Recipe Review-Soup Edition

Beer Cheese Soup

6 thumbs ups! My great friend Liz was over the night we had this yummy meal. All three of us liked it. And she provided asiago cheese bread which was heavenly dipped in the soup.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped onion (except, yeah right. I don't do onions. sick. death. sick.)

3 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth (except this girl is a vegetarian, so I always replace chicken broth with this awesome stock called NO Chicken broth. You can't even tell a difference!)

8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon prepared Dijon-style mustard

1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer (I totally bought a giant 24 oz can of Coors

Directions

1. In a medium pot over medium heat, melt butter. Cook celery, carrots (and onion) in butter 5 minutes. Pour in no chicken broth and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 20 minutes.

2. Puree mixture in a blender or food processor or using an immersion blender. Return to pot over medium heat.
3. Toss Cheddar with flour and stir, a little at a time, into the pot, until fully incorporated and melted. Season with mustard. Stir in beer to achieve desired thickness just before serving.

SO GOOD!


Spicy Red Lentil Soup



Ingredients

1 cup red lentils (I bought just one cup in bulk at Whole Foods. Whole Foods is, unlike what you might believe, pretty affordable if you do it right.)

1 tsp. salt
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 Tbs. minced fresh ginger (I don't know if this is different than ginger root or not, but I used ginger root and it was tasty)

1 Tbs. vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
1 15-oz. can light, unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbs. tamarind concentrate or paste, optional (I couldn't find this so I opted out. I guess you can get it in Indian grocery's and high end grocery's, whatever those are.)

1 Tbs. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. turmeric powder
1 small jalapeño, stemmed, seeded and minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

Directions

Combine lentils, salt and 5 cups water in large saucepan.

Cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, 20 to 25 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Blend lentils with whisk for rustic texture, or purée in food processor for creamier feel. (I pureed. I think I'm glad I did because the texture was very nice and the lentils looked a little strange before they were pureed.)

Purée tomatoes and ginger in blender or food processor until smooth. Set aside. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add garlic, and cook 30 seconds, or until just golden, stirring often. Add tomato mixture, coconut milk, tamarind if desired, coriander, cumin, turmeric and jalapeño.

(PS the soup wasn't spicy at all, so I think I will leave some of the jalapeno seeds next time.) Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in lentils, and simmer, partially covered, 20 minutes.

(haha! I wanted to capture myself cooking. :)

Season with salt and pepper. (seasoned with TONS of salt. I thought the soup was a little bland without it.) Sprinkle with cilantro, and serve. Cilantro? It's like the chocolate of herbs. Delish.

Two thumbs up again! YES!

Recipe Review - Goat Cheese Balls

I'm not going to keep track of what number I'm on anymore. I'll just have to use the list on the side of my blog to do that for me. This week I made goat cheese balls for our salads. They were DELISH! Two thumbs up!!!


Directions:
Take 110z tube of goat cheese (or however much you want to use) and stir in 2 Tbs of finely chopped fresh rosemary and 1 tsp coriander.

Roast 1 cup pecans (I used walnuts because that's what we had) by coating with melted butter and baking at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely, then finely chop. When I was chopping I also mixed them with a bit of garlic salt and sea salt.

Roll cheese into marble sized circles, then coat with nuts. Serve with salad and enjoy. I had extra nuts so sprinkled them on the salad to enjoy.

For a delicious salad use mixed greens, add nuts, dried cranberries, raspberry vinagrette and cheese balls. YES! Healthy and delicious :)

Recipe Review - Poached Eggs on Toast

(I wish I could have taken a better picture, but this will have to do.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup yogurt
1 small clove garlic, crushed
10.5 oz baby spinach
1 oz butter
herbed salt (not sure what this is, but I used Season All and it was delish)
4 tomatoes halved
1 tablespoon white vinegar
8 eggs
loaf of your fave bread (recipe calls for rye, we used french)

Directions:

Mix yogurt and garlic for the dressing (PS, I hate garlic and thought the yogurt would have been awesome just plain. PPS Jeff didn't like the yogurt at all)
Wash spinach and place in large saucepan wiht water clinging ot leaves. Cook, covered over low heat for 3-4 minutes or until wilted. Add the butter and aslt, set aside to keep warm.
Cook the tomatoes under a hot grill for 3-5 minutes. (a hot grill? under? I have no idea. I just broiled them for a few.)
Fill trying pan 3/4 full with cold water and add the vinegar and salt to stop egg whites from spreading. (this didn't really work for me) Bring to a gentle simmer. Gently break the eggs one by one into a small bowl and slide into the water. Reduce heat so water barely moves (whatever that means). Cook 1-2 minutes. (Um, yeah right. I cooked for at least 6 minutes and don't you worry your little head, those eggs weren't too done. Which to me, is sort of an oxy moron.) Remove eggs.
Toast bread and top with spinach, and egg and some dressing. Serve with halved tomatoes.
1 thumb up (mine, without the garlic I thought this was really tasty. I would actually remove the spinach, too, but hey, let's stay healthy together shall we.) and 1 thumb sideways. Sweet Jeff never says something is yucky, but he did say it was weird and that he didn't like the yogurt. He ate it all, but I probably won't make it again. So there you have it.

Recipe Review - Asparagus Pistachio Rissoto

4 c. vegetable stock

1 cup white wine

1/3 c extra virgin olive oil

2 cups arborio rice (I used Orzo)

10 3/4 oz asparagus spears cut into small pieces

1/2 cup cream

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shelled pistachios-chopped



1. Heat stock and wine in a large saucepan, bring to boil, then reduce, cover and simmer.

2. Heat oil in another large saucepan. Add rice and stir for 1 minute or until rice is translucent.

3. Add 1/2 c. hot stock stirring constantly over medium heat until the liquid is absorbed. Continue adding 1/2 c. at a time until all stock is absorbed and the rice is tender and creamy in texture. Add the asparagus during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Remove from heat.

4. Let stand for 2 minutes, stir in cream and Parm and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve sprinkled with pistachios.



Yummy! I would actually probably have left the asparagus out and just had it as a side. The pistachios were absolutely delicious.

4 thumbs up!

Recipe Review - Spring Rolls

Vietnamese Spring Rolls

Cheryl said she'd like to see pictures of my version of each recipe. Well, Cheryl, this is for you:




Yeah. Have you guys ever seen spring roll wrappers before? They're like these crazy thin, hard, translucent plastic looking things. Apparently, if you believe what you read on package directions and such, you're supposed to be able to soak them in water for 20 seconds to make them soft and sticky. Then you fill them. Then you wrap them. Then you can either eat as is, steam them or fry them. A, B or C. Sick, Sick, Sick. Not really sick in flavor, but I just don't have what it takes to make those freakin' wrappers work. Eating them as is wasn't an option. Cold. Not wrapped tight enough. Slick. Slimy. No thanks. Steamed? Well, maybe if you want to pick the insides of the spring roll out of your steamer pot, along with your totally jellyfish like wrapper that didn't have enough muscle to hold the filling. No thanks. Fried? Well, see steamed, only everything has fallen apart inside burning oil. Yeah, after an hour of cooking, preparing, grunting, sweating and finally giving up, we went to Taco Bell. :( I spent more money on the ingredients to make our stinkin' meal than I did at Taco Bell. Needless to say I was frustrated. However, the filling for the Spring Rolls was actually tasty. So I made in into a soup for lunches that week, and all was not lost. If you're interested in Cabbiage Soup, and I suspect you're not, read on my friend.

Fry several strips of tofu (probably about 2 inch strips for each so called spring roll) in sesame oil and spices to taste. (this is from my recipe book. I added the tofu to the rest of the recpie from foodnetwork.com below)

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons peanut or olive oil
• 2 cups shredded coleslaw mix
• 1/2 cup Thai Peanut Sauce, recipe follows
• 8 spring roll wrappers (sold in the refrigerated section of the produce aisle)
• 1 (6-ounce) can sliced water chestnuts, drained and chopped
• 1 (11-ounce) can asparagus, drained and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce

Directions

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the coleslaw mix and cook, stirring, until the cabbage wilts, about 3 minutes. Add the peanut sauce and mix well to combine. Remove from the heat.

Place 2 inches of water in the bottom of a steamer or large saucepan and set over medium-high heat.

Meanwhile, arrange the spring roll wrappers on a flat surface. Top each wrapper with an equal amount of the coleslaw mixture, water chestnuts, and asparagus, making an even layer down the center. Roll up the wrappers, tuck in the ends and place side by side in steamer basket or large colander. Set the steamer basket (or colander) over the now simmering water, cover, and steam until the wrappers are translucent, about 5 minutes.

Serve the spring rolls with soy sauce on the side for dipping.

Thai Peanut Sauce:

3 cups reduced-sodium beef broth

2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter

2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

1 teaspoon hot sauce

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sauce ingredients until well blended and set the pan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and let simmer for 10 minutes.

The leftover peanut sauce will keep in the refrigerator up to 4 days or in the freezer up to 3 months; thaw completely in the refrigerator or microwave for about 3 minutes on LOW before using.

Please note, friends, this recipe was level: easy. Prep/cook time: 18 minutes. Yeah. Right.

Next attempt: Asparagus and Pistachio Risotto-stay tuned!

Recipe Review - Roast Sweet Potato Ravioli

Well, I'm afraid to say this was two thumbs down in my book and maybe two sideways thumbs from Jeff so I'm not going to type the whole thing out this time. It was sort of a lot of work on the scale I use, which is basically comparing the easiness level to the level of Kraft mac and cheese. Picture me chopping, stirring, mixing, boiling, brushing, spooning, reducing, basically running around the kitchen like a crazy woman all while trying not to spill on my recipe book or the floor, or generally anywhere because, hey, let's face it, I like it clean. Finally I finish the stinking meal, take a bite, and...well....not that great. The yams never got quite soft and smooth enough. It probably needed more cheese, more spices, more seasoning, more something. And the wonton wrappers? They were sort of slimy. Ewww. Not a good flavor/texture combo for Ter Ter. Oh well, though. That page is no longer dog eared in my recipe book and now we know what we think of it. On with the resolution!

This week: spring rolls and miso soup!

Recipe Review - Pitas with Falafel and Tomato Cucumber salsa

Greek!



Felafel with Tomato Salsa (from "Delicious Vegetarian Food" cookbook.)
I used boxed felafel that you just add water to. However this recipe tells you how to actually MAKE felafel. Um, yeah, maybe I didn't mention that I do easy recipes. Making felafel-NOT easy. But here it is, in case you are more ambitious that I in the kitchen, which wouldn't be surprising ;)

Ingredients

2 cups dried chickpeas
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander leaves
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
oil for deep-frying

Tomato Salsa

2 tomatoes
1/4 Lebanese cucumber, finely chopped (I have no idea what Lebanese cucumbers are, I just used plain old cucumbers in the produce section)
1/2 green capsicum (pepper) diced
2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf (Italian) parsley
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons chili sauce
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Tziziki Sauce (from http://greekfood.about.com/od/appetizerssalads/r/tzatziki_sass.htm)

16 ounces (2 cups) of thick Greek yogurt
4 to 10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup of diced or grated cucumber (Kirby or "English")
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 teaspoons of lemon juice

Preparation:

Prepare all ingredients in advance. Combine oil and lemon juice in a medium mixing bowl. Fold the yogurt in slowly, making sure it mixes completely with the oil. Add the garlic, according to taste, and the cucumber. Stir until evenly distributed. Garnish with a bit of green and serve well chilled.

Yield: about 2 1/2 cups

Add mint or dill: Slight variations include 1-2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh dill and/or fresh mint. Tasty additions!

Pita Bread (from Food Network.com)

Ingredients

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
31/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions

In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it's smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, preheat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the center. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

So basically make the felafel OR just add water and follow the directions on the box ;) Then add all the ingredients for the salsa. We put felafel in multigrain pitas warmed up, topped with salsa and homemade tziziki sauce. Also, Jeff made some AMAZING pitas from scratch. Hello, we are totally a Greek restaurant. We give this meal two thumbs up. And we had TONS of leftover pitas that we froze and can enjoy again later.