On Greek yogurt

Now that I've started a healthy eating kick, I've noticed that some things taste even better to me.  Like Greek yogurt.  I'm eating Fage 2% with honey, and I swear it tastes like cheesecake!

Groundnut soup

Thanks to the Temple of Zeus for the starting point for this recipe.  As one of my favorite soups of all time, this was actually the first time I've attempted to make it.  Happily, the results were of high quality, and this was a relief given the fact that Zeus's proportions are for restaurant kitchens.  Hence, making soup for 2 meant scaling down the recipe, which is always a dangerous proposition.  Although, perhaps scaling down is easier than scaling up? 

At any rate, here is what went into our version of the soup, most of which was from our CSA:

2 T vegetable oil
1 chopped onions
1 clove garlic, minced
3 carrots, diced
1 celeriac, diced
1 sweet potato, diced (I used a Korean yam b/c that is what I had)
1 jalapeno, chopped
2 pinches of garam masala
1 pinch of chili powder
1 pinch cumin

1 cup cooked rice
salt 1 can of Glen Muir diced fire roasted tomatoes (can't remember the oz but it's sort of big, for Ithacans it's the one in the natural/organic aisle)
4 cups of chicken broth (can use veg broth to make this recipe vegan.  also I used less but I now recommend using 4)
4 T chunky peanut butter
pinch sugar
Juice from 1/2 a lime
Cilantro for garnish


Directions: saute onion for a couple of minutes.  Add garam masala, cumin and chili powder.  Add carrots, celeriac, garlic, jalapeno and sweet potato, saute for a few minutes more until slightly softened.  Add tomatoes and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil and then let simmer for ~20-30 minutes.  Add cooked rice, lime juice, peanut butter, sugar, salt to taste.  Stir to incorporate and then let simmer for ~5 minutes.  Garnish with cilantro and enjoy.


(Depending on how finely you diced the ingredients and your preferred texture, you'll have to let it simmer as needed.  Keep checking it for appropriate doneness.  I like mine soft but not overcooked, you might prefer more bite)

xmas breakfast: baked egg cups

So easy... chop up yummy ingredients of your choice, place in ramekin, crack an egg on top, add a dash of cream, 11 minutes in a 350 degree oven (ramekins must be on a baking sheet)... and bingo, egg cups! These have leftovers from other meals (roasted asparagus, kielbasa, gruyere). Enjoy!

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Xmas eve dinner

S's eggplant parm. The best.

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Monster CSA Post I

Farfalle with turnip greens and prosciutto

Sausage and lentil stuffed acorn squash

Lemon boy choy, tofu, snow pea stir fry

Beet and goat cheese ravioli

Carrot soufflé

Acorn squash pie

We mostly tried to keep things simple, because of the amount of prep that fresh farm vegetables need.  Not that it is so onerous, especially because we aren't in classes now, but we like to keep cooking a joy and not a chore.  Make agains: farfalle (love the hint of bitterness in the tender turnip greens), carrot souffle (CSA carrots are heavenly), and acorn squash pie (so sweet, it barely needed sugar).  Tweaks: wonton wrappers are not an acceptable wrapper for ravioli, it is decided, but the simple filling of pureed roasted beets with goat cheese is divine.  Bok choy was fine but unexciting.  Stuffed acorn squash - fail.  Maybe this was a not sweet or just huge acorn squash, but despite an hour in the oven it was undercooked and tasteless.  The acorn squash we used for the pie was so amazing it really barely needed sugar to be dessert.  We are squash novices so we'll have to keep testing cooking methods for it.  This isn't even half of what we've been cooking up, so many more monster CSA posts will follow....

Obsessed with Microwave mochi

Hello, lover

Mochi has been a favorite treat since childhood.  But I had never even considered as make-able at home, as I assumed you needed an (expensive) mochi machine, not really available in the US, to make the dough.  However, whist wandering around on the interwebs as per usual, I discovered that people have been making mochi with, wait for it, their MICROWAVES.  I had to try it.

It's amazing.  Really.  Now I am obsessed.  Above you see my matcha green tea mochi filled with adzuki red bean paste. 

Here's my version of the recipe/protocol, with slightly different proportions and more tacit knowledge made explicit from this blogger's original:

1 Cup of Mochiko sweet rice flour
2 tsp Matcha powder
2 TBSP sugar
3/4 Cup of water
1 Can of adzuki bean paste
Cornstarch for dusting

Before starting anything, put the adzuki bean paste into a tupperware container and refrigerate.  When ready to make mochi, put some cornstarch onto a plate, which you will use to prep the mochi.  Have two spoons and a measuring cup with a flat bottom handy.  Put Mochiko, Matcha, sugar, and water into a microwaveable bowl and mix to form a paste.  Microwave the paste for 2 minutes, take out, stir a little, and then microwave for 2 minutes more.  Remove the hot bowl from the microwave, and let the mochi dough sit until you can touch it (it is wicked hot, but I am impatient and have a high tolerance for touching hot things so I start right away).  Dust your fingers with cornstarch to deal with the mochi dough.  Use a spoon (dipped in cornstarch) to take a heaping spoon of the dough, plop it on the cornstarch covered plate, dip the bottom of the measuring cup with mochi flour, and pound the dough into a flat circle.  Spoon the bean paste into the circle and then pinch it closed, shaping it into an oval.  Brush all sides with a light dusting of the cornstarch.  Repeat until you have used up all the dough.  You will have lots of paste left so feel free to make more dough.  Each cup of Mochiko makes about 6-8 mochis.  Happy cooking, but please do not hold me responsible if you burn your fingers with hot sticky sweet rice flour paste.

Bad blogger, good finder...

Sorry, blog.  I have been ignoring you.  But I have been eating well due to myself & Mr. O's membership in a CSA.  Mr. O in particular has been cooking up a storm.  A monster blog post about our CSA treats is coming, but in the meantime, I am happy to report that I have FINALLY found what looks to be a credible recipe for the The Counter's veggie burger, the best veggie burger I have ever had!  Unfortunately the "roasted vegetable mix" is not spelled out specifically, and the recipe makes 181 servings.  Other searching suggests that the mix is red bell peppers, carrots, and zucchini.  Must try, and will report back!