Kari's Creations

Golden Raisin Railway Cake

2011-11-26T09:36:00.004-06:00

One of the things I've had on my list to make is Irish Soda Bread. About a week before Thanksgiving (which turned out well, by the way, and left me wondering why I had stressed at all), I made one of the recipes in my binder for Irish Soda Bread. And it was good and everything was grand and I figured I'd just mark that one off the list and move on.

But then I stumbled across a website that made me think differently. I'd always thought Irish Soda Bread included raisins and possibly caraway seeds. But according to the Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread (say that three times fast), it's not the case. Real, honest-to-goodness soda bread is very simple, containing flour, soda, salt and buttermilk. That's it.

I was surprised, but yes, 'tis true.

If the recipe includes raisins, baking powder, sugar, or eggs, it's not traditional. Made that way it can be called Spotted Dog or Railway Cake, according to the SPISB. I chose to call this Railway Cake because it sounds nicer and I'm not sure I want to eat something called Spotted Dog. But that's just me.

The recipe reminded me of a cross between a scone and a cake. It's crumbly and soft and there's something about it that makes me want to slather butter and strawberry preserves on it and have it for breakfast, which is what I did. What took it from a soda bread to a sweet bread was the golden raisins I used. They were fantastic in this and I'm not much of a raisin fan. This cake is easy to slice out in wedges and serve with jam and coffee.

Golden Raisin Railway Cake

Adapted from here

1 and 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup all purpose flour (unbleached)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup golden raisins

2 Tablespoons melted butter

3/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly grease a 9-inch round cake pan with unsalted butter. Set aside

In a mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, soda, and salt. Stir together and add in golden raisins. Toss together.

Melt butter and add room temperature or slightly warmed buttermilk to it. Stir together and add to dry ingredients. Stir until a sticky dough forms.

Turn dough out into cake pan. With the back of a spoon (lightly floured if necessary) spread the dough out evenly in the pan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool bread in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Slice into wedges and serve.

Soup Mania: 175 Recipes for a Warm and Healthy Thanksgiving

2011-11-20T11:08:00.002-06:00

I had grandiose plans for this post.

I wanted to offer something holidayish and inspiring and lovely. But I've been gripped by what can only be described as a crisis as of late. It's a benign crisis and one that's completely self-inflicted, but whether real or imagined a crisis is, well, distressing. My parents always taught me that if something's worth doing, it's worth doing right. And so in the spirit of that sage advice, I've always felt that if I'm going to be in a funk, I'd better really go for it. Pull out all the stops and commit to it. Worry myself to death. Think about all the things that could go wrong. Have trouble falling asleep at night. You know, really live it.

I suppose I could name this crisis: Pre-Holiday Stress Disorder. It's the sort of thing that hits this time of year when suddenly I realize there's house cleaning to do, a menu should be written, decorations have to be assembled, cooking will commence shortly, and generally speaking, a whole lotta work needs to be done.

And so today, I have soups, lots and lots of soup. Because the truth is you really didn't need another Thanksgiving recipe. If you're anything like me, you're suffering from recipe fatigue, which, in case you hadn't heard of it, is the official name (given by me) to the disorder that arises from standing in the grocery store checkout line scouring the latest lifestyle magazines offering something like 334 new cookie recipes (because you've probably finished making the 334 cookie recipes from last year's edition of said magazine and you need a few hundred more), 423 ways to cook your holiday turkey (with step-by-step photos of each and every one), 692 drinks to serve your guests, 52 new ways to make sweet potato casserole and 100 ways to decorate your Thanksgiving table.

I. Am. So. Stressed.

Or at least I was up until a few days ago when I realized that I don't have to do all that. I can make it as fun and easy as I want. I don't really need 982 new recipes for this holiday season. No one does. So, I'm keeping it simple. I have a few recipes picked out for this Thursday and one of them is a soup. The rest I'll have a good time making. If something doesn't turn out, oh well. If everything isn't pretty, that's okay. If the table doesn't have fine china, we won't care. We'll just make some good food, eat it together, be thankful for our blessings and enjoy the day. Happy Thanksgiving.

175 Soups for a Warm and Healthy Thanksgiving

1. Cooking Light has 100 Healthy Soups, all with thumbnail photos and the soup title on one page so you can just scroll down and look. I had the best time looking through this list deciding which ones to make. If you can't find a soup there that looks good, I'm not sure I can help you:)

Cooking Light's 101 Healthy Soups

2. The Kitchn.Com has a page of 25 nourishing soups with photos and they look fantastic:

25 Nourishing Soups from TheKitchn.com

3. Best Health Magazine has links to 33 super healthy concotions, including a section devoted to mushroom soups. Yum!

33 Healthy Soups from Best Health Magazine

4. Green Soups are fantastic for health and an easy way to get those in season leafy vegetables. Here are some that look and sound great:

Green on Green Soup from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen

Creamy Asparagus Soup from Sass and Veracity

Arugula and Pea Soup Recipe from Kari's Creations (shameless self-promotion)

Bean and Swiss Chard Soup from Red Fire Farm

Raw Green Soup from Lydia's Lovin' Foods

Jade Soup from Christie's Corner

Spinach and Coconut Soup from French Cooking For Dummies (I tried this one already and love it!)

Healthy, Gluten-Free Broccoli Soup from Dandy Sugar

5. We can't forget about the power of orange this winter. We all know about the health benefits of winter squash, sweet potatoes and carrots, and an easy way to eat a large quantity is with a soup. Here are eight recipes that sound good to me:

Autumn Sweet Potato Soup from JoyofKosher.com

A Creamy Flu-Fighting Pumpkin Soup from The Purposed Heart

Butternut Squash Bisque from The New York Times (next on my list)

Carrot and Orange Soup from 4th Sense Cooking

Warm Spiced Red Kuri & Orange Soup with Cinnamon Harissa from Luna Cafe

Buttercup Squash Soup from Seriously Good

Raw Curried Carrot Parsnip Soup from Naturally Radiant

Carrot and Cashew Soup from Daily Unadventures in Cooking

Maple, Mustard and Caraway Dressing

2011-11-10T12:18:00.008-06:00

This recipe knocks two items off my list. If you're new around here (welcome and thanks for stopping by if that's the case), I recently started working through my long list of recipes to try, cooking techniques to learn and ingredients I've passed by for years in the grocery store and thought "now what would I do with that?"

There's a recipe for Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette I've kept in my binder for a couple of years now, torn out of a 2009 copy of Eating Well magazine. I was charmed by the thought of such a combination. It sounded mysterious and sophisticated. Maple and Mustard. I liked how it just rolled off the tongue.

It's not such a long traipse from Maple-Mustard to Honey-Mustard dressing, which, quite frankly, leaves me flat. Honey and Mustard? All I can picture is a flimsy cardboard box filled with breaded chicken and a plastic container with a pull off lid and some sort of neon yellow concoction inside. (And I'm not knocking Chick-Fil-A either because I'm all about their nuggets). But you get the picture. Honey-Mustard is like the Coca-Cola of salad dressings, jeans, t-shirt, going to movies or the mall. Maple-Mustard is the sparkling glass of champagne all glammed up for a New Year's eve party. That's how differently the two dressings strike me, anyway. One seems special and the other doesn't.

And then there are caraway seeds. Oh caraway, what do I do with you? I bought a bottle six months ago on a whim, thinking I surely must cook with it. The bottle sat there in my pantry for a long time, finally getting shoved to the back of the spice section where I promptly forgot about it. It only recently resurfaced when my husband went on an organizing spree and dragged it out from its hiding place.

I suppose I was thinking Pumpernickel when I bought the caraway. I can't remember now, but that bottle of seeds just sitting there in the front row of my spice section for the past few weeks started to bother me. I felt I must use them. It just so happened that about the same time I decided to make that Maple and Mustard Vinaigrette and wondered how caraway would taste in the dressing.

It would seem to be an easy sell, Maple and Mustard, especially given the fact that honey and mustard is such a natural combination. But I didn't find that to be the case. I normally have good luck with dressings/vinaigrettes, and 99.999% of the time I can toss one together and make it taste good or great with little effort. Salad dressings are fun to make, easy, and the only limit is your own creativity. But this one was tougher. My first few tries were terrible.

I didn't find that maple and mustard was the same natural combination as honey and mustard. It actually seemed to be non-complimentary at times. (Maybe it was just the cook, eh?) But whatever the reason, I remade this numerous times to get it the way I wanted.

To be fair to the original recipe in Eating Well, I want to say that I never made it exactly as it was written and, had I done that and gotten the essence of their recipe, I might have saved myself some work. But the Eating Well recipe called for walnut oil, which I didn't have on hand. I like walnut oil and have used it on occasion. But I didn't want to spend money on something I wasn't sure I'd use again immediately so I substituted other oils in my attempt to create my own dressing.

Avocado oil was not the best choice. It has a strong aftertaste and didn't work well. Coconut Oil was so-so, but overall I just wasn't wowed. I finally just went for good old fashioned olive oil and, you know what, it was great. I made significant changes to the original recipe, enough that I feel I have my own recipe now.

Since it's getting into greens season, I thought this was a good time to share it. You can increase the dijon and caraway if you like and tweak it to your taste. Or the caraway can be left out altogether. The dressing is good without it, too. But I do think the caraway gives it a little extra something something.

Mustard, Maple and Caraway Vinaigrette

Inspired by Maple-Mustard Vinaigrette in Eating Well Magazine

1 tablespoon maple syrup

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 very small clove of garlic *(see note below)

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon caraway seeds

Place ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. *Add garlic in small quantities until you get the amount you like. One medium or large clove can easily overpower this dressing. I found one that was tiny and used that.

Serves 1 generously or 2 lightly.

Maple and Mustard around the web:

Baked Maple-Mustard-Glazed Salmon from Home Sweet and Savory

Mustard and Maple-Glazed Chicken from Closet Cooking

Green Beans with Mustard-Maple Sauce from What's Cooking America

Maple-Dijon-Raisin-Glazed Ham from Recipetips.com

Salad with Maple-Mustard dressing from Two Peas and Their Pod

Maple-Candied Bacon from Claire Robinson, Food Network

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Mustard Glaze from What Would Cathy Eat?

Homemade Onion Powder

2011-10-29T15:48:00.005-05:00

I've been uncertain about this post for awhile now. Should I post it or hit delete and forget the idea?

It borders dangerously close to being what I like to call a "make work" post. My husband repeats a Mexican saying occasionally, "Hacer una tormenta en un vasa de agua" or "to make a storm in a glass of water." It refers to making a big deal out of something small. And so I've wondered, am I making a storm in a glass of water here?

Here's what I mean. It's really not necessary to make your own onion powder or garlic powder or ginger powder. It takes time, you need to have a dehydrator or a commitment to keeping an eye on the oven for a very long time, and, in the end, what you'll end up with could easily be bought for just a few dollars. Why even do this? And furthermore, why post it?

Initially I considered all that and left it alone in my drafts. But then I thought more about it. I don't make my own onion powder because I have to. (There are plenty of places to buy it). I don't make it for frugality. (I can afford the few dollars to buy it.) I don't make it to avoid chemicals, preservatives or anti-caking agents that might lurk in the store-bought brands. (Those are easily avoided by purchasing a high quality product like this one.)

So, why do it?

Because I like to. It's fun. It's easy. And I get to feel like Caroline Ingalls in the kitchen for an afternoon (okay, okay, Caroline Ingalls with electricity and modern appliances -- don't spoil it for me). When I thought about it from that point of view, I decided to go ahead and post it.

If you ask a million people about their favorite cooking ingredient, you'll likely get a million different answers. There may be some overlap, but taste is such a personal thing. In my kitchen, onions reign. I know many people would put garlic at the top of the list, and that might make it into my top five. But if you look at the recipes on this site, a good number begin with one simple onion. I keep bowls full of them in the pantry and on the kitchen table so I'm not in danger of running out, although there is always that possiblity as much as I use them.

Funny thing is, I used to be an onion hater. When my little son separates the onion pieces from the meatloaf I've made and refuses to eat them, I feel like I'm looking at a mirror image of myself at that age. I did exactly the same thing. In fact, I did that into adulthood, just despised those onions. A change came around the time I started cooking. I realized one day that an onion could make all the difference and nearly everything I loved to eat started with this one vegetable. In my early days of cooking, I often ran out of onions. That was before I had a backup plan, before I realized I even needed a backup plan.

I remember being frustrated at times. I'd suddenly see a recipe that I just had to make and go to the cupboard in anticipation of the most delicious dish ever. To not find even a trace of an onion was a disappointment. Worse yet was the day a freak snowstorm arrived or the heavens poured rain and I wanted nothing more than to stay home, cozy up in flannel and slippers and make something that bubbled and simmered on the stovetop.

All the while I'd fear that the stray onion I was sure I'd seen behind the pasta boxes or maybe underneath the carrots way in the back of the refrigerator was likely nothing more than a figment of my hopeful imagination. Once or twice of this routine, of searching in vain, left me with a choice. I could make soup without onion (unthinkable!), brave the merciless weather to buy one, or come up with a backup plan so that none of the other choices were necessary.

My initial backup plan consisted of buying a container of dehydrated onions to stash with my spices. They wouldn't be as good as the real thing, but in a pinch it was better than the alternatives. And that plan worked for awhile. I was happy and comfortable in the knowledge that ice, wind, hail, or the blizzard to end all blizzards wouldn't come between me and my onions. The backup plan changed a couple of years ago when I bought my own dehydrator and discovered I could make my own dried onions. Shortly thereafter came onion powder.

Whether or not you want to make powder with your dehydrated onions is a matter of preference. Once dehydrated, onion flakes can be used in a similar manner as powder. So, for some people, the simple of act of dehydrating the onions and placing them in a mason jar for storage, might be enough. There are times, though, when powder is a nice option for recipes that call for it specifically.

The basic process is easy. It involves dehydrating the onions and grinding them in a spice grinder. That's it. The end. Couldn't be simpler. (See, I told you. Storm, meet glass of water). But there are a few things to know.

One important note is that onion powder and garlic powder will cake if left for too long, especially in humid environments (like, oh say, Houston, Texas). So rather than adding something to stop the caking, I bypass the entire issue and just grind the dehydrated onions into powder right before I need them.

The best storage scenario is to place the onions in a vacuum-packaged bag and freeze them. But, not everyone has a vacuum-package machine. I do, but most of the time I keep onions in jelly jars that are sealed tight in the freezer. Diana DeLong in her book How To Dry Foods writes that dehydrated onions will keep at 34 degrees for 8 to 16 months and 30 to 60 months at 0 degrees. (I'm linking to the older edition because that's what I have, but apparently there is a new edition now).

Probably the most difficult part of learning to dehydrate is figuring out when the food is actually completely dry and ready to be packaged. DeLong has a mathematical equation in her book if you want to be precise, but I've done it for long enough that I just go by how they appear. A little practice and you'll know, too. Onions that are properly dehydrated will be shriveled and dry to the touch. Commercially dried onions will usually snap when dried, but mine have never been that crisp. Mine end up crisp but bendy. They won't necessarily snap when broken in half, but almost.

Oven-drying onions is possible, but is not the easiest thing in the world. Optimal temperature is 130 to 145 degrees and most ovens only go as low as 170 degrees. Some people dehydrate their foods by setting the oven to the lowest temperature and propping the door open. I don't go this route because there's too much time with the oven door left open and a curious little person who might start thinking it's okay to stick his fingers in there.

Onions that have been stored and appear moldy or smell odd should be tossed. When in doubt throw them out.

Homemade Onion Powder

Step 1. Chop onion finely as you would to use as the base of a soup or stew (like the chopped onion photo here)

Step 2. Place onion on the dehydrator tray

Step 3. Turn dehydrator to 130 degrees.

Step 4. Wait for a long time. It can take anywhere from 8 to 12 hours or even possibly longer in humid areas.

Step 5. Once dried, store in an airtight container in the freezer. Place the amount you want for powder into a spice grinder and grind until a fine powder.

Homemade Garlic Powder

Garlic powder is made the same way as onion powder. Just slice garlic and dehydrate until dry and crisp at the same temperature -- 130 degrees. Unlike home dehydrated onions, dried garlic slices will snap when broken in half when done. Grind into powder in a spice grinder.

My other dehydrator posts:

How to Make Cheddar Cheese Powder: A Photo Tutorial

How To Dry Cranberries

Friday Food; Foodie Friday

Vanilla-Rum Flan

2011-10-22T15:42:00.009-05:00

I don't post many desserts here, mostly because I try to keep sweets out of my diet. But flan has been on my list of things to make for a long time. I was intimidated to try it because it sounded difficult, although the worst thing that could happen is it wouldn't turn out and I'd have to try again. No big deal.

I've already tried a recipe for a different dish this week that didn't set. So, I suppose, that unsuccess helped me realize that having a failure in the kitchen is not the end of the world. It's what the learning process is all about. If it goes well, I learn. If it doesn't, I still learn.

I'm happy to report, though, that flan was a success on the first go. I would like to say that it was really hard, that I sweat it out in the kitchen and labored intensively for hours on end to come up with this recipe. But the truth is, it was pretty easy.

Flan is baked in a water bath.

After my recipe failure earlier in the week with a different dish, I got a little more cautious about figuring out the proper amount of liquid to add in recipes that need to "set", and spent time looking at the ratio of eggs to liquid in some of the flan recipes online. That probably contributed to this one working out. I realized there is a wide variation in the amount of eggs to liquid in flan recipes, and I took a middle-of-the-road approach with five eggs to forty ounces of liquid. It set beautifully.

When I first decided to make flan, I sat down and started reading recipes and tutorials online to get the basic process down. (And I've linked to some of those below). I found recipes to make flan with every kind of milk imaginable, from goat's milk to almond milk, coconut milk, rice milk and even buttermilk. It was fun to see all the unique and creative combinations that people had put together.

I ultimately decided on a rum and vanilla flan using coconut milk. The rum was inspired by this recipe. The coconut milk by this recipe. And the vanilla because it's delicious and classic combined with rum.

The air bubbles lingered throughout the baking process and can be seen just slightly here. They didn't affect the final dessert, though.

Once I actually got into making the recipe, my big concern was air bubbles. What to do about them? Will they affect the finished dessert? They appeared when I used my stand mixer to whip the milk, eggs and flavorings together, and I was immediately worried about whether they would be an issue. I found the answer in this recipe, which states pouring the mixture through a fine mesh strainer will reduce air bubbles. I found this does help, but only if the mixture is poured very slowly. The same goes for pouring the mixture into the ramekins. This needs to be done slowly, slowly, slowly, otherwise you'll just add more air bubbles.

Just cooled and ready to be inverted.

I poured the mixture through a strainer, then poured slowly into the ramekins and let them rest on the counter for about five minutes before cooking. I still had some air bubbles, but they didn't affect the final dessert. So, don't panic if you see them while the flan is baking or after you take them out of the oven. It doesn't necessarily mean your dessert is ruined. (It doesn't mean you're safe either, as I read one message board where people did have a problem with air bubbles ruining the flan.) But mine were minimal and didn't affect the final outcome.

I wondered about something else while I made this recipe. What is the difference between flan and crème brûlée? Other than the obvious differences: one is baked with a sugar sauce on the bottom and then inverted and the other is baked, then broiled with a layer of sugar on top to form a hard sugar crust, I wanted to know what other things make each one unique. As you might guess, crème brûlée is one of the things on my list to make. I went searching and found this discussion about that issue, which was helpful, but I'll likely read more.

I used sweetened condensed milk in this recipe, which I'm sure those of a health-conscious mind will view as a cardinal sin. But I like to start simple when learning a new cooking technique. It would be no stretch now for me to try making flan with a natural sweetener like honey or maple syrup. And, more than likely, you'll see a healthier recipe for flan here at some point using one of those sweeteners. But when trying to make something new, I like to keep it simple and go with the method that is most likely to guarantee success. That way I get the process down, understand the how and why of making the dish and I'm not distracted with trying to "create" something. In other words, I want to learn to make it first and then I can tinker with a more original recipe later.

I will say that this recipe was outstanding. I'm not much of self-promoter, but this one rocks. There was one full day when I kept going to the refrigerator saying "just one more bite and that's all, I swear!" I'm not going to tell you how many of them I ate by myself, but suffice it to say there are going to be a lot spinach salads in my future this week to make up for it.

Below the recipe are links to the instructions, tutorials and recipes I looked at before plunging into my flan-making adventure.

Vanilla-Rum Flan

For the flan:

2 (13.25-ounce) cans of unsweetened coconut milk

1 (14-ounce) can of sweetened condensed milk

5 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the sugar glaze:

1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup organic white sugar
1/4 cup water

You'll also need:

12 (4-ounce) ramekins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan, place water, brown sugar and organic white sugar over medium heat. Stir together until sugar dissolves. Then, wipe down edges of pan with a wet pastry brush or a dampened clean cloth. Once sugar is dissolved, don't stir anymore. Simply swirl lightly every once in awhile and allow the sugar to boil gently. Mine did fine on medium heat for about five minutes or until it thickens slightly and turns a dark brown color.

Remove from heat and place a tablespoon of syrup in the bottom of each ramekin. The sugar will solidify slightly in the ramekins while you make the flan mixture. That's okay. It will liquify again during the cooking process and become a sweet, syrupy glaze.

Place coconut milk, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, vanilla, rum and salt in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth with an electric mixer, stand mixer or by hand. If air bubbles appear, pour the mixture very slowly through a fine mesh strainer into another mixing bowl or allow to just sit for a few minutes on the counter.

Once mixed, scoop out mixture into a 1/2 cup measuring cup and pour slowly, very slowly into a ramekin to prevent air bubbles from forming. Each ramekin should get 1/2 cup of mixture.

Place the ramekins in a roasting pan and pour very hot water (I microwaved my water for about a minute to get it hotter than tap temperature) around the ramekins until it reaches about halfway up the sides. Bake for 45 minutes. Then, turn oven off and allow to sit for another 10 minutes.

Cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Gently run a butter knife around the edges of the flan to loosen it from the ramekin and then invert flan onto plates. Serves 12.

Tutorials, guides and recipes for flan that were helpful to me:

How To Make Perfect Flan

Coconut Milk Flan from Spilt Wine and Sticky Rice

Michael Chiarello's Espresso Flan

How To Make Authentic Flan from Basil Kitchen

Flan Recipe from Aunt Clara's Kitchen

Goat Milk Flan from Meyenburg Goat Milk

Coconut Flan Recipe from Epicurious

White Chocolate and Rice Milk Flan from A La Cuisine!

Flan de Coco from All Recipes

Caramel-Glazed Buttermilk Flan from 123 Recipes

Easy Flan from Food.com

Coconut Flan with Mango from Whole Foods Market

Alphabet Soup Recipe

2011-10-17T17:44:00.017-05:00

The weather has cooled down enough here on some evenings that we can take our three-year-old to the playground. He makes friends easily there and the other night he found a boy of similar age to play with. They had a great time racing at breakneck speed down the slide and then running around and trying to beat each other up the ladder to race down again. They were running so fast that I could hear them sucking in their breath just as hard as they could every time they passed me by. Needless to say, my son slept well that night.

The next night we returned around the same time and the little boy was there again. He and my son immediately resumed their game, and we soon found out his name was Benjamin. Along with Benjamin, another little boy, Andrew, joined the group.

While there are times I'd like to sit down on the benches nearby and watch the kids play, I almost never do. I figure in ten years my son will be 13 and he won't want me to slide down the slide with him anymore so I'd better do it now. Of course, when the other kids showed up, I took a breather and let them play together, but still stayed close by. At some point, Benjamin came down the slide and looked up at me and reached out his hand and said "here's an L". I promptly replied with a thank you and told him I'd put it in my pocket.

Then, my son came down the slide and said "here's a W". I gave him a similar response and then Andrew came down and handed me an imaginary "T". Suddenly, a new game was on. With every slide down, one of the kids would hand me an invisible letter. I'd take the letter, thank them and tell them how I'd always wanted my very own letter B or how Z is one of the best letters ever and how nice of them to let me keep it for them. I had to get creative after awhile, coming up with new ways to praise whatever letter they were bringing me, but it was fun.

Benjamin really got into it and, after awhile, he was bringing me five and ten letters at a time. At one point he brought me an H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O and a P. I thanked him and told him my pocket was getting very full, but I'd try to squeeze them in. And then my son walked over and said "Wow, that's a lot of letters!"

I was amazed at their imagination and how all of them jumped right into the game and just went with it. Later, the game ended when someone suddenly discovered buried treasure and gold coins (invisible, of course) and they forgot to hand me letters because they were busy being pirates and carrying around the treasure box.

The whole thing got me thinking about Alphabet Soup. I gave up canned soups years ago, but I have good memories of growing up with the Campbell's variety. It was probably my favorite of their soups so I was excited at the thought of making it at home. I just had to find ABC pasta first.

I vaguely remembered seeing alphabet pasta in the grocery store awhile back so I went looking for it and found it in the International aisle in the Mexican section at Kroger. For some reason, I think I've seen it at Wal-mart also, but don't quote me on that because I don't go there often and I could be wrong about them carrying it. The brand I found was called La Moderna and it's about as cheap a thing as you can buy in my store -- 39 cents for a 7-ounce bag. Whole Foods also sells a Whole Wheat Alphabet Soup Mix in their bulk bin section, which looks to be a good option, but that is a complete soup mix with dehydrated vegetables and I wanted to add my own.

I'd planned to take a glance at the back of the Campbell's can when I was at the store last time so I could make mine like theirs but I actually forgot to do that. I just went my own way with it and it turned out well. My husband loved it. I can't say my three-year-old was as excited about it. He liked playing with the dried pasta and looking at the letters in the bowl, but he has never liked soup and didn't want to try it. My husband, on the other hand, told me that pasta soup was his grandfather's favorite so I think it brought back some memories for him.

Considering that we're supposed to get our first really cold night tomorrow (the low is supposed to be around 45 at night and yes that's cold for us), I thought it was time to make soup. Boxed chicken stock can be used. But I've noticed during the past year when making soups that homemade stock really takes it up a notch. To me, it's one of the secrets to great soup. I used chicken stock, but a good veggie or even beef stock would work. This could easily be made vegetarian by taking out the bacon, but I added it to make the soup a little more substantial and give it extra flavor. Think of this soup, too, when you get your first winter cold. It's warming, filling and just plain good.

Alphabet Soup Recipe

5 cups of chicken stock

1 cup of zucchini, diced very small

1 cup of carrots, diced very small

1/2 cup white onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 slice of uncured, nitrate/nitrite-free bacon, sliced into small pieces

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 dried bay leaf

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/4 cup dried alphabet pasta

1/2 teaspoon sea salt plus extra to taste if needed

In a soup-making pot, turn heat to medium and add chopped bacon, cooking for about two minutes and allowing fat to render. Add 1 tablespoon olive oil and add onions and bay leaf to the pot. Allow to cook for six minutes, stirring occasionally, until softening and bacon is cooked through. Add garlic and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and cook for two minutes, stirring often.

Add in chicken stock, zucchini and carrots. Bring to a simmer for five minutes to let carrots and zucchini start to soften. Add alphabet pasta and cook for seven more minutes until al dente. Stir in tomato paste and check seasoning. Add salt if needed. Remove bay leaf. Serves 4.

WFMW; Full Plate Thursday; Foodie Friday; Fight Back Fridays; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday; Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Glimmer-Glazed Greens

2011-10-09T14:07:00.036-05:00

I like to check my garden in the morning and in the evening. I'm what is called an a.m. and a p.m. checker. Something might have grown a millimeter between dawn and dusk and if it does, I want to be there to see it.

It's always a good idea to see what's happening out there. If I check often, I'm able to spot insects and take action before they damage my plants. But most of the time, my modus operendi is this: look and see. I just want to know what's going on.

One day last week I did my a.m. check and all was well. Then, I did my p.m. check, and noticed that one of the tomato plants had been trampled down. Not blown over, but walked on. It was windy, but not enough that it would have blown half a tomato plant to the ground. It had clearly been stepped on and by something heavy enough to permanently drive the plant to the soil.

I stood there for a minute and felt a little chill run down my spine. A mouse couldn't have done that. A rat couldn't have done it. Not a snake, either. Whatever stepped on that tomato plant had to have been ten pounds or more. I know we have skunks around and I saw a raccoon about a year ago. But those are generally nocturnal unless one was out looking for food during the day. Could have been. Or rabid. And I started glancing over my shoulder a little.

Then, my mind started getting the best of me and I remembered a story recently on the local news about a guy who said he saw a mountain lion in his backyard. He had called in some experts to examine the paw prints to figure out what it was. He saw the cat perched up on his fence and described it as very large and a wild animal. The local experts had said that mountain lions do not live in the Houston area and it was likely a bobcat.

Oh, a bobcat. That's all. Well, that would be just peachy to run into a bobcat in my backyard. And then I got a little more nervous. What if it was a bobcat? What would I do if I ran into a bobcat? Is that how it's all going to end? I'm working in the peacefulness of my backyard, enjoying my garden, planting seeds and harvesting hard-earned vegetables and then......... Pounce! I could hear the Channel 2 promo now "Gardener Done In By Big Cat, Film at 11".

Okay, all right, so I might have a little bit of an active imagination. (What? Everyone doesn't worry about a bobcat attack in their backyard?) I know, it wasn't a bobcat. More than likely it was a raccoon. But quite frankly that does not calm my nerves that much. I don't want to run into one of those either. A wild animal is a wild animal. And running into a skunk does not sound like a pleasant experience either.

I still don't know what trampled down my tomato plant. But I am looking over my shoulder a little more in the garden these days. And while keeping watch for any large wild animals that might be lurking, I planted enough spinach, swiss chard and lettuce seeds to feed the entire west side of Houston.

Whenever I plant seeds, I start thinking about how I'm going to use the vegetable once it's ready. I also try to avoid buying it because I don't want to get tired of it before I even start eating it from the garden. I came up with this recipe in anticipation of a big green harvest in about six weeks. I chose Bok Choy to sauté with shallots in a simmering vinegar and mustard emulsion. Any green would likely do, but I wanted to get off the beaten path so-to-speak and chose one that I won't be growing this year. I'm planning to use this recipe for swiss chard and spinach soon enough.

I call it Glimmer-Glazed Greens because of the shimmering swirl that reflected from the sauce in the sun. I set the jar down on my kitchen table and then walked to the counter to finish chopping the greens. When I glanced over, the oil and the vinegar had separated into two thick bands. With the honey swirling through the oil in the bottom layer and the rich dark vinegar on top, it glimmered and glowed in the light and was just beautiful.

Glimmer-Glazed Greens

1 Head of Bok Choy *see note below
3 Tablespoons finely chopped shallot
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
2 Tablespoons honey

3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup olive oil

Place two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and warm to medium. Add shallots and stir two-to-three minutes until softening. In a jar or container with a lid, whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, mustard, honey and salt. Add Bok Choy to the pan with the shallots and sauté three to four minutes until it turns a bright green color and is just wilting. Add in sauce and stir until just heated through.

*You can leave Bok Choy whole or chop it. I like things bite-sized so I chopped it.

Toasted Cashew and Apple Rice

2011-10-01T17:18:00.008-05:00

I'm supposed to be on a picnic right now, sitting on a striped blanket under a Maple tree eating Lemon Roasted Chicken with a side of Toasted Cashew and Apple Rice and watching my son and my husband kick the soccer ball around. I should be breezily flipping through an old copy of Eating Well magazine that I kept meaning to read and never got around to, feeling warm wisps of sun filter through the branches, and watching a stray crumpled leaf float gently to the ground. It should be idyllic, the kind of stuff that magazine photo spreads are made of.

What I'm really doing is wearing my favorite be-lazy-around-the-house comfy-clothes, staying under the covers, sipping a hot cup of honey-sweetened Chai, and making sure I have plenty of tissue and Dayquil nearby. No makeup, ponytail askew, mismatched clothes, it's not pretty around here right now.

I worked part of Friday putting together a picnic lunch in anticipation of our outing. I felt a cold coming on, but brushed it off. By this morning I was coughing and congested and we knew the picnic was toast. Such a bummer. I was so looking forward to it. Last weekend we'd packed up and headed out to the park and thoroughly enjoyed an afternoon of family time under that Maple tree I was talking about. It was a little warm and early in the season to try to spend a day outside (it was still in the mid-90s here last week), but a cold front pushed through late Thursday, bringing rain and much cooler air and we were eager to repeat our picnic this weekend under a more autumn-like sky.

While I'm sorry the picnic didn't come off, I can't say this rice recipe was a mistake. I think this one will end up being one of my favorites. The recipe is a play on Waldorf Salad, with apples, celery, cashews (instead of walnuts), golden raisins and brown rice taking the main stage while a warm and tangy Red Wine Vinaigrette marries it all together. No mayonnaise here and it doesn't need it so you're good for a healthier dish. I love it. And it's a good thing because coming off a week of recipes that just did not turn out the way I'd hoped, I was beginning to think I'd better stop this cooking nonsense and just follow a recipe once in awhile.

I'd planned to share some picnic photos here, but since I'm not actually on a picnic I thought I'd post a few photos of the flowers that suddenly appeared along our back fence about two weeks ago. Morning Glories! I love them. They grew wild in the front yard of a house I lived in awhile back and I fell in love with them then.

Morning glories will absolutely grow out of control and take over, but that's what I love about them. Most people would probably pull them up before they get to that point. But I won't. I love that whole cascading down the fence thing. It makes me feel like I'm in Italy or something.

Sun in the morning

I can only hope the neighbors love Morning Glories as much as I do and don't pull them because they're coming from their side of the fence.

A delicious rice dish with apples, celery and cashews in a tangy vinaigrette.

Toasted Cashew and Apple Rice

For the rice:

¾ cup chopped red onion
3 cups of water
1 and ½ cups of uncooked brown rice
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup finely chopped celery
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup raw cashews (not salted)
2 apples, diced

For the dressing:

1 Tablespoon Orange Juice
¼ cup Red Wine Vinegar
1 garlic clove, finely minced
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¾ teaspoon salt
3 big pinches of black pepper
1 Tablespoon light muscavado sugar or light brown sugar
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Add ingredients for the dressing in a jar or container with a lid and shake until emulsified. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Place red onion, rice, water and ½ teaspoon of salt into a saucepan and cover tightly. Turn heat to medium and cook 35 to 40 minutes or until rice is tender. More water can be added toward the end of cooking if needed (sometimes mine needs a little extra).

While the rice cooks, place cashews in a large fry pan and place over low-medium heat on the stovetop. Shake the pan occasionally and allow the cashews to just turn light golden brown. It will take about 4 to 6 minutes. Don’t leave cashews unattended as they can burn easily. Once lightly toasted, place in a bowl and allow to cool.

Once the rice is done, drain well and place in a mixing bowl. Add in chopped celery, apples, toasted cashews, and golden raisins. Pour dressing in, just enough to coat and toss.

This rice can be served cold or slightly warmed.

Serves 4.

Note: Never store garlic in olive oil. It is a risk for botulism. Discard any unused dressing.

Fat Tuesday; Foodie Friday

Purple Pasta

2011-09-25T21:00:00.011-05:00

Think this pasta doesn't look purple? Read on to find out what's in it.

My intention this fall was to start working through my list of things I've always wanted to make. It started with that Texas Pecan Biscotti and continued with the Red Onion Confit last week. The Braised September Vegetable dish two weeks ago was a momentary departure as it hadn't been on my list. I made it on the spur of the moment when I saw a recipe in a cookbook that ended up being fantastic and I had to try my own version of it.

Other than that one detour I'm trying to keep myself on track and work down my list. It's hard though. I keep changing things and coming up with something totally different than what I intended. For instance, this pasta is a far cry from what it started out to be.

It was supposed to be Pasta Norma, made from a recipe I tore out of Family Circle Magazine several years ago. I used to keep a notebook with all sorts of recipe clippings, just an odd assortment of pages pulled from magazines or printed from The Food Network website or, another favorite at the time, Epicurious. There's even one scrap of paper with a hastily scribbled list of ingredients from a recipe I'd seen in a magazine while waiting in a doctor's office. It's written on the back of a torn piece of paper from the company I was working for back then. Looking at that paper takes me right back to that time in my life. I remember how I felt and what I was doing on the day I wrote that recipe down and I marvel at how different things are for me these days. Life can change so much in such a short time and all of that, the job and its problems and stresses, seem a world away now.

About a week ago I was paging through my binder and way in the back was this Pasta Norma recipe that I'd never made. As soon as I saw it I was smitten again. I liked the picture in the magazine and I'm sure that's what caused me to tear it out and keep it. So that was the plan. Make Pasta Norma, enjoy cooking something new, and have a nice family weeknight dinner. The end. It wasn't even supposed to go on this site. Somehow, though, that's not the way it worked out.

Purple!

It all started with the eggplant. I'd asked my husband to pick up a couple at the store so I could make Pasta Norma. He stored them in the gigantic bowl of red onions that I keep in the pantry. (It used to be a bowl of sweet onions, but red onions are my newest obsession). When I opened the pantry I saw all that purple and thought "oh this is going to be too purple. I'd better add some other colors to brighten this up."

Later, I stopped by Whole Foods for a red and green pepper to mix things up a bit and I came face-to-face with a basket of purple sweet peppers. That's when I said "okay, purple, you win. It is your week. You will have your own recipe." After that I had to add the sumac in (you know I had to because it's purple) and it was all over for Pasta Norma. I was no longer making that. I was making something else.

Purple!

As a side note let me say that I could have tried to beautify that photo of the purple peppers a little more. I mean I could have cropped out the cuts or arranged the peppers so they didn't show. But here's the thing, that's how vegetables really look when they come right out of the home garden (unless maybe you've got a few layers of bird netting up and have sprayed the plants within an inch of their lives with pesticides). But most of the time, home grown veggies aren't perfect and shiny and smooth. They have a few blemishes and dings and maybe they're mishapen or slightly discolored. That's part of the charm. Now those peppers weren't grown in my garden, but I've learned through my own growing efforts that perfect looks don't always equate to perfect taste. Sometimes, imperfect is just as good or even better. And anyway, we're into real life around here, not perfection. So I left the photo the way it is.

And more purple!

I'm sure Pasta Norma is delicious. It's just that I've never made it. Someday, I will. If you've never tried it, there's a nice recipe over on the Family Circle site. Or you could make this one, tasty too, and full of a few of my favorite purple things: eggplant, red onions, purple peppers, and sumac.

A few notes about the dish: I finished it off with dollops of cottage cheese for extra protein and a sprinkle of thyme leaves. Ricotta could easily be substituted. I also salted, rinsed and drained my eggplant, but it's not required. Modern varieties of eggplant aren't nearly as bitter as their ancestors once were, but I still like to go through the process so I included directions in the recipe below.

Salting is just part of my routine now when I cook eggplant, probably because I did it the first time I cooked eggplant and now it's just what I do. I like the process and feel like I've cut corners if I don't do it. I've tried salting and not salting, and I like the texture of the eggplant better when it's salted. It simply soaks up too much oil for my taste when not salted. But, again, it's up to you. I tend to be generous with the salt. Just be sure to rinse well.

A dollop of cottage cheese and fresh thyme leaves make a nice garnish.

Purple Pasta

Inspired by Family Circle's Recipe for Pasta Norma

12 ounces of whole grain egg noodles

2 medium-sized eggplants, diced, salted, rinsed, drained and patted dry

1/2 cup diced purple sweet pepper (use red if you can't find purple)

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

2 and 1/2 teaspoons sumac granules
2 teaspoons fresh marjoram
1 teaspoon fresh oregano
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves plus extra for garnish

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3/4 teaspoon sea salt plus extra for pasta water and seasoning to taste

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

2 plump cloves of garlic, minced

1 cup vegetable stock

1/2 cup cottage cheese

Dice the eggplant into smaller-than-bite-sized pieces and place in a colander. Sprinkle about half teaspoon of salt over the top and toss. Sprinkle more salt and toss. Repeat until you think all the eggplant is lightly salted (I don't ever measure the amount of salt. I just repeat the process a few times and leave it at that). Place the colander filled with salted eggplant on top of a bowl and let the juices drain for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, chop the onion, dice the sweet pepper and mince the garlic. Set aside.

After 30 minutes, discard juices in the bowl underneath the eggplant and rinse the eggplant well. Set aside to drain for a few minutes. Pat the eggplant dry with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel.

At this point, fill a big pot with water and add a palmful of salt. Heat water to boiling and add pasta, cooking according to package directions. Drain pasta when done and set aside.

While pasta cooks, make the sauce. Place olive oil in a large pot or large, deep fry pan. Heat to medium and add eggplant, onions and sweet pepper. Cook for about 8 minutes until vegetables are softening.

Add in garlic and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Stir and cook for two minutes.

Add in crushed tomatoes, sumac, marjoram, oregano, pepper, thyme and vegetable stock. Stir together and bring to a slow simmer.

Simmer ten minutes, stirring occasionally. Check for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Toss pasta and eggplant sauce in a large bowl. Spoon into bowls, top with dollops of cottage cheese and a sprinkle of fresh thyme leaves.

Serves 6.

Fat Tuesday; Full Plate Thursday; Foodie Friday

Red Onion Confit and Delicious Ways to Use It

2011-09-20T12:34:00.014-05:00

Last month I ordered a new cookbook -- Put 'Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton.

Normally, my cookbook buying process goes something like this: I check out an armload of books from the library and start cooking from them. Much of the time, the cookbooks are good and I use them (some more than others) and then they go back to the library and I check out some more. Occasionally, there will be one that I like so much that I know I have to buy it. That usually happens when I don't want to return the book because there's more I want to read or try from it. And since I have a lot of cookbooks and not much space left on my bookshelf, I'm kind of selective about which ones I end up buying.

This time, I did things a little differently. I just decided one day that I wanted to buy a cookbook. I got online at Amazon and clicked randomly from book-to-book, reading the descriptions, the reviews, the jacket copy and the inside pages if that was available. I had no idea what I wanted, really. I just knew I wanted something different than what I had. I really made it a project, looking for that cookbook, probably because I was having such a good time shopping that I didn't want to stop. But I finally made my decision and a few days later Vinton's book arrived in the mail.

It's a home preservation guide that's upbeat and cheery, but serious as well. I kind of knew as soon as I saw the title that I wanted the book. It actually made me laugh out loud because I immediately thought "oh this one will be fun". And don't we all need a little fun these days? The cover also grabbed me. I can't explain exactly why, but I love it. Maybe because it seems lighthearted and fun, but at the same time the kind of book that could end up being a real gem in my library.

The book must have 150 or more recipes, mostly for condiments, that can be canned, frozen or refrigerated. And she gives the options for each recipe for how to store it. She explains how to air-dry herbs, how to make vinegar and alcohol infusions, how to freeze, and what you need to safely and properly can. Recipes like Classic Crock Pickles, Ginger-Carrot Slaw, Chili-Tomato Jam and Black Forest Sauce are all on my list to make. But I started with her Carmelized Onion Confit.

A quick Red Onion Soup can be made from this Onion Confit. It's not quite the same as a classic Soup a l'Oignon, but it's great for lunch.

I've always been a bit confused about making a vegetable confit because I understood a confit to be cooking something in its own fat. So, what would an onion confit be? There isn't any fat in an onion so how does that work exactly? It turns out, there are others who aren't quite sure about it, either. I found this discussion and, if you have the time, click on over and read it. It's interesting and might clear things up. It gave me a better understanding. What I came away with is that an onion confit isn't really a confit. It's just a term that has evolved to include some vegetables that are slow-cooked in some sort of fat. My take on it anyway. If I'm wrong, feel free to correct me:)

I adapted my confit recipe from Vinton's, using Red Onions and ingredients that I had in my pantry. One thing I like about the book is that she shares options for using the recipe, like spreading it on pizza or on a slice of crusty bread as a snack. Something else I tried was topping a chicken sandwich with it instead of using my same old mayonnaise. Oh my. Delicious. I also made a quick Red Onion soup out of it. It was absolutely divine. It's not exactly like Soup a l'Oignon because it doesn't contain all of the classic components, but it sure made my house smell good and was a great, quick lunch. Instruction for the Red Onion Confit and the Quick Onion Soup are below.

Red Onion Confit

Adapted from Carmelized Onion Confit Recipe in Put 'Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton

7 cups thinly sliced red onion

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 cup water

2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Heat the olive oil to medium in a thick-bottomed pot. Add all ingredients into the pot and cook ten minutes, stirring occasionally until onions are softening.

Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally until onions are carmelized and soft. I let mine go for about 2 and 1/2 hours to reach the consistency I wanted. Vinton's recipe only calls for 45 minutes, but I let mine go far past that to get the soft marmalade consistency I was looking for.

Makes 1 pint. I kept mine stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for two weeks.

Quick Onion Soup using Red Onion Confit

Place 1 and 1/2 cups hot chicken or vegetable stock in a bowl.

Add three tablespoons of Red Onion Confit.

Top with a slice of Ciabatta or other crusty bread.

Grate your choice of cheese on top (I used Gruyere).

Place under the broiler for three to five minutes to melt the cheese.

Serves 1 and will make your house smell amazing!

Fat Tuesday ; Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday; WFMW

Braised September Vegetables

2011-09-13T20:38:00.009-05:00

I've been looking, lately, for ways to use the stray pods of okra that have started filtering in from my garden. There aren't a large number of them yet because my plants just recently started to produce pods. But day-by-day, I'm getting more okra and having a good time finding new ways to use it in my cooking.

Okra is a warm weather plant, originating from Africa. It is one of the few vegetables that can take the Texas summer heat. Rather than giving up the garden completely during the hot summer months, I opted for things like okra and basil and watermelon, plants that thrive under the gaze of a relentless summer sun. I sowed seeds for okra in June and, even with heat indices reaching 110 degrees nearly daily, my okra plants grew tall and strong. They are quite beautiful. The variety I grew, Red Burgundy Okra, has deep crimson pods that emerge from stunning cream-colored hibiscus-type flowers. The rich cherry-colored okra, which occasionally sport splashes of emerald, turn green when cooked.

I think of okra as southern food, a vegetable revered in the Gulf Coast region, used often in gumbos and stews and stir fry dishes. When I wrote last week that I was surprised that the sweet onion is the official Texas state vegetable, it was because I had first guessed that it would be okra. It does grow well here and there's even a variety, Texas Hill Country Red Okra, that is well-known in these parts, which has fatter pods than the Red Burgundy okra in my garden. It's fascinating to watch it grow. Here's a glimpse into my okra-growing adventure:

Okra has become a favorite of mine. I've come up with several recipes that include it in anticipation of my twelve plants producing until our first frost, which usually happens in late November or early December if we get a frost at all. I'm calling this recipe Braised September Vegetables, a dish that contains swiss chard with heirloom okra and white beans, because it contains a mixture of in-season vegetables from my region.

Onions, carrots, and celery form the base. Then okra, swiss chard and mushrooms are braised at low temperature. I used canned tomatoes because, believe it or not, tomatoes are not in season here now. It's tomato planting time here, not tomato harvesting season. It was hard for me to wrap my mind around that when I first started growing tomatoes in the Houston area. But it's true. Tomatoes are planted in February and March for spring or late August into September here for fall. The summer is just too hot for the plants. Come November, maybe October if all goes well, I'll be picking fresh tomatoes.

At first glance, this dish might not sound delicious to everyone. But I also felt that way about Marco Canora's recipe for Stewed Black Cabbage. I mean, it didn't sound great to me when I first saw it. But the photo in his book caught my attention and I read the recipe and decided to try it. I have to tell you people, it knocked my socks off. I've tried braised vegetable dishes from other cookbooks and none of them would come close to his recipe. Some of the others I tried were quite bad and I'd almost given up that it was possible to braise a vegetable and make it taste good. Let's just say my husband didn't get much for dinner the night that I made Canora's recipe because I ate most of it for lunch.....by myself. This is also coming from someone who isn't always excited to eat greens.

With my okra coming in and swiss chard seeds planted in the garden, I decided to work on a braised vegetable dish, adopting the process that Canora uses of cooking a soffritto until golden brown and then adding in vegetables to be cooked at low temperature for 30 minutes or more. Because my recipe uses mushrooms, I let it go a little longer to get them softened up a little more.

Red Burgundy Okra and Morning Sun Tomatoes. My three-year-old is very curious about anything from the garden.

My husband wasn't much for the beans (he is not as thrilled about beans as I am), but he loved the braised vegetable topping. In fact, the day after I made this we had the leftovers for lunch and he asked for only the vegetables with no beans. (Next time I will make it with brown rice). And that was his lunch -- braised vegetables. Can you imagine a husband asking for only vegetables? When that happens, you know it's good.

I ate the vegetable mixture over the white beans with a baked sweet potato on the side. I'm not a vegetarian, but I eat like one some days. The problem I've had with going all vegetarian every single day of my life is getting filled up enough. And that was not a problem with this lunch that day. It was filling and healthy and completely delightful. Try it. You'll be surprised.

Braised Swiss Chard with Heirloom Okra and White Beans

Inspired by Marco Canora's Stewed Black Cabbage

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup water (if needed)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup finely chopped carrot

1/2 cup finely chopped celery

1 bunch of Swiss Chard (about 10 large leaves), leaf cut off around the stem and chopped bite-size
10 ounces of cremini mushrooms, sliced
8 to 10 fresh okra pods, tops removed and cut in half down the middle
4 cups of cooked white beans
sea salt and black pepper

In a large fry pan, heat olive oil to medium and add onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, until mixture is turning a light golden brown. Don't turn the heat up too high or your soffritto may burn (believe me I learned this the hard way). Too low and it won't cook properly. I had good results just keeping it on medium and stirring fairly often. Once the mixture is a good golden brown color, about 15 to 20 minutes of cooking, add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and two to three big pinches of black pepper. Stir.

Add in diced tomatoes and turn heat up to medium high. Bring to a simmer and adjust heat to keep it at a slow simmer, stirring often and allowing to cook down for three to five minutes. Watch for burning and adjust heat down if necessary. The goal is just to cook down much, but not all, of the liquid.

Add in Swiss Chard and stir until wilted. Add in mushrooms, okra and a little water if things start to look dry. You don't need to add the entire quarter cup, but keep it on hand to add if the mixture starts to look dry while cooking.Turn heat to medium high and bring to a simmer for two minutes, stirring often. Turn heat down to low (Yes, that's right, low. Resist the urge to turn the heat up. It's not low-medium, not low-high, just low), cover and cook 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste mixture about half way through cooking and add salt and pepper as needed. If you use no-salt or low-salt tomatoes, as I did, prepare to add quite a bit of salt.

Mixture should be fairly thick, but not dry, and slathered in a flavorful sauce. Place a cup of white beans in each bowl and spoon vegetable mixture over the top. Serves 4.

Participating in Fat Tuesday on Real Food Forager; WFMW; Full Plate Thursday

Texas Pecan Biscotti Recipe

2011-09-07T18:00:00.008-05:00

Whole Wheat Pecan Biscotti cooling on a rack in my kitchen

I have a long list of recipes I'd like to learn to make, some simple and others more difficult. I kept that list in my head for a long time, but awhile back began to jot down thoughts in a softcover notebook to remind myself that I wanted to learn to make homemade bagels and Stracciatella Soup and Cherries Jubilee and Dilly Beans and many, many other things. Over the past six months, my list has gotten quite lengthy. And I recently decided it was time to start working my way through it.

With the start of September and some mercifully cooler temperatures here, I wanted to get back in the kitchen and bake. Biscotti, which has been on my list for quite awhile now, seemed easy and perfect as a start to work my way down my list. And more importantly, I chose that recipe to start with because I just wanted to eat a cookie.

Biscotti crumbles with hot tea

This past weekend we had guests, a visit from my brother, Price, and his wife, Kara. They were my taste testers on several recipes and gave me some good, honest feedback about how good they were and what needed work and what was fine just the way it was.

We noticed on Saturday that it had cooled down quite a bit outside so we headed out and sat on the patio, feeling the dry wind that has been stoking Texas wildfires and a stray raindrop here and there from Tropical Storm Lee that was lashing the Gulf Coast. Unfortunately, those stray drops were all the rain we got. I was so hoping for more.

But, because the rain held off, we sat outside and talked for a long time. And somehow the conversation took a funny turn and we ended up having an in-depth discussion about the state motto of Texas, North Carolina, Virginia and Michigan, all states that at least one of us has lived in at some time or another. How we got on that conversation I can't really say, but eventually I got curious about whether Texas did, indeed, have a state motto. I went in and got my computer and we looked it up, along with state trees, state birds, and state flowers while trying to guess what they were for the different places we'd all lived.

It turns out that the state motto of Texas is not "The Lone Star State" as I erroneously guessed at first. It is actually "Friendship". North Carolina's is: "To Be, Rather Than To Seem". Michigan's is: "If You Seek A Pleasant Peninsula, Look About You." And Virginia's is: "Sic Semper Tyrannis" or "Thus always to Tyrants".

You know I like them all. It seems silly I guess, but I thought it was kind of great that each state had something to represent it, a thought or a philosophy. Something I learned along the way is that Texas has a state vegetable (the sweet onion) and a state fruit (the grapefruit), a state dish (chili) and a state cooking implement (cast iron dutch oven) along with all kinds of official state symbols. Who knew?

I also learned that the state tree is the Pecan, which makes sense. I see Pecan trees all along the highway where I drive often. And that also explains why I can buy fresh pecans at the farmers market, but not fresh almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts. The grapefruit I can understand as well since I can buy copious amounts of that for almost nothing in the winter. Love that. I probably wouldn't have guessed the sweet onion as the state vegetable, though. I think of Georgia for that. We had a fun time trying to figure out why certain trees and foods are associated with different states and laughed a lot.

Look at those Texas pecans. Mmmmmmm.

The Pecan tree stuck with me, though. I decided if I was going to make biscotti, I'd make a Texas biscotti complete with pecans. So, here it is, my Whole Wheat Pecan Biscotti. It's really good. If you want a biscotti that tastes like it was made with white flour, this isn't your recipe. Mine is 100% whole wheat, which I think works well for this type of cookie since it's crunchy and dense and is good with a heavier flour. I added cinnamon and vanilla for just a bit of background flavor and sweetened it only with maple syrup. Unfortunately, I made this after Price and Kara left so I couldn't get their feedback on them. But my husband thought the flavor was good even though he isn't a biscotti fan. And I like them, too.

I also should give credit to the recipe I adapted from. This was my first go 'round with biscotti so I used this recipe as a guide.

And for those who are interested, here is the link to the State Symbols page so you can go look yours up, too.

Texas Pecan Biscotti

Adapted from Group Recipes, Basic Biscotti by Sunny

2 and 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. sea salt

3/4 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup maple syrup

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 large eggs

5 Tablespoons melted butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pecans. Stir together.

In a smaller mixing bowl, combine maple syrup, vanilla, eggs and melted butter (cooled). Stir together.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in wet ingredients. Stir together until dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured piece of wax paper (or wherever you like to work with dough) and work the dough until all the flour is combined, just a minute or so.

Shape dough into a log that is roughly 10- inches long, an inch high and two inches wide. Cut it in half so there are two logs the same length, but each one is now about an inch wide.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and bake the logs for 12 minutes. Rotate the cookie sheet and bake another 12 minutes.

Take the biscotti out of the oven, reduce the heat to 300 degrees and let the cookies rest for 15 minutes.

Once cooled, use a serrated knife to cut the cookies by slicing at an angle widthwise across the logs.

Once the cookies are cut, place one of the cut sides down on the baking sheet and place back in the oven for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Full Plate Thursday; Fat Tuesday on Real Food Forager; Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; WFMW; Foodie Fridays

Asian Pear Salad with Yogurt, Maple and Mint

2011-08-29T15:35:00.014-05:00

It's a bit painful to look out my breakfast nook windows right now. The once spring green grass has turned brown and crunches when I walk on it. The shrubs that bloomed just a few short months ago with perfect white flowers are a mass of shriveled leaves and branches that jet out at odd angles. It's not an unusual sight for the end of summer in Houston, but it seems magnified this year by the lack of rain and the dry dusty ground.

While I've made my way into the kitchen a fair number of times this summer in spite of the heat, my resolve to cook waned this weekend when the temperature topped 104 degrees. I just couldn't turn on that oven even though deep down that's what I wanted to do. I know there are parts of the country cooling down right now. While watching the Hurricane Irene coverage this weekend, I noticed people walking along the shore in Rhode Island wearing light jackets. Jackets in August? What a concept. And I envy them. Not for the hurricane, of course, but for the temperature.

It's about this time of year that Asian Pears start to appear in my grocery store. Last August was our first in this house and that meant shopping at a new grocery store. I'd never noticed Asian pears in other grocery stores before. Maybe they're there, but just not as prominent.

I remember approaching the big display of Asian pears with suspicion. I tend to be a bit skeptical of new ingredients at times. I walked by the coconut oil in Whole Foods for a full six months before I dared to try it and now I use it all the time. As much as I like to experiment in the kitchen, I don't always jump at the chance to use something new.

And these Asian pears were new to me. Ultimately, I figured it was just a pear and I should try it. So, I brought a couple home and did a little reading about what could be done with them. I ended up eating them raw and then forgot about them when they disappeared from the store for the season. This week they made their fall debut and I suddenly remembered their sweet, crunchy goodness. I bought three and made this salad.

One of the best things about Asian pears is that they don't oxidize the way apples or pears do. So, you can cut and refrigerate them and they won't turn brown. They look a bit like an apple-shaped potato with a light yellowish-green skin. They have the crunch of an apple and the sweetness of a pear. They're really fun and interesting and perfect for this time of year.

This salad combines Asian pear, pine nuts, dried cranberries and kiwi with a yogurt, maple and mint dressing. I had it for lunch with a sandwich and it was perfect.

Asian Pear Salad

2 Asian Pears, peeled and chopped

2 kiwi, peeled and chopped

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup plain yogurt

2 teaspoons maple syrup

2 teaspoons minced fresh mint

pinch of salt

Combine Asian pears, kiwi, cranberries and pine nuts in a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine yogurt, maple syrup, mint and salt. Whisk together.

Pour yogurt dressing over fruit and nuts. Toss and serve.

Serves 1 or 2.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Full Plate Thursday; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Fridays

Vegetable Lasagna Recipe

2011-08-22T20:14:00.016-05:00

One of the things I noticed about this site as I was looking back through some posts this summer is that it is woefully lacking in main dish meals. And I'm not sure why that is. We have dinner together several nights per week. We have to now because my three-year-old insists on them.

He told me recently, "I want you and me and Daddy to sit at the table." Well, that was good enough for me and I'm making sure we have those 'family dinners' as he calls them as often as possible. Occasionally we'll have something light like soup or salad. But for the most part, there's some sort of a main dish, even if it's simple. I just don't ever post them here.

I suppose I don't think they're clever enough to warrant sharing with the world. But in reality, they're probably closer to the way many people eat on a daily basis than some of the more unusual recipes I've posted. When I'm looking for dinner ideas, I'm looking for healthy and maybe slightly unique variations on tried and true recipes. Nothing too crazy, though. And I'm guessing that a lot of other people out there want the same thing.

I don't make lasagna often because I always think it's going to be too much work. There are too many components, too many bowls and spoons and kitchen appliances that will be food-covered in the process. So, I pass on it even though it's one of my favorite dishes. But during the summer there comes a point when I can't take the thought of one more green salad or fruit salad and I decide I want something substantial. I reached that point recently and decided lasagna, laid thick with super healthy veggies, was the answer.

I added summer veggies like zucchini and green onions for the tomato sauce, and then fallish ones like carrots, chard and garlic. It was, in a word, delicious. It turned out filling but light if that makes any sense. I was full but not too much, which is exactly what I wanted from my summer going into fall lasagna.

I packed this with veggies, but put the zucchini and some of the chard (not all) into the ricotta cheese mixture. That way there are veggies in the cheese layer that aren't that noticeable and then a separate layer of veggies that are slightly crunchy. Some people (like me) may not like one very thick layer of veggies. The bottom line is that you get more veggies without realizing it.

This lasagna came together quickly and fairly easily. There are a few utensils to dirty, but it makes a big pan that will last us for a couple meals. I won't hesitate to put this one on my regular dinner rotation from now on.

Garden Vegetable Lasagna

1 (15-ounce) container of Ricotta cheese

1 (16-ounce) container of small curd Cottage cheese

1 (5-ounce) block of Parmesan cheese, grated

1 and1/4 tsp. sea salt, divided

1 large egg

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

4 large leaves of Swiss Chard, torn off from the stem and chopped to very fine in a food processor

1 large zucchini, chopped to fine in a food processor or grated

4 carrots, grated fine

2 green onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes

1(13.25-ounce) box of dried whole wheat lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

For the filling:

Combine ricotta, cottage cheese, grated Parmesan, egg, 1/2 tsp. sea salt, chopped or finely grated zucchini, and one leaf of swiss chard that has been either chopped very small (almost like confetti) in either a food processor or by hand. Mix well and refrigerate until the other components are ready.

For the veggie layer:

Grate carrots using either a box grater or the shredder attachment on a food processor (that's what I used). Then tear the leaves of three large leaves of chard off and shred them in the food processor (or chop fine). Sprinkle 1/4 tsp. of salt over the top, stir and set aside.

For the sauce:

Heat two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil in a large fry pan over medium heat. Add in sliced green onions and cook until soft, about three minutes. Add garlic and stir for a minute. Add tomatoes and 1/2 tsp. salt, stir and heat through.

For the noodles:

Fill a large dutch oven or pot with water and salt heavily. Don't be stingy with the salt. Toss a palmful or two in. Bring to boiling and put in noodles. Cook until noodles are about 3/4 of the way done. They will finish cooking in the oven. Drain and set aside.

Once all the components are done, place 1/4 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 8 x 13 x 2-inch baking dish. Use tongs to pick up on of the noodles and use a paper towel to blot dry if still slightly wet. Place three or four lasagna noodles in the bottom of the pan (however many will fit) overlapping slightly if need be.

On top spoon a layer of ricotta cheese mixture. Make it thick. On top of that sprinkle a thinner layer of carrots and chard. Place another noodle layer on top and repeat the process for the cheese and veggies.

For the final layer, spoon cheese mixture on top of the last noodles you placed down. Add another layer of noodles. (There are no veggies in the top layer). Top with sauce. (Use as much of the sauce as you want. I didn't use all of what I made because my husband doesn't like so much sauce, but use all if you would like. Refrigerate any leftover).

Sprinkle a few carrots and chard on top for decoration. I didn't put any more cheese on top as there's enough in the layering and we're trying to be healthier here.

Bake 30 minutes until sauce is bubbling. Serves 6.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Full Plate Thursdays; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Fridays

Summer Harvest: Desert King Watermelon

2011-08-20T13:34:00.014-05:00

Despite a brutally hot summer, little rain, and poor soil that I've worked endlessly on amending, I harvested a Desert King watermelon today. It was one of the highlights of the gardening season thus far, even though I did also manage to grow my favorite vegetable, Red Kuri squash.

Red Kuri squash was the vegetable I was most interested in growing this summer. But for some reason I was only moderately excited when I harvested one. Maybe because in a few weeks I'll be able to go to the store and buy them while finding a yellow watermelon in the local grocery is a little more of a challenge. Nevertheless, I was pretty proud of my Red Kuri harvest and thought it was something of an achievement with 100-plus-degree temperatures and an overpopulation of what I consider to be the most virulent of all the garden invaders, squash vine borers, threatening my plant everyday. My Red Kuri plant grew to 18-feet-long and took over the garden. After my initial harvest, I pulled it to make room for my fall seeds, which will go in soon.

For some reason when I brought this Desert King watermelon in today, I was nearly speechless with excitement. I still don't quite understand my enthusiasm over this one because I really planted watermelon for my husband and son. They are the watermelon lovers in this house, not me. I like watermelon, but can't say that I love it. Slicing into this perfectly-ripe yellow watermelon somehow made worth it all the work and sweat and difficulty of gardening during one of the worst droughts and hottest seasons on record .

This was a moderately sweet melon, which is what I expected from it. I'd read reviews on gardening sites that indicated it's an "okay" tasting melon. Flavorwise, I thought it was pretty good, but probably not the best. My husband, however, thought it was as sweet as those in the store and he's the watermelon guy so what do I know? I chose this variety for its drought and heat tolerance. You have to grow what will grow and this one is called Desert King for a reason. Considering that we went into the summer in a serious drought (and are still in one that is now much worse), I thought it would be a good, safe choice for my area.

It might not win the prize for the sweetest melon around, but it could take the award for the prettiest. Look at that golden flesh. Is that not beautiful? I have two Moon and Stars watermelons, an heirloom red variety, on the vines right now also that will be ready for harvest soon. Those are reputed to be sweet and delicious and I can't wait to slice into them, too.

Summer Vacation

2011-06-03T12:20:00.051-05:00

Summer's almost here.

The kids are out of school, the pools are opening, the Plumbago is in bloom and it's time to spend lots of time in the kitchen and on the computer posting really cool recipes here..............right?

Well, uh, um, yeah, sure, that's exactly what I feel like doing. Forget that summer reading list, the weekend trips here, day trips here, my hopes to go here, here, or here, working on this, sipping lots of this and making this on the patio on weekends with our three-year-old. Forget all that. Let's stand over a cutting board and then crank up the computer to post on the blog.

I think not.

It's summer. It's vacation. Get off the computer. Go for a walk. Sit in the sun. Read a book. Ride your bike. Swim. Sleep. Play.

That's what I'm going to do, anyway.

See you back here in the fall. Happy summer everyone:)

Margherita Tortilla Pizza

2011-05-26T05:25:00.029-05:00

Lunch has always been a problem for me. I always eat breakfast and usually a fairly healthy one. I always eat dinner and don't have a problem making that meal healthy, too. But lunch? Well, it's just so easy to skip it or snack my way through it. Once I've cleaned up the breakfast dishes and cleaned the counters I don't want to mess everything up again. Lunch just becomes a headache.

But lately I've been working on quick ways to get in a good, solid lunch. Especially since I've started back to the gym and my appetite is up. I'd been thinking about making a pita pizza for lunch so I could bypass the whole making-the-crust production. But I was in Whole Foods the other day and they had ready-made wheat tortillas that, for the most part, had healthy ingredients. The only ingredient I really objected to was the canola oil (why, oh why, can't they just use olive oil?), but sometimes you just have to do what you have to do. And I thought the tortillas might work just as well for a pizza. My garden is growing right now and I have Red Zebra tomatoes on the vines (pictured above with one of my basil plants). I really wasn't prepared for how pretty these tomatoes were going to be. There are plenty of unique varieties to choose from these days so I picked out a few that I thought would grow well here and looked kind of funky, then ordered the seeds. The picture doesn't really do them justice. The color in reality is so vibrant and they look different from anything in the grocery store. Right now they're light green with dark jagged stripes. When ripe, they'll be red with orange stripes. Even unripe they are striking. Every time I walk out and look at them I can't believe I have them in my garden. I think "really, I'm growing that, really?"

As lovely as they are, I don't have any ripe just yet. When I found the tortillas at Whole Foods, I also found a table full of organic Roma tomatoes on sale. They were all nearly perfect, not a scratch or blemish on them, which almost never happens. I don't know about you, but I hate to buy tomatoes from the grocery. They're almost always too ripe and look as though they've been in a boxing ring with Mike Tyson, all beaten and scratched up. The ones I found this week weren't so. They were a pale golden orange color, just shy of ripeness and I could tell they had just been put out on the table. I snatched up a few of them and ended up using a couple that day even in their unripe stage.

This pizza is easy to make, although I did take the scenic route, so to speak, when making the sauce so it took a little longer than I planned. But it was worth it and the flavor on this pizza is very good. It's also filling and healthy. The recipe I'm posting is for two pizzas. That, to me, is a good lunch. If you eat two of these, you'll be getting two whole tomatoes, a half an onion (do you have any idea how healthy onions are?), and a couple cloves of garlic. The only unhealthy items would be a little shredded mozzarella and the canola oil in the tortilla. But you could easily make your own tortillas if so inclined and reduce the amount of cheese.

One housekeeping note: My feed has changed. I finally updated it. Those who subscribed after May 1, 2011 don't need to do anything. You are subscribed. Those who subscribed before May 1 will need to go to my subscriber page and subscribe again. (If you received this post in an e-mail or it pops up on your reader, then you are subscribed and don't need to do anything). Sorry. I couldn't think of any other way to update the feed than to delete the old one and burn a new feed. And it needed to be done since I moved the blog to a new web address awhile back.

Margherita Tortilla Pizza

2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
2 large or 3 medium-sized coarsely chopped Roma tomatoes (or whatever kind you have growing)
1/2 white onion (about 1/2 cup) chopped finely
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon sea salt, divided
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
20 medium-sized basil leaves
2 whole wheat tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place olive oil in a fry pan and heat to medium. Add onions, tomatoes and half teaspoon sea salt and stir occasionally cooking until soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and cook for two minutes.

Place one cup of sauce in a food processor with a quarter teaspoon of sea salt and blend until smooth. Place 5 basil leaves in food processor with sauce and blend until chopped into sauce. The sauce will be almost pasty. That's the way it should be.

With a spatula or spoon, divide the sauce between the two tortillas and spread in a thin layer on each one. Sprinkle cheese over each tortilla. Then top with remaining tomato mixture.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes on a cookie sheet until edges are starting to turn golden. Take out of oven and top with basil.

Serves 1 or 2.

Print Recipe

Full Plate Thursday; WFMW; Fight Back Friday, Foodie Friday

Spinach Salad with Softened Apples, Golden Onions and Gorgonzola

2011-05-01T10:15:00.004-05:00

Did you know that you can walk into any grocery store in America and buy blue cheese? It's true. Really, I'm not making this up. If you hand the cashier $4.10 including tax you can walk out with your very own container of Gorgonzola. Shocking, isn't it?

Well, maybe not for you. But for me, it was. I mean, who knew?

Now we are cheese people at our house. I've written before about the fact that God apparently decided when I was born to withhold a sweet tooth and bestow upon me a serious cheese tooth. And I buy a lot of cheese. Our refrigerator is always stocked with a nice assortment. There are the basics, sliced Swiss and Muenster for sandwiches. And then Colby cheese sticks and sharp Cheddar cheese blocks that are used for snacks for my son. Then there is a vast array of cheeses that can vary from week to week from Mascarpone to Mimolette, Dubliner to Smoked Gouda, Halloumi to Asiago, there is never a shortage of cheese in our house.

But there is one exception -- Blue cheese. My husband doesn't like it. So over the years, when I've been shopping the cheese case, I've just learned to overlook it. I realized recently that it's almost as if blue cheese has become invisible to me, almost as though it doesn't exist. I see it every week in the cheese case, but never even notice it anymore. Don't even think of it. I mean if one of us can't eat it there's no sense in buying it, right? So, I just don't. And in my not buying it for such a long time, I'd actually forgotten about blue cheese, forgotten that it's right there in the grocery store for anyone to buy, take home and eat.

Here's the thing, though. I love blue cheese. Always have. The other week I was looking at the cheese case and, for some reason, I noticed the Gorgonzola. I saw it, really saw it, for the first time in a long time and I picked up a container and looked at it. Gorgonzola. Now there's some good stuff, I thought. Wish I could buy it.

But then I thought, wait a minute. There's no law that says just because my husband doesn't eat it that I can't. I mean, he has that big stash of Fudge Mint Oreos in his office that he thinks I don't know about. I don't see why he'd care if I had my stash of blue cheese in the fridge. And I'd have it all to myself. This could be good.

Three weeks and several 5-ounce containers of Gorgonzola later, I'm writing this post. Blue cheese has made its way into many lunches I've made for myself. It's been a snack. I've even been guilty of grabbing a spoon and eating it plain. But by far my favorite use for it has been pairing it with fried onions and apples on top of a bed of spinach with a drizzle of olive oil.

That, my friends, is the life.

The first time I put this salad together I couldn't believe that I'd spent this many years on the planet without eating it. It is that good. Blue cheese, apples and carmelized onions are an unbelievable combination. Oh. My. Goodness. You have to try it. Add to it, the crunch of fresh spinach and a drizzle of olive oil and it's one of the best lunches around. I cannot rave about it enough.

Somehow, the first time I made this, I got the perfect combination on my fork: a little onion, a piece of apple, blue cheese and spinach all in the first bite. I was sold from then on. I'm already thinking of ways I can use blue cheese, apples and carmelized onions together in other dishes. Blue cheese, apple and carmelized onion ice cream, anyone? Blue cheese, apple, and carmelized onion focaccia? Blue cheese, apples and carmelized onions on steak? Blue cheese, apple and carmelized onion pasta? Maybe I'm going a little overboard here. But really, I couldn't help myself with this one.

Calling these onions carmelized is a bit of a stretch, though, which is why I used the term 'golden onions' in the title. Carmelized onions, to me, implies a long slow cooking process on low or medium-low heat during which the sugars in the onions are slowly coaxed into browning, sometimes with a little added sugar in the pot. In my house on my stovetop, it takes somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour to carmelize onions properly. But I don't always have that kind of time.

In this salad, I didn't really carmelize them. I fried them on medium heat, a couple of times spiking the heat up to medium high to hurry up the process to get them to a nice golden brown fast. The result was onions that were mostly soft and golden mixed in with some that turned slightly crispy on the end. I put the apples in the pan on top of the onions toward the end of the cooking to soften them up and give them just a tinge of golden brown.

I've made this salad before topped with a hard-boiled egg and it's good that way, too. I like to get a little protein into a salad because I find they just don't fill me up enough. But this one, with or without the egg, is pretty filling. In fact, if you add the egg you might be able to call it a heart attack on a plate. With the egg, the olive oil and the Gorgonzola, you're looking at a big dose of fat. But, you know, sometimes it's okay to splurge. Sometimes it's okay to eat something bad just because it's good. And I don't feel too terrible about this one because at least I'm getting some apples, onions, and spinach in the mix, too.

Spinach Salad with Softened Apples, Golden Onions and Gorgonzola

The recipe is written for one small serving that could be a light lunch or a side to dinner. (My idea of one small lunch serving is the salad in the pictures above). If you want to make a full meal out of it for one, double everything and add a hard-boiled egg.

For one small serving:

1/2 apple, sliced thinly
1/2 white onion, sliced thinly
3 cups of spinach
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
1/4 cup of Gorgonzola
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
spinkle of unrefined sea salt
chopped hard-boiled egg (optional)

In a fry pan, heat butter over medium heat until melted and add onions. Stir onions often for about 10 to 15 minutes until they start to turn golden. You can turn the heat up slightly to hurry the process, but turn it back down if you see obvious signs of burning.....like snoke and onions turning black. (You want the onions to brown and even crisp a little on the ends, but you don't want them burned.)

When the onions start to turn golden, add the apple slices on top of them and stir it all around, turning the apples occasionally, until onions are golden and apples are softened.

Place spinach on a plate. Add onions and apples on top of spinach. Sprinkle Gorgonzola on top and drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle a pinch of sea salt on top. Add hard-boiled egg if using.

Serves 1.

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Strawberry Dessert Soup with Cardamom and Ginger

2011-04-26T14:01:00.009-05:00

I have to admit that I've been feeling rather uninspired lately when it comes to cooking. It's about 90 degrees here already. It's hot, windy, dry and the whole state is on fire. That last thing I want to do is turn on the oven.

On the bright side, though, my perennials have come back and are blooming yellow and lavender. I'm not exactly sure how this is happening given that it hasn't rained here in weeks. I've marveled day after day at how green the trees stay despite the drought. We're getting the first few drops of rain today, though, and I hope it continues.

Last summer I spent a few extra dollars on perennials instead of annuals and planted them along the front walk. I photographed them before and after the ice storm and was sure they weren't going to come back as dried up and dead as they looked after the cold weather. But, wonder of wonders, they did. As soon as the ground warmed, green shoots sprouted up and now they're in bloom. Just beautiful.

I did manage to pull myself out of my cooking funk this week long enough to make this soup, a version of Atole de Fresa or Strawberry Soup. It's a Mexican soup thickened with masa harina and served chilled. I added in ginger and cardamom to give it a bit of a twist and used coconut milk rather than the buttermilk that was called for in the original recipe. I also topped it with a scoop of whole milk yogurt for a little more creaminess and a sprinkle of crystallized ginger.

Lately, I've been trying to use things that I have on hand. Rather than going to the store to buy one ingredient that I need, in this case fresh ginger, I used the ground ginger I keep in my pantry as a backup. I love fresh ginger and would much prefer to use that. But, in trying to keep our food budget under control, I've come to the realization that sometimes it's just fine to use a substitute. I also used an organic white sugar because a brown sugar like Rapadura or Sucanat wouldn't be a good choice here.

This is a lovely soup so I thought I'd share it today.

Strawberry Dessert Soup with Cardamom and Ginger
Adapted from Ultimate Mexican Magazine by Better Homes and Gardens

16 ounces of strawberries, hulled and rinsed
1 cup of organic evaporated cane sugar (white in color), divided
2 cups of water
1 and 2/3 cup of masa harina
2 cups coconut milk
5 green cardamom pods, crushed
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground ginger
plain whole milk yogurt
crystallized ginger

In a food processor, combine strawberries and 1/2 cup of sugar. Process until smooth.

In a medium-sized bowl, combine masa harina and water and whisk until smooth. Press mixture through a fine mesh strainer or a double mesh strainer with the back of a spoon and place in a saucepan that holds at least 3 quarts.

Cook masa harina over medium heat for about three minutes. You can add a tablespoon of water if it seems very stiff to loosen it up while cooking. Add coconut milk, another 1/2 cup of sugar, cardamom pods that have been crushed with the side of a knife, ginger, cinnamon stick and blended strawberries.

Cook on medium-low for about 15 minutes until warmed through and thickened. It should be pourable and soup-like.

Place in the refrigerator for three to four hours to chill. After chilling, straing out cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and cardamom seeds through a fine mesh strainer.

When ready to serve, top each bowl with a dollop of yogurt and a sprinkle of crystallized ginger. Serves 4 to 6

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T12:31:00.006-05:00

"But then they found the stone rolled away from the tomb."

--Luke 24:2

Egg Bread Recipe (Bread Machine)

2011-04-21T10:02:00.032-05:00

When I was a kid, I asked for a loaf of white bread for my birthday one year.

I was about 10-years-old and my parents had decided, rather abruptly, to make the switch from white to wheat. They were going healthy and no amount of pleading could change their minds. They had switched and that was that. Good-bye Wonder Bread. Hello Roman Meal.

My grandma and I were sitting on the front porch of the blue saltbox-style house we lived in near Knoxville, Tennessee during one hot Southern summer when she asked me what I wanted for my birthday. I remember it all very clearly, replying to her in the most forlorn voice that I just wanted a loaf of white bread.

She just about fell off the porch laughing, but I couldn't see what was funny. I couldn't, I wouldn't eat that whole wheat stuff. It took me years to get over my aversion, but eventually I grew to like it. I guess I'm proof that tastes can change, even if it's a forced change because I do love a good whole grain loaf now.

But there's one thing I do miss about an all-white-flour loaf - the bread's lightness and softness. Nothing beats it. It's possible to make a light whole wheat loaf, but it never really can reach the cotton-candy consistency of a white bread. Pulling off puffs of white swirly clouds with a lightly-browned crust to dunk in a bowl of soup is still sheer heaven to me. For that reason, I do make it sometimes and think about that day all those years ago when I couldn't even conceive of eating anything else.

Several years ago I took a baking class during which we made Brioche. I wasn't a huge fan to tell you the truth. It was heavy and dense and a bit too rich for my taste. The class was taught by a professional baker so I have to think she knew what she was doing and what we made was, in fact, a good Brioche. But somehow I didn't love it.

It dawned on me after I'd made this Egg Bread a few times that it is kind of a light version of Brioche. It only has one egg and three tablespoons of butter, but there's just enough to give it a richness while allowing the bread to maintain some lightness. And that's what I love about it.

I use All Purpose flour for this recipe because that's the only white flour I keep around the house. Many bread recipes will call for the use of bread flour for the white flour portion of a recipe. I've used both A.P. and Bread flour in bread-baking and haven't found a huge difference between the two. There may be a slight benefit to the bread flour in some instances, but personally I think it's overstated. Since I really only use white flour for bread and to occasionally make a roux or thicken a stew, I keep A.P. around and use it in my bread recipes.

Egg Bread

1 cup coconut milk - I use So Delicious brand (boxed, not canned) Unsweetened Coconut milk, but whole milk works
1 egg
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons butter, chopped up into small squares
3 cups All Purpose flour (unbleached)
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast

If ingredients are very cold from refrigeration, allow to sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before adding to bread pan. Milk can be warmed to about 100 degrees if desired to help the yeast rise. It isn't mandatory to warm the milk, but it is helpful in getting your bread off to a nice start. Just don't heat the milk too hot because that can kill the yeast. Aim for about 100 degrees or about bathwater temperature.

Place ingredients in the bread machine starting with wet ingredients. Then add flour. Add salt by sprinkling around the edges of the pan. (Try to keep salt away from yeast when adding to the pan). Make a well in the center and add yeast.

Select Basic Medium Crust cycle.

Yield: 1 and 1/2 pound loaf

Print Recipe

Full Plate Thursday; Foodie Friday; Food Renegade; WFMW; Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Baking With Small Children: Basic Bread Making

2011-04-17T18:20:00.002-05:00

One of the challenges I've faced as a mom is to keep my active three-year-old occupied during the day. He is as busy as they come and it is the rare moment when he is sitting still.
One afternoon late last year I was planning to toss some ingredients in the bread machine for a basic loaf to go along with our soup dinner that night. And I thought, I wonder if he could help with this? After all, there are no knives involved and the bread maker doesn't get hot until the baking stage about two hours from now and he won't be in the kitchen then. I bet this would be fun for him.
I asked him, Hey buddy, would you like to come in the kitchen and make bread with me?
Make bread? he said, looking up at me with a quizzical look on his face.
He had no idea what it meant to make bread, I'm sure, but those little ears perked up when he heard the part about going in the kitchen and he was all for that. We've tried to make our kitchen as childproof as possible, but there are just too many hazards in there for busy little hands so we still keep it gated off.

The first few times we tried making bread it went well and he absolutely loved it, so much so that he started calling the bread machine "my bread maker". And he will even ask some days now if we can make bread. It's such a fun project for both of us and baking is accomplished as well. But I learned a few things along the way so I thought I'd share a few thoughts.
For instance, in our house there need to be ground rules. The first time we did this I didn't set ground rules and, while he had a great time, things got a little chaotic. So, now we go over the rules before we go in the kitchen, things like: no pushing buttons, no opening the refrigerator, no running around, no taking pots and pans out, no taking things out of the pantry. Of course I try to make the rules fun. We go over the rules in a playful way before we go in the kitchen. We stand by the gate and I tell him okay, we're going to go in the kitchen now. But first let's go over the rules.
And I ask him questions in a fun way. I'll say now when we go in the kitchen do we run around and open all the drawers and pull everything out and throw all the pots and pans and napkins and placemats on the floor? And then we both yell out in unison Noooooooooooooooo!
Next, I'll ask him, do we open the pantry and pull all the cereal boxes down and line them up on the floor and stomp on them? (By this time he is laughing and enjoying these silly things mommy is saying and he is shaking his head and saying Noooooooooooo!)
And then I'll ask him, do we push the buttons on the oven and open the refrigerator and get the mustard and ketchup out and throw them up in the air? Again, I get a big resounding Nooooooooooo!
We then go over the things we can do in the kitchen: stand on the step stool, put the ingredients in the bread maker, and make bread!

Once in the kitchen, I do allow him to stand on a step stool but for smaller children that aren't steady on their feet there are other options. Since the bread pan is removable, take the bread pan out of the bread maker and bring it and the ingredients down to the child's level.

The bread pan and ingredients could go on the kitchen table or if the child has a small table and chair set, bring those to the kitchen area, add the ingredients to the bread pan on the child's table, and then take the bread pan to the bread machine to start it up.

Another tip is to have all the ingredients pre-measured. Remember, we're working with two and three-year-olds here. Especially with my son, he is too excited to wait for me to measure things out. One time I told him it was time to add the salt. Instead of waiting for me to measure it out, he grabbed the open container of salt and dumped about a cup's worth into the bread pan. I did my best to fish out as much of the salt as I could, but needless to say that loaf of bread did not turn out well.
Now, when we do this, I have everything set up. I stand with him and help him pour the cup of milk in. I crack the egg and put it in a small bowl so he can pour that in. For some dry ingredients I let him pour them in all on his own, say the teaspoon of salt or the yeast, which I have pre-measured. For bigger, messier items such as the cups of flour or cup of milk, I usually hold onto the measuring cup with him and guide his hand to the bread pan and help him pour that in. But for moms who have a higher tolerance for mess, you could certainly just let the child pour those things in on their own. The worst that could happen is they spill it and it has to be cleaned up.
Once we've added the ingredients, it's time to press the "start" button. He loves that part and will stand there and watch the bread mix. About every fifteen minutes after we leave the kitchen he's asking to go see the bread and then when we hear the beeps indicating that the loaf is done, he is excited to go see what he calls "my bread".
I decided to share this idea here today because it's a great mom and child activity that also teaches about baking and how our food is made. Bread Machines aren't expensive if you don't already have one. I think I paid $40 for mine about a decade ago and it still works as well as the day I bought it. I'm not a big proponent of spending lots of money on kitchen equipment unless you think you're going to use it often and will use all the bells and whistles. Mine is a basic model that has settings for one-pound and one-and-a-half pound loaves (white, whole wheat, fruit and nut) and also has pizza dough and jam settings.

I don't use the bread maker everytime I make bread because I do like to make it the old fashioned way with a bowl and a wooden spoon, too. But the bread maker is a good option for days when there just isn't time for stirring and kneading, but you still want control over your ingredients and want fresh bread.
In my next post, I'll share my bread machine recipe that's my "go-to" recipe when I make bread with my son. It has a cotton-candy like consistency on the interior with a nice light brown crust. I initially had planned to include the recipe here, but with pictures it was really long so I decided to break up the posts. I'll try to get that one up in the next day or two.

Tranquil Thursday: Bees

2011-04-14T09:39:00.000-05:00

Bees.

I have them.

I can't explain the excitement I felt earlier this week when I found bees in my backyard. I slipped out the back door just after sunrise to take pictures of little white flowers on a shrub. The sunlight was cascading softly through the leaves. It looked so peaceful that I thought it might make a nice photo. Upon closer examination, I realized the bush was surrounded with bees.

Bees! I almost did a dance right there.

Except I was close to the bush and I didn't want to upset the bees. Take pictures of them, yes. Upset them, no.

There was a time when I wouldn't have found the sudden influx of dozens of bees on newly-blooming bushes to be such a joyous occasion. I would probably have run back inside thinking my photo op was ruined.

Why would I attempt to take pictures of anything while bees are darting dangerously close to my head? Bee stings aren't my thing.

But back then I didn't have a garden, one filled with tiny watermelon and zucchini seedlings that will need those bees in a few weeks for pollination.

I have bees now. I couldn't be happier.

Notes From the Garden and Ribollita

2011-04-11T21:56:00.009-05:00

The big black hole of gardening swallowed me up this week.

The digging is finished. Zucchini and watermelon seeds are starting to sprout. Tomato plants are in. Tulle is draped over all the plants to keep those big Texas bugs away. A variety of soil amendments have been worked in from humus to cow manure to soil acidifier to organic fertilizer.

I have to admit that I've worked so much on it the past two weeks that I haven't done any real cooking. I wasn't sure what I was going to post today or if I even would try to post this week. I have a few recipes in my drafts, but my head is so full of the garden right now, determinate vs. indeterminate, Red Zebra and Lime Green Salad, cucumber beetles and Organocide, that I can't even think about trying to sit down and write about anything else.

Every chance I've had the past few weeks I've been out there working on it. And, even if it's just 100-square feet, I've still found it to be a big job. The challenge was to build the garden from scratch, and I started around the first week of January with the digging. That, in and of itself, was not as hard as I thought it would be. But finding the time, long stretches of uninterrupted time when my husband could babysit so that I could get out there and get covered from head-to-toe in dirt and make some real progress on it, was challenging. I'd get a few feet dug out and then a week or two would go by before I could get back out there again. I loped along with the digging for about two months before it was finally finished.

Once the digging was complete, there were big bags of organic garden soil, humus, cow manure and compost to haul from the garden center to my car and then from the car to the garden. Hubby helped me with that, but the job of getting all that dirt into the garden was mine all mine.

I did a home soil test only to find out that my native dirt is, in a word, terrible. The nitrogen test was supposed to turn light pink if the nitrogen was low and dark pink if it was high. I did the test twice and it never turned pink. It turned yellow. I have no idea what that means, but I don't think it's good. I also found out the soil ph is 8, which is too alkaline.

That meant the addition of something to acidify the soil and organic fertilizer and a little bonemeal tossed in for good measure. Then, planting seeds and transplanting seedlings. And the final, but most important step, of covering the plants with something, tulle or a row cover to keep the pests at bay was finished up today. I'm looking forward to a few weekends ahead of me, sitting on the patio with a lemonade watching the tomatoes grow.

I actually hadn't had much time to think about this site or what I was going to post. I just assumed I'd skip this week, but then an e-mail arrived in my inbox over the weekend. It was from a reader who remembered the Ribollita recipe I'd posted way back in 2009 and wondered if I still had it.

Some of you may remember that I took a break from blogging at the end of my first year. My original plan in all this was to blog for a year. I didn't see it as a long-term project and once I finished up the year, that was supposed to be the end of it. Eventually, though, I missed the creative aspect of writing a blog and decided to start up again.

Somewhere along the line I took down a bunch of the recipes I'd posted during that first year. And I realized after I came back to blogging that if I put them back up, readers would get about fifty e-mails in their inbox all at once. So, I just chose a few to put back up. The Ribollita recipe wasn't one of them. But since it was requested this week, I thought I'd post that today. I'm also posting the original picture, which was taken with my old point-and-shoot camera. So, here it is:)

The Frugal Cook's Ribollita

6 cups beef stock (homemade is best)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

2 zucchini, diced

4 cups (cooked) small white navy beans

3 cloves garlic, minced

8 - 10 large stalks of Swiss Chard, leaves torn off around stem

sea salt and pepper for seasoning

Heat olive oil in a pan and add onion, carrots and zucchini. Cook 5 to 7 minutes until soft. Add garlic and stir for one minute.

Add stock, beans, salt and pepper. Allow to simmer on low-medium for 30 minutes.

Add Swiss Chard and allow to cook until just wilted. Season to taste and serve hot.

Serves 4 to 6.

Print Recipe

Photo Friday: Loropetalum

2011-04-08T15:23:00.000-05:00

Here are a few photos of the Loropetalum growing in my backyard for this week's Photo Friday. Have a great weekend all:)

Sunflower Kale Salad

2011-04-04T12:36:00.082-05:00

Today I pulled the last of the kale out of my garden. That's a picture of it in the bowl (above and below). It was just a small patch, an experiment to see what kale would do here. It was kind of a dry run for fall to see what adjustments I'd need to make so I can grow a big patch in September.

It did really well considering the heat and I only had to deal with a few aphids. Temperatures here are in the 80s most days now and kale likes cool weather so I was happy to have grown as much as I did out of that small planting.

I harvested all the kale today to make room to plant zucchini seeds, and then came in to make myself a salad with my garden greens. It was so much fun to just walk out to the garden and get kale, knowing it didn't have any insecticides sprayed on it. I chopped up a hard-boiled egg, tossed in a handful of pecans and then made a sunflower dressing that I found in The World's Healthiest Foods by George Mateljan.

Shortly after finishing my kale salad, we had some excitement around here. It was getting ready to rain so I walked out the back door to get the broom I'd left outside earlier when I swept the patio. And I ran right into a snake.

Right beside the broom was a shovel. I had the broom in one hand and the shovel in the other when I saw the snake, curled up in the spot where the broom and shovel had been. Of course I screamed and ran inside. And then peeked out again to decide if I should try to go out and kill it. I was barefoot and I didn't know if it was poisonous at the time and I kept thinking, what if it gets me before I get it?

I couldn't imagine a more perfect situation for meeting a snake, though. I mean, if I'm going to meet a snake in my backyard, the best of all worlds is for me to be holding a shovel when I do. Still, being fortuitously armed, I couldn't bring myself to go out and kill it. I let it slink off towards my garden, the very last place I wanted it to go. Yay. It was a good reminder to be careful in the garden. You never know what's behind that zucchini plant or underneath a tangled watermelon vine.

I searched around online later and found out it was a Gulf Coast Ribbon Snake -- I think. I say I think because that's what it looked like, a dark-colored snake with black and yellow ribbons running down its back. But I'm no snake expert so it could have been another snake that looked like a ribbon snake and is poisonous. Even though the page said it's non-venemous, I'd still run away if I saw one again. And probably scream, too.

This salad dressing is delicious. It's printed in the book version of The World's Healthiest Foods. I didn't find it on the website, but it could be there and maybe I just didn't see it. I made some changes to the original recipe, using one clove of garlic instead of three and substituting coconut milk for the tofu. I also left out the basil and meant to add parsley in it's place since I have plenty of that growing in a pot, but I actually forgot to go out and cut it. I don't really think the dressing needs it, though. I usually season everything, but I tasted this dressing before adding the salt and pepper and didn't think it needed any so I left them out.

It is definitely a winner and a nice way to make a creamy dressing without using any dairy. You could, of course, use it on any type of salad. I just wanted to eat the kale from my garden. But use it on whatever you want:)

Sunflower Dressing

Adapted from The World's Healthiest Foods by George Mateljan

1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds

1 medium clove garlic

1 Tablespoon dijon mustard

1 Tablespoon honey

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup coconut milk

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. I blended for about a minute.

A Photo Tutorial: How To Make Cheddar Cheese Powder

2011-04-01T10:36:00.012-05:00

I will be the first to admit that it isn't feasible to make all your food from scratch.

I mean, I suppose that it's possible if you just want to spend every waking minute in the kitchen, either cooking or cleaning. Because that's what you'll do if you try. It can actually be fun for awhile. But at some point, it gets old. And you realize that no one in human history has actually tried to do what you're trying to do, that is to make every single food you eat from square one so that there aren't any preservatives or chemicals or additives or fillers in it. So you'll be healthy. So you'll have enough strength to get up tomorrow and make everything from scratch again. So you'll be healthy for the next day of cooking.

I guess somebody somewhere in ancient history probably tried to do what I tried to do a couple of years ago. And then realized that it was crazy. And that's why we can read about the advent of butchers and bakers and candlestick makers. At some point, someone figured out that if each person spent all day doing what they do well, say baking bread or catching fish or chopping up meat, then people could buy items from each other and spend less time in the kitchen each day. They could work some and play some. Brilliant.

I know, this is all very elementary. But there was a time a couple of years ago that I did try to make everything from scratch. And it was fun.........for awhile. And I did succeed for the most part. But I also spent all my time in the kitchen and was exhausted beyond comprehension at the end of most days.

So now I pick and choose the things I want to make from scratch. Stock is one thing. It's very hands off for the most part and is a good rainy day activity. I can feel like I'm doing something without having to actually do much. Put bones and veggies in pot and simmer. The end. Then, when it comes time to actually make soup or something requiring flavored liquid, I've got it and I didn't have to do much to get it. And I can feel very proud, indeed.

I look for activities that require lots of hands off time. I had to weigh the options when I thought about making cheese powder. I mean, first of all, who uses cheese powder? Well, somebody uses it because I found it for sale online. And it wasn't too expensive. I could just buy it. But I also thought this might be one of those things I could make. I knew what I wanted to use it for: cheddar popcorn for the guys. They like popcorn and that store-bought stuff isn't so grand in terms of health. But did I really want to take the time to make it?

The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was kind of like making stock....a good hands off activity for a rainy day. And an excuse to get out the dehydrator, something I thought I'd use more than I actually do. I thought it would take me a couple of tries to figure it out, but it didn't. It's pretty straight forward. And here are the directions:

Step 1: Grate cheese. I used about a cup and got a couple of ounces of cheese powder, enough for a couple of big bowls of popcorn. Make more if you want.

Step 2: Use fruit leather tray for dehydrator and spread grated cheddar evenly on tray. (You really do need the tray for this one since fat will come off the cheese during the dehydrating process and run all over the dehydrator if there isn't a tray in place). Turn dehydrator to 130 degrees and let it do its thing for eight hours or so.

Step 3: Take a peek after an hour or two. It will look like this, sort of melted and flattened. If this is how it looks, things are going according to plan.

Step 4: Around hour four, get out a paper towel or two and have it handy. Take a peek in the dehydrator. It will look something like the photo above with a lot of grease coming off the cheese. See it pooling around the center of the dehydrator? Mop this up with your paper towels until it's gone. Check again in an hour or so and do the same thing about every hour until the cheese looks like the photo below.

Step 5: One you've mopped up the grease every hour or so for awhile, your cheese will start to dry out and clump up like this. Mine took eight hours to dehydrate. It will look like the above photo when it's done. Remove it to a paper towel and let it stay there for a couple hours. Blot it with the paper towel a few times now and then to make sure all the grease is gone. Then, wrap it up and refrigerate it overnight. The next morning, place it in your coffee or spice grinder and grind until it looks like the photo below.

Store it in a cleaned out baby food jar in the fridge. Sprinkle it on popcorn or use it to make cheddar potato chips.

Happy dehydrating:)

Pasta Florentine

2011-03-27T09:57:00.075-05:00

There's an explosion of green happening outside my breakfast nook window this morning. The once bare trees have suddenly sprouted lush emerald leaves.

Our grass in the yard is coming in...finally. I worried that I might have killed it last year because I kind of gave up watering it. We had a long dry spell and I got lazy for a few weeks at the end of summer. Our neighbors have grass coming in faster than ours and I've been I worried that my lack of watering may have actually killed the lawn. Maybe that's why ours isn't coming in as fast as everyone else's. Maybe it's dead. Maybe we have to buy a whole new lawn. I did not want to have to break that news to my husband.

Our neighbors just next door had a sprinkler system put in a few days ago so it appears we are now the lone holdout. The thing is, I kind of enjoy going out every fifteen minutes in the evenings and moving the sprinkler around. Most people, I guess, see it as an annoyance. But the air is still a bit chilly in the evenings and I like breathing it in. I walk out barefoot, get my feet wet, and move the sprinkler to another area of the lawn. I see the kids playing on their bikes and the couples out on their evening walks. There's something really nice about it.

I'm not so keen on getting a sprinkler system to do all the work for me. (Ask me again in August, though, and I fear I might give another answer). I spread organic fertilizer and then practically drowned it the past few weeks and breathed a sigh of relief this weekend when I noticed the grass was thickening up.

So what does all this have to do with Pasta Florentine? Well, not much. Except spring is a time for green....green trees, green grass and green veggies. And I've had this recipe sitting in my drafts for awhile and I thought it was a good time to post it to celebrate the spring greens.

This recipe is a little different than some of the others I've made recently. It's not exactly the way I want it. For me, anyway, the spinach taste was too strong. My husband liked it. But I felt like it needed some changes. I love the basic idea of combining cottage cheese and yogurt to make the sauce, which I put together when I realized I was nearly out of cream and needed a substitute. My mom always makes lasagna with cottage cheese instead of ricotta so the idea hit me that it might work with a different pasta dish. And I like the idea of the spinach instead of the typical primavera mix of vegetables. But somehow I'm at a standstill on where to go from here. I need to tone down the spinach flavor. But how? Less spinach? This is where I'm stuck. And this is why this recipe has languished in my drafts for awhile. I'm just not sure right now where to go with it.

It might seem odd to post a half-finished recipe that needs work. But I've spent a long time trying to figure out what I'm doing here on this blog and why I even write it. What's this about anyway? Why do I keep posting? I've thought about all this often and recently realized it's really not about recipes. It's about learning and cooking and exploring and being creative. It's about asking a question and seeking the answer. Maybe the answer comes today. Or maybe it takes it's time and shows up next week, next month, or next year.

Pasta Florentine

1 lb. of your favorite pasta

1 cup of cottage cheese

1 cup of plain, full fat yogurt

squeeze of lemon juice

salt to taste

1 lb. of spinach (I used frozen because that's what I had, but fresh could be used. Just chop it finely -- make sure it's thawed if frozen and water squeezed out)

Cook the pasta in a pot of salted water until al dente. In a food processor, blend cottage cheese and yogurt until completely smooth. Add in a squeeze of lemon juice and about a half teaspoon of sea salt. Blend that in.

Place yogurt and cottage cheese sauce in a large saucepan on the stovetop and heat it through, but not to boiling. Add in the spinach and stir through until spinach is warmed. Toss spinach sauce with pasta and serve.

From a Dusty Bookshelf

2011-03-26T11:02:00.010-05:00

My bookshelf is, indeed, dusty.

There was a time when I read constantly. Reading was my main hobby and, while I worked long hours during the week when I was single, the weekends were mine to while away the hours with a good book. But adding a husband and then a child to the mix along with cooking, blogging, gardening, and trying to find time for a little exercise now and then has pushed my reading habit to the back burner.

I've been working to change that during the past couple of months and also trying to slow down a little, do less, sleep more. It all started one Sunday afternoon when I grabbed a book from my dusty shelf. I'd bought this book back when it was published in 2006 with the intention of reading it, but just never had. Within minutes I was hooked as author William Alexander took me on his gardening journey in The $64 Tomato.

I carried the book around with me for a few weeks everywhere I went. After a workout at the gym, I'd scurry off to a table in the snack bar for twenty minutes or so, knowing my son was happy playing in the kid's center, and I'd read a few more pages. The doctor's office, the spa, in the car while my husband was driving us somewhere, I'd sneak in a few more pages. And everywhere I went people would see the book and ask me what it was about.

Well, I'd tell them, it's about a guy who tried to grow a big garden and at the end he figured up how much he'd spent and realized it cost him $64 for every tomato he grew. (The book is about more than this, but it's a fast synopsis that satisfies the curious in the doctor's office waiting room.) Without exception, every person I said that to, threw their head back and laughed and said something like 'oh that is about the truth isn't it?' Several times, the person I was talking to would tell me about the time they tried to grow (insert favorite vegetable name here) and finally gave up because it was too hard.

Gardening is hard, especially for those who want to forego pesticides and try the organic route. As soon as one pest is under control, another shows up. And that's the truth that Alexander tackles in his book. What I loved most about the book is that it's honest. He tells the truth about gardening, that it takes work and patience and sometimes years to figure out how to grow something. And while the rewards can be great, failure is often an option.

I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book and I have to think anyone who has ever tried to grow something will see themselves in these pages. If you're looking for a book for your summer reading list, this is a great one.

So now I'm on to book number two: We Took To the Woods by Louise Dickinson Rich. I'm only a few pages in, but already I love this woman. Again, this one is honest. No sugar-coating. No trying to make herself look good. Just the plain truth. I love that.

Rich writes about how she and her husband moved to a remote area of Maine and lived in the woods. She describes their home as so remote that "there is nothing north or south of us for so many miles that it scares me to think about it". They would pick up mail and supplies from a small town with a permanent population of nine. Yes, nine people. The book is all about their daily life. Fascinating.

I also ordered A Very Small Farm, written by a man in Oklahoma who bought twenty acres with a dream to support himself, grow his own food and live off the land. I haven't started that one yet, but it's next on the list.

I have a couple of recipes almost ready to go that I'll finish writing up and post next week. But for now, I have some reading to do.

Lamb Chops in Apothic Red Strawberry Sauce

2011-03-21T10:22:00.011-05:00

One of the things I love about cooking is that circumstances in life can converge and cause me to make something unexpected. This dish is a good example.

We aren't huge carnivores, but lately I've worked to learn more about cooking meat. While I like vegetarian meals, I also think it's a healthy balance to include some meat in our diet. But the truth be told, I've always been a bit intimidated to cook meat.

I know the basics and probably a bit more than I think. But I figured it was time to push past my comfort zone and learn something new. So I sent my husband out one day to buy lamb chops, something we never eat at our house. We just don't think of it. But after a trip recently to one of our favorite restaurants where I had lamb, I decided I needed to learn to make it at home.

But how to cook it?

There's the classic lamb with mint jelly, which I thought about making. But then I glanced through a couple cookbooks and kept seeing lamb recipes with fruit. I was a bit nervous about trying that since I'd seen a contestant on one of those television reality cooking shows who got booted off when he tried to serve meat with a berry sauce. Apparently, it didn't work out so well for him.

But I ran across a recipe for rack of lamb with cherry sauce and then another, lamb chops with mango salsa. Those sounded good to me, full of bright and fresh ingredients. I settled on a strawberry sauce since that's a spring fruit.

One of the ways I can tell that my cooking is progressing is that I can stand in front of the stove now and know exactly what I want to put in a sauce without looking up any recipes. I can pretty much tell how it will turn out and I just taste my way along until I get what I want. I couldn't do that a couple years ago. Progress is a good thing.

The "Apothic Red" part of this recipe came about when my sister-in-law, who was visiting us with my brother last week, bought a bottle of Apothic Red Wine. It sat there on the counter for a couple days after she left, half finished. When I gathered my ingredients for the strawberry sauce, I decided the Apothic Red would be a nice addition to make it a sauce that would stand up to meat. I loved how this particular wine worked in the sauce, but probably any red wine would do well that has fruit undertones.

Happy Spring everyone!

Lamb Chops in Apothic Red Strawberry Sauce

6 lamb chops (about 2 pounds)
salt and pepper for seasoning

Apothic Red Strawberry Sauce

1 pound strawberries (I used frozen)
2 tablespoons light muscavado sugar
3 tablespoons chopped shallot
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 cup chicken stock
2/3 cup red wine
2 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
zest of one lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place lamb chops in a pan that can be used on stovetop and in oven. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper on both sides. Set lamb aside. Begin making the sauce before cooking the lamb chops. The sauce takes a bit longer than the chops.

Place coconut oil in a non-reactive stockpot or pan and heat to medium. Add in shallots and stir occasionally, cooking for four to five minutes or until softened, but not browning. Add in strawberries and stir, allowing juices to be released and berries to soften for three to four minutes. Lower heat if necessary to keep from burning.

Add in stock, wine, balsamic vinegar, salt and sugar. Increase to a simmer and cook 15 minutes or until berries are starting to break down. Allow to cool slightly and puree half the sauce in a food processor. Add it back into the pot. With heat off, add lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir together and set aside until time to serve.

For the lamb chops, turn burner on medium-high and sear chops on each side for about three minutes until a nice, brown crust forms. Once seared, put pan in oven and cook lamb chops until it reaches desired doneness. Mine were cooked at about 13 minutes for a medium-well chop.

Serves 2. Simply add more chops to serve more people. There is plenty of sauce with this recipe to serve more people, probably up to six. Count on three, maybe four chops per person.

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Tasty Tuesday; Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; WFMW

Snapshot Saturday: Curly Parsley

2011-03-19T11:57:00.031-05:00

If there's one thing I've learned from growing parsley it's patience.

I have a pot of parsley plants on my patio that I started from seed at the beginning of January. They are now a few inches tall and starting to look hardy and strong. For awhile I wasn't sure these little guys were going to take off because they are so slow to get going from seed.

Parsley can take forever to germinate. It might not actually be forever, but to the impatient gardener (me) who just wants to see those seeds sprout, it can seem an eternity before little parsley plants peek up from the soil, sometimes as much as a month.

This is my second year growing parsley and I chose the curly variety this time. I love curly parsley, but it's like the red-headed stepchild of the herb world. Everybody knows about it, but nobody talks about it. Flat leaf gets all the attention. When was the last time you saw a recipe calling for curly parsley?

Secretly, I will admit that curly parsley is my favorite variety, though I'm sure that isn't the 'right' answer if I were to be asked. There are people who would be quick to tell you that the flat leaf variety has more flavor.

But I love those bright green curly leaves. I find them easier to chop than flat leaf and a bit milder in taste. I like that. And I always tend to root for the underdog anyway....... in sports, in life and, it appears, with herbs.

If you'd like to try growing curly parsley, I purchased my seeds here.

Citrus and Rum Marmalade

2011-03-14T11:33:00.034-05:00

It's funny how one recipe can take me to another so unexpectedly.

Up until a few weeks ago, I had no desire to make marmalade. I'm not into jellies and jams that much. I like them, they just aren't part of my breakfast routine.

But shortly after I made the Guava Gelée candies, I started thinking about gelatin and what to do with it. I had three packets in my pantry for years. The last time I used it was back in 2009 when I made Blood Orange Sherbet.

I'd never really thought about it before, but gelatin is in every grocery store so it must sell and people must be using it for something. But what? Fruit Gelatin molds? What else? Then I started wondering about jams and jellies. Could those be made with gelatin? Oh wait, those are made with pectin, right? That's the stuff over there with the canning jars in the grocery store.

I usually don't go over to the canning section because I just don't have room for jars. So, I've just never gone down that road. I have too many hobbies as it is. That's not to say I'm not interested in it. I am. But I'm simply not going there because if I started, I'd probably go all canning crazy. And then I might drive my husband crazy if I add pallets of glass canning jars to all the other "things" I keep around for my other hobbies.

But since I'd made something with gelatin that was fun, the Guava candy, I thought I might try making marmalade. And I went to the store to buy pectin.

I noticed right away that jam, jelly and marmalade recipes pretty much all say the same thing: DON'T CHANGE THIS RECIPE! Like something terrible will happen to the universe if the recipe is changed.

Really they just don't want the recipe changed because there needs to be a certain ratio of sugar to liquid to pectin for the whole thing to gel properly. But as I said earlier, I wasn't going to can anything and most marmalade recipes are made for 6 to 8 jars that need to be canned. That left me with the option of freezer jam or figuring out how to make a small portion. I chose the small portion.

So, I worked on it. Had a few failures. Turns out if you do change marmalade recipes, bad things really can happen. But not to the universe. Only to your marmalade. I didn't give up though. I finally threw out the recipes and worked on my own version by just trying different amounts of liquid, sugar and pectin until I made it work.

I should point out that it is possible to make some jams and marmalade without adding pectin. Some fruits naturally have enough to make it work. (Jelly is harder to make without added pectin because it's just fruit juice, but it can be done). For my purposes, I decided to help things along a bit with some added pectin rather than experiment with naturally-occurring pectin.

You might wonder when looking at the recipe below why I used grapefruit juice, but lemon peels. Well, there is a specific reason. Last week I wrote about all the grapefruit I've been buying, but it's not organic grapefruit. And it is waxed, which means that if there are any pesticides on the peel, it's going to be almost impossible to remove them by rinsing because of the wax.

It's much easier to find organic lemons than organic grapefruit. So, I used the juice of my non-organic grapefruits and the peel of organic lemons. I also added in a few tablespoons of rum and it really does add to the depth of flavor.

This marmalade is very good. I love it. And the best part is, this recipe makes one 8-ounce container. No big pallet of canning jars needed. Store it covered in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. By then it will be gone and you'll be ready to make another jar of marmalade, maybe this time with a different mix of citrus.

*A quick note on the type of pectin: be sure to use liquid pectin for this recipe. Powdered pectin requires a slightly different process so stick with liquid pectin for the recipe below.

Jam vs. Jelly vs. Marmalade

a Jelly is simply fruit juice and sweetener that is gelled using pectin.

a Jam is fruit pulp, juice and sweetener gelled using pectin.

a Marmalade is fruit juice, pulp, rind and sweetener gelled using pectin.

Citrus and Rum Marmalade

1 grapefruit
1 large organic lemon
2 tablespoons dark rum
2 tablespoons liquid pectin (*see note above --I use Certo Premium Liquid Fruit Pectin)
1 cup organic natural cane sugar

Rinse lemon well and pat dry with a paper towel. With a vegetable peeler, carefully peel strips of the yellow peel from entire lemon. Be careful not to get any of the white pith underneath. This is not hard, but does take attention. Place vegetable peeler just under skin and shave off very thinly so that only the peel comes off. The white pith is bitter and will make the marmalade taste that way so work to only get the yellow portion.

Place peel on a cutting board and chop into dime-sized pieces. Then, cut those in half roughly.

Heat 1 cup of water to boiling and place boiling water and lemon peel in a bowl. Set aside and allow lemon peel to soak 15 minutes in the hot water to soften.

Take the lemon that has been peeled and cut in half. Juice into a one-cup measuring cup. It should give roughly one quarter cup of juice.

Cut grapefruit in half and section out fruit from one half of the grapefruit, placing the fruit in the cup with the lemon juice. Be carefrul to remove any membrane and white pith from the grapefruit sections. They will make the marmalade bitter so remove any pith that is attached to grapefruit. Squeeze grapefruit halves to juice, being careful to discard any seeds, even the small ones. Add the grapefruit juice to the cup with lemon juice. Add two tablespoons of rum to the cup.

At this point, the cup should be filled right to the one cup mark. If not, either add more grapefruit juice from another grapefruit if available or water to fill.
Drain lemon peel from water.

Add your cup of juice, pulp and rum to a non-reactive saucepan along with the lemon peel. I use a large enamel-on-cast-iron stockpot for this. Add sugar and stir together. Heat to boiling so that pot is simmering heavily for three minutes to further soften the lemon peel and burn off alcohol, leaving the rum flavor only.

At three minutes, increase heat to high and a rolling boil and add 2 tablespoons liquid pectin. Stir continuously with a non-reactive spatula for one minute. Then, turn heat off and allow to cool a few minutes. Spoon into jar or storage container and allow to cool two hours at room temperature.

Cover tightly and refrigerate for up to three weeks.

Marmalade may not set immediately. It may take a little while. Leave it still in the refrigerator overnight if it doesn't gel immediately.

Makes 8 ounces.

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Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; WFMW; Full Plate Thursday; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Friday

Using Tulle For Organic Pest Control In The Garden

2011-03-09T09:03:00.074-06:00

I've been frequenting a garden message board lately, peppering the more experienced gardeners with questions about organic pest control.

One thing I've learned about gardening in Texas is that pest control is a challenge, a big one. Not that pest control isn't a challenge in other areas. It definitely is. But because of the long growing season here, it seems that the insect population explodes as soon as the weather warms and grows exponentially as the summer drones on. Gardening can be an exercise in futility if steps aren't taken at the outset to keep the pests from devouring tiny plants.

Seedlings, like children, need to be sheltered and nutured in their small stages, to insure they're strong enough later to handle the harsh assaults of the natural world. One shouldn't send seedlings out into the world without careful preparation. The stresses of wind, rain, a too hot spring sun, caterpillars, squash vine borers, flea beatles, and aphids can all take their toll on a young plant, causing it to die if not carefully protected.

Considering all this, I decided to take matters seriously from the outset and ordered a floating row cover to put on my seedlings this year. I'd read about them, but didn't know exactly how they worked. Basically, a floating row cover is a thin, semi-sheer piece of material that serves as a barrier between the plants and the pests. It allows light, air and water in, but keeps the bugs out.

I was a little confused about floating row covers, though, because I'd read that they also can serve as frost protection, keeping plants warm when cold weather threatens and allowing gardeners to start their crops earlier than normal. Great.

But I don't need frost protection here. I'm in Texas. I just need bug protection. And to further complicate the matter, the plants I'm growing, broccoli, lettuce, and kale, like cold weather. They don't want to be warmed up. Doing so can cause them to go to seed, flower too early or become bitter-tasting. Not good.

I ordered a floating row cover anyway to try it out and was excited when it arrived in the mail, only to be disappointed to see "FROST BLANKET" in big capital letters emblazoned across the front of the package when I opened it. So, I got on my favorite message board and started asking questions. What do I do? Put the row cover on and risk burning up my broccoli? Or leave it off and risk the cabbage moths taking over and ruining my crop?

One person suggested looking for a lighter weight row cover. They make them in varying weights, he told me. Great, just what I needed to know. Now to find a lightweight one. But then another person suggested going to the fabric shop and buying tulle, more commonly known as the stuff that bridal veils are made of, and draping the garden in that.

It's lightweight, a fine enough net that should keep most bugs at bay, give the plants a fighting chance, and it won't warm everything up so much. Brilliant! I wasn't sure if the netting on the tulle would be fine enough to keep everything out and I'm still not sure, but I was willing to give it a shot and I headed out almost immediately to my local fabric shop, which was where all the fun began.

I had this lingering thought that our local fabric shop might be closing. Or actually moving. I'd seen a sign that it was opening soon in another strip mall and I didn't know if the old store was still open. Maybe they had closed it and were in the process of moving.

When I drove up, I was excited to see they were still open, but pretty sure I wasn't going to find any tulle. Through the glass I could tell that most of the store had been liquidated and they were pretty close to making the move. It didn't look like much fabric was left, but I was there so I went in anyway.

I half-heartedly looked through the two rows of fabric left and pretty much decided it was a lost cause. An employee walked by and I casually asked, expecting a "no" for an answer, if they had any tulle left. She walked right over and pulled out a big bolt of green tulle. Hey, you're in luck, she said. They just put the 90 percent off sign up so it's almost free. Seriously? I was going to get 20 yards of tulle for $3.00? I couldn't believe it.

But this is where things got interesting.

Have you ever been shopping during a big sale and things start to get kind of frenzied? People sense a bargain and they don't want to miss it. They see one person walk over to a rack hurriedly and they figure there must be something good there. So, they rush over. And everyone else sees all the activity. A crowd starts to form. And pretty soon, one rack full of crappy discounted stuff turns into a feeding frenzy and nobody really knows why. It reminds me of when I was younger and I'd hear stories on the news about adults getting into fistfights in the stores over those cabbage patch dolls so they could get the last one for their child. And even then I'd think really, adults were fighting over a doll? That's crazy.

I've learned in such situations, there are certain rules to be followed, rules that will keep me on the path to finding what I want without becoming part of a feeding frenzy. It's simple, really. Be purposeful and nonchalant. When shopping during a deeply-discounted sale, try to look unimpressed. Don't tip your hand. Scan the merchandise from a distance as you walk by. Look at the racks of leftover stuff with disdain, as if it would be beneath you to shop a sale.

This, of course, isn't the case. But for survival's sake, play the game. If you see something good, don't dive for it. Walk slowly. Meander a little. Don't draw attention to yourself. Look as though you could care less. To look even mildly interested, might invite a swarm of other shopping sharks who get to the prey before you. Be cool. Look distracted. It's the only way.

In the fabric store, I wasn't playing the game. I took the bolt of green tulle from the sales lady, thanked her and rushed over to get the fabric measured. I mean, I had what I needed. I hadn't even expected to find what I needed. I had my son in the stroller and I just wanted to get my fabric and go before he got antsy and wanted out. So, I forgot to play the game. I forgot to stay cool. I forgot to not let on that I was getting a deal.

It was about that time that I started to sense a frenzy going on, a flurry of activity around the fabric bolts. But I was distracted and it didn't hit me until I saw two ladies walking away, each carrying a bolt of tulle. One had a bolt of green tulle. The other a bolt of electric blue-colored tulle. It struck me as odd that two other ladies would be buying tulle at the same time as me. I mean, what are the chances? Other than prom dresses, I can't imagine what people use the neon-colored stuff for anyway.

But there were these two ladies, looking rather flustered, clutching their bolts of tulle and glancing over at me again and again. And suddenly, I realized what had happened. These two ladies, seeing me dive for the tulle, thought I must have found something really good and weren't going to let me get away with it. They were going to clean out every last bit of tulle from that store before I got to it.

Well, I already had enough. Twenty yards was plenty so I stifled a giggle and watched them head to the fabric measuring area, wondering what exactly they were going to do with all that colored tulle. At this point it became clear that they also had the same question.

Reason must have prevailed and rather than buy it blindly, one of them decided it was in their best interest to find out what they should do with it. I'm not making fun here, but I really can just imagine what the conversation was between them in that minute when they were standing there, bolts of tulle in hand, talking intently and glancing at me. "Did we get it all?" one probably asked. Yes, yes, I think we did, the other probably answered. What a deal. Can you believe we got all this? So, what....um.....what do you think it is? What do you think.....we do with it? I dunno. I dunno. Maybe we should ask her. I'll ask. I'll ask.

So, just when I thought things couldn't get any better, one of them shouted, yes shouted in the middle of the crowded store, over at me, hey what are you gonna do with all that? At this point I was truly enjoying this scene unfold. What were these ladies going to do next? There was no telling. I had to work a little to keep a straight face. I mean the whole situation was so funny. But I kept my composure and answered her, telling her I was going to use it in the garden to keep pests away.

It turns out that one of the ladies, who was probably about my age, was also a gardener. She rushed over to talk to me then, realizing that the tulle might really be a prized possession for her.

She had grown tomato plants last year and gotten an infestation of tomato hornworms. Not sure how to keep them away, she was excited to try the tulle idea. I explained to her how I'd seen tomato plants wrapped in row covers, in one of my gardening books, secured at the bottom with rocks and clipped with clothespins at the top to keep it shut and how I was going to use the tulle the same way and also drape the rest of the garden in it. I wasn't sure if it would work, I told her, I but I was going to try.

She seemed really nice and I enjoyed talking to her. I thought she was the kind of person I'd probably be friends with if we lived on the same street or went to the same church. She thanked me and then thanked me again after I paid and was leaving. I wished her good luck and we parted ways.

I always wonder about chance meetings like that. Are they really a coincidence? What are the odds that I'd meet another gardener at the exact same moment in a store somewhere in the world who is also having pest control problems and be able to share something that I was going to try that might help? What are the odds that there would be just enough tulle left for both of us to get a great deal and leave feeling satisfied? I was happy to share that information with her just like the lady who shared it with me on the message board probably felt some satisfaction in knowing that a little tidbit of information that she had might help someone else. So, I thought I'd also pass it along here, too.

Happy gardening everyone. Just remember, when you go to buy your tulle, don't dive for it:)

Works For Me Wednesday

Grapefruit Vinaigrette Recipe (With Coconut Oil)

2011-03-06T11:26:00.069-06:00

One of my favorite things about winter in Texas is the grapefruit. It's grown nearby and this time of year I can find 18-pound-bags of the juiciest fruits I've ever tasted for only $5.00.

I don't remember seeing these large bags of grapefruit in other areas of the country where I've lived. Maybe they were there and I didn't notice, but I don't think so. Talking to friends around the country, they can't buy the large quantity that I can for such a low price. And I'm not sure they really want to. Eighteen pounds of grapefruit is more than most people want to eat in a week or two.

But not me.

When we first moved to Houston our grocery store sold 10-pound bags for $2.99 from January to March. The first time I saw them in the store, I bought a bag, lugging it out to the car thinking what am I doing? We can't eat this much grapefruit. But I couldn't pass it up for the price.

And you know what? That winter we not only finished the first 10-pound-bag, we went through three more before the big bags disappeared from the grocery store. Every winter since I've looked forward to the arrival of heavy bags of grapefruit for just a few dollars.

This year, spending our first winter living in a different neighborhood, our new grocery store had my monster bags of grapefruit, only they weren't 10 pounds. They were 18 pound bags! We're almost through our second 18-pound bag and I'm hoping I can snag one more before the peak season ends. I've just now texted my husband, who is at the grocery store, asking him to try to find me one more bag. "Are you sure you want all that grapefruit?" he replies. "Definitely," I'm telling him.

Since I've had so much of it around, I started experimenting with new ways to use grapefruit other than just sectioning it out and eating it for breakfast. Vinaigrette is one of those ways. I also wanted to incorporate coconut oil into the salad dressing for its health benefits like I did with my Cucumber Vinaigrette recipe.

I've written before that I don't really love salads. But I'm practical, too. They're a good way to eat healthy greens without having to cook anything. This grapefruit vinaigrette has gotten me through many a bowl of raw greens this winter and happily so. I've downed entire 5-ounce containers of spinach, arugula and assorted lettuces in one sitting, simply because this vinaigrette makes it so good.

I'm posting the recipe the way I like it. But the nice thing about vinaigrette is that it's easily adapted to different tastes. Add more honey for a sweeter flavor, more oil to make it milder, more vinegar to make it acidic, or more grapefruit pulp to make it thicker. Just play around with it.

Grapefruit Vinaigrette

¼ cup fresh ruby red or pink grapefruit juice
12 to 14 fresh ruby red or pink grapefruit sections (about the amount in 1/2 grapefruit)
1 Tablespoon raw honey

2 tablespoons melted, unrefined coconut oil
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
½ teaspoon sea salt

Make sure all ingredients, except coconut oil, are room temperature (coconut oil should be warmed to melting). If grapefruit or honey have been refrigerated, bring them to room temperature. (If ingredients are cold the coconut oil will clump up after it is added to the processor so all ingredients need to be room temp.)

Remove seeds and pith from grapefruit sections. No one wants to eat seeds and the pith will make the vinaigrette bitter.

Warm the coconut oil to melting in a microwave or on the stovetop. Place all ingredients except coconut oil in the bowl of a food processor and process 10 seconds until smooth and liquidy.

Begin streaming in melted coconut oil and process until combined and emulsified.

Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

Pulse again to combine if adding additional salt or other ingredients. Use on any salad.

Yield: About four servings

Note: Store unused grapefruit vinaigrette in the refrigerator for a day. It will solidify because of the coconut oil, but can be warmed in the microwave to liquify it again.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; WFMW, Full Plate Thursdays; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Friday

Lemon Potatoes with Carmelized Onions

2011-02-28T21:44:00.046-06:00

The past few weeks have been light cooking weeks for me. I've been spending time working on other projects and haven't done much in the kitchen. One of those projects has been my garden. I've been digging and adding soil amendments and transplanting seedlings like the one pictured below. Thus far, things are looking good in the garden and I'm pretty proud that I was able to dig the entire garden myself.

I have to give kudos and a big hug to my sister who came to visit Texas last week for the first time and took the bull by the horns when we were transplanting. I was engrossed in planting tomato seeds to start in cups and looked around to see her bagging up the dirt and sod I had dug out of the garden a few weeks ago. I had been eyeing that big pile of dirt, knowing I was killing the grass by letting it sit there, but not being able to muster the wherewithall to bag it all up. Thanks, Holly!

Below is a photo of one of my broccoli seedlings. I have eight in the garden along with mixed lettuce, kale and chard. Tomato transplants will go in soon.

All this brings me to potatoes, Lemon Potatoes with Carmelized Onions, a dish so simple I was almost embarrassed to post it. Much like last week's Winter Meets Spring Pea Soup, which is another very basic recipe that was the best I could do with so many other projects on my plate lately (gardening in addition to hanging curtains, pictures, painting, and being wife and mom).

I felt a little embarrassed to post that one and today's recipe because of their simplicity until I read something that changed my view. I picked up Please To The Table: The Russian Cookbook recently and delved into it, reading about food and culture of Russia. The book was published in 1990 and talks about the economic situation during that time. I don't know all the details about the current economic situation in Russia, if the food prices are as high and fresh vegetables as scarce. I do recall hearing the pastor of my church in our previous neighborhood, who visited Russia frequently, talk about the economic difficulties in Russia in a similar vein. That was about two years ago when we attended that church so things may or may not be better in Russia now. I'd like to learn more and will likely do some reading to educate myself.

The authors of 'Please To The Table' (written in the early 90s) state that "the overwhelming fact of life facing the vegetable lover in the northern republics of the USSR is the sheer difficulty of obtaining fresh produce, a difficulty that by Western standards would amount to a major supply crisis. In fact, it's almost impossible to find fresh food for all but a few months in the summer. With the recent liberalization of private markets in Moscow and elsewhere, a bizarre economic situation has taken hold in which a few people are able to make a vast profit while the majority of consumers are left shell-shocked by astronomical 'free-market' prices.

This 'deluxe' private market economy has a tendency to reinforce the attitude of simple reverence bestowed on a handsome, unblemished potato or a splendid, juicy carrot. Someone who has just paid as much as a day's salary for a pound of new potatoes will probably want the family to savor them perfectly boiled and served up simply with a pat of butter."

Reading those paragraphs changed my perspective on the potatoes and pea soup and my attitude toward food in general. Sure, today's recipe is simple. But it's a shame that, because I have so many food choices, I would view a dish where the vegetable actually takes center stage as not sophisticated enough. The passage quoted above served as a jolt back to reality for me, making me think about the fact that food doesn't have to be complicated. A recipe doesn't need to riddled with unique ingredients to nourish and sustain. I decided to go ahead and post these Lemon Potatoes with Carmelized Onions, realizing that I'm blessed to have them and simple really is good enough.

My recipe is written very loosely because I didn't do much measuring, just tossing into the pot. Also, I made this with a small handful of red potatoes, about six, so feel free to double or triple the recipe.

Lemon Potatoes with Carmelized Onions

Six whole red potatoes

1 organic lemon, cut into about 2-inch-sized pieces (just chop them roughly)

1/2 of an onion, sliced thin or coarsely chopped (I think even more could be used if desired - see note below)

2 cloves of garlic, peeled but added to the pot whole

about a half teaspoon of sea salt or salt to taste

sprinkle of pepper

big drizzle of olive oil, probably about 2 tablespoons, add more if needed during cooking

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place everything in a dutch oven with an oven-proof lid. I used an enamel on cast iron pot. Probably best to use something non-reactive.

Stir it all around to coat the potatoes, onions and lemons with olive oil and salt/pepper.

Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until potatoes are soft and cooked through. Take the pot out of the oven to stir potatoes around occasionally. Add more olive oil as needed during cooking if things appear to be sticking to the bottom of the pot. Onions and garlic will get browned and yummily carmelized.

Serves 2, maybe 3 as written. Can be doubled or tripled for more servings.

* The only change I would make to this recipe for next time is to add more onions. They are so good with the lemons and potatoes and I wanted more.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Full Plate Thursday

Photo Friday: Sky

2011-02-25T18:26:00.014-06:00

I've been catching random photos of the sky lately in all different hues and tones, the light at different angles during the day.

Some of you will likely notice the power lines in the photos. I used to fret about them. I'd look out my windows and see the lovely light and clouds and trees and think oh, if only the power lines weren't there I could get such beautiful pictures.

But then I realized that the power lines are part of my view. They aren't going away. They have to be part of the picture because they're part of the story.

Some may see all the things that shouldn't be in these photos: power lines and rooftops, street lights and a fence, but I just see the sky.

Pre-dawn moon

Daybreak

Afternoon

Late Day

Sunset

Winter Meets Spring Pea Soup

2011-02-21T17:41:00.072-06:00

If anyone is under the mistaken impression that my unnatural obsession with peas is focused only on those of the split variety, well, I have news. It isn't. And for those non-pea-lovers out there, I wish I could say this will be the last pea post. But we are not done with peas, no we are not. Not by a long shot. The end, my friends, is not near.

But this post is not so much about peas and how much I love them as it is about the seasons and how they are changing. What does one eat when root vegetables and winter citrus and beef stew and pasta in alfredo sauce seem as appealing as a bowl of yesterday's oatmeal? How does one proceed to cook a meal when it's almost spring, but not quite?

Today, I thought we'd celebrate the near ending of February, the winter-is-almost-over, but spring-is-not-quite upon us holding pattern of this short, but seemingly endless month, with a recipe mixing the two seasons. Soup is the perfect antidote to stave off an incessant winter chill and green peas give a hint of spring.

I, even I, the self-confessed spring Grinch, best friend to Old Man Winter, lover of all things frosty, despiser of April showers and those annoying May flowers, am looking forward to the spring thaw. Dappled sunlight filtering like a feather through a shock of hot pink bougainvillea sounds oddly refreshing to me this year. That and the fact that I'm tired of being cold and I wanna wear shorts.

When considering all these conflicting points this past week and pondering what in the world I wanted to eat, I settled on pea soup. It seemed perfect and aptly reflects how I'm feeling about food and life and the seasons these days. It's filling and hearty, but somehow manages to bring a touch of spring brightness to the table.

Winter Meets Spring Pea Soup

Print Recipe

36 ounces of peas

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups chicken stock

1 and 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/8 teaspoon black pepper

Melt butter in a soup-making pot. Add onions over medium heat and cook for six minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add peas and toss in the hot butter.

Add salt and pepper and stir through.

Add chicken stock and bring to a simmer for three to four minutes.

Puree in batches in a food processor. Check seasoning.

Serves 4.

*This recipe assumes frozen peas will be used, which typically contain added salt. If using peas with no salt, more will likely need to be added. In that case, salt to taste.

Tuesdays at the Table; Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays

Sesame Chicken and Rice

2011-02-16T08:00:00.004-06:00

I wish that I had something fascinating to report this week. Like I won the lottery and I'm getting ready to fly off to Paris. Or I woke up one morning and mysteriously found that someone had finished digging my garden. Or better yet, cleaned the entire house. Unfortunately, none of those things happened.

Last week was a good week with all my favorite things: cold, ice, and wind....again. It's warming up now and I'd like to venture a guess that we've seen the last of the winter weather except that this has been such an unconventional season that anything could happen. It could get warm and stay that way. Or not.

My husband and I agreed that this is by far the coldest winter we've had since we moved here. We've had multiple hard freezes, ice, rain, fog, and rolling blackouts due to the high demand for electricity. The rolling blackouts have been really exciting. The electric company basically just shuts down the power in an area for 30 to 45 minutes at a time. Then, they turn it back on and turn it off in the next neighborhood. A couple hours later, we go through the whole routine again. Lots of fun.

In most previous years, I've dreaded the arrival of spring because the summers are so long and hot here. I met another mom of a preschooler on the playground recently who had also moved from California, but much more recently than us. She'd only been here about six months and declared that she knew now that if she died and went to hell she was sure to be just fine because she'd already survived a summer in Houston. Funny. I later ran into her again at the mailbox and found out we live just a few houses from each other.

I'm actually looking forward to spring, though, because I want to get that garden going. I had about two-thirds of it dug before the really cold weather moved in a few weeks ago and worked more on it this past weekend. It's about ninety percent done and looking so good. Well, as good as a 100-square-foot plot of dirt can look:) To me it's a thing of beauty. I've planted a few seeds directly into the soil, and I've also been sprouting some other seedlings for transplanting. They've been growing nicely for weeks now in a sunny windowsill and should be ready to go out into the world by the end of the week.

I hope the weather where you are is sunny and warm:)

Sesame Chicken and Rice

2 pounds of boneless skinless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 Tablespoons grated fresh ginger

2 Tablespoons sliced garlic

4 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil plus 1 teaspoon

2 cups sliced onion, about 1 large onion

8 ounces of button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced in half

1 cup of chicken stock

2 cups of chopped leafy greens (any combination of kale, chard, mustard greens, etc.)

2 cups of cooked brown rice

Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. Set aside in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and sesame seeds, and sesame oil. Stir together. Sprinkle the chicken with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Toss to coat lightly. Then, pour marinade over chicken. Toss to coat and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for two hours.

When the chicken has marinaded, heat a large deep skillet to medium. Add 1/2 Tablespoon coconut oil and add onions. Cook on medium, stirring occasionally for four minutes. Add mushrooms and 1 teaspoon coconut oil. Toss to coat in oil. Cook eight minutes, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms and onions are beginning to cook down. Remove to a plate and set aside.

Increase heat to medium high, add chicken and cook for eight minutes. Add chicken stock and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and bring to a simmer for five minutes. Add mushrooms and onions to the chicken and simmer five minutes.

If the sauce is not thick enough, it can be cooked down further or another option would be to dissolve a teaspoon of cornstarch in a few tablespoons of hot water and stir that in.

Check seasoning. Adjust.

Add greens and stir through for just a minute to heat through and wilt.

Serve over brown rice. Serves 6.

Guava Gelée Candy

2011-02-05T15:10:00.019-06:00

Lately, I've wanted to get out of my cooking comfort zone. When I stumbled upon this recipe for Gelée candy, I was intrigued.

The past couple of days during the cold weather and ice storm, I spent time looking at cookbooks and magazines seeking cookie recipes. I had the sudden desire to bake, probably because it was freezing outside and cookies seemed the thing to do.

I looked through my magazine stash, but couldn't find anything that seemed right for me to make. Oatmeal-raisin cookies seemed too easy. Torrone was interesting, but out of the question. Since I don't keep edible wafer paper just lying around in my pantry, that one would have to wait. I glanced at the recipe for Passion Fruit Gelées in an old Gourmet issue, but that didn't seem like something I would make. Gelées? Naaaaaa.

But then I took a look at it again.

Lately, I've been thinking about how I can expand my cooking skills. I seem to be drawn to the same sorts of things over and over. I love soup. I love the versatility of grains. Legumes are my best friends. And while not a vegetarian, I am fascinated with meatless meals.

The truth of the matter is that there is life beyond spelt and lentils. There are other ways to cook. And towards the end of last year I felt a little, well, I hate say it this way but bored is the word that comes to mind. Not bored with cooking, but bored with the way I was cooking. I felt like I was getting into a cooking rut and didn't know how to get out. I needed to expand and learn new techniques.

When I took that second look at the Gelée candy recipe, I decided to give it a try. Not because gelée candy is something that I would normally make, but because it was something totally new that I'd never considered. And I thought that would be a step in the right direction toward learning some new things.

I didn't have some of the ingredients. But I wasn't going to let that stop me from trying. I mean, I couldn't. Remember, I was iced in. So, I had to go with what I had. No Passion Fruit, but I did have Guava purée and I figured that would probably work. I didn't have four packets of unflavored gelatin, but I did have three. Figured I could work around that, too. I did have lemon juice, but opted for grapefruit juice instead because I thought that would go well with the guava and give a nice subtle layer of flavor. I also opted to take the sugar down by half since I like lightly-sweetened treats.

Making the gelées was great fun. There was no baking involved and it was fairly straightforward. They came out well and my husband liked them, too. After his first bite, he immediately said they are just like Membrillo de Guayaba or the Guava Membrillo that he used to eat in Mexico.

I did a little reading about Guava Membrillo and I can see why he would say that. From what I can tell, authentic Guava Membrillo would probably call for Guava paste in the recipe, but I think this version is just another way of making it that comes pretty close to the real deal.

Call it what you will, Guava Gelées or Guava Membrillo, the recipe is below. Hope you enjoy it!

Guava Gelées

Adapted from Gourmet Magazine

Print Recipe

3 envelopes (1/4-ounce) unflavored gelatin
3/4 cup water
1 cup natural cane sugar
3/4 cup guava purée (see below recipe for sources)
1 tablespoon fresh grapefruit juice
Coconut oil for greasing the pan

Lightly grease a 5" x 9"(1.5 quart) bread loaf pan with the coconut oil. Set aside.

Place water in a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin on top. Leave to soften for four minutes.

Heat the water and gelatin mixture to medium low, stirring until the gelatin dissolves. Add the sugar and stir until that dissolves. Stir in grapefruit juice.

Bring to a boil for 13 minutes over medium to medium high heat. I had to adjust mine down several times from medium high to keep it from boiling over. It should come to a boil and will foam up but turn heat down if it starts to boil up toward the top of the pot. Watch the pot because this can happen very quickly.

Take pot off heat and allow to stand for five minutes.

Add guava and stir lightly.

Pour into bread loaf pan. It will be very liquidy at this point, but will firm up after two to three hours. Allow the candy to stay on the counter for several hours until it thickens. Once firm, loosen the edges. I found the best thing to use was a pastry scraper, but a spatula or butter knife can be used. You will want to loosen not just the sides, but underneath the candy if possible without breaking it.

Turn it out onto a plate and cut into evenly spaced strips. Cut those strips in half to create the candy pieces. Makes 30 candies.

*Where to find guava purée: I usually use Goya brand, which sells for about $2.00 for a 14-ounce frozen package. It is pure, unsweetened guava pulp. Look in the natural foods freezer section or the Mexican foods freezer section of the grocery store. I also found other sources online: Markey's and L'Epicerie also have it available for online ordering.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Full Plate Thursday; Tempt My Tummy Tuesday

Photo Friday: Ice Day

2011-02-04T10:46:00.020-06:00

Last night I was excited to think we were going to wake up to a snow day this morning. My son has never seen snow so I couldn't wait to bundle him up and take him out to play. A few days ago the weather stations issued a winter storm alert for one to three inches of snow. I admit I got a bit of a chuckle out of a winter storm warning for that little bit of snow. But it is Houston and any snow is a big deal.

Imagine my disappointment when I opened my blinds this morning to see......nothing. Or, at least it looked like nothing. I kept looking and realized there was a thick layer of ice coating everything. The news stations were in a frenzy, reporting dangerous roadways, metro bus shutdowns, school closures, accidents and even preempting the national morning shows to bring the news. Apparently, instead of snow, we had a steady freezing rain all night for a lovely half-inch glaze on everything.

I decided to grab my camera and head out (in my pajamas no less) for a few minutes to take photos. 'Just a few', I told my husband. He made me wear his coat and I just hoped the neighbors weren't peering out their windows wondering why this crazy girl was wandering around in her yard in her pajamas at 8 a.m. with a camera when the temperature was 20 degrees.

I know what some of you are thinking: Save it, Romo. The only ice I wanna see right now is looking down into a glass filled with one of those pink fizzy drinks on a tropical beach somewhere.

I get it. Those of you up north have been hammered this year. But don't worry. We will get ours. Come July, when you're basking in 80 degree temperatures and low humidity and lounging comfortably on your beaches and lakes looking forward to a breezy, golden autumn in a matter of weeks, we'll be sweating it out in 110 heat indexes and praying for November to come so we can turn our air conditioners off. It all evens out in the end.

So, don't hate me when I admit I'm enjoying our ice day. Here's a glimpse:

Our patio table this morning. I guess we won't be doing any dining al fresco today.

The top photo shows my flowers in the front yard just a few days ago. They had been blooming all winter, though looking slightly brown. But they survived a couple of hard freezes already. The bottom photo shows that the ice was too much for them.

Icy branches on a tree in our back yard.

A slight thaw, just before noon. Everything is supposed to refreeze tonight so we're in for more joy tomorrow.

I'll be back with a recipe in a few days. Happy Friday!

Double Garbanzo Ginger Cake

2011-01-30T06:06:00.016-06:00

At first blush I was intrigued with the idea of a cake made out of garbanzo beans.

I saw it in Mexican by Jane Milton, which, sadly, now appears to be out of print. It's a rather unassuming recipe tucked away towards the book's end. I can't remember where, exactly, I got this particular book, but it seems like my husband might have come home with it a few years as ago as a random gift. Looking back, though, it might have been more of a random hint.

I never did much with the book until recently when I've been on a bit of a Mexican tangent, delving deeper into south-of-the-border cuisine and thinking about what it means to really cook their food instead of trying to turn it into Tex Mex. As soon as I saw the recipe I was smitten. It's unique, healthy, low cost and just all around right up my alley. But after the initial 'love at first glance' reaction, I suddenly felt a bit turned off by it.

Let me explain. Somewhere along the line I got over the whole 'let's find ways to purée vegetables and other weird stuff and put them in cakes and cookies and anything else we can think of'. I mean, it's a nice idea to hide vegetables and legumes in places one would not expect to find them and I'm all about creativity in cooking. But at some point I was just ready to move on and do something else with my cooking.

I realized one day during the height of the let's put spinach in brownies craze, that I don't always want to eat spinach in my brownies. In fact, I almost never do. I got to the point where it was just enough already. Everytime I saw one of 'those' recipes it made me want to throw all the vegetables in my refrigerator out and eat nothing but cheeseburgers, fries and chocolate shakes for the next month.

So, after my initial 'oh this is really unusual' and 'this would be a good one for the blog' reaction to the garbanzo cake, I cooled down a bit and reality hit. This was one of 'those' recipes. Did I really want to go down this road again? And more importantly, do I really want to eat this?

I have lots of ideas for recipes that, in the end, I realize I don't really want to eat. They're fun and unique ideas and the underlying theme in those cases is that they would be recipes that would be good for the blog. But if I don't see myself making that recipe for my family or for myself to actually sit down and eat, I don't make it.

In the case of the chickpea cake, I thought about it and realized that the answer was no. I really did not want to eat a cake made out of garbanzo beans.

I thought it was a cool idea, but this site (and my life) are about cooking what I want to eat -- not cooking something unusual for the sake of cooking something unusual. So, I moved on from the chickpea cake and looked for something that I did actually want to eat.

Weeks later, though, I was still thinking about this recipe. It wouldn't leave me alone. It just dogged me. I thought about it and thought about it and even woke up one morning with lingering dreams of chickpea cake. It was like this wave that kept growing and growing until it was so big that I couldn't ignore it.

I got to the point after all that thinking about it that I actually did want to make a chickpea cake, mostly because I got curious. What would a garbanzo bean cake taste like?

'Well, I have chickpeas,' I thought one morning. 'And I have time to make it today. And I have all the other ingredients. And I have some ideas to put my own spin on it. And I have no other excuses not to make it. And if I don't make it, this recipe is not going to go away.'

And, of course, you know where this is going. I finally caved in and made the cake. And you know what? I liked it. It's pretty darn good.

There are a few tweaks I'm thinking of for next time. But I really do like it. Shockingly, I like that it's made out of something really healthy and it does taste like cake. It most decidedly does not taste like cake made out of white flour and white sugar. But it does taste like a very good spice cake with ginger and hints of cardamom wrapped up in a simple chickpea and egg batter that's dusted with ginger sugar.

I used Milton's recipe as inspiration, using both garbanzo beans and garbanzo bean flour in my recipe (hers contains only chickpeas) and also incorporating the spice blend from my Brown Sugar Carrot Muffins to create a moist gingery spiced cake.

It is a bit time-consuming at the outset because the chickpeas have to be skinned. This took me about 20 minutes and I didn't mind. Other than that the recipe is fairly straightforward. The baking time is a little lengthy, about 65 minutes.

And so the million dollar question remains: would I make this cake again? Yes, I would. It's fun to make and creative and my husband even liked it. I thought it would be a one-time deal, but it's sure to become one of my regular cake recipes.

Double Garbanzo Ginger Cake

Inspired by Jane Milton's Mexican

Print Recipe

2 and 1/4 cups garbanzo beans

2/3 cup chickpea flour

1 and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 eggs, room temperature and beaten

1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1 cup natural cane sugar

1/8 cup orange juice

For the Ginger Sugar crust:

1/4 cup natural cane sugar

1/4 teaspoon ginger powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a loaf plan lightly with butter and make the ginger sugar by combining sugar and ginger in a bowl. Stir together and dust the bottom and sides of the loaf pan with the ginger sugar. It will stick to the butter. This will create a nice all-over ginger sugar crust for your cake.

Rinse chickpeas in a colander (especially if using canned). Place your measuring cup beside the colander and grab a handful of chickpeas (with clean hands). Roll the chickpeas in your palms to loosen the skins. Pluck off the skins and place the chickpeas in the measuring cup until you have 2 and 1/4 cups. Discard skins.

Place chickpeas in a food processor and blend until it becomes a smooth consistency. You may have to stop and scrape down the sides once or twice to incorporate all the chickpeas.

Pour chickpeas into a large mixing bowl and add in remaining ingredients. Stir together well but try not to overmix. You should have a cake batter consistency.

Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove from oven and allow cake to sit in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack to cook. Loosen the cake around the edges with a butter knife and turn out onto wire rack to cool further.

More Ginger Sugar can be dusted on the top if desired.

Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Friday

Vegetarian Chilaquiles

2011-01-24T19:00:00.017-06:00

What I love the most about chilaquiles is that it's a big, messy pot of food. It's comfort food, the sort of thing one would eat on a Wednesday night during winter when there are bits of beans and tortillas that need to be used up.

I made these Vegetarian Chilaquiles a few days after I made the Black Bean Casarecce. I'd cooked two pounds of black beans (what, exactly, was I thinking there) and after making the pasta dish and eating beans for lunch for several days, I still had leftover beans.

I had two choices: eat them or freeze them. And with a freezer full of food, I opted for to make chilaquiles, a typical Mexican dish. It includes strips of tortillas that are usually fried (mine are baked to get the crispness) and than added to a base of onions, salsa, and chicken (I used beans) and topped with cheese.

For authentic chilaquiles, there would be a little more sauce and cheese than I put on mine and, as I said, chicken would be used instead of beans. But my version is so good anyway. If I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one thing, it might be these chilaquiles.

These are my take on chilaquiles and perfect for the vegetarians among us. I would think these could be made vegan with a meltable vegan cheese for topping and leaving off the sour cream.

Chilaquiles are also good eaten for breakfast, which is how I've had them in Mexico. We had ours for dinner, but they are a perfectly acceptable way to begin the day and delicious with a glass of orange juice.

Vegetarian Chilaquiles

Print Recipe

1 and 1/4 cups finely chopped white onion

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/4 cup salsa de chile fresco (El Pato brand)
1 (7 ounce) can of Salsa Casera (Herdez brand) or another mild red salsa
1 (16-ounce) package of corn tortillas
3 tablespoons unrefined coconut oil
1/2 cup grated queso quesadilla or other meltable white mexican cheese
3 cups black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
a tablespoon or so of sour cream for topping each serving

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and brush the tops of all of the tortillas very lightly with the coconut oil. You don't need much for each one. Two tablespoons should be enough for 16 to 18 tortillas (the entire package).

If you only have one baking sheet, you may have to bake them in batches. If that is the case, start earlier than beginning the bean mixture to allow for all the tortillas to be baked before starting the bean mixture.

Place tortillas on a baking sheet with the coconut-oiled sized up. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes until very crispy and starting to turn golden brown on the edges. Once done, remove to a plate lined with paper towels. Blot off any excess oil and allow to cool. Once cool, use kitchen shears to cut the tortillas into strips and then cut the strips in half again to create smaller pieces. Set these aside on a plate for later in the recipe.

In a large and deep oven-safe fry pan, place 1 tablespoon coconut oil and onions. Heat to medium and cook onions for 5 to 7 minutes until softening. Add garlic and stir. Add salt and stir through. Cook for three minutes.

Add beans, vegetable stock, salsa de chile fresco, and salsa casera and bring to a simmer. Simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes until sauce is thickened and reduce to a quarter of what it was to start with. (If you tend to like a lot of sauce, let it cook down to half of what it was, add the tortillas and then if you want less, cook it down a little more from there). Don't let it cook down too much, though, because you need some sauce to toss the tortilla strips in. If you do accidentally cook it down too much, add more broth and if you have it, a little more salsa.

Turn broiler in oven on.

Add baked tortilla chips that have been cut into pieces to the bean mixture. Stir together and cover the chips with the sauce and bean mixture.

Grate cheese onto top of the bean and tortilla mixture. Place the entire pan under broiler for two minutes until cheese melts. Remove from oven.

Serve with a small amount of sour cream on top.

Serves two very hungry people or four with medium-sized servings.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesday; Full Plate Thursday; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Fridays

Caldo Tlalpeño Recipe

2011-01-16T21:00:00.026-06:00

My husband, who grew up in Mexico City, has been asking me for quite some time to start making some authentic Mexican food. The spirit was willing, but he kept pointing out recipes in a Spanish-language cookbook. And with a busy toddler in the house who turned into a busy preschooler this year and my fair to midland (at best) Spanish, I just couldn't muster the energy to sit down, concentrate, and translate. So, I kept putting it off.

But this year he put it on his Christmas list. Yes, that was one of the items he actually wrote down when he gave me his list of things he'd like to have. Item number three was "cook five Mexican dishes this year."

Now it was serious.

So, I went looking for the cookbook. He thumbed through it and pointed out several dishes that looked good to him. Caldo Tlalpeño was one of them.

I tried to get the idea of what the soup is supposed to be about from the cookbook and from talking to my husband about what he liked about it. Initially, I thought I'd follow a recipe and not deviate so as to make sure it was authentic. But, after doing some reading, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to do and decided to venture out on my own with the recipe.

Hubby's advice was simple: try not to do anything weird.

Wondering exactly what he meant by that, I called him several times at work with a list of very important questions while I was cooking. I had really earth shattering things to worry with, like did he want one, two or three chipotle peppers in the soup and did he want the chicken shredded or chopped?

After getting answers from him like "however many you want to put in there" and "either way is fine" I finally figured out that what he meant to say by "don't do anything weird" was probably not in the minutia. It was more along the lines of "don't try to put amaranth in the soup" or "don't try to add sumac" or "don't add any coconut milk because you think it looks pretty".

He just wanted a good soup like he ate growing up. Got it.

To give a basic description of Caldo Tlalpeño, it's a spicy chicken, garbanzo bean, and rice soup that has an unbelievably good flavor. I wasn't prepared to like it, no actually love it, so much. It's slightly spicy right in the back of the throat. The broth takes on the smoky heat from the chipotle and is really out of this world. My husband also tells me that my version is, indeed, the way he ate it in Mexico

It might seem like I have a big long list of directions below, but it really is an easy recipe. I made the broth one day, chilled it overnight and skimmed the fat. Then, made the soup with the broth.

I do also think this is a very nourishing one-pot meal. While I don't agree with the Nourishing Traditions philosophy on everything (I don't soak grains, don't drink raw milk and I'm still not completely on board with the book's fat hypothesis), the book did sell me on the benefits of meat and bone broths from a health standpoint. I got away from making them last year because they are messy. I can't seem to make a pot without getting grease all over something and it's hard to clean up. But one of my 2011 resolutions is to start making stock and broth again.

Below I'm posting the recipe for the broth I made, in which I cooked the whole chicken in water with some other ingredients and then took the meat off the bone to use in the soup. It is a nice double-duty way to make the most of your chicken.

Most of the time, if the whole chicken is simmered, the meat is bland and not good for much. But it's perfect for using in soup. And I did spend a little extra to get an organic chicken. I paid about $7.75 for a three-and-a-half pound chicken, but got 16 cups of broth out of it plus the meat. Without going into the cost breakdown, I figured out that with all the ingredients, including what I put in the broth, this soup cost us about $1.85 per serving. Not bad.

I got out my monster 16-quart stainless steel stockpot to make the broth and the soup. I bought it last year at the finest kitchen retail establishment (Big Lots) and forgot about it. It was hidden away in a cabinet that I rarely open so I pulled it out and made a big pot of broth and then used it again the next day to make a huge pot of Caldo Tlalpeño.

I intended to make this big pot and freeze part of it, but that didn't happen. We started eating this soup on New Year's Eve and had it every night for dinner until Jan. 3rd. I had the last of it for lunch on January 4. It was so good and warming and spicy that we just kept on eating it. Towards the end I started crumbling up Queso Fresco on top, which is not authentic, but it was delish.

A quick note on the name of the soup. Tlalpan is a neighborhood near Mexico City where the soup was created.

Also, the pronunciation is: Cal-dough Tuh-l-owl-pen-yo. (said very fast with the sounds all smashed together)

Caldo Tlalpeño
(See below for chicken stock recipe)

Print Recipes

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups of chopped carrots
1 and 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1 and 1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
12 cups of homemade chicken broth *(made with 1 TBSP sea salt to 16 cups of water)
meat from 1 (3 and 1/2 pound chicken)(about 4 and 1/2 packed cups of shredded chicken)
1 (15-ounce) can garbanzo beans (rinsed and drained)
3 chipotle in adobo, chopped finely
1/2 teaspoon of adobo sauce from can
1 teaspoon of dried epazote
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/3 cup of cilantro, stems removed as much as possible and chopped

To be served separately for each person to add to his/her bowl:

2 serrano chilis, minced
1 and 1/2 cups of cooked brown rice
3 tomatoes, chopped
2 avocado, chopped
2 limes, cut into wedges

In a very large stockpot, place oil and heat to medium.

Add onions and carrots and cook for six minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add garlic and stir until fragrant, about a minute.

Add chicken broth, shredded chicken, chipotle in adobo, adobo sauce, sea salt, garbanzos and epazote.

Bring to a boil for two minutes and then reduce the heat to a slow simmer. Cover and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and check seasoning. Add more salt if needed.

Ladle into bowls and serve alongside avocado, serrano chilis, rice and tomato so that people can add those additions to taste in their own bowls.

For the best flavor, add a big squeeze of lime in your bowl just before eating.

Serves 12.

Kari's Big Pot of Chicken Broth

1 (3 and 1/2-pound) chicken (organic and free-range if possible)

handful of peppercorns (about 20)

2 bay leaves

5 cloves of garlic

2 to 3 ribs of celery, coarsely chopped

8 carrots, chopped

handful of cilantro

handful of parsley

2 onions, coarsely chopped

1 Tablespoon unrefined sea salt

16 cups of the best filtered water you can find

1/4 cup vinegar (any kind you like)

Rinse the chicken and remove the neck or any other parts from the cavities. Place all ingredients in a big stockpot and simmer 2 and 1/2 hours, covered*, or longer if needed to get the meat cooked through. (Yes, put the whole chicken in there).

Once done, remove meat from bones and refrigerate for use in soup. Strain out all of the ingredients and place the soup in the refrigerator. Once chilled, skim off the layer of fat and either discard or save to use in another dish later.

The bones can be used for another go 'round of stock if desired. Just use new carrots, onions and herbs and much less water this time (about four to six cups for the second pot). It may not be quite as flavorful as the first pot of stock but you may as well get all you can out of the bones.

I have seen some recipes that call for simmering the stock uncovered. I always cover mine because I find that it starts to cook down too much if I leave it uncovered.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; WFMW; $5 Dinner Challenge; Full Plate Thursday; Fight Back Fridays; Foodie Friday; Real Food Fiesta Blog Carnival

Snapshot Saturday: Ramekins

2011-01-15T00:01:00.002-06:00

Happy Saturday everyone.

I took this picture earlier in the week while I was working on a recipe and liked it -- the picture that is. I think the way the light reflects off the ramekins is nice. And I like how the background is so dark around the ramekins. I'm not sure if the light's a bit too harsh on that one edge of the roasting pan, though. What do you think? Anything to share? Critique away my friends.

Just don't ask what's in those ramekins. It's a secret. Heck, I don't even know what's in them. I was playing around in the kitchen and that's what I came up with.

I actually did have a goal, but I don't think I really reached it......yet. What's in the ramekins doesn't look so good does it? Well, it tasted sort of good and sort of not. But it's promising, I tell you, very promising.

I have no recipe on this post today -- just a photo and a wish for you (and me) to have a wonderful, fun, relaxing weekend.

I'm off to dig a garden.............:)

Black Bean Casarecce

2011-01-10T22:00:00.011-06:00

File this one under 'Winter Comfort Food'.

It's hearty and filling and just the thing for cold January days.

This Black Bean Casarecce is an adaptation of Marco Canora's Pasta e Fagioli, which is photographed beautifully in his book Salt To Taste: The Keys To Confident, Delicious Cooking.

I have a good stash of cookbooks at home that I like to page through when I'm lacking in inspiration. But lately, I've grown tired of them. I came to a standstill with my cooking when I thought about what I wanted to eat one day last week and couldn't come up with anything. That never happens so I knew I needed some new inspiration.

I rarely buy cookbooks anymore, since the library is such an easy place to pick up a big stack. But I did spring for Canora's book when I found that I had finished a cup of tea at Barnes and Noble and didn't want to leave the store because I was still reading it.

I realized there were more than a few recipes in it that I wanted to make, including his Osso Bucco, Cauliflower Sformato and Winter Farro Salad. So I bought the book and came straight home to made Pasta e Fagioli using black beans instead of borlotti and adding in swiss chard to up the green factor. Really any type of greens would work well, but I happened to have chard on that day. I just thought it would be nice to add a little color and, at the same time, try to win the daily battle to get more green veggies into my diet.

Pictured above is the Casarecce that I used. It's a type of pasta that's become one of my favorites because it picks up and holds onto a lot of sauce. I also like it because of its name, which means simple or homemade.

It works well in this dish where the sauce starts out very thin and cooks down, becoming thick and delicious. It can be very brothy if you'd like to make it that way. But I liked how Canora wrote his recipe, making it thicker and heartier and more like a pasta dish than a soup. It's rich and filling and full of flavor.

A few notes: this makes a big pot of pasta, enough to serve six. It's also kid-friendly. My son ate a whole plate of it and asked for more. Also, the three cups of chicken stock will seem like quite a lot when first added. Don't worry because it will cook way down. It can be left rather brothy which can be achieved by reducing the ten minutes of simmering toward the end to only five minutes. Or, cook it as I did, down to a flavorful sauce.

Black Bean Casarecce

Adapted from Salt To Taste by Marco Canora

Print Recipe

4 ounces of pancetta, chopped coarsely

4 slices of nitrate and nitrite-free bacon, chopped coarsely

6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped white onions

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped finely

2 large leaves of chard, rinsed and chopped into bite sized pieces around the stem

1 and 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste

3 cups of chicken stock

3 cups cooked black beans, cooking liquid drained

1 pound of dried casarecce

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

Chop bacon and pancetta into large, coarse pieces and add to a large pot with olive oil heated to medium. Stir occasionally until bacon/pancetta start to brown, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add onions, salt and pepper and stir together. Cook until onions start to brown, about 10 minutes. Add garlic and stir for a few minutes. Add sage and tomato paste and stir together.

Reduce heat to medium low and allow to cook a few more minutes until the mixture darkens.

Add stock and half the beans. Bring to a simmer.

Purée the other half of the beans in a food processor into a nice, thick, smooth paste. You may need to add a little of the cooking liquid for the beans. Transfer the bean purée into the pot and stir. Allow to simmer for 10 more minutes.

While bean mixture simmers, cook pasta in salted water until al dente.

After the bean mixture has simmered, remove as much of the bacon and pancetta as possible. I found the best way to do this way with tongs. If you've chopped some of your pieces too small and have trouble locating all of them, not to worry. Get the most that you can and don't worry about the rest. They can stay if you just aren't patient to pick through and find them all. But try to get most of them.

Using a slotted spoon, fish the pasta out of it's pot and add to the bean pot. It's okay if some of the cooking liquid comes with the pasta. Drain as best you can, but don't worry about a little cooking liquid.

Stir together the pasta and the bean mixture and allow to simmer a minute or two. Add the chard, which should be chopped into bite-sized pieces, and stir through. Allow to wilt a minute or two.

Stir in the butter and two tablespoons of cheese.

Serve in bowls topped with more Parmigiano-Reggiano and a few chopped bits of sage for color.

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; WFMW; Fun Food Friday on Paisley Passions

What I Learned From The Soup Series

2011-01-06T00:01:00.012-06:00

Happy 2011 everyone! I thought today I'd share a few thoughts about the soup series that I wrote last month and what it ended up meaning for me. Like me, maybe you've done too much cooking this past month and need a break. So I thought we'd take one and just chat a bit.

My goal for this year is to post two to four recipes per month and to try to keep my posting to once per week, maybe twice. (I'm not doing so well with the second goal right now.) But henceforth, that's what I'm planning. For today, I thought I'd share some thoughts on the soup series and how it helped me.

When I first had the idea to write the Healthy Budget Soup Series last month, I wasn't that excited about it. I almost didn't do it. But, quite frankly, it is one of the best things I've ever done for myself.

I've always been a soup-lover, but I ate more than my share of soup during 2010. Even in the summer, I was making soups left and right. And not just summery soups. I was making winter soups to beat the band, which I blame on my obsession with my pressure cooker that allowed me to make soup on a dime.

When I first bought the thing this summer, I realized I could make multiple soups per day with it. And I did. Many times. Soups could be made in literally minutes. It was amazing. I was completely smitten with that pressure cooker and I still am. But the mania has worn off just a bit and I don't feel the need to make soup hourly with it anymore.

When November rolled around and I was looking for something to keep me entertained on the blog during the holidays, I thought about a soup series. I had three soups sitting in my drafts from all that soup-making back in the summer and fall, the Arugula Soup, the Carrot Soup and the Split Pea Soup. I knew those recipes would be perfect for a healthy budget soup series.

The pictures weren't great since they'd been taken with my old camera so I knew I'd have to re-take them. And I'd probably need to make the soups one more time to make sure they were as good as I remembered them. And then there was the necessity of coming up with one more soup recipe to round out the series. But those things weren't a big problem. I had three soups so it shouldn't be that hard to come up with a fourth. And I like soup so making those other three again was fine with me. I'd do the best I could with taking new pictures and put the series together.

As December got closer, though, my excitement kind of wore off about it and I really waffled about whether to do the series. Christmas was coming. Everyone was going to be posting cookies and treats and I wanted to do cookies and treats, too. Why should I relegate myself to boring old healthy soups when I could be making the fun stuff like everybody else? And not just boring old healthy soups, mind you, but boring old healthy soups on a budget? The idea couldn't have seemed like more of a snoozer to me at the time.

But in the end I couldn't get around the fact that the recipes were done and the holidays are a busy time. I wanted to enjoy them and not spend so much time in the kitchen. Plus, I don't make a lot of cookies. Let's be real here. I don't. I like cookies, but I really only have two cookie recipes right now that I can say are my own original creations. So, a cookie series was going to be more work than I wanted to take on.

I decided to go ahead and do the boring old healthy soup on a budget series.

Blah.

What I wasn't prepared for was how much I would benefit from it. Because I had to make all the soups again to test them out, I was getting lots of vegetables starting in early December. The Arugula Soup recipe was as good as I remembered it and didn't need much tweaking, but I made it a couple of times anyway. The Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup, though, was another matter. I remade it from the recipe I wrote down in September and it had too much pepper. Maybe it was a typo or something because it was just over the top with pepper. So, I made it a second time and adjusted that. Then, I started wondering if I could add more dill. So, I made it again. Then, I tested it with even more dill and made yet another pot.

What all that meant was that I was eating a lot of vegetables. I was making these soups over and over and eating them everyday. There was so much arugula, peas, tons of onions and garlic in those soups, and carrots, carrots and more carrots. I'm surprised I didn't start to turn orange.

About the middle of December, my son and my husband both got sick with colds. My son's cold went to his chest and got a little more serious and he ended up on antibiotics. My husband fared a little better, but he who almost never gets sick and when he does rarely complains, was walking around saying "I'm really sick." I knew he was feeling pretty bad.

And I was sure I was going to get it. I mean how could I possibly not get it, living in the house with those two coughing and sneezing all over the place and my son wanting to sleep in our bed while he was sick?

But I didn't. Never did.

A couple of times I started feeling a scratchy throat and thought "Oh no, here it comes. I'm going to get it. I know it. Oh, it's going to be so bad." But each time I felt that way, I'd also feel my body fighting it off.

The third soup in the series, the Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup, was the one I hadn't come up with until about two days before it was posted. I thought that was going to be so easy. I mean, come on, there are so many ways you can go with a healthy budget soup. Coming up with a third one would be a snap, right?

Well, not exactly. I got a little too creative with some of my ideas and learned the hard way that lemongrass and sumac are not a good idea in Garlic Soup, at least not the way I put it together. I also found out that Potato Soup is best not made with water unless you just want to eat something that looks and tastes like glue. Despite how badly those turned out, I ate some (not all) of those, too. That meant more vegetables. I finally found some inspiration and came up with the Black Bean Soup recipe when my husband's relatives were visiting and, thankfully, it came out wonderfully. Problem solved. I had my missing soup recipe.

So, what did I learn from the soup series? In the end, it was one of the best things I've done on the blog because it accomplished something I hadn't directly intended -- it made me eat a lot of vegetables. And I credit that with keeping me well during a time of illness at our house. Of course the whole idea of the series was to find a way to eat more vegetables, make them taste good and keep the cost low. But I had no idea just how many I would eat.

I have no actual scientific proof that eating all those vegetable soups kept me healthy, but in my heart I know they did. I do believe they built up my immune system before those viruses hit and I was prepared to battle them. In fact, my husband noticed that I wasn't getting sick and started asking for more of the carrot soup.

What I learned from the soups series is that soups aren't boring. They're actually pretty great, even when made on a budget. I thought I was going to be terribly bored, but the truth is I had an absolute blast in December making all of them, even the failures. I also learned a bit about trusting my instincts. Even if everyone around me looks like they're having the greatest time in the world making cookies and fudge bars and pecan clusters and all kinds of ooeey gooey things, it's all right if I make soup. It might be just the thing I need to do for myself.

In case you missed out and would like to see the soup recipes, they are as follows:

lDecember 6: Peppery Arugula and Green Pea Soup ($1.10 per serving);

lDecember 13: Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup (.65 per serving);

lDecember 20: Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup (.91 per serving); and

lDecember 27: Split Pea Soup with Curry and Bacon (.93 per serving).

Most of the soups were made with water because the goal of this series was to keep the cost low. However, I do think they would be even better with some sort of stock, chicken or vegetable. Just remember to cut back on your salt a little in the beginning if you use stock. I would probably use half as much as the recipe calls for. Then, you can always add more at the end if it's needed.

Foodie Friday

Maple Cappuccino Recipe

2011-01-05T08:22:00.001-06:00

While I love coffee, I rarely find myself at Starbucks anymore.

Several years ago I read The Automatic Millionaire and the "Latte Factor" from the book has stuck with me. The principle is this: if a person started saving the cost of a latte (just a few bucks) everyday early in life, by the time he or she is ready to retire, they'd be a millionaire with all the money saved plus the interest the money earns.

While I do go to a coffee shop once in awhile as a treat, I find it's harder to spend the few dollars for a coffee after having read that book. I always think "well there goes my millions" when I'm buying that one coffee. Silly, of course. If only I were disciplined enough to have saved like that. Wouldn't we all love to be in that situation. But still, that Latte Factor has stayed in my head all these years and I know it has saved me a good bit of money because I do, for the most part, make my coffee at home and largely because of that book.

Recently, I was taking a glance at CNN.com and I saw a headline that stopped me for a minute. It was about two celebrities who were seen having Maple Latte's together. Apparently, they were a couple. I can't remember the details of who they were or where they were, but that whole Maple Latte thing really got me. It sounded so good and I wanted one.

Since I haven't been to Starbucks for awhile, I don't know if they are selling Maple Latte's now or if the celebrity couple bought theirs from another coffee shop. So, rather than do things the easy way and just go to Starbucks to find out if they had them and buy one there, I decided to try to make one myself.

I've played around with coffee, espresso, maple syrup, steamed milk and foam for a few weeks now and have come up with a really good maple coffee drink. My only problem has been that I wasn't sure what to call it. I was going for a latte, but was this it?

The difference between a latte, café au lait, macchiato, café breve, cappuccino and all those other gazillion coffee drinks is too much for me to worry with. It makes my head hurt to try to remember the ratios of milk, espresso or coffee that each different drink requires.

But, in order to put a title on this thing I made, I had to actually track down definitions for all these drinks and figure out what it was that I'd come up with. The best I could figure is that this is a cappuccino: 1/3 hot milk, 1/3 strong coffee or espresso, 1/3 foam. (If you want it to be a latte, just leave off the foam. But I like the foam).

I'm giving directions below on how to make the foam without an espresso maker. Actually, the entire drink can be made without an espresso maker. It's really simple and, even for those who are Starbucks groupies, it's always nice to know how to make a drink like this at home for bad weather days when you want some sort of specialty coffee, but don't want to go out to get it.

I also included an option in the recipe below to add a small amount of maple flavor. This is totally optional, but does up the maple factor. I keep a small bottle of Frontier brand maple flavor in my pantry. I don't use it often, but it's a good backup for some baked goods if I happen to run out of vanilla extract at just the moment I need one more teaspoon. At least then I'll have another option.

The Frontier maple flavor bottle states that it's an all natural maple flavor. I have no idea what that means. A few times I've been tempted to call the company to ask what exactly is in a natural maple flavor, but I love the taste and smell of it so much I'm not sure I really want to know. Why spoil a good thing, eh? So, I'll trust the company on this one that it really is natural. If you don't want to use it, there's no need. Sometimes, I use it when I'm making this drink. And sometimes I don't. It's good either way.

Happy January everybody. Stay warm:).

Maple Cappuccino Recipe

Print Recipe

5 ounces of double-strength brewed coffee (twice as much coffee to water as you would normally put in)
7 ounces of milk (use whole milk; fresh coconut milk or from a box would also work, but I wouldn't go with the canned variety as it is rather thick and hard to work with)
3 tablespoons maple syrup (Grade B is best)
1/8 teaspoon maple flavor or vanilla extract (optional)
Maple sugar for dusting the top

Place maple syrup in the bottom of a coffee mug. If using maple flavor or vanilla extract, add it now to the maple syrup and stir together. If the maple syrup has been refrigerated and is cold, place in the microwave and warm for 20 seconds.

Brew coffee. You want it really strong.

While coffee is brewing, place 7 ounces of milk in a saucepan and turn heat to medium. It will heat very quickly. While milk is heating, use a wire whisk to whisk the milk for one full minute to make the foam.
Once heated, if you see that the foam is not quite as foamy as you'd like, let the milk cool slightly until it's safe to whisk without burning yourself, tilt the saucepan again and whisk for all you're worth again until you see the milk becoming a foam. If you've gotten the milk very hot during the warming, please just let it cool slightly before you do the whisking. You can whisk the foam back in at any point. If you see it going away, just whisk again and it will come back.

Using a spoon, hold the foam back and pour the milk out from below it slowly in a stream into the mug. Stir together the milk and maple syrup. Then add the coffee.

Spoon the foam that's left in the saucepan on top. Dust with maple sugar.

Serves 1 in a standard coffee mug. Amounts will need to be increased for larger mugs.

WFMW; Full Plate Thursday on Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Spring Gardening: Step One, Order Seeds

2011-01-03T08:53:00.094-06:00

Calling all backyard gardeners: it's time to order seeds!

Oh, wait, did you come here looking for a recipe? Well, don't worry. There will be one in a few days.

While I'll still be posting recipes this year, I thought I'd also write about the progress of my vegetable garden in what I'm calling my Spring Garden Series. This year I'm planning to put in a bigger garden than last year, which was a very small start with about 36-square feet. It was basically a 12-foot-long by three-foot-wide plot into which I tried to cram far too many plants.

The photo below shows our backyard and the area near the fence in the middle that I'm planning to put the garden. Last year's garden was around the corner on the side of the house so as to not intrude on the "soccer field". My husband and son like to sometimes play on the "soccer field". But this year I've convinced hubby that I need a little more space and we have big fields near our house that can be used if there isn't enough room in the backyard for a "soccer field" after I put in the garden.

As a small gesture, I asked him to pick out the watermelon seeds we'll plant (he loves watermelon) so at least he'll feel like he has a stake in the garden and the loss of the soccer field won't be such a blow. (I think he's really okay with me doing this. If I thought he were really upset, I would just scrap it and keep my garden on the side of the house. But all indications are, it's a go.) I assured him if it we didn't like the garden after this year and wanted to go back to the "soccer field" or we for some reason decided to sell the house, we could just resod or reseed the area.

This year, I was momentarily swayed to try out a new seed company by the stunning photos in the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog Just beautiful. I've spent hours pouring through the unique international varieties of heirloom tomatoes, melons and winter squash. In the end, I ordered about a quarter of my seeds from Baker Creek, but kept the majority of my allegience with Sustainable Seed Company and ordered most of my seeds from them. I've also wanted to try out Victory Seeds and Annie's Heirlooms and may order a few packets from those companies, too. All of these companies offer heirloom, non-GMO seeds.

Pretty much all of the seeds I bought last year from Sustainable Seed Company germinated. I think I might have had two seeds out of one herb packet that didn't come up. I sprouted a lot more seeds than actually made it into the garden when I realized I didn't have room for them all. Everything I planted did great (except for the ones I made mistakes with and I'll write more about that later) and that's a fantastic germination rate. So, I think highly of that company. I have no experience with Baker Creek so I thought I'd try them out with just a few unique varieties.

If you haven't ordered your seeds, get to it! The seed sites were so slow yesterday that I finally had to give up and come back around 11 p.m. to finish up my orders when there were less people online.

I did read the reviews listed below the seed descriptions if there were any and this was a great help. On some of the heirloom tomatoes I wanted to order, people noted they were pretty but tasteless. So, I avoided these and went for the ones that reviewers said tasted good and are easy to grow. Realistically, I won't be able to grow even a fraction of all the seeds I ordered. But they will last a few years and I thought it would be fun to have some choices when we actually get to planting.

I thought I'd share a few of the varieties I ordered and a little about why:

Summer Squash

Dark Green Zucchini (Grew this one last year and loved it. Good, basic green zucchini, which is what I want!)

Eggplant

Black Beauty (wanted this one last year and couldn't find an heirloom variety because it was sold out everywhere by the time I ordered in early March.)

Tomatoes

Morning Sun (hearty yellow grape tomatoes, reviewers stated that it was prolific, easy to grow and hard to kill -- right up my alley!)

Ingegnoli Gigante Liscio (gigantic Italian variety that grows up to 2-pound red tomatoes)

Lime Green Salad (I wanted to try a green tomato this year and this one sounded nice and tasty)

Winter Squash

Waltham Butternut Squash (Grew this one this fall. It was going great guns with tons of little squash starting out until the cold killed it. Will try again!)

Sugar Pie Pumpkin (Have never grown pumpkins, but can't wait to try)

Pipian from Tuxpan (A Mexican variety grown primarily for its seeds to eat! Thought this one would be fun to try.)

Watermelon

Desert King (chose this one because it is drought-resistant and can take the hot temps here in Texas)

Moon and Stars (hubby's choice and it sounds like a good one!)

Kale

Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch (a basic variety -- no need to get fancy with this one)

Swiss Chard

Ruby Red Chard (this variety is supposed to do well in Texas and I've always wanted to grow Chard)

Cantaloupe

Hale's Best Jumbo Melon (basic variety)

Everything I ordered is heirloom and open-pollinated. If you want to save seeds from your plants for next year, don't buy hybrids!

January 1, 2011

2011-01-01T18:23:00.033-06:00

This is me today.

I'm posting this so I'll remember. Next year, when I think back, I'll pull up this post and look at the pictures.

I'll remember the park and the fire truck and the chocolate ice cream.

And it will seem like it was yesterday.

I won't be able to believe a whole year has passed.

Just like today. I can't believe it. Once again, a new year has started.

We spent the afternoon at the park. My husband and son played with the fire truck. I took pictures.

Later, I celebrated the New Year with Double Dark Chocolate. The guys had Chocolate Swiss. I was cold and really wanted hot chocolate. But they wanted ice cream.

It was a good idea after all.

Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, I'll look back on these pictures and wonder what I ever worried about, think I looked so young and won't be able to believe my son was ever that small.

New Year's Day was good to me. I hope it was good to you, too.

Smoked Gouda and Hazelnut Cheese Ball

2010-12-29T06:04:00.000-06:00

I don't eat many sweets. At our house, we bought a few cookies for the holidays, but I didn't make any. And I didn't post any treats on the blog. Mostly because for me, indulgence is not eating sweets. It's cheese.

Anybody who knows me can tell you that my favorite snack is cheese and crackers with hot tea. Everytime I go home for the holidays my Dad always has one of those Port Wine Cheese Balls in the fridge for me. My husband buys them for me sometimes, too. And I have to admit, in all their processed horribleness, I love them. If someone puts one in front of me, I will eat it. No questions. I've cut back on them in recent years because they are so bad healthwise, but during the holidays I usually can't resist at least one.

A week or so ago, I was playing around online and stumbled across a site called Chez Us. I can't really describe the excitement I had when I saw the post for the day, which was a recipe for a Blue Cheese Ball. It was beautiful. And homemade. And not too difficult.

Oh, the possibilities!

I honestly couldn't believe that I'd never considered making a cheese ball myself. I couldn't recall seeing a recipe for a homemade version, at least not one that stood out to me the way this one did. Their picture was gorgeous, and I knew I had to try making one myself.

All the possibilities started swirling through my head. I might actually be able to do this myself. I might really be able to make a cheese ball. This was fantastic.

How could I never have thought of it?

I really wanted to make the recipe just as it was written, but given the fact that my husband is not a blue cheese fan, I had to make some changes. What I came up with was a Smoked Gouda and Goat Cheese Ball wrapped in hazelnuts and parsley. I used the basic process from Chez Us and changed up the cheeses and nuts. Simple.

I thought I'd post it today because I made it for Christmas Eve and will likely do something similar for Friday night. This would be a great New Year's snack for entertaining or just staying home under a warm blanket by the fire and watching TV (yeah, we're practicing for when we're old), which is what we will do.

I know this may not be the healthiest snack in the world, but New Year's comes only once a year. If you start feeling guilty, remind yourself that you're getting lots of calcium. And some protein. And you're going to the gym on Saturday. Aren't you? I mean isn't that what we're all doing for the first three weeks of January?

Happy New Year's everyone!

Smoked Gouda and Hazelnut Cheese Ball

Adapted with permission from the Blue Cheese Ball Recipe by Chez Us

Print Recipe

4 ounces of goat cheese

*Slightly more than 1/3 of a pound of smoked gouda cheese (I bought .40 of a pound-- see note below)

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon of lemon zest

1/3 cup hazelnuts
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped finely

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Place goat cheese, smoked gouda, shallot, lemon zest and sea salt into a food processor and blend until smooth. You could chop up the smoked gouda to make the blending easier, but I didn't. I just processed and scraped down the sides until it blended into a smooth consistency.

Take the mixture out of the food processor and shape into a ball or a log. It will feel just a bit sticky at this point, but should hold its shape once formed. You'll probably be worried that it won't firm up, but it does in the refrigerator.

Place hazelnuts in a ziplock bag and close the bag. Take a thick coffee mug and pound the hazelnuts into small pieces.

Mix the hazelnuts and chopped parsley and put on a plate.

Roll the cheeseball in the nut and parsley mixture until covered.

The flavors will be best if refrigerated for 24 hours. But, if time is of the essence, it will firm up nicely and will taste good after just 3 to 4 hours of refrigeration before serving.

* I wish I could give a better estimation of the amount of Smoked Gouda, but I just bought a block that I thought would work. It was about .40 of a pound and it worked just fine. This is an odd amount, I know, so I would aim for a third of a pound or just slightly more.

Foodie Friday; Meatless Monday on Midnight Maniac

Split Pea Soup with Curry and Bacon

2010-12-26T00:01:00.007-06:00

There is very little in life that thrills me more on a cold winter day than a bowl of split pea soup.

I realize that is a big statement, considering that most people would likely find other pursuits to rank higher. Winning the lottery, an unlimited shopping spree at Neiman Marcus, a free day at the spa, or lounging on a beach in Tahiti are just a few that come to mind. For me, however, it's the little things.

I may be exaggerating a bit here (realistically, a bowl of puréed peas in broth may not actually win if I were also simultaneously offered a chance to jet off to paradise in the middle of January). However, a good split pea soup still takes its place high on my list no matter the other options.

Last year, I posted a vegetarian split pea soup that, quite frankly, became an obsession. I made that soup over and over and over. If you're looking for a recipe that's been thoroughly tested, well, click on over to that. There was a time last winter when I had five containers of it in my freezer and I still continued to make more.

Even during summer's hottest peak, I'd be driving down the road or casually walking through the grocery store and suddenly think "I sure could use a bowl of that split pea soup right about now." Weird, I know.

Given that fact, I thought it was time to update the soup and place it squarely in the non-vegetarian category with the shocking and highly creative addition of an ingredient so rare, so obscure that no one could have ever possibly thought of it before. Who would have ever dreamed of adding pork to split pea soup?

I kid, of course.

But there's a reason that people add it. It's good. It works. It makes the soup richer and even more filling. When I was thinking of doing one more soup for this series, I decided on split pea soup because it's healthy, a one-pot meal and a budget pleaser. I thought about going a couple of different directions with this version, but in the end decided not to reinvent the wheel or mess up a good thing. If bacon works, go with it.

In this recipe, I use uncured, nitrate and nitrite-free bacon, which is available at Whole Foods. I haven't seen it in my regular grocery store so I'm not sure how difficult it is to find throughout the country. It's more expensive than regular bacon, but it is freezable. I cook with bacon rarely so, once I've bought a package and used what I want, I freeze the rest.

The only problem I've had with freezing bacon is that it tends to clump together and it's almost impossible to peel off a slice if you just need a few for a pot of soup like this. I would recommend freezing the bacon in ziplock or food saver bags in portions of two to three slices if you use it like I do in small amounts at a time.

I also used a bit of curry in this recipe and it worked well. Adding the curry was a last-minute thought so I wasn't sure how it would work with the bacon. But it was very good. I use Frontier brand, which is mild and gave my house a nice mapley smell while I was making this soup.

Split Pea Soup is the fourth and final soup in my December Healthy Budget Soups series. This one can be made for 94 cents per serving (see the cost breakdown below the recipe). Previous soups in the series were: Peppery Arugula and Green Pea Soup, Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup and Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup.

I hope you've enjoyed the Healthy Budget Soup Series. Happy New Year! Thank you to all who have visited here and read this year. I hope to see you in 2011:)

Split Pea Soup with Curry and Bacon Recipe

Adapted from my own Simple Split Pea Soup Recipe

Print Recipe

1 (16-ounce) bag of green split peas

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 carrots, chopped into 1/4-inch rounds

1 medium-sized white onion, chopped finely (about 1 cup)

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

3 pieces of uncured nitrate/nitrite-free bacon, coarsely chopped (I get mine from Whole Foods)

1 dried bay leaf

3 cups of chicken stock (see note below)

3 cups of water

1 and 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (I use Frontier brand)
1 teaspoon sea salt

Place split peas in a small stockpot and cover with filtered water. Simmer for 25 minutes or until soft. Drain and set aside.

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onion, carrot and bacon for seven minutes on medium heat until softened and bacon is fragrant. Add garlic and stir for a minute or so. Add salt and curry and allow to fry for a minute, stirring occasionally.

Add in water, stock, peas, and bay leaf. Bring to a simmer for 15 minutes.

Remove bay leaf. Puree with an immersion blender or in batches in a food processor.

Check seasoning and add more salt if necessary. I usually add another quarter to half teaspoon at this point.

Serves 6.

*Note on chicken stock: I used only 3 cups of chicken stock and 3 cups of water to keep the cost down. The soup was very good this way, but feel free to use all chicken stock and no water in the soup if you'd like. You might need less salt if doing this so I would recommend adding half as much salt at the beginning and adding more later if needed.

Cost breakdown (The split peas, onion and chicken stock prices all came from my grocery receipt. Other items are estimated):

Split peas, .89

olive oil, .10

carrots, .20

onion, .50

garlic, .15

bacon, 1.00

bay leaf, .15

chicken stock, 2.50

water, free

sea salt, .10

curry powder, .10

Total cost: $5.69

Cost per serving: 94 cents

Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays; Tasty Tuesdays

The Christmas Story

2010-12-24T11:00:00.001-06:00

"And it came to pass in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.

This census first took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.

So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child.

So it was, that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered.

And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling cloths, and laid Him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn.

Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

And behold an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.

Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.'

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

'Glory to God in the highest,

And on earth peace, good will toward men!'"

Luke 2: 1 - 14

Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup Recipe

2010-12-20T00:01:00.012-06:00

This past week I received an education in Mexican soups. Some of my husband's relatives were visiting and I wanted to cook a meal for them that would make them feel at home. Since it's winter, I thought of a soup. It just so happens that this Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup fits right into my Healthy Budget Soup Series.

I mentioned to our guests one morning that I'd like to make soup for dinner and would they like bean soup? That got a warm reception so I casually started passing the ingredients by them that I was thinking of using. I didn't want to try to make a Mexican Soup and then put a bunch of non-Mexican ingredients in it. So I asked just to be sure.

Black beans and onions okay?

Check.

Chipotle in Adobo and Cumin?

Check, check.

Tomatoes and Corn?

Check, check, check.

Later that day I set to work. I had thought in advance about how I wanted to put the soup together so I gathered my ingredients and made it the way I had envisioned. It turned out exactly the way I had hoped. The flavor was good, it was slightly thick like a stew and filling, and the chipotle added just a little heat.

The soup got a good review from our visitors and, in turn, they taught me a few things about Mexican soups. I love finding out about all the little nuances that make a culture unique and there was much to learn from them on many subjects. On this night, though, the conversation stayed on soup. First, soup is not typical in Mexico for dinner, at least not at home. One might go to a restaurant and have soup for dinner, but usually soup is reserved for the big meal of the day, around 2 or 3 p.m.

There are two types of soups in Mexico: wet soups (called sopa aguada) and dry soups (sopa seca). Wet soups are what we think of here in the U.S, broth-filled or at least liquidy even if they are puréed. But dry soups are a different story. Dry soups are pasta or rice.

It took me awhile to grasp this concept. So, dry soups, I finally asked after some discussion, aren't really soups; they're just pasta or rice? One of our guests explained that dry soups are, indeed, soups to them. They just aren't what people in the U.S. would consider soups.

I thought about this for awhile and realized that both pasta and rice are made with liquid, which is either absorbed or drained before eating. So, they are in a sense, soups that are eaten dry. I don't know if that is the rationale behind the title in Mexico, but that's how I wrapped my head around it.

For a typical midday meal, one might have sopa aguada or sopa seca or both. But if having both, there would be small portions of each. Then, there would be the main dish of chicken or fish or something substantial. And then dessert. For dinner much later in the evening, they usually have something light like a quesadilla. I knew some of this from visiting there and eating by their typical schedule, but some of it, the wet and dry soup part, was news to me.

I also learned during dinner that night on a totally different soup subject that there is a wide range of tastes when it comes to the level of spice that people like. For instance, this Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup was slightly more spicy than I would normally want. I put the chipotle in knowing that would happen since I was making it for people who eat spicy food on a regular basis. I liked it enough the way it came out that I would make it again as it is. One person at the table wanted half as much spice. Another wanted twice as much. And still another thought the spice level was perfect. Interesting.

What I can tell you about the spice level is that I could taste it. I felt the heat, but not so much that it kept me from tasting the food. It certainly could be made with a half a chipotle in adobo to tone it down or even a sprinkling of ground chipotle or cayenne to give it just a tiny bit of a kick.

I named the soup "Mexican-inspired" because I learned from our visitors that in a true Sopa de Frijoles Negro, all the beans would be puréed. I left most of them whole and puréed only a bit to create a thick base. As far as the cost of this soup, it is really rock bottom for what you get. I came up with a total of about $5.47 for the pot or 91 cents per serving (see below the recipe for the cost breakdown). The most expensive item in the soup is the chipotle in adobo, which cost about $1.50 for a can. It seems a waste to take out one chipotle from that big can and not use the rest, so the remainder can be frozen. The unused peppers can be put into ziplock bags with a little of the sauce and frozen for about 2 months to be used later on.

As another quick side note, I'll add that I served this soup with cornbread and it was a complete meal for me. I realize I'm stuck back in the '80s with my insistence on combining foods in the same meal to make a complete protein. I know it's not necessary all at once and the foods can be eaten at different times during the day. I'm not a vegetarian but I eat like one (or even like a vegan) many days of the week and it just makes me feel better to know I'm getting my protein all in one shot. So, the beans in the soup combined with the corn and the cornbread made the full protein and a good dinner.

Next week I'll finish up the Healthy Budget Soup Series with another filling, nourishing, and low-cost soup.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Mexican-Inspired Black Bean Soup
by Kari Romo
Print Recipe

2 small-to-medium-sized yellow onions, chopped finely (about 1 and 1/2 cups
2 to 3 small-to-medium-sized garlic cloves, minced (1 Tablespoon)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped finely and seeds kept (1 Tablespoon)
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
5 cups water for the soup (plus whatever is needed to soak and cook beans)
1 (14.5-ounce) can of diced tomatoes (entire can -- juices and tomatoes added to soup)
1 (1 lb.) bag of dried black beans, cooked and drained (About 5 and 1/2 cups of cooked beans)
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 dried bay leaf
*1/2 Tablespoon ground cumin plus 1/2 teaspoon
1/4 teaspoon mild smoked paprika
2 teaspoons cornstarch plus 5 Tablespoons hot water
2 cups yellow corn kernels (frozen is fine)

The night before making the soup, place beans in a large bowl and cover with two-to-three-inches of filtered water. Leave to soak overnight. In the morning, drain the soak water (see note below) and rinse the beans.

Place beans in a stockpot with fresh water to cover and simmer two hours. Add more water during cooking as needed to keep beans from going dry.

Once beans are done. Drain and set aside.

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions and reduce heat to just shy of medium. Stir occasionally for 7 to 8 minutes until onions are softened, but not browning. Add garlic and stir for one minute. Add chopped chipotle and stir well to incorporate into onions and garlic. Add salt and pepper and stir.

Add water, beans, tomatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, cumin and paprika.

Stir well and bring heat up until soup is simmering. Allow to simmer 15 minutes, covered.

After the soup has simmered, remove bay leaf and discard. Lower heat to low.

Place 2 cups of soup, including a mixture of beans, onions, tomatoes and liquid, in a food processor and blend for a full minute until smooth. Add back into the pot.

Turn heat back up to medium.

Heat 5 Tablespoons of water in a small bowl in the microwave until very hot or just boiling. Remove bowl from microwave and carefully whisk in 2 teaspoons of cornstarch. Whisk until smooth and add into the soup.

Bring soup to a low simmer and stir well to incorporate the cornstarch water. Add corn and allow soup to simmer about five minutes to thicken slightly. Check seasoning and add more salt and pepper as desired.

Serves 6.

*The reason for the odd measurement of cumin is that I initially added 1/2 Tablespoon and later in the cooking process decided it needed a little more.

**The soak water should be drained. It's not a good idea to cook in the soak water because some beans release toxins into the water during soaking and that water should be discarded.

Cost breakdown (I added in the cost of the entire can of chipotle in adobo to the total cost since it's an ingredient that many people don't keep on hand and it's one of those things that people might have to buy especially for this soup. Even with the whole can included the cost is only 91 cents a serving. Without the can and factoring the real cost of the one chipotle, the cost of the soup is about 70 cents a serving).
Beans .89
Onion .60
Garlic .15
Tomatoes .89
Corn .29
Chipotle 1.50 (whole can)
Cumin .15
Paprika .10
Tomato Paste .25
Bay Leaf .15
Cornstarch .20
Olive Oil .20
Salt .05
Pepper .05
Water free
Total: $5.47 or 91 cents per serving

Previous soups in this month's Healthy Budget Soup series included Peppery Arugula and Green Pea Soup and Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup.

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Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup

2010-12-13T00:01:00.009-06:00

This Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup fills the second slot in my December Healthy Budget Soup series. Last week's Arugula Soup started off the series with a delicious, nourishing and thrifty soup for only $1.10 per serving. This week's soup tops out at 65 cents per serving or $3.90 for the entire pot! See the complete cost breakdown below the recipe.

Awhile back my husband and I took our son on another library adventure. My son loves the library. I've written about this before so suffice it to say, it's a fun place for him and I (used to) get quite a workout chasing him around. I can tell in the past couple months he's settling down a bit and he doesn't run everywhere he goes. Just most places, but not everywhere:) His personality is showing itself to to be very sweet and lovable. He's still energetic, but is more focused on talking and learning his numbers and letters and things of that nature so he seems like he's calming down a bit. On this particular library trip, which was back in the early fall, he was still training me for my next 5K and I decided I needed reinforcements with me to help keep him rounded up. So my husband joined us.

My husband hadn't been to the library, but had heard about our trips there and wanted to know what all the fuss was about. The library we go to has a particularly good kids section, with tables the kids can sit at to play and read, puzzles, computers that kids can play games on and all the books around that they can just grab and look at for two seconds and then get another one, which is what they do. It's the ultimate freedom for my son to have all those books to take down from the shelves (I put them back up when he's done) and also be allowed to actually punch the keys on a real computer (they have child-proof keyboards).

While my husband kept watch, I found a few children's books to check out and bring home for bedtime stores. One of them was Carrot Soup by John Segal. I thumbed through it quickly and decided it looked cute and age-appropriate and added it to my stack.

Once home, I tried to read it to my son, but halfway through the story he was off playing with his cars on the other side of the room. I figured he had probably had enough books for the afternoon and just wanted to zoom around the room with his collection of Matchbox cars and firetrucks. I put it aside and it got lost in his stack of books for awhile. Imagine my surprise when one day I asked him if he wanted to pick out a book to read and he rifled through the stack, chose his book, and proudly announced the title: "Cawwott Soot".

What? How did he even remember the title when I read only half of it one time?

I was really surprised. He must have been listening even when I thought he wasn't. I read him the book again and this time we made it to the end. Once at the end I realized the book contained a recipe for Rabbit's Favorite Carrot Soup. It was simple and sounded good. So, I made it with a few adaptations.

I made it the first time back in the early fall in a pressure cooker, which means I could make it fast. It takes only two minutes to cook carrots in a pressure cooker and then there's only puréeing left. I've also made the soup several times in a stockpot and, while it's not nearly as fast as the pressure cooker, the slower method has a certain appeal for me, too.

If you don't have a pressure cooker, never fear. I've posted the stockpot-friendly version below as well.

Sometimes carrot soup can be a little too carroty even for a carrot-lover like me. I added the cream to help knock down that carroty flavor just a bit and more dill can be added if desired to help with that as well. A quick health note about the cream in the soup: don't be afraid of it. The fat in the cream will help your body absorb the beta-carotene.

Dilled Carrot and Cream Soup Recipe

Adapted from the children's book Carrot Soup by John Segal

Print Recipe

6 cups water
2 lbs. of carrots, sliced into 1-inch thick rounds
1 and 1/2 cups chopped white onion
2 medium-sized cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 dried bay leaf
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 cup heavy cream

Pressure Cooker Recipe:

Add all ingredients to a pressure cooker except dill and cream. Bring to pressure and cook for two minutes after cooker has reached pressure. Do a fast cool according to manufacturers instructions and be very careful removing lid. Remove bay leaf and discard. Add dill and stir into soup while still very hot.

Once soup has cooled slightly, purée three quarters of the soup and add back into the pot. Check seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if necessary. Add cream and heat through if necessary, but don't boil after cream is added.

Stockpot version:

Add all ingredients except cream to a stockpot. Bring to a simmer and allow to cook, covered, until carrots are very soft and mash easily when pressed with a spoon, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove bay leaf and discard. Cool. Purée three quarters of the soup in a blender, food processor or with an immersion blender. Return the purée to the stockpot and stir through. Check seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed and stir in cream. Warm if necessary after adding cream.

Serves 6.

Carrot Soup Ingredient Cost Breakdown (carrots and onions taken from my grocery receipt; everything else estimated):

2 pounds of carrots ($2.00)
1 onion (60 cents)
2 cloves garlic (20 cents)
1 bay leaf (15 cents)
sea salt (5 cents)
pepper (5 cents)
dried dill (35 cents)
heavy cream (50 cents)
water (free)
Total: $3.90 or 65 cents per serving

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