Tasty Winter Vegetable Soup

Elise, you better start picking up the slack, here. Mac and cheese from a box can be beautiful, whatever. I want to see some posts from you, stat. Maybe on Friday when you're taking care of my dog? :-D

This soup is one of my favorites in the winter. Which is good, because I always wind up making WAY more than I mean to. Consider yourself warned. This is inspired by a recipe I found on some blog somewhere (sorry, blogger, I totally don't remember what blog you write) and then adapted to suit my liking and what I tend to keep in my kitchen. So for me, this soup is great because I probably only need to buy one or two things, tops.

To begin, take a cup or so of dry black eyes peas and throw them in some water. Bring them to a boil, then remove from heat (but not the hot water) while you chop veggies.

Chop:
3-5 cloves garlic
3 large-ish potatoes
1 large sweet potato (I used white sweet potatoes this time! Did you know that was a thing?)
2 cups frozen corn (okay, don't chop that..)
1-2 carrots
1 onion

Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a big ole soup pot, then throw in everything you just chopped (including the corn) and cook on medium heat, covered, for 10 min (stirring occasionally). After 10 minutes, add 6 or so cups of your favorite stock, a couple teaspoons of lemon juice, the black eyed peas, and the following spices:
thyme (3 t)
anise or fennel (3 t)
paprika (1/2 t), salt (1/2 t)
and 3-4 bay leaves.
This is all to taste, of course. Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cut up a couple tomatoes (or open a can). Also cut up some kale (or your favorite dark leafy green). Kale was one of the few things I didn't have, so I put a backpack on Mr. Dog (sorry, no pictures) and we went to the store. The kale didn't fit so I put it through the handle on the top of his pack. It made me laugh, at least. Anyway, this kale I got is unlike any kale I've ever seen. Check it out:

It looks like an alien life form to me.

After the stuff has been simmering for 10 minutes, throw in the tomatoes and kale.

Simmer an additional 10-20 minutes or until the vegetables are soft.

Blueberry-raspberry-banana muffins

Raise your hand if you like muffins.

Okay, the rest of you can just leave my classroom. I can't relate to you at all. I mean, what's not to love about muffins? They're full of carbs and fruit, two of the best things in the world. I may have gone a little overboard with these muffins, but can you really blame me for wanting bananas, blueberries, and raspberries in the same package?

For these muffins I used Tato's Basic Muffin Recipe with a couple of alterations and additions (namely, way more fruit than can reasonably be expected in a batch of muffins). I'm just going to say it: they were delicious. I mean, otherwise they wouldn't be on a blog called "Beatiful/Delicious," now would they?

Even the kitty agrees!

Tato's Basic Muffin Recipe (Inez-style)

Preheat oven to to 400F. Seriously, do it now. It will take longer for the oven to heat than for you to put these muffins together.

• 2 c flour (all white or half white, half whole wheat -- for this batch I used about 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 white)
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 c sugar (increase to 1/3 c for sweeter muffins)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 c canola oil
• 1 c milk
• a splash of lemon juice
• a whole bunch of blueberries, raspberries, and sliced bananas (berries can be frozen or fresh)

Combine dry (flour, bp, salt, sugar) and wet (egg, oil, milk, lemon juice) ingredients in separate bowls.

Grease one muffins pan that holds 12 muffins. Place in heated oven for 1-2 minutes.

Combine wets, dries, and fruit. Do not overmix! Some lumps are okay.

Put batter immediately in heated muffin pan and bake for about 25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins.

Derek Shepherd Pie

So. After 11 years (has it really been that long??) Inez and I are finally roommates. We've moved in with some friends into a row house in Brookland, DC and are just loving it. Now we are cooking together all the time and so don't need to post to show each other what we've been doing. It has, however, come to our attention that people other than ourselves read this blog, fancy that!

Another thing we get to do together now is watch Grey's Anatomy. Yes. We admit... we love Grey's. So this Thursday we decided to brink it all together by making a Derek Shepherd's Pie.

Yes, that is "Derek"written out in cheddar cheese. Yes, we are big dorks.

Here is the Joy of Cooking's recipe for shepherd's pie (paraphrased):

• Make some hash.
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Put the hash, then the mashed potatoes in a dish.
• Bake.

Here's what we did:

• Cook up 1 1/2 chicken breasts with onions, garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, basil, cayenne, cumin, coriander (or whatever sounds good to you).
• Make some mashed potatoes.
• Chop and lightly steam some kale. (Can you tell wedidn't measure anything?)
• Chop and steam some carrots. 
• Grate some cheese (we used dill havarti and parmesan, just a little bit).
• Put a thin layer of potatoes on the bottom. Put everything but the rest of the potatoes in the dish. Put the potatoes on top.
• Write out "Derek" in cheddar cheese.
• Bake at 400 degrees for a while. 
• Watch Grey's Anatomy and enjoy.

[Inez] Beautiful baby

I had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this beautiful little thing. The credit for that goes to my sister Ileana Mena Mora. Felicidades a ella por el nacimiento de su precioso gordito, Kaleb Arroyo Mena. (Congratulations to her for the birth of her precious fat baby, Kaleb Arroyo Mena.) Even his name is beautiful!

I'll try not to dwell on my completely impartial observations, but allow me this:
Look at those tiny fingers! That nose! That little chin! Look at that super rockstar pout!

[Inez] more garden, please

Hey Elise, how are your vegetables coming along?

My garden is doing pretty well, although I have to water it every single day because D.C. is SO HOT and doesn't seem to understand why rain is important.

[Inez & Elise] World Cup Brunch

With the second round of the world cup centered on last weekend, Inez and I decided to hold a small brunch. After the defeat of the U.S. by Ghana we needed a bit of a pick-me-up; Enter: Pancakes and Mimosas!

Okay, Inez here. Elise asked me to take the reins because I actually made the pancakes. How is it that we can both post about something we made and ate together? BECAUSE WE LIVE IN THE SAME CITY! Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway. Ricotta pancakes topped with orange-honey sauce and oranges and strawberries. Inspired by one of the best brunches out I've ever had, at Sweetie's Pie Diner in Philadelphia (which I just learned closed, how sad!). We also made (well, Elise and Colin made) a spinach salad with strawberries, inspired by the salad we had at Lounge of Three on U Street which is where Elise and I went to watch the first half of the USA-Ghana game because Nellie's was too full of Team USA fans and we were hungry.

These pancakes have no chemical leavening. No baking soda, baking powder, no yeast. Just egg whites. It's actually a really short ingredient list: flour, eggs, ricotta, sugar, zest, salt. it called for lemon zest but I used orange zest. I made a 1 1/2 batch of this recipe for 4 people with zero leftovers and full bellies. Here's how it goes: Mix the egg yolks, ricotta, sugar, and zest in a big ole bowl. Add the flour. Then, in a medium bowl, whip the egg whites with a couple pinches of salt until they hold stiff peaks and generally look like the most beautiful puffy clouds. Then you fold the clouds into other stuff and it all becomes cloud-like. Seriously, it's amazing. Elise can attest to the fact that I was groaning in awe at this point.

Oh yeah, while you're folding in the egg whites, heat a pan or two on medium or medium-low heat. When it's all mixed and beautiful, cook those little orange-ricotta clouds up. Tip: I used a 1/4 cup measure to keep the pancakes sort of the same size without ever having to double dip into the bowl (which would, if repeated enough times, make the clouds less cloud-like).

Oh my goodness, don't they look amazing? I recommend standing back slightly while cooking these babies so that you don't drool directly onto the pancakes.

I assure you, they are every bit as delicious as they look. For the orange honey sauce I just took the orange juice from an orange and a half or so and then I added some honey and threw it in a little saucepan and simmered it while I cooked the pancakes. Don't go overboard with the honey like I did -- let the orange really sing. Then top with fresh fruit and feel like you have a little bit of heaven in your mouth!

Oh yeah, and mimosas. Yum.

Strawberries and pink champagne sparkling wine waiting for orange juice.

[Elise] Guacamole and Sweet Potato Hash

The last few times I've been to the grocery store it's been sample day and they've been pushing this delicious (and expensive) guacamole. Every time I tell myself I'll look up how to make it and get ingredients next time I'm at the store... and then I forget to. Today I learned that you pretty much just throw delicious things together and enjoy. Yum.

 Guacamole (makes a bit more than a pint)

Two avocados
1/8 c sour cream
Juice of one lime
One pepper (sweet or hot, depending on taste)
1/4 vidalia onion
½ tsp cumin

There was also supposed to be one mango diced up, but the mango I has was rotten on the inside. It was sad. I also would have liked to add a bit of cilantro, which I really need to add to my herb garden because you can never just get a little bit at the store.

Next came the question of what to put under the guacamole. I decided to totally wing it and make a sweet potato hash. I diced one whole sweet potato, the other 1/4 onion (sticking the remaining half in the fridge for tomorrow) and some garlic, sautéed on med-low heat for about 10 minutes before adding one zucchini and sautéing another 10 minutes. A few minutes from the end I added cumin, oregano, lemon salt, and some fresh basil from my garden. I was pretty nervous how it would all taste together with so many different flavors. It was absolutely delicious: The lime came through the guacamole in a really nice way; The crunch of the fresh onion in the guacamole was great to have in contrast with the flavor of the sautéed onions; The lemon salt was coarse and didn't dissolve fully so would add little busts of lemon. It was all just smooth and wonderful with a nice variety of flavors and textures.

Yum!