Cheeze Please Soup and Beer Bread

Remember when I wrote about the cheesy flakes of goodness that I used to make parmesan cheeze? Here they are again making a wonderful, satisfying Mexican “queso” soup. The beer we buy is 18 oz so it can be split over 2 meals. I used 12 oz to make the bread and the remaining 6 oz in a tempeh marinade that we’ll eat tomorrow.

First start your beer bread. This recipe is courtesy of one of favourite food blogs Happy Herbivore. http://happyherbivore.com/2008/11/whole-wheat-beer-bread/ 

 Preheat the oven to 190 C/ 375 F

3 cups whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat spelt)

2 TB raw sugar (meaning unrefined--in the US cane sugar is refined through the bone char of dead animals--yucko!)

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

12 oz dark beer

Whisk all dry ingredients into a bowl. Lightly grease a bread pan. Pour beer into dry mixture--it‘ll be a bit fizzy. Stir to combine until it forms a dough. You may have to use your hands. Transfer dough to bread pan. Press down gently so it spreads out. Bake for 1 hour.

When the bread comes out of the oven start the soup. I find it benefits from cooling before you slice it.

Cheeze Please Soup courtesy of somewhere on the internet years ago.

1 medium potato, diced--peeled optional

1 large carrot, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 ½ cups vegetable stock

Get the above ingredients into a pot. Bring to the boil, then turn down the heat and let simmer until the veg are tender. When they are tender add the rest of the ingredients:

1 tin great northern beans, rinsed and drained (we used haricots beans as they are high in calcium--any small tender white beans will do)

½ cup nutritional yeast flakes

2 TB lemon juice

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp each ground cumin and coriander (cilantro)

1 ½ cups defrosted frozen corn--divided Just put half the corn in the pot

1 jar salsa

Zoosh it in a blender or with a stick blender like I do then add the corn you saved back and ½-¾ cup “milk” of your choice and reheat on the stove. Ole!

While the bread is in the oven make this marinade with the leftover beer and pop it in the fridge for tomorrow’s meal.

Chile-Beer Marinade from Veganomicon

¾ cup of beer

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 TB oil

2 TB lime juice

2-3 tsp chilli powder

½ tsp ground cumin

Several shakes of Chipotle Tabasco

1 8 oz packet of tempeh

While your beer bread is in the oven slice your tempeh and boil it for 10 minutes in a water with a glug of tamari soy sauce and a tsp Marmite to remove any bitterness and to infuse the tempeh with a bit of “beefy” flavour. Drain and let cool. Mix everything above into whatever you use to marinate stuff in and add the tempeh and marinate overnight in the fridge. Tomorrow I’ll tell you how to cook and it with what.