Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Veg Stir Fry with Cashews

The delicious plump cashews given to us at Christmas really made this dish extra special!



Veg Stir Fry with Cashews
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 blocks (3/4 package) Trader Joe's Baked Tofu
  • 1 1/2 cups broccoli
  • 1 big carrot
  • 1/2 bunch of asparagus
  • 1/2 portabella mushroom
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 2 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
  • 1 Tbsp fish sauce (can be omitted for Vegan and Vegetarian Option)
  • 1 Tbsp Rice Wine Vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp corn starch
  • Fresh Ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup large cashews
  1. Prepare veggies the way you like it. Chopped fine or left chunky.
  2. Whisk the stock, braggs, fish sauce, vinegar, corn starch, 1 Tbsp sesame oil and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Set aside.
  3. Over medium-high, heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large pan or wok, with 1 Tbsp sesame oil.
  4. Begin sauteeing the veggies, starting with the carrots. When those are starting to brown, add the remaining veggies, leaving the chopped garlic for last.
  5. When the veggies become tender to your liking, add the chopped garlic, and stir until fragrant.
  6. Stir the sauce one last time in the bowl before adding to the pan, to distribute the corn starch evenly. Add to the veggies and stir until coated and the sauce begins to thicken.
  7. Add cashews and serve over hot rice or noodles.
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Monday, December 22, 2008

Turned on by Chocolate. . .

Ooooh, I have been waiting to blog about this for the week and I just can't take it any longer!!! I have been a baking machine over here. I guess you would call that an oven.

Check out these truffles, ya'll!!!! It's a very basic recipe, and I searched the internet and found several recipes. You MUST make it with good chocolate. What is good chocolate? Well, it's the best kind you can get your hands on. I used some Ghiradelli, Cadbury, and also some Bakers Chocolate, cuz that's what our Food Lion and Martin's down the road has. So what I'm sayin' is that you just shouldn't use crap. Although some people might call the aforementioned shitty chocolates.

Ya melt the chopped up chocolate using hot heavy cream. Now ya know how to make a ganache! Stir n stir until it is shiny and glorious looking then let it chill. I did mine overnight with the first batch, but discovered it was quite firm, and didn't scoop out beautifully like it did for Ina Garten. I ended up pushing the chocolate in the melon baller with some force. The first batch ended up looking like real truffles--the ones that look like little turds.

The second batch was where I got a little bit better. I let the ganache cool in the frig for about 2-3 hours, poking it now and again to see the viscosity. I tried to temper the chocolate. I say tried because I still don't know if I did it right. It didn't quite "snap" like they say tempered chocolate will do. All I can say is that they are freaking delicious. And that's really all that matters.

I topped mine with Celtic Sea Salt, chopped pistachios and walnuts, cocoa, and some white chocolate.

I have to share with you the sensuous feeling of feeling chocolate dripping off your hands. Oh my goodness! Silky, warm, sweet chocolate, oozing down my wrists, warmed by my own body heat. . . I didn't realize that the correct temperature for tempered chocolate is actually a bit on the cooler side. I spooned some melted chocolate in my hand, then rolled the ganache balls into them. So it's not like you melt in the microwave and dip away. No no no. To get REAL looking truffles, ya gotta put some love into it.

It was also a lot of fun letting hubby clean my fingers of the melted chocolate. . ..

Chocolate was all over the place. Slung onto the countertops and floor by my rolling motions. . . :)

There were other treats made, too, but Santa only comes once a year. You'll hear about these soon.

UPDATE: I am freaking out! The picture of my truffles is featured on Foodgawker! Yay!!!

Update 12/2011:
You can order these AWESOME fair trade, organic chocolates from Sweet Earth Organics and they will ship as quick as you'd like! Pin It

Friday, December 19, 2008

Last Mintute Christmas Cards

I bought a beautiful set of Christmas cards from Etsy, and they are so freaking cute!! Stephanie from She's So Creative makes some really funny cards. I'm definitely gonna hit her up again for some cards in the future. . . All of them were really funny! I especially liked this one:


Anyways. . .I wanted to share the couple of cards I made this year. After running out of the kick-ass new set of cards, I busted out the Christmas cards from last year. Along with my handy-dandy tip of cutting out portions of used cards to make hanging tags, I'm now going to let you know that you don't HAVE to keep those cards. Noone's gonna know you cut it up and sent it off as new to someone else. Well. . . unless they are reading this blog. . .

Here's what I made:

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Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Barley Pasta Bake


I used about a cup and half of cooked barley, and probably about the same amount of cooked pasta.

In a pan, I sauteed half an onion in some butter til soft. I added some leftover veggies, including some broccoli rabe and roasted broccoloflower from last night.

As the usual white sauce method goes, or, if you aren't so smart in the cooking department (ie: make it by the box kinda shit), that means you throw in some flour, then some kind of liquid. I used a splash of cream sherry and some milk. Bring 'er up to a boil and get all thick.

Add some cheese. I used about a cup of cheddar.

Stir in the barley and pasta, throw it into a dish and bake it til it gets all bubbly and makes you wanna dive right into it.


Tonight we got take out from the mexi joint. Maybe it was because I was so goddamn hungry, or that it was just the right temperature--but that was like the BEST fucking burrito I have ever had.

I'll bet it was because yesterday, we got snow, which turned to this early this morning. This purdy little red berried shrub turns a gorgeous crimpson in late summer. Holla at me if you know what the hell it is.

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Friday, December 12, 2008

Slapping your Camera Upside the Head

You might all be complaining about shit like, "I need a new camera" because your pictures suck so bad. I'm here to tell you that you don't need to. (all the while enjoying my 2 month old camera)

This is a little post about using your camera for what it's worth. Just like most things in life, everything you need for your camera is hidden right inside of it. LEARN your camera, folks. Try different settings, just for the hell of it, and guess what? You might just come across something worthwhile!

For example:

This shot was taken at a high ISO of 800. I'll be honest with you and tell you that I don't know what the hell ISO stands for. In a minute, I'll Google it.

This next one was taken at 100 ISO. Obviously it makes a big difference.
I'm sitting here sipping on my hard ciders, looking at the 2 photos and it doesn't look like much of a difference. What the hell is she talking about?? Maybe when I publish this it will be a lot more obvious with the larger pics. (note: click on the pictures to see what I'm talkin about . . .)

I thought the first picture looked grainy. In the second photo, those shroomies look a lot more succulent. Read: more lickable.

On a side note, that soup kicked some MAJOR ass! I deglazed the pan with some cream Sherry after sauteing the mushrooms, and it was so good. That really made a huge difference in flavor. Gave it a more "meaty" texture, if ya wanna call it something. I wish I had some now. . .
You should have seen my first attempt at the cheese toast. Hubby said, "is the house burning down?" when I came from the kitchen at 11:30 am to make sure he wasn't alarmed. . . The last remaining birds outside, peeking in, must have thought this woman was crazy, fanning the smoke detector with a broom. . .


Anyways, back to the pictures. . . . I have actually unsubscribed to blogs because their pictures sucked so bad.

Call me a photo snob if you want, but I want good pictures, damnit! If you're gonna waste your time on here, you may as well make your shit look as good as you can. Ya'll don't have to know what lies beyond the little placemat with the bowl of scrumptious soups. . . Pin It

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Crackerhead

Note that I did not name this CRACKHEAD, because I am FAR from that. I think someone might call me a crackerhead, having made these. Crackers are what I'm talking about. No, they're not water crackers. What a stupid fucking name for crackers, anyways. MMMhhh. .. Crispy Water . . . Doesn't that sound scrumptious! Sorry, but I gotta have a little somethin' more when I'm noshing on crackers (usually with cheese).

These Crackers definitely fit into that. Yeah, people are probably gonna freak out and say, "You made these?" Sandra Lee, you better run for the trees! Cuz I bet her cracker recipe would be brushing butter on top of store-bought crackers and dipping into meatoloaf seasoning mix.

From All Recipes; Their website kicks ass, by the way. One of the reasons I love that site so much is the reviews for the recipes. Sure, it may look good, and might sound easy, but how is it really? I want to know about that kind of shit. I think it's hilarious when people totally rip up someone elses recipe.

Whole Wheat Crackers

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup water
  • salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. In a medium bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. Pour in the vegetable oil and water; mix until just blended.
  3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough as thin as possible - no thicker than 1/8 inch. Place dough on an ungreased baking sheet, and mark squares out with a knife, but don't cut through. Prick each cracker with a fork a few times, and sprinkle with salt.
  4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until crisp and light brown. Baking time may be different depending on how thin your crackers are. When cool, remove from baking sheet, and separate into individual crackers.
Notes:
I did end up baking my crackers a bit longer than suggested. Some of the thicker pieces were still kind of bready when I baked it for the suggested time. I will also roll these out thinner next time. You can use a pasta machine to get these totally even. But I think the un-evenness of hand-rolling it out lends a more interesting texture.

I also added 1/2 tsp onion powder to the flour and mixed that in before I added the liquid.

Vary the toppings if you like. I bet garlic powder would be good, and sesame seeds would probably kick-ass! Imagine how good "everything" homemade crackers would be!!!


These will blow any store-bought cracker into the water!!!
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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Recent search results

Here ya go, folks. Do you ever wonder why the hell people are looking at what they are looking at? Well I do. Call me nosy, or just a friggen loser, but whatevs. . .

From Salt Lake City, UT: Bitchen Tree Skirt
Ljubljana, Slovenia: Dextrin Korner files
Portland, OR: Festival express shirt
Phoenix, AZ: Parody she'll be comin around the mountain
Ft. Myers, FL: fleece panties
Springfield, VA: vegetables thats on the Potomac River
Los Angeles, CA: Bitchen cook
Baltimore, MD: Bitchen Stitchen in MD
Aurora, CO: Bitchen Peacoat

I'd like a Bitchen Peacoat!!! and fleece panties sound mighty cozy. . . Then you can tell everyone else they are literally freezin' their butts off with their lame cotton drawers!! Pin It

Monday, December 1, 2008

Blog Reader FAILURE

Oh, how I love the FAIL blog. Basically I'm a blog whore nowadays. Each morning I spend at least a couple hours reading e-mails, myspace, and Blogs. I also spend time in my Etsy shop each day. But reading blogs has become a relaxing time for me; catching up with some of my crafting friends, drooling over food pics, and cracking up at some of the funniest blogs there are.

Some of my favorite funny blogs:
The last one on the list is written by Lindyloo, who also writes "Yeah, that Vegan Shit" She's a great writer and has awesome recipes.

The most drool-worthy site I've found lately has been Taste Spotting. I mean, just LOOK at that food when I searched "vegetarian"!!!
One day I hope to make pictures good enough that make you want to lick your screen.

Reading these blogs is another story, and the actual reason for this post. For a while, I was using Bloglines. It was great, but then lately it's been on the fritz. Last week Danielle's blogs didn't come thru, yet I knew she had posted. FUCK THAT! I can't be missin' my blogs, especially my girls'!!!

Bloglines looks like this:

Over the weekend, I test-ran 3 different blog readers. The first one was Feed Demon. Yeah, um, that one sucked. Then came SharpReader. Better, but it slowed down my computer and who needs that shit? 3rd and FINAL choice is the kick-ass BlogBridge! This is a program, so it doesn't run in your browser. The part that ruled about Bloglines is that the tab you had Bloglines on would turn bold to the amount of feeds that were new. Blogbridge lets you know new feeds are there by popping a small window up near the lower portion of your screen.
One of the benefits of NOT having this in your browser is that you can actually keep focused on what you're trying to do in your browser. You can finish your work, and not be tempted to read more trashy blogs.

With Blogbridge, you can set up a 2 or 3 pane window display, so you can see all your latest feeds from your favorite bloggers. It also lets you put stars next to your favorites according to how much ya like them.

Woo Hoo Blogs!

Now let's see how long THIS blog takes to show up in my reader. . .
Just to let ya know this feed came thru about 15 minutes after I posted. Not too bad. . . Pin It

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Keepin Yer Hands Warm

Happy Sunday, ya'll!! I wanted to pop in and make a plug for my arm warmers. These have been the most successful and most fun to make item so far this season.

I started making these last year to go with some hats.
I might make a few more hats for this year. It just seems like people are more into buying the arm warmers. Maybe I need to try a different hat style? Comments please??

The first pair of the season were these:
They were made of a green hemp stretch jersey, and had appliques of vines with purple leaves. My friend Memory bought them. She said this picture was what sold her on them. I've come to realize more and more just how meaningful photographs are. In the Etsy community, you are entering a craft village, of sorts. You are catching a glimpse of each and every seller, browsing what they have to offer, and getting to know a little bit about them.

Bringing personality into a photograph is important to the buyer. Why the hell should I buy your item? What makes it any better than what I could buy down the road at a discount store?

One of the pairs I liked best were these Soulshine ones:
My customer commented, "Really pretty - a lovely sunshine design to keep me warm in winter!". I honestly believe my wording in the listing was what sold her on them. I had said, "Whenever there is no sunshine, there is always SOULSHINE. :) "


I've got 3 more pairs to add to my shop as soon as I can get them photographed. I had planned on doing that this morning, but it's raining like a mofo here. My friends Danielle and Heather are both getting a pair in trade for the upcoming holiday season.

Just clicky-click to the right and check 'em out in the shop!!!

Check back tomorrow for the new ones!!

I also have new HEAVY duty hemp shopping bags coming up. You're going to love these for your heavy loads!!! Pin It

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Mulligatawny Soup and Baked Samosas



Okay. It's official. I'm officially over soups for right now. Well, for today anyways. They were good, though! Nothin' like sittin' on yer ass in the winter after a day of sewing with some comfort food and Law and Order reruns!

Mulligatawny Soup
  • 2 Tbsp Ghee, or vegetable oil
  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 1 cup chopped carrots
  • 1 tsp ginger, minced/grated
  • 1 tsp garlic (2-3 cloves)
  • 1 large or 2 small dried chilies
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1 Tbsp Garam Masala
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 3 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 cup lentils
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 can coconut milk
Sautee onions and carrot over medium heat until softened. Add spices and cook until fragrant. Stir in tomatoes, lentils and water. Bring to a oil and cook for 30 minutes, or until lentils are tender. Allow to cool slightly, and blend until you get the consistency you like. Place back on the burner, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the coconut milk and remove from heat. Garnish with cilantro.




Baked Samosas
Yes, I made the dough for these. And no, it's not that hard. People always seem to be so surprised (or think I'm just crazy) when I tell them I made the dough. This might be for a tart, empanada, ravioli, or whatever. It's not that hard to make, folks! And guess what? My food processor (the big, good one) broke, so I did it by hand. OMG! She made her own crust? Yeah. I did. You can too.

For the dough:
  • 3/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 Tbs vegetable oil (or melted ghee)
  • 1/3 cup warm water
Mix the flours together and add the oil. Stir in enough water to make it all stick together and form into a ball. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

For the filling:
  • 1 Tbsp oil or ghee
  • 1/2 onion, sliced
  • 2 tsp garlic (2-4 cloves)
  • 1 tsp minced/grated ginger
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 tsp turmeric
  • 1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
  • 1 1/2 cup cooked potatoes, mashed (I guess about 3-4 potatoes)
  • 2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup frozen peas
Saute onion in oil over medium high heat until softened. Add garlic and ginger, cook for 1 minute more. Stir in spices, mixing until all the vegetables have been coated in the spices. Allow the spices to cook for 1-2 minutes, then add the mashed potatoes and cilantro and season with salt. Mix well, and remove from heat. Stir in peas and set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator and divide into 8 equal portions. Roll out into a 6-7 inch circle. Cut circle in half. Spoon about 1 heaping tablespoon of the filling on one half of the semi-circle. Brush one of the edges in plain water. Fold over and seal well.


Place on greased baking sheet. Brush the top with beaten egg, cream, or soy milk. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, brush again with the aforementioned possibilities and bake another 5-7 minutes more, or until golden brown on edges and a bit on top.

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Thursday, November 20, 2008

What are YOU doing today?

Well, for me, I'm headed to the gym here in a little bit. Oh god, do I hate it, but you know, ya gotta go move that ass, right??

Later I'll work on some arm warmers and a hat I cut out yesterday. I might add another color to the hat, so I can have a total of 3 colors that I will braid down the side of the earflaps.

I've never done a fern leaf before. I just did it free-style. Yeah!


The most dreaded part of today's activities will include washing out these batiks that have been sitting in dye overnight. I worked up about a dozen pieces yesterday, with a few more thrown in from the last batch I did. Those needed more waxing and a second (or third) dye job.
Yes, that is a drawer from my little plastic drawer unit. During times of dyeing, I am known to go around the house emptying plastic containers just so I can use the container. Getting the things back into said container after cleaning them out is a completely different story.

Reason I'm dreading it is because of the fucking chill in the air. We are STILL waiting for the Propane we paid for to get delivered. Might just have to call those suckers up and chew 'em out! After they get washed, the good part will come--the boiling. I mean, it's not much fun, but it will warm up the house, bring some humidity in, and then the beauty shall reveal itself!

Other items on the agenda:
  • shortening the sleeves on a jacket for my dad
  • make a pair of arm warmers from the fabric I dyed. (second try for a good purple color)
  • mop the floor to clean up the soda ash and dye I spilled last night
  • clean the FUCKING house
(not sure if I'll get to the last one ;)

I made African Peanut Soup for dinner last night. Making dinner was the last thing I wanted to do after standing up doing dyes for 2 hours. But it is a SUPER easy meal to prepare.

Start by cooking a cup of rice in the rice cooker. Meanwhile, saute up a teaspoon or two (or four!) of chopped garlic in a little bit of olive oil. Chopped onions can be added, too. Add one can of crushed tomatoes, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 2 TBS Balsamic Vinegar, 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (more, or less to taste) and 3 cups of vegetable stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 10 minutes. When the rice is done, add about 1/2 cup of cooked rice to the soup. Continue cooking for another 10-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Serve with a rice on top, garnishing with chopped peanuts and/or green onion. I didn't have either, so here it is. Sorry for the blurry pic--no tripod for this quick shot.


Leave me a comment telling me what crafty things you'll be doing today. Pin It

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Cooking with Idiots

I'm a big fan of cooking and food shows. Food Network has got the best cooking shows, obviously. I occasionally catch cooking shows on other channels. The ones on PBS are usually pretty good, even with the budget camera skills and whatnot. America's Test Kitchen can be interesting, but I think the hosts are a bunch of dorks.

One of the worst cooking shows I've seen yet is Healthy Decadence. I mean, I'm all about cooking shows that show food that actually looks good and is healthy. But this girl might just be the biggest idiot in cooking show history.

Readers, she's even worse than Sandra Lee. She tries to be all cute and scrunch her nose up. One of the dumbest things I heard her say was that [in one of her recipes] you could chop everything in the food processor except for the onion. The onion will turn sour if you put it in the food processor.

Sour?

Where the hell did that come from?




I want to know what's in your frig
.

Here's what's in mine:


Okay, so ya might be wondering what is in there. Starting at the top shelf, we have some regular filtered tap water. One lonely cider. Milk. Dr. Pepper (hubby loves it). Under the foil in the casserole dish was some leftover spinach lasagna. The pot has some risotto that I made and turned into Risotto Cakes the next day:

To the right of the lasagna, we have some sauces. Notice the sauces in the door, too, which has to be shut with purpose nowadays, with the obesity of it.

To the right of the risotto (in the Ziplock container) is fresh greens from my dear friend and former neighbor, Shannon. Below that we have eggs and olives from the bar at Martins grocery (great drunk snack).


Veggies: Arugula, cucumber, mushrooms, onion, carrots, potato, and other stuff I don't remember right now.

Now the Freezer:


We've got biscuits, nuts, tomatoes, ice cream and sorbet. The Morningstar Farms products are some of the more popular prepared veggie foods in my freezer. Mostly because that's basically all our Food Lion carries. I've got frozen chicken breast for the hubby (wrapped in foil and inside bag), a piece of salmon, waffle potato fries, leftover chili (*I think*), some kind of appetizer cranberry thingy, bagels and a Tofurkey Feast (O god, I cannot WAIT for that!). Also a bottle of Yager that has seriously been untouched for YEARS.

I realize I have a LOT of shit in my freezer. I guess I'm always like that. I love grocery shopping, what can I say. And speaking of which, we are headed that way today. . . Yeah! Pin It

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Blog n Drool

Nothing but pics today.

Mushroom Risotto, roasted broccoli & cauliflower, and baked Tofu



Spinach Lasagna


Waffle Iron Grilled Cheese



Whole Wheat French Toast with Bananas

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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Artist Painter Bob, how bout ya hit this cheek instead. . .

Browsing the Alchemy public listings on Etsy this morning, I'm reminded just how cheap this country is becoming.

I guess I've gotten used to people asking me for deals at certain shows I vend at.



It's sad that people have to ask for a discount on items to a person they have never met. It's even more sad that the items I offer people are all completely handmade by me.

What is the saddest yet, is when the people that make these handmade items actually want deals themselves. I admit, I'm a bargain hunter, too. But when you are asking someone to make something ESPECIALLY for you, how can you ask for a low price???

There are a couple of listings for lip balms for just fifty cents a piece. I was tempted to pass along the offer to a couple herbal-making friends of mine until I saw the price. Fifty cents a piece? Seriously? I can't imagine the containers costing much less than that. Plus the supplies and the time involved. . . Why would someone want to actually lose out just so they can hook their fellow artisan up?



I don't think so. Pin It

Friday, November 14, 2008

Girl got skilllzzz. . .

I figured out how to do banners!!!

Did you go to the blog page to see it? I mean, ya can't see it in your blog reader, so click away to the title of this blog and check 'er out!

The first one was just okay:
I mean, I like the fat fairy, but there are many people out there who "just wouldn't get it".

I made one for my friend Danielle, too! If she figures it out today you can go by her blog and see it, too!

A new Etsy banner was just made, too!

Photoshop is pretty freaking cool. You don't even have to read the instructions! Just google what yer tryin' to do and you'll find REALLY helpful pages for it.

I also decided to add the word kitchen to the name of this blog. Cuz obviously ya'll haven't been hearing too much about stitchin' these days!!

Let me know what ya'll think. . . Pin It

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Curried Lentil Soup with Acorn Squash


1 Acorn Squash
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tbs chopped garlic, or 2-3 cloves
4 Tbsp olive oil, divided
2 Tbsp curry paste
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 cup lentils (your choice)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 Tbs vegetarian broth base (see previous soup post)
4 C filtered tap water
Notes: You can use the curry powder or paste of your choice. This is the one I used:
and a little bit of this:


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Begin by cutting an acorn squash in half. Remove the seeds and rinse them under a colander, loosening the seeds from the squishy stuff. Place in a pan, and toss with 2 Tbsp olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Cook for 10-15 minutes, watching carefully to avoid over-browning. Meanwhile, rub the inside of the cleaned out acorn squash with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a greased baking sheet and place in oven. Continue to cook until soft--about 30-45 minutes, turning once or twice.

While the squash is roasting, preheat a large soup pot to medium heat. Heat remaining 2 Tbs olive oil and add onion. Season with salt and pepper and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add chopped garlic, curry paste, and curry powder. Saute until fragrant, blending the curry paste in with a wooden spoon.

Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, broth paste and water. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes or so, until the lentils are tender. By this time, your squash should be done and sitting on the stove, cooling down.

Did you remember to get the seeds out?

Scoop the squash out of it's shell and add to the soup. You can blend this until smooth, or keep it chunky. I reserved about a cup and a half and then ground the rest up with my immersion blender.

Serve the soup with the toasted acorn squash seeds on top. We had ours with some Farmhouse bread I baked up in the bread machine.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Eatin' da Rapini

I really love Broccoli Rabe. It's also called Rapini. Oh, god, do I love this stuff. It is a slightly bitter green that has little broccolis in it.
Isn't it beautiful?

First I blanched it in boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. That helps to remove some of the bitterness. You can skip this if ya like it more bitter.

Then cut it into big chunks after it cooled. I sauteed some garlic with wild mushrooms, hot pepper flakes and some Gimme Lean sausage.

Add the broccoli rabe, and season with salt and pepper.

I threw a bit of cheddar cheese on top of my bowl, cuz I'm a cheddar whore like that. Eat, and freak out about how good it is.

You won't be sorry.

Another way you can do this is to cook up pasta and mix it all together. Mozzarella cheese is good melted on this, too. Pin It
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