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Happy Friday! Looking for a simple yet satisfying seasonal supper this weekend? Enjoy this heartwarming, mouthwatering Portuguese Potato and Kale Soup, courtesy of the Hollyhock Centre on beautiful Cortes Island, and featured in the fabulous Hollyhock Cooks!

Portuguese Potato and Kale Soup

Potatoes come in a remarkable variety of shapes, sizes and colors. Ask your local grower for their favorite color and variety of this wonderful vegetable, brought to North America originally from the Andes Mountains. Kale thrives on Cortes Island all through the fall and the winter and it shows up in the most interesting dishes, like this delicious soup with its proud European overtones. Drizzle olive oil over the top.

Ingredients:

3 cups diced onions
2 tsp minced garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tsp salt
8-10 cups water or vegetable stock
5 cups peeled and diced potatoes
2 cups finely shredded kale leaves or packed collard greens
black pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, sauté the onions in the olive oil until soft, approximately 4-5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute, stirring constantly. Add the salt, water or stock and diced potatoes. Bring the soup to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes fall apart.This will take about 1 hour. Mash any remaining large chunks of potato with a potato masher or a large spoon until you have a coarse purée.
3. Add the shredded kale and let it simmer for another 5 minutes or so, until the kale is tender but still bright green. Season with pepper to taste.

— Hanyu Wasyliw

For more excellent vegetarian and seafood-based recipes with a focus on eating healthily and sustainably, check out Hollyhock Cooks: Food to Nourish Body, Mind and Soil. Enjoy!

To help get you in the holiday spirit, here's a perfect vegan recipe from ExtraVeganZa for a festive cookie to make on special occasions - rich with rum, chocolate and ground pecans. Hold the diet!

Chocolate Rum Pecan Balls

Ingredients:

• 2 cups spelt flour (500 ml)
• ¼ tsp sea salt (1 ml)
• ½ tsp cinnamon (2 ml)
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder (or carob powder) (80 ml)
• 2 tbsp vanilla extract (30 ml)
• ½ cup dark or light rum (125 ml)
• ½ cup canola oil or other natural oil (125 ml)
• 1 cup organic sugar (250 ml)
• 2 tbsp powdered grain beverage(coffee substitute) (30 ml)
• ⅔ cup pecans, finely ground (160 ml)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt cinnamon, and cocoa. In a separate medium-size bowl, combine the vanilla, rum, oil, sugar, grain beverage and pecans, whisking together until the ingredients are thoroughly combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and combine together thoroughly. Roll dough into small balls and place on 2 cookie sheets 1/2 inch apart. Bake one sheet at a time for 10-12 minutes at 350 deg. Fahrenheit. Remove from oven and transfer balls to a wire rack to cool. Bake the remaining cookies in the same fashion.

Makes about 60 small balls.

For more excellent vegetarian recipes with a focus on eating healthily and sustainably, check out ExtraVeganZa by Laura Matthias - it makes a great gift for the cook in your life!

Now that it's summer (sort of) and fresh, local produce is available, here's a wonderful vegetarian recipe from ExtraVeganZa by Laura Matthias for Mint Pea Lime Soup. It's fabulous!

Mint Pea Lime Soup

This elegant, zesty green soup has a stunningly bright color and a unique minty flavor that intrigues most every palate. It is also packed with vitamins, minerals, calcium, iron and protein. Using fresh peas and mint from the garden makes for an unrivalled fresh and flavorful soup.

3 tbsp olive oil (45 ml)

3 cups yellow onion, diced (750 ml)

3 cloves garlic, diced (3)

3 cups peas, fresh or frozen (750 ml)

1 bunch fresh spinach, stems removed (1)

1 tbsp coarse sea salt (15 ml)

4 cups water (1,000 ml)

10 sprigs fresh mint (10)

juice of 1 lime

In a medium saucepan, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil on medium heat. Stir in the peas, spinach and salt, and continue stirring for another minute. Add the water and simmer for several minutes, until the peas turn a bright green. Be careful not to overcook! Remove from heat and place half of the soup in a blender with 5 sprigs of mint. Blend until a creamy consistency is achieved. Blend the remaining half of the soup with the remaining mint until creamy. Combine the two batches then stir in the fresh lime juice and serve hot. Garnish with sprigs of fresh mint.

Serves 4.

For more excellent vegetarian recipes with a focus on eating locally and sustainably, check out ExtraVeganZa today!