Pinterest Challenge Day 2 - Brazilian Shrimp Soup

Hello!  Tonight we're cooking Brazilian Shrimp Soup, which I have pinned here.  It appears to be from Food and Wine Magazine and is promised to be "tested until perfect".  It also gives a suggested wine paring that we did not try...because it's Monday and we have jobs to go to tomorrow.  Here's how we did:

Soup is so unphotogenic...

Our substitutions for tonight:
1) We used red lentils in place of rice because we only had brown rice in the house and it was late and we didn't want to wait the 45 mins for it to cook.
2) Red and Orange peppers in place of green because that's what we had and I was too cheap (are you sensing A trend here?) to buy more.







Here's how we rank this one:
Taste: B-.  This was good but kinda boring.  It needed some jazzing up - I doused mine in siracha and Dawson dipped pepperoni sticks in his.  I think next time I'd use chicken broth in place of water to add more flavour. 
Cost: A-.  Soups go a long way!  We usually get at least 4 or 5 servings out of a pot.  This one loses the tiniest of points because shrimp can get expensive.
Nutrition: A. I love soups because it's so easy to throw a ton of veggies in there. The soup is also kind of awesome since it has 3 food groups all included (assuming you use the rice like you're supposed to) which makes it nicely balanced!  The only downfall is all of the saturated fat from the coconut milk, but really, overall this is pretty good. 
Simplicity:  A.  This is just about as easy as they come.  Chop some stuff, throw it in a pot and voila!
Overall: B.

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Episode 85 - Hocus Pocus

A funny thing happens when you are a dietitian.  People suddenly act differently around you at meal times.  Just the other day at work someone apologized to me for eating a cookie in my presence.  Someone else asked my permission to have poutine.  Apparently I have graduated and become not only a dietitian but also an officer of the law.  I am the Food Police. Interesting...

Soup - the most un-photogenic of foods.

Spicy Lentil and Squash Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup dried red lentils
2 tbsp of this spice mix - about halfway down the page
4 cup chicken or veggie broth
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped
dried pepper flakes,  salt, and pepper to taste

Start by heating the oil in a heavy pot over medium high head.  Toss in the garlic and onions and cook until wimpy.  Next, add the lentils and spices and cook until it starts to smell delicious (about 1 minute), then quickly add the broth to keep the spices from burning.  Now you can pretty much add in everything else, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and simmer covered for at least 30 minutes.  The longer you let it simmer the more delicious it gets. You may have to wilt the chard in batches depending on how big your pot is. Voila!  Soup!

Today was a co-workers birthday and I offered to bake a cake.  I came in this morning with a double chocolate fudge cheesecake.  DOUBLE CHOCOLATE FUDGE!  CHEESECAKE!  I assumed those words would help me break out of the food police role. If four packages of cream cheese, four eggs, chocolate and heavy cream don't do the trick, nothing will. 

Just now I got this in an email:

ps...Happy Birthday "M" and to the baker: Kristy that was a really yummy caloric restricted cheese cake. it made my day. :)

Hmmm.  So now apparently I'm a food magician too.

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Episode 66 - Sunday

Isn't Sunday just the best day ever?  Lately I find that I pretty much live for Sundays.  I waste spend every other day of the week just wishing it were Sunday. I plan out which pjs I will vegetate in, which delicious egg-based breakfast Dawson will make for me, which movies we will zone out to, which exact position on our couch will provide the most optimal combination of coziness, cuddle-ability and proximity to my giant mug of coffee...  Soon I anticipate requiring some type of spreadsheet outlining how we will do exactly nothing with our Sundays.

This past Sunday was particularly wonderful since due to the long weekend it actually occured on a Monday!  You see, Sunday isn't really a particular day so much as it is a state of mind.  You know, that state of mind you are in when you know you have an entire day to do only what you feel like doing?  That's Sunday.  When you go on vacation everyday becomes Sunday.  Kristy's weekday philosophy 101.  So yes, this past monday was decidedly a Sunday.    

Couch cuddle-age

On this past Sunday (which was really Monday), Dawson and I made what was probably one of the ugliest dinners we will ever make.  Completely delicious, but horribly, horribly ugly.  It's hideous, really....a dish only a mother could love...to look at.  You'll all probably love to eat it!

Chorizo and Black Bean Soup

Ugly soup.

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1/2 cup diced Spanish chorizo
2 chipotle peppers in adobo, miced
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp cumin
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 box chicken stock
1/2 avocado, diced for topping
pinch of dried chili flakes for topping

Heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add the garlic, onions and green pepper and cook until they get a little soft.  Next, add the chorizo, the chipotles and the spices.  Give the pot a good stir and continue to cook until some of the fat and therefore flavour of the chorizo starts to cook out.  Now for the ugly part - split your black beans into 2 halves.  Add one half to the pot unharmed.  Take the other half, pour them into a bowl and mash the crap out of them with a potato masher.  They should look like a mess.  Add the mashy beans to the pot with the broth.  Now the whole thing should be good and ugly.  Stir, bring the whole thing to a boil then reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 30 minutes.  To serve, ladle some hideous grey soup into a bowl and top with a sprinkling of avocado and some dried chili flakes. Mmm spicy goodness.


My plans for this sunday - sleep in, crepes for breakfast, spend the day in comfy socks, leggings and flannel, watch Dexter and possibly build a fall-ish lasagna...I'm thinking pumpkins need to be involved.  In any case if it turns out as delicious as it is in my head I'll report back...just not on Sunday.  Sunday is for lazy time.

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Episode 62 - Broke Food

Things you cannot do when you have no money:

• shop for fancy new clothes
• go on vacations...even the Groupon kind that keep tempting me with daily emails
• buy fancy cheeses
• eat at restaurants
• buy a car that doesn't sound like a monster truck
• buy a house that you can walk around in your undies in
• basically buy or do anything that is not a basic life necessity

Things you can do when you have no money:

• Become skilled mixing and matching your old clothes to give the appearance of a far more extensive wardrobe that you actually have
• Stay home and plan all the fantastic vacations you will take when you are eventually gainfully employed
• Spend a Saturday afternoon making DIY bracelets with your mom
• Eat your mom's fancy cheese
• Stay in for date night and drink your homemade wine from last year
• Duct tape the failing rubber pipe on the underside of your car's exhaust system

Or, you could spend your "essentials" money on adult onesies and then feed yourself for a week with this soup.  The whole pot cost us $8 to make.  Good thing our priorities are in order!  

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

With spicy chili flakes on top!

1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 butternut squash, peeled diced
2 tbsp Indian curry paste
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
5-6 cups low sodium chicken broth, depending on how thick you like your soup
3/4 cup black beans, rinsed

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot then add the onions and garlic.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to smell yummy.  Add the squash, curry paste, cumin and red pepper flakes and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the broth, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the squash gets nice and mushy.  Puree the soup with a hand blender until it gets nice and creamy.  You may have to add a little more broth here if it gets too thick for your liking.  Toss in the beans, stir and heat through.  Serve in a nice big bowl with some thick pita bread...or soda crackers if like me, you forgot to buy pita bread.

In all honesty though, this soup was really really good!  I'd definitely eat it even if I wasn't pinching pennies.  It was creamy, warm and just a little spicy.  Perfect for a cold, rainy fall day!

Also a plus, I discovered making your own jewelry is actually really really fun!  I'm kind of addicted now.  Check out these two that I made from this tutorial:

Kinda neat, eh?

Try them out!  So fun!

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Episode 60 - It's a Miracle!

Have I told you about our dog?  I should because she is awesome.  Her name is Roxie and she is a 90-lb bundle of puppy-faced love.  Check her out:

What a cutie!

If you own a dog you know that there's nothing that makes a dog's day like a trip to the dog park.  Even mentioning the word "walk" in our house results in a display I like to refer to as the "doggy happy dance" - ears perk up, tail entire butt end wags, and dogs love for owner increases about 200%.  It hilariously entertaining until someone accidentally mentions the magic "w" word when not intending to, resulting in the "doggy guilt trip".  Worst. Thing.  Ever.  Anyways, we took our Roxie dog out to the Arboretum and the Experiemental Farm in Ottawa this past Sunday and made a little date out of it - nice long walk and a trip to the best sandwich place ever where we had a couple of monster sandwiches (Diavolo for Dawson and a turkey, prosciutto and provolone for me) and a few cannoli.  Oh my, if you have never tried a cannoli from Dirienzo's you haven't really lived.  You should probably run out and get one right now.  Seriously.  Now.  It is sweet, creamy, stuffed-cookie-like-thing heaven.  Mmmm cannoli.

Bein' all lovey in public

In any case, as if cannoli weren't miraculous enough, I have an another miracle for you - miraculous soup!  This soup is guranteed to make your house smell delicious.  The smell of it wafting through our house brought Dawson's dad into the kitchen where he looked into the pot, saw the crap-load of kale I had just dumped in there and said, "you know, that smells so darn good I'd eat it even with all that green stuff in there".  Wow.  Anything that can get that man to eat something green is obviously a miracle.

The leftovers and even better the next day!

Miracle Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
3 hot Italian sausages, casing removed
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 tbsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pinch of each salt and pepper
1 1/2 cups dried red lentils
6 cups low-sodium broth (beef, chicken or veggie)
3 cups kale, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat.  Add your sausage and break it up into little pieces with a wooden spoon.  When it about 50% cooked add your garlic, onion, carrot and celery.  Cook until they get that "I'm starting to cook" sheen - 5-8 minutes.  Next add the thyme, pepper flakes, salt and pepper, stir to coat everything nice and evenly then add the lentils and the broth.  Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.  Let simmer at least 15 minutes to let the lentils cook through.  In the last 5 minutes wilt in the kale.  It will look like a ridiculously huge amount of kale, but I promise, it'll all go in!  Done!  This soup is pretty hearty so it's a meal all on it's own, but try it with some crusty bread if that's your thing!

Now, if only I could come up with some sort of miracle that pays my bills without any money leaving my account I'd be all set.  'Cause you know what doesn't pay very well, internet?  Dietetic internships.  In fact, they pay exactly $0.00.  You just can't buy enough fancy cheese for $0.00.  I expect my cheese stash to dwindle significantly in the coming months.  Le sigh.  

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Episode 52 - P is for Peameal

You know those days where you feel like you could just sleep all day?  Those days when lazy doesn't even seem to describe the way your body feels?  Those days when after attending a weekend-long wedding/party extravaganza you wake up wondering where you left your shoes and what on earth you did you your head last night to make it so angry at you?  Yeah, today is one of those days.   P.S. Don't worry mom, your shoes are intact and accounted for - they looked cute with my dress btw.  Check me out:

Sometimes we dress up like Barbie and Bond. 

This pea soup is exactly what the doctor ordered for these kinds of days.  It's warm, comforting and takes almost no effort to make.  Perfect.

Peameal and Split Pea Soup

Photographing a bowl of soup is awkward. 

1 tbsp olive oil
4 or 5 slices peameal bacon
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 small onion. diced
2 cups split yellow peas
~5-6 cups low sodium chicken broth
 1 tsp thyme
salt
pepper

Start by heating a heavy bottomed pot over medium high heat.  Add the olive oil and coat the bottom of the pot.  Next, add the garlic, onions and peameal and cook for about 5 minutes or until the peameal is cooked through.  Next, add your peas and broth.  Bring to pot to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer for about 25-30 minutes or until the peas are soft and your soup has a nice creamy consistency. You can add more broth during the cooking if you find the soup getting a little too thick. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.  

To serve, dress yourself in your comfiest pjs, ladle soup into deep bowls and curl up on the couch with a mindless movie.  Lazy Sunday perfection.

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Episode 21 - Fall Harvest

I hate fall.  It's cold and it might as well be summer's funeral.  Fall is also when school starts again. This presents 2 major issues for me.  1) I have to attend classes, do projects and study and more importantly 2) it makes people go crazy while shopping for "back to school" clothes and they make my life at work a nightmare.  Yes, fall pretty much sucks.  It's only redeeming feature for me is that it brings squash back into season! MMmmmm squash...


Creamy Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Prosciutto Topping

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and diced into 1-inch pieces
2 leeks, cleaned and thinly sliced into half moons
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup cream (we just used table cream)
4 thin slices of prosciutto, sliced into small strips

Saute the leeks and the garlic in the olive oil until they shrink down and get nice and wilty.  Add in your squash chunks, ginger, brown sugar, molasses, nutmeg and cinnamon and cook for 1-2 minutes or until it starts to smell really good.  Add the broth, bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for 30-45 minutes.  You need the squash to get nice and soft.  Next puree the soup with a hand blender.  I guess you could try to do it in a normal blender but I foresee it being messy.  The last thing you need is to waste this soup because your blender can't handle hot liquids and it has now exploded delicious soup all over your kitchen.  Speaking of things exploding all over the kitchen, I once made one of those little ketchup packets explode in my parent's kitchen.  I punched it.  Ketchup everywhere. My status as my parent's preferred child never recovered...  Anyways, after the soup is nice and uniform turn the heat all the way down to minimum and stir in the cream.
To make the crispy prosciutto, heat up a frying pan to medium-high and lay the pieces flat.  Cook until crispy...not complicated.
Ok, so now ladle the soup into bowls top with some prosciutto sprinkles and serve with warm fresh bread!  We made this one from breadworld.com.  Try it...it's pretty incredible!

Makes 1 loaf.

4 to 4-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 envelopes FLEISCHMANN'S RapidRise Yeast
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon SPICE ISLANDS Marjoram
3/4 teaspoon SPICE ISLANDS Thyme (leaves)
3/4 teaspoon SPICE ISLANDS Rosemary
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 egg
Additional SPICE ISLANDS Marjoram, Thyme (leaves), and Rosemary, optional

Directions

In large bowl, combine 1-1/2 cups flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, salt, marjoram, thyme, and rosemary. Heat milk, water, and 1/4 cup butter until very warm (120° to 130°F); stir into flour mixture. Stir in egg and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes. Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece to 30-inch rope. Braid ropes; pinch ends to seal. Tie knot in center of braid; wrap ends around knot, in opposite directions, and tuck under to make round loaf. Place on greased baking sheet. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 20 to 40 minutes.

Bake at 375°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until done, covering with foil during last 10 minutes to prevent excess browning. Melt remaining butter; brush over loaf. If desired, sprinkle with additional marjoram, thyme, and rosemary. Remove from sheet; let cool on wire rack.

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Episode 11 - Spicy Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

Still sick. Still whining about it. Resorting to Asian inspired spicy soup.  This is definitely not authentic in any way and I'm not going to pretend it is.  It is authentically tasty though...so that's something! 

1 tbsp canola oil
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, finely diced
1 small red pepper, diced
1 thai chili pepper, finely diced
1 tsp Thai red curry paste
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 star anise
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
1 can good quality coconut milk ( DO NOT accidentally use coconut cream...it'll be gross)
2 tbsp sriracha chili sauce
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 cup bean sprouts
1 cup frozen shrimp or other seafood (if you're rich get the fresh stuff.  I bet its better)
1 pkg thin rice noodles
1 green onion, diced
8-10 basil leaves, finely chopped
1 lime

Heat the oil in a large pot then cook the garlic and onions until translucent.  Add the peppers and cook for another 2 minutes.  Add the curry paste and all of the spices and cook just until you can smell them.  Add the chicken broth before they burn and lightly scrape the bottom on the pot to get all the tasty bits up.  Add the coconut milk and mix until evenly blended.  Season with the chili sauce, fish sauce, and soy sauce.  Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Add the sprouts and seafood for the last 5 minutes.

In a separate pot cook the noodles according to the package directions.  Divide into bowls, cover with a good amount of the broth.  Top with the basil and green onions.  Last but not least, zest the lime then squeeze half the juice into each bowl.  Aaaaannnnddd serve!

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