potato squash soup - with an asian spin

will have to add a photo later for this simple - simply delicious really - soup

ingredients
6 white potatoes - boiled, peeled and broken into pieces
1 small-ish acorn squash - first baked whole in the oven at 350 for about 50min then seeds scooped out and just scoop out every bit of squash goodness.
1/2c green onions
8-10c water
2tbsp chicken base
2 pho bo bouillon cubes
1tbsp garlic powder
1tsp onion powder
1.5tbsp cumin
.5tsp mexican chili
.5tsp paprika

i used a pot that holds 6L - about 1.5 gallons)
10-12c water (lost count...bad recipe writing...bad)
then all the spices and base and bouillon cubes in the boiling water until nicely dissolved
add the other ingredients
keep on medium for 10min or so
then break out the hand blender to blend it all (i left a few chunks unblended for that home-ier feel - at least it is to me, perhaps chunks annoy others - don't know - but going with home-ier feel)
another 5 minutes

done!

oh, i love homemade soup and this was a cheap and easy soup that lasted for 3 full meals for all 4 of us (i just added 1.5-2c water each time i reheated) - the pho bo cubes added that lovely asian flair but am sure subbing a bit of garlic powder, cumin, lemongrass powder and some pepper would have done the trick too. it could also be easily adapted to have more of a mexican spin, or none at all - the heartiness of the potato and squash make spices belt out in song! ugh, a bit over the top as i write this at 341am - not able to fall back to sleep after the 1yr old's late night waking.

the boys loved this soup - but they love a bit of asian flavours to begin with. the 3.5yr old had a full adult serving bowl of it...success!

sweet potatoes - simple

3 sweet potatoes sliced
a bit of olive oil (enough to toss slices in
1tsp each of garlic powder and mexican chili powder

this is simple - just toss the ingredients together and into an oven at 425 - 30min.
this is one of those infinite possibilities recipe - the above were the flavours i wanted to go with a chicken dish, but anything goes and these are always delicious.

if you prefer your sweet potatoes on the soft side as i do, i often put a pan of water on the bottom rack (i did this time - slightly, ever so slightly crispy on the outside, but mostly soft sweet potato that the 4 of us will eat.

kale chips

i've read raves about using kale to make some healthy chips...so i took the plunge - bought, cleaned, took excess stems off a bunch of kale...the rest led to a disappointment, so be warned...it set off my cranky.

ingredients
1 bunch kale - washed/trimmed
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
olive oil

toss in a bowl with enough olive oil to lightly coat. on a baking sheet in a single layer and in a 275 oven for 15-20min until kale crisps.

...okay, my cranky revisited - why, why, why do people love these? the recipes i saw called for salt, or salt and oregano, and yes they had crunch but yuck - not a good chip replacement.
these are now sitting in the fridge while i decide what to do with them. i think i will use them in a soup and save a few to crumble on top. they taste ok, but i love REAL potato chips and i will take a bowl of the real, get my butt off the couch and work them off later rather than eat this healthy version.

a rare, and unexpected NEVER AGAIN

mac and ch-easy bake

wanted an easy side for thanksgiving, and knew this could also work for leftovers - with rice pasta (especially white rice pasta) i find you have to add a lot more liquid to soften it.

ingredients
1 can each of cheddar soup and cream of mushroom
1c light cream
2c water (would be a lot less if a wheat-based pasta
1tsp garlic powder
1 pack of rice pasta shells (400g - almost a pound)
1.5c shredded cheese (i used marble cheddar)

i mix all the ingredients except the pasta and cheese so i can pour evenly

precook pasta to just under al dente in a pot of boiling water, then into a lightly greased glass baking dish (i think mine is about 10x14, and pour mixed ingredients on top

add cheese and jiggle it around so it's nice and even and into a 350 oven for 30 min

done!

i like this a lot, but you do need to stir it after it is baking for a bit if using rice pasta to make sure it gets nice and soft. great for leftovers. no time to make it and you can alter the flavours and contents a lot.

acorn squash soup

not too different from my butternut squash soup so just posting the modifications

.5 chopped sweet onion instead of green onions
2 cubes of vietnamese fish bouillon/stock instead of chicken stock
1 large acorn squash

added
1 tbsp shredded lemongrass (i have it in the freezer)

butternut squash soup

1 butternut squash - mine was about 3lbs
3 green onions chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
4.5c of stock (i used chicken stock - was out of vegetable stock - either work)
2-3c water
1tbsp cumin
1tbsp turmeric
1tsp curry powder
1tbsp minced garlic

dash of sea salt

water and stock and celery and onion in the pot on medium
bake the squash at 350 for 45min-hr - that way the skin is easy to pull off
then it is easy to chop off the narrower part of the squash and chop into pieces
the bottom half - crack open and de-seed then chop (or smoosh - mine was in the oven a bit long so i smooshed - may not be a culinary term but it is descriptive!)

add to the pot
10min in i take the hand blender and blend what i can, then add the spices and garlic

simmer for at least another 10min on medium for flavours to blend and for liquid to reduce to your preferred thickness.

what i love about butternut squash is you don't need any oil, any butter, any cream (unless you want to) because it has such a rich flavour.

i have a scratchy throat so this goes down like a dream. my boys love soup and this one is great, cheap, and easy ;)

slow cooker tamale pie

i have lots and lots of cornmeal to use so this recipe for slow cooker tamale pie seemed appealing.
main thing i did a bit differently was add lots of garlic and using rice flour to blend with the corn meal
and i couldn't find fire roasted tomatoes so i used sweet onion tomatoes
and cayenne pepper instead of chili powder
and spanish onion instead of cooking onion
whew... a few pics

all the ingredients in before i add the cornmeal/flour top

this was good. not great but good - i ended up serving it with sour cream and pico de gallo which made it better than the initial good assessment.

slow cooker tostada lasagna

apparently i forgot to rotate before i loaded this pic - yikes!

i made a slightly different version of my tostada lasagna for the crockpot.

i omitted the beans (wasn't in the mood) - upped the tomato content - about 3.5c of crushed tomatoes, added 1.5c of stock
and a cup of leftover mexican rice
other than that it was very similar
it worked
but am glad i had some tostadas that hadn't been put in the crockpot as it came out very, very soft. tasty, but soft
i definitely didn't need that much stock, but also would do what i did which is keep a few nice, crispy tostadas on the side to dip with.

thai-inspired fried rice

i know i have done this in the past as a rice noodle dish
but originally it was this - a rice dish
i love thai flavours
and when i was studying thai yoga massage and reflexology i often had very light, simple meals
so that my mind and body felt light and ready to soak all the new learning in.
this dish came out of those memories
i've tinkered with it
and now throw it together on a moment's notice
i made enough for 5-6 adult servings (i ate this as a main dish, not as a side one)

ingredients
2c uncooked jasmine rice or rice of your choice - prep as per package instructions
3tbsp of fish sauce and soy sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp water
1 tbsp oil (i just use olive oil - could use sesame if you want more of a chinese twist)
2 green onions chopped
1 hot pepper chopped (i bought this in chinatown and there was no translation)
1 tbsp sugar (i used demerara)
4 tbsp chopped cilantro - mine came from the garden

after the rice is cooked i heat up the oil in the wok and put everything in except the onion and cilantro. stir until blended for about 5min over medium heat and then add cilantro and onion for 2-3minutes, again stirring until blended.

oh, how i love this simple rice dish. so does everyone else in my family. and this rice is GREAT for leftovers. it holds up and tastes really good, even several days later.

slow cooker lentil stew

i've had green lentils sitting in my cupboard for ages so thought that the way to use some up would be in the crockpot. then spotted some chickpeas and wanted to go in a north african/middle eastern direction.

so here it is...

4 cups of crushed tomatoes
2 c green lentils
4 c sugar peas - trimmed top and bottoms

8 small/medium potatoes - cubed

2 small onions
1 can chick peas washed and drained
2c vegetable stock
2tbsp of minced garlic, and cumin
1tsp of salt, and pepper

...all in the crockpot on high for 4hrs. this was okay. it wasn't spectacular, it wasn't bad. i blended some down for the 11mth old and he loved it. the 3yr old loves chick peas so that was good. both dh and i ate this on its own and it was solid enough to do so. but this recipe (experiment) needs a bit of tweaking before i can give it a ringing endorsement. the sugar peas were a good call as they added a nice sweetness to the meal.
it was good enough that we ate it as leftover lunch twice.

indian on an impulse

i have been a bit under the weather with a stomach bug for a few days (maybe from the heat, not sure)
in any case, meal planning was not as cohesive...more on the fly.
other than doing bbq, or something in the crockpot, or a salad
for a lot of flavour and quick preparation, i often throw together indian inspired dishes.

at a favourite sri lankan restaurant i love having a mango lassi on a hot day. i didn't have the exact ingredients, but i made do.

1/4c mango chunks
1c vanilla yoghurt
1c water
1 tbsp agave nectar
all in the blender and...

turned out really quite well.

also did a simple brown rice with turmeric, garlic and cumin

and because i had cherry tomatoes i had bought at the local farmers market that needed to be used

blended in a bowl here...
i decided to make a simple tomato dal and an easy tofu curry

tofu curry
1 c of cubed tofu
1/2c coconut milk
1/2c water
1tbsp curry powder
dash of turmeric and cumin
-- in the wok for a few minutes to blend and for the tofu to absorb the flavour
simple, full flavours

tomato dal
(this was thrown together so not real official dal - but close enough
1/2c lentils
1c pureed cherry tomatoes
turmeric, cumin, black pepper and mustard spice to taste
dash of ginger
1tbsp lemon juice
---all in the saucepan
tasty and easy even with missing a lot of the ingredients of a real dal

crustless potato and leftover quiche/casserole

it was all about trying to use up the leftover potato wedges in a creative way. it was kind of rainy out so i wanted to do something that was like a quiche/casserole - a stand alone meal.

as you can see by the array of photos (still not so good with the new blog editor...yikes)

i used a lot of different ingredients.

so here is the rundown

enough potato wedges to fill the bottom of a circle pyrex baking dish

4 eggs (i use local free range eggs so they are between med/large size

8 large black olives sliced

1 tsp minced garlic

1 large tomato chopped

leftover pizza sauce (about 1/4 c)

2tbsp of asiago and artichoke dip (optional

1/2 c of nacho shredded cheese

potato wedges on the bottom

then add chopped tomatoes

olives

and in a bowl mix all other ingredients except for cheese

pour mix as evenly as possible over the potatoes/tomatoes/olives

top with cheese

cook covered in a 375 oven for about 30-35min

this was a fun experiment that was really tasty. was good for about 4 adult servings as a main dish. didn't need anything else with it, and used up leftovers...beautiful!

re-inventing leftovers night - asian

this is going to take up a few posts.
grocery supplies were low, and i had leftovers to use up so made it an asian-inspired night using re-invented leftovers

so this is part one

i had lots of leftover rice macaroni pasta - used about 3 cups worth
had a leftover cooked corn on the cob - cut the corn niblets off
pack of tofu
baby bok choy that needed to be used up

decided on teriyaki style sauce
(sorry don't remember exact measurements)
equal parts water and soy sauce
about a tsp of natural sugar (i used demerara this time)
dash of ginger
2 tbsp chopped cilantro

all thrown into the cast iron pan (wok was in use for another leftover concoction

this turned out well - 3yr old ate it, dh had seconds

veggie meat with bok choy and eggplant

have been doing more vegetarian dishes and had an eggplant to use so i boiled then stirfried in strips with a pack of yves asian "meat" and a few heads of baby bok choy in the wok. threw in some garlic chili sauce and a bit of soy sauce and fish sauce.

pretty good although the flavour from the yves asian "meat" was a bit overly ginger-tasting. and i don't mind ginger but it added a little more sweetness than i like for eggplant.

simple potato salad

i had leftover boiled potatoes and it is summer so potato salad time
i find mayo to be kind of heavy so i do a bit of a cheat to get the creamy potato salad flavour

this is how i made my potato salad this time around (yum!)

6 medium sized boiled potatoes - skins off and cubed
2 spring onions chopped
5 eggs boiled, peeled and chopped
1 cup low cal ranch dressing
2 tbsp prepared mustard (was out of plain dijon and this worked really well
3 dashes of paprika
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/8tsp fresh ground pepper
3 tbsp fresh basil from the garden - chopped



eggs on the boil, and then all the ingredients together...



refrigerate for at least a few hours, and overnight is even better. i find that ranch dressing gives the creaminess of mayo without the heaviness of it.

quick, indian inspired curry filling with dosa

so dh comes home at 445 en route to take the bubs for a walk and advises me that he forgot to take the chicken out of the freezer to bbq this eve.

hmmmm - search through and not much in leftovers. i am trying to go gluten free so was scouring the cupboards for an idea - hmmm chick pea flour - dosa! and potatoes - curried dosa filling.

i made up this recipe based on various curries i already do


ingredients
5 medium organic yellow skinned potatoes (any type will do
1.5tbsp each of turmeric, cumin, curry and crushed garlic cloves
salt to taste
about 1/4 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
1 spring onion chopped
1.5c water

boil potatoes - cool them and chop into small chunks
chop the spring onion

in a big frying pan or wok throw in the water, spices and coconut
when they all look nice, blended and bubbly, add potatoes and onion
simmer on medium for a few minutes

OMG! these were genius on the dosa - surpassed expectations, and was really impressed at just how well this last minute improvisation went

super super yummy - led me to overeat a bit but hey, only a little oil was used to fry the dosa other than that, none at all


simple dosa recipe - i use chickpea flour and rice flour in equal amounts, pinch of cumin, pinch of garam masala, add water and blend to a thin pancake texture and fry as thin as possible
- they aren't as pretty as a south indian/sri lankan restaurant but taste just fine

um - i even made a dessert while making this supper - okay, so it was gluten free white cake - i did add tonnes of blueberries and had enough to make a dozen muffins and a pie plate sized coffee cake - yum yum yum!