E is for Eats

Fixin' to be Soup When my friend  Tracey was out last month, we spent a day hanging out, crafting and watching movies. We also intended to spend some time in the kitchen and Tracey suggested a carrot ginger soup. While we ended up going out for ramen instead, I've been thinking about this soup ever since. And since I keep saying I'm going to post the recipe, here it is: Spicy Carrot Ginger Soup Serves 4-6 2 Tbl butter, unsalted 1 medium onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1" knob of ginger, peeled and minced 1 tsp curry powder 1 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp red pepper (preferably Utica Grind ) 1 bunch of carrots, peeled and chopped 1 cup butternut squash puree (optional, I just happened to have in the fridge. Feel free to omit) 4 C stock of your choice Salt & Pepper to taste In a large soup pot over medium high heat, melt butter. Add onion and saute until soft and golden. Add garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin and red pepper. Stir well to ...

Can you believe Thanksgiving is just a few days away? I can't - I have no idea what happened to November. As I'm sure everyone else in the country does, we have a fun-filled, packed week ahead of us. Craig's mom is coming out to visit us for the first time since we've lived in Brooklyn and we are hosting Thanksgiving this year for about 10 people. But that doesn't mean that we don't have time to cook dinner! Only three meals planned this week, what with Thanksgiving and all of the leftovers that follow. Here's what we'll be having: Pasta with Cauliflower in a Tomato Sauce Leek & Potato Soup Turkey Burgers, Corn Salad and Beans In addition, we'll be spending the day baking and canning. Craig's making  more bread , this time whole wheat. If I'm lucky, he'll also be testing a Pancetta Bread in advance of Thanksgiving. And I'll be putting up some apple sauce (or maybe apple butter, I haven't decided yet) and some cranber...

Phew, am I glad that week is over! I'm happy to report in that we actually made everything on the plan this week . Here's the run down: Meal 1: Carrot and Ginger Soup   I made this Sunday night for us to eat through the week. It was really good - the right amount of spice and heat. I'll post the recipe soon. Meal 2: Beef Stew & Cheese Rolls We broke out the slow cooker for this one, the first time in a long time. Slow cooked beef, it doesn't get easier or more delicious. Craig made a ridiculous loaf of Cheese Bread. He's turning into quite the baker. My taste buds love it; my waist line, not so much. Meal 3: Ravioli with Tomato Sauce Over the 4th of July, Craig played a show in Asbury Park and we spent the weekend in NJ with some good friends. On our way back home, we stopped at the Red Bank, NJ Farmer's Market.  It was a nice little market with a handful of farmers stands and some prepared food vendors. Once of the vendors had frozen ravioli ...

Last week was such a blur, I don't remember if  we ate, much less what ate, so there will be no check in from last week's menu . But I've got big plans for this week, and boy am I hungry! Here's what's on deck for this week. Carrot and Ginger Soup (I've been dreaming of this soup ever since my friend Tracey was visiting) Beet & Couscous Salad Beef Stew & Cheese Rolls (some of my friends from work are coming over for a mid-week meal, Craig is treating them to some homemade rolls...yummmmmm) Ravioli with Tomato Sauce Mostly comfort food, as you can see. Just what the fall season calls for. I hope you have a great week and check back through out the week for some of the recipes above.

I’ve recently taken an interest in baking. Specifically, baking bread. Bread is another staple that, until recently, we always bought at the store. My first foray into baking bread came a few weeks ago when we were having sloppy joes for dinner (Gabrielle should post about the sloppy joe recipe she has, it’s really great). I started the joes and then realized that we didn’t have any bread or hamburger buns. I was just about to head out to the store when I decided to see if there was a recipe for buns online that looked fast and easy. I found one on allrecipes.com . I gave it a try and had pretty decent buns in a little over an hour. I was so encouraged by the results that a few days later we headed to the bookstore to look for bread books. I really had no idea where to start. Gabrielle had read about Jim Lahey’s “no knead method” and luckily Greenlight Books had a copy of his book. The book, My Bread , is well written, informative, and loaded with simple recipes an...

Tempting, but there aren't actually any cupcakes on the menu this week I know it seems like I've been mentioning how busy work is lately. But it really has been! And this coming up week will be busy as well. It's Market Week, the week that our customers from all over the world visit our showroom to see what we are offering for the next season. Market Week means back to back appointments, lunch with clients, late nights and the occasional business dinner. Now, don't get me wrong. I really enjoy Market Weeks. I'm just giving you a little background info on this week's "menu". Since I won't need lunch and I'm not sure what nights I'll be home for dinner, we are spending today preparing and pre-cooking some basics. The thought being that we can take what we are cooking and throw together some meals as needed. We are making the following: ~3 pound beef brisket ~Mayacoba beans (similar to Northern Beans) ~Bread and rolls ~Cabbage coleslaw ~Roast ...

We did much better this week than we did the week prior . Really, Craig did much better as he ended up bearing the brunt of most of the cooking responsibilities this week. If it's even possible, it seemed like this week was busier than last. Work continues to be a bit crazy and in addition to our weekly French class, we also took a Knife Skills class at Brooklyn Kitchen on Tuesday. Thanks to some clever advanced planning on Craig's part, we actually followed most of the meal plan. Meal 1: Creamy mushrooms with polenta, green salad Craig made this later in the week, one of my late nights at work. I was craving comfort food, which usually means pasta for me. So while Craig ate his mushrooms over polenta, I ate mine over pasta covered in grated parmesan. For some reason, Craig really dislikes making green salads, so no leafy greens with this meal. Meal 2: Turkey sausage and potato hash, collard greens We had this after our class at Brooklyn Kitchen. We didn't get home until 9:...

Radish and Corn Salad A couple of weeks ago , I went a little nuts buying radishes. Thinking that they wouldn't be at the greenmarket too much longer, I bought quite a few bundles. Usually, I snack on radishes throughout the week, but given the amount I bought this time, I knew I was going to actually have to make something. I started flipping through Carol Gelles 1,000 Vegetarian Recipes . When Craig and I first moved in together, he was still a vegetarian. I bought this book then, to familiarize myself with some of the more common vegetarian recipes. I've used this book for years, but I don't think I've ever made a recipe from it exactly as specified. It's a great book to use for inspiration, and it seems to make it through every one of my annual cookbook purges. So, flipping through the book and looking at the frozen summer corn in my freezer, we put the following salad together. Radish and Corn Salad adapted from Carol Gelles "Red Radish Salad" serves...

Wild Rice Salad Last year for Thanksgiving, we went to Idaho to visit with Craig's parents. My mother-in-law made a delicious wild rice salad. She sent me the recipe and I immediately ran out and bought a box of wild rice. And then I never made the salad. The wild rice sat in our pantry for almost a year and I finally decided to do something with it. But there was a problem - I couldn't find the recipe! So, I took a peak at what we had on hand, and threw a very simple salad together in its place. This was super easy to make and very satisfying to eat. There are just a handful of ingredients, but the salad is chewy and crunchy, slightly sweet and slightly sour, two of my favorite combinations. In fact, I made it a few weeks ago and I've been thinking of it since. Wild Rice Salad serves 4 3 cups cooked and chilled wild rice (or mix of wild rice and white rice, that's what I used) 1 serving red wine vinaigrette (about 1/3 cup) 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled 1 oz...