Chickpea Noodle Soup à la Veganomicon

Tonight, looking for something different to have for dinner fortheloveofgod, I decided to try a sample recipe from the latest vegan cookbook that seems to have all the vegans in a tizzy, Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook by Isa Chandra Moskowitz & Terry Hope Romero. I have a copy of Isa's Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock and, of course, Isa's and Terry's Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World: 75 Dairy-Free Recipes for Cupcakes that Rule (come off it with the long titles already!) but I have to admit that I tend to just flip through them rather than actually trying out recipes, as I do with almost all my cookbooks.

At this point, I need to ask – is it just a vegan/vegetarian thing to collect cookbooks? Do omnivores collect cookbooks the way we do? I mean, most vegans I know have a ridiculous amount of cookbooks. We buy them the way others buy bestsellers.

Anyhoo, I was browsing the internet for some ideas for meals, and noticed a recipe for Chickpea Noodle Soup on The PPK website – a sample recipe from Veganomicon. Since my copy of the cookbook was hastily ordered just last night from Chapters.ca, I have to wait to browse the full list of recipes until later this week *fingers crossed*

Not being one to follow directions, any recipe I do try is usually tweaked quite a bit. This one I tweaked just a little – added broccoli, included an extra clove of garlic, subbed soba noodles with whole wheat fettuccine, and used a poultry seasoning blend instead of the individual herbs listed. This is also officially my third time cooking with miso and the first time I actually enjoyed it. The soup was warm and comforting, filling and satisfying. There was just the right amount of saltiness and the miso was a very light flavour. I was worried that I used too many mushrooms, but they were not overpowering in the least. If this recipe is any indication of the rest of the recipes in the book, I may just join the frenzied vegans in pimping Veganomicon. I just can't wait to try the highly touted Chickpea Cutlets. Mmmm...