Snowed in.

Not as romantic as it sounds. It was all because I had tried to empty the fridge out, and I was waiting to buy more groceries for this weekend. And I made fun of other people for going out to stock up last night before the snow. So the gods are getting me back for being a skeptic and we can't really get out. Not that we tried very hard, but I just don't trek through unplowed streets without damn good reason.

Anyway, it was fine, great even! I made coffee, pancakes and eggs for brunch--Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pancake mix is awesome. Later I actually had to be creative as there wasn't much left around. It was kind of a good lesson in how long we can go without shopping and how to use ingredients that don't obviously go together.

So dinner was really good. We had bean and veggie curry with coconut rice and broccoli. I had forgotten the broccoli was in the freezer from forever ago- I shouldn't have left in in there so long, it was a block of ice, but it cooked in the microwave just fine. The brown rice was made in the rice cooker (best invention ever!) with some dried coconut, coconut milk and garm masala mixed in. My goodness was that a good idea! Finally the curry was really easy. I had a little veggie soup that had been frozen and thawed, so I mixed it in with some onion and celery I cooked and the last portion of the white beans. Throw in a whole bunch of curry powder and paprika, salt pepper and garlic, let it simmer until it looks good. I found some frozen cilantro and mixed it and lime juice in; and we had some great curry.

I guess the lesson here is look in the back of the freezer!

The best carrot soup I have ever made

We have all sorts of odds and ends after this last week, including a bag of baby carrots that wasn't getting any younger (note to self, don't buy four bags in a week, even if they are on sale...) so it was carrot soup time! This was a smaller batch than usual, I'd usually peel and cook about 3-4 lbs at once, but there is enough for lunch tomorrow and the next day. This is important, as chris has now learned the merits of carrying his lunch, (oh thank god) and soup is great for that, just store it in a jar and reheat with the lid off.

The Best Carrot Soup Ever.

1 tbls unsalted butter

1/2 large sweet onion diced

4 stalks of celery diced

(should have put 3-4 cloves garlic sliced in here)

cook these together until they are soft, then add:

1 lb peeled carrots cut in chunks

salt and pepper

continue to cook on med heat. when you can smell the carrots, add:

4-6 cups of water (or veg broth would be better, but I bought this powdered broth and am trying to use it up)

when it simmers add broth powder and some dried garlic

med simmer 15 mins, add:

2 small or 1 large diced potatoes and about 1 cup cooked white beans

simmer another 15-20 minutes and mash with potato masher until creamy and mostly smooth

add a bunch or fresh ginger (I used part of a jar of grated ginger, fresh would taste better)

1 tbls paprika

salt and pepper to taste

to finish, turn off heat, and melt about 3 spoonfuls of sour cream in.

We ate this with broken tortilla chips sprinkled on top.

Makes about 10 servings for most people, or fewer if you are feeding chris.

P.S. We did it! no meals out this week, just a few drinks and a visit to the taco truck. I don't want to jinx this but posting any goals, but project eat right and save money is off to a great start.

friday tops wenesday this week

We eat a lot of Mexican food here because it is easy, cheap and delicious. I start with cooking beans and rice, and we eat it a bunch of ways. Yesterday I cooked white beans (navy I think) with fire roasted tomatoes, sliced garlic, and various spices (salt, pepper, hot pepper, more garlic) and mashed it up a bit. Mexican rice was next, though honestly I made it with the same stuff as the beans, and it tasted like it. Should have only put tomato in one of them. But when it was in a tortilla covered in cheese and sour cream, it didn't matter. As we are classy sorts, we ate with our plates in our laps while watching season 1 of Star Trek DS9. Which isn't very good, let me tell you.

So today was leftover tacos, for lunch at 4pm and dinner at 11pm. It was one of those days. The ones I just made a bit ago were eight kinds of awesome I must say. I fried a tortilla and then topped it with melty cheddar cheese on half, and put spinach on the bottom topped with beans a rice. It was so good!

Wenesday is always the worst day of the week I find.

I wasn't up to cooking last night because I would have had to clean the kitchen first, and that was not happening. Lucky for me, there was food because I had bought spinach and eggs to make a quiche for our anniversary this last weekend, but still haven't made yet. Anyway, the point is I made spinach salad and it was really good. I had made some the other day, and tried to poach an egg for it, but I din't really like it enough for the amount of work. This version was much better.

Spinach salad:

I first boiled 4 eggs just right for the first time ever (yolk was firm but not dry). I think that may be the only thing an electric stove is good for, as the leftover heat is enough to cook them after you turn it off when it boils. I cut them in half so it would be pretty.

Then I made the dressing; whisking together some red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, sesame oil, ginger, garlic, salt and fresh ground white pepper. I think there was about a 1/4 cup in the end.

Salad was just green onions and about 4 oz of baby spinach. I had mixed about half of it with the dressing, and then due to chris not feeling well, left it out for about an hour, where upon the spinach had wilted enough I could mix in a lot more spinach with out it falling out the bowl. It was much better after sitting than it had been before. I tried to make enough to have some leftover, but I live with a man- so none was left.

Sunday Night

Veggie Chile:

I was making this for friends coming to dinner and also wanted it to last as leftovers, so this makes a lot of food. It worked really well for our awesome evening.

So I don't measure, drank a lot that night and I am remembering a few days later, but its chile, it's flexible.

1 yellow onion diced

5 stalks of celery (good way to get more veggies in) diced

6 cloves of garlic sliced

1 poblano pepper (it needed more though)

Canola oil to cover bottom of big soup pot

cook until onion is getting translucent

add

2 24 oz cans kidney beans (drained and rinsed)

1 24 oz can black beans

2 28 oz cans fire roasted diced tomatoes

then add spices (I spice by grabbing everything in the drawer)

2-3 tbls chile powder

paprika

salt

pepper

garlic powder

then stir in some peanut butter (optional, Chris insists that we have to follow his mother's way... I thought it was a bit weird, but tasted fine) and 1 smallish can of corn.

secret ingredient is just a few teaspoons of roasted sesame oil. it has a wonderfully warm dark flavor that just finishes soups so nicely.

Serve with cheese and rice. Then drink lots of beer and wine, go to an awesome concert and hang out with good friends and beautiful women to have an unforgettable evening.

How to have the best breakfast ever

First, coffee brewed with dash of pumkin pie spice.

Second, fried eggs with green onions and Parmesan cheese in a toasted tortilla.

So good! I have no idea how I haven't had that one before, I eat eggs about everyday.