My terrible confession

I had a grand plan for November. I was going to tell you all about my awesome meal planning skills, specifically my latest trend in cooking. I used to have a large cooking day on Sundays, which would make enough for leftovers for lunch throughout the week. But then I started thinking bigger. Why do that four times when I could have one large cooking day and be set for the month?

I have a pretty decent approach, I think. To wit:

1. Look through the circular the day before you go shopping to figure out what items are on sale (chicken breats, pork, ground beef, frozen veggies, etc)
2. Go through your pantry and see what you have wasting space
3. Keeping those ingredients in mind, go through all the recipes you've bookmarked or pinned lately and see if anything looks good
4. Make your grocery list
5. Cook for hours!

This method served me well all summer and through fall. But then November hit. My chili came out inedible (way too spicy). The veggie curry dish is bland and I get bored eating it about half-way through.

Not everything came out horribly, but that didn't mean it was blog worthy. My fried tofu was tasty, but looked rather unfortunate (tofu sticks covered in a peanut sauce, I'll leave it to your imagination what that resembles). My enchiladas were tasty, but were made using left-over frozen pulled pork, and while delicious wasn't exactly a recipe anyone would need me for (put meat in tortillas, cover with enchilada sauce, smother in cheese, bake).

So I can only once again apologize for a lengthy wait between entries. And also let you know that I am by no means a cook who never fails to have something beautiful and delicious on the table. Recently, I've been all about the Austin peanut butter crackers, take-out, and frozen tortellini with vodka sauce. But I have high hopes my cooking mojo will return soon. If for no other reason than December is a new month with some new recipes to try!

Thanks for sticking with me :D

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Do you guys ever go to the grocery store with the best of intentions of only buying the stuff on your list? And then you see some of the sales you missed the first time you looked through the circular – beans 3/$2, pasta 10/$10, chicken broth 2/$2!

Which would explain why I recently looked in my pantry (or more accurately, large cabinet that works as cleaning supple storage place and overflow dry goods storage) and found I had 5 cans of black beans.

I love black beans, but didn’t anticipate eating that many servings of rice and beans so it was time to google recipes that would use up my excess, allow me to see the bottom of the drawer, and if they could be vaguely healthy it would be a bonus.

Enter these black bean burgers. They’re easy to make, pretty healthy, store for a while in the freezer, and best of us are delicious. Hope you all enjoy!

Dr. Pepper Carnitas

You would think now that I am the proud owner of a crock pot (only took me a year to decide a) if my kitchen really had room and b) if I would really use it and c) if it was going to be worth the investment) I wouldn’t immediately return to slow cooking things in my oven with a pot.

But I think the oven method gives you a better char than the slow cooker, which can make things a bit mushy if you aren’t careful.

Now that the temperature in DC doesn’t make you wonder if it’d be cooler in Hell, I’m a lot less tentative about turning on my oven for hours at a time. Plus I have a gas stove and don’t pay for gas in my apartment complex, so it’s about the same in costs as turning on the slow cooker.

Shrimp and Orzo Bake

I made this in advance of a week of running. Last Sunday I ran my first ever 5K in DC’s The Color Run. Yesterday, I ran my my first ever 10K at the Marine Corps Marathon. The Color Run was a ton of fun – I ran with my roommate and some other friends and it is not lying when it bills itself as the happiest 5K in the world. Though the washing machine in my apartment complex wasn't quite as happy…

The 10K was more challenging, namely because Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the entire East Coast. Luckily there wasn't much wind and no rain during my run, but the hour and a half waiting for the race to start in my shorts and tee shirt in 50 degree weather wasn't too fun. However, I finished at my goal time and have stocked up on the necessities (Oreos. I had planned on doing a big cook on Sunday of three different soups, but with massive power outages expected in my area, I didn't want to take non-perishable food and make it perishable. So Oreos, pasta, and plans to eat all the frozen food I can in case of power outages. I'll let you know how it goes).

I wanted to have a dish I could eat throughout the week that would be filling, but not too heavy, would have protein, but wasn’t a cooked chicken breast, and if it could use most of the ingredients I already owned I would consider it a bonus. This one hit all those points – orzo to stick to your bones, shrimp and feta for some protein, onion and garlic because they are a basic necessity of any dish I cook, and white wine because it’s awesome.

I’ve mentioned previously that I tend to stock up when I see a great deal on dried goods, so I always tend to have pasta hanging around as well as canned tomatoes and frozen shrimp. So I only had to buy minimal ingredients to make a dish that will likely last me multiple  meals – so overall, cheap as well!

Is it any wonder I couldn’t wait to share?

Apple Pie Stuffed Apples

I gave you a healthy applesauce recipe, then a completely over the top cake recipe, so it seemed like this recipe would touch on parts on both the healthy and sweet worlds. It’s apple pie, but minus the majority of crust – so a bit healthier?

Also really cool looking. Seriously – look at those babies. Everybody gets their own individual apple pie. I feel like Oprah right now – you get a pie! And you get a pie! And I get two pies!

That’s not how it went?

That’s how it goes in my kitchen at least.

Roasted Apple Spice Cake

Now that you have your homemade applesauce ready, you can make this cake and eat it too. And I do recommend eating it – it is amazingly delicious. Roasting the apples makes it taste like you have little pockets of apple pie hiding inside your cake. Seriously, who doesn’t want that?

You’re going to have to peel the apples anyway and roasting the apple halves gives you time to figure out if you really want to make cream cheese frosting from scratch or not. I won’t tell if you decide to grab the pre-made stuff if you don’t tell about my habit of using Skippy brand peanut butter in recipes that call for “all natural” peanut butter. Deal?

Easiest Apple Sauce

It’s the beginning of Apple Mania!!! Woo!

All right, I think it may be fair to say I may be the only person excited about this because apparently all the other food bloggers were prepared and started bringing out their fall recipes in mid-September and it’s late October and I’m only getting around to it now. But I have good reason – namely, I’ve been apple picking twice this season (up from zero last year) and currently have a boatload of apples I need to use up!

So you all get some apple recipes and I get to clear space off my kitchen table. We both win!

We’re starting with making apple sauce because not only is it delicious and low-effort, it’s an ingredient in Wednesday’s recipe – so if you make it now, you’ll be prepared for cake in a few days!

Easiest Apple Sauce

From Smitten Kitchen

I added a bit of brown sugar to my recipe because I think it tastes delicious. The recipe didn’t include it originally, so if you aren’t a fan or are trying to reduce your sugar intake feel free to omit!

Ingredients:

4 pounds of apples, peeled and cored

4 strips of lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup water

1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

Equipment:

Large pot with lid, blender/immersion blender/food processor

Peel, core, and chop apples into large chunks (eighths will work perfectly) and put them along with all the other ingredients into the pot and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce to a simmer and cover pot. Cook for approximately 30 minutes or until apples are very soft. Find the lemon peels and remove them, then let cool. Puree using your appliance of choice then enjoy!

Panda Slice and Bake Cookies

I doubt this is news elsewhere in the country, but here in DC our local newscasters went crazy when the National Zoo announced the birth of a new Giant Panda on September 16. I'm not kidding - they were reporting live from the scene. This is hilarious because the Giant Panda enclosure was closed and no one had actually seen a picture of the cub yet, so all the newscasters could say was to go to the webcast on the Smithsonian's website and that they knew absolutely no details about the cub.

[Unfortunately the cub died a week after its birth. I was bummed. So I ate the remainder of these cookies and felt a bit better.]

But clearly the time called for cookies.

Did anyone else make beads when they were younger? These cookies rely on the same technique, namely rolling out logs of dough and squishing them back together to form a pattern - in this case a panda. My panda isn't the pretties panda you'll ever see, but it is pretty darn tasty!

Of course, now I'm wondering how many other animals I can make with the same technique. If anyone experiments, let me know!

Beet Gnocchi

After discovering I liked beets this summer, I knew I had to continue exploring or my palate would never expand beyond “roasted with an egg.” Granted, roasted beets with an egg is delicious (recipe soon to come), but why stop with one good thing?

But then I found so many other delicious recipes to try, I got side tracked from my quest. There were popsicles to make! And meat to cook! And smoothies to make! Who has time to experiment with veggies that stain everything pink with so much else to do? 

But that's when it hit me - since beets stain everything pink, adding them to things makes them pink as well. So when I saw this recipe for beet gnocchi, PINK GNOCCHI, how could I resist? It continues to allow me to avoid making real gnocchi (see also: ricotta gnocchi) and was absolutely beautiful. 

I’m sorry the pictures are so dark – let’s continue to morn the fact that my kitchen only gets good natural light for about an hour a day (that I tend to miss when working) – but I can assure you these are delicious.

Broccoli White Bean Soup

Well, that didn’t take long before I moved away from the meat, meat, chocolate recipe pattern now did it? While I would love to include another meat recipe to give you that stick-to-your-bones warmth that’s starting to feel like a necessity as the cooler air moves in, I can’t do that. But I can offer you a soup that'll make you think it's cream based.

My father always likes to joke about his first time seeing cheese and broccoli soup on a restaurant menu and thinking it was a joke. Because how could cheese be the base of a soup? While this doesn’t reach that level of sublime dairy, it does provide a healthier alternative when you’re craving a thick and hearty soup but don’t want to deal with dairy. Using pureed beans or veggies is a great alternative to thicken up sauces and soups and this one uses cannellini beans to make a really tasty broccoli soup that’s pretty much the easiest thing to make since box cake mixes were invented.

Hope you enjoy!

Broccoli White Bean Soup

From Gen Y Foodie

Surprisingly, this soup freezes and reheats nicely. I get about 5 servings from this recipe and just ladle them into plastic containers to store for later. I also tend to use chicken broth in place of vegetable broth, if only because that’s what I tend to have on hand most frequently, so feel free to do the same if you aren’t a vegetarian. Additionally, I think you could probably add an additional can of cannellini beans if you really like thick creamy soups – just the one tends to get overpowered by the broth.

Ingredients
4 garlic cloves
1 medium onion
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large head of broccoli (approx. 4 cups) washed and cut into florets
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1 can (15 oz) cannellini beans, rinsed
4 cups low sodium vegetable broth
optional: parmesan cheese

Equipment

Food processor, large pot, whisk

Instructions

This recipe is basically shredding ingredients in the food processor and then adding them to the pot. Don’t bother rinsing or clean the bowl after each ingredient – they’re all ending up in the same place anyway!

Heat pot over medium heat and add olive oil. Shred the garlic gloves and onion in the food processor and add to pot. Saute for 4 -5 minutes. While garlic and onions are cooking, shred the broccoli florets in the food processor and add to onion and garlic mixture. Cook an additional 2-3 minutes. While broccoli mixture is cooking, puree cannellini beans in food processor then add to pot. Season vegetable and bean mixture with salt, pepper, and paprika. Slowly add vegetable broth and whisk ingredients together to combine.

Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 12-15 minutes until the soup reaches your favorite thickness. Serve with Parmesan cheese and black pepper.

Serves 5-6.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

I've noticed this fall has caused a bit of a weird pattern-shift in my posting pattern. No, not the whole "posting regularly" thing (though that's been a nice shock), rather it's the two meat recipes followed by a chocolate recipe on Friday. Weird huh? But who doesn't like a bit of chocolate to perk them up before the weekend? 

I love cookies and I love cake, so clearly seeing a recipe called “Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake” come across my screen I was going to try it. And I loved it! It’s a bit fluffier than simply taking cookie dough and baking it in bar form – so it’s still obviously cake-y, but retains all the things you love about a cookie. Win-win really.

I could pretend this is healthy – whole wheat flour! – but I think the cup and a half of sugar and cup of butter make that fantasy a bit silly. But really, who’s looking for healthy in a recipe called “Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake”?

In any case, I hope you enjoy!

Pork and Cabbage Dumplings with Homemade Wrappers

When I last posted a Potsticker recipe, I mentioned how afraid I was of pleating and choose to use premade wonton skins to make life easier. I was still afraid when I made these, but I didn’t remember to buy the skins when buying all the other ingredients on a massive grocery shop. So when I realized making homemade wonton wrappers was literally adding water to flour (which I always have on hand), I figured worse came to worse, I could just pinch the edges closed and hope for the best.

I don’t think I’ll be winning any dumpling pleating prizes with these photos, but it was surprisingly fun. I tended to be able to make about 2 nice pleats per dumpling, but it’s not like it affected how good these tasted. This filling recipe is slightly different than the previous one – no ginger and no cornstarch for one, while I added garlic and sugar – but tastes just as good. I also cheated and just used half a bag of coleslaw instead of buying a cabbage. I figured I was already giving myself enough grief with the homemade wrappers – I might as well let someone else chop the cabbage for me.

I’d recommend taking the plunge and trying to make homemade wrappers yourself. It takes some effort, but it’s seriously worth it! These are just as thick and chewy as my favorites from the Chinese takeout place – but for the price of 6 at the restaurant, I got 40 at home!

Barbeque Chicken Sandwiches

Dear actual barbeque eaters of the world,

I’m sorry for misappropriating the word “barbeque” in this recipe. I could claim to simply be following in the steps of a blogger far more influential than I, but it’s no real excuse. There’s no pit in the ground, smoking, pork, or even a carefully measured spice rub – instead there’s just your favorite style of barbeque sauce pulled from the grocery store shelf added over some browned chicken and baked in an oven until it’s falling apart.

But it’s damned tasty.

And now that turning on my stove no longer makes me want to cry, I’m more than happy to have it bubbling away in the oven for an hour. I’m glad I didn’t find this recipe until recently – having to wait through the end of August to try this out would have been torture.

(And so you know – I’ve got another 2 full bottles of commercial barbeque sauce hanging out in my pantry ready for the next go-round. Yes. It’s that good)

Chocolate Peanut Butter, Banana, and Oat Smoothie

Not quite ready to make the switch to eating oatmeal for breakfast every morning? Try it in your smoothie! It sounded weird to me at first, but after my first gulp I was sold. Healthy? Check. Easy to make? Check. Tastes amazing? Check. Easy way to get a half serving of whole grains in the morning? Check.

Now, is this the world’s lowest calorie breakfast? No, sadly peanut butter is higher in calories than I would like to admit. But in one smoothie you get over 25 grams of protein, 10 grams of fiber, tons of iron and calcium, and it’s low in cholesterol. For me, that’s worth the extra time on the treadmill!

Spanish-Style Meatloaf Cups

If I’ve learned anything from my long association with my sisters, it’s that small things are intrinsically better than large things. Puppies. Kittens. Baby shoes. Tiny meatloaves?

Well, the theory is the same.  I’ve seen these topped with mashed potatoes as a type of “frosting” to continue with the cupcake trend, but I haven’t tried it myself (give that I’m not a huge fan of mashed potatoes, it didn’t seem to make sense).

But seriously – tiny meatloaves! How can you go wrong? Instead of dealing with the traditional slab of meat, you get a cute individual portion. And why go boring when you could have Spanish-style meatloaf – filled with potatoes, onions, smoked paprika, pork, and Manchego?

I’m not sure I’ll ever go back to the loaf pan again.

Beef & Potato Empanadas

It’s not exactly a secret that I like stuffed dishes. One of the tags I use regularly on this blog is “stuffed with good stuff”. There’s just something more fun about biting into something and finding another layer of taste.

So empanadas were clearly sorely missed on this blog – I’d done wontons and “fauxmosas”, but not empanadas? Partially this is because DC is home to some very fine empanada shops and I can buy homemade (and often fresh out of the oven) empanadas pretty much whenever I want and partially it’s because I didn’t own a rolling pin/didn’t want to deal with the amount of mess that would come with making my own empanada dough.

But once the temperature cooled and hanging out in my kitchen seemed less like torture and more fun, I couldn’t resist the lure of meat encased in buttery, flakey pastry without having to put on proper clothing to enjoy. So I gave a basic empanada recipe I shot and found it pretty easy!

Hope you enjoy as well.

Cookie Dough Popsicle

I think every food blogger on the internet has made these popsicles this summer in honor of The Cookie Dough Lover's Cookbook coming out. And for good reason – they take about 2 minutes to make, use ingredients you probably are taking out of your pantry now, and taste AMAZING.

Seriously, I have no clue why I didn’t know that frozen milk, a pinch of salt, vanilla, and a bit of brown sugar would resemble cookie dough so closely. But I’ll be enjoying this combo as DC continues to tease me with autumn. If we’re going to magically spring back into summer weather, you better believe I’ll be eating a popsicle.

And possibly be staring at my new boots resentfully.

Tortilla Espanola

Tortilla Espanola is possible the world’s most awesome food. It’s simpler and less fussy than quiche, it’s comfort food in the best sense of the word, and if you ever visit Spain, you can find it on pretty much any menu. And when I studied abroad there, I did my best to sample every piece I could find. And Tortilla is magic because you can eat it for any meal you please – cold out of the fridge for breakfast, warmed up at lunch, or at room temp with some veggies for dinner. However you best like eggs, Tortilla can provide.

So while you could wait until get there, it might be easier (and tastier) if you learned to make it yourself.

Honestly, I’ve been putting off how to learn how to make this dish for a while. Partially because I was afraid to learn how easy it is to make (hint: very) and partially because I didn’t want to make it incorrectly (namely, starting it on the stove and finishing in the oven).

But then I found a slide show from Serious Eats with step-by-step pictures of how to make Tortilla – specifically how to flip the Tortilla. If my instructions aren’t clear, please click on the link. It’s super helpful!

Tortilla Espanola

From Serious Eats

The hardest part of this recipe is the flip, and that’s just an issue of confidence. Don’t over think it. I promise it’ll work and you’ll be enjoying tortilla in just a few minutes more. I know looking at this block of text for instructions makes this recipe seem complicated, but honestly the longest part of the entire process for me was peeling the potatoes.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds of potatoes, about 4 to 5 medium Yukon Golds or Russets, peeled

1 large yellow onion

4 eggs

Between 1/3 and 3/4 cup Olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

* Depends on your pan. I used a non-stick pan and ended up using a smidge over 1/3. If you don’t have a non-stick you’ll need enough to make sure the potatoes won’t stick to the bottom on the pan, probably closer to 3/4 cups

Equipment

Food processor/mandolin (recommended, but if you like slicing things into very thin, even slices, not strictly necessary), mixing bowls, colander, deep pot (to cook potatoes in), medium/small skillet, plate large enough to easily cover the skillet

Instructions

Use a food processor, mandolin, or knife to thinly slice the potatoes and onions.  Pour 1/4 cup olive oil into pan over medium-high heat.  Add onions and potatoes and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until onions are soft and potatoes are cooked through. You’ll know the potatoes are done if you can spilt it easily with a spoon or the side of a fork. Drain the potatoes and onion in a colander and reserve the drained oil for the next phase.

While potatoes are draining, beat together four eggs and a bit of salt in a large bowl. Add the potatoes and onion mixture and mix it around. You want to make sure all the slices are coated in egg. You can let this rest up to 15 minutes before going to the next step, which is lucky since it gives you time to get the next step set up.

Preheat a medium or small skillet over medium-high heat. Add a tablespoon of the reserved oil and spread it around the inside edges and bottom of pan. Once the skillet is very hot, add the tortilla mixture and give the pan a couple shakes to make sure it’s evenly distributed. Reduce heat to medium-low and occasionally run a heat-proof spatula around the edges to make sure the tortilla isn’t sticking.

After 10 minutes (when the eggs are just set around the edge and the potatoes aren’t sliding around when you jiggle the pan) the tortilla should be ready the flip. This is honestly the trickiest part of the whole recipe and you just have to go for it. Be confident! Show those eggs who’s boss.

Place plate over the top of the skillet, pick up the pan, and flip it over.  Add a bit more oil to the pan and ease flipped tortilla back into pan, cooked side up.  Feel free to use your spatula to nudge stubborn bits back into position. Cook another few minutes (about 5 – 8 more minutes) to ensure that the eggs have set through the middle of the tortilla.

Enjoy hot, cold, or at room temperature.

Serves 6-8

Spicy Salmon Burgers

I don’t really like reheated fish. For some reason, that’s where the dreaded “fishy” smell hits me and suddenly what was delicious the night before is inedible. Which leads me to the point that I tend to only buy enough fish to for a single meal – pretty much the antithesis of the rest of my grocery strategy.

So I’m always on the lookout for seafood recipes that are a) single meal, b) not too complicated, and c) don’t require a ton of work or ingredients. I mean, why go to all that trouble if you’re only going to eat it once?

So I like this recipe because if I’m really hungry I can simply eat both burgers. And if I’m not, I can freeze the extra. Win, win!

Whole Wheat Banana Blueberry Muffins

I’m fairly sure every time I post a muffin recipe I mention the fact that I don’t really like sweet muffins. And then the recipe is for a sweet muffin. I know, so consistent! Go me?

In any case, I’m finally living up to my self-proclaimed favorite type of muffin. One full of whole wheat, fruit, and minimal sugar. I actually took sugar out of the original recipe – who needs additional sugar sprinkled on top of the muffin when you have blueberries bursting with flavor?

You do? Well, feel free to distribute a tablespoon of white sugar over the tops of these before baking. But personally, I was a huge fan even without it.

In any case, enjoy the uncharacteristic consistent recipe below!

Homemade Ravioli and Summer Squash

I promised you more zucchini and here I deliver. In today’s recipe it plays second fiddle to homemade ravioli, because why not? If you’re going to go to all the trouble of making ravioli by hand, you want it to be the star of your dish. And since zucchini is pretty easy to find right now, might as well make a bed of it to add some veggies to your meal.

When I last tackled ravioli (seen here), I lamented that I couldn’t master egg yolk ravioli. Today is still not that day. But I am getting one step closer! One of these days…

It’s not as easy as using wonton wrappers because you actually have to make pasta dough. You would think this might have given me a clue that my kitchen was about to be inundated with flour, but I marched on to my cleaning hell unconcerned. Don’t skimp on flouring your work surface. It might make cleaning up more interesting, but your pasta won’t roll out nicely without it. Necessary evil folks, necessary evil.

(And yes, that is an instagrammed picture of the pasta I made. Can you tell I got a smartphone recently?)

Spicy Shrimp with Zucchini

Shrimp is a great protein to taste spices on. If I haven’t convinced you to try turmeric yet (though how you could pass up my Spicy Red Lentil and Rice Soup is beyond me), this might be a good one to start on. The relatively mild flavor of shrimp and what some have called flavorless character of zucchini allows the spice mix here to shine.

This dish packs a kick, but not in the “please give me all the milk in the world, dear god it burns” way. More like “ooooh, that’s good” way. There’s an important difference here.

And since zucchini is currently cheap and abundant, expect to see another zucchini recipe here in a few days. Might as well figure out how to use it while it’s here!

White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Enough of this health food! I know what you guys really like - sugar! And wouldn't it figure that it's one of the few recipes I made in the last few months that has more than 1 picture? If that's not a sign of my obsession dedication, I don't know what is.

I feel bad about not sharing this one sooner – since mid-May I’ve constantly had a batch of these in my freezer in case a cookie emergency hits (hint: it hits frequently). I’m not normally a fan of white chocolate (all about the dark chocolate in this half of the apartment folks), but they were on sale at the grocery store and I can’t resist a bargain. Or free shit. It’s a serious clutter-causing problem.

In any case, I bought them the started trying to figure out what I could make. This recipe appealed because a) I’ve had a pretty good relationship with Hershey’s chocolate so far in my life and b) I had all the ingredients on hand. Originally I had hoped to make a chocolate cookie with white chocolate chips and pistachios, but I couldn’t find a small enough and cheap enough quantity of pistachios to make it worth it. One day though….

In the mean time, enjoy these! Tasty, chocolate-y, and very easy to make.

Lemon Caper Tilapia

I’m not a huge fan of red meat (or sausage) and chicken breasts can get boring if eaten enough times, so I’m always on the lookout for new fish and alternate protein recipes. If you have any favorites, please let me know!

This recipe got me from the get go – lemons, tomatoes, capers, and garlic, oh my! Is there anything better, especially in the last gasps of summer we’re now experiencing? Grab some fresh tomatoes while they’re available. Plus the fact that this is the seafood equivalent of slice and bake - slice veggies, bake fish in aluminum. Perfect gateway recipe for people who want to add seafood to their diet but haven't made it at home before. 

As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve recently been experimenting with freezer cooking. One of the more useful resources I’ve found has been Once a Month Mom – a website with a large collection of recipes that have freezing instructions already spelled out for you (they also sell memberships to buy their monthly and mini meal plans). This was one of the first recipes from them that I made and I think you’ll enjoy it as well!

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!