roasted garlic cream-of-potato soup

So, yesterday was a solid 54 degrees and 100% humidity. You know that legendary fog in San Francisco? The fog that comes in on little cat feet? Yeah, I'm from Texas, where it burns off by 8am. This fog? This fog STICKS. The city is eerily quiet.

So, in light of the sticky grey that was sticking around, I needed a warm, sticky soup. There were several potato soup recipes in my new Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons, but I wanted more traditional, baked potato soup, the kind you put sour cream, cheddar cheese, and chives on top (or crumbled bacon, for my carnivores). Then I remembered this roasted garlic and potato soup I had once at a hotel in on a cold, lonely night in Denver.... and bam! My roasted garlic cream-of-potato soup was born.

(I took photos but my camera is on the fritz.... trust me, it looks exactly like the creamy, melty, ooey-gooey bowl of deliciousness that is was.)

The Ingredients:
2 large head of garlic, + 6-7 smashed cloves (I KNOW!)
olive oil
about a cup chopped white or yellow onion
7-8 medium Yukon potatoes, peeled if you want (I did not) and chopped (note: Yukons are ideal for creamy soups as they are a little less "stiff" than a traditional russet or red-skinned potato- they are more starchy and tend to fall apart in a soup, so they do part of your work for you!)
1 red apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 C dry-ish white wine (I used pinot grigio because that's what I had but sauvignon blanc probably would have been a little better)
1 to 1 1/2 C milk of your choosing (I used 2%)
about a cup of grated cheddar cheese (if I had had smoked cheddar I would have used that)
salt and pepper

to garnish: sour cream, grated cheddar cheese, thinly sliced green onions, crumbled bacon (optional)

The directions:
First, roast your garlic, and make your house smell like heaven. Slice the tops off 2 large heads of garlic, and nestle them in a cozy little aluminum foil house. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, & pepper, and add a little water at the bottom so they don't dry out. Seal tightly and bake at 400 for 50 minutes to an hour. Set aside (wrapped).

In a large soup pot, heat a swirl or two of olive oil. (If you are cooking bacon for the garnish then do it right in your soup pot, forgo the olive oil, and use the bacon grease.) Add the 6-7 smashed garlic cloves and chopped onion, and sautee for a couple of minutes. Add the potatoes, apple, wine, and just enough water to cover, plus a little salt, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until potatoes are very soft- about 35 minutes.

Take the soup off the heat and use your immersion blender to puree. (If you don't have an immersion blender: let cool, transfer to your food processor, and then move back to your soup pot.)

Next, add the roasted garlic. Squeeze every last sweet, savory, roasty bit into your soup pot, taking care to not let any skins drop in. (Use this opportunity to lick your fingers when you're done. Then wash your hands.) Season liberally with salt and pepper now, so you can adjust during the last few steps. I tend to be an over-seasoner (I considered adding rosemary) but to me, nothing pairs so well with a starchy, hardy potato like good old-fashioned black pepper. Add about a cup of milk and bring back to a low heat, stirring occasionally until all the starch from the potatoes is released into the milk and the soup has a thick, cream-of-wheat-like consistency. (Add more milk if needed to reach your desired soupiness.) Then, fold in your cheddar cheese, a little at a time, stirring until it's completely melted.

Serve hot, garnished like your favorite baked potato.

creamy white bean soup with leeks

I've said it before and I'll say it again-- one of my very favourite things about San Francisco is that it's almost always soup weather! I just love soup. You know what else I love? White beans. And leeks. And my Epicurious app on my iPhone.



"Do you have a kinder, more adaptable friend in the world than soup?" ~Miss Manners


This recipe is super easy and cheap. It was adapted from a recipe I found on Epicurious, which was adapted from a recipe in Gourmet magazine in 1991. I, of course, tweaked it to fit my needs, taste buds, and pantry, the main differences being omitting the dairy and that the original recipe called for tarragon, which I find far too licorice-y. But, if you like tarragon, by all means use it where I used thyme.

Tools:
an immersion blender
soup pot

Ingredients:
2 cans cannellini beans
2 C vegetable stock
2 large leeks, white and light green parts only
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 tsp dried thyme
the juice of 1 large lemon, strained and divided
olive oil
hot pepper flakes
salt & pepper




Directions:
Thinly slice your leeks (first make sure then are properly cleaned). Heat to medium a hefty swirl of olive oil in your soup pot, and thrown in the leeks, a couple of pinches of salt, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes. Toss to coat well and then let caramelize, 3-4 minutes. The rings will start to break apart and get nice brown bits on them. Add the garlic and toss well again, to brown the bits that haven't browned yet.

In the meantime, put the two cans of beans, undrained, into a mixing bowl with 2C of vegetable stock, and 1 tsp of dried thyme. Using your immersion blender, blend to a smooth consistency.

Back in your soup pot, deglaze the bottom with half of your lemon juice, scraping up all the little yummy bits of garlic and leek. Add the pureed beans and drop the heat down to medium-low. Heat up to serving temperature (do not boil). Taste and adjust seasoning. Once you pull the soup from the heat, stir in the remaining lemon juice and serve!



Note: I am extremely lazy when cooking for one, but if I was serving this to people I would have pan-fried some leeks on the side and put a few on the top. It would also be delicious with a handful of garlicky croutons.

black bean soup with corn-avocado relish

Oh MY has it really been 3 months since I've updated? What a shame. I've been cooking, I swear! Just not posting.

At any rate, this soup is the easiest thing to make, and sooooo cheap (I call it "recession soup"), nutritious, and it's so delicious and hearty, but the corn relish still summers it up a bit. L-Ro asked me for the recipe, so L-Ro, this one's for you!

Black Bean Soup

ingredients:

2 or 3 cans black beans

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2-3 cloves garlic, smashed and minced

1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I used the fire-roasted ones)

2 cups water or broth

2-3 big handfuls of a big leafy green (chard, kale, etc), rinsed well, deveined, finely chopped

instructions:

heat olive oil in a large soup pot. add onions, garlic, and salt and sweat or sautee to your desired degree of doneness. seriously, you can't really mess this soup up. add beans, tomatoes, and liquid, and bring to a simmer. add the greens and bring back to a simmer, continue cooking until the greens have wilted. then use your immersion blender to puree to a smooth consistency (if you don't have an immersion blender you can use your food processor-- just do it in batches and make sure you cool it first).

Avocado-Corn Relish

ingredients:

1 cob corn

1 avocado

2-3 cloves raw garlic, microplaned or grated

1 generous handful of cilantro, including stems, finely chopped

green or red onions, finely minced

the juice and zest of 1 large lime (or 2 small ones)

generous pinch of sea salt

even more generous pinch of hot pepper flakes

2-3 glugs of olive oil

instructions:

roast the corn in the oven- spray or rub it with a little olive oil, loosely wrap it in foil, and put it in a 450-degree oven for 30ish minutes. you could also do this on the grill, mmmm. to trim off the cob, use a bundt pan or a small bowl inverted into a bigger bowl, and slice it off the cob in vertical strips. some of it will stay in neat little chunks and other kernels will separate.

Note: I find finely chopping herbs for relishes and pestos to be easiest with my Ulu, but if you don't have one you can just chop and drop as normal.

In a bowl, combine the corn, diced avocado, garlic, lime zest and juice, salt, pepper flakes, and cilantro. Fold in olive oil with a fork to desired consistency.

Serve at room temperature over hot black bean soup.

Bonus recipe alert!! Serve over eggs in toast for breakfast:

Double your recession savings! You're welcome.

Thai Night (Vegan)

My friend Brian came over this evening. It was the first time I've "hosted" since I moved to San Francisco and I had a blast. I made edamame with sea salt, tom yum soup, and Orangette's peanut citrus noodles (a tweaked version, since I can never leave well enough alone). Tom yum soup is one of my favorite soups- equal parts tart and spicy- but it's not a quickly whipped-up meal, so if you don't enjoy chopping, better order take-out. The noodles were PERFECT- really creamy and peanut-y. I never thought about citrus in my peanut sauce, but the lime juice brightened up the flavor just right.

Tom Yum Goong
Ingredients:

4 C vegetable broth
1/2 white onion, cut into crescents
4-5 shitake mushrooms, thinly sliced (or if you can find them, the adorable little ones that danced around in Fantasia- I'm not sure what they're called but I always see them in Asian restaurants and never in the market)
about 1 C bean sprouts
1 bunch fresh cilantro
about 1 C cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
4-5 limes, juiced, + 1 lime cut in wedges
the zest from 1 lime, about 1 T
2" piece of fresh ginger
1 stalk of lemongrass (or 1 T dried lemongrass)
1-2 t coriander
3 cloves garlic, minced
about 1-2 t hot red pepper flakes (or 1 t chili paste, or a whole or sliced red chili-- it really depends on your spice preference)

Directions:

Cut the lemon grass and the peeled ginger into a few rough pieces. Hit them with a mallet to "bruise" them and release the flavor. You will fish these pieces out when the soup is ready, or you can tie them in a cheese cloth. I used a large tea infuser. Throw the lime zest, garlic, onion, coriander, and chili flakes/paste in the bottom of a soup pot with your lemongrass and garlic bundle and add the vegetable broth. Bring to a low boil and let simmer for 30-40 minutes. You can't really overcook it; it will just get more and more flavorful as you prepare the rest of the soup.

While the broth is cooking, juice the limes. You should have about 1/2 C of fresh lime juice. In the bottom of your soup bowls, nestle the sliced mushrooms, a handful of beans sprouts, a handful of halved grape tomatoes, and lots of fresh cilantro. Once the broth is ready, pull it off the heat and THEN add the lime juice. You don't want the acid of the lime to cook off, so make sure this is the last step. Pour the broth over the raw vegetables and serve garnished with cilantro, lime wedges, and hot chili flakes.

Peanut Citrus Soba Noodles, adapted from Orangette
Ingredients:

8 oz. soba noodles
1/2 C natural peanut butter (I used crunchy)
1/2 C freshly squeezed lime juice
2 t dark sesame oil
1 t+ hot red chili flakes (to your spice preference)
2 t soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
sesame seeds, for garnish
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
3-4 radishes, thinly sliced
2 bunches bok choy, roughly chopped

Directions:

Earlier in the day, mix your dark sesame oil and hot chili flakes in a ramekin and set aside. The longer you leave it the hotter it will get. I let it sit about 2 hours and if I had thought ahead I would have doubled that time.

Juice your limes first, because this process takes longer than the rest of the dish. In a large serving bowl, mix the lime juice, peanut butter, homemade chili-sesame oil, soy sauce, and garlic. I used a fork to mash up the peanut butter chunks and then whisked it to a saucy consistency. Next, boil your soba noodles. They don't take very long, so make sure you don't overcook them. While the water is boiling, slice your veggies. Once the noodles are ready, drain and rinse them, and add them to the peanut sauce. Use tongs to mix well- toss in the raw veggies, garnish with sesame seeds, and serve!!

best comfort food ever

I have a confession to make. I don't like butternut squash. I'm sorry; I've tried. I just don't. I don't like sweet potatoes with brown sugar and marshmallows, I don't like honey-glazed ham, and I don't like vegetable soup that tastes like dessert (and looks like baby food, but that's neither here nor there). I made some last week as a trial run for Christmas dinner, and it was beautiful- a soft, autumnal color with onion, a slip of apple, and a smattering of cumin, coriander, and chili powder- hoping in vain that the savory spicing would surprise me into loving the butternut squash- and topped with homemade garlic & parsley croûtons. It was a huge hit- everyone loved it and everyone had seconds. Everyone except me. It's just.... blah. No thank you. I am closing the book on my relationship with butternut squash.

I'll probably still make it for Christmas because it's so festive and well-liked (and will be served in a hollowed-out acorn squash, fancy!), but not to be daunted by my self-imposed failure, I decided to try my hand at a tomato soup the next day. Now there was a winner!! Plus, there's pretty much no meal I would rather have on a dreary winter day than a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich (fried in butter, natch).

Tomato-Tarragon Soup

Ingredients:
1 large onion, or 2 small ones- yellow or white, chopped
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
1 yukon potato, peeled and chopped
2 hefty 28-oz. cans of fire-roasted tomatoes
generous splash of a crisp white wine
1 carton of vegetable broth (or chicken, if you're not vegetarian)
a generous amount of dried tarragon (a big palm full or a couple of tablespoons, you could use basil here for a more classic flavor)
salt and pepper

In a large soup pot or Dutch oven, heat a couple of swirls of olive oil to medium high heat. Chop and drop your onions and carrots and sautee past translucent- until they start browning. Take your time- this flavor will really add to your soup. Add a splash of wine to deglaze the pot, and make sure you scrape up any bits that cooked to the bottom. Then add tomatoes (undrained), the potato, the spices, and about 3 C of broth. Cover, bring to a boil, then reduce heat and let simmer until the potatoes are very soft (about 25-35 minutes).

Once the vegetables are all soft, blend with an immersion blender (alternatively, let cool and blend in your blender or food processor, then return to pot). Re-season to taste and serve hot with your grilled cheese (mine was a combination of smoke white cheddar and gruyere) and dill pickles.


This makes about 6 servings, and trust me, it's better the next day, so feel free to make it ahead of time and re-heat.

autumn

I know, I know; I haven't updated for months. I'm terrible. I still want to write about my food in Seattle - specifically the 4 Tom Douglas restaurants I went to, thanks to a tip from Orangette. I'll get around to it, I promise. But first, it's finally autumn in the great state of Texas, and I am consumed by soup frenzy. You guys know how much I love soup anyway... but for some reason, I love it especially in autumn. I made 3-bean chili a couple of weeks ago in the slow-cooker and it was great, but this week I made an outstanding white bean & bacon soup - warm and colorful and it just tastes like fall.

ingredients
4 strips bacon
(or, 4 strips turkey bacon + 1 T olive oil)
1 C white or yellow onions, cut in crescents
(or pearl onions: to peel, boil for 2 minutes, immerse in ice water, chop off one end and the onion will slide easily from its skin)
2 C carrots (about 4 large), peeled and cut into rough 2" pieces
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
2 15 oz. cans Great Northern beans, drained
(or another white bean like navy or cannallini)
2 C chicken broth
2 C kale, chard, or other leafy green
salt & pepper to taste

Directions
Fry bacon in Dutch oven (if using turkey bacon, heat olive oil first) using medium high heat. When it is very crispy, remove it and set aside. Put the carrots into the bacon grease (aka turkey bacon flavored oil here at Chalet J) and sautee for about 5 minutes. Add the onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes more. Add the beans and broth, bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer. Chop the bacon while the soup is simmering. Using a potato masher or slotted spoon, gently mash the beans to thicken the soup a little, but not all the way. After about 10 minutes, add the kale and bacon into the soup and cook just until the kale is wilted. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste. Serves 4.

Each serving: 273 kcal, 5g fat (.5 saturated), 16g protein, 13g fiber.

sicky-poo

I promise to post about our Thanksgiving extravaganza soon, but tonight, my sicky-poo soup. I've had a fever for the past few days, along with a lovely fever blister on my lip, (which means a lot of mouth flapping and chewing is no fun,) plus a mighty sore throat and a bit of a sniffle. So now that I'm home and my test is taken- a few days of R&R is just what the nursing student ordered. I made a vat o' veggie soup and have about 30 hours of television to watch. This soup is fast, easy, and has 100% of your vitamins A & C. The red pepper opens your sinuses and the garlic helps promote good digestion. All in all, an ideal sicky-poo meal.

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 t hot red pepper flakes
1 large carrot, thinly sliced
2 ribs celery, chopped
2 C chicken or veggie broth
1 can white beans
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced stewed tomatoes
1 small bag frozen green beans
1 small bag frozen sweet corn
healthy dashes of sea salt and cracked pepper

In a large soup pot, swirl a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Heat to medium-high heat and add onions, garlic, red pepper flakes, carrots, and celery. Sautee for about 10 minutes, then add broth, beans, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Once it reaches a simmer, reduce the heat and stir in frozen corn and beans. Heat to serving temperature. Per serving: 220 calories, 5.5g fat (0g sat), 7g pro, 7g fiber. Makes 6 hefty bowls.

Grab your tissues and your remote!!

asian soup

I've decided to veer my blog in another direction. I'd love to be able to write like Molly or take photographs like Chanelle, but truthfully, my talents lie in creative, nutritious meals for the foodie on a budget. I don't actually make all that many fancy or gourment meals - but I cook a lot and I use food that people keep in their pantries, and I think there's a definite niche of (somewhat lazy) foodies out there interested in learning more about losing a few lbs (or maintaining a healthy weight). Although I definitely indulge, and frequently, there's absolutely no reason one should have to sacrifice taste for health. So I'll be adding nutritional information to my recipes whenever I can.

(PS> I've lost almost 5 lbs this month and I feel great!)

You guys know how much I love soup. Soup is also one of the best ways to fill your tummy without using up a lot of your daily caloric intake, and one of the easiest things to throw together. I always keep Pacific broth on hand - usually chicken and onion. I devised this particular soup out of necessity- one of those "making do with what you have" sort of meals, but now it's one of my favorites.

Ingredients
2 C chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small yam or sweet potato
1/2 C mushrooms (preferable shiitake)
1/2 C white onion, cut into crescents
1/2 C frozen, shelled soybeans
1 tsp sesame oil
1 green onion stalk, chopped
salt & pepper to taste
toasted sesame seeds to garnish

Directions
Wash & puncture your yam, wrap it in foil, and bake. By the way, a yam and a sweet potato are not the same vegetable - in fact, they are not even in the same family of vegetables. They come from different continents and have very different nutritional components. Generally speaking, a yam will have about 30-50% more calories than a sweet potato of comparable size, but the vitamins and minerals also far outweigh the sweet potato. Both are great sources of Vitamins A & C, beta carotene, and dietary fiber (what makes you feel full). Take out the potato when it is done but before it gets too soft. While it is cooling, sautee mushrooms and white onions in garlic and sesame oil. Cube the sweet potato (you can peel it for looks but discarding ths skin will lose about half of its beneficial fiber and many vitamins). Once the mushrooms and onions are done, add your chicken broth, sweet potato, and frozen soy beans, and heat to serving temperature. You will need to salt to taste during this step. Garnish with green onion, sesame seeds, and black pepper. Serves 1 person (2 bowls - that's just how I roll).

Calories: 450, fat: 10g (less than 2g saturated), protein: 21g, fiber: 14g. This dish contains 4 of your 5-7 FDA-recommended daily servings of vegetables.

a blog of trials, tribulations, and what I ate to get me through the day.

Today has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

Honestly. I'm starting to think, at 30, that I don't handle stress very well. I used to be able to compartmentalize better, but now? One part of life stresses me out, and it bleeds into every little detail, which culminated in my bursting into tears at work today, good grief!

I may have told you guys this before, but I have an UNCANNY talent, a true knack, for wandering into a city I have never been in before, and finding a fantastic restaurant. Seriously, it's a gift. I've never steered myself wrong. So, I've decided to start posting about my eating-out as well as my eating-in... if for no other reason than this: last time I was in Denver I forgot to write anything down, and now I can't find those restaurants again.

So, I ate dinner and brunch at the same two restaurants the last two days. Odd... but when you work the hours I work, finding yourself off at brunchtime on a weekend is crazy and might never happen again, so you have to seize the day. Kinda like finding a really good local restaurant that has a no tourists, a great menu, decent prices, and is within walking distance of your hotel.

First, my dinners. The Dish. It's a scant 3 blocks from my hotel and I ate there both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday: carrot-ginger soup (to die for), edamame, mushroom-gruyere gratin on toast, and asparagus/carrot/green bean/and broccoli tempura with dipping sauces of ginger-soy, garlic aioli, and thai chili. Mmmm. Saturday: carrot-ginger soup again, because it was just that good, mussels steamed with onions and white wine and served with GARLIC BREAD PUDDING, that had whole cloves of garlic in it, *thud* and capers, and frites with truffle oil and parmagiano reggiano. (sigh)

We stumbled upon a local French bistro for brunch yesterday, and it was so good we went back today. Yesterday I had the dungeness crab benedict, which was brioche with tomatoes, avocado, fresh lump crab meat, poached eggs, and hollandaise, served with frites that had fresh herbs, champagne vinegar, and salt, pepper, and sugar sprinkled on top. SOOOOO good. With fresh-squeezed grapefruit juice. Today I had a mushroom and gruyere omelet and french press coffee.

Tonight I ate at the hotel... the cocktail: a "Ruby Red"- which is ruby red absolut, campari, and fresh ruby red juice, garnished with a lemon, and the meal: just a roasted-garlic/potato soup that was simply scrumptious. I think it had carrots, cheddar, and I know it had lots of black pepper in it. It was insanely good.

So maybe I have an unhealthy relationship with food... but I am happiest when eating, or cooking, or talking about eating or cooking. I am working with a co-worker this week who grew up in Bermuda, her husband is Japanese but went to culinary school in France, and they used to own an Italian restaurant in Atlanta... where I am going next month and was promised a true fusion meal that would knock my socks off. I can't wait. As George Bernard Shaw said, "there is no love sincerer than the love of food."

Here's to tomorrow being better than today. And that it includes a lovely meal.

Cheers~

Quick n' Easy Comfort Soup (Tomato & Pasta)

This soup is modified from a recipe of Giada's and is vegetarian, although it could easily be vegan if you used vegan pasta and didn't add cheese. But honestly, why would you do that?

Ingredients:
1 large onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, sliced into rounds or half-rounds
6 garlic cloves, smashed
2-3 T dried basil
2 T dried oregano
1 T hot red pepper flakes
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2 cans cannellini beans
2 medium zucchini, cut into half-rounds
1/2 C dried pasta of your choice
your favorite Italian cheese to garnish

Heat a generous swirl of olive oil in your soup pot. Add the onion, garlic, carrots, and spices, and saute until tender. Add canned ingredients, pasta, and about a cup of water, and simmer until the pasta is done. Add zucchini toward the end, and once it's done, serve with cheese, a big chunk of crusty bread, and a glass of wine. The result is a warm, gooey, spicy bowl of comfort that freezes really well (add in a couple of tablespoons of water when you reheat).

Avgolemano

Tonight I made my favorite soup. It's Greek and it's kind of like chicken and rice and kind of like egg drop and it also has lemon, my favorite ingredient in any dish, ever.

Avgolemano Soup, serves 2
1 large chicken breast, trimmed of fat and cubed
3 C chicken stock
1 small yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 C (dry) long-grain rice
1 egg
1/8-1/4 C fresh-squeezed lemon juice (MUST be fresh-squeezed! My first trial had Whole Foods 100% not-from-concentrate jarred lemon juice and it was most definitely not the same)
a few sprigs of oregano
a few sprigs of flat-leaf parsley
salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a swirl of olive oil in a pot. Add the onion, garlic, and oregano. Salt and pepper to taste. Once the onions begin to get translucent, add the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add the chicken breast and poach for 20-30 minutes. Strain and put broth back on stove. Add rice and cook until done (I used brown rice and it takes longer than white). Meanwhile whisk together egg and lemon juice. Once the rice is done, strain again, and s-l-o-w-l-y pour the hot soup into the egg mixture, whisking continuously. Add back in chicken/rice/onions/etc, garnish with flat leaf parsley, and serve with a dry, lemony white wine.

OPA!!!

OK, seriously, y'all, I am SO FAT! This job is killing me. I'm only 5'1"... I can't just freely gain 5 lbs. without it making a serious change in how my clothes fit. And right now I have an extra 8-10. Ugh. My entire problem is willpower: I eat well at home because I only keep healthy food in my house. But give me an option between a chicken breast and a hamburger? Well, I'm going to choose the hamburger everytime. Hello, there are french fries!!

Sooo, I have a week and a half at home, and I'm going to see if I can't flush out (so to speak) some of these excess lbs. before I leave again. My focus this week will be soup and fresh produce. Last night I had french onion soup (with a dusting of parmesan, because honestly, who can eat dinner without cheese?), and replaced my evening glass of wine with a cup of chamomile tea. This morning I had two soy lattes (unsweetened soy milk) and currently I'm chowing on a bowl of watermelon and blueberries, with a tablespoon of lime juice and a teaspoon of wildflower honey. Yum! My dinner will more-than-likely be a zucchini and onion egg-white fritta, or maybe tomato soup. If I can get done with my schoolwork, I also intend to do some yoga. Go me, go!!

Please send good thoughts. Our dress code at work just changed from uniform to business casual, and I haven't worn my "work clothes" in well over a year. I doubt most of it still fits me!!

Curried Butternut Squash Soup (with sriracha!)

Y'all, it just tastes like fall.

I love spring produce, with its peas and asparagus and loads of fresh herbs, and the way it melts into the berries and tomatoes of summer, but there's just something so very, very satisfying about FALL PRODUCE: the sweet potatoes, the pears, the brussels sprouts, and all manner of decorative gourds!

I bought a butternut squash the other day and roasted it with za'atar. It was lovely, and then the rest of it has been hanging out in my crisper waiting to be made into something special. And today I decided on soup.

Now, I'm not big on sweets. I love salty, I love sour, I love spicy, and when it comes to my veggies, I love savory, savory, savory. I grew up my whole life thinking I hated sweet potatoes, because I'd only ever had them covered in marshmallows!!! Can you believe that nonsense?

This one is super easy, super cheap, and super satisfying on a crisp fall day. Here's what you do: first, swirl some olive oil in a pot and turn the stove on. While it's heating, chop an onion. Cry. Add the onion to the oil, add some salt, and get that to sweating. While the onion is cooking, go ahead and peel/mince a coupla-three garlic cloves and about an inch of fresh garlic. Then grab a butternut squash-- I only used half, but it was probably 3-4 cups, peel that and dice it into cubes.

When the onions turn translucent, add the garlic and ginger, and stir it around for a minute or so until you can smell it, add some more salt, a generous pinch (or two) of hot chile flakes, a dried chile de arbol, and about 2 tablespoons of good curry powder. I used Madras, but use your preferred brand or your own mixture.

Add the squash, mix that all up, and cover it with a quart of vegetable or chicken broth. I used chicken, because it was on sale this week, but if you use veggie, ta-da! your recipe will be veggie. Cover it, bring it to a boil, then back off the heat and simmer until the butternut squash is very tender (as in, you can easily mash it with the back of a spoon). At this point, text the broth and re-season. I found it to need quite a bit more salt.

Now here's the important part: Let it cool a bit. Otherwise when you inevitably end up wearing it like I did, it won't scald the ever-living $&%*! out of you like it did me.

ouch.

So now that we've let it cool, puree it with an immersion blender. Alternatively, you could move it by batches into a stand blender, but that's a lot of work and you should really own an immersion blender.

Puree until smooth-- believe me when I say this needs no cream to be silky-- and then reheat to serving temperature, taste again for seasoning, and top with a glog of good olive oil (and sriracha, if like me, you want it even spicier). 

like a sweater for your insides.

And here's the other important part: do NOT leave off the olive oil. Fat spreads the flavor across your tongue. Fat lets all that deliciousness get down into the grooves of your taste buds. Fat-free food is gross. So twirl some olive oil on top and enjoy your bowl of autumn.

Fall Casserole (Vegan)

Wow- I did it!!!!!

Thanksgiving was wonderful. Really, a lovely day. I am fat, happy, and exhausted. And seriously, who needs turkey?




First recipe, my own Wild Rice Casserole with Sweet Potatoes, Leeks, Cranberries, & Pumpkin Seeds: (very loosely adapted from a brown rice with pumpkin recipe in last month's Vegetarian Times)

Coarsely chop a couple of sweet potatoes and a bunch of leeks (white and light green parts only-- save the dark greens for a soup later in the week). Arrange them in a oiled casserole pan and roast at 350 for about 30 minutes or so, stirring once or twice. The sweet potatoes should be just less than done because it will go back in the oven later. Look, doesn't it just look like fall??




In a soup pot or dutch oven, heat a couple of swirls of olive oil, and gently sautee a small white onion and 2-3 carrot stalks (chopped) with 2 bay leaves, 2 t of ground sage, 2 t of ground rosemary, and salt & pepper to taste. When the onions start to get translucent, throw in a cup and a half of wild rice and 4 C of vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until the rice is done and all the liquid is absorbed, about an hour.

When the sweet potatoes and leeks are done roasting, pull the casserole dish from the oven and add in a cup of dried cranberries. The heat from the vegetables will plump them up a little. Once the rice is done, pour it into the dish, folding it in with the sweet potatoes and leeks until it's uniformly mixed. Top with 1/4 of toasted pumpkin seeds and put back in a warm oven to serving temperature.




It's the solid, earthy sweet potatoes meld just perfectly with the delicate leeks and the tangy cranberries. The sage and pumpkin seeds hint it toward Thanksgiving and the rosemary gives it a wild, almost forest-like essence, like you could be eating outside under a fir tree. Heavenly!

Coming soon on Food, Glorious Food, apple-onion stuffin' muffins (adapted from Rachel Ray), vegan make-ahead (up to 4 days ahead!) gravy, the best cranberry sauce you will ever eat, and the "so easy I shouldn't even call it cooking but so good it's the last thing people talk about on their way out the door" creamed corn.

comfort food for non-superheroes

I feel bad even posting this on my cooking blog, being as I don't actually make a single part of it... but sometimes, you just don't feel like cooking. Sometimes you're just too busy, too tired, too lazy, or just plain too hungry to go 7 rounds in the kitchen, no matter how much you love to cook.

1 can Italian-style stewed tomatoes (w/ basil, garlic, & oregano)
1 can organic cream of tomato soup
1 tsp dried basil
salt/pepper to taste (and I am ALL about the black pepper with tomatoes)
1-2 oz of good pecorino romano cheese

I didn't take a photograph because I have red dishes, and well, what's a picture of tomato soup in red dishes? but honestly, this is one of my favorite meals. It's beautiful, fragrant, and filling, and sometimes all a superhero needs is to take off her cape, put her feet up, and enjoy a lovely, steaming bowl of hearty tomatoes, sweet basil, sharp cheese, and black pepper.

Christmas is coming, the (tofu) is getting fat....

I cannot believe it is already December 16th. I am leaving for Christmas vacation in 3 days and tonight, far more important than laundry or Christmas cards or packing ski clothes, is getting together my recipes. I am headed to Sun Valley, Idaho for 8 nights with free reign of the Cooke family kitchen- including Christmas dinner. I am told there is a vegetarian uncle that is absolutely ecstatic that I am in charge of The Meal.

So, no pressure, but I am collecting my recipes, fine-tuning my menu for Christmas dinner, and deciding what else I want to cook while I am there- that is, between my skiing, snow-shoeing, antique-shopping, sledding, sleighing, and all-purpose lounging by the fire reading a book in my long-johns.

So, here goes, Jamie's 1st Annual Vegetarian Christmas Event (you will see some repeats from Thanksgiving, but, with different diners, only my 3 readers will know)

appetizer:
baked brie with cranberries, pecans, and honey
stuffed mushrooms

soup:
fresh mushroom bisque

dinner:
wild rice with sweet potatoes, leeks, cranberries, and pumpkin seeds, which I think I will serve in a hollowed-out acorn squash "bowl"
creamed corn
roasted brussels sprouts with shallots
twice-baked potatoes with chives
mushroom gravy in a red-wine reduction
homemade cranberry-orange relish

bread:
apple-onion stuffin' muffins

dessert:
a lovely apple-pear-ginger crumble

extra goodies:
white chocolate peppermint bark
my Christmas-colored oatmeal-cranberry-pistachio cookies

What is everyone else serving/baking/stewing/mixing? I love the holidays-- but am going on a diet come Jan 1 like everyone else in America. I have gained about 100 lbs.

mmmm.... broccoli!

I really love broccoli. It seems like most restaurants these days are obsessed with asparagus, but as far as my green veggies go, I would choose spinach, brussels sprouts, or green beans all before asparagus, and of course, broccoli... always, always broccoli.

Last week a bag of broccoli called my name at the market, but a single gal can only eat so many sides of broccoli. And I hate wasting food, and in an effort to use up the rest, today I remembered a glimmer of genius, and searched through the archives of Making Food, Eating Food until I found this.

Mine was tweaked just a tad-- it dropped 30 degrees last night so I was thinking a in more wintery strokes than Chanelle's-- I couldn't resist starting the pot with a smashed clove of garlic in a few driplets of olive oil, opted for some smokey gouda rather than parmesan, and I finished it with a smattering of my new alderwood-smoked sea salt from the Stonehouse Olive Oil Company. The result was a verdant, smokey bowl of I swear, comfort food- even though it is all vitamins and fiber and nutritional goodness. It was absolutely magnificent.

Ingredients:

a scant teaspoon of fruity olive oil

1 smashed garlic clove

about 3 C broccoli florets, trimmed of stems

enough vegetable broth and white wine

to just cover the broccoli, about 4 parts broth to 1 part wine

smoked gouda, finely grated

smoked sea salt

cracked pepper

Directions:

Heat the olive oil and garlic until fragrant. Add broccoli and liquid with a dash of salt and cover; cook on medium-high heat until the broccoli is fork-tender. Strain, reserve liquid, and put the broccoli in the food processor. Pulse in short bursts, adding the liquid in small batches until the soup reaches the desired consistency. Stir in about 1/4 C of cheese, and serve immediately, garnished with cracked pepper and a bit more cheese.

Tag, I'm it.

OK, so it took me a month to see, but Chanelle tagged me to post 4 Recipes I Always Have on Hand. I don't think anyone really reads this, and if they do, they've probably already seen these recipes, lol, but here you are- My Fave Four, as it were.

1. Olive Tapenade
2. Vegetable Soup
3. Puttanesca
4. aaaand, The Perfect Lemon Drop Martini

I'd like you girls to pop up to Northern California and make me one of the these right now, if you please. I'm lonely and thirsty!!!

oh, ETA: I will tag Gina. I don't think anyone else reads this except Chanelle, the tagger, and Krysten, who was already tagged. *slump*

preserved lemon vinaigrette

So, I've been in the South for 3 weeks. Chattanooga, New Orleans, Atlanta. And don't get me wrong... I LOVE the South. I'm FROM the South. But I haven't seen a vegetable that wasn't deep-fried and/or drowned in ranch dressing for weeks, and my body could not be happier to get back to California, where the drawstring on my yoga pants seems to have shrunk. :/

So yesterday I made a nice veggie-based soup, a bunch of fruit, and bought salad greens. Hellooo FIBER! Yesssss! I never buy pre-made salad dressing because A) I think it's gross and B) I don't like to eat the same thing all the time and then it goes bad.

I'm leaving in 4 days so my staples are pretty sparse, but there's a lovely jar of preserved lemons in the fridge that I made on a whim last time I was home, when lemons were 5 for $1. You can find the recipe here and I must say that while they turned out deliciously, I don't really know what to do with them since I don't eat chicken and they kind of are made for a tangine.

But I poked around a little and came up with a simply delightful salad dressing that is making my lunch zing. It may me a little on the tart side for some of you (I love my acid) so maybe dial down the lemon juice and dial up the olive oil a tad.




Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette
1 t minced shallot
2 T chopped preserved lemons (recipe here)
1 t whole-grain mustard
2 T fresh lemon juice
1-2 T extra virgin olive oil (the greener the better)
dash of freshly cracked pepper
caveat: the lemons are very, very salty, so don't add any extra until you've tasted it. I didn't need any, and that's very unusual for me.

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and build your salad on top. I used mixed greens, thin slivers of zucchini, and an asian pear, because that's what I had on hand, but I think it would really work well with chickpeas, cucumbers, and tomatoes, or perhaps a simple spinach, red onion, and walnut combo. The sky's the limit-- lemon goes with everything.

caramelized cauliflower with slow-roasted tomatoes

As you all know, I really enjoy preparing a little dish I like to call "making do with what you have." As usual, I'm going out of town on Thursday for a couple of weeks, so instead of spending money on groceries, I'm forcing myself to be creative with what lies in the depths of my icebox and pantry. Two very enthusiastic thumbs up to my girl Amanda, who gave me the idea for a sundried tomato pesto which I have eaten at least 3x this week on various pastas and vegetables, and am currently contemplating putting it on eggs for breakfast.

This week I had the great fortune of reading Orangette's new book, A Homemade Life. I loved it soooo much that its only low point was that I devoured it in one sitting, instead of pushing it into leftovers for a week. It has all the wonder of a good dish-- delicate in some parts, meaty in others, and provided me good taste for my heart and nutrition for my soul.

I think Ms. Wizenburg (or can I call her Molly? she seems so personable!) would be proud to know I used not one but two of her recipes last night, and tweaked them to fit my needs. In my crisper sat a lone head of cauliflower, which is a lot for a recipe-for-one, but it really needed to be eaten. I contemplated soup (any excuse to use my immersion blender, you know), but that would have required a trip to the market for at the very least, an onion, so I decided to roast it.

Her recipe for roasted cauliflower (pg 273, or here) pairs with it a salsa verde that sounded scrumptious, but again, a trip to the store would have been necessary, so with Amanda's tomato pesto still fresh in my mind, I turned to a clamshell of sweet grape tomatoes and pg 193 (or here).

I had to go with grape tomatoes instead of romas, and they're so sweet I contemplated adding some vinegar (I have a lovely white balsamic, courtesy of Stonehouse, and my girlies Krysten and Chanelle), but in the end I'm glad I left as is. I had them all sliced and slick with olive oil when I realized I was out of coriander. This recipe notwithstanding, gasp. I adore coriander. But, bygones, not to be daunted by my threadbare cupboards, I settled on 2 huge garlic cloves, pressed, smoky cumin, hot red pepper flakes, and sea salt.

Oven at 200. Generally season oiled tomatoes with garlic, cumin, hot pepper, and salt, and roast for hours. Literally. I checked on them about every hour or so but I think I finally found them at their peak around 3 1/2. When Orangette states "rubies in fruit form," she ain't lying. It took a LOT of willpower not to eat the entire sweet, hot, smoky mess with slightly burnt fingers, right from the pan.

OK, now, oven to 450. Slice your cauliflower in slice in 1/4"-1/2" slices. A good deal of it will crumble away, but that's just snackies while you're waiting. Nestle loosely into a baking sheet, generously coated with olive oil (Orangette suggests using your fingers; I used a silicone brush) and sea salt. Roast 30-40 minutes, flipping once.

I sat near the oven for most of this process, with a glass of pinot grigio, flipping through her book, listening to the hissing, burbling, & popping of the cauliflower caramelizing in the oven. I like it well-done. I threw the pan of tomatoes back in the oven while I plated the cauliflower, just to heat them up, then drizzled the whole goopy mess over the cauliflower.

I fully intended to eat half and save the rest for today... but I didn't. I cleaned the plate and licked my fingers.