Simple Split Pea Soup

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You know it has been too long since last you blogged, when you can’t remember the login or password to your WordPress account.  Sorry friends.  I have a few backlogged items to share with you in the next few days and then hopefully next week some new cooking (I have a few new cookbooks, shocker).

This easy and super cheap soup comes to use via my fave Heidi Swanson of 101cookbooks.com.  You can pre-order her newest and greatest cookbook on Amazon right now SuperNatural Every Day.  If not for the recipes buy it for the food porn pics.  She is as good a photog as she is a veggie chef.

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (I used Fustini’s Meyer Lemon)
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups dried split green peas, AND 1/2 cup dried split yellow peas, picked over and rinsed.
• 5 cups water
• juice of 1/2 lemon (reserve the zest)
• a few pinches of smoked paprika
• more Meyer Lemon olive oil to drizzle

Add olive oil to a big pot over med-high heat. Stir in onions and salt and cook until the onions soften, just a minute or two. Add the split peas and water. Bring to a boil, dial down the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the peas are cooked through (but still a touch al dente). Using a large cup or mug ladle half of the soup into a bowl and set aside. Using a hand blender (or regular blender) puree the soup that is still remaining in the pot. Stir the reserved (still chunky) soup back into the puree – you should have a soup that is nicely textured. If you need to thin the soup out with more water (or stock) do so a bit at a time. Stir in the lemon juice and taste. If the soup needs more salt, add more a bit at a time until the flavor of the soup really pops.

Ladle into bowls or cups, and serve each drizzled with olive oil and topped with a good pinch of smoked paprika and a touch of lemon zest.

Serves 4 to 6.

This froze well, and all my work friends were jealous when it was beef on noodles day again in the cafe’ and I was eating a bowl of spring yum.  Also pictured with the soup was home-baked (from a freezer loaf) bread topped with chili sea salt and Meyer Lemon EVOO.

Fancy Nancy Visits: Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

I used to live with a good friend of mine, JT or “Fancy Nancy” (it’s a long story).    We shared living space, dog duties, a desire to cook dinners in nearly every night, good olive oil, and obsessive relationships with size 9 pumps, Glamour Magazine and beauty products.  Yeah, I miss her a lot.  I’ve lived in my new place for a while now and it was time for her to see the house, and for Walter the Wonderdog and her dog Max to have some play time.

What girl isn’t watching her weight?  I mean, even the super skinny ones that I want to force-feed veggie burgers to, are watching their weight.  I hate those girls, I have never and will never be what one might label as skinny (and I never want to be skinny-I, like Fergie, like my lovely lady lumps).   I digress…my fave veg cookbook author Isa Chandra (Moskowitz) just released a “fast and filling, low fat” vegan cookbook called Appetite for Reduction (hat tip to Axl Rose) and it is totally FAB.  There isn’t a single recipe that I don’t want to try, honestly.  So, I randomly opened the book to the salad section and tried this one:  Pad Thai Salad with Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing.  Ohhhhh, ahhhhh.  I know, right?!  I particularly LOVE this cookbook because, I sometimes am not really satisfied with 1 C of anything…so if you eat 2 C of something in this book, you aren’t really gonna pay the piper in terms of calories.  It’s still lower than an entree eaten out.  Isa does a great job with nutritional content and zippy tastes from common ingredients.  I used a couple of recipes from the book to make this dish, Pad Thai Salad and Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing.  All fast, and easy.  Enough talk, let’s eat.

Pad Thai Salad

• 8 C chopped romaine lettuce
• 4 C bean sprouts
• 1 small red onion, sliced thinly
• 1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated
• 1 recipe Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing *
• 1/4 C roasted peanuts
• 1/2 C lightly packed fresh cilantro
• lime wedges for serving

In a large mixing bowl, toss together the lettuce, sprouts, red onion, and carrot.  Add the dressing and toss to coat.  Distribute the salad among four bowls.  There will most likely be dressing left over as it is fairly thin.  Distribute the dressing among the bowls.  Garnish with roasted peanuts, cilantro, and serve with lime wedges.

Peanut-Lime Dragon Dressing

• 1/2 C roasted peanuts
• 2 T chopped shallot
• 1/4 C squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 C water
• 2 T agave nectar
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 tsp Sriracha

Pulse 2 T of the peanuts and all of the shallot in the food processor, just to chop everything up.  Add the lime juice, water, agave, soy sauce, and Sriracha, and blend until smooth.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides a few times.  Now add the remaining 2 T of peanuts and pulse for a bit.  These shouldn’t be blended smooth, just chopped up small.  The dressing will be thin.  Adjust the seasonings to your liking.  Keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container until ready to use, up to 5 days.

In this photo you will see Red Thai Tofu as well, but we will save that recipe for another day.

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Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu

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I had a little hiatus from blogging due to my first cooking injury.  Good thing Mr. Wonderful bought really sharp knives or I might be down a finger, instead I just filleted myself a little bit.  You would not believe how incredible the combo of super glue and liquid bandage are in avoiding a visit to urgent care and stitches. I digress, on to the recipe.

I’m officially obsessed with Isa Chandra now that I have her newest cookbook Appetite for Reduction.  I mean, I loved her before with her Post Punk Kitchen (PPK), Vegan Cookies Invade the Cookie Jar and her Veganomicon, but this book is her best and healthiest yet (um, can we get more pics in the next book please?).  Here is the first recipe Mr. Wonderful and I tried from the book.  Just try it, don’t let the ingredients scare you. Most of them are readily available at the “normal” grocery store in the ethnic aisle.  If you want a deal on the price of these items venture to your local Asian grocier, just don’t freak out about what you might see in the freezer section.  You have been warned.  Now you have no excuse NOT to get to know chili garlic sauce as a binder for a delish dressing.  Even Walter the Wonderdog got in on the cooking action this time.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad with Grilled Tofu

Serves 6 – Active Time: 30 minutes  Total Time:  40 minutes

(Can be made gluten-free if using GF tamari in place of soy sauce)

Cook’s Notes:

1. I used my heavy duty cast iron grill pan & it made gorgeous, “grilled tofu”.  Get a grill pan at Bed, Bath, & Beyond for 20% off.

2.  I used Nasoya light firm tofu to cut the fat.  My nutritional info, therefore, differs from Isa’s in the book.

3.  You can sub walnuts or cashews for the peanuts if you like.

Dressing:

• 1/3 cup warm water
• 3 tablespoons agave nectar (or honey..heck you could use maple syrup)
• 3 tablespoons chili garlic sauce
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 2 limes, depending how juicy your limes are)
• 1/4 tsp. salt, optional

Salad:

• 12 ounces extra-firm tofu
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce (low sodium)
• 1 (8-ounce) package of thin rice noodles (vermicelli)
• 1 medium-size cucumber thinly-sliced half-moons (1 heaping cup or 6 ounces)
• 2 carrots, peeled and grated
• 2 handfuls of bean sprouts (I’m all about bean sprouts right now)
• 4 ounces string beans, sliced into 1-inch pieces (about 1 cup)  These stay raw!
• 1 small red onion, sliced thinly
• 1 cup bean sprouts (this I added because I’m obsessed with them)
• 2 cups mixed greens
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced mint leaves

Peanut-Mint Gremolata (I used walnuts):

• 1/4 cup peanuts
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped mint
• Zest of 1/2 lime

Instructions:

1.  To make the dressing, mix all its ingredients together and stir vigorously.  Set aside.

2.  Slice the tofu into eight equal pieces widthwise, then slice those rectangles corner to corner to form long triangles.

3.  Place in a single layer on a large plate and pour 6 tablespoons of the dressing over the slices.  Also drizzle 2 teaspoons of soy sauce.  Let marinate, flipping occasionally, while you prepare everything else.

4.  Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions.  Usually they say to boil water, turn off the heat, and soak the noodles for about 8 minutes.  Once cooked, drain in a colander and run the noodles under cold water for about a minute until they are fully cooled.  Set aside to drain while you finish prepping everything.

5.  Mix all of the vegetables and the mint leaves into the noodles. Just use your hands–it’s messy, but the best way I found to incorporate everything.  Mix the dressing into the noodles and toss to coat.  Refrigerate while you prepare everything else.

6.  Combine the gremolata indredients in a small bowl.

7.  Now grill the tofu.  Preheat a non-stick grill pan or a cast-iron grill pan or a non-stick skillet over medium high heat.   Do not spray a non-stick pan with oil–it will ruin it!  The tofu will not stick! If you only have a cast-iron pan you will have to spray it or the tofu might stick.  Grill the tofu on each side for 4 minutes, or until grill marks appear.  If using just a regular pan, cook it for 3 minutes on each side.   Add the excess marinade to the noodles.

To serve: Scoop the noodles into six pretty bowls.  Wedge two or three tofu peices on the side of each bowl.  Sprinkle with the gremolata and serve with lime wedges and extra chili garlic sauce.

Holiday Leftovers II

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Leftovers to be transformed:  pineapple, sourdough bread, green onions, heavy whipping cream.

Made grilled chipotle/raspberry open faced sandwiches with grilled pineapple, green onions on sourdough bread.  Pineapple two ways for dessert, grilled and fresh/raw with cinnamon, nutmeg and are you ready for this?  Peachtree schnapps.  Yes.  Schnapps.

The how:  slice and press your tofu into “steaks”, marinade in chipotle/raspberry bbq sauce or any other sauce you have available for 20 minutes or so.  While you are marinating, slice and grill your green onions and pineapple over high heat until just done.  Remove pineapple and onion, then grill tofu until heated throughout and you achieve those super cool grill marks on both sides.  Remove from heat and toss your bread right onto that mess in the grill pan.  It will toast up with sauce remnants on it which isn’t a bad thing, trust me.  Assemble as an open face sandwich (I only had 2 pieces of bread to work with).

For the grilled and fresh pineapple dessert with whip.  Whip up some heavy cream with a dash of nutmeg, Splenda or sugar, cinnamon, and a douse of Schnapps.  Don’t measure, just taste as you go.  It’s not scientific, it will still be delicious-give it a whirl.  If your household has more class than mine and doesn’t have Schnapps on your shelf, stand in judgement for a bit like I expect you to, then just use vanilla for the same type of flavor profile.  :)  Add whipped tipsy cream to your fruit and serve as shown in photos.

Doing The RIGHT Thing!! Leading By Example: Cooking Day With Molly

My friend Julie is crazy.  Like in all the very BEST ways, crazy.  I’m so proud of her latest post to Facebook it nearly brought me to tears, I was forced to drop everything and brag about her in this post.  But first, a little health education, as if you actually thought I could write about this topic and not go all geek on you!!

In case you have been living in a cave for oh, say 50 years.  We are in the midst of an obesity epidemic. In ancient historic times a person’s weight was the gauge of their social standing. A thin person often meant poverty and a plum family equated to the fact that they were doing well enough to have plenty to eat. This is not the case now. Our culture is producing the first generation of obese children with the highest risk factor of developing diabetes. The National Institutes of Health estimate that over sixty five percent of Americans are either overweight or obese and the number is climbing. With the rise of obesity, the diagnosis of type-2 diabetes has also been increasing.

We are a nation obsessed with all the wrong types of foods and are constantly being marketed to buy and consume copious amounts of junk and fast food. The American Diabetes Association has been expressing alarm at the fact that approximately twenty one million people have diabetes with a potential of around another fifty four million diagnosed with pre-diabetes (an increased elevation of the blood glucose levels but not at a level to be officially diagnosed as type-2 diabetes). The obesity and diabetes statistics are alarming.

Diabetes is a dangerous disease, however, type-2 diabetes has been related as a lifestyle disorder. This means it can start at an early age with a high fat and high sugar diet that lends to the disease progress. By the time of later adult hood, the body functions are set in place to have type-2 diabetes.

Here’s what all the fuss is about:

Over two thirds of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be overweight or obese-
All adults total: 68 percent; Women: 64.1 percent. Men: 72.3 percent

About one third of the adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be obese-
All adults total: 33.8 percent; Women: 35.5 percent. Men: 32.2 percent

5.7 percent of adults in the United States twenty or older are considered to be extremely obese.

There has been a steady increase in obesity in all ethnicities, genders, ages and education levels. The prevalence of obesity in the United States has increase from 13.4 to 35.1 percent in adults age 20 to 74. Since 2004, while the prevalence of overweight is still high among men and women. There aren’t any significant differences in documented rates from 2003, to 2004; 2005 to 2006 and 2007 to 2008. There hasn’t been any change in obesity prevalence in women from 1999 to 2008; 2009-2010 official statistics have not yet been released, but I’m predicting an increase.

The increase in obesity in children in a 2003-2006 study showed 12.4 percent of children ages 2-5 and a 17 percent of children aged 6-11 were overweight.  Most studies show that there is an increased mortality rate associated with obesity due to all sorts of preventable diseases and recently, even the National Cancer Institute links obesity to CANCER!!!!

If we as a community and a culture are going to encourage a healthy life for future generations, and change these alarming statistics, we have to stop buying prepackaged and premade products from manufacturers that really don’t care about us.  Their job is to sell us product people!  We need to pull the junk food from the schools and replace it with healthier choices (this I could talk about for hours-vending machines in schools still selling regular soda!!? It’s an outrage and a totally separate blog rant later).  We also need to begin learning to eat right and less in volume, no matter where we are.  Lastly, we need to cook at home with our kids!!!!!  I applaud you Julie ( you too Molly! ) for taking steps in the positive direction for change.  I love that you begin with a very humble and also misunderstood veggie, Brussels Sprouts.  Listed below is Julie’s note from FB, keep up the good fight gals!

(Statistics not immediately sited in text were taken from the Centers for Disease Control website:  cdc.gov).

Julie:  So, I’ve been inspired by Cooking Light Magazine and their “12 Healthy Habits of 2011″ program (check out their website…it’s a pretty cool thing they’re doing!)  January is the month of adding more vegetables into your diet.  Clearly this will only benefit my effort of weight loss (and my SparkPeople program) so I went to the store today with a mission to get some veggies, try a NEW veggie, and prepare some stuff that will get me through the week.

My new veggie:  Brussels Sprouts.  Yes, Erin, I’m trying Brussel Sprouts.  (I know…you’re tearing up   I’m linking the recipe that I’m going to use.  (I’m hoping that the link works.)

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000522381

And, Molly and I created a Three-Bean Vegetarian Chili.  It has butternut squash in it.  Which just happens to be one of my FAV veggies   Here’s that recipe.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001949760

It’s going to be a veggie filled month, I just know it

(If I tag you, it’s because you’re either a foodie or a diet buddy, or just b/c I adore you.)

Holiday Leftovers Take I

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I’m terrible when it comes to leftovers.  They typically end up in the garbage.  This dish however, began as stragglers, so not technically leftovers as in cooked and saved, this was mostly the stuff that didn’t get made and that would normally rot in my fridge.  As there isn’t really a recipe, here is what I did:

1.  Roasted the squash (in cubes) and brussels sprouts in a few teaspoons of EVOO at 400 until sprouts were caramelized and squash was done.

2.  Warmed up some leftover Basmati (my fave) rice from a previous stir fry.

3.  Stir fried extra firm tofu with lemon juice, orange juice and the zests of both until the tofu was caramelized and the juice made a little sauce.  Then I tossed in a little soy for salt, it created a little glaze.

4.  To assemble:  tofu on rice, with side helping of veggies roasted and topped with pom seeds from the fridge.  We enjoyed this with some leftover French bread and smoked cheddar cheese.

Nom nom.  :)