It’s Soup Weather

One of my favorite events of the year here in Salado is the Empty Bowl Project. Local potters and the high school art class, donate bowls and local restaurants donate soup. For $12 you get a bowl and unlimited soup and you support that Salado Family Relief. I’m a regular so I’ve accumulated quite a few handsome bowls.

This year I got to enjoy the Empty Bowl Soup Lunch with Terry! In addition to the two bowls we got with our soup, Terry bought two more bowls to make it an even four.

There are two different styles, but they are close enough that it looks like a complete set. Eleven local restaurants contributed soup. The organizers only bring out four options at a time so we sampled Chicken, Chicken and Dumplings, Bean (mostly lentils) and Tortilla. My favorite was the Tortilla – my first choice. BUT…I hate to say anything negative about the event. BUT…after tasting our third type of soup, I asked Terry if he like any of the offerings better than my soup and we agreed that our home-made soups are the BEST. (He’s no dummy. He knows exactly how to answer those kind of questions. You know what I’m talking about. The “Does this outfit make my butt look big?” kind of questions. Or worse yet, “Which outfit makes me look thinnest?”)

So our soup tasting venture plus the cold weather we’re finally enjoying was enough to inspire us to come home and make up a big batch of soup out of the huge pumpkin that Terry got from “the compost dude”. I don’t know his name, but the Waste Management Committee that Terry is serving on brought him in to teach a compost clinic last week and Terry came home with this huge – well I thought it was a pumpkin, but now that we’ve cut, steamed, pureed and tasted it, I’m not so sure. It tastes more like a squash, but it was big, round, and orange and white variegated. Of course I neglected to get a picture of it before we hacked it apart and cooked up six batches. We pureed five quart jars worth and used six cups (or 3 lbs.) for the Amazon Bean Soup recipe we like so much.

This isn’t an original recipe. My niece copied it for me from a magazine several years ago and I just got around to making it. The first time I used fresh spinach, but this time I cheated and used frozen. At $3 per bag for fresh spinach for 8 oz. I just couldn’t bring myself to fork over the $6. (We’re in a rural area so our choices were limited.) Still, it’s a passable soup and we have plenty to enjoy for the upcoming cold spell. With Thanksgiving coming up this week, we’ll soon be posting a Smoked Turkey and Dumplings recipe!

Amazon Bean Soup with Squash and Spinach

1 Tablespoon butter
4 Cloves garlic, minced (as a rule of thumb, I tend to double the amount of garlic!)
2 carrots, chopped
1 Medium onion, chopped
6 Cups reduced sodium chicken broth
3 pounds buttercup squash (or whatever mystery “pumpkiny, squashy” fall melon you have lying around), peeled and diced (about 6 cups)
1 plum tomato
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (I use the Chipotle peppers I used to buy at Sam’s Club that Terry bought in bulk when we discovered that Shilling was discontinuing it. I also use WAY more than 1/4 teaspoon. Who are these whimps?)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 15-ounce pinto or other brown beans, rinsed
10 ounces spinach, stemmed & coarsely chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium – high heat. Add garlic, carrots and onion and cook, stirring occasionally until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Add broth, and scrape up any browned bits with a wooden spoon. Add squash, tomato, crushed red pepper, salt & pepper & bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until the squash is very soft and almost breaking apart, about 20 minutes.

Transfer 3 cups of the soup into a blender and puree until smooth (use caution when pureeing hot liquids.) Return the pureed soup to the pot. Stir in beans and spinach & cook over med. heat until the beans are heated through and spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.
Serve with lime wedges or pour into warmed canning jars. Screw on the tops and wait for the lids to pop!
Make 8 servings, 1 1/2 cups each, about 231 calories.

Our First Rotisserie

Man, we’ve had some good eating lately and tonight was just another example. Lucky me. I married a rotisserie!

Terry loves rotisserie chicken, but hates the fatty things you get at the supermarket so he bought his own rotisserie. I’ve been dying to try it out even though it meant I had to drag a bunch of garage sale items onto the driveway to get to it on the bottom shelf in the garage. No pics, but here’s the recipe:

Apricot-Orange Glazed Game Hens (except that I used a chicken and peach preserves!)

Whole chicken

3 Tablespoons of Orange Juice

3 Tablespoons Soy Sauce (I use low sodium)

1/2 C Peach Preserves

Stir preserves, oragne juice and soy sauce. Reserve half to warm and serve with chicken. Wach and dry the chicken inside and out. Season inside cavity with salt and pepper (we didn’t do this, we just poured a bunch of sauce inside.) Brush chicken with sauce Cook in rotisserie for 45-55 minutes or until temperature reaches 180 degrees. Serve with warmed reserve sauce.

Terry got a large bag of squash so here’s what I did with them.

Squash with apples and onions

Saute 1/2 of large onion and dried thyme in butter until translucent. Add thinly sliced Granny Smith Apple (I used 1/2 of a very large one and saute a few minutes. Add 2-4 (depending on size) yellow squash thinly sliced. Saute for a bit, then add chicken stock and a splash of white cooking wine. I wanted it to be soupy so I used 1 Cup of chicken stock. I also put plain yogurt on lots of things I topped it with dollop of yogurt.

Serve with a crispy, slightly fruity white wine. It’s been so hot lately that I’m drinking Chenin Blanc and I haven’t done that in years. If this keeps up, I may break out a Riesling or a Fume.

Outstanding Two Week Anniversary Dinner

To celebrate our two week anniversary, I grilled up a special meal of Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin, Mexican Grilled Corn on the Cobb, and Fire-Roasted Tomatoes with a cheap Chardonnay.

Here are the recipes:

Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin

Pork Tenderloin (about 1.5 – 2 Pounds Total)
2 T Chopped Fresh Cilantro
1/4 C Dark Rum (I used light because it is all I had)
2 Tablespoon Fresh Lime Juice
2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
2 Tablespoon Light Brown Sugar
1 Cup Soy Sauce (I used 3/4 Soy and 1/4 C Bragg’s Liquid Amino)
1/2 Teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Allspice
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Salt

Combine all ingredients except the pork in a flat baking dish. Reserve 1/3 of the marinade and keep it separate. Trim all fat and skin from pork tenderloins (this is Terry’s job) and place them in them in the marinade. Turn to coat well. Cover and marinate for 15 to 30 minutes at room temperature. (we’re newlyweds so the pork marinated much longer than the suggested time frame.)

Place pork on 3rd burner of grill (this is specific to our grill and this menu) with first two burners set to medium and 3rd burner at low. I used the first burner to roast red peppers (they were on sale for .99 each) for a tomorrow’s lunch: Roasted Red Pepper, Roast Beef, Smoked Gouda Cheese Sandwich on mini wheat buns with Chipotle mustard. (Check back tomorrow for the recipe!)

Let pork cook using Indirect Grilling method for about 30 minutes. After the peppers were charred, I put the corn on the cob on the 1st medium flame and the cherry tomatoes in a bar-b-que pan in the 2nd medium flame.

Turn the pork loin four times while flame is on medium to sear in flavor, then reduce flame to low and turn occasionally, marinating frequently. The reserved marinade is supposed to be heated and poured over the finished product, but this was unnecessary because we let the pork marinate longer than the recipe instructed and found it needed nothing more.

So here’s how we prepared the fresh sweet corn on the cob.

We shucked and washed it, sprayed it down with PAM Olive Oil and laid it on that hot grill.

But once it was cooked, we had a few surprise ingredients to throw in. Here’s the recipe for twelve ears. I improvised for two by mixing the ingredients in proportion, but I didn’t reduce the recipe by that much and was glad that I had lots of the seasoning to share with the grilled cherry tomatoes I threw in at the last minute:

Tex-Mex Corn on the Cob
12 ears of corn on the cob
3 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
1-1/2 teaspoons chili powder
1-1/2 teaspoons grated lime peel
3/4 teaspoon salt (BTW, I rarely add salt when instructed and never miss it.)
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder (I’m sorry, but if it ain’t real garlic, I don’t use it. I skipped this ingredient!)
Refrigerated butter-flavored spray (I’m the grill queen so “refrigerated butter-flavored” sounds whimpy to me. I used Spray Oil specially formulated for grills.)

Place ears on medium heat until kernels bubble, pop or crinkle and show a tinge of black from the grill. (I made that up based on personal preference.) Stomp the other ingredients together in a mill or with a whisk. Grill corn then slather with mix. Use leftovers on anything else waiting to be grilled – like cherry tomatoes.

We both agreed it was one of our best meals, but we did have one minor disagreement you can help resolve. Which of the following pictures reflects correct table-setting etiquette?

Picture A

Picture B

Our table-setting disagreement didn’t spoil our two-week anniversary, but we do have a lot riding on the bet over who is correct.

You expect me to eat that?! or What’s the next first?

Just got a text message that Terry had taken a break from sorting and separating for the upcoming move to Texas to have a light lunch of Wheatberry Salad. This is a recipe that he got from the electronic notebook of recipes that I gave to him when I gave him my old Powerbook. (Yes, Patty, he is a full-fledged mac convert now!) I bought wheatberries when I was in Traverse City (see photos), but never made the salad for him. I’m so impressed that he made this for himself because I know this is a first for him!

Wheatberry Salad with Peppers & Grapes
Wheatberries have a very satisfying texture. They are similar to barley in that they remain slightly chewy even when fully cooked.
3/4 cup wheatberries
2 1/2 cups water
2 red bell peppers, cut lengthwise into flat panels
1 green bell pepper, cut lengthwise into flat panels
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon walnut or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup seedless red grapes, quartered
2 scallions, thinly sliced

1 In a medium saucepan, bring the wheatberries and water to a boil over high heat. Reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook until the wheatberries are tender but still slightly chewy, about 1 hour. Drain.

2 Meanwhile, preheat the broiler. Place the bell pepper pieces, skin-side up, on a broiler pan and broil 4 inches from the heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the skin is charred. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, peel them and cut into 1/2-inch squares.

3 In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, walnut oil, and salt. Add the warm wheatberries, bell peppers, grapes, and scallions, and toss to combine. Serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
Makes 4 servings

Nutrition Information (per serving)
calories 217 • total fat 4.5g (saturated 0.7g) • cholesterol 0mg • dietary fiber 7g • carbohydrate 43g • protein 6g • sodium 297mg •
good source of: beta carotene, fiber, niacin, potassium, selenium, thiamin, vitamin B6, vitamin E
From Wellnessletter.com

But this is just one in a long line of “firsts” for him since we reconnected last July.

First opera, first deliberative forum, first time to show affection in public without being rebuffed, first Apple product, first blog, first social network, first time to twitter, first time to consider starting own business, first time to read books like “The Hero Within” and to think about personal archetypes, first cowboy boots, first ichat and text message, first sushi, first time to use chopsticks.

He’d never used chopsticks, but he jumped in willingly in NY. (yep, THAT trip to NY. The time he proposed.) Over the course of three days, we had three meals – Thai, Japanese and Chinese – using chopsticks. He was a trooper!

There are many things that I love about Terry, but his willingness to try new things (and the fact that there are SO many things he’s never had a chance to do!) absolutely delights me. Each of these firsts is like an adventure and sometimes he’s downright giddy about going on that adventure with me. It’s a joy to share these firsts with him.

Of course, I’ve had lots of firsts with him, too. First time to drive a snowblower, first time to be in bun-numbing sub-zero weather, first live broadcast of an opera, first time to wear animal on my head.

But mostly this is the first time I’ve ever been so loved by someone unconditionally devoted to me.

I feel the same in return.

There’s one more first for you, honey.

And now, before I get too sappy, here’s what I had for lunch

Yep, that’s grilled avocado and grilled lettuce on the plate. I told you I grill everything!

Now get your self down here. We’ve got a lot more “firsts” to experience!