This was a comfort-food meal, all the way around!
A week ago, I added the Five-Spice Comfort Pitas from my new Make-Ahead Vegan cookbook to the menu plan for the week, and it was only today that I realized I should probably serve something to go with said pitas. The rain kept trickling down (for 15 days in a row now!), and I found myself craving a tomato cream soup. But since I’m trying to lay off the dairy as much as I can – and I owe y’all an update post about how that’s going, and I promise I’ll fill you in soon – I didn’t want to go the traditional tomato-cream route. So I improvised.
Given the simmer time, I started with the soup and then worked backward toward the pitas. First, I put two cans of diced tomatoes into a large pot and added some dried minced onion, basil, parsley, salt, and pepper. I brought the tomato blend to a boil and then added a couple of cups of veggie broth, brought it back to a boil, and then simmered the soup on medium-low.
As it simmered, I began the five-spice pitas. I won’t get into the whole recipe here, since Ginny Kay McMeans has a book to sell, but let’s just say the Chinese five-spice powder is the star of the show, and the brown rice adds a lovely layer! By the end of it, the pita was indeed a comforting concoction that was second to none!
To finish off the soup before serving, I added about a cup of (plain!) almond milk to the pot and stirred it all around well, then let things simmer a minute or two more for the flavors to mingle and the milk to reach a hot temperature. Then it was time to eat!
LeeLee and I helped ourselves to several helpings of the “comfort rice,” first within our pitas and then without for Round 2, and we both enjoyed the soup immensely as well. LeeLee even went back for a second helping of soup, which is always the hallmark of success in my book!
We’ve got enough rice left over for one more pita tomorrow – but since we’ve still got pizzadillas hanging around, that’s perfectly fine. Sharing is caring, after all!
:)