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Appetites and Adventures

Thyme for Carrots

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In Atlanta it is easy to forget you are still in the South…

… along with that comes some old school beliefs.

My least favorite is the law that dictates one cannot purchase alcohol on Sundays.  The Sabbath.

Source: JOEFF DAVIS/CL FILE

Clarification: you are allowed to drink in restaurants/bars.  Just don’t try to purchase it from a store to drink in the safety of your own home.

This craziness was all set up to change this year!  Lawmakers proposed a bill that would allow cities and counties in Georgia to decide individually whether or not to allow alcohol sales in stores on Sunday Funday.

Democracy? *Insert look of horror here*

Sadly, as of today it isn’t looking so good for People for the Ethical Treatment of Alcoholics (PETA). Republican lawmakers are scared of what voting in favor of Sunday sales will do to their political future, and the bill looks to be on its last legs.

So… I can buy a lotto ticket (i.e. gamble) on Sunday, but buying a 6-pack is just too much hedonism for the state to handle.

Georgia lawmaker fail.

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All this talk about booze makes me want a snack! 🙂

I have been CRAVING carrots.  They are one of the hardest things to puree enough in raw-form to eat.

Gena @ Choosing Raw to the rescue!  I saw her recipe for Dilly Carrot Avocado Spread and knew it had to be mine.

I made a couple of adjustments based on what I had, but the base is still carrot + avocado.  Brilliant.


This would be an awesome party dish – I can imagine crispy, salty tortilla chips with it… or spread on naan with spinach, tomatoes, and grilled tempeh… mmmmm…

Thyme Carrot Avocado Spread

  • 2 carrots
  • 1 avocado
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3-4 springs of thyme
  • 1/4 c yellow onion
  • crushed red pepper flakes to taste
  • S + P to taste

Using the grater attachment for your processor, grate the carrots.  Add remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.

Serve with fresh veggie slices, your favorite chips, or – if you don’t chew – it is really good on its own.

***

Is everyone thawing out from this snowy weather?

It is going to be 70 degrees in Atlanta this weekend!  There is a patio calling my name. 🙂


Sweet Photo Evidence

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Big news on Hump Day!

 

  1. I am now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher! (Check out the banners to the left… there will be one more to come.)
  2. There is a picture of the jaw breaking fall!!!

 

Here’s the before – this is the “roll out” where we get introduced before the bout begins.

© Basil Gravanis, 2011

 

It’s more of a pre-break picture, but it’s an awesome action shot:

© Basil Gravanis, 2011

Thank you to the talented Basil Gravanis for making this magical photo happen. 🙂

(Derby 101: The helmet panties with the stars indicate the jammer.  Jammers earn a point per opposing blocker passed after the initial pass through the pack.)

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Annnnnd that’s why I’m drinking a Sweet Potato Smoothie right now.

Yes, I know… I’ve done this before (soooo last season…).  This time I discovered the more sweet potato, the better.

Sweet Potato Smoothie

  • 1/2 baked sweet potato
  • 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1 giant handful of spinach
  • 1/4 c unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 1/8 tsp nutmeg
  • Shake of salt
  • Water + ice to taste

Put it in a blender, smooth it out, and slurp it up!

***

What’s the worst damage you’ve ever done to your body?  

Any cool scars/pics/proof? I have a pic and lots of soup ideas. 🙂


Local Soup

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When people think of roller derby, I doubt the first thing that comes to mind is “family.” 

 

Families beat each other up…

However, one of the biggest components of my league is the family aspect.  Becoming one of the Atlanta Rollergirls = 80+ new family members.

Getting injured is a great reminder of that!  From the calls/emails/texts to the treats courtesy of a league-mate and baker, I feel like one lucky girl.

Last night I received another special delivery.  This was from my teammate, Polly Atomic, and Local 3. Local 3 is one of the newest restaurants in Atlanta and has received some rave reviews.  Lucky me – Polly and her husband, Chris Hall, are a couple of the founders of this fine establishment. 🙂

The delivery?

2 massive containers of soup: Creamy Tomato and Creamy Butternut Squash.

Chris even included straws!

 

I couldn’t decide which soup to try first… and then I thought

“Why limit yourself to eating one at a time?”

Thank you, thank you, thank you to Polly, Chris, and the awesome kitchen at Local 3!

Local 3 is definitely my first stop when chewing resumes!

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In honor of Valentine’s Day, I brought Mom some treats from International Bakery.

It is this little hole-in-the-wall Greek Bakery with a curmudgeon of a man behind the register and baklava so fantastic it could make you cry.

This dreamy box of goodness was a big hit.  At least I hear it was good…

The trip did include a treat for me.  This Greek bakery also carries a few authentic packaged goods, straight from Greece.  I came home with a big tub of authentic Greek yogurt!  OMG – it is so, so good.  American Greek yogurt is good, but this is much ticker and rich – almost like eating a dessert.

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I can’t wait to chew.

What is your favorite tiny local find? 

Any cool ethic bakeries/shops to do some International food shopping?


Pink Berry Oatmeal

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Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

I, like everyone else in the world, felt it necessary to make my breakfast red in honor of Valentine’s Day.

With a scoop of handmade chocolate-hazelnut spread, left over from last year’s trip to Ireland.

Because the meaning of V-Day is chocolate.

Doesn’t the chocolate kind of look heart-shaped?!  Total accident, I swear.

Contributing to the pinky goodness:

  • 1/2 C Kansas grain organic oat bran
  • 1 1/4 C water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 C frozen berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries)
  • 1/2 banana
  • shake of salt

Toss everything in a pot, stir to combine, and cook over medium-high heat until desired consistency  is reached (mine took ~8 mins).

♥ ♥ ♥

What are you treating yourself to today?

Warning: pink berry oats may inspire the ingestion of Pinkberry.

Planning for VD

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In honor of Hallmark’s Valentine’s Day (and because consultants love 2x2s), I give you a helpful chart:

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Tomorrow’s the big day.  Who has a date???

I’m going out with my bestie.  We’re above all of this commercialization.  Really.


Wild Mushroom Soup

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Many, many people have (thankfully) already blogged about the It Gets Better Project.

It began in 2010, when there seemed to be an epidemic of kids taking their lives after being bullied (many for being gay).  This project is aimed at showing young people that life DOES get better.

Growing up it hard, but getting to the the other side is so worth it.  I promise.

Here is a video of the Cincinnati Rollergirls; more awesome people who’ve known what it is to be bullied, and are living proof that It Gets Better.

Speaking of growing up…

One of the strangest phenomena for me as a 20-something involves my taste buds.  Most of my life I’ve been the pickiest eater to walk this Earth.  At my pickiest, I didn’t even like cheese (too bad that couldn’t have stuck!).

Other items I refused to ingest:

  • ANY cooked veggie
  • Legumes
  • Ketchup
  • French fries
  • Fast food
  • Seafood
  • Red meat
  • Tofu
  • Mexican food (what was I thinking?!)
  • Asian food
  • Coffee
  • Sweet tea
  • Gin (thanks to an unfortunate experience)

Sometime around my about 24th birthday I developed a love of avocados and kalamata olives.  That was just the beginning!

At the ripe ‘ol age of 27, I crave: spinach, winter squash, tofu, chickpeas, coffee, MEXICAN… just about everything on the previous list.

Things I still don’t like:

  • Seafood
  • Certain cooked veggies (potatoes, yellow squash, carrots)
  • Ketchup
  • Fast food (with the exception of Chick-fil-a)
  • Sweet tea
  • Gin (it was a really bad experience)

My favorite 20-something taste bud find would have to be mushrooms.  Truffles, morels, shiitakes, hen of the woods… you name the ‘shroom, I probably have positively passionate feelings about it.  (No, not the magical ones…)

This has been paid for by the Council of Mushroom-love.

I can’t chew them right now, but I can slurp them!  This soup was earthy and rich.  It is a thicker soup, but you can add water/more broth as needed.  I like the thickness – it feels more like chewing.

Mushrooms are low in calories, fat-free, cholesterol-free and low in sodium.  They provide nutrients such as: selenium, potassium, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin D, and calcium.

Wild Mushroom Soup

by Laura Hall

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Keywords: soup/stew gluten-free low-carb vegan vegetarian soy-free leek mushroom fall winter

Ingredients (4 servings)

  • 3 C wild mushrooms (portabella, oyster, morels, etc), roughly chopped
  • 2 leeks, chopped
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 1/4 C white onion, diced
  • 1 T EVOO
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped
  • 1/2 tsp dried basil
  • 1/4 C vermouth cooking wine
  • 1/2 C veggie broth
  • 2 T goat butter (use coconut butter to make it vegan!)
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
  • S & P to taste

Instructions

In medium pot, saute first 5 ingredients until tender, about 10 mins. Add garlic during the last 5 mins, so as not to burn it.

Add remaining ingredients, seasoning to taste with red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.

Using an immersion blender, blend soup until smooth.

Ladle in bowls and top with grated cheese (Gruyere or a nutty parmesan-esque cheese is delish) and freshly ground black pepper. I would have used black truffle shavings or truffle oil if I had it!

Powered by Recipage

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Thankfully, my sister grew out of picking her nose… 😉

Have you grown out of something funny/odd?

Roasted Soup

By

One of my favorite things to do is catch an improve show.  

 

Atlanta is lucky to have a variety of great places to see improv.

This naturally translates into my love of improv cooking.

During my Farmer’s Market raid, I purchased a poblano pepper with the intention of trying my hand at stuffed peppers.  The whole jaw thing interfered with that plan, but I did have a red pepper, jalapenos, lots of fresh garlic, roasted tomatoes…

Whose line is it?  Roasted Pepper-Garlic-Tomato Soup!

 

And a beer ’cause this smoothness is SPICY.  A cold one is tasty and refreshing with a little heat!

Rogue Hazelnut Brown Ale is awesome, btw.  Nutty, rich flavor without being too heavy.

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Roasted Pepper-Garlic-Tomato Soup

  • 1 red pepper
  • 1 poblano pepper
  • 2 jalapeno peppers
  • 1 green pepper
  • 2 heads of garlic
  • 2 T EVOO
  • 3/4 yellow onion, diced
  • 1 C vegetable stock
  • 28 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 2 T balsamic vinegar
  • Fresh rosemary
  • Fresh parsley
  • S & P, to taste
  • Water, as needed

Pre-heat oven to 400 F.  Prepare garlic heads to roast (great “how to” here) and rubbing exposed top lightly with EVOO and wrapping in foil. Lightly coat peppers with EVOO.  Place garlic and peppers on foil-lined baking sheet and roast in oven for 45-60 mins, rotating peppers occasionally to be sure all sides roast.

Meanwhile, heat 1T EVOO in large pot.  Dice onion, add to pot, sauteing for 8-9 mins (until translucent).  Add tomatoes and broth, stirring to combine.

When peppers and garlic are done roasting, remove and allow to cool a bit.  Remove seeds from the peppers (if you like it spicy, leave some jalapeno seeds behind… I did) and remove their charred skins.  Chop peppers roughly and squeeze roasted garlic out of shells into the soup.

Add herbs and balsamic, stir, and cook 5-10 mins more before pureeing with an immersion blender or regular blender.  Add water as needed, depending on how thick you’d like soup to be.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Heat through and allow flavors to combine, adjusting as spices as needed.

Serve, garnishing with grated cheese of your choice, parsley, drizzle of olive oil, sour cream, etc.

It’s also tasty with some hummus mixed in (and cuts the heat if you made it a teensy bit too hot – not that I did that).

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Who has fun weekend plans?  Is the anything random your city has a lot of?

Atlanta definitely has the market cornered on improv!

.


Sweetwater Growers

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I have posted a couple of times about Sweetwater Growers‘ infused olive oils.  In fact, I used them to make my favorite soup creation!

They are a local (Georgia) company and make some of the BEST infused olive oils out there. They were even featured on Food Network!

Today, you can try them 50% off with Groupon!

My favorites:

  • Habanero-infused EVOO (HOT!)
  • Rosemary-infused EVOO
  • Roasted Garlic Basil EVOO/Canola blend (the blend is good for sauteing – higher smoke point).

This deal is for online orders only.

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I’m off to go make something I can slurp… maybe some blended carrot cake oatmeal???

 

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