Peanut Soup

Here are a few different peanut soup recipes that I combined to make mine.  First is the one I got from my sister.  It is delicious.  The second is a link to one I found online as I forgot I even had this one.  The final one was sent to me by a friend.  That's where I got the idea to use the green beans, which I had on hand.  This is an example of taking several recipes and making what you can out of what you have on hand.  


Indonesian Peanut Soup 

4 c. chicken stock
2 T. soy sauce
1 1/2 T molasses
2 T lemon juice
2 cloves garlic
Cilantro - optional

Saute garlic, and rest, simmer 15 minutes.
Add:

1/4 c. peanut butter
1 c. cooked chicken

Simmer 5 minutes, garnish with
1/2 c. green onions

I usually have to triple this recipe – I have no idea who they were feeding, but it looks like soup for two!


West African Peanut Soup


African Peanut-Potato Stew


I used:
Garlic
Onions
Banana Pepper
Green Beans
Canned Tomatoes
Leftover cooked chicken
Leftover cooked mango rice


Go have fun and create your own!

Week Review - 9/19 - 9/25

Sunday

I made Tequila Shrimp and Broccoli Pasta.

It sounds weird.  However, it was very delicious, and everyone ate it up!  Necessity was the mother of invention on this one, and I was quite pleased with the results.  

Monday

I made Vegetable Matzo Ball Soup.  Everyone ate this up!  It was super healthy and nice and warm on a cool fall day. 

 Tomatoes from the garden for dessert...so yummy!!

 Maya loved the "meatballs"!






















Tuesday


I turned Trader Joe's marinated tuna steaks into Fish Tacos with Chipotle Avocado Slaw.  This was not a hit with the kids, but Marco and I both loved it.  That's why it's labeled as "ADULTS ONLY".  I'll have to modify next time to make a dish for the little people.












Friday

I had leftover chicken and romaine lettuce as well as an abundance of tomatoes from the garden.  I was also able to use up the last of the banana peppers.  I made Refried Beans, and we all devoured Tostadas.  There's no recipe for this dish.  Just buy tostadas and pile on what you like.  We topped it off with Marco's homemade salsa (a recipe he refuses to share)!  

Elliot really loved the beans!

Refried Beans

Making homemade refried beans is really easy and so worth it.  You can control the taste and variety and amount of fat.  When I want to be indulgent, I use bacon grease, but usually I use Canola or Olive Oil to cook the beans.  


Cook the dried beans according to the instructions.  Usually you have to soak them and then cook them for a couple hours.  Don't salt the water in the beginning.  It hardens the beans, and they take longer to cook.  Once they are soft, then you can add salt to taste.  Don't go overboard, just enough to add a little flavor.  Then puree the beans using an immersion or regular blender with a little of the cooking liquid.  You want them to be a little runnier than what you want as refried beans.


Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a pan and cook a bunch of garlic and onions until they begin to get soft.  Take out all the garlic and onions.  Then add your pureed beans to the oil.  Cook the beans until they start to get nice and thick and you can smell that they are toasting a little bit.  Done.


This last time I just used garlic, but I used a LOT of garlic.  The beans were amazing.  

This week's produce delivery!!!!

Here is what's coming this week from South Mountain Veggies!!


Greenhouse:
• Hydro-Boston Bibb Lettuce, MD
Organic:
• Sweet Potatoes, 2 lbs, PA
• Spinach - 1/2 lbs - PA
• Broccoli - 1 bunch - PA
• Green beans - 1 lbs - PA
• Tomatoes - 1 lbs - PA
• Spaghetti Squash - 1 pcs - PA
• Onions - 2 lbs - PA
• Brussel Sprouts - 1/2 lbs - PA
• IPM: Liberty Apples, 6 pcs - MD 


I'm certainly thrilled to see the spinach, lettuce and squash!!  And I'm very happy to not see any beets on the list!!  


Here's what I'm thinking of making in the coming days with this stuff.  I'm hitting up my Mexican Every Day cookbook by Rick Bayless.  It's a great cookbook that has tons of traditional Mexican dishes that can be easily prepared for weeknight dinners.  Plus, he offers tons of "riffs" on his recipes to make them vegetarian or healthier.  He's awesome.


Albondigas al Chipotle with Green Bean Salad with Red Onion & Salsa Dressing


Tomatillo-Sauced Enchiladas with Spinach and Mushrooms


Jalapeno-Baked Fish with Roasted Tomatoes and Potatoes


Well, I better head off to the grocery store while these babies are still sleeping and get the rest of what I need.  Thank goodness Papi is working from home today! :)

Fish Tacos with Chipotle Avocado Slaw

This came about because of my need to use a head of cabbage.  Plus, we happened to have some marinated tuna steaks from Trader Joe's in the freezer.  Marco suggested tacos.  So, here's what I made!

I cooked the fish in a pan on the stove on high heat.  I needed to cook it through because of the little people.  Normally I would have just seared it and cut it up.  But it was really good cooked through. 

Chipotle Avocado Slaw

1/2 Head of Cabbage, chopped in thin strips
1 1/2 Avocados, cut into small cubes
Juice from 2 Limes
1 tsp Chipotle powder (you could also use the canned variety, chopped very fine)
2 Tb Mayo
2 tsp Honey
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped in small little cubes
1/2 bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped
Salt to taste

Cut everything up and dump it into a bowl together.  Stir it up gently so as not to completely break down the avocado pieces.  Add as much of the chipotle as you like.  I made it fairly light for the kids but then we sprinkled more on our tacos.

To serve:
Warm up some corn tortillas on the stove.  Take a tortilla and load it with a little of the fish and a little of the slaw.  Add a little hot green salsa to really kick it up.  Eat. 

BTW - the kids all hated this, including the tuna.  But I'm going to make it again down the road because we loved it, and they better learn to like it, or else!

Vegetable Matzo Ball Soup

For Matzo Balls:
1 Box Manischewitz Matzo Ball & Soup Mix
2 Eggs
2 Tb olive oil
1 tsp thyme

For Soup:
5 carrots, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, diced finely
1 bag dried cannelini beans
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp oregano
Seasoning pouch from soup mix
1 Cup Soycutash (mixed frozen veggies)
1 Cup frozen peas

I followed the instructions to soak and cook the beans until tender.  It takes a few hours.  Meanwhile, I cut up the carrots and onions and garlic and mixed up the matzo ball mix.  When the beans were almost done I sauteed the carrots, onions and garlic in a little olive oil.  I added the soup packet and the thyme and oregano to the beans with a lot more water.  I made the matzo balls and got them cooking.  Once they were almost done (10 minutes), I dumped all the veggies in and let it cook for a little longer until all the frozen veggies were cooked through. 

The seasoning packet did add a lot of flavor, but it had TONS of salt.  Next time I will just skip it.  Everyone ate this up.  Marco really liked it and ate two bowls.  I love those matzo balls, but the veggies were amazing.  Those fresh local carrots from South Mountain Veggies made the soup so vibrant.  Can't wait to eat it for lunch! :)

Tequila Shrimp and Broccoli Pasta

This sounds weird but ended up pretty tasty.  It was one of those things where I looked at what we had and just had to create something.  I wasn't sure that the broccoli was going to taste good with the tequila, but I had no wine and no other veggies.  So, this is what I made...and how I would do it differently.


1 1/2 oz. tequila (the better the brand, the better the taste.  I used Herradura Anejo)
Juice from 1 lime
20 medium size shrimp (I used this many because I counted out the amount foe each person)
2 small heads of broccoli
3/4 box of spaghetti (Take note below)
1 Tb butter
2 Tb Olive Oil
6 cloves of garlice, finely diced


I thawed the shrimp and then marinated it in the tequila and lime juice.  While that was soaking, I cooked the pasta.  I put the pan on medium-high and cooked the garlic for a couple minutes (don't let it start to burn or it will taste bitter).  Then I threw in the broccoli and tossed it in the garlic and oil and let it toast up a bit in the pan.  Then I added 1 ladle of the pasta cooking liquid and let the broccoli steam a little bit.  When the pasta only had 2 minutes left, I added the shrimp with all the marinating liquid and let that steam up.  As soon as the pasta was done I drained it and threw it into the pot with everything else and let it all hang out on low for a little bit to get happy.


Changes and Tips

• The babies had trouble with the spaghetti, so next time I'll use elbow or farfalle or something more "grabbable" for little fingers. 
• I'd add more tequila because the taste was kind of weak
• Don't forget the broccoli stalk.  Just peel off the tough outer layer and cut it up into small cubes.  It is really delicious and mild.
• For small children:  Cut the broccoli up pretty small and overcook it just a little bit without losing the bright green.  This way little hands can grab it more easily and broccoli rejecters end up eating more than they realize because the heads break down and coat the pasta.

Week Review 9/12 - 9/18

Here's my first week in review. Please let me know what you think - feel free to comment and suggest different ideas. I originally posted my "plan" for the week on my other blog. As you can see, things change. Here's what we ate, how I made it and a few pictures of what it looked like. Enjoy!


SUNDAY


We made pizza. This was a total "Semi-Homemade" recipe using Trader Joe's herb pizza dough, a jar of putanesca sauce and a bag of shredded "quatro formagio" cheese (also from Trader Joe's). I added spinach and bacon to make it awesome. It was devoured by all.


MONDAY


So much for braising… I ended up really busy cleaning all day and didn’t cook ahead, so when I got back from picking up Maya, I had to make dinner fast. The natives were restless. I pulled the mandarin chicken out of the freezer and made a quick carrot and fennel salad. For some reason, my kids LOVE shredded carrots, especially really fresh ones from the garden. It’s one of those foods I know they’ll eat. The mandarin chicken from Trader Joe’s is the same. Everyone loves it. And it is so easy.


Carrot & Fennel Salad


Trader Joe's Mandarin Orange Chicken

TUESDAY


Lunch


I’m usually skeptical of Marco’s ideas. But he said the kids at eaten his tuna salad, so I attempted to recreate it. Basically, I made a coctel, which is the Mexican way of doing Shrimp Cocktail, but I made it with tuna. I wouldn’t normally include lunch, but this was so ridiculously good.


Coctel de Atun


Dinner


I made some chicken lettuce wraps. This was well received by everyone. I realize it’s not of a particular ethnic persuasion. However, it was small pieces, easily eaten by all and was actually quite good. It had veggies and protein and was really easy to make. The chicken came from South Mountain Creamery and was a free-range, humanely treated chicken. I used a great frozen veggie mix from Trader Joe's (of course) called Soycutash. It's taasty, and my kids eat it up!


Chicken Lettuce Wraps
















Cookies


Maya loves to make cookies, so we make them every once in awile even though she's hardly ever allowed to actually eat them. I thought these turned out really well. I took a recipe from the back of some Toll House milk chocolate morsels and then altered it a little bit. I think they're addictive.


Salted Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies















WEDNESDAY


I made salmon "burgers and sweet potato "fries." I got the salmon burgers at Trader Joe’s (big surprise). I think I overcooked them because they were a little dry. I mixed up a little “tartar” sauce with some of our pickled rhubarb, onions, mayo and dill. That was delicious and went well with the salmon. I cut up the sweet potato into thin slices and baked them with olive oil and salt. I didn’t let them crisp up, so they were basically just baked sweet potato strips, but they were still yummy.


Tartar Sauce

THURSDAY


My soup was so delicious! Seriously, I have to brag about how ridiculously good it was. Both Maya and Marco loved it. And the babies chowed down on their steamed chunks of the same ingredients. It was VERY easy and VERY healthy. It was perfectly balanced sweet and spicy. I used Penzey's Hot Curry, so it had good heat. You can add sour cream to each bowl if you want it more velvety and a little less spicy. We ate it with the French bread Marco made over the weekend. And Marco and I drank the Barefoot Muscato, which sounds funny to have with dinner, but the spicy/sweet combo was perfect.


Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup


FRIDAY


I stole this recipe from my sister who was trying to recreate a dish we had at Agave Mexican Restaurant in Lewes, DE. It is so easy and comes out really yummy. You can make it as hot as you want, depending on the salsa you use. I used Safeway's Medium Salsa Verde, which is surprisingly good. Because I was making the dish for a new Mom of Multiples and having friends over, I made dessert as well. Plus, I had all these Granny Smith apples that I was dying to bake!


Chicken Enchilada Casserole


Apple Crisp


SATURDAY


The kids had pizza again. Seeing as they were not big fans of the chicken casserole, I didn't want to force it on them while we were rushing to get ready to go out. I asked Maya, and she requested pizza, so that's what we did! Marco and I went on a date for my birthday. It was wonderful. We were fortunate enough to have SIX babysitters. My nephew and nieces came over with some friends. Thank you guys. And Happy Birthday to my nephew, Brad, as well. Hard to believe he's 24 years old!!


And now we're back to Sunday...what will I make tonight?? I'm thinking spaghetti with broccoli and potatoes. Maybe I'll steam that beet for the kids. I've also still got green beans and carrots and banana peppers and cabbage...carrot and cabbage slaw? Hmmm...a lot to think about this week. I'll let you know how it went! :)

Tartar Sauce

3 pickle spears, finely diced (I used some pickled rhubarb Marco made a while back)
2 Tb onions, finely diced
3 Tb mayo
Tons of dill

This recipe would be even better made ahead to allow the dill to season the mayo, but I made it right before we ate.  Still, it was really easy and went well with the Salmon Burgers from Trader Joe's.

Apple Crisp

Apple Filling:
8 Apples (depending on size)  I used Granny Smith and a couple local red apples
Juice from 1 lime
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 Cup butter, melted
1/2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Crisp:
1 1/2 Cups flour
3/4 Cup butter, softened
3/4 Cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 Cup slivered almonds

Mix all the apple filling ingredients together and put into the pan.  Mix up the crisp topping and place on top of the apples.  Bake for about 30 minutes or until you see the apples bubbling and the top is browning and crunchy. 

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

1 whole chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken)
1 large jar of green salsa  (I used Safeway's Salsa Verde)
12 corn tortillas
1 bag frozen corn
Shredded cheese (I used a Mexican blend)
Queso Fresco

Preheat oven to 350.  Pour a little of the salsa to coat the bottom of your pan (9 x 13).  Tear up tortillas and line the pan as you would lasagna noodles.  Then layer the chicken, corn, 2 cheeses and salsa.  Do this two more times until you reach the top of the pan and put a final layer of cheese.  Bake it for 25 minutes with foil on top.  Then take off the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese gets bubbly and brown.  You'll know it's done when it looks awesome. 

Serve this with sour cream.

Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

1 Butternut Squash, chopped
2 apples, chopped (I used one Granny Smith and one Red Delicious)
1 red onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 Tb Curry Powder (I used Penzey's Hot Curry)
1 cube of bullion (or use stock, which would be better)
Cayenne (add if your curry powder doesn't have much heat)

Chop everything up. It doesn't matter how big. I did about 1" cubes. Sautee the onions on medium-high until they get a little browned and clear. Add the garlic, just for a minute. Add the curry powder just for 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add the butternut squash and apples. Cook it all together for a minute or so. Then add the bullion and water (4 - 6 cups, depending on size of squash). Let that come to a boil and then simmer until the squash and apples are soft. Then puree using an immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender. Add salt or curry powder as necessary. The idea is to have it a little hot and spicy and sweet. Add sour cream the bowls as desired.

We ate this with Marco's homemade bread. It was ridiculously good! For the babies I just took some of the apples and squash out before I pureed it. They ate it up!

Salted Chocolate Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Original Recipe:
1 1/4 Cups AP Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 Cup butter, softened
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1/3 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg
2 Tbs milk
1 3/4 Cups milk chocolate morsels
1 Cup uncooked quick oats
1/2 Cup raisins

What I changed:
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 Cup cocoa powder
NO RAISINS

I mixed everything as you would normally for cookies (wet and dry then altogether). Then, before they went into the oven, I ground some sea salt on top. It added a nice little salty contrast to the super sweetness of the cookies. Baked them at 375 for 10 - 14 minutes. So yummy!

Chcken Lettuce Wraps

2 Chicken breasts, chopped
½ bag of Trader Joe’s Soycutash
3 cloves of garlic, chopped finely
½ bunch cilantro, chopped
2 Tb holy basil, chopped
1 can water chestnuts, finely chopped
3 Tb EVOO
2 Tb Soy Sauce
2 Tb Rice Vinegar
1 Tb fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 Tb honey
1 tsp garlic powder
Bibb Lettuce
Chopped peanuts
Sriracha

I marinated the chicken in the soy sauce, vinegar, fish sauce, sesame oil, garlic powder and honey for 15 minutes. I cooked the chicken on high heat in the EVOO. After the chicken was getting mostly cooked, I added the Soycutash and let that cook until it was cooked through and starting to caramelize. I then added the garlic and water chestnuts. I let that cook for a few minutes before adding the cilantro and holy basil. I turned off the heat after just a minute or so. Then, we ate it wrapped up in the lettuce with chopped peanuts and Sriracha on top. The babies and Maya just ate it with the rice I made (sesame mango rice, not especially awesome).

This was well received by everyone. I realize it’s not of a particular ethnic persuasion. It’s just “kind of Asian,” which is vague, at best. However, it was small pieces, easily eaten by all and was actually quite good. It had veggies and protein and was really easy to make. I think, including prep, it took me 45 minutes.

Coctel de Atun

2 cans of tuna
1 ½ avocados
½ bunch of cilantro
¼ onion, chopped finely
15 cherry tomatoes, chopped in halves
2 Tb sweet pickle relish
3 Tb mayonnaise
1 Tb mustard
Juice from ½ lime
Salt
Valentina

We mixed it all together, except for the Valentina, and ate it on bread. Everyone chowed down. And Marco and I spiced it up with the Valentina, and it was AWESOME. No more regular old tuna salad for me.

Carrot and Fennel Salad

5 – 6 carrots, shredded
1 bulb fennel, shredded
Fennel fronds, finely chopped
1 – 2 Tb EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1 – 2 Tb Rice Vinegar
Juice from ½ of one lime
Salt
1 tsp Frontier organic orange peel granules

Mix it all together. Eat it.



5 Bananas