Creamy Basil Zucchini Salad

An actual food post!  I know...it's been a very long time.  I just haven't been adventuring in the kitchen lately.  What I have been doing lately though, is craving cole slaw with my sandwich at lunch.  But I keep forgetting to buy cabbage.  I really wanted some kind of creamy cold salad with my lunch today, so I came up with this idea.  It was quite satisfying.

1 carrot, coarsely grated

3 inches of a medium zucchini, chopped small

1/2 avocado, chopped small

1 handful fresh basil, finely chopped

1 tbsp mustard (I used Jack Daniels Mustard)

1 spoonful mayonnaise

garlic powder (to taste)

Mix everything together and enjoy next to the sandwich of your choice. 

This recipe makes approximately 2 servings.

Peanut Butter Chicken Pasta

2 b/s chicken breasts

garlic powder

ginger powder

turmeric powder

1/2 c vegetable stock

1-2 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 c crunchy peanut butter

1 carrot

2 big handfuls arugula

Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces and dump them into a skillet on medium heat.  Liberally sprinkle with the seasonings (If I was less lazy, I would have used fresh minced garlic and ginger). Add the vegetable stock and soy sauce to the skillet.  Stir occasionally as the chicken cooks, so that it will cook evenly through.  When the chicken is about down, add the peanut butter.  Mix well. Turn down the heat so that the chicken doesn't over-cook.  Chop the carrot into bite sized pieces and add that as well.  The pan should stay hot just long enough to soften the carrots.  Add the arugula a minute or two before serving; it tastes better if it doesn't wilt too much.  Serve over the grain of your choice.  I chose pasta of course, but I'm sure it would be just as tasty over rice or quinoa or farro or whatever. 

 boiling peanut butter deliciousness

arugula

Immersion Blender!

I just bought myself a new kitchen toy that has made soup-making sooooo much easier.  

I've been planning to make carrot-ginger soup for awhile now, but it's usually such a pain, I was dragging my feet about making it, even though I was craving it.  But then I ordered an immersion blender and it came yesterday.  So tonight I made my soup.  Cooked everything, threw it all in a pitcher, and blended it smooth.  So much quicker and easier than processing it cup by cup in my food processor.  Also, the immersion blender is so easy to clean!

Olive oil, 2 inches of ginger root, 1/2 yellow onion, garlic powder, mustard powder, splash of veggie stock.

9 carrots, steamed with 1/2 stick butter, a bit of water.

When the carrots were soft, I poured the entire contents of the pot into the larger pot with the onions, etc.  Then I added 1-2 cups of heavy cream and a bit more veggie stock. 

I let it cook for a few minutes, then I spooned it into a pitcher.

Then I put my new toy to work.

Yes, I made soup in a green drink pitcher.  

The instructions for the blender said tall and thin containers work best. 

I decided this was the best thing I had.

Deliciousness.

Peachy Perfect Pasta

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 cups chopped onion

2 carrots, chopped

1-2 cups chopped cabbage

2 peaches, chopped

fresh basil, chopped

Boil water for pasta. When it boils, add the pasta, then:

Saute the onions in some olive oil.  When they are lightly browned, add the cabbage, carrots, some more olive oil, and 1/4 c water.  Put a lid on the pan and let it steam for awhile.  

While the veggies steam, chop up the peaches into bite-sized pieces.  When the veggies are done, remove the lid, turn the heat to very low, and add the peaches. Chop up some fresh basil and add it as well.  

Drain the pasta and toss it with olive oil and just a little bit of mustard and pesto.  

Put some pasta in a bowl, dump some fruit/veggie mix on top, and stir it up.

Eat, enjoy.

Stuffing Muffins

I always throw the ends of bread loaves into the freezer.  Sometimes they turn into stuffing, sometimes bread pudding.  I got a new roommate recently, and it's been getting hard to close the freezer door.  I had almost 2 loaves worth of bread in there, so I figured it was about time to do something with it.  I didn't manage to use all of it, but I did manage to use of some of it!

Ingredients

garlic cloves

fresh ginger root

1/4 yellow onion

2 slices of bacon

2 small carrots

big handful of cranberries

1 egg

veggie stock

c 3/4 loaf of dried bread

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Chop the garlic, ginger, and onion and saute in some olive oil.  Chop the bacon and add it when the onion starts to brown.  Grate the carrot and put it in a big bowl.  Chop the cranberries and add them to the bowl. Add the garlic/ginger/onion/bacon mixture.  Beat the egg and add it.  Add c 1/2 c of veggie stock.  Mix well.  Break the bread into roughly 1 inch pieces and add it.  Stir well until all of the bread is moist.  Add more veggie stock if needed.  Grease a muffin tin.  Shape the stuffing mixture into 12 balls and put them in the muffin tin.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  

Gazpacho-ish

Cool and refreshing.  Pretty thick though, I should have used regular tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes so there would be more juice .

Chop all ingredients, then put them in a food processor.  My processor is small so I had to do a few ingredients at a time and then mix them together in a separate bowl.  If you have a big processor, feel free to process everything at once . 

veggies

1/4 c onion

1/4 c carrots

2 roma tomatos

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

basil leaves

big handful spinach leaves

seasonings

garlic

ginger

mustard 

cumin

liquids

rice vinegar

olive oil

veggie stock

First I processed the onion, carrots, 1 tomato, and some basil with a dash of vinegar and olive oil.  Then, I processed the zucchini with some olive oil and the seasonings, then the yellow squash with some olive oil, then the last tomato and some more basil.  Then I processed the spinach.  I mixed all the ingredients together, and it was super thick so I added some more olive oil and a bit of veggie stock to try to make it a bit looser.

I added a spoonful of plain yogurt to the gazpacho I had with dinner.

Gazpacho/yogurt, sloppy joe, and some chips.  

Dinner is served.

Carrot Tomato Soup

I had some leftover tomato paste from the chili I made on Thursday, and I have been wanting to make some variation of my Carrot-Ginger soup, so I decided to make a Carrot-Ginger-Tomato soup.  

Today was a good day for soup making.

1:00

 4:00

 view from my kitchen window:

INGREDIENTS

4-5 cloves garlic

large chunk of ginger root

1/2 sweet onion

10+ carrots

5 radishes

4 sticks of celery

tomato paste

1 can diced tomatoes

veggie stock

water

seasonings

DIRECTIONS

I minced the garlic and ginger, then browned them in olive oil.  While they were browning, I cleaned and chopped the carrots.  The carrots went into a soup pot with 1/2 stick of butter.  When the garlic/ginger was browned I added it to the soup pot.  Put the lid on the soup pot and turned the burner onto medium heat.  While that was steaming, I chopped the onion and put it in a skillet to brown in olive oil.  Meanwhile, I chopped the celery and radishes.  I added veggie stock to the soup pot as needed.  I added turmeric, mustard powder, tarragon, and oregano to the soup pot.  When the onions were browned, I added them to the soup pot, along with 1 cup of water.  I added 3 spoonfuls of tomato paste, some veggie stock, and 2 more cups of water.  I sauteed the celery and radishes in the skillet, then added them to the soup pot along with the can of diced tomatoes and some more veggie stock.  

lots of ginger!

I got squirted in the eye while I was peeling it...ouch!

deliciousness

Brussels Sprout Soup

I was perusing the produce section of Kroger yesterday morning and the brussels sprouts caught my eye.  I may or may not have ever gotten brave enough to try a brussels sprout before, but I know they're really good for you.  And I've heard recently that they are only nasty when you boil them, and that they are actually quite good if you bake them.  So, I said what the heck and bought a package of them.  I saved a few to bake later in the week, but most of them went into the soup I made today.  Which I just put away in the fridge even though I still haven't taste-tested it.

I didn't really measure most of the vegetables I used, but I'll make guesses for you...

Brussels Sprout Soup

1 stick of butter

4 c water

1 c veggie stock

3 c brussels sprouts, quartered

3 carrots, chopped

a bit of chopped onion

2 c chopped cabbage

garlic cloves to taste, minced

ginger root, grated

1/2 c quinoa

2 b/s chicken breasts, poached & shredded

seasonings to taste

steam the veggies and butter in a large soup pot

brown the garlic & ginger in some olive oil, then add to the soup pot

when the veggies are soft, add the water, veggie stock, and seasonings

add the quinoa, cook til done

add the chicken