Creamy Cauliflower Soup

One of my favorite stores in Berkeley is Monterey Market. Its on Hopkins Street in the tidy little bundle of shops, butchers, fishmongers, bakers, and pizza at the corner of Monterey Avenue in North Berkeley. Monterey Market is basically a huge produce market, as well as grocery store, featuring some of the best local, seasonal fruits and veggies you can find outside of a farmer's market. It is not stylized, nor trendy, like Whole Foods or Trader Joes. It is simple, never insults your intellect or senses, and only begs of you to be adventurous and open minded when thinking about whats for dinner.
When I was pondering just this the other day, walking through the overflowing aisles, I was immediately drawn to the box boasting organic, fresh yellow "cheddar cauliflower" from Full Belly Farms. The color could be described as nothing short of cheddar, I agree. I love cauliflower, steam it, sautee it, add it to soup, its delicious and so good for you. Since I've discovered these crisp, yellow beauties a few years ago, I have been hooked. The yellow ones, especially if they are super fresh, are so much more tender, mild, and dare I say, almost cheesy?
So into the soup pot it went, and with the help of a little cream fraiche, onions, garlic, butter, chicken stock, and a hand held blender it became the most lovely and creamy cauliflower soup. There is no cheddar in it, and I swear you would never know.

Creamy Cauliflower Soup

1 head of yellow cheddar cauliflower
1 large onion
3 cloves of garlic
3 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp butter
3 to 4 cups of chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 C cream fraiche or sour cream, more to taste/garnish
1 bay leaf
2 tsp thyme
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cayenne (optional)
Salt and pepper


1. Chop onion, garlic, and cauliflower into medium sized pieces.
2. Heat olive oil and butter in a soup pot. Add onion, garlic, cauliflower, bay leaf, thyme, nutmeg, and cayenne, and about a tsp. of salt and pepper. Sautee on medium heat until tender and golden.
3. Stir in enough chicken stock to cover vegetables by an inch or so.
4. Simmer for 10 to 20 minutes until cauliflower breaks apart easily.
5. Add cream fraiche or sour cream, stirring until blended.
6. Remove from heat and with a blender, puree soup to desired consistency.
Note: If you don't have a hand held/immersion blender yet, I highly recommend getting one – they revolutionize soup making and are really easy to clean. And not too expensive either, worth every penny.
7. Season with more salt and pepper to taste, and always feel free to adjust seasonings as you like, I am pretty moderate with recommended amounts of spice in recipes, but will always be adding a pinch or two more of spices to taste as I go. You should too.

Padron Peppers!

OMG. This is the only time I'll use text lingo in this blog, I promise. But these little babies truly deserve an OMG. Last time, I swear. Padron peppers, slightly sweet, slightly spicy, perfectly salty, and delicious when prepared correctly. And "correctly" is super simple and takes all of 5 minutes. You will find these little green peppers in season, at least in Northern California, from mid summer to late fall. Just last week I was still able to track some down at the farmer's market, but my man claims that was probably the last of them, so sad. When they are in season I order them every time I see them on a menu and I buy them every time I see them at a market (they are sort of hard to come by, mostly I have found them at farmers markets. Regular grocery stores rarely seem to have them). They make for a great little side dish, but mostly I eat them as an appetizer, perfect when paired with crusty, warm bread, olive oil for dipping, and some cheese! Here's how to prepare...

Get a skillet good and hot, I prefer a cast iron in this case, with some oil. Grapeseed oil is nice because it has great flavor and works well at high temperatures, but any cooking oil will do. Once your oil is hot, throw in your clean peppers and just let 'em go. Turn and toss them a few times until the skins get black and kind of charred in some spots. Right before you take them off the heat, toss them in some good sea salt or kosher salt. Sometimes I will also splash them with a bit of lemon juice, but they don't really need it. Let them cool a minute and enjoy! Beware, about one in every 20 or 30 peppers is really pretty spicy and hot. Other than that, they are generally pretty mild and oh so delicious!!! 

                               

Beans, beans the magical fruit...

My Dad said something recently that made me think differently about how I cook. We were talking about beans, though the concept can be used kitchen-wide. It was simple really, what he said about when going to the trouble of cooking beans you may as well cook up a huge pot. The soaking time and cooking time can be daunting, and a put-off if you are looking for a quick dinner. Hence the old can or two of beans that sits in all of our pantries. In the last few years I have come to be quite a purist and frugal shopper, shunning as many canned and prepared products as possible. I would much rather make my own. In a pinch of course, I will grab a can of beans, or diced tomatoes. But if I can save money, packaging, processing, etc, by doing it myself I will. And let me tell you that there is nothing that compares to a hot pot of beans or fresh tomato sauce. Nothing.
So my Dad's philosophy was to minimize the time spent cooking beans overall by cooking a lot at once. What do you do with so many beans you ask, there is no way we could choke down that many in a week. I agree. One or two meals is enough for me too. So what I do is freeze them. Pack cooled beans into freezer safe containers of various sizes. Glass jars such as clean peanut butter, pickle, mayo jars work well or you can use plastic yogurt containers or ziploc bags. When I freeze beans I make sure there is no extra liquid in the container, and fill the container about 3/4 full. When you want some beans pull a jar out of the freezer and thaw. For a quick thaw, pour warm water over the beans to loosen and then dump into a pan to heat. Try to use them up within a month or two or they will lose freshness.
Beans are delicious in tacos, chili, hummus, soups, sprinkled on salads, or as a side.
Though different varieties of beans have different cooking times, I usually follow the same process for all of them. And lately have been making fun bean medleys such as black, pinto, and kidney beans, shown above.

Basic Beans

Rinse beans and pick through. Cover with lots of water in a pot. Soak for 6 to 24 hours. I read recently that you should cook beans in their soaking liquid so you don't lose flavor, but if you want you can dump the soaking water and cover again with fresh water. I like to add onion and a bay leaf to the pot. Adding a few pieces of seaweed is supposed to reduce gas. Up to you. Don't add salt until beans are cooked. Bring to a boil and then simmer until beans are soft, anywhere from half an hour to an hour and a half, depending on the bean and soaking time.
Once beans are done, salt to taste. Storing them in their cooking liquid in the fridge is good for keeping them moist, though I like to drain it off when freezing.

Creamy Brussel Sprouts

My kid is weird.  She loves brussel sprouts.  Aren't they supposed to be the one vegetable kids loathe more than any other?  My other kid doesn't exactly love them, but she'll eat them. What's my secret to getting my kids to eat almost ANY vegetable?  Butter and salt.  Not heart-attack levels of salt, but a little sprinkling over broccoli that's been kissed with melted butter and it's the first thing to disappear from the plate.  "But they'll never eat 'em plain if you always use butter and salt."  Not true.  And if it were, so what?  The point is: THE KID IS EATING VEGETABLES.

So, creamy, lemon-finished brussel sprouts.  I'm pretty sure I found this recipe at 101cookbooks.com, an awesome vegetarian blog by SF gal Heidi Swanson.  Anyhoo, this recipe turns a dinnertime vegetable protest into, well, a dinnertime fork-banging circus.

You will need:


Brussel Sprouts
1/2 cup or so of cream
butter
1/2 of a lemon
salt
pepper

Wash your brussel sprouts and trim the ends off.  I peel off the outer layer of skin if there's any discoloration or funk present.  Quarter lengthwise.

Heat a big chunk of organic butter in a skillet on medium-high until it's nice and warm.  Add brussel sprouts.  Let them cook until they have browned sides.  Approximately 7 minutes.  Lower heat to medium-low. Sprinkle with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Pour 1/2 cup of cream over sprouts.  Cover.  Cook 3 minutes. Now test them out.  I like them soft but still a bit firm. (The carmelized sides are key to their deliciousness so make sure you start out on a high enough heat).

Lastly, squeeze half a lemon over entire pan.  Stir.  Serve.

Here's what the whole dinner looked like:

Turkey meatloaf, creamy polenta with feta, and brussel sprouts.  Spilled milk not pictured.

Quinoa, Feta, and Walnut Salad

I often find myself turning to my jar of Quinoa when I need a quick and healthy side dish. It takes only 10 to 20 minutes to make.
Quinoa is the most complete protein of any grain, and is a great source of iron, magnesium, vitamin E, fiber, potassium, and amino acids.
But a boring heap of quinoa is no fun, and the leftovers will often sit lonely in the fridge until I put them out of their misery. So the other day I decided to spruce up my Quinoa with feta, parsley and walnuts for a tasty grain salad that almost beat the grilled sea bass that was served atop it. Leftovers were excellent straight outta the fridge the next day. Once again, the best part about this recipe is that it could be easily customized to use up whatever you have on hand. Couscous, rice, barley, any kind of nut or dried fruits, cheese, herbs, or veggies such as aparagus or peas would be good.

This recipe serves two to four. Double if you want lots of leftovers.

First cook the Quinoa:

1 cups Quinoa
1.5 cups Water
Pinch of salt

Rinse Quinoa well and add water and salt. Bring to a boil, and then simmer lightly until Quinoa has absorbed all water and fluffs with a fork (10-20 min). I like to leave the lid on for ten minutes once I turn off the heat in order to steam and loosen the grains, same with rice.

Pour cooked Quinoa into a bowl, let cool for a few minutes, and add:

1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/4 cup chopped parsley
heavy drizzle of olive oil
big splash of apple cider vinegar
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt, pepper, red chili flakes to taste

bon appetit!

Leftover Noodles, 2 Ways

Let me start by saying I'm the Queen Of Too Many Noodles. That is to say, I ALWAYS cook too many noodles when I'm making spaghetti, fettucini, capellini, macaroni. Doesn't matter, I always have leftovers. Now you are sitting there saying, "you can't be the queen, I'm the queen!" And I'm sure you are, in fact, I bet there are lots of us. And if you have this problemo too, then read on, and next time you've got a tupperware full o'leftover noodles, try one of these babies out! Oh, and this also works nicely with quinoa pasta, if you are trying to cut down on wheat, or if you are gluten free. 

This first dish is very simply called "fried noodles". It comes by way of my mom, she used to make this for dinner along with lamb patties (not really sure what those were?! I think they were like hamburger patties, only made out of ground lamb, and we would eat them dipped in ketchup. I remember loving them), and frozen green peas. This was always the combo. My mom mostly made dinners with 3 things on the plate, meat, carb, and veggie, and I tend to cook in much the same way, at least sometimes. I guess we all turn into our mothers at some point, and that's cool with me, I like my mom a lot. AND, if you were my mom, you would fry the noodles and then season them with one thing and one thing only. This stuff...

Look familiar? I bet your mom used it too. I must say, lawry's seasoned salt is pretty delicious stuff. A blend of salt, sugar, and other spices. You have to use it sparingly, but it's good on baked potatoes, popcorn, or fried noodles. I have changed the fried noodle recipe a bit into my own hippie version, and so most of the time I use tamari or soy sauce, nutritional yeast, and hot sauce, instead of lawry's, but every now & then I slip back into childhood and douse my noodles with good old lawry's. Yum. Seriously, yum.

You will need:

Leftover noodles (macaroni or some type of long, straight noodle works best here)

butter or cooking oil

Lawry's OR Tamari, Nutritional Yeast, & Hot Sauce

Heat up a good amount of oil or butter in your skillet. Add your noodles and keep the heat low until the noodles are warm. Once warm, crank the heat and let them fry on one side until they are good and crispy. Flip them and crisp up the other side. Once they are nice and crispy, turn off the heat and season with your choice of spices. I always toss them in a bit of nutritional yeast while they are cooking too because it tends to help them crisp up. Hot sauce is obviously optional. Serve as a side dish with anything! One of my favorite meals is baked tilapia, fried noodles, and some kind of green vegetable or salad. They are great with burgers, sausages, or as a vegetarian side along steamed veggies. Fried noodles! Thanks Mom!

#2

Ok, one more for leftover noodles. A simple stir fry that I made just the other night and figured I would post because it was so darn good. I used to make a lot of different stir fry's, back in the day when I was eating lots of tofu & tempeh and brown rice. I still eat a fair amount of brown rice, more often than I eat white rice I'm proud to say, but the tofu is few and far between these days. I've been trying to get into it again because I just don't think we need to eat meat at every single dinner. When Matt is at work I tend to cook more vegetarian dishes, and this one is super simple and really tasty...

You will need:

Leftover noodles (I would prefer a long straight noodle again here)

Any veggies you might have in your fridge

Tofu

Tamari

Hot Chili Sauce

Garlic

Sesame Oil

Cut your tofu into small squares & fry it up, high heat, in a bit of butter or oil until it's good and crispy. Turn your heat down to medium and add your veggies. I added broccoli, red pepper, carrots, yellow squash, garlic, and mushrooms. Saute until they are hot but still nice and crisp. Finally, add your noodles. Get 'em good and hot and then season with tamari and hot chili sauce. Once your stir fry is off the heat, garnish it with a bit of sesame oil. Delicious!!

Collard Greens and Navy Beans

Since my youngest daughter, Lulu, has eczema, I've been exploring some wheat and gluten-free alternatives.  I'm not certain wheat is causing the skin irritation or not, but it is a likely culprit and one place our acupuncturist suggested we cut back on.  The more I thought about it, I realized we eat a TON of wheat-- pasta, bread, crackers, tortillas... And not always the good whole wheat kind either.  So instead of a major "wheat-free" overhaul (which seems horrible to me), I've started exploring the alternatives and adding some of the yummy products I find into our diet.  Guess what? Quinoa pasta is kick ass.  Tastes pretty identical to classic noodles.  Rice pasta is pretty darn good too.   There's tons of stuff out there, and I'll be posting the tasty things I find here as I go.  This lunch was incredibly satisfying and obviously healthy.  It's creamy and delicious.  My kids gobbled it up, even. Takes about 10 minutes to make, too.  Bonus.
I've begun using organic, grass-fed butter to cook with (also at the suggestion of our acupuncturist), as olive oil is not so good for you at high temps.  I'm hooked.  Butter is freaking delicious to cook with.  AND, I'm hoping to stock up big time on EDEN ORGANIC brand canned foods.  Eden Organics is the only brand I know of whose cans (aluminum) do not contain BPA or other harmful-type-cancer-causing liner ingredients.  Most canned stuff does.  Lame town.  That's the shit that is causing so many people (especially kids) to develop neurological disorders, cancers, disease.  It's in our food.  Ugh. 

I guess this is my health food rant.  I don't end up with 100% organic pure food, but I try my best.  It's more expensive, but it's worth it.  This dish is a complete meal in itself, or would go beautifully as a side with fish or chicken.

Collard Greens and Navy Beans

Butter
1 can Eden Navy Beans
3-7 big handfuls of diced collard greens
1/2 tablespoon Better than Bouillon 
Handful of asiago or sharp white cheese


Start with a tablespoon of butter in a warm pan.  Add collards and saute for 7ish minutes, until tender.  Add drained can of beans.  Add bouillon.  Stir for 3 minutes.  Serve in bowls with cheese on top.  I added rice chips on the side for some crunch.