Sopa de French Onion

Ingredients
1/4 cup oil
3 onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon molasses or honey
1 tablespoon all-purpose wheat flour
2 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup cooking wine
2 (10.5 ounce) cans condensed beef broth - i use a bouillion cube instead
1 French baguette - i use high fiber bread
8 ounces sliced Swiss cheese - optional, of course

Directions
heat oil 4 quart saucepan. Stir in molasses or honey. Cook onions over medium heat for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Stir in flour until well blended with the onions and pan juices. Add water, wine, and beef broth; heat to boiling. Reduce heat to low. Cover soup, and simmer for 10 minutes.

Cut four 1 inch thick slices of bread from the loaf. Toast the bread slices at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) just until browned, about 10 minutes. Reserve the remaining bread to serve with the soup.

Ladle soup into four 12 ounce, oven-safe bowls. Place 1 slice toasted bread on top of the soup in each bowl. Fold Swiss cheese slices, and fit onto toasted bread slices. Place soup bowls on a cookie sheet for easier handling.

Bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for 10 minutes, or just until cheese is melted

serves 4

this was taken from allrecipes.com, here, though i altered it a bit.

4 high fives (out of five)

RBR with andouille - ooowee!

we nicked this from here after a quick web search. Gosta. Gostu.

Ingredients:
1 pound dried red beans
1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage cut into chunks (we use andouille of course)
1 ham hock or ham bone (whatever)
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic minced
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon sage
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt to taste
freshly cooked white rice (or brown rice if you care about nutrients)

Preparation:
Soak beans overnight in cold water. Drain and put the beans in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add fresh water to cover, along with the sausage and ham, onion, garlic, thyme, pepper, sage, and cayenne. Bring to boil over medium high heat.

Reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until beans are tender, adding more water if necessary to keep them from drying out. This will take 2 to 3 hours. Add salt to taste. Discard ham bones. Remove about 1/4 cup of beans from mixture and mash; return to Dutch oven and stir. Simmer 15 more minutes.Serve over hot rice.Serves 6.

where are all the seasonal recipe blogs?

to be clear - its easy to search for recipes and i get both good and bad online - from sites dedicated to recipes to blogs. but im having trouble finding that perfect site where i can find recipes based on seasonal, local, fresh food while leaving out all the processed shizzle.

i mean no more canned stuff or produce that comes from far away. like right now - i need squash recipes and i need okra recipes and i really really needed turnip recipes like last week.

im trying to be positive.

banana milk which i invented

i tried to make rice milk the other day and it was not good. so today i was making a sweet potato pancake (dont get excited its processed like a mother) and wanted to use some kind of milk instead of the water it called for.

so i put half a banana in the blender - boom. then i added some water - boom. banana milk. and the pancake rocked my socks off.

i made some more tonight for the sweet sweet couscous. delish.

remember who invented it - me.

a vegan experiment

so i am trying to go vegan. so far ive been doing it two weeks or so. im not gonna go crazy but slowly ease on in. it just seems like the right thing. ill talk about it more on my gym blog.

sweet sweet couscous

i was looking at grains at the local grocery and decided on some golden organic couscous. i dont think ive ever had couscous before but a friend was eating it the other day and i thought what the hell.

tonight i tried it with a recipe from bobs red mill. here it is:

This dish is of grain consistency and is best served with additional soy milk.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups Soy Milk (guess what i used banana milk, which i invented)
3 Tb Almond Butter *
1/2 cup Raisins (Unsulfured) ( i used organic currants because they were cheaper)
1/4 tsp Sea Salt
2/3 cup Golden Couscous
1/2 cup Almonds (Sliced)

Bring soy milk, nut butter, and raisins to a boil. Add remaining ingredients and return to a gentle boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes.

*Cashew or peanut butter can replace almond butter.Makes 10 servings.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Servings Size: 1 serving (102g)
Calories 160, Calories from Fat 60, Total Fat 7g, Saturated Fat 0.5g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 50mg, Total Carbohydrate 20g, Dietary Fiber 2g, Sugars 5g and Protein 6g.

Rating: five high fives (out of five)

eatin diffrent

bekah had another great idea the other day.

feeling a need to look more closely at what we were putting into our bodies after we read something my brother showed us (basically it said it's more important to eat food that hasn't been processed than anything else) and inspired by the book Plenty, we started shopping for locally produced food. This blog's recipes will from now on reflect that.

pizza crust recipe

so even though pizza isn't the best thing to eat (what with the amount of bread and cheese therein) we can't seem to shake it. the next best thing, then, is to make it at home. we've been trying different recipes - the last one went way wrong - and this one seems just right. we used wheat flour and it even works for calzones.

Oven 400 Degrees
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup water
1 tbsp cooking oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Prepare pizza pan by spraying with non-stick cooking spray.
Combine dry ingredients in mixing bowl.
Add liquids and stir to incorporate dry ingredients.
Knead dough by hand 6-8 times on a lightly floured surface.
Roll dough thinly.
Place rolled dough onto prepared pizza pan, add favorite sauce and toppings.
Bake at 400 degrees for 18-20 minutes, depending on crust thickness.

i stole this from www.easypizzacrusts.com.

Mexican Taco Stew

Here.

a delish jambalaya

from whole foods - but we have changed it up a bit to be more locally flavorful

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup diced carrots
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 (12-ounce) package andouille sausage, sliced in 1-inch pieces
1 cup Louisiana rice
2 or 3 creole tomatoes
1/8 cup hto peppers (or more if you please)
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound (16-20 count) fresh raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

Method:
1) Heat oil in 4-quart pan over medium heat. Add onion, celery, carrots; season with salt and pepper. Cover; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2) Add sausage; cook 2 minutes.

3) Add rice, tomatoes, broth and shrimp; stir to evenly distribute. Cover; cook 5 minutes.

4) Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as desired. Serve immediately.


Comments:
we found this when we were getting tired of the boxed jamby, though we do believe still that Mam Papaul's mix is pretty darn good

Rating:
Five high fives (out of five)