Carrot Ginger Soup with Sriracha

There are certain times of year that have a glorious overabundance of amazing "dirt candy." Farmers are meticulously sowing seeds and harvesting copious amounts of vibrant vegetables. This time of year in South Texas, you will find plenty of greens, broccoli, cauliflower, and some root vegetables, depending on when they were sown.

 

Although this picture is a little outdated (taken last year) it is a great representation of what my friend pulled out of our garden this weekend. I went by for a little bit to help on the greenhouse and they pulled out a humongous bucket of gnarly looking carrots. We had planted them last year but didn't spend any time on them, just let them go (no idea why, we just did). They were big, old, a little hairy, but DELICIOUS!

 

These carrots are from my friend Julie Braune's AMAZING farm in Geronimo TX.

 

 



 

With the abundance of carrots I found in my possession, I decided to cruise the web for a bit to get some ideas on what to do with them. Since they weren't really aesthetically pleasing to the eye, I decided to peel and chop them and make them into soup. And I am so glad I did. I kept the ingredients list to a bare minimum and seasoned it with salt and Sriracha, producing a creamy satisfying soup. I had a 2 cup serving and was stuffed! I love to eat, and I eat a LOT. Eating small portions usually doesn't cut it for me (I work out and run a lot) so when I can eat a large portion of something, feel full and know that I fueled my body with something that was not only delicious but healthy and nourishing, it's a win win.

 

A fun feature of using Sriracha to season is that it comes in a bottle with a writing tip! LOL you can personalize each bowl with cute and fun designs, making the dish more interesting. Don't worry about the heat, I had to use quite a bit of the Sriracha to make it spicy. The sweetness and mildness of the carrots and coconut milk really tame the heat down.

 

To make the soup:

5-6 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1/4 medium onion, chopped

1" ginger, peeled, smashed, and minced

2 t coconut oil (or olive oil) omit if oil free



3-4 c vegetable broth
1 can coconut milk

In a medium saucepan, heat coconut oil or EVOO or water/broth. Add onions and ginger and saute over medium heat for a few minutes, till the onions are translucent. Add carrots and vegetable broth and simmer till carrots are tender. You can choose to add some curry powder or paste, but I left it out this time. When carrots are tender, either use an immersion blender to blend till smooth or let cook a couple minutes and blend in the blender till smooth. Add coconut milk and season with salt. Pass the Sriracha when serving! Enjoy!

Build a Salad Workshop

If the truth must be known, I have to be in the mood for a salad. I also need to feel warm and not cold to enjoy it. That being said, here in South Texas lately, we've had a string of some gloriously beautiful days that have inspired me to create some unforgettable salads.

As you may have deducted from many of my previous posts, I am a big fan of kale. Make that a HUGE fan! I started out with the ever trusty massaged kale salad but have since changed my method ever so slightly.

For your build a salad workshop, you can use any greens you'd like. You can use the boxed kind (I like baby spinach and kale mix), lettuce, spinach, or KALE! If you haven't tried it before, I suggest you use it, just once, and see how you like it. You'll get more bang for your buck, nutritionally, and I find my kale salads to be heartier and more filling. Another plus with the kale is once you've prepared it, it stays in the fridge for a good while before spoiling.

When you prepare your kale, wash and dry the leaves then pull off the stems by grasping the stem end with one hand and pulling up on the leaf, away from the stem. This should keep your leaf intact, but if it tears and you get smaller pieces, that's fine. You can then tear your kale into bites sized pieces, but lately I've been stacking them and slicing into ribbons about 1/4-1/3" wide. This makes the massaging process a little shorter, in my opinion. Drizzle a couple teaspoons of olive oil and massage the kale for a couple of minutes. You could even cut it smaller, add the dressing straight to the kale, toss, and let sit in the fridge for an hour or more before proceeding.



This bowl contains about 8 - 10 big kale leaves, thinly sliced. I used curly leaf kale from the grocery store. Other available varieties are perfectly acceptable. My favorite is dinosaur aka Lacinato kale. It's a little harder to find but super easy to grow if you're into stuff like that. :)

 

I was so excited when I was making this salad that I forgot to take individual pictures of all the elements. The following picture does a good job of showing every ingredient. This is a GUIDE, folks, so feel free to add or subtract any of the ingredients.

 

When I go beyond making a standard salad (lettuce, cukes, peppers, dressing) I make sure to include many different elements that combine to make a full and satisfying meal that is jam packed with nutrients.

 

I like to include a grain of some kind. Quinoa is easy and delicious and stores well in the fridge for several days. I think quinoa tastes and cooks better if it has been soaked for at least 8 hours and rinsed very well. In fact, I like to rinse it 3-4 times before cooking to remove any residues on the seeds. If you do soak and rinse the quinoa before cooking, reduce the water by 25% (1 c dry before soaking quinoa plus 1 1/2 c water instead of 2 like the package suggests). You could use brown or wild rice or any other grain you like.

 

Next, I chop a variety of vegetables that tickle my fancy on that day. Since there have been good prices on peppers, cucumbers, and cauliflower, I used those. I love raw onions, so threw on a few slices of red onions. I don't think a salad is complete without avocados, so I always include one.

 

For dressing, the possibilities are endless! A beautiful combination of acidic liquid (vinegar, citrus juice), a bit of olive oil, a squirt of brown mustard for emulsifying, and some salt and pepper. I usually use 3 parts vinegar (balsamic, white wine, red wine, apple cider, or lemon or lime juice) with once part oil, 1/2 part mustard, and a dash of salt and pepper and garlic powder. Whisk it together or dump it all into a jar that has a cover and shake shake shake. If you find the dressing to be a little too tart, you can add a little maple syrup at a time until it tastes just right. In this particular salad, I used white wine vinegar.

 

Have these ingredients on hand. Keep them in containers in your fridge and you'll be able to assemble a salad at a moment's notice. Having the ingredients fresh and ready, you'll be more inclined to grab them rather than an unhealthy snack. How's that for fast food?

Chipotle Remake

In my sweet little town, there are very few eating establishments that are primarily healthy (as opposed to mostly unhealthy with a few token salads). One of my favorite places to eat is Chipotle. I especially love how we can customize each dish exactly to our liking. My hubby and I usually get a rice and beans bowl to share and the servers are happy to put his meat on one end and a heap of guacamole on my side. We get full sharing one bowl!

While I love this meal at Chipotle, I wanted to duplicate it to serve at home to the whole family. As a home cook, I had EVERY single one of these ingredients on hand so I didn't have to go and purchase anything special for the meal. (I used to have a meal plan and shop specifically for it, but lately I just stock up on items that I know I'll use.)

Here we go - I'll talk you through the process and give you some tips and hints to make this easy.

**I made the rice and beans with no extra seasoning, only because I made a lot and wanted them to carry over to other recipes. The corn, pico de gallo, and sautéed peppers and onions provide PLENTY of flavor.

Brown rice - several years ago, I stumbled across a rice cooking method that ensured perfect brown rice, every single time, no burning, no dryness, just perfect fluffy rice. The trick? You cook it like pasta.

In a medium to large saucepan, bring about 1 1/2-2 quarts water to boil. When water boils, add a half pound of brown rice. When it returns to a boil, reduce heat a tiny bit, to medium high. Set your kitchen timer for 30 minutes and let it boil, uncovered. Check occasionally, and if the water evaporates too much and rice is on the surface, just add a bit more water. When 30 minutes is up, drain the rice in a colander, count to 8, add it back to the pan and cover it. Let it steam itself for 10 minutes and voila!! Perfect brown rice.

Black beans: I normally soak my beans overnight then use the pressure cooker. This time, I did the "quick soak method" on the package. Whatever your preferred method of cooking beans is, use it. Best results are always with a good, long, overnight soak, but that isn't the only way. Heck, you can even use canned beans for this recipe.

Corn salad, guacamole, and pico de gallo. I had frozen corn and cherry tomatoes on hand, so I used those. I usually buy 6-8 avocados at the grocery store every week, so I was covered there.

Corn Salad
1 bag frozen corn, thawed
1/3 red bell pepper, diced
2 T minced red onions
2 T finely chopped cilantro
juice of half a lime

(I made a small amount of pico de gallo, my kids don't usually eat it)

Pico De Gallo
1 c chopped tomatoes (cherry tomatoes cut into 4ths here)
1 jalapeno, diced (seeded if you are concerned about heat...I keep them)
1 T minced red onion
1 T finely chopped cilantro
juice of 1/4 lime

(you can prep all the veggies together ahead and divide them up for these dishes)

Guacamole

2 avocados, mashed
juice of 1/4 lime

For all dishes, season lightly with salt as desired.

Sautéed peppers and onions

1/2 large white onion, thinly sliced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced

In a non stick pan, coated very lightly with cooking spray or olive oil, or even a drizzle of water, sautee till you start seeing some GBD (golden brown delicious). Season with salt and pepper (for some reason, I love a generous dose of black pepper on these).

Chipotle uses Romaine lettuce, but I never keep that on hand. I had the bright idea of using cabbage and it worked perfect! Thinly slice 1/4 head of cabbage for this.

Salsa - you can use your favorite salsa recipe here. I took 6 dried arbol chiles and 2 cloves garlic, soaked them in hot water while I did other stuff. Then I stuck them in my NutriBullet with a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and gave it a spin.

To serve, in order: rice, beans, sautéed peppers and onions, corn salad, pico de gallo, cabbage, guac, and salsa.

This is such a delicious, healthful meal. I know it seems like a lot of steps, but while your rice is cooking, you actually have 40 minutes on your hands, during which time you can do the rest of the food prep. This is a great, cheap way to feed your family and an awesome way to impress a crowd!

 

Enjoy!

Crazy for Veggies!

I have been a little quiet here on the blog lately, mainly because I've spent the last several weeks taking classes to become a real estate agent. Then there was Christmas "break" which SHOULD be a break but was still full of busyness. Anywho....

Yesterday I took my national and state real estate exams. Thankfully, I passed! Unfortunately, it was the most stressful test I've ever taken! I am usually a great test taker and love the challenge. I studied all afternoon Sunday and Monday morning, followed by completing the chapter reviews, which I did horribly on! That is where the stress ensued. Truth be told, I am still carrying stress in a couple places on my back, even though the test has been over for over 24 hours.

After the test, I went to the grocery store on the way home to pick up a few things that I didn't get to over the weekend. Everywhere I looked, piles of beautiful veggies were calling me. I swear, I got the craziest strongest cravings for all of these vegetables! You'd think I would have wanted a margarita or a really strong vodka drink after the stress that I felt, but no, I wanted KALE! And roasted veggies!

As I have mentioned before, my family still eats meat, so I roasted them two chicken breasts in the oven. I had my own oven rack, though, loaded with piles and piles of veggie goodness.

Look at those colors! Don't they just make you smile?

The caramelization, the golden brown delicious bits and pieces. Sigh.... I think I'm in love.

What's a veggie party without kale? I don't want to find out. So I made a bed of massaged kale salad to serve the amazing roasted veggies on.

 

The bonus about making roasted veggies is that my whole family devours them. Some of the kids prefer one or two veggies over the others but when all is said and done, the pan is empty, and everyone is full of nutrition!

 

So...how about a recipe? Here it is:

 

Roasted Vegetables

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with your choice of lining (foil, parchment, or spray)

 

Cut your choice of vegetables into bite sized pieces. I used cauliflower, broccoli, onions, red, yellow, and orange bell peppers.

 

Throw them all into a large bowl and toss with a light drizzle of olive oil (appx 1 T) a good splash of balsamic vinegar (again, appx 1 T) some salt and pepper, a little dusting of garlic powder if desired. You see how loose this recipe is? Now just toss everything together until you think the oil, vinegar, and seasonings are evenly distributed. Spread out onto the pan and place in the oven. Check after 15 minutes, toss them around a bit to ensure even browning. I think this batch took about 35 minutes to cook, the same amount of time it took the chicken.

 

For the kale salad, I simply took about 6 large leaves of kale, pulled off the stems, and thinly sliced the leaves. I drizzled about 1 t of olive oil over top and massaged for a minute. I'm getting used to eating it without much of a massage. The smaller you cut it up, the better.

 

On the plate, I put a pile of the kale, a great heap of roasted veggies, a drizzle of some really good syrupy balsamic vinegar (I used the regular kind for roasting), and a side of avocado. This meal ranked up there with my favorites! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.