Moroccan Chicken Soup
February 1, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Poultry, Soups & Stews
I had one last butternut squash in the kitchen waiting to be used and this soup had been calling my name for a while. The flavor is warm and inviting, perfect for a cold wintry day, and the soup is easy to put together and easy on the budget using widely available ingredients. The recipe comes from one of my favorite everyday cookbooks, The Essential EatingWell Cookbook, which is full of healthy and mostly easy-to-prepare meals. Read more
Mexican Spiced Butternut Squash Soup with Beans and Corn
January 21, 2010 by Andrea
Filed under Soups & Stews
Michael isn’t a huge fan of butternut squash, but if you browse my archives you’ll see that I have quite a few butternut squash recipes. You might even think I am torturing my poor husband with all the butternut squash, but really I’m not. The sweetness of butternut squash just doesn’t appeal to him, so I try to find ways to spice it up and make it savory. Every once in a while another of my butternut squash soup experiments catches him by surprise and he’ll say he likes it and asks me to make it again. This soup is one those. Read more
Slow-Cooked Achiote-Marinated Pork (Cochinita Pibil)
The boys start back to school today and Michael went back to work after a well-deserved holiday break, which means we have returned to our weekdays full of drop-offs, pickups, multiple schedules, homework, and little time for preparing dinner. Tackling big cooking projects on weekdays is out of the question, so we are making easy weeknight meals such as this achiote-marinated pork. Read more
Green Beans with Caramelized Red Onions
November 30, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Vegetables
My grandmothers always made a big pot of Southern style green beans with a Virginia ham bone in it when we came to visit, and I would eat multiple helpings of those flavorful beans. The ham bone lent a smoky flavor to the beans that stuck in my memory and remains to this day. You could find them on the table amongst the fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, and biscuits.
These vegan green beans, while not my grandmother’s, are full of flavor with caramelized red onions and a light balsamic vinegar sauce. Read more
The Daring Cooks Make Steamy Kitchen’s Pho Ga
October 14, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Asian, Poultry, Soups & Stews
The October 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge was brought to us by Jaden of the blog Steamy Kitchen. The recipes are from her new cookbook, The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook.
I was excited to see that Jaden would be our host for the October Daring Cooks challenge, especially since I finally got to meet her at BlogHer Food, but when I scrolled down and saw we would be making pho (pronounced “fuh?”) I almost got week in the knees. I’ve eaten pho at Vietnamese restaurants but have never made it at home, and none of my family had ever tasted it. I couldn’t wait to give them a taste of this soup that won my heart long ago. Read more
Thai Basil Chicken (Kai Kraphao)
September 22, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Asian, Grow Your Own, Poultry
This dish is the main reason we grow Thai basil in our herb garden. We’ve grown many kinds of basil over the years and seem to have settled into a routine of Genovese, Lemon (Sweet Dani or similar), and Thai (Sweet Thai or Queen of Siam) basil because they cover the spectrum of our uses. The Sweet Thai variety we grew this year produces plants with purple stems and gorgeous purple flowers. Like most basils, the flowers are also edible and add a punch of anise flavor to Asian dishes. Our basils will last a few more weeks, then it will be time for the final harvest of the season and a marathon session making pesto (basic and sun-dried) and basil ice cubes. Read more
