Vegan Replica Hack: Lipton’s Chicken Noodle Soup

I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since anything was posted here!  We’re never going to get a book deal or TV show on the Food Network at this rate!

My kid is sick today, and I just made him one of his favourite lunches – 'tofu noodle soup’ - perfect for a sick kid, but great for any time you want a warm, quick, easy lunch.  L claims he doesn’t like soup, but he makes an exception for this one.  In fact, when I told him today that’s what I was making, he said “awesome, I love that soup!”  L is not one to exclaim about his food, so that is high, high praise.

I started making this soup about a year ago one day when I had a craving for Lipton’s Chicken Noodle soup – you know, the one that comes in the little pouch that you empty into some boiling water and simmer for 5 minutes?  I think it’s pretty much the first thing I ever ‘cooked’ on my own (if you can call that cooking).  This version is just as easy, and as long as you always have some tofu in the fridge, it’s simple to have all the ingredients on hand to whip this up any time.

Not-Lipton’s Not-Chicken Noodle Soup in a Flash

Ingredients:

• 5c water
• 2 veggie ‘chicken’-flavoured bouillon cubes (or plain veggie, if you can’t find a vegan chicken cube)
• 1/2c xtra firm tofu, cut into 1/2cm cubes
• 1/2c extra thin noodles (or more, if you like your soup extra noodly, which I do)

Directions:

• Bring the water to a boil over high heat.
• Add the remaining ingredients, return to the boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 5m, until the noodles are soft.

That’s it!  Serve to your sick kid (with a couple of ice cubes in it to cool it down quickly).  Yum.

Almost Vegan Hack: Spinach Dip in a Bread Bowl

I can still remember with some clarity the first time I had spinach dip in a pumpernickel bread bowl.  Remember that?  It was some time in the late eighties or early nineties I think, and there was a recipe on the back of a packet of Knorr soup mix.  Suddenly all the ladies everywhere were making it for parties, potlucks, appetizers.  And I devoured it at every opportunity.  I’m sure I embarrassed my parents by standing over the dip tray and shovelling it into my mouth.  In fact, truth be told, I still do. 

The original recipe calls for sour cream and mayonnaise, but I found that substituting pureed silken tofu and soy mayo is entirely satisfactory.  The thing that keeps this from being 100% vegan is the fact that the Knorr soup mix lists “modified milk ingredients” as its next-to-last ingredient.  If you’re a Level 5 Vegan that might not cut it, but for me that’s close enough.  

ALMOST VEGAN SPINACH DIP

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg frozen chopped spinach
• 1 pkg medium or soft tofu
• 1c vegan mayonnaise
• 1 pkg Knorr vegetable soup mix
• 1 can water chestnuts, drained & chopped
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 loaf pumpernickel bread

Directions:

• Thaw frozen spinach, and squeeze to remove as much of the excess liquid as possible.
• Puree the tofu in a food processor or blender until very smooth. Add the spinach, mayo, soup mix, water chestnuts, and green onions, and combine well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour to allow the dried components of the soup mix to reconstitute.
• Cut the centre out of the loaf of bread to form a bowl, leaving the sides about 1" thick. Reserve the pieces you removed for dipping.
• To serve, empty the dip into the bread bowl and surround it with the bread chunks.