Eredien's Journal

This is a great thing to do with the tomatoes that decide to bloom during a sunny october but never ripen. Not that I would know anything about that.

Finely dice 10-15 medium to small green tomatoes (I had Roma tomatoes)
Add to taste: diced onion, celery seed, mustard seed, salt, sugar, apple vinegar

Let sit overnight in nonreactive (glass or plastic) container in refrigerator.

This gets better the more you let it sit, and is fantastic on Mexican food.

Sumac Lemonade


Ingredients:
5-10 heads of staghorn or other [non-poison] sumac
Lots of cold water
1-2 c sugar for taste

Equipment:
The biggest bowl you have in your kitchen
The second-biggest bowl in your kitchen
A strainer with small holes
Paper towel or cheesecloth

Take the second biggest bowl and fill with coldish but not frigid water. Tap water is fine.
Grab one of the sumac heads, and sort of twist it like you were wringing out a towel or washcloth. Some of the sumac berries will come off in the water; this is fine. The branches are kind of pointy once the berries are gone, so you may want to wear dish gloves or something to protect your skin.

Keep doing this until the water is a nice pink color--not baby pink, but 80's hot pants pink.

You will now have a bundle of soggy sumac that you can discard in anywhere but the disposal.
Now you have a big bowl of water with berries and little berry hairs and stuff floating in it.

Set the strainer over the biggest bowl and put paper towels or cheesecloth in the bottom. Pour the pink stuff slowly through the paper towel so all the junk gets caught and you are left with a delicious clear pink elixir of summer.

Add sugar if needed; stir; enjoy. Serve in little faceted cups with mint sprigs and cucumber sandwiches if you like, because it just looks like the kind of food that calls for fancy treatment. Or you can just guzzle it straight from the ice tea pitcher. It's delicious.

Yield: about 1/2 gallon approx.

Sumac Simple Syrup
Use this to flavor drinks (?), or pour over waffles, or ice cream, or I guess you could really boil it down to make some hard candy but that seemed to involve more heat so I wasn't really interested.

Make the sumac lemonade above, and before you add the sugar to the whole batch reserve about 2 cups of sumac liquid and add about 1 and 1/2 c of sugar (or stevia, or agave, or whatever sweetener you like). The deal here is to get the sumacwater-to-sugar ratio about 1:3, so that the syrup is not sickeningly sweet but has a syrupy texture, unlike the lemonade.

Boil this down, stirring occasionally, until syrup thickens and turns a slightly deeper pink than the lemonade. You can eat this immediately or you can bottle it--I let this cool for a while, and then when it was cool poured it into a clean glass salad-dressing bottle I rescued from the recycling bin. It looks practically professional, except perhaps for the masking-tape label.

Yield: Makes about 1 c simple syrup after you reserve for the recipe below; if you do not make the ice cream you get about 1 1/2 c syrup.


Vegan Sumac Ice Cream


This recipe assumes you have a battery or electrical powered ice cream maker, and that you have prepared its container by freezing it or whatever else the instructions say to do for your model. Please substitute other nut or non-dairy milks to fit your diet.

1/2 can coconut milk (not coconut water; not cream of coconut)
about 2 c almond milk
1/2 c Reserved Sumac Simple Syrup
Pinch salt

Since you already added and concentrated the sugars in the syrup making process, you do not need to add any more sugar! I would also try this with soymilk but I really liked the subtle blending of the coconut, almonds, and almost lemon-like tones of sumac together. Plus, I had no soymilk.

Heat up the reserved syrup, stirring in the almond milk gently to combine. Add salt.

Just before the milk/syrup mix scalds, take it off the heat and immediately pour in coconut milk.

Cool to room temperature or below. I cheated by putting this near my AC unit but usually I put it in the refrigerator for an hour or two.

Put the cooled mixture in the ice cream maker, and put the ice cream maker in the freezer and start it up. In 24 hours you should have delicious sumac ice cream!

Serves: about 4 scoops; my ice cream maker is small (1 qt). If you have a bigger ice cream maker please scale up this recipe.

I think this would be fantastic with homemade Thai food. The spiciness and tartness of the food would segue really well to this creamy and slightly acidic dessert. This comes out a lovely pale pink/lilac color; very elegant!

Photos Will Follow - I am waiting for the ice cream to freeze so I can take a nice picture in a glass instead of just taking a picture of what looks like lavender soup.

Preheat oven to 350 deg F. Get a regular-sized muffin tin. Line it with scraps of filo dough, brushing briefly with olive oil. Add either:

Mushrooms in Filo
- Wash 12 mushrooms, take out stems; put in whole to filo-lined muffin cups.
- Add fresh marjoram, pepper, and garlic salt. Rosemary optional.
- Put in 350 deg. F oven for 15-20 m or until done. Allow to cool on wire rack in tin so filo keeps its shape.
Makes 12 mushroom bites. Great for appetizers or just eating. A good way to use up the last few mushrooms in the bin.



Moroccan-Influenced Sweet Potato rounds in Filo
- Get 12 frozen sweet potato rounds (you can find these at Aldi's or at Trader Joe's). Do not thaw. Place 1 round each in prepared filo-lined muffin tin.
- Add cumin, coriander, salt, and pepper to taste.
- Add a small amount of vegan margarine to each muffin cup.
- Put in 250 deg. oven for 15-20 minutes or until the most delicious smell ever fills the room. Allow to cool on wire rack in tin so filo keeps its shape.
Makes 12 sweet potato bites. You will immediately want to eat more so I suggest making a double batch of these. Best served warm. They are also excellent cold the next day and can be refrigerated in a tupperware for several days.





Edited: added photos!

Does anyone know why these particular fudges are named after Vassar, Smith, and Wellesley? I haven't seen these recipes elsewhere, and hope that if somebody knows more, they'll share with me!

- Vassar Fudge
- Smith College Fudge
- Wellesley Marshmallow Fudge
- Bryn Mawr Hepburn Brownies

The three fudge recipes below are from the booklet "Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes by Miss Parloa and Home Made Candy Recipes by Mrs. Janet McKenzie Hill," which was put out by the Walter Baker & Co, Ltd. chocolate company in 1909.

Vassar Fudge
2 c white sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 c cream
1/4 cake Baker's Premium no 1 chocolate

Put in the sugar and cream, and when this becomes hot put in the chocolate, broken up into fine pieces. Stir vigorously and constantly. Put in butter when it begins to boil. Stir until it creams when beaten on a saucer. Then remove and heat until quite cool and pour into buttered tins. When cold cut in diamond-shaped pieces.

Smith College Fudge
Melt one-quarter cup of butter. Mix together in a separate dish one cup of white sugar, one cup of brown sugar, one quarter cup of molasses and one-half cup of cream. Add this to the butter, and after it has been brought to a boil continue boiling for two and one-half minutes, stirring rapidly. Then add two squares of Baker's Premium No. 1 Chocolate, scraped fine. Boil this five minutes, stirring it first rapidly, and then more slowly towards the end. After it has been taken from the fire, add one and one-half teaspoonfuls of vanilla. Then stir constantly until the mass thickens. Pour into buttered pan and set in a cool place.

Wellesley Marshmallow Fudge
Heat two cups of granulated gusar and one cup of rich milk (cream is better). Add two squares of Baker's Chocolate, and boil until it hardens in cold water. Just before it is done add a small piece of butter, then begin to stir in marshmallows, crushing and beating them with a spoon. Continue to stir in marshmallows, after the fudge has been taken from the fire, until half a pound has been stirred into the fudge [!]. Cool in sheets three-quarters of an inch thick, and cut in cubes.

Bryn Mawr Hepburn Brownies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa (preferably Dutch process)
4 large eggs
2 cups sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
2 cups broken walnuts or pecans
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
butter to grease the pan

1. Preheat oven to 325 deg. F
2. Butter the bottom and sides of a 7 x 11-inch baking dish.
3. Melt the butter and cocoa together in a double boiler over simmering water. Stir until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.
4. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Add the sugar, flour, nuts, vanilla, and salt. Stir until well blended.
5. Pour into greased pan.
6. Bake for 45 minutes. Don’t overbake or the brownies will be dry; they should be very moist.
7. Let the brownies cool completely on a cooling rack before cutting into bars of desired size.

This is more a recipe than a review, but this was so delicious I wanted to write it down right away. I have been eating a lot of variations on "lentils and..." lately, and wanted to talk about some things that make that delicious instead of totally boring every day.

The first thing is MDH brand Chana Dal Masala spice (warning: this amazon link is for 10 boxes). I bought a box of this stuff over at one of the many little conveniece stores that dot the Teele Square area back when I lived in Teele Square. Many of those stores seem to specialize in varying brands of Indian food -- one does really good naan, another bulk spices. Anyway, this is one that has a lot of bulk beans and premade spice blends. This spice blend is: delicious, cheap at $2.49, comes with a basic chana dal masala recipe on the back, and makes a *lot* of food since you only use a small bit at a time. I keep the box in the fridge to discourage pantry pests, but since the box has an inner liner it doesn't get clumpy.


The second thing is the lentils I use, which I also got from the same place as the MDH spice blend. They're half-moon-shaped (split) yellow lentils rather than the small flat round lentils you may be more familiar with, but you can use either. Personally, I find that the chana dal lentils cook up faster and tenderer than the other kind of lentil, without turning into mush if you forget and cook them a little bit too long. I also find that when you're making the masala base, you can just let the lentils boil for whatever time it takes you to make the base and then they're ready to add. I got two pounds of these babies for $2.99, and they're very filling; I've eaten about 20 meals off the package. Here's a link to where you can get them online, but I am sure you can find them cheaper at your local Indian grocery.

The third thing is something that was given to me by ab3nd's previous roommate, when I complimented him on how good his cooking smelled and asked him about what he was making. He had an extra bag of Swad brand Panch Puran and gave it to me. If you scroll *way* down on the website it looks like it lists for about $2.40. This is the most delicious stuff. I now use a tablespoon or two every time I make food with lentils. I think it also might be good with some types of Chinese food although that's the food experimenter in me talking. I basically would eat it raw if I were not busy cooking it up with vegetables and onions. It contains: whole mustard seeds, whole cumin seeds, coriander/caraway seeds, and some totally unknown-to-me spice which looks kind of like that little part which sits in the middle of a peanut and tastes slightly bitter and slightly green, a little bit like celery. I've...almost remembered what it's called in English as I sit here eating them and trying to remember the word for the taste filling my mouth, but it's a no-go. It might be asafotaedia.


For the masala sauce:
2 Tbsp soy margarine
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar (unpacked)
1/2 Tbsp better than boullion beef flavored soup concentrate
1 clove garlic
2 cubes frozen basil
3 cubes frozen cilantro (I love me some cilantro)
1/2 can tomato paste (6 oz can)
1 can TJ's tomato sauce (15 oz can, you could also use diced canned tomatoes for a chunkier masala sauce)
1/4 lb frozen green beans (that's about 1/4 bag if you have a 1 lb bag)
1 small pepper (optional)
3 medium-sized carrots
1 medium yellow onion
About 3 Tbsp chana dal masala spice
About 3 Tbsp panch paran
About 1 1/2 cups dry chana dal lentils
Water
Pepper
Salt
2 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp paprika (optional, didn't do much for flavor)
1 Tbsp (yes) ground dry mustard
3-5 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 Tbsp ground ginger (probably better with fresh, but you'd want to use less)
1 Tbsp chili powder (optional)
1 Tbsp ground turmeric (added a nice color and flavor boost)
2 tsp curry powder (I used McCormick's. Most of the things in the spice mix I added more of separately, but I didn't have fenugreek, bay leaves, celery seed, or nutmeg, and the curry powder mix had all of those).
5 Tbsp red crushed chili flakes (I have a cold and wanted to kill it dead.)

For the rice:
1 1/2 c white rice of your choice
About 2 c water
Pepper
Salt
1 tsp olive oil (optional)

Prepare rice:
I make the rice in a rice cooker. I find that when I add oil the rice sticks a little less to the pan, which is supposed to be nonstick and mostly is but sometimes isn't perfect. I just add the oil, rice, spices, and water all together, swirl it around a little with the rice paddle, and let it do its thing. If you are making this for a lot of people, you will want to make a lot more rice, but I mostly wanted rice as a kind of side-dish so I made less.

Prepare lentils:
Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil. When ready put in the lentils. Keep up the temperature to a rolling boil. Don't be like me and let the pot boil over as you are chopping carrots, though.

Prepare vegetables (this sounds complex but isn't):
Chop carrots in half lengthwise and then in half widthwise. You want large chunks of carrot but want them all about the same size so they cook evenly. Set aside.
Chop garlic cloves. Set aside.
Chop pepper into small strips. Set aside.
Chop pepper (large chunks work well here).

Prepare sauce:
Heat medium-large pot on stove. When warm add olive oil and margarine together (less fat than just using soy margarine, and less burning and a better taste than just using just oil). Let this warm until it bubbles up a little but isn't brown. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add garlic. Mash the garlic around in there until you have nice garlic-flavored oil. Add the basil and do the same thing. The garlic should be just a tiny bit brown when you add the panch paran. Sautee the whole spices in the flavored oil for about 30 seconds. Now the garlic should be a little more brown. Add the broth concentrate, and stir to dissolve. Add the onion. Stir to coat onion with oil and spices. Do not burn the garlic!

Turn heat down and let onion brown a little. It will sweat out its oniony goodness into the pan, which is what you want. If it starts sticking add a tad more olive oil. Then add the brown sugar. This will carmelize the onion and make the oil smell delicious. When onion is clear and browning on the edges add tomato sauce and a little water. Then add tomato paste, stirring to dissolve the paste into the sauce. You might want to turn the heat up a little here but don't overdo it.

Add the cilantro.

By now the lentils are almost done. When the masala sauce starts to thicken, add a few ladles of sauce from the lentil pot to flavor the sauce, and to thin it down a little bit and stop it from sticking to the pot.

Toss in the remaining spices except the chili flakes and powder. Add the nutritional yeast. Then add the chili flakes and powder to taste.

Turn off the heat to the sauce.

Put in the vegetables:
After you turn off the heat, let the warmth of the sauce cook the vegetables perfectly for you. Just pop a lid on the pot for about 5 minutes and everything will be nice and crisp, plus the sauce will be a perfect consistency. First the carrots and frozen beans, then a minute or two later the pepper. The beans should go in frozen, this ensures they are not overcooked by the end. The carrots should end up cooked but firm, not limp and soggy. You put the pepper in last so it is not overcooked, because peppers are pretty delicate.

Put in the drained lentils, and stir.

At the very end stir in the apple cider vinegar. I find it compliments the tomatoes and cuts the spice a little.

Things I would have added to this dish: a bay leaf. I didn't have any, though.

Serve with rice.

Basically, this was delicious. I had two helpings and there was enough left over to last me until at least Wednesday for lunches. So I would say this serves 4-6 people.

I wanted the "classic" mushroom Thanksgiving-type green bean casserole with the crunchy onions on top, but I have no soymilk.

Ingredients:
- 1 lb bag frozen French-cut green beans (for faster cooking)
- 1 1/2 c nutritional yeast
- 1/2 tbsp ground mustard
- 1/2 tbsp paprika (optional)
- 1/2 tbsp chili powder (optional)
- olive oil
- 2 small white boiling onions or 1/2 small regular onion, sliced thinly
- 1-2 lg cloves garlic
- 1 c "pearl" or Israeli couscous (the kind with the larger grains)
- about 1 c dried oyster mushrooms
- 2-3 slices stale bread, cubed into croûton size (I used some stale whole wheat raisin bread for a sweet flavor)
- salt
- white pepper
- black pepper
- about 3 c vegetable broth (I used low-sodium and it worked out fine)

Equipment: covered casserole dish, medium-sized regular pot with lid, spatula or spoon

Preheat oven to 400 deg. F.

Cover bottom of pot with thin layer of olive oil, salt, white pepper. Turn on heat. When oil is heated up, add garlic. Stir until garlic is fragrant/browning lightly. Add onion. Stir. When onion is transparent and soft, add couscous. Stir to coat in oil. The couscous should become slightly transparent and then slightly tan and smell a little nutty.

Add about half the broth. Stir. Wait a few minutes for the couscous to start to become plump. Then add the spices, black pepper, and more salt and white pepper if you want. Add the mushrooms. Wait for the mushrooms to start absorbing the liquid; you may want to put the lid on the pot for a minute or two at this point.

Add the nutritional yeast, slowly so it doesn't clump up. Stir constantly. The liquid should thicken; if it gets too thick add half the remaining broth. You don't want it too sauce-like just yet, but it shouldn't be thin and watery either. This is a good time to test and add any other spices you might want.

Let the mushrooms and couscous absorb the rest of the liquid already in the pot, and simmer about 2-3 minutes. At this point your sauce should start looking more cheesy, but before it congeals completely turn the heat down.

Coat the inside of the casserole dish lightly with cooking spray. Dump the entire bag of frozen green beans into it.

Pour the warm cheese/mushroom/couscous sauce over the frozen green beans. With a spoon or spatula, make little dents or holes in the green beans for the sauce to flow into. The goal is not to mix it thoroughly, but have pockets of sauce in the beans while still leaving most of the sauce on top to form a kind of crust.

Put the bread cubes on top of the whole thing. Drizzle the remaining broth over the bread cubes. Ideally the bottom of the bread cubes should start absorbing the sauce, and the top of the bread cubes should be drier and form a little crust, kind of like a bread pudding.

Put the lid on the casserole, and pop the whole thing into the oven for 25 m or until browned on top. You can leave the lid off for the last few minutes to get the crust crispier if you want, since leaving the lid on will steam the bread slightly.

This will need salt and pepper to taste when it is out of the oven and heading toward your gaping vegan maw. I didn't want to put too much salt in the recipe as I was making it because you can always add salt later, but can't take it out if you oversalt during cooking.

- 2 cloves garlic, diced
- 1 sm onion, chopped
- thai rice noodles (mine were from Trader Joe's but you can probably get them most places, or Asian markets)
- 1 large spoonful crunchy peanut butter
- 1/3 block firm tofu, pressed, cut into small squares and dusted with flour and salt and pepper (breading with rice flour is best if you have it, but I didn't; regular flour was fine).
- sesame oil
- basil
- cilantro
- 1/4 can coconut milk
- 3 leaves lettuce, washed and torn up into largish pieces (optional)
- a little bit of sriracha sauce mixed with soy sauce, mirin, garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper, and left to mellow in the fridge for a day or two, about a cup worth of sauce
- 2 lime quarters
- salt and pepper

Put the water on to boil for the noodles.

In a wok or large saucepan, put some sesame oil. Put in the garlic. When the garlic smells nice, put in the onions. When the onions turn transparent, put in the peanut butter and coconut milk both at once. Mix together. Let it thicken a little. Then put in the crazy sauce, the basil, and the cilantro (I used frozen herbs; if you are using fresh herbs you may just want to dice them and sprinkle on top of the finished dish). When the sauce just begins to thicken again, take it off the heat. Squeeze in the lime juice. Stir. Put the sauce aside in a bowl or something.

Put the noodles in the pot.

While the noodles are cooking, start up the wok again with a little bit of sesame oil (a little bit--you are frying, not deep frying, and too much oil will make the breading stick and then slide off the tofu). Deglaze the pan (this just means "scrape all the sauce bits into the oil, where they will taste nice and start sizzling"). Once the bits of deglazed stuff are really sizzling, put the tofu into the pan. DO NOT dump the flour in with the tofu; this is a recipe for disaster and smoke and undercooked tofu. Get off all the extra flour you can, shaking out the tofu with a sieve or something. Put the pieces of tofu into the pan (individually, if you can; they tend to lump and stick together). Shake the pan to get the oil under the tofu evenly. Then let it sit for a minute (I know, it's really hard, but this is what makes the crispy coating instead of goop). Then flip the tofu over (top to bottom, side to side, etc). Continue until tofu is almost golden brown and crispy-looking. Turn down heat on wok.

Drain noodles in pot, but leave about 1/4 c of noodle liquid in there with them. Then put the crazy sauce in the pot with the noodles and noodle liquid. Stir. Sauce will be slightly watery. Put back over high heat for about a minute or until sauce starts to thicken slightly and bubble. Turn off heat under pot.

The tofu should be done. Turn off the heat under the wok. Grab the tofu with a slotted spoon or something so you're not getting all the grease, and put it in the pot.

Put the torn up lettuce into the pot, and stir, covering the lettuce with the hot noodles/sauce until it is just wilted. (I enjoy thai food with cabbage, and lettuce was the closest I had; I also was dying for some greens but didn't want to eat just plain lettuce).

If I was making this again, I would use more vegetables (pepper, carrot, and beansprouts, and maybe mushrooms), but I didn't have a lot of veggies in the house today. The entire thing is kind of monochromatic, but delicious as-is.

Enjoy!

This contains no pine nuts and also tomatoes, so it is not a traditional pesto, but what the hey.

- 1 Bunch watercress, rinsed
- 3 small roma tomatoes, chopped in fourths
- 1/2 lemon
- Approx. 6-8 ounces firm tofu
- salt
- pepper
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 1/2 c olive oil
- 1-2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

Place oil, watercress, salt, pepper, and garlic in blender. Blend.
Add tofu, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and tomatoes. Blend.

Enjoy.

Had a really good weekend, though I am feeling a little sick this afternoon so I decided not to go to the regular Sunday afternoon go session or the gym.

D., D.'s coworker, and I baked cupcakes this afternoon.

They made some vanilla cupcakes with green and brown frosting, coconut, and sprinkles.

I made vegan cupcakes in oreo and rosewater-matcha flavors.

I used the basic sponge cake cupcake recipie from the winter pine tree cakes from vegan yumyum (with rice flour as a substitute for cornstarch). I made two batches and made some into rosewater cupcakes and some into oreo cupcakes.

For the rosewater cupcakes I just added rosewater instead of the vanilla or almond extracts.

For the oreo cupcakes I crushed up some oreos in the batter and used only vanilla, not almond and vanilla, extracts.

The oreo cupcakes got storebought chocolate frosting and a half-oreo on top of each. The cake came out pretty delicious; you could taste chunks of cupcake and chunks of oreo.

The rosewater cupcakes got matcha (Japanese green tea) frosting, from this recipie; I substituted soymilk for ricemilk and added the larger amount of matcha powder. I would use less confectioners' sugar next time, maybe a half-cup rather than a full cup--though that might not make enough frosting to cover the cupcakes. Though the frosting was definitely tasty and tasted like matcha, it is too sweet for me.

Warning: homemade frosting is very melty on hot days.

I also had about 6 farmers' market peaches that were going to go bad soon, so I also made a peach cobbler from this recipie, substituting soymilk for cream. I also only had 2 and 3/4 cups of peaches. If I made this again I would reduce the salt and add about a 1/4 cup more peaches than the recipie called for, to balance the fluffiness of the crust. Though the crust was very puffy, it is a bit salty as well. The peaches from the farmers' market were about half as big as a regular peach from the store, but are twice as tasty. If you can get farmers' market peaches I very much recommend it. I made this in a relatively small and shallow ceramic dish.

There are pictures at my flickr account if you click on the names of the food!

I cleaned out the refrigerators today and remembered that autumnesquirrel had donated the contents of her vegetable box to us this week, as we were home and she was not.

We had a cabbage and some carrots and some kale, which I made a soup with last year and hated because I boiled the kale until it became bitter. I was a little worried about trying it again, but figured that I would not boil it. What to do? Saute. This turned out to be the correct choice.

I just made and ate this soup. It is tasty. Just the thing for a winter evening at home with the roommates and cats.

This looks like a lot of work but it's mostly chopping vegetables and boiling things.

Fresh white pepper and fresh lemon juice are essential for this recipie.

Ingredients
- 2 tbsp better than bullion vegetable broth
- 5 tbsp soy margarine
- 1 small cabbage
- 2 bunches kale
- 2 medium carrots, scrubbed
- 1/3 c frozen peas
- 6 frozen Chinese-style vegetable dumplings
- about 3 medium cloves of garlic (I used 2 large and 1 tiny)
- freshly-cracked white pepper
- juice of 1 medium lemon (I think it was about 1/4 liquid c.)
- water
- about 1 1/2 tbsp kosher or sea salt

Equipment
- Medium stock pot with lid
- Frying pan
- Spatula
- Large bowl


Peel and dice garlic, put in frying pan.
Put in about 3 tbsp of the margarine.
Grind some black pepper in the pan.
Don't turn it on yet.

Chop cabbage into pieces and put in bowl. You probably want to cut out the pithy center of the cabbage.
Cut center stems out of kale and throw away. Chop kale leaves like cabbage. Put kale into bowl.

Turn frying pan heat to medium-high.

Fill stock pot about half full with cold water. Put in 2 tbsp. bullion and stir around a little bit to dissolve. Put on lid and turn to highest setting.

Chop ends off of carrots and throw away. Cut carrots in half lengthwise. Put flat side of carrot down and slice into half-moon shapes for quick cooking.

Put carrots into stock pot, which should be getting pretty warm now. Turn down slightly to medium-high (though you still want it pretty high).

By now the margarine in the frying pan should be browning and a garlic smell should be wafting up. Put in the cabbage and kale from the bowl, a little bit at a time. I put in about 2 handfuls at once.

Lightly brown the cabbage and cook the kale until it wilts, and then add more, and repeat until it is all gone. Flip with spatula to evenly coat the mixture and keep from sticking to the pan.

At some point the kale will start getting all crispy and crackly before the cabbage is completely browned, because the kale has less water in it than the cabbage. This crispy kale means that you have put in a lot of stuff and it's not all getting evenly coated with the pepper/garlic/margarine mixture because there's not enough to go around.
At this point turn the heat up a tiny bit and add the last 2 tbsp of margarine to the greens, and drizzle the lemon juice over the greens too. Flip with spatula to be sure that the lemon juice gets distributed over the cabbage mix and doesn't just cook off. This adds sweetness to the cabbage and acidity to the kale.
It seems like a lot of margarine but it adds to the flavor of the soup later.

Sprinkle the salt over the greens and turn them with the spatula again to evenly coat. This softens the cabbage a little. It seems like a lot of salt but this is going into the stock pot so it's not a lot when you take into account all the liquid it will be distributed in.

Toss the dumplings into the stock pot and let them boil for about 1 minute, until they are done (they will float up to the surface). Then turn the heat to low as you don't want them to disintegrate.

Toss the peas into the stock pot. Turn the heat off. Overcooked peas are the worst.

Take the cabbage and kale off the heat and dump it all into the stock pot. Use a spatula if you need to, but make sure you get all the liquid the greens were cooking in into the pot. It's the lemon/pepper/margarine liquid that gives this soup an extra kick of flavor and brings out the flavor in the broth and the carrots.

Enjoy!

Serves probably about 10 people although I haven't checked.

I have a picture of this soup that I will post later.