FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Summer Soup

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When people say that summertime is too hot for eating soup, I think what they really mean is summertime is too hot for eating soup in public.  I’m perfectly fine with wearing PJs, eating soup, and sweating it out in the comfort of my own home.  Twice.

I’ve been on a central market kick lately because I’m crushing hardcore on their produce department.  It lures you in with sheer beauty and then, once you realize how cheap everything is, you’re a total sucker, totally willing to sit in rush hour traffic to get your produce fix.  Two dollar-ish shitake mushrooms.  Dollar-ish bok choy, green onions, and cilantro.  Four cent serrano pepper.  Umm yeah, this gigantic boat of soup hovered around the ten dollar mark.

FoodFash Summer Soup (yields 4 servings)

12 cups of water

4 Not-Chick’n Bouillon Cubes

2 heads of baby bok choy, chopped

1/2 cup of fresh cilantro, stems removed

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

1/4 lb of shitake mushrooms, sliced

1 serrano pepper, sliced (remove seeds if you’re sensitive to spice)

juice of 4 limes

8 oz of udon noodles

Bring water to a boil and add everything but the udon noodles.  Let boil for 5 minutes and then add the noodles.  Let boil for an additional 10 minutes and then remove from heat.  Let cool for a couple minutes and then serve.

I LOVED this soup.  Spicy cilantro lime should be the basis of every soup that even thinks about getting in my belly.  It’s tangy and spicy and, even though it’s temperature hot, still maintains that freshness vibe.  The moral of this story – embrace a good summer soup and sweat it out.  It’s totally worth it.

Get Your Peach On

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I’ve never been more aware of peach season than over the past few weeks here in good ol’ Tejas.  Every grocer has every variety of peach in abundance and way on sale.  I can’t help but pick a few peaches off the pyramid each and every time.  What is that called?  The power of suggestion?  Whatever it is, it’s working.

Grilled fruit has been all the rage in the foodie world as of late, so I figured peach season was as good of a time as any to jump on the bandwagon.  I found this recipe for Grilled Peaches with Goat Cheese and Balsamic on Edible Austin and it couldn’t have been any more simple or any more tasty!

I used 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil per peach half and broiled on high for 5 minutes.  Other than the fact that grilling is impossible in stormy weather (it’s been Florida-style thunderstorming this week in Austin!), I prefer broiling over grilling.  It requires much less clean up and, well, me and pilot lights and gas…  It just doesn’t seem like a good unsupervised activity for this girl!

First thought, balsamic and goat cheese are made for one another.  Second thought, these would be oh so perfect served as a first course at a dinner party.  I mounged them all up, thinking about how much prettier these pictures would have been had I known how to prepare a balsamic reduction.  Next time!

Mexican Polenta Casserole

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Weekends are for baking, Mondays are for veggies.  I had to remind myself of this constantly tonight to resist the urge to reclaim the pie I left with the boys on Saturday.

I distracted myself by heading to the market and loading up on lots of produce to vegify an already vegiful dish.

FoodFash Mexican Polenta Casserole (yields 8 servings)

Adapted from this Eating Well recipe

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 poblano peppers, chopped

1 zucchini, shredded

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

2 cups of frozen chopped spinach

2 teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon salt

1 pound ready made polenta

1-1/2  cups enchilada sauce

top with Greek yogurt, sour cream, or non-dairy sour cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions and poblano peppers and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add shredded zucchini, tomatoes, beans, spinach, cumin, and salt.  Let cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes.  Slice polenta into 1/4″ thick slices (you’ll need about 24 slices).  Layer the bottom of 8×11-ish pan with 1/3 of the polenta slices.  Top with half of the veggies and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce and repeat.  Top the casserole with the last 1/2 of the polenta slices and 1/2 cup of enchilada sauce.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t take me a second to adjust my palate to eating a mostly dairy free meal again.  But by the time I was a few bites in (and I forgot about this weekend’s peanut butter pie and cheesy Mexican feasts) I began to appreciate my meal.  It reminded me of a hearty, polenta topped, stew – a perfect dinner for a thunderstormy eve!

Princess Pie

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I am… such a sucker for little kids.  They have the ability to disengage me from the adult world in about 90 seconds flat.  So when Matt told me his sister and 4-year old niece were coming to visit this weekend, I was super excited to meet the munchkin.  Oh, and make her a pie.  Because every little kid loves chocolate peanut butter pie, right?

After a busy day of errand running, boat dock scheming, and friend lunching, Miss Kristin put on her baker hat and entered into the world of chocolate, peanut butter, and whipping cream.  “You’re working too hard!”, Matt said.  I hardly considered this work.

Of all the pies I had baked over the years, none of them had been chocolate or peanut butter.  Not having a go-to recipe wasn’t ideal, but after browsing through books and sites I knew what needed to happen.  I cherry picked from a few recipes, avoiding steps that involved microwaves, Cool Whip, and corn syrup.

FoodFash Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie (adapted from Better Homes & Gardens)

1 9″ pie shell, baked

1-1/3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 – 8 oz package of cream cheese

3/4 cup peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar, sifted

Place a mixing bowl and beaters in the fridge.  In a small saucepan, melt chocolate chips, 2/3 cup whipping cream, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  When all chips are melted, pour chocolate sauce into the pie shell and place in the freezer while you whip up the peanut butter topping.  In another mixing bowl, beat together peanut butter and cream cheese.  Add 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons of whipping cream, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.  Beat until super blended and set aside.  In the chilled mixing bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream and 2 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar until stiff peaks form.  Fold portions of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mix until all of whipped cream has been absorbed into the peanut butter.  Remove the pie shell with chocolate bottom from the freezer and spread the peanut butter topping over the pie.  Refrigerate for a couple hours and then serve.

And that, my friends, is the face of a princess that’s excited for some chocolate peanut butter pie!