coconut lime curry

I really like Thai flavors and I have quite a few gluten free friends, so this soup is a splendid way to kill those two birds with one spoon!

original recipe:

3 cans coconut milk (trader joes has light coconut milk and it's way cheaper than anywhere else i've found)

chicken stock powder (i use a tub of it that they sell at GFS, bright yellow- never found anything as good as this)

2 tsp curry powder (maybe a bit more... to taste)

peppers (i usually buy 2-3 kinds: jalepeno and the other medium-dark green ones close to those)

lime juice (a whole small lime juice container or about half of a large one)

salt & pepper

chicken breasts

green onion (i usually leave these out)

cilantro

rice noodles

limes

cucumber

mushrooms

what i also like to do:

half a pound of scallops and half a pound of shrimp instead of chicken.

I start with coconut milk in a large pot and add the chicken stock and 3 cans (or maybe a bit more) of water. I add my several finely chopped & seeded peppers to the pot and a huge quantity of mushrooms (baby bella and whatever's on sale). Simmer on medium heat for several minutes, add the lime juice, some salt and pepper, a couple spoonfuls of curry powder. Add the rice noodles when the mushrooms and peppers are nearly as soft as you'd like them and once the rice noodles have softened, add the seafood or chicken (it won't take long to cook from there on)

While your soup is simmering (before you've added the rice noodles or seafood) pick the leaves off of a lot of cilantro, slice some limes and cube some cucumbers. Serve these ingredients on the side of the soup, people can throw them in!

Green Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Warm Spices

from Orangette

check out her entry for this soup, with fabulous photos. click here.

Green Lentil Soup with Coconut Milk and Warm Spices
Per Orangette's recommendation, I served this with a squeeeze of lime, sriracha, and fresh cilantro.

I made it as the following says, without doing the clarified butter:

"Also, about the butter: if you want to use less, I think you could. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll bet it wouldn’t make a wink of difference, flavor-wise, if you added all the spices in the beginning, with the garlic, rather than adding some then and some later. That way, you could nix the clarified butter – a bit of a fussy step, anyway – and scratch three tablespoons of butter from the recipe."

6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, divided
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 ½ tsp. turmeric
6 cups vegetable stock, preferably from this recipe
1 ½ cups French green lentils, picked over for stones and other debris
½ tsp. ground cardamom
¼ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
A pinch of nutmeg
A few grinds of black pepper
1 ¼ cups coconut milk
¼ tsp. fine sea salt, plus more to taste

In a soup pot or Dutch oven, warm 3 tablespoons of the butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is translucent. Turn the heat down to medium, and add the garlic, thyme, and turmeric. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion is lightly browned and very soft.

Add the stock and the lentils, bring to a simmer, and cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the lentils are soft and tender.

In a small saucepan, warm the remaining 3 tablespoons butter over medium heat. When the butter is entirely liquefied, there will be a foamy white layer on top. Skim it away and discard it. What you’ll have left is clarified butter – a clear, yellow liquid – and a bit of white sediment at the bottom of the pan, which are the milk solids. Carefully pour the clarified butter into a small bowl or cup; then rinse the sediment out of the pan. Return the clarified butter to the pan, and place it over medium heat. Add the cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and pepper, and warm them, stirring, until they are very fragrant, a minute or two.

Pour the clarified butter and spices into the soup. Add the coconut milk, and stir well. Cook for about 15 minutes to blend the flavors. Taste, and adjust the salt as necessary. Serve.

Note: Like many things with complex spicing, this soup improves with time. It’s great on the first day, but it’s even better on the second.

Yield: 4-6 servings

spinach

after countless times of spellcheck fixing the way i've tried to spell it,

i have finally learned my lesson:

spinach.

speaking of spinach, i'm drinking it now and it's NEVER tasted better.

i did the same blended salad that i did yesterday/

fresh carrot juice

a huge handful of spinach

a frozen banana

+

a huge handful of frozen blueberries

and i had to add a bit of orange juice because there wasn't enough liquid.

it's so good! i can't wait until my housemates come back from thanksgiving trips so i can give them samples!

blended salad

veggies are so pretty.

i ended up running a bit late to thanksgiving, because i was so captivated by the colors

of the kale and my favorite green bowl.

showing up to a thanksgiving meal late with a salad makes for an

unintended win-win situation.

i ended up bringing much of my salad back home with me, because everyone was already full, but it's so good and i get to have it for lunch today, that's my win.

here's the RECIPE for the garlicky kale salad.

i stopped by the ewings house (the ones who inspired me to start eating this way)

to see the family, as they are all spread across the states

and

be re-inspired for my journey-of-vegetable-love.

patty said one of her favorite things is this:

a blended salad

carrots

spinach

frozen banana

(don't let this fool you, i still have not spelled spinach right on my own)

juice the carrots

blend the carrot juice, spinach and banana.

it was amazingly delicious.

time consuming and my whole dish dryer is full of appliance parts, but it's so worth it to start off the day with something that nutritious.

cabbage

Yesterday during my break between classes I was pondering cabbage. I wasted spent my time getting ideas from my wonderful facebook companions and I also stumbled upon this project. Between two said distractions, I got no school work done. But I feel inspired, both for the art of storytelling and the art of cooking cabbage. Sixteen people who responded to my plea for cabbage inspiration, I compiled all of their ideas into a word doc and printed it (if you want it, email me) Today I tried Kellie's recipe (because it looked super good and I had all of the ingredients on hand) and it turned out really well!

A small handful of pinenuts

A bit of olive oil

Some golden rasins

An apple or two, chopped small

1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Cabbage (I used half a head, more would've been fine too!)
1/2 cup water
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Toast the pine nuts on a dry saucepan on a medium heat until they're golden brown. Add a tad bit of oil and continue to toast the pine nuts for half a minute. Add the raisins and chopped apple and saute for a couple of minutes until the apple is soft. Add the balsalmic, cabbage and water. Put a lid on it and put it on a low heat, let it steam until the cabbage is wilted!

Add a bit of salt, pepper and sriracha and it's quite tasty! Sweet & Spicy! Very edible.

gingery carrot juice

i could seriously drink straight carrot juice all the time, it's delicious!

but if i was stranded on an island and had a juicer and only one other ingredient other than carrot, to add to the juice. GINGER would be my choice. if i lived a comfortable life in columbus, ohio with grocery stores in every direction other additions to my carrot juice would be apples, pomegranate juice (POM), cucumber and a bit of OJ. you don't have to use all of those at once, but those are typically the things i experiment with if i'm wanting to keep the color orange!

you can add kale, spinach (confession, i used spellcheck. i'm going to have to do the old school copy-it-one-hundred-times by hand to learn the proper spelling), celery, parsley and i've heard cilantro is great too!

lentils plus

a week ago: the first day i started this fruits, veggies, beans & nuts lifestyle change, i made a pot of lentil soup. thinking i'd eat it the next two-three days. wrong, i've been eating it all 8. next time i'll make 1/2 a pot or less! lentils expand so much! i made it without salt. onions, carrots, peppers, parsley and lentils and cumin. it was less than tasty (as it was) but every time i ate it i tried something new with it. today i hit the jackpot. i reaheated it and added several splotches of sriacha, then put a pile of spinach on top with some salad dressing (tomato and tahini) and a spoonful of cashew butter. it was amazing. spicy, flavorful, filling.

GOALS FOR THIS WEEK:

learn to spell spinich/ spiniach/ spinich spinach

make a delicious black bean soup

love cabbage

not accidentally eat turkey