last weekend, jordan and i visited the kennett square mushroom festival, whose volunteers and mushroom experts reminded us of this (but just substitute "shrimp" with "mushroom"). we left with an armload of different varieties of mushrooms: shiitakes, crimini (or baby bellas...i had no idea they were the same thing!), portobello caps, even porcini mushroom pasta.
so with the cold weather that came upon us this week, we thought we would try our hand at using the mushrooms for a soup. i have been trying to avoid dairy lately, so the standard, cream-based mushroom soup was not an option. instead, we adapted a recipe we found from vegetarian times. find the original recipe here.
we substituted quinoa for the wheat berries (as i am trying to avoid wheat as well, and we didn't have wheat berries in the pantry, just quinoa). also, next time we make it i would add scallions to bring a little more green to the soup.
ingredients:
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thin
1 cup quinoa
10 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thin
1 medium bunch kale, washed, stems removed, and sliced on the bias
1/4 cup rice vinegar
4 cups low-sodium, MSG free vegetable broth (we use this to make our own broth; much more economical and eco-friendly than buying the cardboard quarts that end up going to waste!)
method:
cook quinoa according to package directions. set aside.
heat olive oil in a saucepan. saute the mushrooms for 10 minutes. add the garlic and continue to saute an additional 2 minutes. carefully add vinegar (the pan will be hot, so don't get splashed!) and continue to stir gently, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon.
add broth to the saucepan, bring to a boil and then allow to simmer for 20 minutes. stir in kale and allow to wilt.
to serve, ladle the soup into bowls and add the desired amount of quinoa to each bowl (this prevents the quinoa from getting soggy in the broth).
so simple! enjoy!
7/10/11
7/5/11
BIG NEWS, YOU GUYS.
want a hint?
it is purple and shiny and i used to be scared to eat it. and it rhymes with 'schmeggflant'.
i accidentally ate some baba ghanouj the other day with no ill effects or anaphylactic shock. so last night during a 4th of july cookout, with a newfound sense of bravery, i had a slice of grilled eggplant with some basil, mozz and tomato. i KNOW, right?!
i think i have officially become an eggplant enthusiast. and we have some in the garden now that are almost ready to be picked. what should we make with it?
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6/28/11
garden update!
we have been able to make so many meals now that our garden is starting to explode! and it really does look like a beautiful, green delicious explosion has taken over our backyard. can you believe that just a little over a month ago our garden looked like this:
and now it looks like this!!
the only sacrifice is that every time we go out to harvest, we get annihilated by mosquitoes, which is a small price to pay for the bounty of the garden gods.
just a few of the things we have made so far with our backyard harvests:
-pesto (obviously...we can't get enough of the stuff!)
-three bean salad with green beans from the garden, garbanzos and cannellini beans, garnished with slivers of basil leaves
-red new potato salad with parboiled green beans from the garden, red potatoes that have been boiled and cooled, thinly sliced red onion, rosemary from the garden, lemon juice, olive oil, and s + p.
things we are looking forward to by the end of july:
-ceviche with loads of cilantro from the backyard (i am also excited about growing our own parsley and cilantro so it won't go to waste when we have to buy a slimy bunch from the grocery store that goes bad in, like, three hours)
-grilled veggie kebabs (on our new grill..thanks, bruce and helene! xo) with yellow squash and eggplant (on jordan's side)
-fried green tomatoes before the tomatoes start to all turn red
-swimming in a sea of tomatoes...caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and backyard basil...roasted tomatoes with rosemary...maybe even taking a stab at making our own pasta sauce and canning it!
is your mouth watering yet? because mine definitely is!!
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| before |
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| after! |
just a few of the things we have made so far with our backyard harvests:
-pesto (obviously...we can't get enough of the stuff!)
 |
| it looks like someone else has been enjoying the basil as much as we have! who is this mystery nibbler? |
-red new potato salad with parboiled green beans from the garden, red potatoes that have been boiled and cooled, thinly sliced red onion, rosemary from the garden, lemon juice, olive oil, and s + p.
things we are looking forward to by the end of july:
-ceviche with loads of cilantro from the backyard (i am also excited about growing our own parsley and cilantro so it won't go to waste when we have to buy a slimy bunch from the grocery store that goes bad in, like, three hours)
-grilled veggie kebabs (on our new grill..thanks, bruce and helene! xo) with yellow squash and eggplant (on jordan's side)
-fried green tomatoes before the tomatoes start to all turn red
-swimming in a sea of tomatoes...caprese salad with heirloom tomatoes and backyard basil...roasted tomatoes with rosemary...maybe even taking a stab at making our own pasta sauce and canning it!
is your mouth watering yet? because mine definitely is!!
5/30/11
oopsie smoothie
welp...the no-wheat, no-caffeine, no-alcohol was nice while it lasted...
we went to a wedding last night, and i indulged in the obligatory glass (or four) of chardonnay, and this morning, feeling slightly groggy, i gave in to my iced coffee and bagel craving.
now, a mere five hours later, i feel terrible. jittery and tired at the same time, thanks to the caffeine, gooey cream cheese and chewy bready bagel. i am sorry, belly.
so for lunch i made a smoothie to get myself feeling better. even though i don't have a blender (but it is on the registry!) a food processor does the trick. half a banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, half a scoop of spiru-tein vanilla, a generous spoonful of yogurt, and some rice milk and ice cubes, blended all together did the trick.
what a pretty color, too!
we went to a wedding last night, and i indulged in the obligatory glass (or four) of chardonnay, and this morning, feeling slightly groggy, i gave in to my iced coffee and bagel craving.
now, a mere five hours later, i feel terrible. jittery and tired at the same time, thanks to the caffeine, gooey cream cheese and chewy bready bagel. i am sorry, belly.
so for lunch i made a smoothie to get myself feeling better. even though i don't have a blender (but it is on the registry!) a food processor does the trick. half a banana, a handful of frozen blueberries, half a scoop of spiru-tein vanilla, a generous spoonful of yogurt, and some rice milk and ice cubes, blended all together did the trick.
what a pretty color, too!
best garden ever!
after the never-ending saga that went into renting a roto-tiller, we (and by "we", i mean jordan) tripled the size of our garden! it meant sacrificing the bonfire spot, but our yard is big enough that we can find space for both!
yesterday was the first bountiful harvest of arugula. i have never tasted arugula so yummy in my life! the leaves are perfectly green, so delightful and peppery!
we had a couple of very disappointing experiences with grocery store arugula, coming home to find over half the leaves in the package to be wilted, slimy and sometimes black. sorry, grocery store...we are going to do all our produce shopping in our backyard for the next few months.
so what's on the menu for this summer's garden? basil basil basil (pesto for days!), lots of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, arugula, eggplant (which i will not be eating because of my "allergy"), and some other things that i can't remember because jordan isn't around to ask. :)
i am so looking forward to the summer meals we will be cooking with all of our backyard veggies!
yesterday was the first bountiful harvest of arugula. i have never tasted arugula so yummy in my life! the leaves are perfectly green, so delightful and peppery!
 |
| first arugula harvest |
we had a couple of very disappointing experiences with grocery store arugula, coming home to find over half the leaves in the package to be wilted, slimy and sometimes black. sorry, grocery store...we are going to do all our produce shopping in our backyard for the next few months.
so what's on the menu for this summer's garden? basil basil basil (pesto for days!), lots of tomatoes, peppers, lettuce, arugula, eggplant (which i will not be eating because of my "allergy"), and some other things that i can't remember because jordan isn't around to ask. :)
i am so looking forward to the summer meals we will be cooking with all of our backyard veggies!
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| giant garden! |
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| come on young one, your time to grow is now |
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| BAH-zill. |
5/23/11
killing the beast.
catch up time.
the last time i wrote was in february. allow me to bring you up to speed, dear readers (all two of you):
i sprinted to the finish of my first year of graduate school. i taught a course. i applied for and landed 2 jobs that i was really hoping to be offered. my mom got very ill. i started seeing a therapist. i pulled my first all-nighter since high school. i got engaged (!!!!!!). i missed having my best friends being by my side through all these highs and lows.
because of all these things put together, the good and the bad, i have become a busy, cranky, slovenly beast with little desire to cook, with an insatiable appetite for gallons of coffee in the morning and even more gallons of alcohol at night. with night classes twice a week this past semester that overlap inconveniently with the dinner hour, i found myself coming home famished and deciding to feast on take-out food and beer, instead of having to figure out what i wanted to make for dinner. then going to the store. then buying things. then coming home. then, UGH, preparing food. you can see where this is going.
this pattern, as i discovered as i haplessly tried to take my dehydrated, malnourished self on a run (which gradually turned into a crawl) over the weekend, must end. and so i have come back into the kitchen, prepared with a new arsenal of recipes to explore and to share and to enjoy so that i can explore and share and enjoy my life!
as of saturday, i have eliminated caffeine, alcohol and wheat from my diet. all these things are my weak points, and they really are addictive. and when all self-control is scattered to the wind because of excessive stress, abandon ye all hope and prepare to gorge thyself on 2 bags of pita chips and several glasses of wine.
so how is it working so far? well, i have not had alcohol in three days, and it actually has been surprising how little i miss it. there was a time when having dinner without a glass of wine seemed uncivilized, but then i realized how uncivilized it became to have a glass before and after dinner as well. forgoing wheat has been easy so far, also. and i actually do feel a difference in my energy levels since eliminating it, which is unbelievable.
the hardest thing to give up has been coffee. whimper. as i write this in my coffee shop of choice, the smell of freshly ground beans wafting through the air is taunting me as i begrudgingly sip my herbal tea. i have read on the internetz about the difficulties of eliminating caffeine, and i actually am really stunned at how my addiction has evolved throughout the semester. in three months, i went from ordering the smallest size available with the smallest coffee-to-milk ratio (1:4), to upping to size from short to extra tall, to eliminating the milk altogether and guzzling it black. at any and all hours of the day, too, not just the morning. who AM i?
now that the semester is officially over, i am going to take the time i need this summer to get my habits in check and blog with gusto! here's to feeling good! xo.
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