When I first started this blog, cooking was one of the worst ‘chores’ I had to do. I always felt like it was such a pain in the ass to cook my own meals everyday, so instead, I would hit the drive-thru.
It’s hard sometimes not to get bored or tired of cooking at home–I definitely do that in cycles– but Week 31, Meal 3: Salsa verde soup reminded me why I love to cook.
Toasting the coriander, tearing the husks from the tomatillos and that “a-ha” moment when the salsa verde broth came together revived my senses. Leave in the seeds when you chop up the chiles for a spicier broth.
And about that bowl of soup? Better and fresher than I could have found in South Orange County at 9 p.m., that’s for sure. Keep reading for the recipe and how-to. Continue reading →
I’m a Bay Area boy, so you know I love my seafood. Some of my earliest memories are spending time with family, shoveling clam chowder into my mouth from a mountainous bowl made of bread.
The second soup of our trio isn’t a creamy soup like my old favorite, but the smokey shrimp broth (which you make yourself) and sweet shreds of crab and fragrant slivers of fennel make this one unforgettable.
Here’s Week 31, Meal 2: Shellfish and tomato soup with grilled baguette. Continue reading →
Excuse the lack of a “finished product” shot for this post, but I went three days in a row to freakin’ Sprouts for a loaf of French bread and they were sold out each time so we just ended up chipping away at this one until there was nothing left.
For the first meal of Week 31: Souper soups, Chef Brian is going Italian, throwing a whole bunch of healthy ingredients and good-for-you spices into a pot (kale, turkey, lentils, fennel, paprika) and serving it up piping hot. It probably would have been good with the parmesan bread on the side, but at least I saved a couple of carbs.
Prep is fairly simple and if you want to turn this one out fast, you can use store-bought Italian turkey sausage like I did. But we’ve also included Chef Brian’s Italian turkey sausage recipe in the post in case you have the time. I didn’t when I was able to cook this particular time, but I’m going to come up with a different way to use the recipe just so I can try it.
Here’s Week 31, Meal 1: Italian turkey sausage, kale, lentil and tomato soup with parmesan croutons.
Soup is one of the best options for a healthy lifestyle. You have to be careful of the amount of sodium in canned soups, but for a nutritional punch, soup is where it’s at, especially if it’s made at home.
For his “Souper Soups” menu, Chef Brian is using stuff you typically don’t find in a can including a bunch of fresh kale and a heaping mound of sweet crab. Here’s the menu:
Week 31, Meal 1: Italian turkey sausage, kale, lentil and tomato soup with parmesan croutons
Week 31, Meal 2: Shellfish and tomato soup with grilled baguette
Week 32, Meal 3: Salsa verde soup with queso fresco and light sour cream
Each recipe makes about 4 servings and, other than the shellfish soup, the recipes will keep well in the fridge for a few days. Follow the link for the shopping list. Continue reading →
Here’s a photo I took recently of some chicken I made along with baked then mashed yam and a simple pan gravy made with a roux (whole-wheat white flour and strained pan drippings) with low-fat milk.
As you’ve noticed by now, I’m the cook in my house. But that’s not to say my lovely Wifey Nadia has nothing to bring to the (dinner) table.She makes the most perfect bacon, can whip up a mean hummus and is a damn fine baker. She is also an excellent sous chef.
Another wonderful thing she makes is “taco spaghetti,” a simple pasta sauce seasoned with a Lawry’s “TACO” spice packet. I’m not a fan of the Montreal steak seasoning everyone pours on everything, but I do love the taste of the taco mix. It’s the flavor of the burritos of my youth–beef seasoned with this stuff, a sprinkle of cheese and a flour tortilla. Authentic suburb Mex.
Nadia’s ace recipe is a meat seasoned with the packet added to just enough tomato sauce to loosen it up. Poured over spaghetti, it’s a filling meal. I took it one step further recently, adding two cartons of quartered mushrooms, shallots to the meat (lean ground beef I had in the freezer, though next time I’ll use turkey), and I garnished everything with scallions and two tablespoons of shredded cheddar (about 55 calories).
It’s a twist on two old favorites that I love. If you want a little something extra, serve it with a slice of ghetto garlic bread (wheat or white bread, a thin smear of butter, a sprinkle of garlic salt and heat!). It’s good stuff.
With that, I’m taking a vacation. I’ll be back next week with the first post of Week 31: Super soups. The turkey kale lentil soup was legit.
Chef Brian gave me the option of using bomba rice or jasmine rice for Week 3, Meal 3: Vegetarian paella, but I really wanted the bomba to keep this as authentic as possible.
Lucky for me, Dave was willing to take me on a whim to La Espanola Meats in Harbor City to pick up the rice and nosh on some righteous paella. Theirs came with a charcuterie plate (with marinated olives I’m still dreaming about) and was packed with rabbit, chorizo, chicken and shrimp. It’s only served on Saturdays and if you’re anywhere close, you need to check it out.
But for the finale to our vegetarian menu, we’re ditching the meat and piling on the veggies. Everything is fresh, yet I’d file it under “stick to your ribs” because it’s so filling.
I complained to Chef Brian when he sent me the vegetarian menu because I’m just the worst when it comes to stir fry. I’ve burned the bottom out of two woks and anything I make in one turns into soy-flavored charcoal.
I borrowed a good wok from my buddy Kevin, all the stars aligned, and I knocked this one out of the park (thanks to a stellar recipe, for sure). The sauce is the star here–tangy, spicy, sweet–and the tofu, slightly crisp from a flash fry in the wok, soaks all of it up.
In my continuing effort to cook most of my meals at home, I went through this month’s cooking calendar on the Real Simple magazine’s website. I put a menu together for the week and plan to link to the dishes each day, just to get back into the habit of blogging meals. This weekend I plan to pick up veggies at the Farmer’s market (SOCO Collection’s spread was incredible last Saturday) and I’ll finally knock out the remainder of the vegetarian menu.
But until then, here’s a vegetarian dish from Real Simple that I was iffy to try, but thankful I did. It’s eggplant lasagna, made with slabs of eggplant (they call for it to be broiled, but I threw mine on the grill), a simple tomato sauce and creamy, herb-spiked ricotta.
I’ve been trying to hit the gym at least three times per week, so it’s essential to cook my meals ahead of time. One of my favorite things to make are baked pasta dishes because you can make many portions at once and it usually tastes better after a day or two in the fridge.
Their recipe, which you can grab by clicking the link above, uses a lighter bechamel sauce instead of lots of butter and heavy cream to thicken things up. I used whole wheat pasta shells and whole wheat white flour to make the roux. The pasta is boiled and then combined with the cheese sauce.
Even though everything is already cooked, baking the mac and cheese really brings it all together. Finish off by browning the bread crumbs under the broiler. Each bite is creamy, crunchy, cheesy and delicious.
They serve their recipe as 6 servings; a 480 calorie slice. I split it into 8 servings to save some calories for about 440 calories per serving. Their recipe calls for prosciutto, but we had some bacon laying around and I threw it in. Next time, I’ll use the prosciutto to save calories, or swap that altogether for roasted chicken.
Easy on the wallet, good for you and it hits the spot! A win-win-win!
