Weird soup

Barley, water, veggie broth, garlic, red onions, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, celery salt... boiled, drop 2 eggs. On top, add sugar snap peas, green onions, avocado.
So weird. So good.
So happy with my new Le Crueset bowl!

Lentil, yam, turmeric soup

This was sosososo good.

Diced 1 yam
Diced 1 white onion

Sautéed til soft with some earth balance. Added coarsely chopped garlic (4 cloves), some salt, pepper, a teeeny but of cumin, and a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes.

Added 1 box of vegetable broth and about 4 cups of water. Added 1 cup of dried lentils. Added about 1 TBS of turmeric.

When everything was soft I used a potato masher to blend it up a little.

Beautiful food

Made rosemary bread and vegan cashew "cheese" & had a delightful lunch with my sisters today between clients.

The cashew cheese was so gooood.
Soaked 1 cup of cashews overnight then put them in the food processor with nutritional yeast, lemon, vinegar, salt, farlic cloves, parsley and dill. Blended, and put in a cheesecloth in a bowl overnight. Turned out to be the consistency of spreadable cheese, like allouette or a cheese ball.

Blueberry honey meringues

1 cup blueberries
1 tsp balsamic vinegqr
1 tsp honey

In the oven for about 5 minutes at 350 degrees, then pureed in food processor

4 egg whites
1 cup sugar

Mix egg whites in kitchenaid til peaked, add sugar, keep mixing. Added the blueberry mixture, then swirled in a little bit of food coloring. Dollops of the mixture on parchment paper.

Oven at 275 degrees, cook meringues for 30 minutes, then turn off oven. Leave the meringues in til oven cools.

My 2nd batch I used a pastry tool - the ones that were smaller and taller were crispier, turned out better.

Purple sweet potato tacos

Sautéed purple sweet potatoes with onion, then put them in corn tortillas with radish, pickled carrots, cilantro, salsa and a little lime juice. It was pretty AND delicious, my favorite way to eat.

Tomato saffron confit

The best thing I have put in my face in a long time, and soo easy.

3 pints cherry tomatoes,  halved
1/3 cup olive oil
1 pinch saffron
Salt and pepper

Cook the tomatoes in the olive oil in a medium saucepan on highish heat til they start blistering (15 minutes or so) and add the spices. Then reduce heat to lowish and simmer for another hour. Add more salt if it needs it. Eat with french bread, on noodles, or lick the bowl like I did.

Yummmm.

Celery tomato soup

I've been sick for 2 weeks and it's COLD here in my little house in the big oark! Here's a soup recipe that I keep making!

1 large can crushed tomatoes
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
1 bunch celery, chopped
Salt, pepper, garlic powder, red pepper flakes
Optional: veggie broth. Water works just fine

Put it all in a crockpot or simmer on the stove til the veggies are soft. So easy, so good. Gets better and better! (And spicier, so careful with your red pepper )

Pork and potato stew

1 package of pork stew meat
Half a stick of butter
1 packet lipton onion soup mix
2 tbs olive oil
4 potatoes
1/2 cup frozen peas
2 bay leafs
Salt and pepper
Dried thyme
3 tbs flour
5 cups water

Brown pork in half the butter and olive oil, add half the lipton mix and stir to coat evenly

Slice potatoes and lightly fry in remainder of butter. Turn off while still not soft enough to eat.

Remove pork, add flour slowly, whisk til it's thick. Slice up pork into bite size pieces, add back to mixture. Add water, still stirring. Add second half of lipton mix. Add potatoes. Salt, pepper and dried thyme to taste, add bay leaves.

Cover and simmer on low for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. It will thicken.

Add frozen peas about 10-15 minutes before you're ready to eat.

Lentil salad

So yummy I ate before I remembered to take a picture...

Lentils (steamed ones from trader joe's)
2 beets (also from tj)
1 big cucumber (diced)
1 tbs of sunflower seeds
Apple cider vinegar, salt, pepper.

So good, filling, refreshing. Next time I might add cherry tomatoes and raisins. Yuuummm.

Food that makes me feel virtuous

I made crockpot chicken last night for tacos (chicken + salsa), then instead of throwing away the salsa-y broth it created, I added corn, onion, garbanzo beans, cilantro, water and some taco seasoning and made soup!

In the bowl I added a little cheese and a bunch of tomato. I plan on freezing half of it. No wasted leftovers,  hooray!

Le creu-tatta

My first meal in my le creuset skillet!  A deeeeelicious frittata!

Melted butter and sauteed about half a diced onion on the stove top,  then added about a half cup of diced ham. I mixed 8 eggs with a quarter cup shredded cheese, and added the whole mixture to the pan. I let it cook for a few minutes til the edges looked golden, then stuck it in the oven at 400 for fifteen minutes. It was golden and delicious and lofty, and has much potential for future breakfasts!

Le Creuset!

I have a six week old baby. I spend a lot of time awake at three in the morning. The number of food network shows I watch since Wyatt's birth has increased dramatically.

My favorite show is Pioneer Woman. I've cooked from her blog before, but I have been recording and watching (and rewatching) (and rewatching) her shows now, and have been having kitchen envy like crazy. I've been paying close attention to the dishes and tools she uses, and am at a point in my life where I just want the good stuff.

That being said, I've been coveting her Le Creuset enameled cast iron cookware pretty freaking bad. Hours of breastfeeding has involved a lot of my researching brands, recipes, and uses on my phone.

Last week I scraped together enough target gift cards to buy a 7 quart Lodge dutch oven, but then I found out the Le Creuset outlet was having it's summer sale...

I told Frank, the gentleman who assisted my sleeping, strollered baby and I that I would give him a shout out in my blog. He has no idea how happy he made little wanna-be food network star me. I love this outlet, I love taking my baby on adventures (three freeways were closed, it was a gamble getting here), and I can't wait to use my saute pan/skillet combo!!!

Enchiladas

I am lucky to have an incredible husband. The few weeks right after Wyatt was born, our house was at its cleanest, thanks to him. We ate great homemade meals, again, thanks to him. 6 weeks later and it's about time for me to start figuring out how to balance the things that need to happen in the house, with baby timing.

I'm excited tonight because I made a good looking dinner while baby hung out with me in the kitchen. We sang along to my Leeann Womack pandora station and he hummed happily while I chopped, prepped, cooked and washed dishes. He started fussing right when I put the last dish away. Such a thoughtful baby!

The enchiladas were great. I mixed some ricotta cheese with enchilada sauce, and put a spoonful of that mixture along with a thick slice of mozzarella on each corn tortilla. I lightly fried each tortilla first, and dragged through the sauce. Topped with sauce, cheese, onion, cilantro and black olives. Sourcream and avocado got added after. Canned beans and corn for sides... thank you easy food!

Photos. .. baby chipmunk cheeks, the view of the kitchen from baby perspective, and the finished delicious product.

Harry potter movie day

Yesterday we had some friends over to watch the first two Harry Potter movies. In keeping wth the theme, I made pumpkin pasties and butterbeer!

Seeing as how I have a baby, I decided to go the easy route. I used premade pie crust, cut them into circles, spooned about two tbsp of pumpkin pie filling,  crimped the edges with a fork and baked them at 400 for about 15 minutes. I added some butter and sugar to the tops after.

The butterbeer was an interesting experiment. I heated up condensed milk (3-4 tbsp), butterscotch topping (3-4 tbsp), and butter (1 tbsp), then added a few spoonfulls of that mixture to hot cream soda. It's really pretty and very foamy, but the general consensus was to go easy on the condensed milk, and I could have probably left the butter out entirely.