Summer Corn Chowder!!

By now, if you're a fan of Panera's Summer Corn Chowder, you realize that the summer is slipping away too quickly, and they're just not afraid of breaking all of our hearts. It doesn't look like they're bringing it back this year at all. So I took matters into my own hands and scanned Pinterest for some copycat recipes. There are lots there, so I combined two or three of them, and have just the thing to tide us over-- or at least to feel like we broke up with Panera first. Maybe this tastes TOO good, or the vegetables are TOO fresh, but I'm pretty confident you'll be happy.

Kickass Summer Corn Chowder!

Heat 2 Tb. olive oil with 1 Tb unsalted butter and add a whole onion and one celery finely diced. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until both are nice and soft.

Stir in 3 Tb. flour and cook for 3 to 5 more minutes.

Add 5 cups of vegetable broth and 2-3 diced potatoes. I used a couple of russets and a couple smallish Yukon golds. They both cook down nicely. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.

Then add 4 c. corn kernels (I used frozen), 1/2 each of a red and green bell pepper, finely diced, 1 c. half and half, about 1 Tb. minced flat leaf parsley, salt & pepper to taste. Cover that bad boy up, lower the heat, and let it simmer for at least 10 more minutes. The longer you can wait, the better, since the potatoes start to thicken the broth more. If you're lucky enough to have some roasted green chiles, throw about 1/2 c. of those chopped bad boys in there too!

Serve with a little parsley garnish on top and some crusty bread with butter. This is no longer something that's just for summer, and we're no longer captive to the whims of the Panera seasonal menu!

BONUS: I get to stay home with the dogs and cats and have all the seconds I want!

New Soup: Zuppa di Zipper

It's the week before payday again and I have the added hitch of having been teaching for 5 weeks now without somehow having been *hired* for one of my classes. So I received only 2/3 of my paycheck and am s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g my resources. In rooting through my pantry, my fridge shelves, and scouring recipes online, I decided to concoct an Italian-ish garbanzo soup that I figured would be high protein, low fat, comforting, and absolutely not costing me a dime. Everyone's really happy with the results, so I give you my

Zuppa di Zipper (Starving Artist Minestrone)

Saute 1/2 diced yellow onion with 1 minced garlic clove in about 1 tsp. veg. oil.

Add

2 medium peeled, diced potatoes

1 qt. vegetable broth

1/2 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes. I squished them in my fingers as I added them to the soup and also added half of the juice from the can.

1 can garbanzo beans (drained, rinsed)

1 carrot, diced

1 rib of celery, diced

1" whole sprig of fresh rosemary

1 bay leaf

1 tsp. dried oregano

1 tsp. dried thyme

Simmer these for 10-15 min. until the potatoes and carrots are tender. I also added about 1/4 cup of leftover cooked penne pasta noodles that I cut in half. Once these are heated and all the veggies are cooked and the herbs all mingle, you're ready to go. Garnish with fresh parsley, salt and pepper to taste, and maybe toss in a little parmesan cheese. When I do it again, I hope to have some zucchini in the fridge (or breadsticks!), but this will tide me over just fine!

Baby it's c-c-c-cold outside (Happy Lunar New Year!)

It's record-breakingly freezing in southern New Mexico. We have our second snow day from the university-- not necessarily because of the weather itself, but because of the power company's inability to support keeping us all warm. During our two hour rolling blackout last night, all I could think of was what could I make to eat when the lights came back on. We lit candles all over the house and I laid under a blanket with a cat purring on my lap and though of soup.

So I decided to come up with a vegetarian variation on a Vietnamese comfort food: chao ga, or chicken and rice soup (also commonly made with crabmeat and corn, and also often called congee in English). When I traveled to Vietnam with my Vietnamese mother nearly eight years ago (almost exactly-- we were there for lunar new year!), I got sick with a persistant hacking cough (maybe it was SARS?). I loved rice soup. I haven't had it again since, so I sleuthed around for common ingredients and came up with my own.

Chao Chay (vegetarian Vietnamese rice soup)

3 c. vegetable broth

1/2 " piece of fresh ginger (cut into slices)

1/2 clove of fresh garlic (leave it whole so it can be taken out)

1/2-1 c. frozen corn

1/2 c. quorn chik'n pieces (or cube some naked cutlets)

1 Tb. soy sauce

1 Tb. corn starch

1/2 tsp. garlic chili sauce (sriracha)

1 egg (optional)

1 c. cooked jasmine rice

white pepper to taste

chopped cilantro

chopped green onion

Add ginger and garlic to veg. broth and bring to a boil. Add corn, chik'n, dissolve cornstarch in water separately and whisk into broth until clear and thickened a little. Season with soy sauce and sriracha to taste. Scramble raw egg in a bowl and drizzle in to the broth while stirring (pretend you're making egg drop soup). Add rice and bring to a simmer. When you serve, add white pepper, green onion, and cilantro. **note: the rice will suck up all the broth, so if you have leftovers, you'll want to add more broth to get it soupy again.

I googled "chao chay recipe" before posting this and used the translate function on a recipe. My favorite portion of the clunky translation was at the end:

Cook for instance, remove the seaweed and fried tofu and oyster mushroom give up no end. Tasting eating and asked to draw a bowl add pepper, and coriander on top for flavor. This soup is very cool food and supplements!

Wish appetite.

Wish appetite! ngon lam! and Chúc mừng năm mới

New Fall Soup: Potage de Crecy

It's the time of year again when I could essentially live on a liquid diet. Soup weather! Accordingly I wanted to share an excellent Carrot Soup recipe. I know, I know, it doesn't sound that glamorous, but it's simple, silky and luxurious and fantastic garnished with croutons or eaten with some crusty french bread. And speaking of the French, apparently the carrots grown near Crecy are the most delicious in the country! (Which Crecy? I guess there are several villages with that name-- I don't know. It makes a good story, though). We're adding this to our Thanksgiving Feast this year. Unless I can convince everyone to try out the Butternut Squash soup recipe I've got!

Puree of Carrot Soup

In a big pot (I use my enameled dutch oven Zips gave me for a present), saute:

1 Tb. butter

3 Tb. olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic (since they're cooked down, the flavor gets toned down and subdued)

1/2 onion, chopped

9 carrots, chopped (this isn't set in stone. If you use this many, you'll have a thick, hearty soup. If you use, say 7 skinny carrots, you'll have a thinner, but no less delicious soup)

Saute these together over medium heat, being careful not to burn the garlic or onions. Then add:

4 c. vegetable broth

1 c. plain soy milk

1-2 bay leaves

1 tsp. dried thyme

1tsp. - 1 Tb. grated fresh ginger (this depends on how ginger-y you'd like your soup. Even though I LOVE ginger, I use closer to 1 tsp. so it doesn't dominate)

Simmer all of these until the carrots are tender. Once they are, remove the bay leaves and carefully puree everything until smooth. I use an immersion blender. You could also do it in batches with a regular blender. Just be careful not to splatter the soup and burn yourself!

Return the smooth, pureed soup to the pot. Salt and pepper to taste. I don't usually add salt, just black pepper. Garnish with chopped parsley and possibly croutons.

Bon appetit!

More Noodles for Comfort Foods

I spent a summer studying spanish in spain when I was an undergraduate. Even though we got awful cafeteria food for breakfast and lunch, all of my memories involve great food moments, from the avocado tomato bocadillos we bought downstairs in the snack shop to the enormous paellas cooked by the school's superintendent over outdoor grills to my first gazpacho. I haven't found a gazpacho recipe that's close to what I had, but in lieu, here's a DELICIOUS cold soup recipe. I've actually tried several different cold soups with cucumbers and avocados rather unsuccessfully. (one was waaaay rich and actually put me off avocados for a little while. that's just wrong) But this one is the one. Oh, and if for some reason you find yourself unable to eat solid foods, this is way better than a steady diet of protein shakes:

We call it Green Goddess Soup

1-2 cucumbers

1-2 ribs celery

1 ripe avocado

1/4 c. parsley

handful of fresh mint leaves (1/4 cup)

1 garlic clove

juice of 1/2 lemon

This has 2 major steps. The first requires a juicer, the second requires your blender

Juice the parsley, celery, and half of the cucumber (this means if you're using 1 cuke, juice half of it. If you're using 2 cukes, then juice one of them)

Blend garlic, rest of cucumber, avocado, mint and lemon juice together. Add juice to blender and blend until smooth.

Chill it. Garnish it with some finely diced onion.

And as you can see, I've been at it again with the pasta machine. Today, despite sunny weather pushing 100 degrees, I wanted to make some simple noodles for chik'n noodle soup. My absolute favorite. So I went on the prowl for some eggless noodle recipe.
It's surprisingly difficult to find "eggless noodle recipe" that actually yields a recipe. But I ended up simply (SO simple!) mixing

2 c. all purpose flour + 1/2 c. water

Knead it for 5 min. Let it rest 20 min. Then RUN THAT PUPPY THROUGH YOUR PASTA MACHINE!!! And afterward, well, isn't this exactly what tea towels and laundry racks are made for?
It was SO EASY. And produced the best, most velvety, freshest noodles in soup I've ever had. Zips went after the noodles when I cut them into little 2" pieces. Then proclaimed this the best chik'n noodle soup I've ever made, that she's ever eaten.
(just a box and a can of vegetable broth simmered with celery, a little onion, carrots, parsley, bay leaves, and some quorn meatless chik'n tenders. I think I'll add a little cilantro and of course squeeze of lemon and sprinkle of pepper). In Vietnam they eat soup for breakfast so you sweat and cool off. That's how I'm going to justify my soup dinner in late July in southern New Mexico! Enjoy!

Veg Broth from Scratch and Perfect Protein Lunches

Because school is back in, and Fall is my favorite season, and I am very fond of soup, Zips decided we ought to try our hand/paw at making our own veggie broth from scratch. I am delighted at how delicious and rewarding it was. We looked at many recipes online, and decided we were just going to take a whack at it and use whatever we had. So we chopped a whole onion, several carrots, some celery, 2 zucchini, a leftover sliver of cabbage, 3 or 4 parsnips, 3 mushrooms, a sweet potato, a couple of yukon gold potatoes, a couple spears of asparagus, and a bay leaf. Well, we heated these in a little olive oil at the beginning, and just piled in veggies as we chopped them up. Then we added about 16 cups of water. (That's right! Clear water!) and boiled it all for about 2 hours. I found some whole peppercorns and added them about an hour in.


Here it is at the beginning, and a little later once everything starts to jive a little:

After the first hour, it starts smelling maddeningly delicious. It is no longer water with veggies in it, but magical homemade elixer! It could probably have continued boiling, but I couldn't take the sweet torture for long. So I scooped out all the veggies after it cooled, and poured the broth into some freezable containers. We are thrilled! This has totally inspired me to make a vegetarian french onion soup from scratch. I can even make my own bread!
And in our continued search for perfect foods for our busy school days, we needed to concoct something for Thursday Lunches. Thursday is our killer day this semester, as we have to be on campus, essentially, from 11:30am to 8:30pm, (with a break between 1 and 3) We HAVE to bring us some vittles that will keep the candle burning. So I looked up a bean and rice dish, since they offer a complete protein. Now, lots of folks have a recipe for Lentil and Brown Rice Soup/ Stew/ Cassarole/ Salad. I don't know what I was looking for, so I kind of cobbled together several things that looked good to me. The result: delicious!

Lovely Lentils and Brown Rice:

1/2 onion. diced
1 clove garlic minced
2 Tb. olive oil
1 carrot finely diced
2 celery ribs finely diced
3/4 c. uncooked brown rice
3/4 c. dry lentils
3 c. veggie broth (even better if made from scratch!)
1/4 c. roasted pine nuts
2 Tb. fresh cilantro chopped
2 Tb. fresh mint chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
sprinkle of ground coriander and black pepper

Heat up the oil and add things in the order listed. Give the veggies and aromatics a little saute before adding the rice and lentils. After adding the lentils, thrown in the broth and bring to a simmer. Cover it and give it a stir once in a while until the liquid is absorbed (about 30-40min.) Stir in the pine nuts and the fresh herbs. Season to taste, and squeeze the lemon in at the end. Zips liked with a diced fresh tomato mixed in. I'm thinking I would like it with something like raisins or dried cranberry cooked in... I'll keep you posted.

Good for complete protein, good for fiber, and good for Zips.

New Year! New Books! New Soups!

It's hard for me to believe that it's been six full months that we've lived here. Half a year in our new life, new job, new home, new time zone. It's lovely not to be cold in the winter. This is a new pleasure. In fact, one of my resolutions for the new year is to let the cats roam in the backyard when they ask (see example below)... okay, maybe once a day or so is more realistic. Already, Bijoux (below, far right) has abused this resolution by defiantly jumping the fence and tight-rope walking the stone wall between our backyard neighbors' yards. I had to climb into someone else's property to retrieve him. Thank goodness he didn't get too far! Everyone else is positively sedate by comparison. Zipper (you must recognize her by now) likes to chase crickets and moths and dust motes. All of these usually outsmart her. Mini (above) is happy to luxuriate on the hammock, soaking in the sun. She's clearly the smart one.
The holidays have been nice. Quiet, with the exception of a nasty cold that went through each member of the household. Some wonderful presents I received (aside from a remote controlled R2-D2 that promises to bring me a can of Coke from across the room when I command) include Keri Smith's awesome guide to life The Guerilla Art Kit; Lotta Jansdotter's Lotta Prints, Zakka Sewing by Therese Laskey, Chika Mori, Yoko Inoue; Printing by Hand by Lena Corwin and Thayer Allyson Gowdy; and Esther Smith's beautiful How to Make Books. Clearly I have work to do so that I can get to doing fun work! Here are my most favorite etsy-oriented crafty books. My kingdom for more time!
Over the holiday break, we took a brief excursion to Albuquerque and Santa Fe. It was so cold, my favorite part was actually huddling up in the guest bedroom of my parents' house watching WALL*E on our laptop. The (only) other bright spot was a sopa de tortilla tradicional that Zips ordered at a restaurant on the plaza in Santa Fe. It helped thaw us out from the icy streets of the historic downtown. I'd never tried it, and Zips was feeling adventurous. Happily, I memorized the ingredients listed in the menu, and cobbled together some recipes that pretty closely approximates the zippy, spicy, smokey soup we had!

Tortilla Soup:

2-3 poblano chiles-- roasted, peeled, seeded, diced

1/2 c. green chiles (mild to medium) (I used Bueno frozen mild. I'm kicking myself for not being more adventurous earlier in the season and buying and roasting them fresh! Lesson learned!)

1 clove garlic (or about 1tsp)-- minced

2 Tb. olive oil

1 28oz. can whole tomatoes-- including juice

2 Qt. vegetable broth (2 boxes or 4 cans)

1 tsp. oregano

2 Tb. cumin

2 Tb. chili powder

1 c. diced onion

10-12 small corn tortillas-- torn into squares

Saute the chiles and garlic in olive oil. Add tomatoes, juice, broth, and spices, and bring to a simmer. Add tortilla pieces to soup and simmer until they dissolve completely. This will thicken the broth and add the wonderful corn tortilla aroma to the soup. Blend with an immersion blender to desired consistency. I added a can of sweet corn after blending. Garnish with slices of avocado, sour cream, cilantro. Other recipes serve with a wedge of lime, shredded cheese, and fried tortilla strips.

The other offering I have to get us through winter is a vegetarian version (yay!) of one of my favorite Thai soups-- Tom Kha-- usually tom kha gai or chicken coconut soup-- I think this one is Tom Kha Hed-- or coconut soup with mushrooms. Whatever you want to call it.. it's delicious.

Tom Kha (Thai Coconut-Lemongrass Soup)

1 1/2 c. coconut milk (1 can)

1 Tb. fresh grated ginger

2 tsp. lime zest

2 2" pieces of fresh lemongrass (bruise the pieces by whacking them with the back or flat of a knife)

3 c. vegetable broth

2 tsp. sugar

1 Tb. soy sauce

lime juice

Combine and simmer, then add your choice of:

diced firm tofu

bamboo shoots

fresh mushrooms

cilantro

green onion

Tomato-Rama: Part 4: What the Hell do I do with all these TOMATOES?!

To begin with, we used up the leftover MAMMOTH zucchini by making zucchini bread (again, inspired in part by Dr. Stonielove, and partly from How it All Vegan). We fudged recipes and approximated (mostly because we ran out of both sugar and cinnamon and don't have any soft tofu or eggs in the house right now). The resulting loaves were excellent! I think we ended up using 4c. whole wheat flour, 1c. oat flour (which we just figured out how to make. god bless food processors!), applesauce, 4 c. shredded zucchini, cinnamon, nutmeg, raisins, walnuts, and other odds and ends.
Excellent with coffee for breakfast, and excellent for luring little black cats into photographs.
Okay, so the hundred-plus tomatoes from yesterday added to the forty-plus tomatoes from earlier in the week need to be dealt with. We started off blanching, peeling, and freezing some for the future (but our freezer is sadly running out of space!)

We also found out about making fresh tomato juice. After blanching (1-2 minutes each), and peeling them (and after a while we even quit peeling or coring them), throw your tomatoes into your food processor or blender and whiz up until pretty well liquified

Following some recipes, we threw in a small onion, a couple ribs and leaves of our garden celery, and a squirt of lemon. Then we poured the juice through a sieve. I saved the leftover tomato pulp. I'm convinced I can make something with it. The JUICE has been employed in two ways so far:

Makes a bloody marvelous Virgin Mary:

(I'm not sure, but I think I just made up that name. I don't fancy the Bloody Mary, but I do like the IDEA of Bloody Marys..)

Then, after whizzing up a TON of tomatoes, we ended up with about 2 quarts of juice which then made a rather gratifying Garden Vegetable Soup!!

The whole peeled tomatoes, tomato juice, onions, cabbage, carrots, green beans, corn, and potatoes are all either fresh from our garden, or from our CSA. We also added some frozen edamame (although we WILL have some fresh ones soon), and some frozen mixed veggies for good measure.

We've also frozen a large batch of salsa. The JUICE, though, will totally be done again to stock up for soup for the fall!!!

Favorite Thing: Veggie Pho

So... One of our staples (summertime, flu season, and any time at all!) is an entirely vegetarian version of pho-- (only the best noodle soup ever!). Here are some mouth-watering snaps from last weekend's batch.

This one's mine (needs just a little more cilantro and lime). The jalapeno is the first crop from our garden (pictured on previous post):



And this is the tricked out version my partner fixes. Nothing like a crisp salad in a bowl of soup!

In less than vegan news, trying to tap into my inner Barefoot Contessa, I improvised a pair of quiche recipes for breakfast. I felt sooo Ina-y rolling my french rolling pin over the top edges of the pie dough to trim it. Here's my spinach-feta and broccoli-cheddar quiches patterned after my favorite bakery cafe's offerings:

I'm salivating... more later.