from the "archives"

It should be in the archives, anyway, as I made this soup back in October. I defrosted the leftovers and had them for dinner before my trip to Mexico. I thought I'd posted the recipe here, but apparently not. After much searching, here it is.

N.B. This soup improves enormously with a "rest" period - it is substantially better the next day (or even months later, if you are as bad about rotating frozen leftovers as I am).

Cauliflower and Bell Pepper Chowder
adapted from Cooking Light

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 4 large shallots, minced
• 1/2 C sliced celery
• 5 C home-made stock (veggie or chicken) or 5 C water plus Better Than Bouillon
• 1 head cauliflower, chopped
• 2 red or yellow bell peppers, chopped
• 1 C peeled and chopped red potato
• bay leaf
• 1 C 2% milk
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 Tbsp dried basil
• 1/4 C sour cream

Melt the butter in a soup pop over medium heat. Add shallots and celery. Cook 5 minutes or so, until softened. Add stock or water & bouillon and bring to a boil. Add cauliflower, bell pepper, potato, and bay leaf; return to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potato is tender (about 20 min). Stir in milk and pepper; discard bay leaf.

Using an immersion blender, process until some of the soup is pureed, but leave a few chunky bits. Stir in basil and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring often to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and stir in sour cream.

serves 4

Winter (week of Feb 21)

Monday: left-overs
Tuesday: brown rice; sauteed spinach; miso-topped tofu
Wednesday: brown rice; Massaman Curry with Tofu & Sweet Potatoes (curry paste from Thai Curry Simple); Ginger, Rum, and Coconut Sorbet
Thursday: left-overs
Friday: Baked Eggs
Saturday: take-out
Sunday: I'm in Mexico!

Dark-n-Stormy Sorbet

I'm not much of an ice-cream person (all the milk fat gets in the way of the sugar - and I'm all about the sugar), but I love me some sorbets. I suddenly decided I *had* to make this recipe last night, then realised I was out of rum. I made it to the liquor store mere moments before they closed. Of course, making ice cream/sorbet/whatever isn't an immediate-gratification thing, so we had it with our dinner tonight. Yum!

Dark-n-Stormy Sorbet
Adapted from this recipe

• 24 ounces ginger beer, thoroughly chilled (I used Reed's extra-spicy)
  
• 1/2 cup plus two tablespoons demerara or turbinado sugar (or regular brown sugar)
  
• 1 cup coconut milk (I used "light" coconut milk)
• 1 Tablespoon key lime juice (I'm sure regular would be fine as well)
  
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1/2 C finely shredded coconut flakes
  
• 2 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

In large bowl whisk together ginger beer and sugar till foam subsides and sugar is completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. Whisk in coconut milk, lime juice, salt, and ginger. Mix in coconut.

Transfer mixture to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacturer's instructions. When sorbet is finished, slowly pour in rum and churn one minute longer. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until firm and scoopable.

makes about 1 pint

back to smoothies

I am a little faddish about my breakfasts. These fads are personal to me, but I often eat the same thing for breakfast for weeks or even months. Certain things (like skinny ties?) come back time after time, while other things (jellies?) are popular for a while and then forgotten. Smoothies are a classic for me. For a long time, we had a mango-blueberry one every day; before that it was a strawberry-carrot smoothie (which I no longer quite remember how to make). Now is the time of the cinnamon pear smoothie, apparently.

Mango-Blueberry Breakfast Smoothie

• 1 C OJ
• 1 C mango chunks
• 1 1/2C frozen blueberries
• 1/2 block soft silken tofu
• sweetener, if necessary/desired

serves 2

Cinnamon Pear Breakfast Smoothie

• 1 1/2 C OJ
• 1/2 pear, cut into chunks but not peeled
• 3/4 1/2 C uncooked rolled oats (eta: I measured how much I'm adding, and it's slightly less than I'd guesstimated)
  
• 1 frozen banana
• 2 C spinach
• 1 tsp cinnamon

serves 1 generously

guess I should update my profile...

I finally overcame my distaste for dissertating, finished my dissertation, and successfully defended it in late January. Crazy. Anyway, between the exciting (by which I mean "terrifying") run-up to the defense and Victor's long hours at work, there hasn't been much cooking around here. I'm slowly getting my cooking mojo back, though, and planning to post a bit more regularly. Of course, I'm heading off to Mexico in a little more than a week, so don't get your hopes up quite yet (and, to any potential internet baddies - Victor and our ferocious attack-cats will both be staying here in Seattle).

I had some folks over for a soup swap last night, so it feels fitting that I'd start posting again with that recipe. It's one I've made many times and keep returning to, because it is tasty, healthy, and easy.

Chipotle-Kissed Red Bean and Sweet Potato Chili
(adapted from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker)

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• 1 ½ lb sweet potatoes, cut into ½” chunks
• 1 14.5 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15.5 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or 1 ½ C cooked beans)
• 1 ½ C water
• salt, to taste
• 1 Tbsp minced chipotle chiles in adobo

Heat the oil in a large skillet (if you’ll be using a slow-cooker) or in a heavy soup pot (if you’ll be cooking the chili on the stove). Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder and a little salt, and cook for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat, add the sweet potatoes, and stir to coat with spices.

If using a slow-cooker, transfer the mixture to a large slow-cooker crock and add the tomatoes, beans, and water; otherwise, just add them to the pot you used to sweat the onions and garlic. Season with a bit more salt.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours in a slow-cooker or simmer for an hour (or so) on the stovetop, until potatoes are soft. Stir in the minced chiles (NOT the whole can) and salt to taste.

serves 4-6

not-at-all vegetarian roast veggie dinner

Monday: Roasted Cauliflower with Bacon & Garlic; roasted spicy sweet potatoes

This cauliflower recipe would be equally good with broccoli, I think, and with double the garlic. I cooked it at 425F instead of 375F because I wanted a hotter oven for the sweet potatoes.

I mixed a bunch of small sweet potatoes (quartered lengthwise) with 2 tsp of Penzey's Chili9000 and 2 tsp kosher salt, plus enough oil to moisten everything. I roasted them in a single layer for 15 minutes (if they were larger, I would do 20 minutes instead) and then flipped them and sprinkled them with a bit of brown sugar and a little more salt. (This is the point where I put the baking sheet with the cauliflower into the oven.) Then I roasted for an additional 20 minutes.

more laziness (now in dinner form)

Victor's been working through dinner a lot these days. (One day, his game will ship, and possibly I'll get to see my husband again. Oh happy day!) Usually I just make dinner and he takes leftovers to work for lunch the next day (his company generally provides them with dinner if there are many people around late enough for it).

It's not terribly fun, though, so sometimes I just have a snack-ish thing for dinner instead. Tonight it was crackers, cheese, and branston pickle. And since I'm making a renewed effort to keep track, last night I revisited the Sichuan Green Beans I made a while back. I did add more pepper, and it was good.

Wednesday: Sichuan Green Beans; brown rice
Thursday: snacks-for-dinner (cheddar, pickles, and crackers)