This is the week of getting back to normal, so I know I’m not alone in asking you: How were your holidays? Mine were busy and bright, full of food and cheer.

Predictably, I got sick after the holidays, so I’m only now posting my Cottage Cooking Club selections from last month. Since they’re both quite light and healthy, let’s say they’re crossing the boundary from feasting to simply eating well.

Mushroom “Stoup”

This soup doesn’t set out to be light, but is meant to be almost a stew. It’s jam-packed with porcini and button mushrooms and includes an option for dumplings, which will absorb all the extra liquid, making it thick and rich.

I opted to skip the dumplings. I can make them gluten-free, but Kevin is not a fan of dumplings, so I decided to make a few changes. I halved the amount of porcini mushrooms, as December is an expensive month and I was splurging elsewhere. I added in extra button mushrooms, instead. I also skipped the fresh dill and added some savoury I’d dried from the garden. I used Earth Balance in place of butter, but next time I think I’ll just stick with olive oil. I didn’t like the way the Earth Balance behaved in the soup, never quite incorporating completely.

So, my version was a gluten-free, vegan, slightly soupier one. And it was a huge hit. I made a full recipe and froze half of it. I had to take one of the containers of frozen soup out of the freezer only two days later. I’ll likely have to take the other one out as soon as Kevin reads this post.

I’ll be making this one regularly.

Spicy Carrot and Chickpea Pita Pocket

This dish is a tasty antidote to all that Christmas eating. I used gluten-free corn tortillas in place of the pita pockets, which worked very well. As much as I enjoyed this, I kept thinking I’d like to take all the components and transform them into a stew, perhaps with some potatoes for heft. I loved the combination of cumin, hot smoked paprika, and orange with carrots, but craved it in a more bowl-friendly form.

I hope everyone had a good month or so of cheer. I’m looking forward to reading all of the Cottage Cooks’ posts.

Here are the links to the rest of the group’s posts for this month. I encourage you to check them out – you’ll meet some wonderful bloggers and get some great inspiration for vegetarian eating.

This month’s theme for the Cottage Cooking Club is Oktoberfest. I didn’t make it to any Oktoberfest celebrations this year, but as you can see, I did enjoy a seasonal pumpkin lager. I also enjoyed all the harvest vegetables. Thanks to El Niño, the produce stands are full of a variety of early to late autumn produce, which makes delicious eating easy.

Along the way, I prepared two of this month’s CCC selections and both were wonderful.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry

You know a recipe is a keeper if you’re being asked to make it again as soon as it’s gone. This curry lasted us three meals and kept getting better each day.

It’s also a healthy dish, full of fresh garlic, onion, and ginger, with spices like tumeric and cumin – all things that are being touted as immune boosters. There’s only a little fat in it and it’s vegan to boot.

We’ll be having this dish whenever cauliflower looks good at the market.

Roasted Parsnip, Green Lentil, and Spinach

The recipe in the book uses watercress, but it’s something that I find can be elusive around here. It’s one of those things I try to buy when I see it, as I never know when I’ll run across it again. This month was not a lucky one for me when it came to watercress, so I used wilted spinach in its place. The only other deviation from the recipe I made was to dice some of the onion cooked with the lentils and mix it back in, along with the dressing. It’s a trick I learned from Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table.

Fearnley-Whittingstall’s dressed lentils are another favourite from this book. The lemon and mustard dressing suits lentilles du Puy perfectly and pairs well with the wilted spinach and roasted parsnips, too. Ah, I thought of another change I made – to make the dressing vegan, I substituted a little sugar for the honey.

I made more roasted parsnips than I needed for this dish, as it’s my favourite way to eat them and I wanted leftovers. Which reminds me, I added in a few sprigs of fresh rosemary when I was roasting them – I promise, that’s the last tweak I made to this recipe.

We’ll be repeating this dish, too, though given what I’ve written above, I’m not sure it will ever be exactly the same twice.

Here are the links to the rest of the group’s posts for this month. I encourage you to check them out – you’ll meet some wonderful bloggers and get some great inspiration for vegetarian eating.

It’s autumn, time for warming meals and bottomless cups of rose-infused lattes (this one’s from Chau Veggie Express).

It’s also harvest time and this month’s Cottage Cooking Club motto is to make the best of what’s seasonal and local. September was a make-up month, so we could choose from any of the recipes that we’ve missed, or revisit a favourite.

I caught up on two recipes this month. They were July picks, but they were perfect for all the garden vegetables that were still at their peak this month.

Ribollita

I made this early in the month, using some fantastic tomatoes. This is a rich soup, full of vegetables. I used some kale that was the nicest thing at the market the day I made it, but it would have been equally as good with any cruciferous green.

Instead of toasted country bread, I served this with rosemary crostini for me and gluten-free toast rubbed with garlic for Kevin. This soup makes a hearty vegan dinner. We’ll be having it often over the winter.

Kale and Ricotta Tart

The second dish I made is vegetarian and a dairy-lover’s dream. I used kale (again) in this dish, instead of the beet greens or chard called for in the recipe. It’s all about what’s freshest at the market, right?

I managed to pack a lot of kale in this tart, so it’s definitely health food, regardless of how much ricotta and heavy cream fill the all-butter crust.

Speaking of the crust, it’s not my favourite tart crust to work with and it’s not as pretty as my go-to from Dorie Greenspan, but it’s tender, tastes terrific, and is sturdy enough to contain the filling. It won’t replace my favourite, but I will use it again.

I’ve started testing recipes from the cookbooks I’ll be reviewing in my holiday cookbook series, so I haven’t gotten to as many River Cottage recipes as I’d like. Don’t let that fool you, though. This cookbook is one I’ll be working through and revisiting for a long time to come.

Here are the links to the rest of the group’s posts for this month. I encourage you to check them out – you’ll meet some wonderful bloggers and get some great inspiration for vegetarian eating.