FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Christmas Party Recovery

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Last night was the first company Christmas party I had attended since 2008. The construction industry was full of doom and gloom and I just didn’t have it in me to get all dolled up just to chat about recent and upcoming layoffs.  Kinda killed the Christmas spirit, ya know?

This year was different.  The doom was replaced by hope and chatter of layoffs was replaced by chatter of new babies.  The setup was tasteful, the food was tasty and the cocktails…  Well, the cocktails went down a little too easy.

We even kept the celebration going by heading to Fly Bar afterward!

But continuing the party made for a super sluggish Saturday morning.  Green tea, Earth Balance noodles, and nap.  No bueno.

I woke up from the nap feeling like a new person and craving my favorite breakfast: egg and avocado on a sprouted wheat english muffin.  I changed it up by sprinkling with crushed red pepper.  Yum!

Now off to meet Lex, who just moved back from Texas!!

Spicy Salty Sweet Potato

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My first salty/sweet obsession happened when I lived in Dallas and had my first taste of World Market’s sea salt dark chocolate.  I’d treat myself to two squares every night after a run on Katy Trail or a class at YogaSport.  It was ritualistic and I kept my pantry stocked.  Of my final errands before moving back to Tampa was buying the remaining stock at multiple World Markets before hitting the road.  Crazytown.  It all melted.  I was devastated.

Not too long after discovering salty/sweet, spicy/sweet earned a place in my tummy heart. While Sarah was still living in LA, we headed over to The Hungry Cat for cocktails and the Sweet & Vicious caught our attention.  Super light, faintly sweet melon, a jalapeno kick, and vodka.  I still dream about that cocktail like a long lost love.

I could have prepared a typical Earth Balance, dash of salt, sweet potato tonight, but…  I knew I could do better.  I saw marshmallows in the fridge and salty/sweet came to mind and then spicy/sweet tried to take over until they all came together for spicy/salty/sweet!

FoodFash Spicy Salty Sweet Potato

1 medium sized sweet potato, cooked

1 tablespoon Earth Balance (or butter)

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

small handful of mini marshmallows

Scoop out all of the insides of a fully cooked sweet potato and put them into a small bowl.  Add butter, crushed red pepper, and salt to the sweet potato and mix well.  Stuff the sweet potato insides back into the potato skin.  Top with mini marshmallows and broil until marshmallows are the desired toasty-ness. Keep an eye on the marshmallows because there’s a fine line between perfect burned and gross burned!

Happy Gobble Gobble Day!!!

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Whoop, it’s almost that time!  I love, love, love Thanksgiving for a ton of reasons, but mostly for getting to eat dinner as a family, that start of cooler weather, and lots and lots of side dishes.  Little bites of lots of food makes me a happy, happy turkey!

I knew exactly which cookbook I wanted to bake from this year.  I pulled Terry Walters Clean Food off of the cookbook shelf and flipped to the fall table of contents.  It was a toss up between two butternut squash recipes, but ultimately, the Butternut Squash Casserole won.

I’m such a sucker for simple ingredients!

The recipe was a little more labor intensive that I had anticipated – LOTS of chopping.  However, if I hadn’t doubled the recipe, I don’t think it would have been that bad.

The casserole was sizzling its little heart out when I pulled it out of the oven.  I sampled a piece and thought it was tasty.  I had my uncle give it a whirl and he suggested that I add a little salt.  It’s amazing what the tiniest bit of salt can do! The maple syrup and cider bump up the natural sweetness of the squash just a notch, the red onion adds tang, and the toasted almonds add texture.  Overall, I think this dish comes together quite nicely!

I do not think this recipe stands a chance in being the favorite amongst all of the over-sweetened, over-creamed, over-salted dishes that dominate a traditional Thanksgiving Day table; however, if I were completely in charge of a holiday menu, I wouldn’t think twice about including this casserole again.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your families!

Soup For The FoodFash Soul

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What. A. Monday.  You know those days when you really try to do your best? You wake up 30 minutes early, early enough to blow dry your hair, pick out a cute outfit, fit in a few chores?  You show up at 8 AM on the dot, prepared for all your meetings, prepared to be a ‘yes man’ and cruise through every deadline that’s handed your way?  Today, I showed up at work as nerd-tastic as ever.

And today, I returned home not nearly as chipper as when I had left, and for no reason in particular.  The second I walked in the door I changed into a long-sleeved Gator tee I’ve managed to hold onto since college orientation, I hung my dry-cleanables, and curled into bed, with no thoughts of dinner, and continued where I had left off with the Kindle.

It wasn’t until I was interrupted by a phone call that I considered dinner should be a thing that happens tonight.  The first things that crossed my mind were soup, noodle soup, easy soup, comforting little kid soup…

FoodFash Chickenless Noodle Soup

Boil 1/2 cup dry noodles (I used wide egg noodles) until they are fully cooked. Pour the cooked noodles and about 2 cups of the noodle water into a soup bowl. Dissolve one Not Chick’n bouillon cube in the bowl and, when the soup has cooled down a tad, enjoy!

This soup has zero nutritional value, but I tell ya, the comfort value is off the charts.  Back to Kindle-land for me!