Curled up under a blanket, listening to the wind rattling my balcony door and missing summer. Sure, autumn sparks the comfort cravings of soup and warm lasagna, but I miss salad season and gorging on fresh fruit in the sun. But who says you can’t have salads all year round? November isn’t just reserved for turnips and winter squash. If you don’t believe me, I’m sure this mexican salad will convince you.  I made this with a few ingredients I had around my kitchen and the results were mouth watering.

Mexican  Summer  Salad

(Serves 3 – 6 people… or refridgerate the rest for lunch the next day.)

Time commitment: 20 minutes to roast, 15 minutes to prepare.

     Ingredients

- 2 large orange, red, or green bell peppers
- 2 ears corn on the cob
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 1 garlic clove (or 2 if you’re as garlic obsessed as I am)
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for the dressing
- 2 large tomatoes cut into 1/4-inch dice (firm-ripe)
- 1 (15 ounce) can black beans
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro chopped

     Directions

Preheat oven to 425-degrees. Line baking sheet with foil. Drizzle 1
tablespoon oil over peppers and corn, rubbing in to vegetables.
Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast peppers about 20 minutes. Turn
corn occasionally throughout cooking time. After roasting cut corn off
cob. Dice peppers. Mix with cilantro, black beans and tomato.

To make dressing, mince garlic and combine with salt to make a paste.
Whisk with lime juice, olive oil and chili powder.

Pour dressing and gently toss corn, peppers, cilantro, tomatoes and black
beans. Devour within 10 minutes (preferably on a sunny deck with a a mojito… or with the Lonely Planet, daydreaming about Machu Picchu.

So. The Dawn of Cooking is sometimes bad about having recipes that are impossible to make. Like macaroni and cheese that required 2 cups of shredded cheese. In instances like these, I hate the DoC; however, happily, it is sometimes possible to outwit wily recipes by using substitutions. This is the case for this sauce. The recipe in the DoC is called Lentil/Dahl Sauce. There are no lentils (that I have ever come across) in Ghana. Maaaaaybe in Accra, but whoever goes there? Anyway, I really wanted to try it, so I made it using the ubiquitous black-eyed peas. It turned out really well.

1. Cook up beans and mash them in a grinding bowl.

2. Saute a mix of chopt onion, chopt tomato, chopt garlic and chopt ginger in oil and then add black pepper, chili powder, salt, sugar, Liven Mixed Spices (see http://obrunicookingshow.wordpress.com/2009/10/03/bean-burgers/) and one small can of tomato paste. Mix it up!

3. Then add the mashed beans and mix it up again. Your sauce is done. We ate this with the pita bread recipe. Warning! If you leave the dough to rise overnight, it will taste very very yeasty the next day. If you like that, okay. If not, you can make it better by cooking the flatbread in oil. Just follow the DoC recipe for pita bread, eat the finished product with the sauce (good if it’s the same consistency as hummus) and you’ve got a tastesplosion. I made the pita bread with one cup bread flour, two cups corn flour and .5 cup roughly ground wheat. Success! Enjoy.

Thanksgiving was great.  All the dishes and more importantly family I remember were there and then some.  There were even a couple of new dishes there that I may have to try and make.  My mom hosted and did an awesome job for over 30 people.  I however was not feeling well.  Blah.  I think it might be one of the worst things to wake up on Thanksgiving and not be able to swallow.  I had lots of hot beverages and was luckily able to eat my Turkey Day feast…  well, at least some.  We watched the parade and my daughter loved seeing Abby Cadabby, Dora, and even Santa.  Loving my DVR BTW.  It means no commercials.  Ah, bliss.

I first heard of this dish from a friend who was bringing it to a work party for a football game.  Even at work southerners like to celebrate football.  She told me it was simple and that she made it in a crockpot which was ingenious for the party which lasted all day.  Usually I think of this last minute though and it comes together very quickly hence my nod to Speedy Gonzales in the title.  I have made it with ground beef, chicken, or turkey.  I have even used leftover chicken or turkey which would make it a good Black Friday dish.  If you use the leftover turkey or chicken make sure you cut or tear the meat to around spoon size about an inch across or so.  You want to be able to eat the soup without a turkey leg on your spoon.  You can feel free to leave out things you don’t like, add more of what you do and even throw in extras. I will give you the basic recipe that I elaborate on all the time.  These days we often do not have a dish more than once because I am always changing something about it.  I often use things that are running out as long as they match the flavor profile.  This soup is great for a cold night and quite healthy: mostly lean meat and fiber.

• 1 lb. or 2 cups of meat (ground beef, chicken, or turkey OR leftover chicken or turkey)
• 1 cup or 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP garlic salt and 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can of Ro-Tel tomatoes, undrained
• 1 can of whole kernal corn (some people use shoepeg, but I think regular corn is fine), drained
• 1 can of black beans, drained
• 1 package of dry ranch dip seasoning (I use Hidden Valley)
• 1 package of taco seasoning mix (I use whatever is on sale), the seasoning contains things like chili powder and cumin.  nothing too hot.

1. Brown meat in a skillet.  Once it is brown add in onions and cook 7 minutes or so until soft.
2. Season with garlic salt and pepper and give it a stir to combine.
3. Add tomatoes, Ro-Tel, corn, and beans to soup and stir to combine.
4. Bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Great served with sour cream and cheddar cheese on top.  Some times I put a squirt of lime juice on top too.  Others put oyster crackers or fritos on top.  Anything you would use to garnish your chili you can use for taco soup.  Leftovers freeze well and are great on a baked potato.

If you want to prepare in slowcooker, cook ground meat and onions before adding them to slow cooker.  If you are using the leftover cooked poultry just throw it in.  Add all ingredients, stir to combine and set for 4 hours on high or 7-8 on low.  Honestly all the ingredients are cooked so it should be ready to eat in an hour or so.  The longer it cooks the better it gets as with most soups.

Some variations: this time I added about 2/3 cup of pumpkin puree because it was leftover (this makes the soup thicker), a few squirts of ketchup because the bottle was almost empty and a little hot sauce because I know my family likes it hot.

Hope you all enjoy it.  I bet Speedy would…

Taco Soup

Kid Approved

ah, weekend again.. and to some of you i know this close-up might be a little disturbing, but all i can think of right now (lately, and the past weeks and months) is a good typical meal. notice the textures in the plantain, beans, rice, fried yuca (cassava) and the sauce from the chicken in the back part of the photo. mmm… this sure beats pocky for breakfast (today).

happy happy birthday sofi!

Well, if that’s the case then let me throw a few things together!  We celebrated Christmas Eve with the family today so I pulled out a few more tricks out of the bag.   Puerto Rican style pork loin, stuffed bell peppers, and yellow rice! That’s how I do Christmas with my parents so it was easy to make it for Mindy’s family.

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Mom’s stuffing

Yellow Rice with Garbanzo Beans

I loved reading other blogs about how exhausted people were from cooking on Thanksgiving and how they deserved a break.  This is my answer….keep going! A little Friday pork extravaganza!

Eric

Ingredients
Serves 4

1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 pound frozen edamame in shells

Directions
Pulse red-pepper flakes in a spice grinder until finely ground. Mix with salt and sugar in a small bowl.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add frozen edamame, and cook until bright green and heated through, about 4 minutes. Strain, and transfer to a large bowl. Toss with chile-salt mixture, and serve.

Simple and yummy. Make sure to buy quality, fresh shrimp. Nothing ruins a good dish like fishy shrimp. Recipe and photo from RealSimple:

Serves 4 Hands-On Time: 20m Total Time: 20m

Ingredients
1 10-ounce box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
kosher salt and black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 scallions, chopped
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 15.5-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions
In a saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Stir in the couscous and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Cover and let sit off heat for 5 minutes; fluff with a fork before serving.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and scallions and cook for 30 seconds. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until they begin to turn pink, about 3 minutes.

Stir in the beans, parsley, lemon juice, the remaining butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve with the couscous.

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Quite frankly, I delayed writing this post because I felt like everyone else’s thanksgiving eats were way more blog-worthy (and there were a LOT of them).  Plus, I didn’t get home from work until after 8 pm and all I wanted to do at that point was put on my PJs, watch football (slash Home Alone), and stuff my face (not in that order). 

On a holiday such as this, it would feel weird to eat before giving thanks, and so I feel as though I should acknowledge what I’m grateful for before I share my food.  [There’s logic in there, somewhere]

So here are a few of the things that I’m glad to have in my life…

• my wonderful fiancé
• my loving family
• my beautiful sisters
• my supportive parents
• my friends (old and new)
• my stressful, but rewarding job
• my health
• my happiness
• my appetite metabolism
• my readers!

And now, without further ado…just another day on the cardiac step-down unit.

I brought TWO Tazo Chai tea bags because Starbucks’ holiday hours were 7 am to 5 pm.  Not so helpful for an addict who has to be rocking a considerable caffeine buzz by 6:30 am.  Although not too different than my usual pre-packed work eats, there was something about this specific combination that made my tummy especially happy. 

Apple, salad, dried fruit, bars, and leftover cornbread.  Perfection.  This salad was pretty freakin’ huge, and contained spinach, leftover curried parsnips/carrots, cherry tomatoes, and raisins.

Recognize the new one among the bunch? 

Yep, the first flavor I tried was the Tribal Cinnamon Oatmeal. 

No superman vision?  No worries, see below.

Organic Rolled Oats, Organic Raisins, Organic Agave Nectar, Organic Peanuts, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Apples, Organic Almonds, Organic Whole Grain Crisp Rice, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Sunflower Oil (Organic Sunflower Oil, Natural Tocopherol, Organic Rosemary Extract).

Nutrition Info here

This bar tasted JUST like a bowl of oatmeal.  Delightful!  The flavor of the cinnamon and nuts tasted precisely like a bowl of oats with all the toppings.  The agave nectar made the consistency gooey without leaving anything sticky on my fingers.  It separated easily AND I was able to break off bites without it crumbling apart.  This is my ideal texture in a work setting because I can eat it easily on the go – no muss, no fuss (read: no crumb-covered scrubs).

Work was nice and mellow.  They overstaff on holidays because they want to make it as stress-less of a shift as possible.  Another perk of working holidays?  The chief of cardiac surgery buys a HUGE banquet style spread for everyone who works on Thanksgiving (and the time-and-a-half pay isn’t too shabby either…).  As gorgeous and thoughtful as the feast was, the vegan friendly options were extremely limited (as I suspected they would be).  Oh well, more for everyone else. 

I got home and was delighted to have already prepped a bunch of eats to replicate my own gourmet Thanksgiving meal. 

Roasted veggies (butternut squash and brussel sprouts)

Cornbread and broccoli

Sweet potato tower

Spinach artichoke dip with every carb vehicle in the apartment (represented by the above photo – which was a pathetically inaccurate display of the actual portions consumed)

That’s more like it.  Goodbye cornbread, you were great while you lasted.

I was WAY too full for dessert.  Oof.  Food baby twins.  Like Kate Gosselin and the Octomom combined. 

Instead I busted out an old friend.  Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride tea!  I rolled myself to bed after my feast for a serious snooze fest.  Off to the West coast for the weekend!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving dinner with your family and loved ones.

This is the first Thanksgiving that I spent alone. It was just another full-working mode day for me: woke up at 4.30AM , worked 9 hours , an hour of yoga to unwind and finished with my beloved bowl of kabocha! Do I feel miserable? Not really. Last year’s experience taught me that Thanksgiving is meant to be with your family or your closed friends, otherwise, being alone and thinking about them is better than surrounded by strangers.

I had to intention to be host again this year, offering food and joy to my friends like I did 2 years ago.

But I really need to work. Timeline is approaching to the end and I have to finish the work before I reunite with my best friend in Germany (<2 weeks) and my family in China (<3 weeks) Expecting to see them  gave me the strength!

———————————————————————————————————————-

Breakfast: I had the other serving of waffle, just needed to make a sauce. I used aduki beans, silken tofu and coconut oil

Da da!!! aduki coconut mousse!!!

I needed another coffee to start to work. The first one was served at 5AM

I’ve been snacking these small walnuts and tea

Lunch: I made my family’s traditional bok choy noodle

opsss sorry for the messy work station

here it is! The most delicious noodle, with taste of Mom’s cooking!

it has bok choy, shitake and dry shrimps.

Dessert: chocolate ricotta

I made popcorns for afternoon snacking

Dinner: Wonton AGAIN because I wanted to feel closer to my family

And the indispensable KABOCHA! :lol

Q: What meal makes you feel closer to your family?

So today is Thanksgiving, and I am beyond thankful!

First off, thanks to you guys for your comments – they were super helpful and informative, and I love the quotes. It was awesome to hear your thoughts on food and exercise, and also really comforting to know that I am not the only one who is currently having some faultiness with love. And I am with Erin, a quote of the day is a fab idea.

Today was fabulous. Truthfully, normally I get a little stressed out by holiday events. I love my family, but you know how it goes sometimes getting together with everyone has you dealing with all of the smaller families and their individual personalities all at the same time – sometimes combined with hosting the whole shindig for everyone can be a bit much! But this Thanksgiving, we all went over to my Aunt’s house, and even though some of my family has been going through some roller coaster events as of late, we all got along famously. My Aunt had us all go around after we had prayed and say something that we were thankful for. I was genuinely so thankful to be with my family and to have them during the holiday season. I’m also thankful for my parents and all of the love and support they give me, and that in two weeks I will have made it through my FIRST SEMESTER OF COLLEGE! This is no light task, as I have maintained a really high GPA, and at the start of Spring semester I’ll be considered a sophomore even though I am only a freshman! With my scheduled courses (I have to plan them ahead of time for my minor, so that by default makes me plan them for my major.) that means I will most likely be able to graduate by the end of next academic year. Four years in two would be such an amazing accomplishment, and I know a huge save for my family financially. It makes me tear up a little to think of all of that, because this time last year I was not in school, on the outs with my family immediate and extended because of my food issues, and just really sad and lonely. Now I am in a totally different place. I am thankful to be happy, healthy and loved. 

OK, enough of my sap. *wipes tear* On to some eats!
Here’s a little something I found at the grocery store to fill my OJ void while I’m at home. How cute is this little carton? It made me feel like I was back in elementary school buying my little milk carton to go with my lunch in my Aladdin lunch box. Oh yes, I was always as cool as I am today.

I also made my second attempt at a yogurt mess. This time it didn’t have any nut butter, but I made up for it with crumbs! I was finishing off the cereal box, and at first I thought, aw man no cereal to put into this. But then, I saw the bright side of only having a few cereal pieces in the box was – crumbs! Guys, I highly recommend this, it tasted delicious. Crumbs plus nut butter? Oh man, I don’t know if my taste buds can even handle thinking about that yumminess.

 Blueberry Siggi’s yogurt, nanner slices, Kashi honey CRUMBS! (and a couple pieces)
Yuuuuummmmyy

I also had some more delicious spaghetti squash, and tried to make it look decidedly more spaghetti-like. I had it with pasta sauce and meatless meatballs, which are really good. I think it really looks like pasta!

Today for Thanksgiving, we were responsible for bringing some mashed potatoes and some warm vegetables. Mom cooked the potatoes, and I mashed.

 Made with silk soy milk. Love that my Mom loves soy milk as much as me.

Then I cut the brussel sprouts and my Mom roasted them in the oven. The green beans are all her. She cooked them and then added her own special little jazziness to them. It had orange juice, brown sugar and something else in there. Who knows, they were delish!

<— Look at these beauts. These ended up being my favorite part of our meal.

And the beans!

Mom in action. Look at her adorable houndstooth jumper, such a fashionista!

After dinner at my Aunt’s, my Mom and I plus my cousin, Matt came back to the house. The three of us hung out and chatted and watched, “House” before he went to meet some of his friends while he’s in town. Now that both of us are more grown up, I really like to talk with my cousin, and he truly is such an awesome guy. He lives and works in Burlington, where I go to school, and he is always telling me that I can crash at his house anytime, offered to do anything he could while I was sick (even though he was sick himself!) and he is just a super nice guy. An example of this? He cooked Thanksgiving dinner all by himself for 16 of his friends who weren’t going to have anywhere to go and hosted a party at his house. Admirable, totally admirable.

Now I am settling in for the evening. Happy, healthy, totally content.

I hope you all had fabulous and lovely Thanksgivings! 
Question – Anybody going out for Black Friday shopping?  I wasn’t planning on it, but I saw some pretty good deals in the paper that came today and hey, I am not one to pass up a shopping excursion.

Things are hectic around out apartment as the quarter is wrapping up. I didn’t make it to the grocery store this week so dinner was a creative challenge using whatever I could find in the cupboard and the small market on campus. This meal was flavorful and fresh and the leftovers were even better. Just wait til you see how easy it was to make…

Ingredients:

• 3/4  cup salsa
• 1 1/2  teaspoons cumin
• 1  can diced tomatoes
• 1  8 oz canned tomato sauce
• 1 cup baby tomatoes cut in half
• 1  can corn
• 1  can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 package corn tortillas
• 2  cups shredded Mexican blend cheese
• 1/4  cup  chopped green onions
• 1 can refried beans
• 1/3 cup pine nuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450 and grease a casserole dish or pan. In a bowl, mix together salsa, cumin, diced tomatoes, baby tomatoes, tomato sauce. In another bowl mix corn and black beans. Slice tortillas into strips. Spoon some of the tomato mixture in the casserole and top with tortilla strips. Layer the corn/beans, cheese, tomato mixture, and tortillas. For your last layer end with the remaining tomato mixture and top with cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until the dish is bubbly and cheese is brown.  Meanwhile, heat the refried beans, spoon them onto plates. Top with toasted pine nuts and garnish with remaining tortillas or tortilla chips.

_b.

Here are some pictures of my sister’s recently completed paintings.  Not bad for a beginner, eh?

Click these babies to enlarge.

I know I’ve been pretty terrible at posting recently – partly I have got the winter blues and partly I am exhausted by hectic workloads at both of my jobs.  I am so looking forward to Christmas – I am craving that cosy Christmas feeling and a good break – and a chance to eat great food.

We have been eating a mixed bunch of food recently - some good, some crap.  A couple of Friday’s ago we cooked a killer fish pie for friends…but we ate it before I had a chance to take a photo of its golden crusted gorgeousness. 

We are majoring on sausage casseroles full of root veg, tinned beans, and other leftovers. 

Last weekend we visited my family and cooked a pheasant casserole (my brother has become a beater and comes home with pheasants often at the moment).

I am just in the middle of cooking our dinner – Salami and Fennel Linguine – which I will endeavour to post tomorrow as I’m snapping pictures while I type – of course only if it tastes good – we’ve not made it before!  I also promise to try and get the second part of our Italy holiday food posted asap.  Watch this space.

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I may be naïve, but is it truly asking too much of restaurants to provide me with information that actually helps in making decisions? Yes, I know the answer to that. They’re out to make money, so why would they risk sending me to somewhere else? This post, then, reflects yet another windmill I’ll charge.

The source of this rant is this sign at my local Baja Fresh:

I don’t mean to pick on Baja Fresh. I do like the place (though not as much as Chipotle). It’s just a convenient example of restaurant speak: It’s not meant to provide you with real information in order to make up your mind; but rather to convince you that you’ve made the right decision. Let’s take a look at these statements:

Our salsas are made fresh daily using only top quality produce.

“Made fresh daily,” that’s useful information that differentiates Baja Fresh from others. “Using only top quality produce,” oops, this violates a rule of mine. Descriptions should have plausible alternatives and make a meaningful distinction. Top quality? Would anyone say they are using low quality ingredients? And produce? How else would you make salsa? They should have stuck with just the first half of the sentence.

We use only boneless, skinless chicken breast marinated and charbroiled.

Boneless, skinless, all white meat chicken is evidence of the depths to which American cuisine has sunk. And these guys are bragging about it! Of course you’re going to have to marinate the stuff; otherwise, there would be no flavor in the meat. You might was well be using cardboard. At least then you could brag about the fiber. And that’s just the point. They’re trying to convince you of how healthy their food in in a way that’s easy to demonstrate, but then they overcompensate in other areas they don’t tell you about, like the fact that any entree with that chicken has nearly a whole day’s recommended allowance of sodium. Just what is in that marinade?

Our lean steak is trimmed and charbroiled.

Again with bragging about the removal of the flavorful parts of the meat. Maybe if you left the fat in, you wouldn’t have to load your burrito up with cheese, sour cream and guacamole. I’d be that you’d wind up consuming less fat that way. Go to any street food vendor in Mexico and order a taco. All you ‘ll get, in general, is nicely cooked meat in a tortilla. No toppings are needed.

Our special recipe beans are made fresh daily using no lard.

OK, we have something moderately useful here. It’s good to know they make the beans daily. I’d like to know more about their special recipe, but that’s probably too much information for a sign. However, the “using no lard” is a non sequitur since lard would only be used in making refried beans, which Baja Fresh does not do. Now, I could get into an argument with you about why you should use lard in that case (dang, they taste so much better that way), but that’s not the point. Again, they’re trying to make you feel good about your choice for lunch regardless of how healthy the meal actually is.

Our fresh chips are made in 100% cholesterol free canola oil.

This sentence seems to have the highest density of helpful data: fresh chips, cholesterol free and canola oil. OK, that last might not be a meaningful distinction since I’m not sure why canola would be better than any other vegetable oil. However, what is important here is the word that they do not use. How are chips made? They fry those suckers! Can’t have that word up there, I guess, since it would shoot to hell any health credibility they might have garnered in the 4 previous sentences.

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Don’t let this stop you, though, from enjoying their fried fish taco. They’re quite tasty. And 3 of them have fewer calories, less sodium and about as much fat as any of their burritos. And this is the point: If you’re primary concern when eating is health, then you should be making your own food.

Tonight, I will be celebrating my first Thanksgiving as a vegan. My first without turkey, dairy, butter, eggs, etc. I am grateful to have family that respects my wishes and is preparing some things for me to eat.

It’s days like today that make me feel so good about my decision

For breakfast, I fueled up on my favorite meal. Oat bran with banana and peanut butter. I used 1/2 cup of oats this time to hold me over longer.

Suzie spent most of the morning doing this!

We are out of coffee at home and I had been drinking tea but today, I had a major coffee craving. I felt guilty for doing it since they have to work on Thanksgiving, but I went through the White Castle drive thru!

I’m pretty sure this is the first time I’d ever had their coffee but man, it was good! I can see now why they have “America’s Best Coffee” or some sign like that.

I went and visited with my mom for a bit since we are spending Thanksgiving with my in-laws tonight. When I got home it was lunch time!

I used to eat these all the time when I was younger but I hadn’t had them in forever! I heated up a cup and threw them on some leftover brown rice.

Yum! I didn’t include any other veggies because I’m going to be having a plethora of them tonight!

I think I am too sore from yesterday to go for a run today so I’m thinking yoga, some strength training and a walk with the dog is all I need today.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all! I am very thankful for this blog and the friends I have made because of it. Have a great day

I checked out the Forest Cafe on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge the other night. Even though the restaurant was super crowded (and it was a Tuesday night), our waiter was attentive to our needs. He was the only waiter on the floor, but each time we got low on chips or salsa, he was right there with new batches.

The shape of the restaurant is kind of different. It’s a pretty long and narrow room, with booths on one side and chairs and tables on the other. There’s also a bar section. The restaurant’s lighting is pretty dim, which I didn’t mind, and the walls’ wood paneling, brick, and brightly colored Mexican decor makes for a nice scene.

But the best part is the food. Our guacamole appetizer was fresh and tasty. For dinner I got enchiladas xochitle, which is enchiladas with a mushroom and spinach filling and a special green poblano chile cream sauce. It came with rice and beans. Let me just say it was the perfect blend of flavors.

My boyfriend got tinga poblana, or pulled chicken in a slightly spicy chipotle chorizo sauce. It was served with rice, beans, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo and tortillas. He enjoyed the dish, cleaning his plate!

The meal came with free chips and salsa. I got a delicious “Forest Rita” margarita and my boyfriend got a Negra Modelo beer. Overall it was a great experience!

I make all of my soups in the pressure cooker because when I want soup, I want it fast.  To put it another way, I’m not one who enjoys hovering over the stove.

FAVA BEAN SOUP WITH A DOLLOP OF PESTO ON TOP

No, when I’m hungry, I’m good for about 5 minutes of prep.  Then, after 10 minutes under pressure and the natural release (another 10 minutes or so), I have a delicious coarsely pureed soup.  30 minutes MAX from start to finish–that’s my style.

Small, split fava beans make a nice alternative to split peas and lentils, but you can substitute the latter if you have a hard time locating split favas–or you can mail-order the latter from Kalustyan’s.)

Dried mushrooms, which I always keep on hand, add deep flavor and obviate the need for a vegetable broth base.

I use the following recipe as the base for various meals during the week–stirring in one or more of the additions suggested below.  And usually freeze some for an emergency meal or two down the road.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion, coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds

8 cups water (if it’s already boiling, the pressure will come up faster)

2 cups small, split, peeled fava beans

3/4 ounce dried wild mushrooms (or omit the mushrooms and use vegetable broth instead of water)

1 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste

To serve, add one of more of the following:

Frozen green peas and/or corn

Frozen leaf spinach, defrosted

Chopped fresh cilantro, basil, or parsley

Salsa

Tapenade or pesto

Diced avocado

Indian lime pickle

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 6-quart or larger pressure cooker.  Add onions, fennel, and cumin seeds, and cook over medium-high heat until onions are lightly browned.  Stir in 8 cups water and salt.

Lock lid in place and bring up to high heat over high pressure.  Reduce heat to maintain high pressure and cook for 10 minutes (lentils and split peas) or 12 minutes (split fava beans).

Allow the pressure to come down naturally, about 10 minutes.  Stir well, adding salt to taste, additional tablespoon oil, plus one or more of other ingredients suggested above.

Hashtags for trending. SO now.

Last night was a bit of a trip down memory lane.  I decided to indulge myself and just make what I fancied.

To start we had Jerusalem artichoke soup with a Chicken Liver Paté Croute

I decided that I would make Fondue Chinoise for dinner and let my guests do the cooking themselves.  For those who don’t know the difference, Chinoise is cooked with a stock not oil or cheese.

The cooking liquor is easy 1/2 good brown chicken stock and 1/2 sweet wine (reisling, liebfraumilch, gewurztraminer) – you can spice it up with whatever you want, celery, carrots, bay and peppercorns usually work for me. Let is simmer for a while and burn off the alcohol and it is ready for cooking.

Then salads.

Last night I made:

Sweetcorn, Orange pepper, spring onion, flame roasted chilli. Vinagrette

Mixed Bean – Chick pea, borlotti, canellini, spring onion, lemon and olive oil.

Beansprout, Sugar Snap pea, Cherry Toms, Sesame Seeds (toasted) – Chilli Sauce, Sesame oil, Soy Sauce, Mirin Dressing

Then sauces:

Marie Rose – with dill and marsala

Pine nut and Pistachio Relish – a la thai

Caramelised Ginger and Sake

Chilli Sesame

Then the dippers:

Tuna

Prawns

Beef (cryptic clue : this cut is a ‘knighted fruit’)

ChickenThighs

We also had some garlic bread and copious amounts of wine

Traditionally one would have a shot of the cooking liquor when all is over, but as I had made some pudding  we did not partake of the tradition.

Pudding was good.

Made some grape and blueberry pepper jelly with poached cardamom marsala peaches  and greek yoghurt, topped with amaretti crunch. The poaching liquid was reduced to a thick syrup and popped on top.

This week is going slow, as soon as I start counting down to my week off work, time drags.  I’m trying to wait till then to get all excited about Christmas, doing my Christmas shopping, putting the trimmings up with Christmas songs playing in the background oooo now I’m excited.

Breakfast was inspired by the Muller rice tasting oats I made in this post I added mashed banana, cinnamon, peanut butter and strawberry jam.

You probably remember the dinner from yesterday’s post, I saved some for today’s packed lunch and added some broccoli and quinoa.  I also took some of the Pesto I made to mix into the quinoa when I was ready to eat it.

Today’s exercise it was way too cold for me to even think about getting into a swimming costume and jumping in a cold pool so I went home to do my Nell McAndrew Peak Energy DVD.

For Dinner I made a black bean burrito repeated from this post including black beans, kidney beans and sweet corn, red pepper and this time with avocado instead of chicken YUM!

And then I ate this fruity snack of kiwi fruit, blueberries and mango.

WEDNESDAY’S WARDROBE – WINTER WARMERS part 2

Heather did a post about how much she loves jumper dresses and gave me the idea for today’s wardrobe post.  As the weather is getting colder I’m looking for clothing that keeps me warm, comfortable and looks good too.

I teamed the jumper dress with a fur body warmer, tights and ankle boots and a chain belt.

Wow it’s late (10:00) I’m off to watch Sex and The City on TV and then beddy byes.