Delicious Soup

Just this evening, I made a huge pot of amazing vegetable soup that will easily last me for the rest of the week.

I filled our biggest pot about 40% with water and set it to boil with a generous amount of salt to hasten the process and begin its seasoning.  I chopped an entire head of celery and added it immediately to the boiling water.  Celery needs the most time to soften up as it's essentially pure fiber.  Second, I cleaned and chopped three fairly large vine-ripened tomatoes.  These were added with two cans of whole kernel corn (rinsed thoroughly).  At this point, the soup had risen to boil several times at each subsequent adding of ingredients.  It was time to season.

Now I'm not playing around when I say season.  I like my food flavorful with a little bit of spice.  In went a heap of finely chopped, dried parsley; in went a heap of powdered garlic (for the taste and eye-health).  I ground a generous amount of pepper and stirred the pot thoroughly, mixing it all deliciously together.  The broth turned bright orange due to the garlic and tomatoes and was bubbling as I kept the heat up the entire time.

Finally for the two newest additions to the recipe... We stopped by our local Asian market earlier tonight in search of noodles and mochi.  While we struck out on the latter, we headed to the veggie section for the noodles (shirataki yam noodles, kept refrigerated) and gathered about eight packages--more on these later.  On the way, Lindsay had to have a giant head of cabbage, and we  also grabbed a 2 lb. bag of bean sprouts.  I'm beginning to love sprouts in a variety of meals for their added crunch and flavor.  Of course, I used the whole bag in tonight's soup.  I finished the dish with another Asian ingredient--a fairly large dollop of sriracha sauce, which is essentially a hot garlic, chili paste.  Mixing this all together, the pot was nearly overflowing!

I brought it up to a boil one more time, continuously stirring and mixing the wealth of veggies, added a heavy dose of lemon juice to brighten the flavor, cut the heat and put a lid on it.  Done!  With the volume of ingredients, the soup had become more of a stew than anything.  This is one of the reasons I'd only started with 40% water--I like it thick.


This took under 30 minutes from start to finish.  I'm incredibly grateful for Lindsay's sharp, sharp knives and her help as I've been preparing this for the past two weeks under her guidance.

Sampling throughout the process, I could tell the stew would be great on its own.  For each meal though, I will pan fry (with a touch of grapeseed oil) a small amount of chicken to add to the dish as well as a small amount of cheddar/monterrey jack cheese.  For larger meals, I'll even add the shirataki noodles mentioned above.  This really takes the stew overboard as it generally means a much larger bowl!  The yam noodles are great in that the add a huge amount of body to an already full dish, are basically pure fiber (the entire meal is gluten-free) and require only a cold-water path to prepare.  The bath washes off the extra starch and you just add them to an already hot bowl.

Three weeks ago, I didn't know how to prepare soup stock.  Now, I'm making chicken-noodle-veggie stew that will last all week and is incredibly healthy.  Including what I prepped for myself at the end of the process, the whole thing was completed in less than 30 minutes.  This is true convenience eating and cost less time and money than a past trip to KFC might have.  Awesome.

On the Importance of Sharp Knives

An analogy. Besides cooking my other passion is partnered dancing (swing, blues, tango).  A lot of beginners do not understand the importance of your shoes. Technically you can dance in any shoes you want, but it's going to be much more difficult and dangerous with the wrong shoes. You can really tourque your knees if the soles don't slide smoothly when you turn or you could totally faceplant if they fall off your feet (sidenote - flip flops and swing dance do not mix well). You may think you are terrible at dancing, when really your shoes are just making things difficult.

Terrible knives can make cooking seem way like way more effort than it is.  If you have to expend more force each time you make a cut, it tires you out faster.  A good sharp knife will make beautiful slices and it goes through "like buttah".  You don't have to work so hard. Just equip yourself properly.

• Buy decent ones to start with.  Using steak knives or really cheap terrible knives is going to make everything less fun.  You do not need the huge block of every knife known to man (seriously, a boning knife?  I have never used one or seen anyone else use one).  In general you need three knives - a paring knife, a chef's knife and a serrated knife. Once you've been cooking (and chopping) for a little while, your style will develop and you may decide you want something a little different or bigger of heavier. They do not have to match.  you can pick and choose from any brand.  I use Rada knives - they are very lightweight and rather good looking, I think.  On Amazon, they're not too expensive -you could get your basic three knives for under $30.
• Do not put them in the dishwasher.  It dulls the blades - they clink up against the tines in the dishwasher and can get nicked. Yes, you have to handwash them. I usually wash and dry my knife and return it to the magnetic strip above my sink whenever I finish chopping something.  It takes about 30 seconds and has become such a habit that I don't even notice doing it anymore.  Letting them sit in standing water is another big no-no. They can rust and if it's at the bottom of big sink of dishes you could forget they're in there and slice your fingers.  I know people it has happened to.  Handwashing - just do it.
• Do not just throw them in a drawer. They will hit other things in the drawer and become dull.  Also reaching into a drawer full of loose sharp objects is *asking* for trouble.  I don't like how much counter space a traditional knife block takes up, so I use a magnetic strip attached to the wall. Works for me.  This article outlines some other safe knife storage options.
• Get them sharpened. At least once a year.  This is usually (one of) my birthday present(s) from my fiance.  It's fun.  We go to this funky little knife store that actually has classes in knife throwing out back.  While my knives are being attended to, he gets to puruse all the cool knives (and swords and brass knuckles and nunchucks, etc.) while I geek out over the high end kitchen knives.  It cost about $3.50/each and I have about 7 knives, so it's not the cheapest thing to do, but it ensures more safety and enjoyment in the kitchen for me.  And once you get them back you will notice *such* a difference!

This is not just an issue of ease of use. It is an issue of safety.  I almost lost a finger when I tried to cut a watermelon at my friend's place.  A cheap knife that had routinely been washed in the dishwasher, of course.  I was pressing the knife pretty hard to get it to break the skin of the melon (which is already round and wobbly and sort of dangerous to work with). Instead of sliding into the rind,  the blade slid off almost got my other hand that was steadying the fruit.  My catlike reflexes saved the day; but my fiance saw what a close call it was and wouldn't let me finish trying to hack the watermelon up with that terrible knife.

So invest in your safety and make cooking more enjoyable - get decent knives and take good care of them. 

Autumn is Officially Here!

Well, I missed it by a couple of days!  The autumnal equinox happened this year on September 22 at 11:09pm - it is now officially fall in the Northern Hemisphere. I am so excited!

Fall is such a wonderful time - the weather is my favorite change. No more insanely humid, sweaty days for a while and a chance to pull out my cute sweaters.  Austin has been cool this week - temperatures in the 80s are a welcome break from the 100 degree plus weather that graces us in the summer. Alright, so not exactly sweater weather yet, but we are moving in the right direction. Days are getting shorter.  Which reminds me, the time change!  I love the luxury of extra sleep when we "fall back". Don't forget to change your clocks one hour back on Sunday, November 7th.

Apples are coming into season and I personally cannot wait to eat my fill.  I gave up on Red Delicious apples a long time ago.  There is nothing worse than a mealy apple (or really any mealy fruit, for that matter) and Red Delicious always seem to be mealy.  So although it is the Platonic ideal of an apple in the US, I wouldn't eat one by choice.  The next most common apple is probably the Granny Smith, which has great texture, but is too tart for me. Thankfully, more varieties of apples are showing up at the store year round.

Gala apples are okay. If they are on sale, I buy them, but they also tend towards mealiness, so it can be a gamble. If I can get my hands on them, Pink Lady apples are my go-to everyday apple. The texture is nice and crisp - I've never had a mealy Pink Lady. They are good for eating and for baking - their texture holds up really well in crumbles or pies.  To me, they are a perfect balance of sweet and tart.  If you can get some, I would highly suggest giving them a try.  They go exceedingly well with peanut butter, as the slight tartness cuts the fattiness of the spread.

More varieties become available in the fall. Honeycrisp apples are very sweet.  And crisp is right in the name!  You know the texture's going to be good. Ambrosia apples are my absolute favorite.  I usually only get them once a year and they are expensive.  But they are so good!  I remember when I first had Dylan try one.  He was blown away by the flavor and didn't know that other apples besides red and green existed. I want to encourage everyone to try all the varieties of apples you can this fall. Maybe you will find a new favorite. Or just enjoy the apples you can only get this time of year. Just don't settle for the boring ones, okay?

Choosing Silverware - Part One

You know you are a super kitchen nerd when you get as excited as I do about picking out silverware.  Poor Dylan has been subject to several monologues about how monumental it is.  But really, it's kind of a big deal to me.

Growing up, obviously I used whatever silverware mom or grandma had picked out. In college, the industrial flatware at the cafeteria served its purpose. And then, my first job and first apartment! I didn't have much money, but I was creating my own space! 

My mom and sisters came down to help me move in and while I was at work that Monday, they got the place set up for me as a surprise.  Which included a trip to Target to get all things you need for a first apartment - broom, cutting board, curtains, and silverware. It was so kind of them - I really didn't have the money for all those things, but I was a little sad at not getting to pick it myself.

That generic Target silverware soldiered on as I switched apartments and was finally sold in a yard sale when I moved to Texas.  In the meantime, I had inherited my great-grandmother's Oneida flatware - Chateau pattern, service for 12. Although I had never used it, it made the cut to move with me and spent its first 2 years in Texas in a box while I lived with roommates who supplied the flatware. I finally had a chance to use in the current apartment.  But after almost a year in use, I decided to sell it and finally choose something myself.

Now, there is nothing wrong with my great-grandmother's silverware.  Oneida is very nice, high quality flatware.  It feels good in your hand.  However, the pattern she picked was just too fussy for my taste.  My preferences run toward simple and modern; this was frilly and stuffy. The set now has a home with someone who is happy to have it and I am free to look for something new.

Moving forward, we are working on conscientiously choosing what we want.  I feel like on some level this must be what soon-to-be-married couples go through when they register.  What is "our" style?  What will work for our needs? Will it work for now, can it work long term?  How much should we spend?  So many choices!

I am a Very Bad Influence.

Out running errands last night, Dylan and I stopped at Costco to pick up another bag of spinach and a carton of eggs. We manage to devour a two and a half pound bag of triple washed spinach each week and are thankful that we can get our fix for $3.99. If we were better (or richer) people we would buy the organic spinach - but it's $.3.79 for a one pound package.  So for $.20 more we can get 2 and a half times as much - for the volume we go through, there's just no comparison. Add in $1.29 for 18 eggs and you can see why we love Costco so much!

Since we were cutting it close to their 8:30 closing time, we decided to divide and conquer - I went to grab our pictures from the photo center and Dylan headed to the produce section for the spinach with plans to meet up at the eggs.  I managed to get to the refrigerated section first and started to look around. 

There I found Pillsbury Crescent Rolls - four 8oz. packages for only $5.89 (individual packages at the grocery store are usually over $2 each).  What a good deal! And Dylan did just make a big batch of soup; these would be perfect to accompany it. I knew they are his absolute favorite bread item - the one baked item he loved enough to attempt in his bachelor days.  So even though they are fattening and full of gluten, I pulled them off the shelf and triumphantly presented them to him.

Of course, they were purchased.  And he baked his first package that night. And ate four of them, saving the other four for breakfast this morning. And he loved it! 

Feeding my man is one of my favorite things to do.  And he loves to eat.  What a match made in heaven!  It's just that we both want to be healthier. It's hard to balance the desire to give pleasure with taking care of our health.  This is something I am still working on and so is Dylan.  He knows my weakness for french fries - I love them!  If he hears about a restaurant that has good ones, he's ready to take me to check it out.  He just wants me to have something that I enjoy.  But I don't need them and probably shouldn't eat them.  But I really want to.  So we end up going out and sampling fries more often than we should. Oh, well.

This is still a work in progress and probably always will be.

Pirate's Brunch Recap

Our first guest arrived right at our scheduled start time of 2pm. A surprise, as most of our friends don't arrive for at least a half hour after the party is supposed to start.  Turns out she had driven to our place straight from Dallas (in her pirate outfit no less!).  That gave her some time to freshen up before everyone else showed up, right on time at 2:30! Costumes ran the gamut from a sexy pirate outfit to a simple pirate bandanna; we even had our dear friends show up with their two month old daughter - all three decked out in full pirate attire!

We ended up with about 10 guests, just right for everyone to pack into our living room for games. Our earliest guest came bearing gifts of "Pin the Eye Patch on the Pirate" and some goofy riddles for everyone to solve. Plus prizes for the winners!  Everyone had a good groan over the terrible riddles. For example: "What do you get when you cross a pirate swordsman with a zucchini?" "A squashbuckler". Groan. Everyone lined up for the pinning of eye patches. Even adults who would normally never put up with being blindfolded and spun around to try and tape a eye patch to pirate poster were willing to play for the prize of a handle of Bacardi rum!

The food and drinks worked out great!  We had one guest bring honey and another brought raspberry jam, and every single croissant was gone by the end.  A couple of dark chocolate bars showed up that we broke up and nibbled upon.  The mango mimosa's were a big hit, but we wish we had gone ahead and bought some 7-Up to mix with the mango nectar and rum.  It was good the way it was, but a little bit heavy. Next time for sure.

Last.fm came through for the music; we played the "Pirate" tagged radio station and were treated to a wide variety of pirate-y music from pirate metal and rap to classic sea shanties.  Everyone had a chance to hang out and talk, play games and eat lots of yummy food.  It was a lovely afternoon and the last guests were ushered out about 7pm.  Clean up was breeze - loaded up the dishwasher, put away the props, took down the poster and rehung the art and we were done.

How I Was

For years before I met Lindsay, I lived a bachelor's life.  I ran a specialty retail shop, tried to complete my degree and generally made uninformed choices regarding what I put into my body.  I ate for convenience and pleasure.

Shortly before meeting her, I'd become increasingly fed up with the way I was living.  I was all but hemorrhaging money and had gained more weight than I particularly care to mention.  Yes, I'm a big man, but there's a line between large and unhealthy to which I was edging dangerously close.

I loved to cook, but it seemed so pointless to spend hours in the kitchen only to devour the meal in less than ten minutes.  To this end, I spent $10-$20 a day on fast food and/or junk food to be kept around the house.  I'd pick it up on the commute to or from work.  Sometimes I'd justify extra spending on items I capriciously wanted thinking I could eat them as an extra meal later.  A few items from any 'dollar menu' would inevitably attach themselves, and the food rarely made it out of the car.

Couple the fast food spending with 2-3 nights out a week; I was going into debt supporting a life that disgusted me, more and more.

That was when I sought out my father for advice.   He had recently been certified as a personal trainer, so I went to him with my dilemma: how to cut the convenience spending & how to make meals last.  He taught me some very good basics.  We discussed portioning and preparing simple meals for the week ahead.

Finally, I was on the right track and began to reign in some of the spending.  I was starting to eat healthier and be more conscious about my dollars.

Then Lindsay took my world by storm.

Chicken Noodle Soup

The Pirate's Brunch was lovely and we were able to usher out the last straggler by 7pm.  I'll post pictures and a little recap later today. 

The owls are jealous of homemade chicken noodle soup.

After all the yummy party food, we were both craving some "real" food.  I made myself a quick veggie soup and Dylan had the last of the casserole he had made, one of the few dishes he makes.  It's a holdover from his bachelor days (and more importantly his childhood) consisting of browned ground beef and two drained cans of corn mixed into three boxes of prepared mac'n'cheese.  Put it in a casserole dish and cover it with a heavy layer of cheese and he happily eats it for most meals until it's gone.  Easy, cheap, comforting man food.

We recently took a trip to our local Asian grocery store and grabbed a few different types of rice noodles to try out.  We're trying to cut down on our gluten intake, so we're exploring a little bit.  Dylan made this last batch of casserole with rice macaroni noodles instead of a boxed mac'n'cheese. It turned out pretty well, not quite as cheesy as normal - we still need to figure out how to do a good cheesy sauce to replace the powder cheese sauce.

After finishing his last little bit of casserole, he came back to the kitchen and started rooting around in the fridge again.  He turned to me and declared that he would like to make chicken noodle soup. I was a little surprised by his sudden urge to make soup from scratch, but I was game.  The weather all day had been cool and overcast - perfect soup weather.  With his childhood favorite of Campbell's Chicken Noodle Soup from the can as a reference point, I knew we could figure out something filling and delicious for him to eat on all week.

We started with the rice noodles - rice shells to be exact.  While the package claimed 9 - 11 minutes in boiling water, it took a full 13 minutes before most of the noodle were tender.  We are still figuring them out - some of the noodles were still pretty toothsome, even after a long boil and a cold water rinse. Once the noodles were resting in the colander, we rinsed out the big pot and filled it halfway with water.  If we had been thinking ahead, chicken broth would have been a better base, but we didn't have any on hand.

Into the water went some sea salt, granulated garlic, and dried parsley. I chopped up a handful of celery and tossed that in and we left it to boil.  I suggested we add a couple of cans of corn and Dylan thought that some tomatoes would be good.  So I drained and rinsed two cans of corn and chopped 6 Roma tomatoes. The tomatoes went in first to give them a little time to soften up.  Lastly we pulled the chicken from the fridge. 

Once a week or so, we make some plain chicken in the slow cooker for Dylan to add to his meals all week.  It's pretty simple - about 4 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs with a little salt and granulated garlic covered in water.  Set it on low and leave it alone for 9 hours while you're at work (or sleeping) and magically you have tender delicious chicken ready to add to sandwiches, quesadillas, salads, and, oh yeah, soups!

Into the bubbling soup went the corn, chicken, and noodles.  Last little addition was about 4 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice.  That little shot of acid brightens the flavor - it's like a secret trick.  One last taste to check for seasoning - Dylan decided it needed a little more salt and I suggested a little extra parsley.  Once it was finished, Dylan enjoyed a bowl of his newest creation and left it to cool.  Later he put the remainder into two huge storage containers and he is set for dinners this week.

It was really fun to cook and create together.  And it wasn't very expensive at all.

Rice Noodles - $1.49
2 Cans of Corn - $2
6 Roma Tomatoes - $1 (wild guess, the tomatoes were $.69/lb)
2 lbs. Chicken - $3 (boneless, skinless chicken thighs are often on sale for $1.49/lb at our local hippie store)
Assorted spices, lemon juice, etc. - $.50 (we didn't use much)

For about $8 and an hour in the kitchen, Dylan got about eight servings of delicious, filling soup.  After he heats it up, adding a handful of fresh spinach to wilt lightly in the hot broth finishes the dish and makes it a meal. The weather is supposed to be cool and rainy - hearty chicken soup should really hit the spot.

Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Ahoy, Mateys!  It's my favorite holiday today - International Talk Like a Pirate Day!  It falls on a Sunday this year, so Dylan and I are throwing a laid back Pirate's Brunch today.  Yes, scalawags of the seas love croissants.

This is a very simple entertaining idea - we encourage people to attend in "pirate inspired attire" that can include anything from a last minute bandanna to full pirate regalia.  As someone who celebrates International Talk Like a Pirate Day every year, I have plenty of costume options already in the costume trunk. Normally, one would begin brunch around 11am, but who really wants to be up and ready to go somewhere so early on a Sunday?  So we're starting at 2pm, going to around 5pm (probably later), with games and eating to entertain us.

The food is simple - we picked up a gallon a mango nectar, a handle of cheap rum, and a dozen croissants from Costco yesterday afternoon.  Our local hippie store, Sun Harvest, was running some great deals on fresh fruit so we stocked up.  I'll have to chop up the fruit and put everything out on platters, but that is all the cooking I will do. We have some Earth Balance spread already on hand, but we also encouraged guests to bring toppings for the croissants, so we will see what shows up. It will be interesting to see what guests bring with them; several asked what they should bring - I responded with "something brunch-y". We shall she how that translates.

Dylan is our master bartender around here and will mix fruity drinks for everyone - mango nectar on it's own is delicious, plus a little rum makes is lethal.  We may ask one of our guests to pick up a 2 liter of 7-Up as a mixer, but it is not mandatory.  We also have a bottle of pink bubbly left over in our fridge from our last party, so I will probably try and get that in the rotation for mango mimosas.

Decorations are minimal because it is a Sunday afternoon and I don't feel like going to too much trouble.  Out of the costume trunk comes a net to throw over our table, a couple of pirate-y plastic guns and a sword for people to play with, but that's about it.  Dylan found a list of pirate sayings and names online and printed them out - if anyone needs help talking like a pirate or a pirate name, that should get them started. 

Our costs for this party are very reasonable.  Here's about what we spent:

• Mango Nectar - $4 (coupon at Costco, normally $6)
• Handle Rum - $12 (yes, it is the cheap stuff in the plastic bottle - it's going into juice, no one will ever taste the difference)
• Dozen Croissants - $6
• 2 lbs. Strawberries - $2 ($.98/package at the hippie store!  Such a great sale, but limit 2)
• 4 lbs. Gala Apples - $2 ($.50/lb. - I bought 10 pounds, so I will have plenty for my lunches all week)
• 1 Large Honeydew Melon - $1 (the hippie store really came through with it's weekend sale!)
• 3 lbs. Green Seedless Grapes - $3

All together about about $30 and two stops.  Not bad.

Pictures tomorrow!  Enjoy International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

We are not experts on healthiness.

Here's (some of) the proof. Dylan is laying the hurt on a KFC Double Down. And I will admit that I tagged along to experience the spectacle and nommed upon potato wedges. Oh, well, I try. I fail mostly, but I keep trying.