ArchivesPosts Tagged ‘soup’

Vegetarian Pho

So much for a sunny long weekend. When I woke up to a rainy holiday Monday morning, I knew that it would be a soup day. And I’ve been itching to try my hand at making veggie pho. I’ve recently become obsessed with veggie pho after eating the most amazing soup at a local hole in the wall. (If you are in Vancouver it’s from Hanoi Pho – yes in the sketchy part of town but totally worth it.) I had spotted this recipe at The Kitchn a while ago and I was eager to try it.

Let’s just say this was a bit more labour intensive than I was expecting! My usual throw-everything-in-the-pot method does simply not work here. Most of the time was spent getting the broth right – or wrong in my case. I used powdered cloves and cinnamon and oh boy was that a mistake! While the broth was definitely full flavoured, it was also very very dark. But for my purposes it was totally fine. When put all together my rather amatuer mistake was almost unnoticeable. This made a whole lot – too much for one person. So in the end I had three containers in my fridge with leftovers: noodles, broth and veggies each separated. This way when I went back for the rest everything has nicely retained it’s texture. So while this was an incredibly delicious recipe I probably won’t be rushing back to follow it to the letter. I think I can improvise something a little bit easier (and smaller!) for myself.

Food Links

The Savory

I want to make: shake and bake tofu[ Kylaroma ]
Spicy tomato chutney toasts [ Crepes of Wrath ]
Spanish tortilla [ Camille Styles ]
Roasted cauliflower [ Poppytalk ]
Homemade Spaghetti with lemon, garlic, chilli and mint [ What Katie Ate ]

The Sweet

Guinness chocolate cake [ Call Me Cupcake ]
Magic cookie bars [ Love From the Oven ]
Hello Dolly bars [ Eat Live Run ]
Oatmeal butterscotch bars [ Sweet Treats More ]
The best chocolate chip cookies [ Everybody Likes Sandwiches ]

Bon appetit!

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Better Than Chicken Soup

When I’m at work all day, I sometimes find it very difficult to think of something to make for dinner – which is why I have a whole slew of recipe apps on my phone. If I can look up a recipe and figure out what ingredients to pick up on the way home, it makes the whole process so much easier. (But no one is perfect – I confess I ate a banana for “dinner” a few weeks ago.) One app I’ve grown to appreciate is the Whole Foods app. I can easily sort it into recipes that suit and put in what I am looking to use. In this case it was kale – which is how I came to find this excellent soup recipe.

And I know I say it all the time, but I really am all about easy and quick. And here is a soup that doesn’t require hours of prep and simmering. It came together super quickly (although I did let it simmer for longer than the specified 5 minutes – more like 15). I also admit I was a little apprehensive about the shitake mushrooms – mushrooms in a soup? But it was fantastic – deliciously gingery and garlicky and good. And the mushrooms are hearty enough not to turn to mush. I’m not sick but I felt it did me a world of good anyways. It’s the perfect meal to slurp up on a cold February night.

Food Links – Super Bowl Edition

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

I don’t watch football. At all. Ever. But hearing all about Superbowl for weeks on end gets me excited about food! I usually eat pretty healthy most of the time but who doesn’t enjoy a little grease and extra sugar once in a while? Enjoy!

The Savory

Beer cheddar dip [ The Kitchn ]

Jalapeno popper dip [ Big Red Kitchen ]

Deep fried macaroni cheese bites [ Doughmesstic ]

Soft pretzel bites [ Baked by Rachel ]

Baked potato chips with creamy avocado dip [ Babble ]

The Sweet

Deep fried Elvis raviolis [ Spoon Fork Bacon ]

Potato chip cookies [ Smitten Kitchen ]

Chocolate covered potato chips [ Because I'm Addicted ]

White chocolate confetti popcorn [ The Glitter Guide ]

Margarita cupcakes [ Recipe Girl ]

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

Thai Tomato Soup

Continuing on with my new found appreciation of homemade tomato soup, I stumbled across this Thai spiced tomato soup recipe at Gourmet (via The Kitchn) and decided to give it a shot. It was super easy to make and incredibly tasty. I also threw in a few chunks of leftover roasted butternut squash but once everything was blended up it was barely discernable. This has a great
consistency and I could easily play with it next time by adding some extras: sprouts or tofu or rice noodles perhaps. Mmmhmmm.

Hashed Brussel Sprouts with Lemon

I am all about the veggies. These aren’t just side dishes to me – sometimes they are the whole meal! This brussel sprout hash from Simply Recipes (via Carrots and Cake) is pretty much perfect. I made it without the wine but I added extra lemon juice. It was great but perhaps a bit too oily (I think I over buttered). Next time I will just use the olive oil and not the butter and see how it goes. It was otherwise nutty and lemony and perfect.

The Pizza Report

I was looking for some pizza topping inspiration and so I went snooping about and found this. I don’t know why I have never tried The Pioneer Woman‘s favorite pizza recipe before but it was really fantastic. Amazing. Etc. Oh wait – I do know why I haven’t made it. This recipe involves both pre-roasting veggies and making dough the the day before. Both of those things are basically unheard of around in these parts (the Land of the Quick and the Easy). So I did not let my dough stand overnight and it was still all good in the end. This made a substantially thicker pizza than what I am used to but that was a pleasant treat. In fact I liked it so much I am thinking about making a second batch of dough to have on hand….for next week. I usually never think further ahead than the next meal so that is saying something. (But you all know how much we like our pizza around here.)

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

Peanut Butter cups at Design Sponge

Mushroom noodle bowl at Healthy Tipping Point

Peanut butter crispy bars by baked at Crepes of Wrath

Multigrain Cacio e Pepe with Arugula at Serious Eats via Not Martha

Caramel apple french toast at The Luxury Spot

The magic sauce at Angry Chicken

Gluten free shepherd’s pie at GlutenFreeGoddess

Green bean salad at Smitten Kitchen

Chocolate chip waffle cookies at The Luxury Spot

Glazed cake doughnuts at Eat Live Run

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.

I finally got my dishwasher fixed this week. Hallelujah! So I will have more food to post about next week. Promise.

Tomato Soup

It was super cold and rainy this week and I felt the need for some comfort food. I mostly copied this recipe from Eat Live Run, but I added a few twists of my own. First, I didn’t use milk but subbed in vegetable stock instead. Second, instead of making grilled cheese for dipping (which is of course the best possible accompaniment to tomato soup) I added macaroni. (Weird? Maybe.) When I was a kid my mom would make Campbell’s tomato soup with macaroni so it is definitely some childhood nostalgia for me. But this was so much better! And homemade! And not to mention a bit easier on the sodium (mind you I did find the soup a little salty which I think I can blame on the stock. Next time I will try with no salt and see how it goes). It’s funny how I’ve made soup for myself a million times before but I’ve never tried to make a smooth tomato soup like this. And it was so easy and tasty. I will definitely be making this again instead of buying anything from a can or carton.

The Pizza Report

This week I totally went for the Hummus Pizza recipe by Everybody Likes Sandwiches at Poppytalk. And it was really good in a so-not-typical pizza sort of way. And I did feel a tiny bit virtuous eating it and when can you ever say that about pizza? I love the idea of this though and it makes me want to experiment with it a bit more. Hummus and other veggies? A different sauce with the broccoli? The possibilities are endless.

Food Links

A sampling of the yummy things from across the web that caught my eye this week:

Homemade chocolate covered oreos at Eat Live Run

Mmmmmm. Toasted Smores bars at The Luxury Spot

Butternut squash enchiladas Healthy Tipping Point

Sweet potato biscuits at The Luxury Spot

Vegan brownies at Happy Herbivore

Healthy mac’n'cheese at Fitness Magazine via Carrots’N'Cake

Self frosting Nutella cupcakes at Playing House via Eat Live Run

Bacon cookies (!) at Tennessee Locavore via Oh Joy

Poor man’s parmesan at The Kitchn

Bon appetit!

If you are looking to give your space a dose of style- whether you are splashing out or on a budget – drop me a line. Check out my Hire Me! page for more details.