Winter Soups Recipes!
Ah, winter. Don't get me wrong, I'll be cursing it by February, but right now I am enjoying its finer pleasures like curling up under layers of blankets and night and hot bowls of soup for dinner. Try serving it with crusty bread or even use up some stale bread with an old Italian trick - put a slice of stale bread in the bottom of each bowl, then laddel the soup over it. It's add a lovely heartiness to the soup.
<3 shannon
Kale and White Bean Soup
1 lb dried navy beans (any white bean will do)
2 onions, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced (up to 6 if you like it really garlicky)
5 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 qt water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
8 carrots, cut into half moon slices
1 lb kale (preferably lacinato), stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped
*optional: 1 lb vegan (Tofurkey) or meat sausage, sliced into rounds
Cover the beans with water by 2 inches in a pot and bring them to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Drain the beans in a colander and rinse.
Then, cook the onions in the oil in an large pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add beans, broth, 1 quart water, salt, pepper, bay leaf, and rosemary and simmer, uncovered, until beans are just tender, about 50 minutes.
While soup is simmering, brown sausage (if using) in batches in a heavy skillet over moderate heat. If you are using meat sausage, then transfer to paper towels to drain.
Stir the carrots into the soup and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Stir in kale, sausage and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Season soup with salt 'n'pepper.
* This soup is particularly good if made 1 or 2 days ahead., make it when you have some free time and save it for a busy day when you don't have time to make dinner. Cool completely, uncovered, then refridgerate, covered. Thin with water if necessary.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
my mother hates cilantro
.... but i love it!
i'm going to start posting recipes i use so i can keep a log of it! im making this tonight for dinner!
Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto
Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.
Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:
Cilantro Pesto
This recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.
In a food processor or blender combine:
1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
1 Tbs of ground pepper
1 tsp of salt
with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste
Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.
Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce
This is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.
In a sauce pan combine
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
2 Tbs minced garlic
1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.
Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.
Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.
Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.
Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.
i'm going to start posting recipes i use so i can keep a log of it! im making this tonight for dinner!
Cilantro Chili Pizza, ala Cafe Pesto
Preheat the oven to 500F, preferable with a pizza stone on the middle shelf. Allow the oven to heat 30 minutes or more.
Meanwhile, prep your favorite pizza dough. If using refrigerated pizza dough, allow it to come to room temperature before shaping. Preparation of the pesto and chili sauces can be accomplished in the time it takes for the pizza dough to rest:
Cilantro Pesto
This recipe makes more pesto than needed for pizza. Use the leftovers as a marinade for grilling, or go crazy making this pizza for all of your friends.
In a food processor or blender combine:
1/2 cup peeled garlic cloves
1 cup of cilantro leaves, stems and roots
1 Tbs of ground pepper
1 tsp of salt
with enough canola or olive oil to help grind the ingredients into a paste
Store in the refrigerator or freezer with a slight film of oil on the pesto surface to help maintain the bright green color.
Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce
This is my number one favorite ingredient, to always be found in my refrigerator. It is excellent paired with fried crispy foods, grilled meats, drizzled on curries, and on top of this pizza. Fortunately this tasty sauce is becoming increasingly common in grocery stores, often called Nahm Jeem Gratiem, or Tuong Ot Ngot.
In a sauce pan combine
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup vinegar
2 Tbs minced garlic
1 tsp salt
Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low, simmering to reduce and thicken to a syrupy sauce approximately 20 minutes or more. When thickened, stir in 1 Tbs of chili garlic sauce and allow to cool to room temperture. Store in the refrigerator.
Shape your pizza dough in the size you want, stretching it out thin with your fingers and hands. Place it on a piece of waxed paper, trimmed to match the foot print of the pizza dough shape and transfer the dough to a pizza peel for easy sliding onto the pizza stone.
Spread several tablespoons of the cilantro pesto on the surface of the dough. Sprinkle with a slight pinch of salt. Continue to top the pizza with chopped sundried tomatoes,red onion slices and chopped red bell pepper.
Slide the pizza onto your hot pizza stone and cook until the bottom is crusty brown, approximately 5-8 minutes.
Immediately top the pizza with crumbled goat cheese upon removing it from the oven. And lastly, the most important step, drizzle the pizza with Sweet Hot Garlic Sauce.
Friday, November 9, 2007
The Sun
I was writing an email to my friend, and it just sounds like maybe you all would like to read about, a funny blog post, about my day. Well, I woke up around 7:30, hit the snooze button until 8:00. I went to the kitchen to make tea or something, and I ran into my roommate Robby-bob, and he asked me if we could do some yoga. I said sure! So I got the yoga mats (I have two) and brought them to the common room at the vegetarian cooperative where I live. We did a few "om's" and the sun salutation mantra I learned in yoga class a month ago at the Living Yoga Center in Champaign.
It always feels so nice to do yoga in the morning, I always feel great in general. I feel that yoga helps make me a more compassionate human being, providing me with energy I didn't know I had, and just overall able to live my life fully and accept the challenges I face everyday. but I feel like I don't have enough time to do it, and get enough sleep and get good grades and be a healthy well-balanced human being! anyway, I was facing towards the sun, observing how the sun's rays shine in the morning through the red maple trees, on a cool autumn dawn. I felt a strong appreciation for the sun, feeling a oneness with nature, and how the sun's rays fuel life on Earth. IT makes sense too--the sun's rays are captured by plants, which convert it t a usable form by other life forms, which obtain their energy from that. Even if you eat meat, the animals where your meat comes from ate plants (unless it was a tertiary consumer), which comes ultimately from the sun. All of our substance comes from the sun originally. No wonder why so many indigenous cultures worshipped the sun. If there was no sun, life wouldn't exist on Earth! IF the Earth was a little bit closer or a little far away, life wouldn't be able to exist the way that it does! It's pretty amazing how big and great and totally beyond us the sun is.
I have come to all the aforementioned conclusions before; this was not the first time I experienced this. I just thought I would let whoever happens to be reading this know a little more of where I'm coming from.
I experienced one of the most intense experiences of my whole life when I was at Camp Michigania by myself for two weeks, in the middle of winter. No city lights, no car, no internet in the place I was staying, no humans, no nothing. Just me, the cold, and the woods. The sun set SOOOOO EARLY, up north Michigan, right? i didn't have a clock, and I tried to get my body to swing with the natural rhythms of the sun. I would wake up before the sun would rise, just praying that the sun would rise that morning, because every night was so dark. I don't think people get the opportunities I have been presented in my life. It really made me realize a lot about life, and put things in perspective. I can share more if people are interested.
Peace and love!
It always feels so nice to do yoga in the morning, I always feel great in general. I feel that yoga helps make me a more compassionate human being, providing me with energy I didn't know I had, and just overall able to live my life fully and accept the challenges I face everyday. but I feel like I don't have enough time to do it, and get enough sleep and get good grades and be a healthy well-balanced human being! anyway, I was facing towards the sun, observing how the sun's rays shine in the morning through the red maple trees, on a cool autumn dawn. I felt a strong appreciation for the sun, feeling a oneness with nature, and how the sun's rays fuel life on Earth. IT makes sense too--the sun's rays are captured by plants, which convert it t a usable form by other life forms, which obtain their energy from that. Even if you eat meat, the animals where your meat comes from ate plants (unless it was a tertiary consumer), which comes ultimately from the sun. All of our substance comes from the sun originally. No wonder why so many indigenous cultures worshipped the sun. If there was no sun, life wouldn't exist on Earth! IF the Earth was a little bit closer or a little far away, life wouldn't be able to exist the way that it does! It's pretty amazing how big and great and totally beyond us the sun is.
I have come to all the aforementioned conclusions before; this was not the first time I experienced this. I just thought I would let whoever happens to be reading this know a little more of where I'm coming from.
I experienced one of the most intense experiences of my whole life when I was at Camp Michigania by myself for two weeks, in the middle of winter. No city lights, no car, no internet in the place I was staying, no humans, no nothing. Just me, the cold, and the woods. The sun set SOOOOO EARLY, up north Michigan, right? i didn't have a clock, and I tried to get my body to swing with the natural rhythms of the sun. I would wake up before the sun would rise, just praying that the sun would rise that morning, because every night was so dark. I don't think people get the opportunities I have been presented in my life. It really made me realize a lot about life, and put things in perspective. I can share more if people are interested.
Peace and love!
Monday, August 27, 2007
Fall Semester!
I'm back in school now. Just getting ready for my Spanish class! I love all the classes I'm taking this semester--
-American Indian Studies (FASCINATING! Today we had a discussion on the Chief, and my professor had us divide into groups and identify how many Native American people we could think of. Wednesday the class had to identify as many tribes as they could.)
-World Music (today we learned about sitar and tabla in Indian music, of which I love listening to! We watched a video about Kathak, a traditional Indian dance of storytelling.)
-Elementary Spanish (taught all in Spanish.... have I taken 1 class yet? No! Do I accept challenges? YES!)
-Japanese Tea Ceremony and Zen (U of I has a Japan House, of which they perform tea ceremonies at on Saturday mornings. I will be able to perform a tea ceremony at the end of the semester!)
-Community and Natural Resources (my graduate school course, of which I am the youngest, by far. Whoops. Looks like I'm going to have to work my tushie off!)
Off to class I go! =) =) =)
-American Indian Studies (FASCINATING! Today we had a discussion on the Chief, and my professor had us divide into groups and identify how many Native American people we could think of. Wednesday the class had to identify as many tribes as they could.)
-World Music (today we learned about sitar and tabla in Indian music, of which I love listening to! We watched a video about Kathak, a traditional Indian dance of storytelling.)
-Elementary Spanish (taught all in Spanish.... have I taken 1 class yet? No! Do I accept challenges? YES!)
-Japanese Tea Ceremony and Zen (U of I has a Japan House, of which they perform tea ceremonies at on Saturday mornings. I will be able to perform a tea ceremony at the end of the semester!)
-Community and Natural Resources (my graduate school course, of which I am the youngest, by far. Whoops. Looks like I'm going to have to work my tushie off!)
Off to class I go! =) =) =)
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Taoist Quote
He who dreams of drinking wine may weep when morning comes; he who dreams of weeping may in the morning go off to hunt. While he is dreaming he does not know it is a dream, and in his dream he may even try to interpret a dream. Only after he wakes does he know it was a dream. And someday there will be a great awakening when we know this is all a great dream. Yet the stupid believe they are awake, busily and brightly assuming they understand things, calling this man ruler, that one herdsman - how dense! Confucius and you are both dreaming! And when I say that you are dreaming, I am dreaming, too. Words like these will be labeled the Supreme Swindle. Yet, after ten thousand generations, a great sage may appear who will know their meaning, and it will still be as though he appeared with astonishing speed. -- Zhuangzi
Saturday, June 9, 2007
I love staff week.
| You Are a Dreaming Soul |
 Your vivid emotions and imagination takes you away from this world So much so that you tend to live in your head most of the time You have great dreams and ambitions that could be the envy of all... But for you, following through with your dreams is a bit difficult You are charming, endearing, and people tend to love you. Forgiving and tolerant, you see the world through rose colored glasses. Underneath it all, you have a ton of passion that you hide from others. Always hopeful, you tend to expect positive outcomes in your life. Souls you are most compatible with: Newborn Soul, Prophet Soul, and Traveler Soul |
Chiquita Banana
If there's one food I like, it's bananas. I LOVE bananas. I would be happy eating bananas, avocados, and hummus & pita all day long. Well, not ALL day, but you get it. While I'm at Michigania, I rely on the dining hall to provide my food needs. Today, I went to lunch hungry and once I got there, I completely lost my appetite. So, I just grabbed a banana and ate it with peanut butter, a safe choice for me, because I will always want to eat that. I can't eat any fried or much processed food, it makes me feel so awful. And it is awful for us anyway.
I was reading the news today and this is what I found:
Families of Colombian Paramilitary Victims Sue U.S. Banana Giant Chiquita
Relatives of victims of a right-wing paramilitary group in Colombia have filed suit against the US banana giant Chiquita Brands. Earlier this year Chiquita admitted it had paid off the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Chiquita said it had fallen victim to an extortion racket that threatened its employees. Colombian prosecutors have also accused Chiquita of providing arms that were then used to push leftist rebels out of an area in northern Colombia where Chiquita had its banana plantations. The suit was filed on behalf of one-hundred forty-four people killed by Colombian paramilitary groups. Lead attorney Terry Collinsgworth says the suit could mark the biggest terrorism case in history. He said: “Putting Chiquita on trial for hundreds, or even thousands of murders could put them out of business.”
Crazy! I had no idea! But Chiquita Banana! I ate a banana today. I don't want to think about my food consumption causing misery and suffering to families in Colombia.
I was reading the news today and this is what I found:
Families of Colombian Paramilitary Victims Sue U.S. Banana Giant Chiquita
Relatives of victims of a right-wing paramilitary group in Colombia have filed suit against the US banana giant Chiquita Brands. Earlier this year Chiquita admitted it had paid off the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Chiquita said it had fallen victim to an extortion racket that threatened its employees. Colombian prosecutors have also accused Chiquita of providing arms that were then used to push leftist rebels out of an area in northern Colombia where Chiquita had its banana plantations. The suit was filed on behalf of one-hundred forty-four people killed by Colombian paramilitary groups. Lead attorney Terry Collinsgworth says the suit could mark the biggest terrorism case in history. He said: “Putting Chiquita on trial for hundreds, or even thousands of murders could put them out of business.”
Crazy! I had no idea! But Chiquita Banana! I ate a banana today. I don't want to think about my food consumption causing misery and suffering to families in Colombia.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
If it's yellow, let it mellow
So one thing I do is when I pee, I don't flush. My pee is usually clear from all the water I drink. I am fully hydrated as an individual. Seriously. It makes no sense to waste all of that CLEAN water, just to flush down my urine which is mostly water anyway. At the house I lived at my junior year of college, all of my roommates (who a lot were not like me) learned to let it mellow too. If my toilet starts to smell weird or get too full, then I'll flush it. But it usually gets brown before that. That's how the saying goes. If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
But yeah. It takes toilets 2-4 gallons of FRESH CLEAN WATER to flush. How ridiculous is that? I just read that at least 55,000 people die every day as a result of malnutrition -- these are areas that do not have the clean water resources that we do. Water may be a renewable resource, but it's being depleted WAAAAY quicker than it's being regenerated (just like soil).
Toilets that we use now are really outdated. We have waaay better technology. I don't know why people don't install these bugggers --
Composting toilets! They make sense-- they use practically no water, and they convert human waste, or "humanure" into a fertilizer usable for plants. Check out this site for some more facts about composting toilets.
http://compostingtoilet.org/faq/index.php
But yeah. It takes toilets 2-4 gallons of FRESH CLEAN WATER to flush. How ridiculous is that? I just read that at least 55,000 people die every day as a result of malnutrition -- these are areas that do not have the clean water resources that we do. Water may be a renewable resource, but it's being depleted WAAAAY quicker than it's being regenerated (just like soil).
Toilets that we use now are really outdated. We have waaay better technology. I don't know why people don't install these bugggers --
Composting toilets! They make sense-- they use practically no water, and they convert human waste, or "humanure" into a fertilizer usable for plants. Check out this site for some more facts about composting toilets.
http://compostingtoilet.org/faq/index.php
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
1st post
Hello!
It looks as though I was convinced by my mother (who I talk to on an almost daily basis anyway) to start a blog. Here it is. We'll see how regularly I update. She said "I guess you've got lots of things to say!" Well... YEAH! Who am I related to, here? The most talkative person I know.... MY MOTHER! =) Love ya mom!
It looks as though I was convinced by my mother (who I talk to on an almost daily basis anyway) to start a blog. Here it is. We'll see how regularly I update. She said "I guess you've got lots of things to say!" Well... YEAH! Who am I related to, here? The most talkative person I know.... MY MOTHER! =) Love ya mom!
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