Butternut squash

This soup made me realize how butternut squash got it's name. The recipe uses the squash as a thin-ish pureed base for rice, corn and sausage. It's amazing, so buttery and warm and hearty without being thick. It's a butternut squash revelation.

I only wish I didn't take it to my sexy husband's family's house for dinner. Of course they loved it, but there were no leftovers. :(

(The picture is from the recipe at foodnetwork.com. My camera is still lost.)

Ribolita

One of my favorite soups, Ribollita, served with homemade croutons and asiago cheese.


Homemade croutons are a great way to use stale homemade bread. Just cut the bread in cubes drizzle with olive oil (I like to warm the oil on the stovetop with a garlic clove first) and dust with salt. Then broil until nicely browned. Mmmm.

You can add herbs, but I didn't want the flavor of the croutons to compete with the flavor of the soup.

Light wheat bread

This week...or really last week...I mixed up some light whole wheat bread from Artisan Breads in 5 min a Day. I had every intention of starting with bread, just regular bread, but I never got around to it.

I made pizza twice (once for us and once for the fam). I like to leave the classic pizza to the pizza places. I can't recreate that experience. So I make interesting pizza. This is my own special bruschetta pizza with Ricotta cheese (the cheese serves as a sauce of sorts), and it is definitely worth a try. It's hearty because of the bread, but the toppings (which you don't cook) are light and full of fresh flavor...SO GOOD! The perfect summer balance.

Then, last night, I tried to make pita bread. According to the directions, the light wheat, rolled out really thin, should puff like a pita. Mine didn't (I'm going to have to try that again). But it made really yummy flat bread with random puffs, a crunchy crust, and a soft top.

I used the flat bread as a bun of sorts for kidney bean burgers, my favorite of the bean burgers. To make kidney bean burgers just give all of the following ingredients a whirl in the food processor: a can of kidney beans (drained), an egg, a small onion, whatever spices you want (I used fresh parsley, worchestershire sauce, chilli powder, and garlic powder), and enough binder to make the mixture the consistancy of a burger. You can use whatever binder you want: oatmeal, corn meal, bread crumbs, or whatever else you have on hand (I used matzo meal this time). Wala! Bean burgers.

....on still warm, fresh from the oven, flat bread.

Meatball soup

Hungarian ish mini-dumpling and egg noodle soup

Another of my favorite interesting soups. My sexy husband liked this one so much that he remembered to eat the leftovers for lunch the next day...I guess that's a bad thing. Less for me.

Mmmmm fish sandwiches

For some reason, I was really in the mood for a good sandwich. This was was really good. I didn't think it was inspired. My sexy husband disagreed.

Also from Rachel Ray's Big Orange Book:

Talapia Sammies with Citrus Honey Slaw

For fish:

4 talapia filets

3 limes, 1 of them zested

salt and pepper

Flour for dredging

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 sleeve of saltine crackers ground up

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 Tbsp seafood seasoning

2 Tbsp olive oil

For slaw:

2 tsp hot sauce

3 Tbsp honey

Juice of 2 limes

1/4 c olive oil

salt and pepper

1 (16 oz) bag of slaw salad mix (I confess. I used the mix.)

To serve fish:

4 buns

1 c sour cream

1 chipotle in adobo sauce, finely chopped plus 1 tsp of the sauce

lettace, tomatoes, avocado, red onion, and pickles to build sandwiches.

I'll make this quick...

Season fish with salt, pepper, and lime zest. Dredge the fish in flour, then eggs, then saltines mixed with paprika and seafood seasoning. Then fry them in 2 Tbps of olive oil for about 3-4 min per side. Immediately douse with the juice of half a lime. Serve them on buns with sour cream mixed with chipotles and adobo sauce and the works.

To make the salad...combine juice of two limes with hot sauce and honey. Whisk in 1/4 c olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix with slaw mix.

Here it goes

With my sexy husband's help, I choose a few recipes from my new cookbook (Rachel Ray's Big Orange Book) to try this week. The first was "Creamy Chicken Dumping Stoup." The dumplings in this "stoup" (Rachel Ray's term for a main dish that is thicker than a soup and thinner than a stew) are Gnocchi. I had never had Gnocchi before, but my sexy husband loves them. Gnocchi are really thick, soft noodles. They can be made out of flour or bread crumbs or potatoes. I think the reason my sexy husband loves them so much is because they are basically balls of dough, and he LOVES dough.

Anyway this soup is made with chicken, a couple of leeks (they have a very mild onion flavor), celery, broth, and cream. Plus the starch from the gnocchi adds thickness. I know I say this more often than I probably should...but my sexy husband and I agreed that this was one of the best soups we had ever had. He wanted me to make it again the very next week (I didn't).

Creamy Chicken and Dumpling Stoup

3 leeks
4-5 small celery stalks
2 Tbsp olive oil (I'll spare you the "EVOO")
salt and pepper

1 bay leaf
4 c chicken broth
2 c heavy cream
1 lb chicken breasts or tenders, diced
2 (12 oz) packages gnocchi
A handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped (I forgot to buy some so I had to use dried)
1 tsp sweet paprika
3 Tbsp dry sherry (I used the nasty cooking sherry)

Trim off the top 3-4 inches of the leeks and the roots and the bottom. Halve them and cut into 1/2 inch slices. Rinse really well. Thinly slice the celery.

Saute leeks and celery in oil with salt, pepper, and bay leaf for about 5 min. Add stock and bring to boil. Stir in cream and reduce heat to simmer.

Rachel Ray says to add chicken and gnocchi "when the soup bubbles." I'm not really sure when that will be if you're decreasing from a boil to a simmer. I just waited a few minutes. Then you're supposed to cook the whole thing for another 5-6 min...which made me think that she forgot to tell me to cook the chicken ahead so I grilled it before I put it into the soup.

After the soup becomes creamy stew stir in parsley, paprika, and sherry.

Serve immediately. This is a REALLY filling soup. My sexy husband and I both have very big appetites, and we were full after one large bowl.

The soup reheats quite well. I just added a bit more water before microwaving or it's way too thick.

I really hope you try this soup. I'll want to run out and buy the cookbook after you do. :)

I hit the nail on the head....yes....

Alright, alright. I know that bacon isn't exactly healthy: neither is white ciabatta bread. And a few tomato slices and a peice of lettace don't exactly equal a salad. But I when I was looking for recipes for this week, I found a recipe for BLT's with brie. Doesn't that sound fantastic? It is.





To salve my conscience, I served these BLT's with a basic broth soup: Matzo ball soup (I know, Matzo ball soup isn't a raw vegetable salad either, but it's better than...say...homemade mac and cheese). Come to find out, Matzo ball soup is one of my sexy husband's top 5 favorite soups ever. Couple that with the fact that BLT's are one of my sexy husband's top 5 favorite foods ever, and I think I hit the nail on the head...yes...yes, I did. +

Matzo ball soup

1/2 c matzo meal

2 eggs

1 t salt

2 T vegetable oil

1 T water

Combine all ingredients except water. Then add water until consitantly incorporated. Chill mixture for a least 15 minutes (I chilled it overnight). Form into 1 inch balls and drop into 1 1/2 quarts boiling water or broth. Reduce heat, cover, and cook for 40 minutes (will double in size and float). Serve in chicken broth. You can add veggies like peas and carrots if you want. I would have, but my sexy husband likes this soup plain (I only added a couple of bay leaves during cooking and some parsley).

At long last

I've been feeling like we aren't eating well...too much comfort food and not enough salad. So I tried to plan some light meals that include raw vegetables this week. On Monday we had warm chickpea and arugula salad (for a picture see this blog dedicated to Mark Bittman). This salad comes from my mother-in-law's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook. The recipe came very highly recommended, and it didn't disappoint. I served it with a white bean soup from How to Cook Everything. The white bean soup was fabulous...just my style...really simple and cheap and good.

White Bean Soup

1/2 c dried white beans (navy or great northern), rinse and picked over

6 c water or broth

1 medium onion, chopped

chopped parsley for garnish (optional...I liked it better without the parsley)

salt and pepper

I have found that beans don't get really soft when you cook them with salt, and you need to them to be really soft in this recipe. So, I cooked the beans and onions in 6 c water for about an hour. Then I added a couple of teaspoons Better than Boulion chicken broth base. Better than Boulion is very saltly, so I didn't add extra salt. Once the beans are soft, puree the soup and serve. That's it! I love soup!

After dinner my father-in-law came over to watch Monday night football. Shortly after he arrived, he and my sexy husband went downstairs to grab a beer. They were gone for a long time, and I heard lots of banging around. I assumed that they were checking out my sexy husband's basement project. Wrong. I walked into the dining room to grab my checkbook so we could pay our condo fee, and I caught them with the oven pulled out and tools everywhere. An hour later, my oven was fixed!!!

Out of gratitude I made them apple crisp with homemade icecream.

I thought it might be fun to make little individual apple crisps. It wasn't worth it. We ate two individual crisps per serving anyway.:)

Oh yeah. Now the fun starts.

A good week and a better weekend

This was a really good food week.

Wednesday: Braised mustard greens with black-eyed peas and Andouille sausage. I got the recipe from the New York Times and made obvious adjustments. You know, I had never tried mustard greens. They really taste like mustard. Crazy!

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Thursday: Amazon Bean Soup with Winter Squash and Greens. I used butternut squash instead of buttercup squash for no reason except Giant Eagle only had butternut. This was my favorite squash soup yet, and I love squash. It had a really nice squash flavor without being overpowering or sweet.

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I had an even better weekend because I love cooking for people. Saturday night we had a house full of people here to celebrate the first anniversary of some friends from out of town. I made two dips.

This dip is really simple, but it looks pretty and tastes amazing. It's a block of cream cheese with a mixture of raspberry preserves and jalapeno preserves (in approximately equal quantities) on top. That's it--berries with a tiny bit of bite. I serve it with Wheat Thins.

My second dip was a new recipe to me--Pan-Fried Onion Dip. This is the real stuff. No onion soup mixes. Just onions. Just amazingness. I'm definitely going to make this again.

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Sunday I brought brunch and dinner to the fam's (in-laws) house. We always have Sunday brunch with the fam, but I've been so desperate to cook for people that I volunteered to make the food this time.

We started with a basic fruit salad of sliced pears with grapes and walnuts.

The main event was Roasted Vegetables on English Muffins with Cheese Sauce. I got this recipe from "Cookshelf Vegetarian" published by Parragon Publishing. I only changed a few things. They wanted me to buy a bottle of "garlic vinegar" and vermouth just to use a couple of tablespoons in the vegetable marinade. Nope. Not going to do that. I doubled this recipe that is supposed to serve 4. We had leftovers.

1 red onion, cut into eights

1 small eggplant, halved and sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 zucchini, sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar

2 cloves garlic, grated

1 Tbsp chopped thyme

2 tsp maple syrup or light brown sugar

4 English muffins, halved

salt and pepper

Marinate veggies for an hour in the rest of the ingredients. Then roast for 20-25 min in a 400 degree oven until veggies are soft. Serve on top of English muffins with sauce.

To make sauce melt 2 Tbsp butter in a saucepan over med heat. Add 1 Tbsp flour and cook stirring for 1 min. Take off heat and add 2/3 c milk and 3 fl oz veg. stock. Put back on burner and bring to a boil, stirring until thickened. Add 3/4 c white cheddar cheese, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, and 3 Tbsp chopped mixed herbs (I used basil, oregano, chives, and parsley because that's what I had).

I served these open-faced sandwiches with a basic hard-cooked egg mashed with butter, salt, and pepper. If you haven't tried eggs this way, you should. They are light and fluffy and wonderful. My mom made them like this when I was going up, and it was always my favorite.

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For dinner, we converted the breakfast fruit salad into a savory salad by putting the pears, grapes and walnuts over mixed greens and dressing it with balsamic vinegar and oil. I actually liked it better this way.

And I made one of my favorite soups. When I was a kid and we went to Maine to visit my grandparents, my dad used to go down to the docks and get fish chowder from one of the fishermen. It was a really simple chowder--huge chunks of various kinds of fish and small bits of potatoes and onions in a really thin broth with no seasonings. They served it in clear plastic containers with packages of salt and pepper and some oyster crackers. The last time I very went to Maine with my dad, he let me have it with him. It's one of my best memories. This chowder is my approximation.

I made a large pot full with 6 chopped potatoes and 3 chopped onions boiled in water. After the potatoes and onions were soft, I added about 3 c of cubed fish (flounder and perch...next time I'll use more). The fish only needs to cook for a few minutes. Then I added about a cup of half and half. And that's it. Salt and Pepper and you're done. Simple and Wonderful and minimal. Just what I like.

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Man! It's been good.

Chili

Chili is one of those things I make semi-frequently. I'd say at least 4-5 times a year. It's perfect for fall parties, incredibly easy to make quickly and in large quantities, and really cheap. Normally, I make a version of my mother-in-law's chili (which I LOVE). It's not your typical forkable meaty fare. It has a much thinner "broth" with lots of beans and a ton of great flavor. I guess it's not your typical vegetarian version either because it doesn't include random veggies that do not belong in chili (like green beans and zucchini...like some sort of veggie stew with cumin and chili powder).

To make a version of my mother-in-law's chili, all you have to do is saute onions, garlic, and green peppers then dump in stewed tomatoes, beans (do not drain...just dump the whole thing in) and spices. Simmer for 20-30 minutes, and you're done!


Here's the ratio:

1 med onion

2 cloves garlic

1 green pepper (good...but, in a crunch, I've made it without the peppers)

1 large can stewed tomatoes

2 regular cans beans (For best results use a variety of beans...I usually use kidney beans, black beans, and chick peas.)

1 bay leaf, 1 Tbsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, and 1/2 tsp salt.


For kick, I like to add Cayenne pepper, hot sauce, or some dried chillies from my garden. Sometimes I add extra stuff like chili paste or liquid smoke.

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I've been wanting to make chili since August. Now that fall is finally here, I decided to make it last night. HOWEVER, in the spirit of conquering the food doldrums I wanted to try a different chili recipe. I used a recipe my aunt recently recommended to me that includes cashews and either raisins or molasses. I was expecting the flavor to be a lot different, but it really wasn't. It was good, don't get me wrong. It was really good. I think I'm going to use ideas from both of these chili recipes from now on.

Vegetarian Chili with Cashews

2 green peppers, chopped

4 medium onions, chopped

2 stalks celery, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 large can whole pealed tomatoes

2 cans kidney beans (do not drain)

1 handful raisins or 1 Tbsp molasses (I used molasses)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano (I didn't include oregano because I didn't have any)

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)

1/2-1 c cashews.

Saute veggies. Add cans, raisins or molasses, and spices. Simmer 20 min. Add vinegar and cashews. Simmer 10 more min. Serve (with corn cakes?).

I also added smoked paprika. My sexy husband thought the smoked paprika actually made the dish. I also liked the added bit of sweetness from the molasses. I could take or leave the cashews. I didn't think they added a lot. I couldn't taste the basil at all...probably not necessary. The vinegar...I think I actually liked it better before I added the vinegar.

The next time I make chili, I'll use the my mother-in-law's recipe but add molasses (or raisins) and smoked paprika.

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Do you have a favorite chili recipe?

Last night we had white bean chili. It normally has chicken in it, but I was sick of chicken...so it was simply navy beans, chicken broth, roughly chopped onions, and peppers from my co-worker's garden (3 banana peppers, 2 jalepeno peppers, and one little, bitty cayanne pepper) seasoned with chili powder, cumin, paprika, black pepper, and salt. Satisfying.

On Rachel Ray

I know. She's annoying. But she actually does make really good food, and her show is on when I get home from work...besides that, the concept is quite cool. She makes a whole meal "from start to finish" including all of the chopping and baking and pulling things out of the cupboard and refrigerator during the 30 min show. So...if I were as good a multi-tasker as she is...I should be able to make the "delicious and healthy" meal in 30 min too (though it would probably take me a bit longer).

I started watching her show last year...in spite of her. Her use of the made-up terms like "yum-o" and "E.V.O.O" (extra virgin olive oil...watch out, Rachel Ray brand EVOO is available at Meijers) and her over-excitement drove me crazy. But I like food and making food, so I watched and made a few of the recipes.

I don't watch her show as much as I used to (I don't get home from work as early, and she uses a lot of reruns), but I've changed my mind about Rachel Ray. I think she's a lot like me. She really genuinely enjoys cooking and talking to people about food (even though she's an untrained cook). When she comes up with a recipe that really is great she gets a little too excited (maybe because she's still suprising herself), and she really wants you to try it and like it...so she lets words like "yum-o" and "D-lish" slip. Who can blame her? I mean, seriously, what untrained chef wouldn't be excited if she came up with a great meal like Indian Spiced Chick Pea and Fire-Roasted Tomato Soup, Spiced Lamb Chops with Peppers and Onions and Garlic-Mint Couscous that the average at-home cook could make in around 30 minutes?

My favorite meal from Rachel Ray:

Baked Fish Dugler-ini and Angel Hair Pasta

with Green Beans with (carmalized) Onion

Soup for one

My sexy husband is at band practice again tonight, and I'm making dinner for one. For me dinner for one needs to fulfil two requirements: it needs to be easy to make in small quantities (no leftovers) and it needs to allow room for creativity (being creative cheers me up). I suppose it's easy enough to make dinner for one in normal quantities and eat it for a few days or freeze the leftovers for later (sure beats TV dinners), but I don't like to eat leftovers. They just aren't nearly as exciting the next day. Besides I love cute little things...so small quantities are fun.

My all-time favorite dinner for one is soup...which is to be expected because my all-time favorite type of food is soup. I could almost eat soup every day, and I can't say that about anything else. Part of the reason I love soup so much is because it's incredibly versatile. Hardy. Brothy. Creamy. Italian. Japanese. Cajun. Indian. Soup can be everything.

Here's the concept. Soup almost always starts with broth (unless it starts with stewed tomatoes). Then you add a few veggies (and cooked meat if you want). One or more starch (potatoes, noodles, rice, barley, beans). And some spices. If it's a creamy soup, you throw the whole thing into the blender and add a splash of milk or cream. If it's chunky, you just leave it. Done. Simple.



Minestrone-style soup: canned diced tomatoes, other diced veggies (including potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery), garlic, beans (kidney or white), small pasta shapes, and Italian herbs. (you'll probably want to saute the veggies first, then add broth and beans. Then add pasta at the end.)



Totally workable vegetarian chili: The same as above minus the noodles and potatoes...heavy on the beans (multiple kinds is nice...and peppers are nice too)...and with chili powder, cumin, garlic, cayenne pepper (or hot sauce)...



Cream of potato soup: broth, diced potatoes (probably just one or two if you are making soup for one), herbs. Puree. Splash of milk and cheddar cheese (bacon is nice too).



Cream of anything else soup: Whatever veggie you want (broccoli, cauliflower, mixed veggies...) with onions and garlic (and whatever spices you want). Saute. Cook in broth. Puree. Add splash of milk and cheese if appropriate. (If you want your "cream of" soup to be thick without using a lot of dairy, you can add a potato or some rice to the veggies. Once pureed, the starch will make the soup seem thick and creamy).



Lentil soups: I am willing to add lentils to almost any veggie soup. But you can also make an Indian-style lentil soup by using red lentils (which break down themselves like split peas), curry powder, and coconut milk.



You get my point?...I didn't even get to bean soups....black bean (sort of Mexican)...white bean (definitely Italian)....the possibilities are endless. Soup is fun to play with because it's almost fool proof. It makes me feel like a real cook...you know, the kind that doesn't need to bother with recipes.


Last night I made an impromptu veggie noodle soup.


I chopped up 1 carrot, 1 celery spear, 1/5 of a large onion, and a clove of garlic (food is kinda scarce at my house right now. That's all I had). I sauteed these in olive oil until the onions were soft. Then I dumped them into what was probably 2 or 2 1/2 cups chicken stock (I use "better than bullion organic" which is very salty so I never add salt). To this I added a handful of a Trader Joe's mixture that had rice, orzo, mini garbanzo beans and some other stuff. I topped it off with a bit of fresh Italian herbs. Nice.




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Note: When my sexy husband got home from band practice I had to make another dinner for one. I forgot that he'd be hungry. He had a BT (we didn't have any Lettuce) cause he's a B kind of guy. And he was very happy.

Dinner alone

What do you make for dinner when you are all by yourself? My sexy husband is starting two-a-week practices for his band. I'm not sure how long this will last, but I was stuck by myself all evening last night and will be again tonight. I can't say that I have difficulty entertaining myself. Usually, when he's gone he comes home to a totally clean house (though last night I didn't even do laundry because it was the last competition night for "So you think you can dance?"). However, I do have difficulty figuring out what to make for myself. I generally don't like making boring food, and I never had to learn to cook for one. So I have a very limited repertoire, and if I can't come up with something interesting, I might not eat at all.

Last night I felt like using the Irish Whiskey whole grain mustard (very mild) I got at the Irish Festival last weekend. I decided on a grilled cheese sandwich (obviously very easy for one) with cheddar cheese and the whole grain mustard. I got the idea from rarebit (bread broiled with mustard-beer cheese)...my most sought after party food (you can find the recipe here and a video here). The sandwich was fantastic, but it didn't seem complete. So I made myself a huge salad. Still not complete. At about 9:00pm I decided that I needed tomato soup. Tomato soup is also really easy to make in small quantities. I just approximated the recipe with only one small can of tomatoes (if you don't have a good recipe for tomato soup, let me know. Please do not substitute canned tomato soup. That stuff is nasty!).
Oh man...it totally hit the spot. I can't wait to eat it again tonight...only this time I will be able to have the soup and sandwich together, and I think I'm going to put the mustard on both sides of the bread with the cheese in between for extra mustard flavor (the mustard is surprisingly very mild for whole grain).