Tag: free recipe

Soup Night

I like cream soups more than I like brothy ones.  I also like to use items that are kind of not at their peak – not spoiled – but not really the best they could be.  However, I don’t think true cream soups – made with half and half, full-fat cream, etc., are the best for overall health.  So, I use my own methods.  Follows is a spinach soup, but you can use any vegetable you want in its place.  I even use lettuce that is not really perky, and it all comes out fine.  So, here you go!

Cream of Spinach (or Whatever) Soup

  • olive oil – 2-3 T.
  • 1/4-1/2 chopped onion
  • 6 oz. spinach
  • 3 c. chicken stock
  • Pepper, salt, garlic powder, nutmeg – or other flavors for seasoning
  • 1 c. unsweetened, plain almond milk
  • 1 c. Greek yogurt
  • Parmesan cheese, sour cream, full cream, or whatever you want for garnish

Saute onion in heated oil.  Add spinach and saute some more.  Pour in chicken broth and cover.  Cook until spinach is soft and wilted.  If you use other vegetables, you may need to simmer longer.  If you do, watch your pot and add more liquid if necessary!  Season with your choice of seasoning.  Remove to blender – or use immersion blender – and puree until very smooth.  Return to pot and stir in almond milk and yogurt.  Blend well.  Heat through.  Strain if you have bits of stuff you want to get rid of or just to be fancy and serve in bowl.  Garnish with garnish of your choice.

Serves 2-3.

Saturday Morning Sides

I’ve been on a Mediterranean food kick of late.

This morning I was in the mood to put together some foods to have on hand over the next few days.  Since I am off work, it makes sense to do something – particularly when I want to do something!  So, I put together a couple of sides, one which we like to have on hand, and another we had in a restaurant the other night.

First side was to make some tzatziki.  This is so easy it’s ridiculous, and really worth the bit of time to make it from scratch, because scratch is always better.

Tzatziki

2 c. Greek yogurt (I used homemade!)
1 large English cucumber
5-7 cloves garlic
1 T. fresh dill
juice of 2 lemons
salt
pepper
olive oil

Grate the cucumber. Place in strainer, mix with about a tsp. of salt. Place where the liquid from the cucumber can drain while you do the rest of the prep. Let the cucumbers sit for about 30 minutes.

Finely mince the garlic – we use a microplane. Juice the lemons. Chop the dill. Stir in the yogurt.

Rinse the cucumbers. Squeeze out as much liquid as you can. If you like, put the cucumbers onto a towel, or paper toweling, and squeeze and press out as much liquid as you can. Turn into yogurt-lemon-garlic-dill mixture. Pour in a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Mix well. Taste. Add salt as you wish, and pepper.

Refrigerate in container. Stir before using.

The next thing I did was throw together a sort of tapenade, mixed up from what I had on hand.

Sun-Dried Tomato, Anchovy, and Olive Tapenade

8 oz. / 1 c. sun-dried tomatoes in oil – use all of it
1 small can of anchovy fillets
2-3 T. capers
20 kalamata olives, pitted (if already pitted, slice them where the seeds might be – you don’t want them messing up your food processor!)
2-3 cloves garlic
1-2 finely chopped cayenne peppers (optional)
2 T. balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste; olive oil to thin to your liking

In a mini-blender, put in tomatoes, anchovies, capers, garlic, olives, peppers, and vinegar. Whir together into a chunky paste. Taste. Add seasoning as you wish, and to thin, you may add some of the oil from the anchovies or a bit of olive oil on the side. Refrigerate for a few hours to meld flavors. Store in closed container for up to a week. Good on crackers or bread or straight out of the jar.

And there you have it – Saturday morning sides when you have nothing better to do!

Braided Cardamom Bread with Raisins

My talented husband is a fantastic beer brewer, barbecuer, and when he wants, bread maker.  He put this bread together yesterday afternoon – what a treat to come home after an afternoon out!

The Bread

This is a fragrant loaf, delicious for morning brunch, dessert, or with coffee.  Allow yourself a half day to make this lovely bread.

  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 1  package active dry yeast
  • 5 cups all-purpose flour, with more for kneading
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
  • 1 1/4 cups warm whole milk, half-and-half, or cream
  • 1 large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

    • In small bowl, place raisins in warm water to soak as you begin to make bread.

    Proof yeast by placing yeast, a pinch of sugar, and 1/4 c. warm (not hot – test with your finger) water.  The yeast has proofed when it foams – takes about 5 minutes.

    In large bowl, mix together flour, salt, sugar, and cardamom.  Drop the bits of butter into flour mixture.  Use fingers, pastry blender, or two knives to mix in butter until flour has appearance of coarse meal.  Make a well in middle of flour, and add yeast, whole egg, and milk.  Stir slowly into the outlying flour until soft ball forms.  Turn out onto floured board, knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.  Note: be sure to knead enough to develop bread gluten.

    After bread is kneaded, flatten and, after draining the raisins, sprinkle raisins across top of dough.  Fold dough over to seal in raisins.  Continue kneading, adding more flour if necessary.  The raisins add a bit of liquid to the dough, so as you knead in the raisins, the dough becomes a bit more sticky.

    Form dough into ball.  Place into large, buttered bowl.  Cover and let rise in warm place about 2-3 hours, or until double in size.

    Punch down dough, but do not knead again, as you do with traditional breads.  Divide into two balls, and then divide each ball into thirds.  Roll each 1/3 ball into a strand about 15 inches long, and then use 3 strands to create a braid,  Tuck ends of braids neatly under loaf.  Place braids onto bread sheet to rise, loosely covered, another 2-3 hours.

    30 minutes before baking, set oven rack to middle, and pre-heat oven to 350 F.  As oven is preheating, make egg wash, and brush loaves with it.  Place loaves in oven and bake about 30 minutes or more, until golden brown and having a hollow sound when tapped.

    Cool on wire rack.

    Cornbread

    I always forget to buy cornmeal it seems, so Sunday I saw it in the market, and grabbed it.  I like it for its texture and flavor.  And I love cornbread.  Since school begins again tomorrow, I decided to go ahead and make a nice dinner that will carry over into lunch for a day or two.  Meatloaf, cornbread, salad.

    There are all sorts of theories about “Northern” versus “Southern” cornbread, with the former being with yellow corn meal and a bit of sugar, while the  latter is made in an iron skillet using white corn meal.

    This is a recipe for “Golden Northern Cornbread.”  And another.  Don’t forget to look up cornbread on Epicurious, either.

    Here is a recipe for “Ben’s Southern Cornbread.”  Here is an article called “The Great Corn Divide.”  And here is another recipe for Southern cornbread.

    Corn has been a staple ingredient in Tex-Mex, Mexican, and Southwestern cooking for a long time – after all, corn originated in the Americas.  So there are other variations of cornbread still to be found.

    My version is decidedly a Southwestern-style, as it has green chilis, cheese, and corn in it.  For what it’s worth, here is my recipe.

    Naomi’s Southwestern Cornbread

    Preheat oven to 350-375 F.

    1 c. flour
    1.5 c. yellow cornmeal
    1 T. sugar
    1 T. baking powder
    pinch of salt

    Combine all of the above together in a large bowl.

    1 stick sweet butter
    1 large, fresh pasilla pepper, chopped up (you can use other peppers, as hot as you like, and perhaps some onion as well)
    1 c. corn (fresh is best, but I used frozen today)

    In pan, melt butter, saute peppers and corn. Even if corn is frozen, put it in with the peppers and butter and break apart. Saute till tender.

    1 c. milk (can be a combination of milk, cream, yogurt, buttermilk, and water to equal a cup – good way to do it if you are short any one ingredient)
    2 eggs

    Beat together until well blended. Dump into corn-flour mixture. Stir in a bit, then follow it up with the butter-corn-pepper melange, and finally the grated cheese.

    1/2 c. grated Jack cheese (I like a bit of cheese in cornbread – makes it nicely moist.  Use more if you like it gooey!)

    Pour into greased bread loaf pan. Bake 30-40 minutes until done. Turn out onto wire rack to cool. Serve plain, with butter, or reheat on skillet in morning, to toast.

    Enjoy!