Thai Pumpkin Soup

We really haven't had a cold Winter here in the Bay Area or a wet one, but I still enjoy spicy, hot soup this time of year.

Since pumpkins are pretty much out of season now, this should be one of my last pumpkin recipes until Fall. (Although I confess to having roasted and frozen jars of this luscious vegetable for the Spring to cook with!)

Here's what you'll need for this soup:

1-2 small pumpkins, seeded and roasted at 350 on a cookie sheet for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Tip: scoop out pumpkin from skin using an ice cream scoop once it's roasted and cool enough to handle.

• 1/2 can coconut milk (I freeze the remaining milk for future use. I also like the low fat coconut milk you can purchase at Trader Joe's)
• 2-3 teaspoons Thai Kitchen green curry paste
• 16 ounces Magic Mineral Stock
• 1/4 cup Sambal Oelek ground fresh chili paste (use less for less heat) 

Combine all ingredients in a stock pot and cook on medium heat stirring periodically for 30-45 minutes. I pureed my soup to make it even smoother - but this shouldn't be required. Pumpkin will break down and the texture will become more liquid with additional cooking with the stock.

I froze remaining jars of this soup for future lunches on chilly days. Yum!

Use that body...

I'm talking about that left over roasted chicken body that you've been nibbling on for a week. Now it's time to get a few more meals for this bird.

Variation of my chicken stock:

• In a large pot place your picked over roasted chicken carcass
• Add 6-8 cups water (I use water from my Brita only because the water from the tap has a flavor I don't like)
• 1 red or white onion cleaned and chopped in chunks
• 3-4 garlic cloves peeled and chopped in chunks
• 5-6 juniper berries
• 2 sweet potatoes peeled and chopped in chunks
• 1 bunch of turnips peeled and chopped in chunks
• 1/2 Tablespoon Kosher salt
• 8-12 whole peppercorns
• 1/2 fennel bulb (or celery) and stalks chopped into chunks
• 4 carrots peeled and chopped

Cook 3-4 hours on medium heat until all of the vegetables are mushy. Strain stock with fine-mesh sieve or colander. It was hard for me to toss all the cooked vegetables, but I haven't found the magic in them - but in the cooked stock which is amazing to add to soup.

Freeze strained stock in 8-16 once glass jars.

Using 8-16 ounces of chicken stock, you're now ready to make a Butternut-Pumpkin soup.

Squash Soup

Cut in half 1-2 butternut squash(I had roasted a grocery store Halloween pumpkin and froze it in 16 once jars. Or you can also roast a second butternut squash.) Roast in oven at 350 for 1 hour.

Cool and using an ice cream scooper, scoop out squash meat. Add to stock pot with chicken stock.

Plus add
1-2 teaspoon Turmeric
2-3 fennel stocks sliced in 1/2 inch pieces (or celery)
2 carrots
1 yellow onion sliced

Cook on medium heat for 45 minutes until carrots are tender. Then emulsify or place in glass blender to puree.

Soup can be served with a persimmon green salad with a citrus champagne vinaigrette.

Bon Appetite!

Pumpkin & chicken stew

My sister's been doing the Paleo/Primal diet and loves it. I would miss my periodic martini and sourdough bread. I'm also trying to lose weight and eat healthy.

I love this recipe and this is the second time I've made it. This time, I had marinated and frozen the chicken so just needed to thaw and saute. Do what's easiest for you. I'm not sure how on target it is for the Paleo/Primal diet, but I hope you enjoy it!

Did you know that pumpkin gets better after they've been cut from the vine? The pumpkin I bought today at the Farmer's Market, I won't roast and eat for at least another 2-4 weeks. The wait is worth it. The pumpkin meat gets sweeter!

Here's what you'll need:

• 1-2 small pumpkins aged 2-4 weeks, wash the outside to remove residual dirt, seed, cut into chunks and roast on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Let cool. Scoop pumpkin meat out of skin and place in a bowl. Compost or throw out skin.

• Chicken breasts skinned and boned, cut into bite size pieces; marinate at least an hour in the fridge with the following:
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup salsa or tomatoes and roasted/seeded chili peppers
• 1/4 lemon juice (I like Meyers lemons)
• 1-2 teaspoons cumin
• 1-2 teaspoons coriander
• 1-2 teaspoons dried chilis like Ancho (tip: I use 2-3 different ground chilis for greater depth in flavor)
• salt & pepper

Add 1/2-1/3 cup chicken or vegetable stock with the roasted pumpkin. Homemade stock is preferable if you have it.

Saute this all in a pot and cook until chicken is done, approximately 20-25 minutes. Add roasted pumpkin and 1/2-1/3 cup chicken of vegetable stock and cook covered for another 30-40 minutes on medium low heat.

2 Red Bell peppers, seeded and sliced to add on top of cooked stew. You can also garnish with fresh cilantro.

I served this with a combination of red quinoa and brown rice. But I think grains are non-Paleo/Primal diet.

Korean BBQ Burgers

Yes, one more burger recipe. My coworker and fellow foodie, Musetta, reminded me of this Korean Burger recipe. Another friend, April, originally shared it with me.

Going into fall with colder evenings, I particularly like these and often serve with steamed broccoli using the burger juices to dress the broccoli.

I also make these and freeze individual patties. I often cook them in a cast iron skillet too.

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/korean-barbecue-burgers-10000001646413/

Bon appetite!

Burger Madness

I love a great burger. One that's more than salt, pepper and ground beef. I'm also thrifty so instead of buying them premade, I've been making and freezing my own individual beef patties. I also fry mine in a cast iron skillet and serve on a bed of greens. If you BBQ these, you should do it in some type of metal basket since they are chunky and gooey.

• 1 pound lean ground beef (I like grass fed because I think it tastes AND smells better)
• 1 shallot or onion (I like red onions, green onions, and shallots because they can taste sweeter and I think this compliments the beef)
• 1 basket of mushrooms, cut or chopped
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup Gorgonzola cheese
• 2-3 cloves minced/chopped garlic cloves
• Kosher salt & pepper

I use parchment paper to separate the individual patties and place in a plastic bag for freezing. When ready to serve, I pull out a frozen burger and plop into my skillet. No thawing needed, but it does take a bit longer to cook.

Change-up this recipe to suit your tastes. For example, last night I made another batch of burgers and added 1 Tablespoon of Turmeric (an amazing spice for the brain and I don't always want to eat curry), crumbled lite Havarti cheese slices, chopped Italian parsley and seven Sage leafs into my ground beef, red onion, salt and pepper, and mushroom mix.

Bon Appetite!

Sweet Potato & Beet Soup

I know it seems like ages since I last posted a recipe. I've been to London and back. It's good to be home and cooking in my own kitchen although the friends I stayed with are amazing cooks.

I made this soup prior to leaving. It can be served with 0% Greek yogurt for added protein/calcium.

Here's what you'll need for this delicious and colorful soup:

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
5 fresh sage leaves, washed
6-7 beets peeled, washed, and cut into chunks
2 cups Magic Mineral Broth
1 carrot peeled, washed and chopped into chunks

Add everything to a stock pot and cook on medium heat for 2 hours. All the root vegetables should be very tender. Cool. Use an emulsifier or blender to puree until smooth. Store and freeze in glass jars.

Yum!

Starburst Tomato Soup

I don't even like tomato soup until I made this. You will need to make the Magic Mineral Veg stock in advance if you don't want to spend a big chunk of time in the kitchen. This soup is relatively fast to whip up once the stock is made. The the Magic stock really does add magic to this tomato soup.

• Assorted tomatoes, enough to pile on a dinner plate, washed and sliced 1/4 thick.
• 1/4 cup Orange Olive Oil or extra virgin olive oil drizzled over a cookie sheet
• 2 leeks, cleaned and sliced

Preheat oven to 425 F. Layer tomato slices and leeks on the cookie sheet and roast for 30-50 minutes. You want tomatoes to look shriveled.

2 Tablespoons minced ginger 

1/4 Meyers or regular lemon juice

2 cups Magic Mineral Broth

salt & pepper to taste

In a soup pot, combine everything including tomatoes. Cook for 20-30 minutes on medium sheet. Cool and blend with a hand puree or blender until smooth.

This soup is a sunny burst of flavor in my mouth - thus it's name :-)

Best Vege Stock Ever!

I had never made my own vegetable stock and was also underwhelmed with the flavor of store bought stock. I bought One Bite at a Time by Rebecca Katz and was intrigued with her Magic Mineral Broth. Warning: it is quite a bit of work so make it separately and freeze in glass jars so you can pull it out and use it to add to her other recipes. And, I love this cookbook and her other recipes including a poached coconut ginger salmon that uses this vege stock.

I do make modifications to her recipe using what I have from my CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) box. I used red onions, purple potatoes, fennel instead of celery, and cilantro instead of parsley as a result. And no kombu because I haven't been able to find it where I regularly shop. Try to use organic produce in season if possible - it will taste better. I promise!

Wash and chop in chunks the following. I admit to peeling which is part of why it takes me longer to whip this up.

Mineral Broth

• 1 bunch carrots with tops (I wash and include green tops)
• 2 small to medium onions
• 1 leek, both white and green parts
• 1/2 fennel bulb with stocks/greens
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1/2 bunch flat leaf parsley or cilantro
• 3 potatoes
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 12 red and white peppercorns (or black. I've been trying different peppercorns which I purchase in little boxes by Spicely. I combined red and white peppercorns together. I enjoy their flavor which is milder to me than black peppercorns.)
• 5 whole juniper berries
• 1/2 tablespoon sea salt 

Again, rinse and scrub everything well and place in a 12-quart or larger stockpot, add all ingredients, and fill pot with water to 1-2 inches below the rim. Bring to a boil. Simmer for at least 2-3 hours. Strain stock using a large mesh strainer and bring to room temp before freezing/refrigerating.

I modified one of Rebecca's a tomato soup recipes that includes this stock and will post next so you can take advantage of tomatoes now and freeze the soup for chilly fall days that are just beginning.

Bon Appetite!

Creating complex flavor using watermelon

Watermelon is delicious as is. It can also be made to be more complex when other ingredients are added. My good friend, Kristie, shared this recipe with me years ago and when I read the ingredients, I thought "This sounds like a really odd combination." Normally I can read a recipe and figure out the taste in my imagination. This one was beyond me.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. It was created by Chef David Richards, Sweets & Savories, in Chicago, IL. I don't know whether or not he is still there. He prepared this salad at the Chicago Botanic Gardens for one of their Summer Chefs programs.

I know the 1st day of Fall recently passed but I'm still purchasing amazing seedless watermelon at Trader Joe's so enjoy while you can!

Summer Tomato & Watermelon Salad

• 1 small seedless watermelon cubed
• 1-2 cups mixed chopped tomatoes (I wash and cut into cubes keeping skin and seeds)
• 1/4-1/2 cup Basil, Cilantro, Mint washed and sliced in strips
• 1 cup Arugula
• 1-2 teaspoons honey
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
• Dash chili flakes or paste
• Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix honey, olive oil, vinegar and chili paste. In a large mixing bowl combine watermelon, tomato, arugula and herbs to your liking. Gently toss with prepared dressing. Adjust seasoning. I think this salad gets even better the next day too.

Bon appetite!

Summer Flavors on Winter Days

I really don't like winter. I don't like being cold. I don't like the gray, gloomy, short days. And, I'm not that wild about winter produce. Since I try to purchase what's in season to eat, I feel limited by the greens, oranges and browns of winter produce.

Last winter, I found a workaround so I'm now roasting and blanching like a crazy woman. While sunny corn, bright tomatoes and fragrant peppers are in abundance, I'm blanching and roasting and freezing for winter. Our grandma and great granny did this with pickling. What I'm proposing takes a lot less time and is pretty darn delicious.

Note: Try not to over blanch vegis. You want them crispy since you'll be cooking them again when you reheat or add to soups.

Green Beans, Carrots, Broccoli

To blanch, add about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt to a pot of cold water, turn on high until boiling. Gently add washed and sliced broccoli, green beans, or carrots for 1-2 minutes and remove while still bright and fresh with color and still crispy. Drain in a colander and stop the cooking process by rinsing with cold water or tossing with ice cubes.

Once drained of excess water, place in clean glass jars, cool to room temp and freeze. Allow 1/2 to 1 inch at top of jars to allow room for expansion when vegis freeze.

Thaw and add to soups or saute with olive oil, nuts and dried fruit for an added splash of bright color with your pork chops or roasted chicken.

Red Bell, Jalapeno, Pablano PeppersBroil and rotate or toast in a toaster oven until almost completely blackened. Remove from heat and place on a glass plate and cover with a paper or cloth towel to steam skin. Once cooled, place on a cutting board and skin, seed, and slice. Please in small glass jars - I use old herb and baby food glass jars. Allow 1/2 to 1 inch at top of jars to allow expansion when frozen.

These can all be added to other dishes in winter. One of my favorites: puree roasted bell pepper with sweet cream butter and some kosher salt. This is great on a baked potato or added to roasted corn (that you've also frozen and are bringing out in winter.)

Corn

I clean corn of husks and wash well to remove corn silk and roast on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Corn may also be blanched following previous directions above. Once cooled, I cut the corn from the cobs into a large bowl and then freeze for winter use.

Tomatoes

Clean and slice in roughly 1/4 inch slices tomatoes and roast on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for 25-35 minutes with 1-2 tablespoons of orange or lemon olive oil or extra virgin will also work. You'll love how the citrus olive oil adds a beautiful complexity when you add these roasted tomatoes to soups, on top of homemade pizza or in stews later in winter.

Cool and place in clean glass jars for freezing allowing 1/2 to 1 inch for expansion.

So enjoy the bounty and prices at your farmers market now for your future winter lunchs.

Bon Appetite!

Not to be beat with beets

I think it's genetic. My mom doesn't like beets but my dad loves them. I know some people have expressed to me that they taste like dirt to them. No they're not eating dirt, but we've all had a taste of it thanks to eating produce that hasn't been thoroughly washed. The best remedy for this is NEVER eat them canned. Canned beets are comparable to eating canned peas - Yuck!

Also, I peel mine first and wash thoroughly before cooking.

A favorite and easy beet salad of mine.

• One bunch of beets - peeled, washed, and sliced
• 2-3 tablespoons Cecchetti orange olive oil (you can use regular olive oil, but a citrus flavor is preferable since it becomes part of the dressing)
• 1/4 cup good balsamic vinegar

Place beets, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Once at room temperature, place in a bowl (roasted oil, juices, all that magic goodness) and add the following:

• 1 orange, peeled and chopped into chunks
• 1 bulb fennel, washed and sliced thinly
• dash of kosher salt

The salad is ready to serve. You can add feta or goat cheese. I like this salad as a side dish for both beef and poultry.

Enjoy!

1-2-3 Easy Peasy

My friend Robin was visiting from Chicago and she told me about this easy salad she saw on Master Chef. I still can't believe it doesn't have dressing on it.

1. 1 small seedless watermelon, peeled and chopped (I got mine at Trader Joe's)
2. 3-4 ounces feta cheese packed in water if possible, drained (Farmers Market or Trader Joe's)
3. 1/2 bunch of Basil leaves, washed and sliced 

This is delicious and refreshing. Great salad to make and take for neighborhood BBQ or lunch with girlfriends.

Tip: This makes a lot so you can halve the recipe if you're only feeding 2-3 people because it's very perishable - although I think it gets even better on the second day!

Bon appetite!

Best thing great grandma taught me

Baked bread + Cuisinart = Breadcrumbs

OK, maybe not the best thing she taught me, but definitely in the top 5. If you're throwing away your leftover bread now, stop. Homemade breadcrumbs taste so much better than store bought and are super easy to make. (Going into fall, this can really make a difference between good meatloaf and great meatloaf.)

I usually accumulate leftover bread over a couple of months and freeze it in the paper wrap in came in, in zip lock bags. You need to freeze it before it starts getting moldy. Once a have a few bags of frozen leftover bread, thaw and place on a baking sheet. You don't need to add anything else. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until it's crusty. Cool to room temp. Then place chucks of bread in a food processor with the sharp bottom base blade and process until it's the consistency of sand. Freeze is glass jars for up to 4-5 months.

Homemade breadcrumbs are now handy to add to homemade meatloaf, mac & cheese, and all the other wonderful comfort fall dishes that made great leftovers to take to work for lunch!

Bursting with flavor

Photo taken before blossoms were cooked

A friend at work has been sharing squash blossoms with me from her mother and grandmother's gardens. It's a real treat to have an abundance of blossoms to cook with.

This appetizer or side dish needs six ingredients (2-3 servings):

• 12-13 Squash blossoms, washed, remove stems and long center pistols 
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 teaspoons washed and chopped cilantro (or use Italian flat leaf parsley)
• 1/2 - 2/3 cup crumbled good soft cheese (Humboldt Fog, Cowgirl Creamery Mt. Tam)
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (I use Cecchetti)
• 1 Tablespoon Sweet Cream Butter

Stuff each blossom with 1-2 Tablespoons of cheese, ginger, cilantro mixture until their very plump. Twist petals together. Heat skillet and add butter and olive oil on medium heat. Gently place blossoms in the pan. Cook 5-7 minutes until cheese is melting and blossoms are browning. Do not over cook since they will continue to cook a bit more even after you remove them from the pan.

I served these with two other salads and a blush wine. Bon appetite!

[Beef stock versus chicken provides richer flavor and gives taupe color. I should have used a green bowl for this. It would have looked prettier. It does taste yummy - if I may say so! :-)]

Spicy Latin Soup - makes approx 8 servings. 

1. ¼ - 1/3 cup Meyers lemon juice
2. ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (I like Cecchetti)
3. 3 tablespoons butter
4. 1 red onion, peeled and diced
5. 1 large potato, peeled and diced
6. 2 zucchini, sliced and chopped
7. 1 teaspoon each cumin, coriander, Ca. dried chili
8. 1 each poblano and jalapeno peppers, roasted, skinned, seeded and chopped
9. 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
10. Kosher salt

Sauté and cook the above ingredients until veggies are tender approx. 15-20 minutes on medium to medium-high heat. Stir periodically. Use an emulsifier to puree. Add:

11. Chicken free range cutlets, rinsed and cut into bite size pieces. Cook another 20 minutes until chicken is no longer pink. (I like the free range Trader Joe's. The chicken smells fresher and tastes better to me) Add:

12. 1 box beef stock (I use Trader Joe's)
13. 1 cup ½ and ½

Cook another 5-10 minutes until hot and bubbly. Stir periodically. Add:

14. 2 ears of corn, husked, kernels cut from the cob
15. 15 squash blossoms, cleaned, stems removed. Use your fingers to break loose the long pistils in the center of each flower and discard. Cut the blossoms cross-wise into 1/4-inch strips, including the bulbous base. These can be expensive so you can use 3-5. They do add a distinct and delicate flavor.

Cook another 10 minutes on simmer. Serve with sour cream. You can garnish with fresh cilantro. From start to finish including chopping and slicing, it took me about 1 hour and 15 minutes to make this. I was drinking wine at the time which may have slowed me down a bit. 

This soup freezes beautifully in glass jars for individual lunch munch servings. Reheat in microwave or on the stove top and serve with 1-2 Tablespoons of sour cream. Garnish with fresh cilantro if you have it, squash or nasturtium blossoms.

Don't recycle...

...your used peanut butter, mayo, Kimchi jars. Run them through your dishwasher to thoroughly deodorize them and they're ready for leftovers to freeze or refrigerate.

Use summer's bounty of stone fruit (peaches, nectarines, apricots) and produce like broccoli and corn to blanch and roast and freeze for winter use. I love surprising guests in December with a 'fresh' fruit cobbler made with summer sunshine treats.

Have you wondered why the food you've frozen doesn't taste so good after a couple of months in the freezer? If you've stored it in plastic containers or plastic bags, the plastic has leeched into the food mingling with the flavor for not-so-fresh smells/tastes. Freezing in clean glass jars eliminates this from happening.

How do you dress-up a chicken?

I love to cook, but sometimes I want something quick and easy. You know those roasted chickens they sell at Costco, Whole Foods, and even my Farmers Market? They can be dressed up to make a beautiful, colorful, tasty salad that’s fast and pretty darn easy to assemble.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 roasted chicken, skin and bones removed and shredded with your fingers (Or if your family ate most of the bird the night before, this is a great way to use up any chicken meat leftovers)
• 1 fennel bulb, washed and sliced thinly
• 1 handful of mushrooms (I like a mixture to add complexity), brushed and sliced
• 1 bag mixed greens preferably organic and from your Farmers market (Why? They won’t taste like plastic. They’ll be super fresh and should taste sweet. And, you’re supporting your local area economy and farmers.)
• 1 handful of nasturtium blossoms – or sometimes you can buy edible flower blossoms in the baby green mixes. These will add color and a peppery, spice to your salad. 

Combine in a glass salad bowl.

Dressing

• ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil. I prefer Cecchetti Olive Oil because of the buttery flavor. (I even use it on my popcorn instead of butter!)
• ½ small sweet red onion
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• ½ cup balsamic vinegar or sherry vinegar
• 1-2 teaspoons honey
• dash of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Using an emulsifier, food processor, or slicing/dicing/wire whisking, blend the dressing ingredients together. Pour over salad and toss and serve.  Bon Appetite!

P.S. Add berries

If you want to get really fancy with your ice cubes, add berries with your juice and freeze in ice cube trays. I just did blueberries in fresh line juice for a Tequila Pellegrino cocktail.

This trick is also helpful if you have a lot of fresh fruit that may perish that you're not going to be able to eat now.

What a treat to have seasonal summer fruit in your cocktail in November on a cold rainy day. Cheers!

Cool down with a summer beverage that's light & tasty

I'm always looking for ways to feel like I'm eating and drinking well, without spending a fortune. While 'Whole Paycheck' offer convenience and 'whole foods,' it's easy to walk out spending $100+. Yikes! If you have a family, you're looking at spending way more so what's an idea for a cool beverage that won't cost $$$?

Buy fruit juice at Traders Joes and also juice lemons, limes, oranges and grapefruit and use your ice cube trays. Once frozen, toss in a plastic bag or glass jar in the freezer. I use these fresh juice ice cubes in bubbly water like Pellegrino, but they're also delicious in plain and simple tap water. This is also a lot less expensive than purchasing flavored waters.

For an adult cocktail on a hot summer eve, in addition to the juice cubes and Pellegrino, add Tequila or Vodka. Yum!