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.
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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!
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!
I did high school in a “nicer” area of St. Catharines, ON between a “low income” area and a rural area. Halloween night usually involved hundreds of children (and mini-vans parked all along the road). I had a hard time identifying the kids we actually knew.
Now I live in a very rural part of New Hampshire, in the 4 Halloweens we have been here, I have never seen a single trick or treater. I don’t even try anymore. I have some candy stashed away that we can give kids that might show up, but it’s unlikely. And this year, with a foot of snow on the ground and no power in many of my neighbour’s houses, I didn’t expect any.
Super cute costume! That’s too bad about no trick-or-treaters…I grew up in an area where the houses were too far apart to go trick-or-treating – my parents always carted us into the suburbs. I have a feeling, when i finally get my own place, it’ll be the same situation. You could save the toys for next year!
PS: your soup looks so tasty!
The Cheezy Garlic bread looks so good!!! I have been bread free for a like two days and I could so go for a gooey, cheesy crust bread right now!!!
Live in Bristol in the UK and just found your fab site, linked from Wild Onions. Terrific recipes. Originally come from Dublin in Ireland and Halloween was always a really big thing and great fun. When my family visited Ireland in school hols over Halloween, my two girls had a great time dressing up and visiting the most amazingly generous neighbours where we were staying (we had lots of lovely little visitors ourselves). My grown up girls still talk very fondly about their Halloween outings!
Aww, I’m sorry you didn’t have any trick-or-treaters, Angela. At least you had garlic bread. ;-)
You weren’t the only one with no trick or treaters, we haven’t had one in six years and I mean that the last time we had one, it was one lone trick or treater. We live in what I would consider a prime spot too so oh well, more Nerds for us! ;-)
This soup looks so yummy and it’ll give me an excuse to go to Whole Foods to pick up some bulk millet!
I’m not sure what tests you had to test for gluten, but PLEASE proceed cautiously, it’s insane how many false negatives are associated with celiac and gluten intolerance. The best bet is elimination. If you continue to feel better and have gluten then great. if you went as far as a biopsy, just remember that your intestine is about 6 feet long and docs generally only take about 4 samples so chances are great they might have missed the part of the intestines that was under stress. If it’s blood testing, you have to think about the ranges…if you showed up at all you have a gluten allery, however most blood tests read as >30 or whatever….so it wont even tell you if you are say, 29 on the scale. There’s lot to be considered so please keep that in mind! There’s also more than one blood test to take. I was diagnosed at an adule celiac center and they told me these things. Can’t wait to read your post!
Sorry you had no trick or treaters …it does seem that many kids are going to specific areas – planned Halloween parties, condensed neighborhoods…We live in a very small town and had a ‘trunk or treat’ – people decorate their trunks and park in the school lot and kids go from car to car – then to the one little neighborhood that is across the street from there. Otherwise – all houses are too spread out. It felt strange for us as my boyz went on their own with friends – just checking in with me at the trunk or treat. This was a first – they are getting so old!
I love your costume! ..and of course can’t wait to make the soup – think I will make it next time my mom visits as she is a mushroom fan!
ah so much to say
1. THANK YOU for introducing me to nutritional yeast, I’m a week in and loving it … my surgeon will be happy that I’m pretty much off all dairy
2. honestly what makes baguettes so good you’re right … every time we buy one I try to save half of it for the next day or leftovers but somehow Brad convinces me that we should eat the whole thing
3. last year I dressed up in my ninja turtle costume and stood on the porch waiting for kids, none came, so then I started walking up and down the street wondering where they were … Brad told me to come in and stop hooking for trick or treaters … this year I had class and Brad said no one came to the door again :(
I am a lurker finally weighing in! Your blog is one of my faves. I drool over some of your desserts but it’s your VOO that has become a standard with me. This soup has my name on it, I’m sure of that but I don’t think we have vegan Worchester Sauce here in Israel. What can I use instead?
soy sauce?
Just an FYI, tried it tonight with the soy sauce Ange suggested plus two teaspoons of vegan liquid smoke and it did the trick beautifully.
I’m sitting at my desk waiting for my student’s to arrive and DROOLING over the pictures of this soup! It’s so cold in my classroom right now.
I also want to make this cheezy garlic bread and live off of it for all eternity.
Your costume is adorable!! :) And don’t fret, there was a major storm the night of Halloween here in Newfoundland (high winds etc… I actually blew away into the street earlier on in the day!) so we only had a few brave souls come out for candy too. :(
Hi Angela
When do you add the mushrooms? Do you saute them with the onions? This recipe looks amazing, I’m going to make it for dinner tonight:)
I should have looked back at the photos. Nevermind:)
Oh my gosh! I’m making this today. Yum!
My sister and I always make our bread into garlic bread for basically every meal. Even slices for sandwiches taste great! A little Italian seasoning tastes great on it too. It’s like, once you’re hooked, there’s no better way! :)
This looks delish! I might have to make it tomorrow!
That cheesy bread looks so good! Love the costume too :)
Wow.. that soup looks phenomenal! I’m a mushroom freak and I just can’t get enough! I’ll have to try out this recipe sometime soon!
Love the costume, by the way! Too bad no trick-or-treaters got to see it.. =(
I made the soup last night and it was delicious!! I used quinoa instead of millet and I added kale and bokchoy. Yummy goodness!!
What a great idea to try earth balance + nutritional yeast!
made this last night…i added chicken (SHAME) for the soon to be husband…we loved it…hes not feeling well it hit the spot