Everything But the Kitchen Sink Soup

September 15, 2011 By Laura

Traveling a lot has made me pretty good at using up ingredients.

Despite the cool weather having gone by the wayside, I’m ready for fall and craving hearty soup. My preference is a thick soup – to me, broth is often just taking up space in the bowl.

Exceptions made for really incredible broths, like the authentic ramen found at Yakitori Jinbei. It’s not your college 99 cent ramen.

This soup really is everything but the kitchen sink – I had lot of veggies, fresh herbs, and some vegetable broth to use up, along with some forgotten dried chickpeas. Soups are the easiest way to get ‘er done.

Don’t be afraid to play with spices and herbs. Add some garam masala and your soup can have an Indian flavor… or some cumin and chilis for a Mexican flare… or herb it up for an Italian feel… or get some white pepper and mustard powder (or even pour a bier in it!) for German warmth… most soups are like blank slates!

This was sort of unintentionally vegan, though I’m sure it would be good with beef broth and/or shredded chicken. I also like grating cheese on top of warm soup. The gooey nuttiness that ensues is particularly satisfying to me… like a melty grilled cheese.

Bonus: I’ll have soup waiting for me when I land tomorrow night.

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Everything But the Kitchen Sink Soup

3 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
2 C vegetable broth (I used low sodium)
1 C water
2T apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp adobo chili powder
1 T fresh thyme
~8 basil leaves
1 bay leaf
S+P, to taste
1 C cooked chickpeas
14.5 oz or 1/5 C diced tomatoes (I used Muir Glen Fire Roasted)
1 carrot, chopped
3 large celery stalks, chopped
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
~5 kale leaves, torn apart
2 C spinach

In a large pot, saute garlic with olive oil over low heat until just turning gold. Add broth, water, spices, and herbs, stirring to combine.

Bring to a boil and then allow to simmer ~15 mins so that flavors combine and intensify.

Add veggies to mix broth. Stir to combine and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium and simmer for ~20 mins, until veggies become tender.

Adjust salt and pepper to taste (I also sprinkled some red pepper flakes on mine). Ladle into bowls and enjoy!

Makes 3-4 servings.

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8 more days and I’ll be in Italy eating lots of hearty soup creations!!!

What is your favorite “kitchen sink” meal or creation?

Do you prefer a thick or more broth-y soup?

BYOB Airplane-Style + WIAW

September 14, 2011 By Laura

Getting up and seeing the moon makes me tired.

I dutifully packed my bag and headed to the Midwest.

Perfected packing for a one day meeting:

Breakfast
Sweater (conference rooms are COLD)
BlackBerry (try not to lose it… again)
Heels (wear flats for running through the airport)
Laptop
Charger
Files ~~to bake into cake later~~

16 hours later I was back home in that South after a successful day of meetings!

I did forget one thing… I didn’t take pictures of anything I ate after breakfast. Breakfast was really the only thing picture-worthy though.

Instead I’m posting a WIA Sunday-thru-Tuesday for WIAW.

Breakfast:

I brought my own… but treated myself to Starbucks while waiting to board the plane and eat. ~~Technically the client treated me, but who’s counting.~~

Tip: add a little sweet in your coffee without adding much in the way of sugar and calories by ordering a black coffee (in this case an Americano) with light whip on top.

Sprinkle with a bit of cinnamon and nutmeg to add a little “fall” flavor.

Need other ideas to entertain yourself while waiting to board? Take pictures of unsuspecting travelers in matching Hawaiian shirts. Priceless.

Upon boarding, it was time to enjoy BYOB on a plane. That’s bring your own ~~beer~~ breakfast.

I finally ~~copied~~ took the advice of Sarah @ Smart Kitchen and made my own yogurt in a recycled cup.

This container of orange fall deliciousness is Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt. I don’t understand how every yogurt maker out there doesn’t offer this flavor – it may be the best idea ever. Do you hear me, Atlanta Farm Fresh???

Add some vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and it’s like pie filling you can shamelessly eat for breakfast. Recipe at the end of this post.

Lunch:

Here’s the part where I add some previous meals to replace the eats that weren’t worthy of picturing. 🙂

Vegetable Chickpea Soup. Vegan, gluten-free, and damn good.

This recipe will be up tomorrow!!!

Snacks:

Not pictured, but snack time was pretty ~~junky~~ good:

Chocolate-Toffee Think Thin bar (side note: I’m sad – they changed the recipe and they aren’t as good. I won’t be buying them again. 🙁 )
A few of my co-worker’s chips
Fun Size M&Ms (free in first class)
Beer (again, cheers to the upgrade!)

Dinner:

I was craving pasta on Sunday night so I took a little trip to Decatur to give No.246 another chance (I was totally underwhelmed the first time). Round 2 was much better! I sat at the bar, which turned out to be a great decision. The bartender, Brenda made some great suggestions and I enjoyed our conversation

I began with a tasty salad of radicchio, endive, granny smith apples, walnuts, and bacon (not pictured). The pasta I chose was a Trofie. Trofie is made with flour and water (no eggs). It’s hand-rolled into little squiggly shapes. 246 serves it with a chicken liver, pork, and beef bolognese.

At first it was just good… then Brenda gave me some chili infused olive oil. That kicked it up and notch and gave the dish the “pop” it needed to succeed.

Pairing: Nebbiolo, Damilano, Alba 2008 – this was a great suggestion from Brenda. It is a bigger wine, stony/earthy taste. It stood up well to the meaty pasta dish. OMG I’m going to be in Alba in a couple of weeks!!!

No. 246 is on it’s way. The basics are there, the kitchen just need to get over this apparent fear of spices.

For a more delicious eats, check out the round up at Peas and Crayons!

Sweet Potato Greek Yogurt

1/2 baked sweet potato, peeled
1/2 C Greek yogurt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp nutmeg
5-6 drops NuNaturals Pure Liquid Vanilla Stevia
1-2 tsp unsweetened almond milk

Combine everything in a blender (I used my Magic Bullet) and mix until smooth. You may need to add more liquid to achieve desired consistency.

Top with nuts of your choice and enjoy!

Note: you can make this ahead – I did. The flavors melded and intensified overnight.

***

Can you tell I’m ready for fall by the looks of these dishes?!

What foods (if any) do you bring on planes?

What’s your favorite pasta dish?

Peanut Butter Prices Increasing

September 13, 2011 By Laura

PSA: The price of peanut butter is rising.

The dry weather and ~~ridiculous~~ heat this summer has affected peanut production. You can expect to see the price of peanut butter to increase as much as 30%, according to this article on Cleveland.com.

Farmers are prediction a 50% drop in yield for the year. 70% of the peanuts in my state of Georgia go into peanut butter.

The Executive Director of the Georgia Peanut Commission (who know there was such a thing?!), Don Koehler, says supplies are “plunging” and demand has reached new heights.

Why the increased demand? Koehler credit the “Choosy Moms Choose JIF” ad campaign. Advertising dollars at work – love it.

Can you imagine that clean up?!

Moral of the story: Stock up on peanut butter/flour/nuts NOW! Also, don’t leave kids unattended with jars of PB.

I wonder if this means Delta will increase fares to cover the cost of the free inflight peanuts…

In honor of peanuts, I made a peanut sauce to go with my baked sweet potato tonight. It turns out that peanut flour, coconut oil, and chili powder is an incredible combo. I’m single-handedly supporting the peanut flour industry.

Get your peanut flour here.

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Baked Sweet Potato with Coconut Chili Peanut Sauce

1 sweet potato
1 T peanut flour
1 tsp coconut oil
1/2 tsp unsweetened almond milk
1/4 tsp chili powder
Shake of salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Lightly rub sweet potato with olive oil. Wrap in foil and bake ~45-60 mins, or until tender and cooked through.

Mix the flour, oil, milk, chili powder, and salt together in a small bowl. Top on your sweet potato, wait a minute for the sauce to get nice and melty, and enjoy!

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As much as I love almonds, I think peanut products are my favorite.

Will you stock up on peanut butter for the winter?

What other food shortages/price increases are you seeing?

Skinny Girl Thai Greek Sauce

September 10, 2011 By Laura

Do you enjoy Skinnygirl Margaritas?

Apparently they are in hot water (as opposed to frosty boozy deliciousness). According to TMZ, there has been a class action lawsuit filed against the and Whole Foods has removed the products from the shelf.

The drink claims to be “all-natural” right on the bottle… yet it has a preservative called sodium benzoate in it. Alone it’s not so bad… but when combined vitamin C (absorbic acid) it forms a carcinogen. I couldn’t find an ingredient list online to determine if the Skinnygirl Margarita contains vitamin C.

Creator Bethenny Frankel released the following statement:

I wouldn’t sell anything that I don’t drink myself.

I don’t actually like these. What I do like is that they inspired restaurants to make their own “skinny” margaritas using agave and fresh lime juice. They are SO much better than the sour mix ickiness!

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I’m happy to report that my dinner was natural and had a generous helping of a skinny sauce.

It was intended to be a wrap… then I got carried away with the greens!

After a travel-heavy week I always crave fresh, raw food. I topped an Ezekial 4:9 Sprouted Grain Tortilla with plenty of it!

My pile of raw greens:

Spinach
French green beans
Sprouts
Zucchini
Cucumber
Broccoli

The secret’s in the sauce. Thai Greek Sauce. Thai because of the curry paste and peanut flavor. Greek thanks to the yogurt and lemon. With basil for good measure.

Tangy, spicy, and a little nutty. ~~Like your favorite aunt.~~

This tasty sauce made the perfect spread for my open-faced wrap. Is there such a thing as an open-faced wrap? There is now!

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Thai Greek Sauce

1/4 C Greek yogurt
Juice of 1/4 small lemon
5-6 basil leaves, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 tsp peanut flour
1/8 tsp red curry paste
shake of cumin
S+P, to taste

Mix together in small bowl, spread on the nearest ~~victim~~ item, and devour!

***

I just realized there’s no point in unpacking from this week’s travels before I head out next week. Lovely.

Do you like Skinnygirl Margaritas? Do you care about the inclusion of a preservative?

What’s everyone getting into this weekend?

Eggplant Lentil Indian Stew

September 8, 2011 By Laura

Fall is in the air!

Despite the rainy weather, I’m excited for the fall/winter season.

It certainly makes running easier! It could also be that the rain helped wash away the smog. Either way, yesterday’s run was a fast one.

Stats:

Distance – 4 miles
Time – 30:33
Avg. Pace – 7:38

There is something so comforting about the chill in the air… it brings thoughts of curling up under blankets with a good book (holla at the single ladies) and hearty bowls of soup.

On the stormy end to the long weekend, I made an Eggplant Lentil Indian Stew. Lots of spices made this dish special.

Preparing the eggplant by cooking it together stew-style (as opposed to roasting or sauteing it separately) allowed it to soak in the flavors and develop a wonderful texture.

Apparently a broken camera, yet another attempt at making brown food look appetizing, and new Picnik options resulted in photo-editing gone wild.

Don’t forget all the benefits lentils offer (in addition to being cheap). This filling meal satisfied me for dinner and then again as leftovers at lunch. I hardly needed my afternoon snack!

Eggplant Lentil Indian Stew

1 tsp grape seed oil
1 small yellow onion, diced
3 large cloves garlic, minced
1 T fresh ginger, minced
1 T fresh thyme
1 + 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 cup dried French green lentils
2 C vegetable broth
2 C water
1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 C fresh spinach
S+P, to taste

Warm oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Sauté onion in the oil until translucent (5-6 mins). Add garlic and sauté for another minute. Mix in the spices.

Add 1 cup of the vegetable broth, stirring to combine. Cook for another minute to allow flavored to combine.

Add the lentils, remaining broth, water, and eggplant. Cover the pot, bringing the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for ~20 minutes, until lentils are tender and eggplant is soft.

Add spinach allowing to cook until just wilted. Adjust spices, adding salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle into bowls, top with red pepper flakes and fresh thyme, and enjoy!

Serves 4.

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I have a feeling it’s going to be a soup/stew-filled winter.

What is your favorite soup?

Do you re-read books or always choose something new?

Chilly Weather Eats + WIAW

September 7, 2011 By Laura

Wednesday comes quickly on short weeks!

Short weeks are good and bad. I love the extra weekend time… but I was at work until 8p last night paying for it.

It’s chilly and drizzling rain here, so I had planned to go to kickboxing for a good, mindless workout. The last class starts at 730p.

On the bright side, I hit the gym in my building and tried out a new back/bicep workout that I’ll be sharing soon. 🙂

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On such a short week I nearly forgot to take pics for WIAW!

I did remember nearly everything in the nick of time. Mas importante because I had a special treat for breakfast.