2012 Whole Living Healthy Detox: Week 2

Well, week 2 is over, but it was much easier than week 1.  We made quite a few tasty meals.  We started  the week off with a family Christmas party - we brought baked salmon with chimichurri sauce.  We also revamped one of our favorites, lemon pepper shrimp, to be detox-friendly (and MUCH healthier).  Typically, this dish consists of whole wheat orzo and broccoli sauteed with garlic, topped with shrimp in a lemony, peppery, garlicky, buttery sauce.  We left out the orzo and we left out the butter, making the shrimp with only the lemon, pepper, garlic, and a bit of olive oil, so there wasn't much of a sauce.  We were very pleased with the results!

Throughout the week, we also ate our Dark Days meal of beans and cabbage, and I improved upon my favorite smoothie from last week, the Carrot Mango Smoothie, by adding some strawberries to it as well.  We used up the only soup in the freezer that we can eat, a veggie-filled base for Soup au Pistou, to which we added white beans and a cube of basil puree to give it flavor.  One day for lunch at work, I had half a bag of frozen edamame for lunch, which surprisingly filled me up a lot!

I also managed to squeeze in another recipe from Plenty, one of the two featured cookbooks for January.  The recipe is for Saffron Cauliflower, shown up above, which we ate as a side with salmon.  Because you cook the cauliflower, onions, and golden raisins in the oven, covered, the saffron flavor steams into them.  If you really like saffron (I find it overrated, but that's just me) you will probably like this dish.  I would have preferred if the cauliflower mix was left open to roast and crisp up a little, but it was an OK dish.  I probably won't make it again.

This week is week 3, the final week of the detox.  It's going to take all my willpower not to go straight back to sugar and coffee and bacon!  Wish me luck!

2012 Whole Living Healthy Detox: Week 1

I'm doing the 2012 Whole Living Action Plan, which is kind of a healthy 3-week detox.  This first week, I ate only fruits, veggies, nuts, and plant based oils.  It was hard at times, because I was seriously craving sweets from the holiday season, but we made it through the cravings and I even dropped a pound or two of unwanted weight!  We cut this week short to 5 days instead of 7 because we have another family Christmas gathering to attend and we wanted to have more options than just the veggie tray.  I'll write more about week 2 next week.  I've been too busy during the week to post, so while I'm doing this detox, I'll do a summary at the end of the week.  Hopefully when I'm done I'll be craving nutritious foods instead of all the sugar I've been craving.

Here are some of the foods I've eaten this week...

Fruit Salad Smoothie - from the Vitamix cookbook, which came with my Christmas gift :) and this was the first smoothie I tried with the Vitamix.  It was delicious.  It had a bunch of different fruits along with carrot and cucumber.

Berry Delicious Smoothie - also from the Vitamix cookbook, some pineapple and berries, including cranberries, which provided a really nice flavor.  I plan to make this again this week.

Orange-Berry Smoothie - This one was pretty good, kind of tangy from all the orange juice. I would make it again.

Beet and Carrot Smoothie - This was my least favorite. I couldn't even force myself to eat it. I don't like beets, so I thought this would make them easier for me to stomach so that I could get all their nutrients without the flavor and texture I don't like, but the beet overpowered the smoothie and the ginger didn't help either.

Carrot, Mango, and Herb Smoothie - I'm drinking this one right now and it's one of my favorites from the week, probably because it doesn't have any veggies in it... just carrot juice, orange juice, mango chunks, and mint.  I put about half the amount of mint in because it can be overpowering, and I just get a slight refreshing coolness from it.

Kale Slaw with Red Cabbage and Carrots - I had this for lunch a few times, and I really liked the tangy dressing and the crunchy pepita seeds and the hemp seeds were good too.  I liked the refreshing bite of parsley though toward the end of the week I got lazy and it was just kale, cabbage, the nuts, and dressing.

Steamed Broccoli and Squash with Tahini Dressing - We had this for dinner one night and it was one of our least favorites of the week.  The broccoli with the tahini sauce was the best part.  I definitely wouldn't make this one again.

Roasted Peppers, Cauliflower, and Almonds - This one was pretty good.  I liked the roasted peppers and the saltiness from the kalamata olives.  One thing I would do differently is to make a better dressing, since this one was mainly just lemon and oil.  This would also be really good with feta.  Boy do I miss cheese.

I've already started week 2, and I've moved on to making mostly my own recipes either improvised or from other sources.  One in particular deserves its own post, and if time allows, I will share it this week.

Slow Cooker Pinto Bean & Veggie Chili (Dark Days 3)

I'm a little behind with the Dark Days Challenge - I think everyone else is on their 4th or 5th post or so?  But anyway, I'm doing my best, and I managed to squeeze in one more local meal in between finals (my last ever!) and Christmas.  This dish was a chili, entirely local (except for the chili powder and cumin, which if I remember correctly are organic, so there you go) and mostly organic.  After my last Dark Days disaster, I was really excited just to have had this idea (which also uses my slow cooker!), and even more so when it came out so good!

Here's the "recipe" along with my specific sources.  All frozen things were defrosted in the refrigerator overnight.  It made a little over 3 quarts.

Beef, Pinto and Veggie Slow-Cooker Chili

THE NIGHT BEFORE: In a skillet, saute 1 lb ground beef (Cherry Grove Farm) until browned.  Set aside.  In the same skillet, cook 2 chopped medium onions (Whole Foods), stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.  Add 3 diced small carrots (CSA) and 4 chopped giant garlic cloves (Cherry Grove Organic Farm - a different farm than the ground beef) and cook for about 5 minutes, until the mixture begins to soften.  Add 1 diced red bell pepper (CSA, frozen) and cook for 1-2 minutes.  Add 1 1/4 tsp cumin and 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp mild chili powder, stirring evenly to distribute it.  Turn off the heat and stir in the ground beef.  Let it cool for a few minutes, then put it in a container (ideally glass) and refrigerate overnight.  Pick through, rinse, and soak overnight 2 cups pinto beans (Cayuga Pure Organics).

THE NEXT DAY: In your slow cooker, spread the beef mixture to cover the bottom.  Drain your pinto beans and layer those on top of the beef.  Next, layer ~2 cups corn kernels, from 3 ears of corn (Princeton farmers' market, frozen, probably not organic), ~2 cups 1/2-inch cubes kabocha or other winter squash (CSA, frozen), and ~2 cups zucchini, cut in quarter circles about 1/2 inch thick (CSA, from frozen).  On top of this, pour 2 undrained pint jars fire-roasted tomato pieces (CSA, home canned) and 1 drained pint jar tomatillos (CSA, home canned).  Fill each of the tomato jars with water once, and pour over the pile in the slow cooker (about 4 cups).  Cook on HIGH for 8 hours.  When ready to eat, taste and add ~1 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt, ~1 Tbsp + 2 tsp chili powder, and/or as much/whatever spices you want, to taste.  Top with grated Garlic Peppercorn Jack cheese (Cherry Grove Farm) to serve.  You can also top with cilantro, which I did have from a local source (Terhune Orchards), but when I finally got to eat at 9pm I just didn't feel like washing and chopping it.

The final product was just slightly more watery than I am used to having in chili - but I really liked that!  The cheese made it even that much better.  And I usually make vegetarian chilis, so the ground beef was a great touch too.  I think this is a great way to eat meat - a small amount of local, grass fed beef surrounded by a ton of local and mostly organic beans and vegetables.  The meat adds a lot to the texture and flavor for such a small input.  After this recipe, I feel a little more confident in my ability to cook without a recipe.  Maybe my best Dark Days meals in the future will be ones that I make up myself.

Herbed Bean and Sausage Stew (Dark Days 2)

On Thursday, I took a little shopping trip.  I went to Whole Earth Center, the Princeton farmers market (indoors!), and Whole Foods.  The primary goal of this excursion was to supply myself with local foods for the Dark Days challenge.  I was surprised to see so many vegetables at the farmers' market, and one farmer I spoke with said she hopes to have veggies all winter, since she is growing some cold-weather treats in an unheated greenhouse.  I stocked up on pretty much everything, and my refrigerator is stuffed.  I even got a few pounds of potatoes.  I'm looking forward to taking advantage of this local stash for the challenge.  I even got a bottle of wine from Terhune Orchards - I'm looking forward to basically just drinking it because it tastes SO GOOD!  I think it's a bit too sweet to cook with though.

I also stopped at Whole Earth Center, specifically to get whatever beans and grains they carry from Cayuga Pure Organics.  This farm is in New York State - Google says about 212 miles from my house.  I consider this local enough and having beans and grains certainly expands my options for local meals (like today's).  I ended up going home with Jacob's Cattle beans, pinto beans, and hard red winter wheat berries.  I'm sure Whole Earth Center has other local products as well, which I intend to investigate further when I have a little more free time.  I believe I saw some local flour there so maybe we can add some bread or baked goods to the menu.  At Whole Foods, I was able to get some staples like onions and white sweet potatoes.  This will require some exploring as well.

As I get into this challenge and think about it more and more, I'm thinking about what I care about most in this challenge.  I'm trying to do the local thing - but I'm NOT trying to eat bland or unsalted food.  I'm not giving up salt - sorry.  I also believe that globalization has brought us some pretty neat things, like spices from other parts of the world.  So I'm going to aim to make my meals as local as is reasonably possible without sacrificing the taste.  I'll try to choose organic (or sustainable) when local isn't an option.  I'll try to pay more attention to ethics (like fair trade and all that stuff which I don't know much about).  And most importantly I'll learn how I can set myself up to have an easier time next year (dry/freeze herbs, can more, etc.  I'm willing to make a few sacrifices, but enjoying the food I make isn't going to be one of them.

That being said, I chose to tackle this stew for my second Dark Days meal.  The bulk of the elements are local - the sausage are from Cherry Grove and the Jacob's Cattle beans are from Cayuga Pure Organics.  The carrots are from our CSA, the onions were labeled as local at Whole Foods, the garlic came from a farmer at the Princeton market, the rosemary from a pot in my house, the thyme considered local by Whole Foods (it came from Virginia, and I'm OK with that).  The celery isn't local, but it is organic (I think, it's been in the crisper for a while now).  The rest of the ingredients (teaspoons or less of each) are not local.  I got most of them at Whole Foods so I can have a bit more confidence in the ethics than I would from the market around the corner or Shop Rite.  I know this isn't good enough for some people, but I'm just taking it as an opportunity for improvement.

After all this - how did the soup turn out?

Well, I wasn't watching too closely, and so my beans were cooked a bit more than I would have liked.  Some split and released their starchiness into the soup, thickening it up into a goopy mess.  (This is what it's supposed to look like.)  Frankly, the beans I used (which I used because they're local) were the absolute worst type of beans I could have used for this dish - way too starchy, not really intended for soups and stews.  I had a few bites and I don't think I'm going to be able to eat much more of it.  The lesson learned here today is not to make swaps in recipes when you don't know what you're doing, and not all dishes are going to work with the ingredients available to you locally.  I intend to try this recipe again with the originally suggested beans and no regard for local ingredients!

To end on a more positive note, my sister actually loved this soup.  And I think if cooked properly, the beans I used today could be used to make this, which would make it a great option for a Dark Days meal.  I'll have to try cooking them again and give it a shot.

Turkey Soup with Lime and Chile

I made this soup with the turkey stock I made from our leftover turkey.  Before we made stock, we salvaged the meat from the bones to include in the soup and got a surprising amount out of it.  The long and short of it is that this soup was awesome - turkey broth flavored with mirepoix and a bit of chile, used to make a soup with turkey, cilantro, scallions, lime, avocado, and some crispy tortilla strips.  (I made these in the oven instead of frying them on the stove.)  Ken brought some to work for lunch and sent me a text saying how amazing it was that turkey soup could be this good - and it wasn't the first time he was eating it.  We froze some turkey and broth to have this soup again later in the winter.  I can get the toppings anytime.  I'm looking forward to it already.

A pictureless summary

While I'm waiting for my official photographer to send me our Thanksgiving photos, I thought I'd share some notes on recipes that I haven't gotten around to posting about.  I've got a few posts started for recipes that I never photographed - since the main point of my blog is to post about the food I make and to avoid making the same mistakes twice, I'm going to share them quickly all at once, instead of dedicating a separate post to each.  Tune in later this weekend for our Thanksgiving post and for some Italy pictures!


Coconut Granola Bars
The coconut granola bars, from NY Times Recipes for Health, were a tasty treat on our vacation.  We snacked on them at the airport and on the plane, crumbled some into yogurt at the continental breakfast, and left a few for Deanna's roommates too.  They were super easy and very crunchy.  If you like those Nature Valley crunchy oats and honey granola bars, you'll like these, and you'll be eating a home-cooked, less-processed (and therefore BETTER) version of them.

Napa Cabbage Salad with Peanuts and Cilantro

I found the recipe for this salad in Deborah Madison's book, Local Flavors.   I made a number of changes to this based on what I had on hand. (It was good, but I thought it would be even better as written.) I didn't have any lettuce, so I used entirely cabbage, and a bit more than called for, a change I think was great! I omitted the scallions because I didn't have any, so I added in a shallot with the dressing. I made the dressing in the blender, and I also added the cilantro to the dressing instead of the salad. I skipped the basil and mint because I didn't have any. Next time I would add extra carrots too!

Fire-Roasted Tomato Stew with Eggplant, Bulgur, and Chickpeas
This one comes from Ancient Grains for Modern Meals.  It's been a while since I made it (eggplant season), but it was good.  I stuck a bit in the freezer for lunches.  The chickpeas are an optional addition, but I think it's always better to toss in some vegetable-based protein when you have the opportunity.  I used bulgur instead of farro, because it's cheaper and I wasn't sure how this would turn out, and also because I thought it would go better with the other flavors.  I was a fan of the golden raisins - if I remember correctly the recipe called for regular dark raisins, but I prefer the golden ones, and I thought they gave the stew an interesting dimension of flavor.

Slow-Cooker Black Bean Mushroom Chili
I made this chili recipe in the slow cooker I got for my birthday.  My old slow cooker is very temperamental and the temperatures seem to be off (thanks to the internet, I've found that this is a very common complaint with that particular brand and model).  My new one lets you set the time by the half hour, and you can jump straight to warm if that's what you want.  This chili recipe uses dried beans, which cooked very well in the 8 hours in the slow cooker.  One complaint is the fresh tomatillos I used - I don't think we scrubbed them well enough and their sticky coating lent a slightly bitter taste to the chili.  The mushrooms gave it a nice meaty element and the spices were a little unusual and interesting.  I would try this one again, maybe with the tomatillos I canned several weeks ago in place of fresh ones.

White Bean and Black Kale Minestra with Farro

This delicious soup recipe is from Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen, one of the books I got from the library for the October "featured" thing on 101 Cookbooks Library.  This may just be the Ribollita of 2011.  It's simple and the flavors aren't at all exotic, but it's so comforting and nourishing - just what I wanted after eating tons of cake and pie all weekend!  Kale is my favorite, I love tomato-based soups, and the chewy farro was perfect to give it body.  I used the Rancho Gordo cannellini beans, which are way too huge for the soup - everything else was cut into pieces closer to the size of the farro, and the giant beans disrupted the harmony.  I might try navy beans or flageolet next time.  And yes, there is going to be a next time.  It's a simple soup that could be made at any time of year.  I managed to find a little room in the freezer for this one, but as soon as it's gone, I'm sure I'll be making this again.

Lentil Stew with Winter Squash

When I am miserably bored I like to search for recipes.  So most of the time, I have a ton of tabs open on my browser, and usually they stay there for weeks and I end up making none of them.  Recently a friend was here for dinner and she can't eat any fat, which you would think is impossible in my house, but as I was flipping through my open recipe tabs, I noticed that one of the NY Times Recipes for Health that I had open, Lentil Stew with Pumpkin, had the nutrition information, and zero grams of fat.  I had pretty much all the ingredients, so I made it for dinner and sent her home with the leftovers.  (I also made her some very low-fat brownies.  Delicious.)

The soup was pretty tasty.  I personally do not prefer the texture of lentils and split peas, but they happened to taste good, which made up for it.  I didn't eat a lot, though.  The spices and aromatics added some good flavors to the soup.  I used what I think is ambercup squash - that was pretty good too.  According to Ken, this is a regular lentil soup.  But I thought it was pretty good, and I hope my friend enjoys the leftovers!

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Chili is the new soup.

I made (and ate) chili for the first time just a few weeks ago - the Confetti Chili, if you recall.  It was delicious, but I wanted to try a vegetarian version as well.  During Meatless Mondays in December, Georgie posted a Vegetarian Black Bean Chili.  She made it using dried beans, but wanted to hear back from someone trying it out with canned beans instead.  You can see her recipe here. 
I made the following adjustments:
- 3 cups of water instead of 4
- 2 cans of black beans instead of the dried
- 1 tsp salt (because of the canned beans, though I did rinse them)
- 4 tsp regular chili powder instead of 2 Tbsp, which I thought was hot enough but Ken disagreed
- added 1 cup of frozen corn, because it's one of my freezer items needing to be used up.

It came out tasty.  Texturally, I think I prefer a mix of meat and beans, but it was good, so I have a bit in the freezer to eat when I don't have quite enough time to make anything.  I wish I had made cornbread to go with it, but I just didn't think of it, I guess.  I might make this again, but more likely I will make a variation of it to make a chili using up some of what I have to use up from the freezer.  If I do make it again, I want to try it with dried beans in the pressure cooker.  I've only used my pressure cooker a few times and I want to get more comfortable with using it since it's such a useful tool!

Confetti Chili

So I have never had chili before.  (I know, I am totally weird.)  I have been thinking about it for a few weeks (kinda like my soup thing) and it finally culminated in this Confetti Chili from Ellie Krieger's book The Food You Crave.  I didn't plan for it to be so appropriate for New Years (confetti, get it?) and I was skeptical about it being a healthier recipe but I think it hit all the important components.  My friend Hilary mentioned a few essential things that could not possibly be left out of a good chili recipe.  I don't remember them all but cumin was one that stuck with me and I looove cumin so I was happy to see quite a bit of that in here.  Another plus was that this used up a bunch of stuff from my freezer, although it also caused a bit to be added - but this chili was delicious, so I'm sure it won't be staying long!  In fact, I already defrosted one container for my lunch today!

The one departure I made from the recipe was in regards to the chipotles in adobo sauce.  The recipe called for one chipotle chili to be seeded and minced, plus two teaspoons of the sauce to be added.  Instead, we used two chipotles and did not attempt to seed them, plus the sauce as well.  I think the level of heat was appropriate, but I think we could probably go a little hotter next time.  I also got some delicious (and local, yay!) cheese from Cherry Grove Organic Farm at the indoor market a few weekends back.  It's called Cuminjack and the guy told Hilary and me that it would be perfect for chili, right after we were talking about chili, so naturally I had to get some.  I tried it there and it was delicious.  I already mentioned I love cumin.  So tasty!  Anyway, when I first made the chili and had a big bowl of it, I totally forgot all about the cheese.  It was delicious on its own.  I tried it with the cheese for lunch today and it was OK.  I feel that the outstanding flavor of the cheese gets lost in the chili, though.

I made some cornbread to go along with the chili too.  Ken's boss asked (out of nowhere) if I was going to make chili and cornbread this weekend.  I swear, he had no way to know that!  Ken said actually, yes, but probably not cornbread.  Actually, I love cornbread.  It reminds me of when I was little and we had Jiffy corn muffins all the time.  So I whipped some up according to the directions on the package of cornmeal I have in my fridge.  I was happy to use up some of that too.  I added a bit of extra sugar, bumping it up from 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup, mainly because I couldn't find my 1/4 cup, but I thought it was the perfect sweetness to go with chili.  I froze two pieces per serving of chili that I froze, because you wouldn't want to go without it.

I look forward to making more chili in the near future.  I'd like to try a white chicken chili in particular - I have a microwave version from Pampered Chef done in the Deep Covered Baker, I've heard good things about that one.  I'd also like to try Heidi's Pierce Street Chili on 101 Cookbooks, a vegetarian chili that looks like it's going in a different direction.  Lentils, barley, bulgur, chickpeas, etc.  That would be fun to play around with.  Plus Georgie's vegetarian black bean chili - I'm going to give that one a shot too!  So many options!

Ribollita

My soup making streak is far from over.  I can't get enough.  It also gives me a great deal of satisfaction to have so many soup options in my freezer, although every time I find a new favorite, like Ribollita, I know I would reach for that first.

This is my first chunky soup.  It's also my first soup with beans.  I found it while trying to figure out what to do with my lacinato kale.  And it's my new favorite.  The slightly spicy tomato flavor, creamy white beans (and here I thought that beans were always grainy - now I know you need to cook your own! forget cans!), and a great change in texture from the kale.  The torn up bread made little pockets of liquid that squish in your mouth.  The celery, carrots and onions were tiny nourishing bites.  I even liked the chopped oily black olives on top - I bought just a few at the olive bar, next time I need to see if they come already pitted, but they added a great saltiness and a contrasting flavor.  Are you hungry yet?

This recipe gave me 8 cups frozen, plus a full quart for the fridge, and that's not including the bowl I ate for dinner.  And I'm going to make it again.  :)

Orange Cauliflower and Butternut Squash Soup

One of my most favorite blogs to read is Cannelle et Vanille.  The pictures are so inspiring and so are the unusual flavor combinations.  As someone who can eat wheat products, I don't make a lot of the gluten-free recipes on the site even though they sound amazing.  I did come across this Orange Cauliflower and Butternut Squash Soup recipe, posted on another site where she did an interview, and I was intrigued.  I didn't think I would ever see orange cauliflower, but one appeared to me at the market in a bin full of its white friends.  (Later, at the other market I go to, I saw a giant bright purple one too!  What a day.)  So I got it and made this soup a few days later.

Some things about the recipe are a little odd, so you kind of have to go with your instincts.  There are no measurements given for the cauliflower or butternut squash besides "one" and maybe a loose descriptor like "small" or "large," yet the recipe calls for 2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of black pepper.  As I put the pepper in the pot I thought to myself, hmm, this seems like a lot of pepper.  Then I dumped it in.  Then I thought, "maybe I'll use a little less salt and add more later on."  So I used 1 tsp of salt.  I did add more later, but I strongly doubt it came out to a full teaspoon.  The black pepper ended up providing a noticeable kick, in a very good way.  The soup seemed fairly basic from the recipe, so I used a bouillon cube with herbs instead of just a regular one.

The recipe made about 2.5 quarts, a little more than the other soup recipes I have been making.  I suspect this may have been in part because of the giant head of cauliflower I used.  You could definitely make this with white cauliflower, but the orange complements the color of the butternut squash, so you won't get quite as orange a soup.  We ate these with Panetini crackers/toasts left over from the summer bruschetta, but the recipe recommends parmesan and herb crackers which sound delicious as well.  This was Ken's favorite soup so far, so I suspect I will be making more of it later this winter.

Mushroom Bourguignon

It makes me so happy to hear that my friends are obsessed with food like me!  I find that one food blog we often have in common is Smitten Kitchen.  My friend Hilary mentioned to me how great the Mushroom Bourguignon recipe was, and when I looked it up, my mouth started watering pretty much instantly.  It looked amazing.  With the weather getting colder, it's time for some comfort food!

Fortunately, it was exactly what I thought it would be.  I did have to boil the crap out of it at the end to get it to thicken enough - and I think I threw in a little extra flour too - but in the end, it was just unbelievably delicious.  I used local mushrooms from the Rutgers Gardens market, which were on the pricey side, plus they took forever to clean and slice, so I may go the route of convenience packaging next time.  I used frozen pearl onions (as recommended) to make that part easier as well - they worked out perfectly fine.  I thought they tasted good!

We ate these over egg noodles - haven't had those in years! - and again, it was amazing.  It actually tastes exactly how the picture looks.  It's also filed under "freezer friendly" on the Smitten Kitchen website, so that just makes it all the more attractive to me!  I will definitely be making this again, and hopefully saving some for later too.

Cashew Curry

I got a head of cauliflower in this week's CSA share, and while I was looking for something to do with it I came across this Cashew Curry recipe on 101 Cookbooks.  It looked like an easy enough lunch, and Ken recently decided he likes curry, so I figured I would make it soon.  I have green beans from last week's CSA share that are pretty beastly, but holding up very well, so I even went with the same vegetables used in the recipe.  For the protein, we added shrimp instead of tofu.  Now having made this recipe, I know that I can adapt it to whatever I have on hand.  The second time I made it I added some thin shreds of carrot, which added a nice color, and I figured it's always good to get some extra veg in there.  I want to try slices of onion instead of chopped - while chopping them is easier, I really like cooked onions.  The cashews are essential as well - they add a nice crunch that contrasts with the softness of the veg.

A funny note: we ate the first bowl of this without the cashews.  I had put them in the oven to toast up along with some acorn squash seeds, and I completely forgot about them until well after they were done.  Fortunately I remembered at exactly the right moment and they were deeply toasted without being burned.  I did laugh, though, when I realized that this recipe is called "Cashew Curry" and I didn't put any cashews in it :)

Coconut Red Lentil Soup

I'm very behind in posting.  Sorry!  Well, sort of.  I feel bad for a second, then I remind myself why I do this - it's for me.  So I'm sorry mostly to myself, and a little bit to you.  I'm supposed to be studying for midterms right now, so I'm just trying to get out a few older posts that were near finished anyway.  I needed a study break.  Right?

In my week of soup craving, I looked up a ton of recipes, including some on my favorite recipe site which I had previously overlooked based solely on the fact that they are soup.  This Coconut Red Lentil Soup caught my attention because I had most of the ingredients already, I needed to use up an open can of coconut milk from which I had used only 1/4 cup, and it was a chunky soup.  I continued my trend of making things when I'm not even going to eat them that day (you should see my refrigerator - it's like a life size game of Jenga) and started on this soup around 9pm on a weeknight.  The smell was reminiscent of what fans blow out of our neighbors' units (namely, curry).  But the smell when you put your face right up to the pot was sweet and extremely appetizing.

I simmered it way longer than the 20 minutes called for - I thought it would be better as it got thicker, but I definitely let it go too long - it was more of a gloppy consistency by the time I got it out of the pot to store it.  I finally got to try it a few days later and I spooned it over some leftover brown rice.  The flavors were good, but I'm not crazy about the grainy texture of the split peas.  This is something, like beans, that I hope to learn to love.  It no longer qualified as a soup, either - I should have added some water to thin it out just a bit.  I ended up only having a few bites, since it's not raining anymore - we've actually had some pretty perfect weather the past few days.

Carrot Muffins

As we are all well aware I love baking and I love baking whole grain muffins specifically.  These Carrot Muffins from Good to the Grain used spelt flour, which I haven't used until now.

I don't have too much to say about these, as I only ate one and the rest went in the freezer or were shared.

My carrots were too dry - the muffin was good, but a little on the dry side - my carrots must be pretty old.  I usually use a trick from Mark Bittman - cut them into carrot sticks, then fill the container with water.  This works pretty well, but when these were cut up, they went into two huge containers and I only remembered the next day to put water in, and only in one container.  Also, it was a pain to grate carrot sticks on a box grater.  Next time I will just go get more and use whole carrots - or the food processor!  What a fabulous invention.

The streusel topping on this was delicious - and although it's a LOT of extra calories I think it added a sweetness that the muffin itself was lacking.  I'd like to play around a little and find a way to add a little more sweetness to the muffin without using the streusel topping.

While I'm writing this I couldn't help but think of the Carrot Oatmeal Cookies I made for this past year's cookie exchange.  I would love to try the carrot/ginger/coconut flavor profile in a muffin form - this could be a great starting point for that recipe.  Maybe I can do a combination of this with the Ginger Peach Muffins to move toward that flavor profile.

Chopped Miso Salad

I wanted to try more recipes with miso and came across this Chopped Miso Salad.  I happened to have a green cabbage on hand and almost all the other ingredients, so I brought everything down to the beach and made it for my family.

This recipe was definitely a hit - it's variable and easy to make.  I used sunflower seeds instead of almonds, added carrots, and made the dressing in a blender instead of just whisking it together.  Everyone loved it, and we have already made it again.  (It's very aesthetically pleasing with a mix of red and green cabbage also.)  It's probably going to be a staple in our fridge down the shore this summer, at least as long as the cabbage is in season.

Mini Carrot Cake Bites

Edited: 10/28/2009. Photo added! :)


This is another one of my Pampered Chef recipes from the Season's Best Fall/Winter 2009. This is one I plan to make for at least one of my upcoming shows. I made these for my birthday the other day to bring in to work, and they were a huge hit - it has been requested that I make them again. (Not requested that I share the recipe... just that I actually make more of them myself and bring them for everyone to eat!)

An important caution: regular cake mix is 18 oz. This recipe calls for 9 oz. That means if you use an entire 18oz box (...mom) your cakes will come out dry and tasting like yellow cake instead of carrot cake. Also, adding extra carrots might sound fun, but it is hard enough to mix so I would stick close to the required amount.

This is another recipe that I would just love to make-over to be more healthy but it's not too easy. Although the Cool Whip in the filling makes me cringe, the recipe has no butter, unlike literally EVERY other cream cheese frosting recipe I found online. Plus, it has carrots in it. So it could be worse!