Wild Kitchen

Potato leek soup / Pasta (or rice) with sauteed veggies

I got a bunch of organic leeks in this week's produce delivery, so I made potato leek soup.   I love this soup; it tastes great, it's easy to make, and unlike some non-dairy interpretations of classics, I don't miss the milk products.  I made the soup in the morning, while we were getting ready to go out for the day, and was able to quickly put together a salad and pasta dish to go with it when we came back. 

Ingredients:

• 3 or 4 leeks, white and palest green parts only, chopped and well washed (chop them first to make sure you wash all the dirt out)
• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of non dairy (and non hydrogenated) butter substitute
• 4 to 6 cups of veggie broth
• optional sprig of rosemary or other herbs
• 1 to 2 cups soy milk
• sea salt & pepper

Saute the leeks in the buttery stuff over low heat until they are wilted and limp (maybe 8 to 10 minutes).  Add the potatoes, enough stock to cover, the optional herbs, and bring to a simmer.  Put a lid on it, and let it simmer until the potatoes are cooked, about a half hour to 45 minutes.  Remove from the heat, add soy milk.  At this point you can either remove and mash some or all of the potatoes, put some or all of the soup in the blender, or (my favorite way) use a hand blender to get the soup to the consistency you like.  Add s&p to taste. 

I also had some zucchini in the produce box, and red bell peppers in the fridge.  I cut up and diced those and sauted them in olive oil and garlic.  I added part of the saute to pasta, for the girls and John, and I microwaved some brown rice to add to the rest of it for me.  The hot pepper flakes were added after so it wouldn't be too hot for the girls.  They loved it, which I wasn't expecting. 

And that cube of garlic in the tiny glass bowl, is a genius product I buy at Trader Joe's.  They're little frozen cubes of garlic, basil, cilantro, and parsley.  I *love* them and use them all the time.

Chilled avocado soup

I'm so ridiculously full right now.  Painful.  I've been craving avocado soup, and finally made it this afternoon.  I'd forgotten how simple and how good it is. 

Ingredients:

• 3 medium avocados (peeled, pitted, and diced)
• 1 tablespoon shallots (peeled and chopped)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil (or butter)
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 cups veggie stock
• 1 cup soy milk (I use unsweetened)
• sea salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 medium tomato (diced)

In a blender or food processor, blend avos until smooth.  In a small skillet over medium heat, saute the shallots in the oil until tender and almost translucent but not browned.  Sprinkle with chili powder and set aside to cool.  In a large bowl, whisk together avocado with stock and soy milk.  Add shallot mixture and whisk until smooth.  Stir in sea salt and pepper to taste, maybe some hot sauce.  Chill for 45 minutes, garnish with tomato.

I doubled the recipe so we could have some tomorrow, too.  While the soup chilled, I baked some tofu and boiled a bunch of swiss chard.  I put some raw pinenuts in the oven to toast (those went into a mixed herb salad) while the tofu baked, and cut up enough tomato for the soup garnish and for the salad.  When the tofu was a couple minutes away from being done I microwaved some Trader Joe's precooked and frozen brown rice.  I didn't have room for the salad, and that photo of my plate was taken before I added an unholy amount of real mayo to dip the chard in.  (I don't wanna know if you use miracle whip.  Mayo must be real -- preferably homemade though I rarely make it --  and that is non-negotiable.)

Rice pasta with roasted zucchini, basil, olive oil, & red pepper flakes

Tonight initially looked pretty grim.  We're low on groceries, and no one wants the things we do have.  I ended up taking the kids to play at a friend's house after school, and we didn't even get home until nearly 6.  Luckily, though, we came home with some homegrown squash (think round zucchini):

Of course the kids weren't interested in trying any, so I made pinto bean and cheese quesadillas for the girls, and a flour tortilla with black refried beans and lettuce for Lex.  Nathan has to do a presentation for his second grade class tomorrow on how to make his favorite sandwich.  He practiced by making a couple of BLTs tonight; one for him and one for Lex.  While all this was going on, I made something that I could eat.  (John was at work till late, so I just cooked for myself.) 

I washed and diced the squash, and put it on a baking sheet that I'd brushed with olive oil.  Then, I stirred two of the Trader Joe's frozen basil cubes (those things are genius!) into more olive oil, added some sea salt and brushed that on the squash.  It would have been MUCH easier to just toss it all in a bowl to coat.  Next time.

I cooked the squash in a 375 degree oven for about 15 minutes, and in the meantime cooked some rice pasta.  When the pasta was finished, I transferred it to a large skillet with the rest of the olive oil and basil mixture and put the heat on medium.  The squash went in next, along with a few shakes of red pepper flakes.  This would have been awesome with some soft goat cheese, but I can't have it.  If you can, add it and enjoy it for me.  I just heated it for a minute or so, enough to get everything warm.  It was pretty good, but I'm still not a huge fan of rice pasta.  Probably would have been better with brown rice.  (And goat cheese. *sigh*)

Why Wild Kitchen? / Baked Tofu

Why did I call this blog Wild Kitchen?  Tonight while I was making supper/doing laundry (my washer and dryer are in a little closet in the kitchen) my daughters ran past me.  Willow (the younger one) was clothed and holding one end of a jumprope.  She was towing Sophie, who was only wearing her underpants.  Tied to the side of her underpants was the other end of the jumprope.  They tore past me, laughing and screaming about naked heinies. 

Wild enough?

John is working until at least 10 pm.  The boys went to a friend's house tonight; hopefully they will come home at 8pm fed.   The girls wanted toast and flat eggs.  If you order a flat egg around here, you'll get a fried egg white.  My kids won't eat egg yolks, unless it's scrambled eggs.  They call the yolk in hard boiled eggs "egg cheese" "egg pits"  "egg seeds" or "the gross part."  I eat a TON of egg yolks.  Tonight was no exception and I ate four scrambled egg yolks before I even made my own supper.  Healthy, no?

I wasn't too hungry (duh) an hour later when I finally had a moment to make something to eat.  I had cold broccoli rabe (leftovers from Sunday night) and baked some tofu. 

Ingredients:

• extra-firm tofu ( I always use the organic kind -- it's still cheap enough)
• honey
• sesame oil
• tamari
• fresh ground pepper

I start by slicing the tofu lengthways into two or three sections.  Then, I blot those dry with clean flour sack kitchen towels.  I chop them (the tofu pieces, not the towels) into cubes, put them in a bowl and add a mixture made from one part honey, one part sesame oil, and two parts tamari.  I don't measure, but I think that's roughly how I do it.  (If you've never used tamari before, it's very much like soy so you won't need to add salt.  Pepper is always a safe date, though.)  I let the tofu sit in the marinade in the fridge if I have time.  Or, you could just let it sit while the oven preheats to 400 degrees.  The tofu goes on a baking sheet, then into the oven for 30 to 40 minutes.

I prefer this with a little heat, but I thought Willow might eat some.  She had plain raw tofu instead.  You could add fresh grated ginger, red pepper flakes, your favorite hot sauce, or whatever heat you like.  Here's my supper, which I was happy to eat all alone.  Bliss.

Once again, I ended up with a pretty plate, but it really needed more color.  I was hoping to find some cherry tomatoes or red bell peppers in the fridge, but no luck.  I did finally find the perfect red compliment though.

Roasted zucchini, sauteed sugar snap peas, and brown rice

Every Friday a nice young man from Westside Organics shows up at my door with a box of fresh and (mostly) local organic produce.  Yesterday he brought sugar snap peas and zucchini, along with strawberries, white peaches, apricots, apples, bananas, an avocado, a lemon, spinach, and a mango. 

I didn't have much time to spend cooking tonight, and the kids just wanted pasta with butter.  I know that is a horrible supper, but I let them slide since they usually eat healthier because I was lazy. 

I can't eat pasta with butter, so I made brown rice with zucchini and peas.

Ingredients!

• brown rice (I use the frozen already cooked kind from Trader Joe's because sometimes I don't want to wait 40 minutes for brown rice)
• 3 or 4 zucchini
• sugar snap peas
• olive oil
• tamari
• sesame oil
• salt & pepper

I washed and stemmed the peas and put them in a bowl.

Then I washed the zucchini, cut off the ends, and sliced them lengthwise.  I brushed a baking sheet with olive oil, set the strips in a single layer, and then brushed them with more olive oil and sprinkled them with salt.  I put them in a 350 degree oven (probably could have been hotter) and set the timer for 15 minutes. 

While the zucchini cooked, I got the pasta going and set out a skillet (a wok would be better) for the peas.   When the 15 minutes were up, I turned the zucchini slices over and put them back in the oven for ten more minutes. 

Then I started the peas.  Just heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil on high heat (watch out for the splat factor), add the peas and stir fry until they are shiny green.  Maybe until they start to brown, if you like.  When they are finished, put them in a bowl (I use a spatula instead of just pouring them all in so I don't end up with too much oil), and drizzle 2 tablespoons tamari and 1 teaspoon (I probably used three times that, though) sesame oil over the top.  Then I just mixed it up with the brown rice, which I doused in tamari and sesame oil. 

It desperately needed some red; if I could have a do-over, I'd add red bell peppers (stir fried) or tomatoes (roasted with the zucchini).  Red pepper flakes would have looked nice, too, but I wasn't feeling the hot. 

The kids ate their pasta.  I tried to feed them some veggies, but they were having none of it.  That's okay.  More for the grown-ups.