It's Called Food

Daily Dinner, 4/19/12 - Vegetable Soup

I picked up some great veggies at Bloomingfoods earlier this week, and finally decided to make them into a meal. I was planning on doing just a big bowl of steamed veggies, so I cut up some heirloom carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and some sweet peppers. Along the way, it sort of turned into vegetable soup. Very, very delicious vegetable soup. Below is the recipe.

When boiling veggies, I always start by putting a large pot with 2-2.5 inches of water onto medium heat. I add salt and an array of spices, and let it boil then simmer down to half, while I cut my veggies. Be sure to avoid adding leafy spices like tarragon, thyme, basil, or oregano. It never turns out well. Here’s what I used in my mix (measurements were eyeballed):

2 dashes of smoked paprika
a dash of ginger
1 clove garlic
a dash of fennel
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp curry paste
a dash of cajun seasoning
three cranks of cracked pepper
2 dashes of chili powder
a pinch of red pepper flakes
a dash of coriander
a dash of cumin
about 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

(allspice is also appropriate here)
(adjust the mix to taste) 

If I were just steaming veggies, I would chop the veggies up to about the same size, test the broth every so often until it was good, then put the chopped stuff in the pot with the lid on for about 8 minutes, testing tenderness every minute after that.

Instead, I chopped ‘em and threw them in along with

1/2 cup of tomato sauce and
1/2 cup lentils

and let it simmer with the top vented for about 15 minutes (because I’m impatient, but the lentils were on the al dente side). I pulled out the veggies with a strainer and ladled in the broth until the bowl was full. I had enough for leftovers; though I’ll probably eat them tomorrow morning to prevent lentil deterioration.

Absolutely delicious. A huge success. Also, this was my first time making homemade soup! I hope to do more research in the future, but this turned out really well. Somehow it was a success even though I totally improvised and I may die tomorrow from something or other (heirloom carrots!?!).

I’m hoping for the best.

Daily Breakfast, 3/19/12: Lox ‘N’ Gouda Scrambled Eggs

Daily Snack, 3/18/12: Vanilla Garlic Baby Broccoli

Trust me on this one.

Put about an inch of water in a big pot (or more in a smaller one; just be able to cover most of the broccoli) and add garlic powder, a lot of salt (MOAR), pepper and two splashes of vanilla extract (or a vanilla bean, split down the middle). You can also add other spices at this point (I usually add either tarragon or basil, and cajun seasoning). Boil the broccoli until tender.

Drain the broccoli and heat up a skillet on medium-high heat. Test the broccoli for salt levels. If it needs more, add some to the skillet along with the other ingredients. Add the broccoli, along with chopped garlic, and the contents of a split vanilla bean (or just drizzle just a little vanilla extract over the broccoli and stir). Heat until the broccoli shows the first hints of blackening, then turn off the heat, serve, enjoy. These things cool down very quickly, so eat them right away!

Daily Dinner, 3/8/12 - Baked Chicken Breast

- chicken
- pasta sauce
- chopped garlic
- spices
- egg 

Lightly salt and pepper the chicken and put it on a baking sheet (coat the area of the baking sheet with a little bit of pasta sauce). Add chopped garlic and lemongrass then cover in pasta sauce. Bake at 350ºF for 30 minutes, then flip and add light salt, pepper, and garlic and cover in pasta sauce. bake for 5-10 minutes or until ~160ºF inside. At this point, split the chicken into an area that could hold an egg, then crack an egg into that area. Add salt, pepper and maybe paprika to the egg, then put in for ~10 minutes. The egg will appear to be smooth and shiny on top, even after it’s done. Check the consistency of the white and once it’s at a point you’re comfortable with you can take it out, but make sure the chicken is ≥165ºF before eating.

Daily Lunch, 3/6/12

Whole wheat pasta, mom’s homemade pasta sauce, pesto, ground flax seeds, chopped kale. Verdict: delicious.

ummwhat:

I’ve had this cookie dough for fewer than 15 minutes and I already feel nauseated.

Probably because I ate the equivalent of 8 cookies in under 15 minutes.

Daily Lunch, 3/1/12

Open-faced sandwiches are extremely popular in Norway; they’re a staple in the nordic diet. Here we have one of my favorite recipes: avocado, marsala scrambled eggs (salt, pepper, paprika, little bit of garam marsala) and gruyere cheese. A Norwegian would add smoked salmon to the top of this, but since that’s so difficult to come by I used a salty cheese instead.