in the coconut milk, and heat through. Serve!

Makes 4 - 6 servings

Enjoy! I've had a few requests, but have to cook those meals and actually write things down before I can deliver. If you have any requests, let me know, I'll see what I can do!