Carrot soup

Easy digestion was the key to lunch today.

Celery, carrot, ginger and chicken broth.

I put 2 cups of the reduced sodium chicken broth in a sauce pan and brought the liquid to a boil.

Next, I peeled and chopped the carrots. I also peeled the celery to eliminate some of the long fibers and make it easier to digest.

I included two hunks of ginger which I left whole.


One pinch of tumeric went in and a pinch of dried parsley.

The pot simmered for about 20 minutes - until the carrot was tender.

The pan came off the heat and I let the soup cool down for a bit. Then I broke out the immersion blender (don't forget to remove the hunks of ginger before blending).

Carrot ginger soup.

The soup turned out a little saltier than I wanted - I think I would add only 1 cup of chicken broth (or vegetable broth) and 1 cup of water next time.

Carrot Ginger Soup

Serves 1

Ingredients:

3 carrots, chopped.

2 pieces of ginger

1 stalk of celery, chopped

2 cups of chicken or vegetable stock

1 pinch of dried parsley

1 pinch of tumeric
 
Directions:

Put the 2 cups of chicken broth into a sauce pan over medium heat. When the liquid begins to boil add in the ginger, carrots, celery, parsley and tumeric.

Turn the heat to low and simmer the soup for 20 minutes. When the carrots are fork tender, pull out the pieces of ginger. Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. 

Use and immersion blender to puree the soup. You can also use a blender to puree the soup - just be careful to not overfill the blender as this may cause splashing.

Enjoy!
 

First meal

Sometimes I get so busy/distracted in the mornings that I don't eat right away.

Today was one of those days. 


It was getting close to 11:30 before I realized I hadn't eaten anything yet. 

So, instead of calling it breakfast or brunch I decided to call it first meal :-)

Tofu miso scramble.

I started with a few simple ingredients:

Carrot, grated ginger, tofu and green cabbage.

The carrot and cabbage went into a pan on medium heat with a teaspoon of coconut oil.

When the vegetables were softened (about 7 minutes) I turned the heat to low and added in the ginger, tofu and the miso mixture.

A mixture of 1Tbsp. of miso paste, 1/4 cup of water and 1 Tbsp. of soy sauce.

I covered the pan and let it simmer on low for another five minutes.

The dish turned out somewhere between a stew and a soup. The veggies still had some crunch and the tofu picked up ginger/miso flavor. Yum!

There was quite a bit of sauce after cooking - so this would also do well ladled over a bed of rice.

Ma-Po Tofu

Tonight I broke out the rest of the tofu.

Soft tofu.

 I wanted something spicy tonight. The decision? Ma-Po tofu.

I sauteed the pork over medium high heat and when it was no longer pink I added in a teaspoon of fresh chopped ginger and a teaspoon of chopped garlic.

When the mixture became fragrant I added in a mixture of 1 Tbsp. of soy sauce, a 1/4 cup of low sodium chicken broth, 1 tsp. of chili paste and 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar.

When everything started to simmer, I added in a couple of handfuls of cubed soft tofu.

And, yes, the dogs were still enthusiastic about the tofu tonight. They each got a cube of tofu before I tossed it into the pan.

Should this be served over a bed of white rice? Yes. But I have been always slightly resentful of the rice soaking up all the saucy goodness, so I ate it solo.

It was incredible - a tiny bit sweet with a nice heat.

And it was fast to make - I recommend it as a quick weeknight dinner. 

The dogs enjoyed this:
 

Sauteed pork on squares of toast with a drizzle of Worcestershire sauce.

Ground buffalo skewers with orange and ginger

I did succeed in using up quite a few of the tiny oranges tonight.

Ground buffalo skewers with ginger and orange.

 I started with the ingredients for the buffalo.

Ginger, garlic, panko breadcrumbs, clementines and onion.

Garlic, orange zest and ginger.

Chopped yellow onion.

The skewers were soaked for 30 minutes.

Time to assemble.

Pieces of red bell pepper.

I left the ginger and onion in fairly big chunks because I like the burst of flavor from the onion and the crunch from the ginger. Chop them fine if you prefer.

They skewers went under the broiler for 10 minutes.

While they were cooking away I made a glaze to spoon over the skewers.

Clementines, honey and rice vinegar.

It turned out more to be a basting liquid, but I was OK with that. It ended up having a nice sweet and sour flavor.

After 10 minutes, I basted the skewers with the liquid - turned them and basted the other side.

They went back under the broiler for another 8 minutes.

They came out just right.

The basting liquid added a wonderful sweet and sour taste. The onions added succulent slightly sweet flavor and every once in a while I would bite into a bit of ginger and get a burst of mild, clean spice.

Pretty close to perfect in my opinion.

I am going to ignore the kitchen for the rest of the night :-)

Greens for all

I decided to make asian style collard greens for myself and fish flavored collards for the beasties. 

It all started with the greens - 

Freshly washed greens

I

Remove the tough stem

Leftover sweet potato chopped

I put together the makings for an asian style sauce that included the local honey I picked up at the farm stand, garlic, green onion, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil (not in picture)

Next, I blanched the greens in boiling water for about 1 minute. The greens got fished out and the sweet potatoes went in for a 10 minute boiling bath.

This morning I realized that the container of kibble had dwindled down to mere crumbs - so since the pet store was not open at 7am - The dogs had a breakfast of brown rice, sauteed halibut and nori. I left the residual fish bits in the pan (nope, that had nothing to do with being completely lazy - really:-) so after the greens were blanched I added a bit of olive oil to the said dirty pan and gave 1/3 of the collards a quick toss and added in some of the cooked sweet potatoes.  

You can see bits of crispy fish on the sweet potato in the background - mmm doggie heaven!

Connor was very excited to get to eating!

After finishing her own bowl - Abby had to come over to make sure Connor had not left any tasty bits behind.

Sorry, Abby, there was not a bit left.

After cleaning out the saute pan, I added a small amount of olive oil and sauteed the rest of the collard greens for about 7 minutes. Then I turned off the heat and added in the sauce mixture. I let this cook till heated through and added in the sweet potatoes.

An extra sprinkle of green onions for good measure. 

I was expecting the collards to be slightly bitter but the honey in the sauce really balanced out any lingering sharpness. The collards turned out almost creamy and with the meaty texture of the sweet potatoes and the occasional bright burst from the ginger - it really turned out to be a wonderful dish.