Tomato Soup

After my first year in college, I worked a variety of jobs over the summer – intern at an environmental NGO, babysitter, and in retail. It was the first summer I’d ever worked like that (at one point I estimated 60 hours/week was probably a conservative estimate) and about halfway through I just got tired of bringing my lunch. In some ways I was lucky – I was working at Nordstrom in the costumed jewelry department, so I could just grab something at the Café and eat it in the employee break room.

In fact, I’d go so frequently, I wouldn’t even have to beg to get them to serve me the children’s tomato soup special – a cup of their tomato soup and half a grilled cheese sandwich. If you’ve never had the tomato soup at the Nordstrom Café, you are missing out. It’s deliciously chunky, actually tastes like tomato, and has a fabulous mixture of herbs.

This soup doesn’t replicate the soup. I’ve found that I like a bit of spice in my soups, so instead of aiming for the sweeter, almost Bolognese flavor of the Nordstrom soup, this version is chunky with a hint of a kick. And I think I’ve succeeded nicely in this version.

Surprise!

Surprise - I'm alive! And blogging again.

Whoops. That was a long three months. Sorry for completely falling off the map there. What was I doing?

Let's answer that completely made-up question with a good old fashion "what did I do on my summer vacation" essay. But with Instagram! Because all the cool kids are doing it. And I am nothing if not a lemming when it comes to internet trends.

So you might think my three month hiatus from blogging was due to being overwhelmed by awesome summer weather in DC. I mean look how pretty it looks in this picture:

But what you can't tell is that DC in the summer is evil. PURE EVIL. It's hot. It's humid. And there are only two ways to beat the heat when you have no car and air conditioning is expensive: the pool and milkshakes. Lots and lots of milkshakes.

See? Key to happiness right there. A pool and a milkshake. Extra points if you grab the milkshake to make the walk back to your apartment to get to the pool. That's expert level DC-living. 

But I promise that wasn't why I didn't update for 3 months. There was also this little event:

Olympics! Who doesn't live the quadrennial clash of cultures in sports we only care about when we win them. But seriously - watching Gabby Douglas grab gold in the all-around, watching Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian in history, and watching the U.S. - Canada women's soccer game (and the U.S -Japan gold medal match wasn't shabby either) was amazing. I like many Washingtonians was an avid reader of the Guardian's liveblog of events.

There was also this tragic event:

Just when you thought those nightmares from "Jurassic Park" were gone. My bad. At least it wasn't velociraptors? In any case, I survived this tragic T-Rex attack with minimal scarring (reality check: this skull is on display at the National Zoo, which I visited when my friend Amber came to visit).

Obviously this attack got me right in the blogging arm, so once again I was forced to post-pone my planned return to blogging.

But then this happened:

Family vacation is just too much fun to take time away from to write blog posts. There's too much hiking, biking, water slide riding, lazy river tubing, swimming, laughing, and "So You Think You Can Dance" watching to worry about writing up recipes. 

But now I'm back! And with copious free time! So be on the look out - new recipes should be posted here started next week. And this time there shouldn't be any three month gaps between blog posts.

... At least not without fair warning.

Cauliflower Crust Thai Chicken Pizza

I previewed this pizza last week – didn’t it look fantastic? And then I teased you even more by suggested you’d never guess how I made it gluten-free. Of course, those of you who have to deal with me on a day-to-day basis have had to deal with hearing me brag about this recipe.

Because seriously, I made a pizza crust out of cauliflower. How cool is that?

I normally like to make this pizza with a regular crust, but this just seemed so much cooler. And gave me a chance to add another vegetable to my day. But disguised as a pizza crust. If you have a food processor, this recipe is seriously easy to make. Just use the shredding blade and the entire recipe will take you 30 minutes from start to eating. And that includes baking time.

Hope you enjoy!

Spicy Peanut Sauce

So, it’s been a while. Yikes! Sorry about that – I’ve still been cooking and baking, don’t worry on that front, but it hasn’t really been on weekends. And the light in my apartment is pretty terrible in the evening, so I wasn’t taking pictures. And what’s a cooking blog without pictures?

Boring.

Also, painfully un-updated. Speaking of, I finally updated the Recipe Index. I mean, sure some people enjoy scrolling through 4 months of recipes manually rather than going to a single page with all the recipes I’ve made, but I’m fairly sure they’re in the minority. In any case, it’s finally includes the recipes I’ve made since February.

The picture above is a teaser for next week’s recipe. This is the sauce I used in the pizza, but it’s also great on sandwiches, as a marinade for chicken, and on salads (add a splash of water to make it more liquid). I’m a huge fan of using it on pizzas as you can see, though you’ll never guess how I made it gluten free! 

So make this sauce to have on hand for next week's recipe - you won't regret it!

Chicken Curry

I had Indian food for the first time in middle school when my family visited London. It was a great trip – the British Museum! History! Sparkly objects! But the Indian food experiment was a disaster. We’d successfully experimented with Thai food earlier in the week (life-changing) and so we thought we’d try another new cuisine.

We were basically the only people in the restaurant and since we had no idea what we were doing, we asked our waiter what we should order. Sadly, the waiter didn’t account for our weak New England-raised taste buds. I got a dosa that was so spicy I basically drank the cucumber sauce it came with. I don’t remember if either of my sisters ate more than a bite of their meals. Only my father appeared to enjoy his meal.

Fast-forward about six years and I’m in Chicago for college. Had I heard you can get amazing Indian food in Devon? And it’s only an hour and a half away on public transit, totally worth it! Not wanting to look like a complete idiot, I agree to go and hope that someone orders something I can copy from. And that I can digest.

And when I got my meal, it was transformative. It was delicious! And spicy! Turns out I like spicy foods, who knew?

Since then, I’ve been a fiend. I live too close to my favorite Indian restaurant here in DC – it’s only a 20-minute walk! I drag visitors and friends alike there whenever I get a chance to suggest where to eat (or sometimes we alternate and go to the Thai restaurant next door. Again, thank you trip to England!).

But I’ve never cooked Indian before. And I’m fairly sure I still haven’t. I mean, yes this recipe uses curry powder, but I’m fairly sure in the world of food blogging that’s like claiming you’ve cooked Asian food when you make peanut butter noodles. In any case, this recipe is a keeper and definitely going into rotation. It’s delicious, creamy, and bursting with flavor. Though I’m thinking next time I might throw some lentils in there for kicks.

Or maybe I’ll get adventurous and try to make dal as a side dish.

Faux Ice Cream

I am a huge ice-cream fan. When I was a child, it was the first treat I had once I was gone from the careful watch of my parents (thanks grandparents!). In college, more than one meal was a pint of Chubby Hubby from Ben & Jerry’s.

But sometimes you want to eat ice-cream without dealing with all of it’s lovely additives – sugar, cream, oh my! It’s not the healthiest of treats, sadly. Nor is it very kind to those with lactose problems (not me, but several of my friends and one family member. They get sad when faced with such delicious dairy treats like ice cream or macaroni and cheese).

I’ve talked about the joys of frozen bananas before and how creamy they can make a smoothie. Incredibly, this trick works perfectly well when it’s just a banana; it blends into a thick, creamy mix that tastes incredibly similar to frozen yogurt or slightly melted ice cream. Since you all know that I’m a fan of the chocolate-peanut butter, it’ll be no surprise to see what I did with my frozen banana – added cocoa powder and topped with peanut butter!

Double Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Center

Yes, another recipe for a chocolate peanut butter cupcake. You’d think I was obsessed or something. Whatever, it’s a winning and delicious combination.

I like this recipe because I don’t have to bother with piping or even too much prep work. But the cake is amazingly moist and chocolately. And the peanut butter center in the middle is a great treat for anyone in their right mind.

Hope you enjoy!