Imagine this scene:
Last night, Eric and I got dressed up (me as the Queen of Hearts, him as the Scream character) and we stuffed 40 treat bags for the trick or treaters. They were bursting with candy and small toys like leap frogs and mini games.
Last year we got around 20 kids, so we doubled the quantity in case there was an influx of kids. We did it up!
Halloween music was pumping through the upstairs window and our black light was flashing. A mild headache ensued.
My poufy sleeves really started to itch my arms, but I persisted on and had another sip of my spiked cider. Eric said he couldn’t breathe through his mask, removing it every once and a while to gasp for air. No biggie.
Then we waited.
And you know what? Not one kid came to our door!!!
What has the world come to these days? Are there no kids trick or treating anymore? It was like a ghost town out there.
Needless to say, Eric’s coworkers will be overjoyed when they see all the treat bags he’s brought them today. I don’t think anyone is getting much work done today, unless buzzing around the office on a sugar high and playing leap frog counts.
Luckily, we had this soup to comfort us last night. The Queen of Hearts and Scream characters sat at the table and enjoyed a delicious bowl of soup and crispy garlic bread. Sometimes that’s all you need!
I’ve made this soup twice in one week and the second time I doubled the recipe after deeming the first version produced too little soup (I posted the doubled recipe below). If you’re a mushroom fan, you will go crazy for this “meaty” and ultra hearty soup. It honestly makes me drool to look at these pictures because I love it so much. Normal, right?
Sauté some garlic and onion for about 5 minutes. [Don’t all amazing recipes start this way?] Then add in your sliced mushrooms and cook it down for about 15-20 minutes.
Meanwhile, cook some millet in a pot. Quinoa would also work nicely too.
Add your broth & seasonings and simmer for about 5 more minutes.
At this point, I scooped half of my soup into the blender and processed it until lightly smooth. Then I poured this mixture back into the pot with the remaining soup. I loved this method because it thickens up the soup very nicely, but still left big mushroom pieces to bite into! Of course, if you have a hand held immersion blender that would work even better (a food processor would work too), but be sure to leave it chunky for the best texture.
Now, stir in the cooked millet. This thickens it up nicely too.
And you’re done!
Feel free to spoon into mason jars for portable work lunches.
I also made some Cheezy garlic bread based off a recipe in Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan.
To make:
- Slice a baguette in half
- Peel a garlic clove and cut it in half and rub the garlic all over the bread. This helps infuse the garlic flavour into the bread without it being overpowering. You can also use garlic powder or garlic salt.
- Spread on some Earth Balance or other non-dairy spread.
- Followed by a sprinkle of nutritional yeast (for the cheezy flavour) and kosher salt
- Bake at 350F for about 14-15 minutes until crispy and golden. Slice & serve warm!
This was amazing!
I don’t even want to tell you how many pieces I had. I think I ploughed through a quarter of the baguette! Why are baguettes so insanely good?
By the way, my tests came back normal so gluten is here to stay. I’ll be talking about this more in a future post though.
Mushroom Millet Soup with Cheezy Garlic Bread
Yield
7 1/2 cups
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Hearty, “meaty”, and filling, pair this with homemade garlic bread and you’ve got a healthy Fall meal that will make you forget all about summer.
Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked millet (or quinoa for complete protein)
- 2 pounds fresh cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 4 cups chopped sweet onion
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 7.5 cups low-sodium vegetable broth (if using full-sodium reduce added salt below)
- Salt & pepper, to taste (I used about 1.5 tsp kosher salt)
- 2 tbsp vegan + GF Wizard’s Worchester sauce (or equivalent)
- To garnish: toasted walnuts, fresh herbs, etc
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Prepare your millet (I used these directions) and fluff with a fork and set aside.
- Meanwhile, in a large pot over medium-low heat, add a bit of oil (~1 tsp) along with the chopped onion and minced garlic. Sautee for about 5 minutes until transparent, stirring frequently. Add sliced mushrooms and cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes until most of the water cooks off.
- Stir in broth, along with seasonings (salt, pepper, Worchester sauce). Add only about half of the salt to begin, adding the rest to taste right before serving. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes.
- Scoop half of the mixture into a blender and blend until almost smooth (but still a bit chunky). Add back into the pot. Alternatively, you can use an immersion blender, but be sure to leave it nice and chunky.
- Stir in cooked millet. Season to taste and serve with a garnish of toasted walnuts, garlic bread, fresh parsley, or anything that you like!
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
Late last night, we headed out for our evening walk. A nice older lady who lives down the street had made a cute Halloween display for the kids at the end of her driveway. There was a sign taped to a haystack that read “Please help yourself to the candy!”, but no candy to be found.
We walked down the road a bit and there was a RACCOON with her bowl of candy happily munching away on a Snickers bar in front of her yard.
At least, someone’s enjoying Halloween!
It was a quiet Halloween here too! We usually have around 120 kids, but had 33 last night!
Wow that is a huge drop! I heard a lot of parents are bringing their kids to the malls now?
It was quiet at my house too! I’m thinking it was too cold….scaredy cats! lol
I love your costume!
Mmmm…I am loving the simple soup recipes…great idea! Happy November!
A raccoon? haha! That’s too funny!
You have me drooling over this soup with my coffee in hand still. It looks delicious!
We had no trick or treaters last night either. So sad :(
Oh No!! All dressed up and nobody to see you. We live at the last house on the block and we never get many trick or treaters. We see them coming, sometimes right across the street. We get very excited. Then they turn the corner or never cross over. We put out fun decorations and play fun sounds and music outside. We dress up too. This year we had about 25 visitors. You keep on having fun with the holiday. Someday they will come, and it’s great practice should you two decide to have some little trick or treater’s of your own. :)
that’s the spirit!
Great costume Angela. We noticed a lot less kids this year too – it seems there are less and less each year. I wouldn’t be surprised if soon there was no trick or treating at all. I guess it isn’t as safe, or maybe people are just more paranoid? Or there are more healthy eaters…. Kinda sad since Halloween is one of my favourite holidays, and seeing the kids all dressed up in the streets makes me so nostalgic.
I’m not a mushroom fan but that garlic bread looks pretty yummy!
They were all in Brooklyn. There were approximately 38098345703465983409u2498560394658923409 trick or treaters outside.
LOL I would have loved to look through your front window and see 2 adults dressed as the Queen of Hearts and a guy from Scream sitting at the table and eating dinner! Your costume looks great Ange! And we didn’t have many trick or treaters either.. must be the semi-student neighbourhood I live in!
Yes it was pretty funny/sad…mostly sad. haha
I thought that when I moved to Toronto I’d have a boatload of kids on Halloween but the last three years I’ve been handing out candy we’ve been getting less and less and less. I always scratch my head wondering where they all went!
LOVE your costume though! Alan and I dressed up as well and had a blast even if it was for just an hour or so!
Wow that is surprising! I remember living in our condo in North York and being so sad they didnt let kids go door to door!
I can’t believe you went through all that work and didn’t get any trick-or-treaters! I assure you that kids are still trick-or-treating…we went through 15 bags of candy.
Your soup looks so comforting. I love a good fall soup with bread.
Wow! 15 bags?
Awww, I can’t believe you put together gift bags and no kids came!! Boo!
I love the simplicity of this recipe – but it sounds so flavorful! :)
That’s so strange! Some people on the blogosphere were complaining they had a hoard of kids trick or treating. Some even as late as 9.00 or 10.00 in the evening!
Serious bummer! But the gusy at work deserve a healthy treat too :-)
The sopu looks spectacular, just a recipe for a dreary wet dark day! Off to make some…
I love mushroom soup, it’s my favourite type!
How disapointing you didn’t get any visitors :(
This is the 21st century. Halloween has to go the way of corded phones, records, and milkmen. It’s not safe to let your child accept candy from a stranger even if you know where they live.
hey! great recipe! I love the pictures you take! What if we can’t use Worchester sauce because of soy allergies? What could we replace it with you think ? is it that strong of a flavor in the soup?
Cant wait to try it out!
Thanks and congrats on running such a great blog and the new book contract, so great :)
Elisa
Here is the ingredient label from the sauce I used:
http://www.edwardandsons.com/popinfo.php?id=237
Maybe you can try and make you own without using the soy ingredients? It seems like ACV, sweetener, salt, lemon juice, and some seasonings might work?
You can probably forgo the W. sauce and it would still taste good, just won’t have a bit of kick to it.
We only got 25 kids….though we only just moved into this neighbourhood this year. I know when I lived at home in a different part of town we used to get 100+ kids.
awww :( we’ve had that happen a few times — we were all stocked up, ready to go… and no kids!! last night, though, we had almost TOO many. i had to start sneaking some candy at the end just to make sure there would be enough for me!
can’t wait to try this soup. i’m on a major mushroom kick lately!
I was going to make lentil soup today, but now must make this. Sometimes I just spread earth balance, pepper, and garlic powder on bread and it tastes like garlic bread! Lol
I work at the mall and let me tell you, ALL the kids were there. It was insane!
Do they have Trunk or Treat where you live? I am in Iowa (USA) and many churches hold Trunk or Treats. People park their cars in a parking lot and decorate their trunks, then hand out candy. The one we went to last night had about 15 cars. Safely lit, didnt have to walk far in the dark and 40 degree weather, and cute decorations to see in trunks (the 50s diner was my favorite). We drove through my town and you would have to walk for 30 blocks to get very much candy, there just aren’t many houses that give out candy anymore :( Malls also give it out here, but our closest is 45 minutes away, That is totally weird you went from 20 to zero, sure you had the right night? Porch light in? Weird. Love your costume!
Trunk or treat sounds cool!
Those kids really missed a treat not coming to your house. I would have stopped by 2-3 times! Loving your blog. Miss you on twitter.
Speaking of being a fan of mushrooms – I made your lentil walnut loaf on the weekend, minus the carrot and apple (oops I didn’t have any!) with LOTS of chopped porcini and button mushrooms and subbed dried cranberries for the raisins… it was AMAZING. My very carnivorous bf loved this one and the original – thanks!
Oh that’s great to know those subs worked well..I’ll have to try that!
no trick-or-treaters?! that is kinda sad but maybe, there’s just no kids around your area. :) your costume is cute :)
I’m not vegan but your food always makes me drool. I actually have some cooked quinoa in the fridge that would be perfect in this soup! I look forward to making it this week.
Hello Angela.
I have recently discovered your blog and honestly it is an inspiration for me to start cooking!
I don’t eat meat myself and I find your recipes very inspiring.
My goal now is to stop all dairy products. However I am worried about my calcium intake and my protein intake-especially in the morning. I am not so into protein powder so if you do have some breakfast options i would love to try them out.
PS: Love your Halloween costume!
xx
POPI
I LOVE mushrooms so this will certainly be made!
It was our first Halloween in our new house and we had about 30 kids. It was a decent amount since we live in a new community. We have a lot of babies in our area, so I imagine that number will go up a little every year!
That anecdote about the raccoon was hilarious! :D
The past few years, Tim and I got all geared up for Trick or Treaters and nobody showed up – leaving us with a ton of candy! So this year, we were the house with the porch light turned off. We could hear kids running around, but nobody rang the doorbell.
Now on to the soup and cheese bread: OMG. I need to eat that SOON!! *is drooling*
I’m in the Danforth area, and last night we got hundreds of kids! All the houses were running out of candy very early on.
That would be fun :)
This looks SO delicious. <3
Oh my my my, you’ve nailed it with this recipe. Chris doesn’t like mushrooms, but so I am going to slurp this all down by myself!! Favorite photos are 1 + 3. The white is a great contrasting color for this soup. Well, when does a white plate or bowl not make something look good? ;) I didn’t even BUY candy because I knew no one would come to our house. We live in a busy area, but our house is set back pretty far on the street and there is this weird plastic crap all around our porch. ANYthing but inviting. haha
haha thanks :) I loved the look of the mugs too! Such a nice change from bowls and it gives it a whole other look.
I was out trick or treating with my kids! They love it and the mall experience is not the same. I would hate to see the end of trick or treating – kids love the freedom of running around their neighbourhood for one night a year!
So sad! My building doesn’t really have children, so no trick or treaters. I’ll have to ask my parents – they normally get hundreds, but maybe the kids are all grown up now.
And I am definitely making this soup tomorrow.
WOW I can’t believe you didn’t get any kids! I only had one little guy come to my door… the cutest little bumblebee! The mushrooms soups looks amazing. I never thought of using a mason jar as a way of transporting soup… I might try it with the mushroom soup I made on Sunday.
– Brittany
That costume is phenomenal! And my mom said the same thing – over the years she’s gotten hardly any kids! Where are they all!? What are they doing instead of getting free candy from neighbors???
Thanks for such an inspired idea for the millet in my pantry! I have used it a lot in baking and for morning cereal, but had never thought of using it in soup. Cannot wait to try this!
I nabbed some millet at my local Chinese market last week, so I’m excited to have a millet-specific recipe to try! That cheesy bread looks amazing, too.
We had 5 kids, apparently. It seems that parents drop their kids off in big sub divisions or take them to the malls. My sister took her girls to the mall (they are only 3 so it kinda makes sense–less walking in traffic, warmer) and they got free ice cream from Dairy Queen.
I think we got maybe 3 trick or treaters this year! It was pretty sad lol.
But I can def say that I would be super happy to enjoy that soup and bread on a chili halloween night! :-) Yum! I love the colors!
I too have heard about the kids going trick-or-treating in malls… that just isn’t right. Most of my best halloween memories are of my sister and I running from door to door (difficult in the 12 clothing layers that Ontario requires) and enjoying every house’s decorations!
That soup looks amazing! Love mushroom soup. I only have half a pound of mushrooms right now that are on their way out…so I’m def making this soup today! I’ll throw in some dried ones to make up the difference! Quinoa is also great added to chili to thicken it.
Maybe all their parents are plant based and say “NO” to the candy this year! LOL I didn’t get any trick or treaters either! Then again they probaly would not have appreciated the organic apples I was going to hand out! LOL LOL
This looks delicious Angela, can’t wait to try it! I might use Teff instead of the millet, as that’s what I have on hand.
And by the way, we only had 2 trick or treaters last night! :(
Esen
I love the Pin it option you added! this soup sounds amazing! pinning it!
Thanks :)
This sounds great! I bet it would go great with barley too if you didn’t have millet. Then i guess it wouldn’t be gluten free though…
yea you could really add any grain…brown rice would be nice too :)
Mmmmm you just made me crave warm from the oven garlic bread!
This meal sounds fantastic! Especially beautiful photography in this post.
Sorry you didn’t get any trick or treaters. That’s a little odd…but Eric’s co-workers will be thrilled, I’m sure. :) It’s mostly apartment buildings in my neighborhood, so I only saw a handful of trick or treaters where I live. Love seeing little kids all dressed up and so excited! Halloween was definitely my favorite holiday growing up.
Only one trick-or-treater here last night, the neighbor girl. The kids don’t like our house, it has too many steps, they go to the neighborhoods with flat terrain and houses close together. :(
Great minds think alike! My fiance and I were just talking about how we used to love cream of mushroom soup as kids, I told him I’d try to make a healthy vegan version this weekend. I think I may have to just use your recipe :)
The soup looks amazing. When the weather starts to turn (and turn it has), soup is just the best thing ever. I’m going to mix dried chanterelles into this too.
Sorry to hear about your absence of kids after all your hard work. We had a roller derby halloween party and it was the first time I’ve dressed up in about 15 years (Alice in Wonderland, and my partner as the Mad Hatter – we could have used you there to round out the cast!). When it came to last night though, I had to turn off the lights and vacate the house. The kids and doorbell ringing just drives the dogs nuts!
you look so darn cute! i woul dhave come by your house for sure :) what has the world come to? no tirck or treaters-strange. i am sure eric’s coworkers will enjoy the treats today though…..can’t wait to try this soup recipe-printing it out now.