Monthly Archives: November 2013

Cold Weather blows, this soup does not

soup1

Damn. It got real cold real quick. I’m used to Dallas weather, where 65 is considered freezing in November. Here in good ole’ west TX, it went from 80 degrees on Sunday to 30 yesterday. Baby girl does not like cold weather, so I did what any normal cook would do: put on my comfiest hoodie and made soup. But realllly good soup. Not that shit you people eat from a can. I made rosemary/thyme white bean soup with caramelized shallots and garlic. It is creamy without any cream, and makes a huge bowl—it’s one of those soups that’s even better the next day.

  • 1 bag of navy beans.
  • 1 box low sodium chicken broth
  • 4 cloves of garlic
  • 1 shallot
  • Bunch of rosemary and thyme
  • Chili infused olive oil

soup2

Soak your beans overnight in cold water—fill a bowl up about 2” over the beans. They will suck up all that water. Thinly slice garlic and shallots and caramelize in the bottom of a heavy pan. Add in chicken broth and beans and add herbs and bring to a boil. Boil it for about 5 minutes, then cover and leave on low for an hour. Transfer to a blender or use an immersion blender to make it creamy. Easy Peasy. If you need more direction on how to do all that stuff (dumbo), then here is a similar recipe written by someone with a little more patience than me. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rosemary-white-bean-soup-recipe/index.html

 

On an unrelated note, there are only 41 more days til the best day of the year. Merry Merry.

mackchristmas

Poblano Salsa and Pasta Cialis. Uhh, I mean Salad

I am literally sitting in front of the TV with my laptop trying not to throw up. Is there anything worse beside male hormone commercials? I’m currently watching a commercial for Axiron (the sick ass testosterone loaded deodorant for men), and grossed out by them filming a dad taking his daughter to college. Like how sicked out would you be if your pops got a boner while he was unloading your freshman year wardrobe. BARF. Side note—Cialis totally has it wrong—if you took an ED pill, wouldn’t you be in the same bathtub as your significant other? I guess old people do it differently? I’m confused.

Diptic

ANYWAYS. I sat down to give y’all two super easy recipes that I made today. I a bunch of veggies in the fridge that won’t be good after the weekend, and we have a bday party tomorrow, so I’m donesky with cooking for the week after tonight. The things I have are….

  • Avocado
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Cilantro
  • Basil
  • Arugula
  • Garlic
  • Mozzarella-block not shreds
  • Poblanos
  • Jalapeños (from my garden that I picked b/c they were ripe)
  • Red bell peppers (also from my garden)

So, we are making a pasta salad that actually gets better after a day, and a roasted poblano avocado salsa.

For the pasta, get a big bowl and put about ¼ cup of olive oil at the bottom, as well as 1 cup of black olives with some of the juice. I don’t like olives very much, but the olives in this give a ton of flavor and are easy to avoid. Add in 3 cloves of minced garlic, sliced grape tomatoes, chopped basil and chopped arugula. Cube up some mozzarella cheese-cut it yourself, don’t use shreds—it makes a difference. Add in whatever cooked pasta you want. For this one, I used quinoa pasta because I’ve had it in my pantry for a while. It tastes fine, but really the best is just good ole’ fashioned white penne. Salt and pepper to taste. I make this at night, and then serve with salad or sandys for lunch the next day.

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For the roasted poblano salsa but the following in your blender—3 jalapeños (2 without seeds, 1 with seeds), juice of 1 lime, 3 cloves garlic, ¼ cup chopped green onion, 2 avocados, and 3 roasted poblanos. Add a generous amount of salt. I would start with about 2 tbs of olive oil and ¼ cup of water as well. Blend it all together. If you want it thinner, add water and blend until you have the consistency you want.

photo 3

That’s it for tonight. And now the Erectile Dysfunction commercial with the grown man wearing a baseball jersey is on. Here’s a hint, buddy. Stop dressing like a little leaguer and maybe your wife will take off her mock turtleneck. I just don’t understand old people.

Tasty Tuesday-Halibut and Veggies

Just finished another incredible dinner—decided to go ahead and write it up now so that I won’t forget what I made. Enjoy!

Final Product--Halibut over grilled asparagus with roasted purple potatoes and grilled artichokes

Final Product–Halibut over grilled asparagus with roasted purple potatoes and grilled artichokes

  • 1 head of roasted garlic
  • 2 cups low sodium beef broth
  • A little bit of slow cooked onions (not necessary, but I used ones from my soup last night)
  • ½ tbs of cornstarch mixed with 1.5 tbs cold beef broth

HALIBUT

  • Halibut- 6 oz. per person
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil

 

GRILLED ‘CHOKES

  • Artichokes
  • Lemon
  • 3 pieces of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

To make the broth, blend the first three ingredients together. Put in a saucepan and bring to a slow simmer. Whisk the cornstarch and beef broth together, then slowly whisk in to the broth. This just thickens the broth so that it is more of a sauce. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. It is incredible.

For the Halibut, simply s&p both sides. Heat a skillet with some olive oil, and when it starts to get shimmery, add the halibut. DON’T TOUCH IT FOR 4 MINUTES. This makes the crispy crust. If you move it, you are an idiot—it will fall apart. Flip after 4 minutes, then do the same for the other side. You’ll notice that I cook Halibut a lot—that’s because it’s the only fish at our fish counter besides Salmon (barf) that is not previously frozen. And it’s really good—not an aggressive smell, and guys will eat it.

For grilled artichokes, clean and trim the prickly points off your chokes. Bring a pasta pot full of hot water, juice of half a lemon, plus that lemon after it’s juiced, and the garlic to a boil. Add chokes and cook for 25-30 minutes. Take them out of the pot and let them cool for a few minutes. After they’ve cooled down, clean out the furry centers. Brush them with oil and s&p them. At this point you can put them on the grill for 3-4 minutes per side. I didn’t want to f*ck with the grill for one thing, so I used a grill pan. This whole meal is healthy and delish, and pretty hard to screw up. If you make it and manage to F it up, then that sounds like a personal problem, and you should stop trying to cook, and just order take out.

 

Having all the veggies prepped before makes a difference

Having all the veggies prepped before makes a difference

Artichokes with the fuzzies still in

Artichokes with the fuzzies still in

ArtichokesCleaned

Peace