Wordless Saturday

Winter Roasted Pumpkin Soup

Winter calls for soup. Since I love squash, I believe that winter calls for squash soup. Now, my husband would disagree, as he has a deep-seated hatred for squash. I, however, am not interested in letting his hatred for the most wonderful vegetable on this planet sway my beliefs and so I set about making Roasted Pumpkin Soup a few weeks back.

What is your favorite winter soup? Do you have a favorite squash?



This soup would be perfect with any roasted squash but since I had two sugar pumpkins hanging out in my kitchen waiting for their day to shine, I stuck with pumpkin for this soup.



I must admit that I hate scraping out pumpkins. I hate the slimy feeling and how hard raw pumpkins are to cut. But I made it through and I'm glad I did because this soup was simply delicious and was well worth the time investment. You see when you have to roast pumpkins and then make a soup, it takes a bit of time. It's an investment that ends well though so I'd highly recommend taking the time to make this soup. However if you are short on time, you could buy pre-cut squash which roasts up a bit faster.



I made a bit batch of this soup along with the recommended croutons. I had soup for lunch all week. It was a nice break in the middle of the workday, a nice reminder of home.



I highly recommend making this soup along with the croutons. Really, the soup is good but it is divine with the croutons.

A Love Scarf

Back in December, I asked my best friend what she wanted for Christmas while also telling her that she couldn't ask for world peace or a donation to some organization. I also told her that I would be happy to make a donation in her name BUT I was also going to give her an actual present, one that would hopefully make her happy.



My best friend though is quite sassy and asked for world peace and love. She said she wanted love and that was that. I told her that I love her to which she replied that she appreciated my love but wanted romantic love.



Now that is a gift I know I can't provide so I thought and thought. Then I decided well if I couldn't snap my fingers and give her romantic love, I could knit her something and while knitting it, knit all the love I could into it.



Scott accompanied me to the yarn store where we found a yarn that reminded us of my best friend. Scott made the final selection based on how soft the yarn was. I bought three skeins and hurried home to figure out what I was going to knit. I searched Ravelry high and low until I found a wonderful pattern, the Strangling Vine Lace Scarf.



I knit and knit away on the Love Scarf for her. I knit until all the love I had was knit into the scarf. I've not given her the scarf yet as she's off traveling in India but I'm very excited to give her this present. I do hope that she feels all of the love that has been knit into it for her.



Ravlery Details: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ReeBeckiSupergrl/strangling-vine-lace-scarf

Washing Room, All Cleaned Up

After almost a month of sanding, painting, washing and assembling, my Laundry Room is near completion. I started this project by making new drapes for the window above the washer and dryer.



Then I tackled the walls. I filled in gaps, sanded down bumps and smoothed over areas. I took down the old shelving unit and put up a new one. (Though I do need to add one more support beam to the shelving unit. I painted everything white, everything.



Now the only thing left is to do something about the horribly ugly and stained floor. Overall though I'm quite proud of the work I've done in this room. It's much brighter, lighter and overall quite awesome looking.

Weekend Breakfast

Weekend breakfasts are meant to be leisurely. They are the time when you can sit down with your loved ones and talk until your coffee runs cold. After my food experience this previous week, I decided that Saturday morning's breakfast called for something delicious, something not quite nutritious but something that would add a bit of pep to my soul.

I found a blog entry for that claimed to be the best Dutch Baby Pancake recipe ever on Food52.com



I decided to try it out. The story behind the pancake was delightful and the recipe was dead simple. You mix a batter of flour, milk, eggs, and nutmeg and then pour it into a hot skillet filled with butter before baking the dish in the oven.



Your simple efforts are rewarded when you open the oven door to a poufy, toasted concoction of delight. Sprinkle some powered sugar and lemon juice on the Dutch Baby and your loved ones are sure to cheer. I added homemade preserves on the side before presenting breakfast to Scott.



He couldn't stop talking about how good it was and then started asking me about the dish. I always know when I have a show stopping recipe in the house because Scott, who has no culinary inclinations, will start asking me about how the dish was made. I suspect this dish will be enjoyed in our house often.

Here's the entire recipe in case the link doesn't work:

1966: David Eyre’s Pancake
Serves 2 to 4

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons (one half stick) of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
Juice of half a lemon

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Combine the flour, milk, eggs, and nutmeg in a bowl. Beat lightly. Leave the batter a little lumpy.

2. Melt the butter in a 12-inch skillet with a heatproof handle. When it is very hot, pour in the batter. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until the pancake is golden brown.

3. Sprinkle with the sugar and return briefly to the oven. Sprinkle with lemon juice, and serve with jelly, jam, or marmalade.

Footnote: April 10, 1966: “Pancake Nonpareil” by Craig Claiborne. Recipe adapted from David Eyre.

Marmalade Season

While most canning is reserved for the abundant summertime season, winter is also a great season to preserve citrus fruits. Candied orange peels, marmalade and preserved lemons are delicious preserves that are best created in this cold season.

Do you make marmalade? What are some of your favorite recipes? What are some of your favorite ways to use winter citrus?



Since I've never made marmalade before, I decided to make one from a new book called, Gifts Cooks Love. The recipe is at the end of this post.



The recipe has a note about looking for blemish-free citrus and after making this, I have to say this is important. You use the entire fruit to make marmalade and any brown spots, mushy areas, etc. are sure to show up in your final product. I personally prefer beautiful looking food and strongly suggest if you make this jam, that you find beautiful fruit to make it with.



Making marmalade is an intense process. This recipe took about 28 total hours to make but the work is differently worth it.



I did however learn a few shortcuts for the next time I make marmalade. A friend of mine suggested that instead of using a chef’s knife to thinly cut the oranges that I throw them in the food processor. I have to say, this might be a brilliant thing to do next time. I used both a chef’s knife and a mandolin to cut the oranges. I have a dinky little mandolin so if going this route; I would suggest a really good mandolin over the one I used





I would also suggest using the best and finely granulated sugar you can find. Regular granulated sugar can be cut more finely in your food processor. The fine sugar seems to melt into the preserves in a smoother manner.

Long Live the Cleanse...The Cleanse is Dead

I started out this week with hope and excitement about the The Food Lover's Cleanse from Bon Appetit. And I do have to say it has worked exceptionally well so far. However, I have decided to end the cleanse.



I will take the lessons I've learned and apply them to my daily eating regime. I've learned that eating a ton of veggies, limiting your dairy and animal meat and enjoying whole grains are the key to a healthy lifestyle.



I've lost 3 pounds so far but that might be due to throwing up on Tuesday and barely eating yesterday since I still felt nausea. My other issue with the prescribed cleanse is the cost of the food but on the plus side, I now have a huge spice cabinet full of flavor.



Scott has rejoiced in the news that we're going off the cleanse. He was never that fond of it but I do know that he enjoyed some of the meals. Speaking of the meals, there are ones that I will be making again. The Salmon in Bengali Mustard Sauce was divine and the Ultimate Winter Couscous haunts my dreams.

Day 3 of a New Year Cleanse

Day Three started out with much promise. I munched on the leftover Warm & Nutty Quinoa from yesterday, packed my bag for the gym and headed to work.



At work, I took a break for lunch and ate the leftover Black-Eyed Pea Curry from last night's dinner. I kept plugging away at work (we have a huge project going on) and took a quick break for some Edamame Hummus with Veggies.

Shortly thereafter, I felt ill. Like nausea ill. I sat still for awhile and still the feeling did not pass. I decided to head to the bathroom and ended up throwing up (I know! GROSS!)

Let's just say after that, I was no longer interested in this cleanse even though I'm not even sure that it made me ill. I do know that it will be a long time before I consume another soy bean, blended or not.



My co-worker brought me a pumpkin cookie bar. She said that she gave pumpkin to her dogs when they felt ill and knew it would make me feel better. Strangely enough it did. I think it was the fresh sugar!

Dinner was supposed to be Koya Dofu and Vegetables but I couldn't bring myself to make it. Instead Scott picked up some Chicken Teriyaki. The rice really helped settle my stomach.

Tomorrow I'll start back on the cleanse and hopefully I'll feel ok. If not, then I am quitting. Oh and tomorrow I will go to yoga. I really, really wanted to go to the gym today but my queasy stomach was not willing to go.

Day 2 of a New Year Cleanse

Day two held some surprises and a few hard moments. I mean when I opened the spice drawer and saw the chocolate chips, I almost dove in like a maniac. There is only so many vegetables that one person can take!

Scott announced that I was serving him bird seed this morning when I dished up 101 Cookbook's Warm and Nutty Quinoa. I actually enjoyed it. It won't replace my first love of oatmeal but it was still good. I liked it enough to not be disappointed that I'll be enjoying it again tomorrow morning.



Lunch was a delicious Celery Root and Apple Salad with Tuna. It was surprisingly good. There was so much though that after eating on the salad for over an hour, I had to stop and throw the rest out. I couldn't finish it!



Dinner was really flavorful and delicious! This will be added into our rotation of dinners. Scott and I loved it!



We had Salmon in a Bengali Mustard Sauce from At Home with Madhur Jaffrey with Black-Eyed Pea Curry from Anjum's New Indian along with a green salad. I added in some sour cream on the side to tame down some of the spices.



I also replaced the fresh tomatoes in the Black-Eyed Pea Curry with canned diced tomatoes as they were easier to work with.

Cleanse for a New Year

Last week I saw the a quick tweet that said, check out the The Food Lover's Cleanse from Bon Appetit. I clicked on the link and fell down a rabbit hole.

As with many, a new year brings a desire to get healthier, lose weight and really focus on eating nutritionally well. I thought on this cleanse for a few days before announcing to Scott that I wanted to do the cleanse with one modification. The cleanse is for two weeks and after purchasing food for week one, I decided that it was too expensive to do for two weeks. Seriously I spent about triple what I usually spend on food for this week. I'm not on to usually pinch my pennies on my regular grocery shopping.



Today was Day One. We broke our fast with two eggs, caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms along with whole grain toast. I then went on a long walk with a friend before returning home for lunch. Scott asked for a free pass on lunches so while he dined on a PB&J sandwich, I had avocado on toast with raw veggies.



After spending the afternoon making Orange-Cardamom Marmalade, I took a break to make our afternoon snack of Vanilla-Date Smoothie. To say the least, it was disgusting! I couldn't take more than two or three sips. Scott managed to drink almost all of his smoothie but it could have been hunger that made him drink it.

For dinner, we dined on the Ultimate Winter Couscous. I thought it was simply delicious and well worth the 45 minutes of prep. I'm pretty sure this dish will be in our regular rotation.

We made it through Day One with happy bellies and a spring in our step. It will be great to see how we feel after Day Two, especially since we'll be back at work and no longer lounging at home.