by Krista | Feb 18, 2010 | Plucky Thursday
It really was. Rain poured down in Seattle as I drove along 1-5 Friday night to spend the weekend with my pal Trish and her hubby. Aside from the weather it had been a lovely trip. I listened to Old Time Radio Suspense mysteries, scaring myself silly, and noshed on a 99 cent cheeseburger from Wendy’s. As I got to Seattle I devoted my attention to the road – people get crazy there, whipping across four lanes of traffic with nary a thought for those behind or before. Alas, I was not attentive enough, for suddenly a white van cut me off, slammed on his brakes and I smashed right into him. Sigh. Not the ideal start to my weekend.
Thankfully everyone was OK and in a daze I got all the right information, climbed back into my car and promptly burst into tears. 🙂 I felt the familiar pain creep up my back and neck and thought, “Oh dear, here we go again.” This is Accident Number 10, you see. Only one of which was my fault. People just like to plow into me whether I’m parked, a passenger or driving past as someone exits the wrong way from a one-way street. Heavens. 🙂
Trish and Todd took very good care of me, giving me an entire couch to myself, cozy blankets, pain pills, lovely drinks to relax my muscles, and we ended up having a perfectly lazy weekend of movies, Olympics, reading, visiting, good food, and naps.
I wasn’t able to get into a doctor until Tuesday, and I was absolutely miserable. Turns out I had good reason. Doc said I have the worst case of whiplash you can get without actually fracturing something. My whole right side is a mess of torn ligaments, swollen and inflamed. Even my jaw is amiss, making it painful to yawn, talk (a blessing in disguise? ;-)) and eat. On the bright side nothing is cut or broken and that is definitely something to be grateful for. 🙂 My chiropractor is helping greatly with massages and adjustments, I’m icing faithfully, downing Advil like there’s no tomorrow, and taking short walks to keep stiffness at bay. I went back to work yesterday and hopefully I’ll be back to my active self before too long. 🙂
Aren’t these lovely? I discovered them on my little walk near the office. 🙂
Thank you so much for all the wonderful emails, tweets, comments, and love you’ve sent my way. 🙂 Every message has cheered and comforted me.
I’m afraid I haven’t done much cooking this week and have precious little to share with you. 🙂 With my jaw all gimpy I’ve been sticking with soft food: plain organic yogurt with apple sauce and vanilla, scrambled eggs, and one of my all-time favorite soups, Creamy Carrot with Fresh Dill from my all-time favorite cookbook “Once Upon A Tart.”
It’s so simple and homey, the dill providing freshness and spark to the cozy comfort of carrot, potato and onion. Best of all for me, it’s pureed and very easy to eat. 🙂
The “real” recipe calls for specific things like fresh dill, chicken broth and a certain number of carrots. I didn’t have all that, so I added an extra potato for bulk, substituted beef broth for chicken and added dried dill to the stock instead of fresh dill at the end. The beef broth makes it darker and not so pretty, but the flavor is marvy anyway. 🙂
Creamy Carrot Soup with Fresh Dill
(From Once Upon A Tart)
Ingredients:
1 big yellow onion, coarsely chopped
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 pounds medium carrots (8-10), peeled and coarsely chopped
1 big russet potato, peeled and diced
4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill, plus more to top the soup
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup light cream
Directions:
- Saute the onion in the butter and oil in a large soup pot over high heat, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat if you see the onion browning. When the onion has begun to reduce in volume, about 5-10 minutes, lower the heat and continue cooking for 10-15 more minutes, until it is tender and translucent.
- Add the carrots and potato and cook for 15-20 minutes, until some of the potato pieces begin to brown slightly.
- Add the stock and bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the carrots are soft enough to mash against the side of the soup pot with a fork or wooden spoon.
- remove the soup from the heat to puree. If you’re using an immersion blender, you can puree the soup in the pot. Otherwise, wait a few minutes, until soup cools, and blend in food processor.
- Return pureed soup to the soup pot. Stir in dill, salt, pepper and cream, and warm the soup over medium heat before serving. This soup should be thick, but not so thick that your spoon stands up in it. Add more cream or stock to thin it. Serve warm and top with chopped fresh dill.
by Krista | Feb 17, 2010 | Compatriot Wednesday
I was introduced to Ethiopian food by my Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Dave, who lived in Ethiopia for ten years. I instantly fell in love with the spongy injera bread topped with all sorts of savory stews. I’ve eaten it in Canada, California and even Germany, and have never, ever been disappointed.
I love the family feel of Ethiopian dining. Everyone hunkered around a communal tray, tearing off pieces of injera with their fingers and using it to spoon up savory mouthfuls of stew. I like the closeness, the importance of interacting, sharing and communicating. So cozy and amiable. 🙂
When my CEC friends decided to do African food one night, I happily volunteered to make my top three favorite Ethiopian stews: kale, lentil and split pea, while the others contributed flat breads and other delectable side dishes.
We started off with a glass of honey wine:
Then Kat made a lusciously bright and cheery tabouli with yellow cherry tomatoes and kalamata olives…
…and a lovely African peanut soup, so smooth and rich and warming.
I confess the stews took me HOURS of chopping until I blistered my chopping hand. 🙂 I don’t have a food processor, but if you use one it wouldn’t take too long at all. 🙂 All that chopping was worth it though as we dipped our flatbread into each stew, added cooling tzaziki on top, and savored the unique seasonings and textures. Delish! And yep, I know tzaziki is Greek, but it sounded so yummy that we fudged the rules a bit and let it in. Twas a worthy entrant, to be sure. 🙂
Kat’s West African Peanut Soup (From
All Recipes)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, very finely diced
2 large bell peppers, (any color) finely chopped
6 large cloves garlic, minced
1 (28 ounce) can chopped tomatoes with juice
8 cups vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup uncooked rice
1 (18 ounce) jar creamy peanut butter
chopped roasted peanuts (optional)
Directions:
- Heat olive oil in a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, and garlic until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, vegetable broth, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.
- Add rice to soup and stir. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 25 minutes, or until rice is tender.
- When rice is cooked, whisk in peanut butter and return to a simmer, and serve. Garnish with chopped roasted peanuts, if desired.
Kat’s Tabouli(From Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook)
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients:
3/4 c. cracked wheat (bulgur)
1 1/2 c snipped parsley
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/3 chopped green onions, with tops
2 T. snipped fresh mint or 2 t. crushed dried mint
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 t. salt
1/4 t. fresh cracked black pepper
Directions:
- Cover cracked wheat with cold water; let stand for 30 minutes.
- Drain; press out as much water as possible between two bowls or two plates.
- Place wheat, parsley, tomatoes, green onions and mint in glass or plastic bowl.
- Mix remaining ingredients; pour over wheat mixture.
- Toss. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
- Garnish with ripe olives if desired
- Note from book: For a softer texture, cover cracked wheat with boiling water, let stand one hour.
- Kat’s note written in the margins: Tasty! Maybe add more onion or some garlic. liked the addition of kalamata olives.
Ingredients:
1 cup Dried lentils
2 qt Water
1/4 cup Minced shallots
1 Clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup Water
2 tbl Berbere
1 tbl Olive oil
1/2 tsp Onion salt
Additional water as needed.
Directions:
- Cook lentils in boiling water about 35 – 40 minutes, until soft and tender.
- Meanwhile, cook shallots in a dry pan until soft and light brown, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Add garlic and continue stirring. Add 1/4 cup water, Berbere, and olive oil.
- Drain and mash lentils and add to shallot mixture then stir in onion salt. Simmer 30 minutes to 1 hour. You may need to add more water to keep a consistency similar to oatmeal. Serve hot or at room temp.
Krista’s Yellow Split Pea Stew
Ingredients:
3 cups water plus 2 tablespoons (divided)
1 cup dried yellow split peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1 inch-long piece fresh ginger, peeled,
finely chopped 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
Directions:
- Place 3 cups of the water and the peas in large saucepan. Heat over high heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium; cook until almost tender, about 30 minutes.
- Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat; cook onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger and turmeric; cook 1 minute.
- Add remaining 2 tablespoons water; cover. Cook on low heat 3 minutes.
- Add mixture to cooked peas; stir in salt. Simmer until peas are very soft, about 30 minutes. Taste; adjust seasonings.
Krista’s Gomen (Stewed Collard Greens)
(From African Chop)
Ingredients:
1 large bunch collard greens, about 1½ pounds (I used kale)
¼ cup niter kebbeh, ghee or olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 fresh hot peppers, seeded and minced (or to taste)
1 cup broth
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon cardamom
Directions:
- Tear stems from collard greens, and wash greens well. Bring a large pot of water to boiling. Add greens to water and boil briskly for 15 minutes. Drain, squeezing water from greens. When cool enough to handle, slice them thinly.
- In a large skillet or stir fry pan, melt the niter kebbeh (or oil). Add onion, garlic, ginger and hot peppers and simmer, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
- Add collard greens, broth, salt, pepper and cardamom. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, or until most of water has evaporated from pan.
by Krista | Feb 16, 2010 | Spring
I am recovering from my car accident today, so I will simply share these beautiful pictures from the Italian countryside. They bring such peace to my heart. 🙂
We made tisane with this scrumptious lavender.
by Krista | Feb 16, 2010 | Bootstrap Monday
Dear ones, I’m afraid my post will be short and sweet today. Although I had a lovely weekend with my dear friends, I also got in a car accident that has left me with much pain. I am fine, but will be very sore for a while. I go to the chiropractor and doctor in the morning, and they should help me get back to my old self soon.:-)
I leave you with one of my favorite photos from a beautiful lake we happened upon in Bosnia.
by Krista | Feb 12, 2010 | Fabulous Friday
Last Friday I wrote about planning one thing every week to look forward to, and this week I had a doozy! 🙂 I kept catching myself grinning at work, while puttering away at my chores or out on my walk, simply because today I get to head down south to spend a whole weekend with one of my very besties – Trish!! Her hubby is such a luv, totally cool with us having an utterly girlie weekend of movies, reading, eating whatever suits our fancy, and of course, talking our heads off. 🙂 I can’t wait!! 🙂
My contribution to our feasting is, of course, dessert! 🙂 Inspired by finding my missing old-fashioned jelly molds (yay!), I experimented with another gelatin creation.
Since the latte version was such a hit last week, I had to try it again, this time layered with creamy blackberry. Mmm. It was great using my coppery molds for the first time, and I think the results are so fun – like something out of Dr. Seuss or Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. 🙂 I thought I got all the gelatin dissolved, but when the finished product shlooped out of the pan (yes, it did make that sound :-)), I realized I did not. It looks like I added toasted coconut to the bottom of the mold. 🙂 We’ll just pretend I meant it to look like that. 🙂
Fake toasted coconut or not, I love the flavors of this dessert. Made with half water and half fat-free evaporated milk, the texture is smooth and creamy, the flavors rich but not too sweet. Yum! 🙂
Last night I thought I was having company, but work intervened at the last moment and they weren’t able to come. Sadness. 🙁 On the bright side, I have a beautifully set table and heaps of fab leftovers so I won’t have to cook for days. HUZZAH! 🙂
I started with Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pine Nuts. Ever since seeing them on Kevin’s blog the other day, I simply had to try them. So I popped in the next dvd in the Churchill’s Bodyguard series and set to work. 🙂
Ooeee – how I love the caramelized sprouts drenched in the zingy dressing and sprinkled with beautifully browned nuts. Delish. 🙂
I also made one of my favorite salads – green bean with feta and basil. Mums found the recipe years ago and every time I see bundles of fresh green beans I want to make it. The beans are lightly steamed until they’re bright green, immediately dunked in ice water until cool, then drained, dried and mixed with feta cheese, basil and a dijon vinaigrette. Mmm – such perky flavors!
I served both dishes with fresh kalamata olive bread from the bakery, warmed in the oven and dipped in fruity olive oil. Delectable! 🙂
Now I must go pack: flannel pjs and woolly socks, too-tall-stack-of-books-to-read, ipod with old time radio mysteries for the drive down, yup! I’m ready to go! 🙂
Happy Weekend, dear ones! 🙂
Mum’s Green Bean Salad with Feta and Basil
Ingredients:
3 pounds green beans, trimmed
1 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 4-oz package Feta cheese, crumbled or grated
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, cut in ribbons
Directions:
- Place beans in steamer basket over boiling water. Cover and steam 4 minutes or until crisp tender. Plunge in ice water. Drain.
- Whisk together Dijon mustard and next four ingredients in large bowl.
- Add beans, feta and basil. Toss gently to coat.
Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Toasted Pine Nuts
(From Closet Cooking)
Ingredients:
2 pounds brussels sprouts (trimmed and halved)
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup balsamic vinaigrette
1/4 cup pine nuts slices (toasted)
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated, optional)
Directions:
- Toss the brussels sprouts in the oil along with the salt and pepper.
- Arrange the brussels sprouts in a single layer on a baking sheet.
- Roast in a preheated 400F oven until they start to caramelize, flipping them once in between, about 30 minutes.
- Toss the brussels sprouts in the balsamic vinaigrette along with the pine nuts and garnish with the parmigiano reggiano.
Latte Gelatin – posted here🙂
Blackberry Gelatin
Ingredients:
1 box blackberry Jell-O
1 cup boiling water
1 can evaporated milk
Directions:
- Pour Jell-O mix in bowl, add boiling water and stir until granules are dissolved. Let sit until lukewarm.
- Add evaporated milk and stir until incorporated.
- Pour into mold and chill for 2 hours.
_logo.svg){kind=logo}
