I wanted to make some leek and potato soup but the dumpster did not bless me with potatoes so I had to do a little research. I found this recipe on vegweb.com, one of my favorite vegan recipe sites ever. Back in the day it was pretty simple, but now they have thousands of recipes and lots of tasty looking user-submitted photos. Sometimes I go there just to look at all the food photos.

• 2 cups lentils
• 1/2 head of cabbage (or lettuce in this case), roughly chopped
• 3-4 leeks
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• carrots
• 2 tomatoes
• 2 tsp basil
• 2 tsp oregano
• salt & pepper
• olive or vegetable oil
• water or broth

Boil the water or broth and add the lentils, cabbage/lettuce, a little salt, and some leek tops (you’ll take those out later). Reduce heat, cover, and simmer while you chop more veggies.

Slice the leeks in half lengthwise then chop them up.

Chop up the carrots and onions. I used about 1/3 of a bag of baby carrots and a few pearl onions that I dumpstered.

Saute the veggies in a couple Tbsp oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the sauteed veggies and tomatoes to the lentils. You can also remove the leek tops now. Add the basil, oregano, and more salt & pepper to taste. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.

I dumpstered a TON of mushrooms. Shitake, button, and portabello! I had a bag of dried tiger lily buds I bought a long time ago at Saigon Market so I decided to make some hot and sour soup. You can make this without the buds and fungus, of course, but I really like the flavor and texture they lend. Ideally I would have added some sliced firm silken tofu but I didn’t have any.

• A bunch of mushrooms, whatever you dumpster
• 10 tiger lily buds
• handful of black fungus
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 4 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• hot water
• 4 cups vegetable broth or salted water

First, remove stems and slice up your mushrooms. My button and portobello mushrooms were pre-sliced by a machine before being wrapped in Styrofoam and plastic. So wasteful. Well, at least I saved it from being a complete waste.

Put the dried fungus and buds in a bowl and cover with hot water.

You’re supposed to use cornstarch, but I didn’t have any so I attempted to use flour instead. Uhm, it didn’t really work so well. The cornstarch helps thicken up the soup, but it doesn’t affect the flavor so it’s not really a big deal if you just leave it out. I whisked the flour with some warm soy sauce and vinegar.

Bring the broth or water to a boil and add the mushrooms, fungus, and tiger lily buds. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes.

Add the soy sauce mixture and bring back to a boil. Reduce heat and add pepper, oil, and tofu if you have it.

Yummy soup! Thanks dumpster!

Lots of kale, chard, and stale bread? It’s time for ribollita!

When I was in Florence I wasn’t able to partake of authentic ribolitta because chicken broth is usually used. My friend Molly is an omnivore, however, so she was stoked when she finally got to eat it in Italy. When we got back to the states she made a big batch of vegan ribollita for a potluck I had. So, my lovely little Mollface, this one’s for you!

Vegan Dumpster Ribollita

ingredients:

• celery
• potatoes
• squash
• water/broth
• kale and/or chard
• cannellini beans (white kidney beans)*
• tomato paste*
• stale bread*
• s&p
• garlic powder

Saute celery, potatoes, and squash in olive oil or margarine or whatever you have.

Add water/broth to cover. I used a little mushroom broth that we had left over from when Lynn-evere broke her jaw, and the rest was just water. Add s&p and garlic powder to taste. Rosemary or a bay leaf would also be really good to add.

Bring to a boil and add kale/chard. Cover.

Once wilted, lower heat to a simmer and add beans and tomato paste (about 3 Tbsp).

When the tomato paste is thoroughly mixed in add big chunks of stale bread and stir.

* = not dumpstered