Bean with Bacon Soup

2 cups white bean (garlic salt and bay leaf soak)
2 stalks celery
3 small carrots
1/2 an onion
2 clove garlic
1/4 cup catsup
Pinch of clove
Pinch of Paprika
Pinch of Oregano
One Bay Leaf
salt and pepper to taste
4 cups veg stock
2 cups chicken stock
1 lb of bacon cooked until crisp but not burned.
1/2 cup smoked Gouda

Sweat onion, garlic, celery, carrots in a couple tsp of olive oil.  While that is going on, put your beans and stock in a pot with spices, stock, and catsup. Add the veg to the pot.  We cooked out bacon in the oven and added it after crumbling crispy bacon goodness into smaller bits.

Let cook for 2 -3 hours.  If it's not thick enough, you can either make a rue and add that or a can of tomato paste.  Another thickening method is pureeing a portion of the soup.

Notes:  A pinch is a pinch in this house.  You can use a bit more or a bit less based on your taste.

Makes 6-8 servings

This must be made.

How We Made the Turducken of Cheese Balls

'Nuff said.  (Though I will likely use different cheeses.)

Another pancake video? Why yes, yes it is.

Language is not safe for work.  You have been warned.  Have a good one!

Show me where you're nom's at

Just put the fucking turkey in the oven

My Drunk Kitchen: Pancakes

I love this woman.  Love love love.  

The Dangers of Modern Vegetable Oils.   Or "It's not news, it's just the way the food manufacturing industrial complex tells you what to believe about your food.

Food that is closest to it's natural state is the only food you should eat, given a choice.  That's only my opinion, but I really do believe it.

10 Food Myths....

Life Hacker put out this list of 10 Food Myths That Will Not Die.   I still think that having a wooden board for veg. and a plastic or glass one for chicken/meat sounds like a good idea to me.

I actually gave my child salmonella back in the lack of organic foods day.  Not that non-organic chicken was the culprit  (...but it was, because I didn't wash it properly. ) but I like the idea of the dish washer clean board for chicken.

Peel all the things!!!

This is so cool.  I peel a lot of garlic.  I happen to have two bowls!

Juicing...

Vegetable Juice-Beet Recipe 

• 1 beet
• Beet leaves from 1 beet
• 4 carrots
• 1 apple
• 1/2 cup leaves of spinach
• 1 whole cucumber

This one is very yummy and fresh tasting.

Pink Juice

This is a really pink juice.

4 little red apples
3 small beets
1 lime with skin
1/2 inch of ginger

We loved this one!

*warning*  This product will produce pink poop.  Don't worry, you aren't bleeding to death.

Let there be juice.

I have been doing some juicing.  Not just the morning yummy fruit kind, but the hard to drink sort of a struggle to get down kind.

My favorite is just plain old Carrot and Apple.  Sweet, easy to drink, yummy.

Today we tried this, I call it "Not V8 by a Long Shot":

2 carrots
2 romma tomatoes
a hand full of cilantro
a hand full of spinach
3 stocks of celery
Juice of one lemon

It was green.  It was good.  It was ugly.

I am going to attempt pictures of the juicing this week.  My food photography is almost as bad as that greeeeeeen juice.  Practice makes perfect.

Food Photography

This woman has some really excellent thoughts, ideas, and tutorials on food photography: 6 Bittersweets.  Well worth a long look.

At some point I will have to bring out a real camera and try harder, but for now I am working pretty freaking hard on learning how to cook better.  And I am a hot mess in the kitchen, boys and girls.  It often looks like a band of blind pirates came into my home and had a party in my kitchen.  Well fed, they escaped out the back door as evidenced by the foodie foot prints.

Take a look at 6 Bittersweets.

Chicken Enchilada Casserole - New Mexico Style

The original version of this yummy dish is (c)  Karina Allrich for The Gluten-Free Goddess.  


I have been poking around looking for gluten free foods that don't contain mystery ingredients, but are satisfying and filling and I was fortunate enough to find this tasty mess.  As I said above, Karina Allrich wrote the original, here is my version.

 Chicken and Artichoke Enchilada Bake Recipe ala Cora

This yummy thing is a sort of casserole/lasagna style dish with nice smokey flavors.  I thought it might fall into mush but was very pleasantly surprised.  My husband was incredulous because it lacked a red sauce and included my beloved artichokes.  He managed to eat himself over full with plenty for tomorrow's lunch.  Don't be afraid of making the sauce instead of taking it out of a can. You won't regret it.

For the sauce:

2 cups chicken broth. I used low sodium organic stuff

2-3 tablespoons sweet rice flour. I used almond flour to keep it Glute free.  Any flour would do I think.

A good dash of cumin, to taste.  I used a 1/2 teaspoon, maybe a little more.  I love the stuff.

A good dash of hot pepper, smoky chipotle or cayenne, to taste.  

I used about a tablespoon of Cholula Hot sauce

1 cup chopped fire roasted green chilies- We used roasted chilies from last fall that had been frozen over the winter.  Took off the tops and removed the seeds but left the roasty skin on.  They were perfect.

I also threw in a dash of chili powder, a pinch of onion powder, and just a few red pepper flakes.

For the dish:

Olive oil

10 corn tortillas

2-2 1/2 cups hand torn cooked chicken pieces.  I cooked 2 large skinless, boneless breasts boiled in 3 cups of chicken broth and some water for 20 min. then ripped it apart.  Very satisfying.

1 10-oz. package frozen artichoke hearts, cooked, drained  2 cans of artichoke hearts canned in water, drained and sort of squeezed the extra water out.  Also, very satisfying   

4 huge cloves garlic, minced - because sparkly vampires might come get me some day.

Juice from 1 big juicy lime - or two tiny pathetic ones.  

1/2 - 1 teaspoon cumin, to taste

1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning or chili powder - I am shocked that I only discovered Old Bay this year.  I use it on all kinds of meat now.  Love it.  Mean it.

Sea salt and ground pepper, to taste

4-6 oz. Cheddar or Jack cheese, shredded - I used jack.  

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a 8 x 11" or 9 x 12" baking dish.  I missed the whole oil the dish thing.  It still worked out fine.

Make your sauce by heating the broth to almost a simmer. Add the flour and whisk smooth. Continue to heat just until the sauce thickens.  It won't thicken too much.  Don't worry about it.  Add the cumin, hot pepper and green chilies and stir well to combine.   Or you can be lazy like me and just throw all the stuff in the pot and throw caution to the wind, and simmer while you put the rest together.

Make your filling by combining the chicken, artichokes, garlic, lime juice, cumin, Old Bay Seasoning, sea salt, and pepper, in a bowl. Toss well to coat.

Add about 3/4 of the shredded cheese and mix. Set aside the remaining cheese for the topping.

Pour about 3/4 cup of the green Chile sauce into the bottom of the baking dish.

Cutting some of the tortillas in half to make straight edges, layer five corn tortillas in the bottom of the baking dish. Brush with a little olive oil.  Spoon in the Chicken filling, and spread it evenly in the pan. Top with five more corn tortillas, cutting some of them to fit against the sides. Brush these with a little olive oil.

Pour the remaining enchilada sauce all over the top, slowly, using a small spatula or knife to make room around the edges of the tortillas, so that the sauce can seep in all around and reach the bottom. Sprinkle the remaining shredded cheese on top.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes, or until the enchiladas are bubbling around the edges and heated all the way through.

For those with big appetites, serve with seasoned rice, or refried beans, or sides of guacamole and sour cream. 

We had fresh avo on the top with a bit of sour cream and vegetarian re-fried beans.

Serves 4 people who haven't eaten today or 6 people who don't want to unbutton their pants after.

The original version of this yummy dish is (c)  Karina Allrich for The Gluten-Free Goddess.  

We ate out a lot ....

I posted a few reviews on Yelp!  I am starting to understand why everyone in the country is fat.  Not that it's really that shocking with the state of the American diet.  But this is just over the top:

This is a 6 egg omelet!!!  With a half pound of cheese, a crap ton of spinach, and a farm load of mushrooms.  I made it through about 1/3.  Who eats this much in one sitting?  It is physically larger than a stomach.  The menu didn't say:  "Welcome Competitive Eaters!"  I should have got a hint, after all, the place did offer bacon pancakes.  

When I grow up.....

I want may food pics to look as good as this person's.  Great photo tips here too!

http://gourmandeinthekitchen.com/

Quote of the Moment

Cooking is like love. It should be entered into with abandon or not at all. —--Harriet Van Horne

Intentions

I intended to make Swedish meatballs tonight but the pork and beef did not defrost, so that will have to wait.  Stay tuned for the meatballs tomorrow.  Until then....

And what i ate today.....

What I ate today

"What did you eat today?"  Do people really ask each other this?  Do you post your lunch on your social networks? Do you think people care?


I have to admit that I do, now and then, ask; being keenly interested nutrition, fresh foods, and cooking.  The main goal of this blog is not to show you what I ate today, but to get myself back in the habit of picking up a camera (any camera) a few times a day.  Food is not my muse.  Photography is and photographing food is hard.  I mean really hard.  It takes a lot of perspicacity, and attention to detail to do right.  There are rules (lets call them guidelines), and tricks, and whole host of lighting and composition challenges.     


As food photography is totally outside of my photographic comfort zone, I am including photos of "What I ate today."  Another challenge will be making things I eat every day into different compositions.  (Yogurt in the grass, yogurt on the chair, yogurt upside down)


There is one other reason.....

Grilled Peach and Chicken Salad

 

This is my first attempt at food blogging and food photography, so bear with me.  

I have only started to entertain the idea of fruit and lettuce.  I think because we only ate iceberg lettuce growing up.  We made this salad green of 3 varieties. It was really good. We managed to over grill the peaches.  So don't do that.  

Here's What You Need (with pictures!):

Quote of the Moment

One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. —-Virginia Woolf