dinner – Peaceful Reader

The end of the month is trudging along

What an unusual April it has been! I’ve made some good food, read some interesting books, and watched some interesting shows/movies with my family.

A long walk to water by Linda Sue Park (2010): This is a fictionalized story of one boy caught up in the Sudanese conflict with alternating sections sharing a young girl’s story as she spends her days carrying water. The stories come together in such a meaningful way; I finished this one in the car as I was waiting for my teenage dancer. If you were watching you would have witnessed me crying in my car. Highly recommend for many readers of all ages.

Green Angel by Alice Hoffman (2004): A short dystopian tale of a young girl left behind after her parents and younger sister take a trip into the city to sell vegetables never to return. The language and descriptions are beautiful and it is an amazing story of Green’s rebirth.

Lost in the sun by Lisa Graff (2015): I read this a few years ago and didn’t love it, then I assigned it to 6th-grade book club and read it again. I liked it much better this time around. I enjoyed Trent’s character more and understood the angst. The parents in the story left me wondering why they did seek help for him and especially thought the dad was an insensitive character.

Choosing Civility; The 25 rules of considerate conduct by P.M. Forni (2003): Forni teaches at the university level and saw a need for an introduction to manners for students. This book is a wonderful refresher course on rules we know but often don’t put into practice. Buy it for yourself or for someone you think could use it.

Curried Lentils: Delicious and easy. We had them with rice first and then another night wrapped in tortillas and heated. Oh so good. She has a similar recipe for curried chickpeas as well.

Chicken & black bean Enchiladas: I made these at the beginning of last week so we would have a few easy dinners. Groovy Girl is really good at making her own food but that takes time and right now she is short on that ingredient so I whipped up this batch of enchiladas so she wouldn’t have to make anything for a few days. I left out the pumpkin this time and used free-range local chicken from our meat market.

Atypical (Netflix)-watched by myself, then with Groovy Girl, and now want to watch with husband. Tells the story of a young autistic named Sam and his crazy yet also normal family. Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Sam’s mom. We love his sister, Casey and her boyfriend, Evan.
Everything Sucks! (Netflix)-We only watch this one altogether. It’s about high school students at Boring High, OR. And in doing some googling discovered this show has been cancelled after one season-that really sucks Netflix. Everybody rush to watch this first season…
On my block (Netflix)-Groovy Girl and I watched this series in one night and cannot wait for more. I plan to watch again with husband when his schedule frees up a little. A small group of LA teens who live on the same block try to focus on surviving their neighborhood. Excellent performances by all!
The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu)-yes, I’m still watching. I waited to read the book and then I’ve tried to take it slow. It is a tough show to watch and gives me the chills.

Speaking of chills we went yesterday on a family outing to see The Quiet Place. I loved it and I am not a fan at all of anything scary. No Jason for me, no slashers, no creepy houses, etc. This one was more of a scary dystopian with loveable characters. John Krasinski wrote, directed, and produced this one and his talented wife Emily Blunt plays his wife. Give it a try; truthfully I only closed my eyes once or twice and I brought headphones (one reviewer said this might help) but didn’t end up using them much.

This post sums up my whole month except for some major family downs, two road trips, lots of dance classes, and a few friend celebrations. What do you have to share back with me?

Menu for this holiday week…WOW!

I like planning and putting together meals that everyone will love through the holidays. Planning truly is half the fun.

I should be cleaning right now and instead I’m plotting and finding recipes. Tomorrow morning it will be the first meal we all have together since-well, we were all in Chicago for Thanksgiving! Still it will be special around our big table, ready to start the festivities off.

I’m going to make a french toast recipe in my slow cooker. I can get up early, pour it all in, and then go back to bed and read for a few hours until the eggs are set and the bread is crusty. Breakfast for Christmas morning is going to be an egg enchilada dish with some grits, fruit, and bacon (husband only).

{breakfast enchiladas}

At Mississippi Market in St Paul I located a MN farm-raised turkey and my husband picked it up today before he picked up our oldest daughter at the airport. Our turkey is now riding home with the two of them-hopefully doing a little un-thawing. I spent days and many phone calls trying to find an Iowa turkey but none were available. We have not had a turkey for years. I’ve been creative over the years making meatless or fish meals. While we were in Chicago over Thanksgiving though Groovy Girl mentioned that she didn’t remember EVER having had a “traditional” T.giving meal. She’s exceptional.

{squash and wild rice}

While I’m not one for tradition I thought it would be fun to give it a go for Christmas. I plan to brine the bird just like my mom and I used to do years ago. I’m not even a fan of turkey but we’ll see how this one turns out. I hope Groovy Girl will be happy with the results. That meal will be rounded out with cranberries, butternut squash/wild rice dish (if I change the honey for maple syrup it will be vegan), some roasted sweet potatoes (I just found this recipe in the **Thug Kitchen 101, roasted brussels sprouts with shaved parmesan (on the side), regular mashed potatoes and gravy, whole carrots roasted, maybe a small salad (it makes me happy). What a whole lot of love this will be. I plan on dinner lasting at least an hour. Groovy Son’s girlfriend is coming over after work so that is why so many vegan dishes are infused into our meal. I heartily laugh about the fact that she became a vegan as he complained for years about eating mainly vegetarian as a child until we added in sustainable local meat. I seriously love the universe. Our meals over the years did teach him to be a flexible, more versatile eater which is just a good thing for anyone.

So anxious was I about our amazing meal that I jumped ahead with the Christmas dinner paragraph. Backing up to Christmas Eve; also a tangle of recipes because I grew up with homemade oyster stew and champagne. I love oyster stew and champagne! I’ve never been a vegetarian that couldn’t eat a little fish along the way. My husband happens to be allergic to shellfish. I know. Almost a deal breaker. I started making clam chowder as a replacement. It does not hold the same appeal though. Clam chowder is like oyster stews’ half cousin, twice removed. So this year I’m making a small batch of BOTH! I found a recipe on Epicurious that takes it up a notch or two-no once removed and will see how it fares. Yes. Enough for all to have some of each except the husband. We’ll have baguettes and salad to go with this meal.

Are you hungry now? I am.

**I have this in my house b/c it is the girlfriend’s Christmas gift. I read a review somewhere about this book and wanted to check it out anyway and then it appeared on her wish list so win/win. It’s definitely cheeky and the recipes are appealing.

Gratitude

We are back from the crazy music festival. Almost all of the music was amazing. We took a lot of pictures with our Nikon (which of course are not uploaded yet) I created the above video from just the few pictures I had on my iPhone.

We had a great time with the friends we went with and we now have other friends who are interested. We met some cool people while there (Lindsey and Joel stood out as true kind folk) and we ate some interesting festival food. We had camping neighbors that were parents of the harmonica player for Horseshoes and Handgrenades. Another camping neighbor and I exchanged books; she gave me Wild by Cheryl Strayed and I gave her Left Neglected by Lisa Genova. I also ran into an old friend that I’ve not seen for like 20 years. Strange things happen when you listen to the music.

Camping was good. I do not have a sore back. Positive. It stormed pretty crazily Friday afternoon but we all survived. One car did get crushed by a tree though. Coming home we found a small bakery (donuts and great bread) and a cute diner in Wabash that fed us real meals on real plates with a real bathroom.

Getting back inside my lovely house I was happy to have indoor plumbing once again, a kitchen to cook in, and I bathed for the first time in four days! Yes, that felt great. Whispering Pines Campground DID have a shower house but it was ice cold water as two of my camping mates experienced. I opted to be happy with the dirty hippie brigade instead of cold water spraying over me. My hot bath last night brought joy and order back to my world. That and creating a feast for my two children who took care of each other while we were camping. As we sat and ate together, just the 3 of us, I felt so grateful for my children who I love to the moon and back. They, in return, were over the moon for the meal I made them.

Groovy Girl is on Pinterest and she’d asked me if over the summer we could make it a goal to make some of the meals on her “yum” board so I made one last night. Only 28 more “Yum” recipes to go!

From The Recipe Critic-Crispy Parmesan Chicken with lemon pasta. It says boldly on her page that this recipe takes only 30 minutes to prepare which must mean if you have all ingredients completely ready to go. It took me an hour to prepare which is no big deal especially because I made my own breadcrumbs. My kids laughed about that-but of course I could not use something so pre-packaged! They know me so well.

Favorite new music from Blue Ox:

The Wood Brothers
Sierra Hull
The Pistol Whippin’ Party Penguins
The Last Revel (we already loved this band)
Blitzen Trapper
Sam Bush
Railroad Earth
GinStrings – This group played right as the storm ended inside the merch lodge and it was beautiful.

It was also devastating to wake up on Sunday morning and hear about the tragedy in Orlando. I can only hope (and beg the people who govern us) to change our gun laws.

Weekly Recipes 13

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My husband celebrated his birthday last week and somewhere before that day I had read a blog post about really doing it up for your kids’ birthdays. Balloons across their doorway, balloons in the cabinets, singing, cupcakes for breakfast. It was a fun read and inspired to go the extra mile in celebrating his big day.

First a little background on my guy. He’s the artistic director at our local community theatre. He is a talented and creative guy. He is also crazy busy. He is in the middle of directing Cabaret; a big and serious show. His birthday fell during tech week. You do not take a day off during tech week. He had rehearsal at 6:30 so we scheduled around it and had dinner plans with the kids for 4:45 approximately.

Because we weren’t celebrating at home I had kinda thought I wouldn’t make any dessert for him until I read the blog post. After I called a local store to ask about a cake. Usually I make everything from scratch but my cake idea was for cast and crew and I thought a big sheet cake was in order. Until I checked the price. Wwhhhaaaat! Highway robbery for a stupid cake that has fake plastic-tasting frosting.

I made my own. And he loved it. And the cast and crew demolished it. He’s not a fake frosting kinda guy anyway. He isn’t even a chocolate cake kinda guy. I made this Oatmeal-Raisin Snack Cake for him and it’s a keeper. I didn’t even get a bite but he came home raving and rolling his eyes back about how wonderful the frosting was-this is a man who does not love sweet. My heart sang. From one of my favorite food bloggers…Brown-Eyed Baker. Click her link or the recipe title above for the recipe. The recipe was very easy but you do have to wade past all the new ads on her site.

We did have a lovely dinner together. We laughed. The kids had excellent gifts for him. I had a big bouquet of balloons for him. And tickets to the Blue Ox Music Festival. He did make it to rehearsal.

Weekly recipes 12: Tomato-Basil Soup

The week after Christmas we spent time at my brother’s outside Minneapolis. It was blissful because I was able to sit and relax, chatting, sipping, chatting, and reading while my brother cooked a scrumptious meal for all of us. During the holiday break I did most of the preparing and cooking while others relaxed so this was a great change of pace for me. Also he is a fantastic cook. My sister-in-law is no slouch either; she prepared a quiche and a German pancake for breakfast, starting our day off in a tasteful way.

Getting back into the groove of school this week and the freezing cold weather I started our week with soup. Of course. Tomato soup and grilled cheese. It was delicious.

Tomato-Basil Soup
{from Chris at Shared Appetite}

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 red onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
4 cups good-quality chicken stock
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¾ – 1 cup heavy cream
1 bunch basil, torn into small bite-size pieces
Parmesan cheese, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
Heat olive oil over medium-low heat in a dutch oven or large pot. Once hot, add onions and season generously with Kosher salt. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to turn golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute, stirring to avoid burning the garlic.
Stir in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Season generously with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. I like to use about ½ tablespoon of black pepper, which gives a little kick to the soup. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower heat to maintain a simmer for at least 15 minutes. You can feel free to leave it longer if you forget about it. I have.
Purée mixture using an immersion blender or carefully transfer soup to a blender. If using a blender, return mixture to the pot.
Stir in the cream and basil and let simmer for at least 15 minutes, although I like to leave it for a bit longer so it can reduce down to a thicker consistency.
Serve immediately, topped with freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I highly recommend using Parmigiano-Reggiano for its superior quality), a little sprinkle of black pepper, and a chiffonade of basil.

We had some thick sourdough bread leftover from Christmas and it made perfect grilled cheese with Brie and Muenster mixed and melted between fat slabs of bread.

I poured Groovy Girl’s portions of soup through a strainer because even though I used my immersion blender it still had diced onions and I knew she would “freak” so to speak. She loved it. We had it for several meals and I had enough to take for two lunches at school.

I also created a tofu stir-fry with quartered brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, pea pods, turmeric, a little curry sauce, and coconut milk. Instead of rice I used Israeli couscous. Groovy Girl ate two helpings.

{1/2 a German pancake}

She had the day off today and because our week has been a little busy; I had two nights of meetings in between dance classes so I decided to jump in my freezing cold car and head home for lunch to dine just with her. I prepared German pancake mix and left it in the fridge in a pint jar before I headed out for school while everyone else was still sleeping. Before I left school at noon I asked her to turn the oven on so it would be nice and hot when I walked through the door. Before I even took my coat off I scraped a large pat of butter into my cast iron Lodge skillet and stuck it in the hot oven. When the butter was melted and browning I pulled the pan out and poured the pancake mix in and put it back in the oven for 15 minutes. We took it out, lifted it out of the pan, and ate it all up with jam, syrup, and powdered sugar. It was delicious. Memories made.

It was a great cook week here. Even in the freezing cold temps we survive. How about you?

Weekly Recipes 4

While I visited with Barb and her family I made dinner several nights just to share recipes. Her kitchen is an excellent place to cook and I like that. She, like me, is an ex-vegetarian who now eats good, local meat. It was fun to cook for her family. They like unique dishes just like me.

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Quinoa Tabbouleh with chickpeas-It was delicious; light and refreshing, a perfect summer dish. Simple ingredients all tossed together:

1 cup cooked quinoa
1 can chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
½ pound Persian cucumbers or 2 hothouse cucumbers (if using hothouse, seed the cucumbers first), sliced
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup finely chopped green onion, white and green parts
1 cup chopped fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup chopped mint leaves
⅓ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

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And I made these black bean burritos with sweet potato added in. They were so yummy; I could have eaten 3 or 4 but I kept it to one. It’s all about eating good food in small quantities.

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Once we returned home I made this kid-friendly dish (crock pot enchiladas) on a very busy day so dinner would be ready when the family walked through the door. I was gone-off to hear music at the Gentleman of the Road tour-and it was fantastic! even though it was a little strange to be away from the family, off doing my own thing at our sacred dinner hour. Every once in while you need to surprise them with a twist. I made them dinner so they would still love me while I was gone.

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Another day I made this berry tart which also turned out great. Barb sent me home with a few pie shells so I didn’t have to make the dough, which made it simple.

What did you create this week?

Good Food, Good Friends

{I have no idea why this posts in all caps when it does not look that way in editing. Strange but I don’t have time to keep messing with it. Enjoy. }

I made a meal yesterday for two musically talented friends who came to town to play a gig. I offered to make them food as I’m all into this entertaining without cleaning utopia. I did actually do a bit of cleaning but I just don’t get stressed out about it. I mostly tidied up a week’s worth of daily clutter and swept our one hardwood floor that shows all the dust bunnies, dog prints, and crumbs.

I have several go-to meals I pull out of my hat that are easy to put together and still make a good impression. Homemade pizzas are a big winner~especially if you ask the kids to help scoop the sauce and decorate the pies. A Mexican burrito or tostado bar is another. This is the one I did today as I came across this great recipe for a Mexican-inspired quinoa dish from Damn Delicious. I woke up early yesterday morning and made the quinoa dish so it would be ready and I’d only have to reheat it.

(Sarah Prineas, Maribeth Boelts, and Jill Esbaum)

I spent my day at the public library for a book festival. We had an amazing time. There were book characters, yoga story time, music, drama, and three Iowa authors. This was the first festival and I think a few things we could do differently but in general it was a good time for all. Groovy Girl had the opportunity to “be” Olivia and she LOVED it. She hugged lots of small people, posed for photos, danced and generally played it up. It was hot and sweaty in the costume yet at the end of the day she didn’t want to take off the huge costume.

After the book festival it was easy for me to wash some greens, saute a pound of grass-fed beef with homemade taco seasonings, reheat the quinoa dish, and fill little bowls with sour cream, cilantro, cheese, and avocado. Right before they arrived I heated corn tortillas on our griddle just enough to make them crunchy. And the best part was cracking open a container of feta cheese to sprinkle over the top. Mmm. It was good, not too heavy, and we were able to eat within about 45 minutes so my friends could travel the 8 minutes to set up their equipment. The most important thing was the lovely conversation around the table between my two children, my two young guests, and myself. There was storytelling and laughing. Entertainment bliss.

Random Recipes + sneaking in some greens

It is pouring rain outside tonight. The television is off and Groovy Girl is off playing somewhere which means there will be a trail and a mess to clean up. How do I help her learn to clean up after herself? This is major life trauma right now. She’s 10 and we’ve made every kind of challenge, chore chart, and list we can think of. We’ve worked with her to show her what it looks like to play and then clean up. I’m glad she plays, I really am; I just which the second part of playing came easier to her.

When we were in New York City in June Groovy Girl, Greg, and I tried a sample of a Mojito Tea (non-alcoholic) that some tea shop was passing out on the street. We loved the zingy flavor and we made a list of what ingredients we thought it might have in it. I have been meaning to whip up a batch of what we thought might be in when I found a recipe in Bon Appetit/August edition that seemed pretty similar to what we thought. I made it tonight with Groovy Girl’s help. It was refreshingly wonderful and I will definitely make it again. It doesn’t have that mojito flavor we were going for yet so close. I may play with it to see if I can get any closer.

(image source)

Here is the recipe:

Honeyed Lemon-Mint Iced Tea

4 cups water

4 bags green or black tea (we used green)

1 bag mint tea

1/2 of a can of 12-oz can frozen lemonade or limeade concentrate, thawed

1/3 cup honey

ice cubes

fresh mint sprigs or leaves

thin lemon slices (we used lime)

1. In a saucepan, bring the water to boiling. Remove from heat. Add tea bags. Cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Discard tea bags. Add lemon or lime concentrate and honey, stirring until honey dissolves. Cool thirty minutes.

2. Transfer tea to a 1 1/2 quart pitcher. Cover and chill for several hours.

3. To serve, pour tea over ice cubes in tall glasses. Garnish with mint and lemon/lime wedges.

Makes 6 servings.

You could easily add a splash (or two) of alcohol to this for an adult beverage. In the heat here, right before the rain came down, we gulped it down as is.

Our garden is beautiful this year with cucumbers just about ready, tomatoes heavy on the vein, basil beginning to bush out, and many zucchinis! Groovy Girl does not like this delicious squash and will do anything to avoid it. Tonight I decided to disguise it in a curry soup. She likes curry!

Also from August edition of Bon Appetit:

Curried Squash Soup

4 servings

Heat 3 T. vegetable oil (I used coconut) over medium high heat. Add two chopped large summer squash, 1 chopped small onion, and 1 tsp of curry (I used 1 T.); season with salt and freshly ground pepper.

Cook until tender, 8-10 minutes. Add 4 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until tender, 25-30 minutes. Puree until very smooth. Serve soup warm or chilled, topped with sour cream, cracked pepper, and cilantro sprigs.

When I got to the 3rd paragraph of this I frantically searched for veggie broth paste in my refrigerator and came up empty handed. There were some old beef cubes from a chili recipe my husband made like two years ago but I didn’t want to use them. So I added just water, upped the amount of curry powder, a little more sea salt and pepper and hopped for the best.

I pureed it using my Braun hand-held immersion blender which I adore-I’ve had it for about 12 years and I have no idea what i’m going to do when it stops working. I am pretty positive that the second one I get will not be as good or as inexpensive. This one I bought after watching Emeril use it on his early shows on the Food Network. (I wonder if I should pre-prepare myself by buying this exact replica i found on Etsy)

The soup was not perfect but again I plan on trying it again with good broth and kicking it up a notch or two. Groovy Girl ate about half a bowl with a dollop of sour cream stirred in. She asked me twice what kind of soup it was and I said simply, “curry soup”, which was true. She did not say “Ewwww” or even use the zucchini word so I think I got away with my disguised soup recipe. I think once I play with the recipe she will enjoy it more. She never needs to know the main ingredient is sautéed squash.

I spent the better part of my day reading The Miseducation of Cameron Post by emily m. danforth. I’m half way through and am wowed by her writing. This is the first truly lazzzy day i’ve spent this summer and I’m pretty happy with it. And because I was taking it so easy Groovy Girl stayed in her pajamas for the day. We have a busy rest of the week so it was good to relax.

Dinner; A Love Story

My friend Janice gave me this book, Dinner, A Love Story by Jenny Rosenstrach, at the end of the school year. After reading many positive reviews about it I’d looked for it at the library (always out) but I didn’t want to shell out 30 some dollars at our Barnes and Noble for the book. Now if I’d actually gone to the bookstore, sat down and started reading I would have fallen in love with Jenny’s writing and walked in a lovely trance to the check-out counter. Lucky for me, Janice did that for me! Thank you dear friend!

She knew this book would appeal to me as I work hard to make dinner for my family every night because I think it is really important to sit around the table and eat together. It’s more than just eating, even when there is complaining.

I have not finished reading this book but I did cook my first recipe from it yesterday. And just like the whole Julia Child trend a few years ago I started with the very first recipe, chicken cutlets. As a former full-time vegetarian it is still always startling to my family when meat is on my menu. They used to only get meat on Thursdays when my husband was in charge of meals and then (usually) only turkey burgers.

I liked Rosenstrach’s first story of her mother going back to school and that this is what was the go-to meal she taught her husband to make as she hurried off to law school. I grew up in a busy household like that; my dad’s go-to meal though was scrambled eggs.

The chicken cutlets turned out fantastic and everyone finished their plates. There are only three of us now at the table as College Boy made his big move to Colorado. We had the cutlets, corn on the cob, salad, and beets (fresh from the farmer’s market). It was a delicious summer time meal. Groovy Girl ate her entire chicken breast and couldn’t finish two of her beets because she was full. She LOVES beets so this was a major change of events.

The veg head that lives permanently in my heart and soul knows the beets are better for her but she seems hungry for meat as well. I found my happy chicken breasts at Target. On short notice I can’t find organic chicken breasts here in my little town anymore. It is very important to pay attention to where your meat comes from so where it says chicken in this recipe I recommend organic or farm-raised breasts if you can. If the package says “natural” it doesn’t really mean what you think it does. I do have three farm-raised whole chickens on order from my favorite farmer though.

Here’s Jenny’s recipe:

Breaded Chicken Cutlets
(aka Grandma Jody’s Chicken)

total cooking time: 25 minutes

A few generous glugs of olive oil (5-6 T.) more if necessary but remember you are not deep-frying here.
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups plain bread crumbs or Kellog’s corn flake crumbs that have been salted and peppered
4 boneless chicken breasts (about 1 1/4 lb), rinsed and patted dry and pounded like crazy

Add the oil to a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Set up your dredging stations: one rimmed plate for the eggs, one plate for the flour, and one plate for the bread crumbs. Using a fork, coat your chicken pieces first in the flour (shaking off any excess), then in the egg, then in the crumbs, pressing the chicken into the crumbs to thoroughly coat.

Fry each breast in the oil for 3-4 minutes on each side. I did all three in my large skillet with no problems. The cutlets are cooked when the chicken is firm to the touch but not rock hard. I used my meat thermometer and they were at 120 degrees.

Remove and drain the chicken onto a paper-towel lined dinner plate tented with foil if you have more pieces to fry. Add more oil to the pan and fry the remaining breasts.

**Note: Feel free to add any of the following to the bread crumbs; a pinch of cayenne, a tsp of dry mustard, fresh thyme or oregano leaves, some ground flax or sesame seeds, or freshly grated Parmesan.

There is a whole sidebar on pounding the chicken-which I needed being a newbie meat pounder. I even had to borrow a mallet from my husband’s tool bench. The important part is to put chicken between two sheets of waxed paper on a cutting board, and pound away to flatten chicken for even cooking.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many more food-related posts. I love the new look! Happy healthy cooking!

What's Cookin'

What a lazy Saturday I’ve had. Somedays you just want to curl up and stay inside. Today was one of those days except we started out with ice skating at 9:00, had a brunch date with some distant cousins in town and had to do a little Christmas shopping for school families. I did get to spend the afternoon home and somehow I lost my bag with my book in it for the entire afternoon so I didn’t exit to my room to read like I often do on a lazy Saturday. I ended up knitting (and napping) to some sappy tv Christmas movie my daughter was half watching as she played around the family room. While I’m sad about not reading-I’m reading Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay-it was nice just to hang loose. The book is very good but not an easy read so taking a break was okay except I have a sappy Christmas book to read for book club Monday night.-gotta get going on that one also and I’m having trouble mixing the two.

This is what I’m making right now to feed my family tomorrow. Lazy but prepared is my motto.

Morroccan-Style Lentil and Chickpea Soup

1 T. olive oil
1 med. sized yellow onion, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
3 small garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
1/2 cup dried lentils, picked over and rinsed
One 14.5-oz can plum tomatoes, drained and chopped (I just used diced)
1 1/2 cups slow-cooked or one 15.5-oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6 cups vegetable stock
1 T. fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 tsp. harissa sauce, to taste, plus more to serve
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, and garlic, cover, and cook until slightly softened, about 5 minutes. Add the ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, cumin, and cardamom, stirring to coat the vegetables.

2. Transfer the onion mixture to a 4- to 6- quart slow cooker, add the lentils, tomatoes, chickpeas and stock, cover and cook on low for 6 hours.

3. About 10 minutes before serving add the lemon juice and harissa and season with salt and pepper. A small bowl of harissa may be placed on the table for those who want to add more. (I’m not adding the harissa-a spicy chili mixture as it will make it too spicy for my children) if you want the harissa sauce recipe leave me a comment and I will get it to you.

This serves 6 and I’m hoping for leftovers so I can take it for lunch a few days this week.
Rewritten from Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker .
This is part of Weekend Cooking hosted by Beth Fish Reads.
Happy Cooking and Reading!