Foods

Tonight I consulted my blog because I remembered writing about burning my hands on hot peppers years ago. Since then, I've been good about wearing gloves when I cut chilies, but tonight David used the knife I'd used on the jalapenos to cut tomatoes--and then apparently touched his temple near his eye, as suggested by the burning he noticed moments later. It turns out the blog post wasn't that helpful; I'd already had David smear sour cream on the spot, and I don't think he was too inclined to add more condiments!

We're back in the height of CSA season. Friends here in HR are farmers, and we got in on their first attempt at a CSA. Because they're new to it, they're calling it the "Black Market CSA" and it's limited to only a few people. It started a bit slow, but has been great fun--and the past few weeks, has provided a TON of veggies. New (or at least newish) to me discoveries this year have included collard greens, bok choy, fresh fennel, fava beans, and rainbow chard. We've been eating the greens in two primary forms: earlier in the spring, cooked in homemade peanut sauce and served over brown rice; and recently, whizzed into green drinks with fresh and frozen fruit. David is a good sport about the latter; I haven't really relished them yet but choke them down because they're good for me.

I do, however, relish meals like the ones I made Monday and Tuesday nights:

Monday: Salad with roasted beets, spicy candied pecans, sweet onions, and chevre; fava beans with caramelized onions and fennel; baba ganoush; and a whole roasted clove of garlic, served with French bread, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and kalamata olives. For dessert (not pictured), baklava! I'd never made baba ganoush, and wish I hadn't put in as much garlic; we got more eggplants yesterday, so I'll probably roast them and throw them in with the existing dip to tone it down a bit. I also screwed up the baklava by pouring the syrup over it before it had cooled; thankfully, 35 minutes in the oven the next day at 275° crisped it up.

Tuesday was more familiar territory: Zucchini and pattypan squash patties (with the aforementioned jalapenos), steamed string beans, and Greek salad. Patties like these (which I've mentioned here before) are one of my summer standbys, especially when we have a CSA. They're great for using up everything from squashes to sunchokes--I just grate/process the vegetables (squeezing out the excess liquid), and throw in a chopped onion, a binder of some sort (eggs, flax seed gel, and/or--as I had to last night--sour cream), something starchy (crumbs of crackers, bread, cereal, chips, etc.), cheese if I have it, and seasonings (including herbs). It's good fried or baked like a casserole.

I have more beets, heirloom tomatoes, and chilies to use. The first two will be easy; anyone have a good recipe for Anaheim peppers?

Pancake

Recently, I've been making German pancakes almost every weekend. We were getting half a dozen eggs in our CSA every week until two weeks ago(!), so the ingredients were always on hand. The recipe is also ridiculously easy: throw everything into the blender, bake for 35 minutes, and you're golden.

Alton Brown's recipe (I use regular sugar + vanilla, rather than vanilla sugar; regular salt; and soymilk)

David has gotten rather tired of them, though, and even my passion is cooling, so I'll try to find a different delicious brunch staple. Any ideas?

Cake Pops

In response to my last post, Mari asked about my recipe for cake pops, so I thought I'd give a quick rundown.

Hastily decorated party cake pops

Bakerella's basic formula is super simple: bake a cake, crumble it up, mash in frosting, form into balls, insert sticks and dip into candy. I think this is her most detailed tutorial.

The first time I tried this, I made several mistakes:

1. I bought some Fancy Deluxe Super Moist cake mix that called for something like half a cup of oil; even though I didn't add that much, the cake was still kind of greasy--probably fine for regular eating, but not great for cake pops. The second time, I bought a cheap store brand cake. Much better!
2. I used Wilton's white candy melts, which had a dreadful, hypersweet cheap candy flavor. The second time around, I used their chocolate ones, which were far better; they tasted like candy I would actually want to eat.
3. I used homemade cream cheese frosting at nearly full strength sweetness. Paired with the white candy shell, that was way too sweet. The second time around, I whipped the frosting left over from my first attempt--maybe a cup?--with another block of Neufchatel and some more vanilla. That made for a less sweet frosting and a far tastier pop.
4.  I didn't let the balls chill sufficiently before dipping them, and this is probably the most important thing. If they're not nice and cold--the second time, mine were pretty much frozen--the candy coating won't stick well. I had mine in the freezer for probably at least an hour before dipping them, and I wouldn't go with any less than that.

The second time, thanks to the knowledge gained from my first failure, things went much better. The pops actually tasted good--rich, more like dense brownies or even truffles, but good--and were superfun to eat. I wish I'd had a bit more time to decorate them; as it was, after all that fussiness, I was really pressed for time, and ended up slapping on some extra cream cheese frosting piped from a Zip-lock bag. I think I did all 31 (I think that's the number I ended up with, unintentionally!) in about four minutes.

They were a fair amount of work, but a big hit--so festive! I'd love to give them another try sometime, and do fun decorations. There is lots more inspiration over at Bakerella; check it out!

Cheeseball

I made a cheese ball for a Halloween get-together at our neighbors' last Friday night.

It was really simple: Neufchatel cheese, a shredded colby/jack cheese mix, some green onions, and part of a packet of Ranch dressing (not dip) mix. I stirred it together, rolled it into a ball and left it in the fridge (in nonstick-sprayed plastic wrap) to chill for a few hours. Before the party, I shaped it into a rough pumpkin and stuck the stem of a bell pepper on top.

I'd been inspired by a photo of tiny pumpkin-shaped cheese balls (with pretzel stems and adorable parsley leaves!), but decided one big pumpkin made much better sense on my rushed schedule.

Seasonal Eatin'

This summer, I did something I've wanted to try for a long time: joined a CSA! Our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) share is from Trumpeter Swan Farm, which is about 50 miles northwest of us and makes weekly deliveries to my friend E's house (eight blocks from us). E and I went halvsies on a full share (designed to feed a family of four or five, I think), and she did the research on finding this one for us. It was a great find; it includes a dozen eggs/week, includes some fruit (strawberries, raspberries, and more) and delivers weekly over six months(!).

The season has started slowly (right up until our recent hot temps, we'd had a cold, wet spring), so our shares so far haven't been very big and early on were supplemented with canned goods from the farm. However, recently they've been picking up, and we've had a lot of asparagus, some green onions, radishes (which I tried, but ultimately failed, to eat), and most recently spinach.

I enjoyed designing the following meal around the most recent delivery:

Spinach salads with rounds of fresh local chèvre (encrusted in freshly ground pepper), dried cranberries, and spiced candied nuts

Roasted asparagus on a bed of fettuccine in a lemon-scented light cream sauce with CSA green onions and garden chives

Crème brûlée (using lots of those farm-fresh eggs, and local dairy), brûléed somewhat less than successfully under the broiler)

The asparagus (which ranged significantly in size this last batch!) I roasted using David's mom's technique: drizzle washed, snapped asparagus with olive oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt (seriously, I love this salt!) and/or lemon pepper (which, sadly, I don't have, though a little lemon zest can be nice). Pop into 400° oven for 5-10 minutes (depending on size of stalks); flip and continue roasting another 5-10 minutes, until just fork tender. This time around I pulled the smaller stalks out halfway through and let the larger ones cook longer, but it's not usually a problem.

And here are the crèmes, out of the oven but still in their water baths, prior to their burnt sugar topping.

The next day, since we'd eaten all the asparagus, I caramelized onions, threw the rest of the spinach in with them to sautee down a bit, and then added that to the fettuccine, which I reheated with some of the leftover chèvre for an even more decadent dish. Delicious!

I look forward to the CSA inspiring many more dinners to come. What are your favorite seasonal dishes?

Pasta

Suddenly it got late, so here, briefly, is last night's pasta recipe, which I'm calling

Quasi-Vegan Rotini Arrabbiata!

In a generous splash of olive oil, sautee a small onion, chopped, with two peeled carrots, also chopped. Add a bit of salt, freshly ground pepper, and a few good shakes of cayenne. When onions become transparent, throw in a small amount of water and a bay leaf and boil until carrots are tender. Add a can of tomato sauce (I used Hunt's) and some dried oregano and basil. Allow to simmer for a while, then toss in two or three cloves of minced garlic. Simmer a while longer, then remove bay leaf and use immersion blender to puree it all up. Add more cayenne if it needs more heat. I had a few tablespoons of leftover heavy whipping cream, so I threw that in, but the sauce tasted surprisingly buttery before I added any dairy--maybe the carrots?

Toss with al dente rotini (I used one box, and it was about perfect) and eat! Hearty, delicious, and full of fiber and vitamins. I made it with the extra fiber white pasta (Ronzoni Smart Taste), and it didn't seem to knock me out like pasta with tomato sauce sometimes does. A salad would have been perfect, but we made due with frozen peas.

It was so quick and easy to make with what is so often already in my cupboards and fridge that I'm sure I'll be returning to this recipe repeatedly!

Things That Are Awesome VII

• I got summer funding after all! This year my department only gave two of these fellowships, instead of the three they're usually able to fund, and I wasn't one of the recipients... until one of the recipients couldn't accept the money and the department offered it to me.
  
• The department had promised me a bit of money earlier, but it was only going to cover the plane ticket (if that). This way, I can afford to do the project justice--as well as to eat. I'm going to Europe in August!
  
• David is coming for part of the time, too. It is so much more fun to travel with someone than alone.
• I signed up to take a six-week letterpress class!
• Speaking of cutting-edge technology, I bought a typewriter! It's for dissertation research and writing purposes. Sort of. Mostly it's just something I've wanted for a long time.
• Better yet, I got a deal. If this site is to be believed, I saved myself about $820, plus shipping.*
• I had to drive to South Saint Paul to retrieve my 40 pounds of Awesome, but the ladies at the "rummage sale" pointed me to Barb's brother-in-law's shop, five blocks away, where I was able not only to pick up a brand new ribbon, but have it installed, have the holding bracket tightened, and have a brief history lesson, all for free.
• My Royal is in fantastic condition, and types beautifully! I need to do some more cleaning on it, find it a better home than the kitchen table, and post pictures that better demonstrate its beauty, but as you can probably tell, I'm rather smitten.
• How have I been a vegetarian for so long and never learned this technique for preparing tofu? Dry-frying + marinading appears to be the way to go (although Ter always achieved impressive results with baking, this is faster). Tonight I did a marinade of Bragg's, ginger, garlic, lime juice, rice vinegar, Sriracha, and onion before stir-frying it it up with veggies. (Can you believe I'd also never made a stir-fry sauce from scratch? And YES: the marinade IS the sauce. Total awesome sauce.
  

*I don't really think that site is to be believed.

Hats, Pad Thai, Iced Tea

Awww, peeps, I'm a NaBloPoMo failure, already! I missed posting yesterday--'completely spaced it with the slumber party. I guess it takes a bit of pressure off for the rest of the month, although I will still try to get in a daily post (or two; I think it was Mandy who once said that NaBloPoMo is 30 posts in 30 days, and a post a day was really more of a secondary thing).

Anyway, here are those hats that I made. I think I'm going to crochet a flower and stick it onto the front of mine for sort of a flapper thing. My hat has a lot of holes, but the four-ply yarn makes it really heavy, so it's actually pretty warm (although I haven't tried it yet in serious winter weather; we're in the sixties this weekend!).

And as long as I'm uploading photos, let's talk about Friday's adventures in Thai food!

I first discovered that relatively easy and delicious pad thai could be made at home when we threw a surprise birthday party for Hathor this summer, with the theme of Thai Food Extravaganza. Green curry, spring rolls with peanut sauce, and meng khum were also on the menu, but the pad thai was really to be the highlight (I hoped). David had a wok, so we decided to give it a go!

This recipe from Chez Pim was the awesome. It's a little long, but very entertainingly written as well as highly informative. I hadn't actually reread it since we did the party, and reading it again just now I realized the things I'd done wrong or forgotten. Still, I thought it turned out beautifully on Friday, and will probably be different for tonight's mini-party, but hopefully equally delicious.

Here's my take on the recipe (but, seriously, read hers first if you are thinking about making it. You won't be disappointed).

Sauce:
1/4 cup tamarind concentrate
1/4 cup Bragg liquid aminos (I used Bragg's for Heather's, and then soy sauce later, and have decided I much prefer Bragg's!)
~1 tablespoon Sriracha chili sauce
~1/3 cup brown sugar (I'd forgotten this the past couple of times I'd made this, and completely hadn't noticed! I'd suggest starting low and working up)

Simmer it all for a while and adjust to taste (Pim has a great discussion on the flavor balance)

Noodles:
I have no idea whether or not this is proper, but I bring a pot of lightly salted water to a boil, throw my noodles in, give them a stir, and let them soak until they're quite al dente. Then I drain them and return them to the pot, although they did kind of stick together last time.

Prep:
-Tofu (I cut a block into thin, bite-sized pieces and sauteed them in a hot skillet with Pam and little curry powder and seasoned salt. She suggests doing this in the wok, but I liked the ease of having them ready to go)
-Garlic (several cloves, roughly minced. Pim says this is optional; I can't really imagine doing without)
-Carrots (shredded in the food processor, although they'd probably be a little nicer julienned)
-Green onions (sliced diagonally into ~1" pieces)
-Bean sprouts ('totally forgot these last time)
-Red cabbage (optional)
-Lime wedges
-Dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
-Cilantro, roughly chopped

Wok!
Get the wok "smoking hot" and add a splash of oil. I would definitely suggest having an accomplice for the wokking; I generally run the stirring and David throws ingredients in (which is why we lack photos--sorry!). Last time, we did the vegetables first, then the noodles with the sauce, then the garlic, and then two eggs, cracked and scrambled right in the wok (which sounds so much easier than it actually is--sigh). Keep everything moving around as you're cooking, and remember, as I did not last time, to keep the amounts small and well-timed, so that the wok stays smokin'. When hot, fragrant, and delicious-looking, transfer onto a plate and garnish with peanuts, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice.

Guys, this is so delicious. We just had it on Friday, and already I'm salivating in anticipation of eating it again tonight.

Oh, and hey, since I'm on a roll, here is how I do Thai iced tea:
Place ~8 tablespoons of Thai iced tea into French press; add approximately two cups boiling water and let steep for a minute or two before pressing. You could chill the tea at this point, which would be a great idea. In the past, I've just poured it into two glasses filled with ice (ice which quickly melts down to nearly nothing!). Stir in maybe three tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk. I've read that you can use sugar and half and half; I haven't tried that. I have tried thinning the sweetened condensed milk in an attempt to achieve that beautiful layered effect, but haven't been successful. Maybe if I chilled the tea first? Let me know if you have a special trick.

Summer Squash Cilantro Pesto Feta Pizza

I had another amazing weekend, and I'm going to tell you all about it, but it's going to require sorting through 163 photos and videos (from only about two hours of the entire weekend; somehow we managed not to photograph anything else!*) and a fair amount of writing, and I'm not equal to the task at the moment.

So, in the meantime, here's something a bit easier: the recipe for a pizza Ter and I made a few weeks ago, inspired by one currently served on Thursdays at Hot Lips near PSU in Portland.




Summer Squash Cilantro Pesto Feta Pizza

In blender/food processor, whiz:
1 bunch cilantro, washed
~1 handful fresh garden basil
~3 cloves garlic
~1/2 can green chiles (we froze the rest in a resealable plastic bag)
1 small handful pine nuts
enough olive oil to make it saucy--maybe 1/3 cup?
~1 tsp sea salt
dash freshly ground black pepper
dash red pepper flakes

Spread on prepared crusts (the above makes enough pesto for two; I'm sure the excess could be frozen if you only wanted one), and layer with thinly sliced summer squash rounds and Walla Walla sweet onion (our addition). Sprinkle on feta. Bake in 400° oven until lightly browned.

We made it on Andy's Market's whole wheat crust, but I think it would be even better on a thin homemade one. I think it would also be delicious with zucchini. Of course if you're feeling vegan you could omit the feta--though this would make me very sad.

*One thing I wish I had a photo of is the Geo Metro (Popcan!) we saw in Hermiston. Plastered across its back bumper was the sticker below. Oh, Metro drivers, I love the way you think.

Taters*

Oh, Internets. What can make my beloved black beans and rice with avocados, cilantro, and olives even better? A side dish of homemade sweet potato fries with spicy chipotle aioli, that's what.

There's a small local chain of grills in town that serves amazing sweet potato fries with what they call their chipotle pesto aioli. I had some last night with friends after we watched Revolutionary Road (the former, at least, were awesome; the latter was fairly pretty but rather disappointing), and today still wanted more. So, I made some!

For the fries, I peeled two large sweet potatoes, hacked them into sticks, and tossed them with a drizzle of olive oil and a good shake of kosher salt. Then I put them on a nonstick-sprayed pan and baked them at 425 for 40 minutes or so (and 450 for the last 10 or 15 minutes), flipping them over every 15-20 minutes.

For the aioli, I minced garlic and then mashed it into a paste with kosher salt. I threw in a small handful of cilantro, chopped, and mashed that in, too, before adding mayo and a few drops of "very hot" chipotle sauce. I would have added the juice of the lime I bought, but forgot. In the future, I think I'd also make my own mayo from olive oil and an egg; my Smart Balance mayo seemed too sweet. Still, it was remarkably close, I thought, to Longfellow's (and left me with the same dragon breath).

Mmmmm. Cheap, colorful, and a complete protein (the rice and beans, that is). I think I could eat this all the time.

*I like dem French fried potaters.

Soup, Etc.

This afternoon I made what I think was a pretty awesome soup. I can't be completely certain, because I was absolutely ravenous and because I accidentally sacrificed a corner of a finger to the project. Still, I think it was pretty good.

Mostly, it was leftover vegetables from the Superbowl party--celery, carrots, a tomato, red and green bell peppers--chopped up with an onion and sauteed with garlic until soft, then cranked up to a boil with water and red lentils. I seasoned it with fresh grated ginger, cumin, a little bit of Better Than Bouillon, chili powder, red pepper flakes, and salt to taste--topped with the juice of half a lemon. Hearty, a little bit spicy, and hopefully full of goodness.

I've been trying to eat even more fruit and vegetables than usual recently, because I'm fighting a sore throat. I'm blaming it it on the marathon's lingering immunosuppressive effects (and, frustratingly enough, the sugar I consumed at Sunday's party--not much, but apparently enough more than the very little I'd consumed in the past few weeks to totally throw my defenses). So I'm drinking a lot of water and tea, taking my vitamin, and thinking happy thoughts. Speaking of which, look! Flowers!

And here are a few of tonight's sunset (note the icicles in the upper left-hand corner of the first image):

Roasted Butternut Squash & Ricotta Rotini

A friend served a dish similar to this at a dinner party recently, and I thought it would be a good way to break out of my recent curry/soup rut. I modified a few recipes I found online, notably this one. Since I'm not Watching my Weight, I went full fat!

My recipe was more like this:

Halve and seed butternut squash; rub with a little olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt, and roast in 400º oven until tender (for mine, around an hour).

Cook 12 ounces of whole wheat rotini in salted water while making a garlic bechamel sauce (4 teaspoons of butter and 4 of flour cooked with 4 minced cloves of garlic [this was a bit too much, actually] to form a roux; add 2 cups soy milk, a dash of nutmeg, and some dried thyme).

Peel and cube squash; toss with drained pasta and sauce. Pour into large casserole, dot generously with ricotta, sprinkle with grated/flaked asiago, and bake in 375º oven until brown and bubbly (about 25 minutes).

I thought it was pretty delicious, though it is heavy on the fiber, so it's not for the faint of digestion. Aside from the cheeses, it's also pretty cheap; it's hard to beat squash (and here, you can buy local even in the warehouse stores!) for nutritional value on the dollar. I rarely go to the trouble of roasting a butternut squash (after all, they can be nuked so easily!), but they are awfully nice that way, and easy if not exactly fast; once roasted, the skin comes right off.

In the Kitchen

The 'Kitchen has been comparatively disaster-free of late, although I can't say the eating has been particularly interesting, either: rising food costs, the necessity of shopping on my bicycle, and Winter Grocery Malaise have meant less fresh, colorful, inspired meals. Instead, I've been making old standbys like rice peanut butter carrot loaf,* a variety of soups, and assorted baked goods. I tried Melinda's Moroccan Tomato Soup (more or less), and although it was much better pureed, I was over it pretty fast. Friday night I made some soup, and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to use all of my green lentils--probably two cups--in addition to the carrots and potatoes I already had going. It's pretty tasty, thankfully, but at this rate I could be eating it for weeks. I think I'll take Leah's tactic and freeze some individual servings of it.

I have had a couple of bread disasters recently, though. Yesterday, I made my usual whole-wheat flax bread, but instead of making two puny loves, I decided to make one full-sized one. Unfortunately, I didn't bake it long enough, and although it's beautiful on the outside and the ends of the loaf taste good, there's a gummy sinkhole in the middle that's probably not salvageable.

The bigger disaster, though, was when I tried Leah's no-knead bread, of which she had given a glowing report. Although I've been baking my own bread for nearly two years now, the full-on kneading kind, I apparently lack the skills of your average 4- (to 8-) year old when it comes to making this bread. The very first time I tried, preoccupied with my Brita pitcher, I distractedly added way too much water and had to pour the resulting sludge down the sink. The second time (just after cleaning up that mess), I let the dough rise for nearly 20 hours, but instead of "turning" it out thereafter, I unfortunately poured it all over my counter; it was rather... liquid.

Still undaunted, however, yesterday I tried again, this time with all bread flour (measured by shaking, rather than leveling off, the cup), and with quick-rise yeast--the closest thing I could find to "instant." The results, which I baked up today, are not quite the perfection attained by Leah, but they are striking: the crust is indeed very crispy and the crumb** very tender. This bread reminds me of the bread they used to serve us at Villa Aurora with every meal (though because bread was only delivered once or maybe twice a week--in big plastic tubs--it was approaching crouton status by late in the week). My loaf was a bit flat and ugly; the dough was too soft to form into a nice ball, probably since I only let it rise about 13 hours this time instead of 18 or so. Still, I think I'll make up another batch of French onion soup and enjoy this bread, toasted, on top, and will definitely try the recipe again. Finding and watching this video, which I'd somehow missed, was even more encouraging.

Oh, and Leah, my French onion soup recipe is pretty standard (though I do mine vegetarian, and so used G. Washington broth and McKay's "beef" seasoning); I sauteed the onions in butter and stirred in the flour, but at that point I transferred them to my crockpot, added the hot water and bouillon, and left the covered crockpot on low for the next 18 hours or so. I didn't mean to leave it quite that long, but the soup survived and did end up awfully tasty.

*I took this to school last week, and was embarrassed when people asked me what it was, but I shared bites of it and my friends actually thought it was rather delicious. Or said they did.
**I feel so pretentious even writing that.

Day eight

Breakfast: "Company oatmeal"*
Out: Decaf Americano with non-dairy creamer and a Splenda
Lunch: Native Foods' "Rojo y Mojo" salad and their Key Lime Parfait
Later: Apricots; sugar-free, wheat-free, vegan carrot birthday cake**

*Company oatmeal recipe:

2 c. oats
4 c. water
1 c. raisins
1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut (omitted this time)
1 c. nuts
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 apple, finely chopped
Combine all ingredients; bake at 350 for 1 hour

**Today was my mom's birthday! We made this cake, but with fresh pineapple instead of dates, and Arrowhead Mills' Gluten-Free Pancake and Baking Mix instead of flour. For frosting, I whipped a tub of tofu cream cheese with orange juice concentrate, finely grated fresh ginger, vanilla, and a splash of soy milk. It was surprisingly good--although, as my mom pointed out, it probably tasted better to us today than it would have a week ago!

Day four

Breakfast: Oatmeal almond waffles with peanut butter and homemade applesauce
Lunch: Brown rice pasta salad with tons of veggies and a homemade balsamic vinaigrette; pistachios; apricot
Dinner: Garbanzo and brown rice soup with half an avocado; grapes
Later, at the neighbors' pool: Watermelon

Here is the recipe for the waffles, which is from Teri and which is AMAZING:

1/2 cup almonds
2 cups water
1 1/2 cups oats
1/2 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in blender until smooth; allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Bake in waffle iron for 10 minutes. Makes 3-4 square waffles.

Seriously, I like these waffles as well as my mom's Belgian waffles, which she made last weekend and which involve all sorts of separating, whipping, and folding. These are crunchy on the outside, tender on the inside, and have a nice hearty flavor, with much less work. Delicious.

Divine Carrot Velvet

I've talked in the past about the advantages of giving one's dishes appropriately flattering names. With that in mind, I present Divine Carrot Velvet Soup!

I was inspired, perhaps oddly, by this post (and the ingredients on hand in my kitchen). I started, approximately, with this recipe, but then went my own way:

6 T butter
1 large onion (or two small ones)
3 cloves of garlic
As much ginger as you can find (~1/4 cup)
~7 big carrots
1 potato
4 cups water
4 T McKay's chicken seasoning
1 can coconut milk
Splash of Plain Silk

Melt the butter and sautee the onion (chopped), garlic (smashed), and ginger (grated) at low heat for a long time. I talked on the phone while preparing first the onion and then the garlic, which slowed me considerably, and then was just generally slow at peeling and grating the ginger. That ended up being perfect--the onion was nice and soft, I didn't brown the garlic, and the ginger was still snappy.

Throw in the water and seasoning and crank the heat to high. Start peeling the carrots, chopping them into thin little rounds, and adding them to the pot. Peel the potato, cube it rather finely, and throw it in, too. Continue to cook at high heat until most of the water is gone and the carrots are falling-apart tender--about 20-25 minutes. Add the coconut milk, and blend with Awesome Immersion Blender. Thin with soy milk to desired taste and thickness.

The soup is warmly spicy, pleasantly filling, and, seriously, velvety. I've never made anything quite like it. It's fluffier and lighter than my pumpkin curry soup, and not as gritty as potato. With a pan of hot cornbread, it's also the perfect antidote to biking home from school in a snowstorm.

Parties

Today I had a small breakfast party. I do not host enough dinner parties, let alone brunches, but I definitely think I should start having more. It was windy, snowing, and in the teens, so we had hot baked oatmeal, homemade orange-cranberry buttermilk scones (my neighbor's contribution), fresh fruit, and lots of hot drinks. Oh, and macaroons!

This is my mom's Company Oatmeal recipe, and it is awesome. You can mix up the dry ingredients the night before, and in the morning add the wet stuff before throwing it into the oven:

2 cups old-fashioned oats
4 cups water
1 large apple, peeled and sliced (I like Granny Smith)
3/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup coconut
1/4 cup chopped nuts
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt (though I think I'll reduce this next time)

Combine in 2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.

Here are some pictures my mom sent me today from my grandma's birthday celebration. As always, click for larger images. [EDIT: I don't know why clicking the images below brings up a dialogue box instead of just showing them, and I'm tired of futile googling. Any ideas, Internet genii?]

The cousins in age order. The last time we took a picture like this, I'm pretty sure the youngest, Maddy, wasn't even born.

My family, all looking a bit squinchy and predominantly blue-eyed (though mine are green, even here--and Chris, who married in, has brown).

Grandma, Ter, Maddy and Jan.

Vegan Peanut Stew

This is how my refrigerator is looking these days, so tonight's delicious dinner felt like even more of a coup. It's based loosely on a dish my friend Alan made several years ago for an international- themed dinner party we had back in Lincoln (I brought tiramisù, and there were also roasted chestnuts!). He made his from his African mother's recipe, and if memory serves, the primary ingredients were peanut butter and a gallon of whole milk. I've made my version a few times, but I think tonight's was my favorite, created entirely from ingredients already on hand.

It goes a-little something like this:

Sautee in extra virgin olive oil:
-1 medium onion
-as much celery as is usable from a bag that has turned the corner (~2 ribs)
-as much garlic as is left in the pot (~5 very shriveled cloves; 2 big fresh ones should do it)
-2 very large carrots, grated
-the rest of the ginger in the freezer (~2 tablespoons)

Add a few cups of water, some McKay's chicken seasoning, and about a tablespoon of red curry paste (which Ter bought and may become my favorite seasoning); cook until the vegetables are very tender. Add the rest of a jar of peanut butter (~1 1/4 cup) and cook until melted. Thin to desired consistency with soy milk, add a splash of balsamic vinegar, and then use the totally rad immersion blender your sister gave you for Christmas to smooth everything out a little. Season to taste with salt and freshly-ground pepper; serve over baked (in the microwave!) yams (Alan boiled his).

I would have done coconut milk if I'd had it in the pantry, as well as some lime juice instead of (or maybe in addition to) the vinegar. Some cilantro or green onions would have been good on top, for a little color and flavor. Still, I didn't have to go shopping for any of the ingredients, and I think it turned out pretty awesomely--hearty and filling on a cold fall evening, with a nice amount of warming heat. Plus, the recipe was big enough that I have plenty of leftovers!

'Apologies for the washed-out picture; I promise it looked (and tasted!) much nicer in person.