Feel like something different tonight? try this soup. It really lives up to its name. It’s easy, it’s curried, it has coconut milk goodness in it and you can use up almost any vegetable you happen to neglect in the back of your fridge. I always have root vegetables such as carrots, onions, potatoes and parsnips on hand but feel free to switch them up with sweet potatoes, cauliflower, squash or anything else that rings your bell. I do recommend that you keep the onion and the aromatic root (parsnip, celery or parsley root) as they add, well, aroma to the soup. I used half a can of coconut milk and froze the rest, but you can definitely add the whole can for extra coconut richness (but I won’t be accountable for the fat content). The soup keeps well in the fridge for up to a week, and is very yummy served with some coriander that I sadly did not have when this picture was taken. What are you waiting for? Curry up!

Easy vegetable coconut curry soup

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp canola oil
1 chopped onion
2 cups chopped carrots
1 cup and a half chopped parsnip
1 tsp and a half curry powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp grated ginger root (I keep mine in the freezer and grate it straight in the pot)
1 cup and a half chopped potatoes
1 liter chicken stock
1/2 can coconut milk

preparation:

1. Heat butter and oil in a small soup pot and saute onions, carrots and parsnip for about 3 minutes on medium heat.

2. Add curry, salt and ginger and stir together for about 30 seconds.

3. Add stock and potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook until the vegetables are soft.

4. Blend to smoothness with a blender stick (go get one, you need it), add coconut milk, stir and cook until heated through.

5. Serve garnished with coriander leaves.

My husband asked for some meatloaf. Good old meatloaf. The baby was napping and the meat was on the counter. All I had to do was assemble one of the easiest dishes known to mankind and then drink my coffee in peace. Almost too easy. Too easy. Boring. I just couldn’t do it. My palate was in serious need of some amusement and meatloaf just wasn’t cutting it. Then I came up with these bad boys. If you want to jazz up your good old meatballs, this recipe is for you. Spicy (but not hot),tangy and savory, it is a whole new ball game (pun very much intended).

Moroccan inspired meatballs with tomatoes, olives and lemon

for the meatballs:

1 kg minced beef
2 medium onions minced
1 cup parsley leafs minced
1 egg   
1 cup breadcrumbs
tsp salt
tsp pepper

Mix well and shape into golf ball size meatballs. spray a baking sheet with oil,  arrange meatballs on the tray, spray with some more oil and bake for 20  minutes in 450 F (220 C) oven.

For the Sauce:

1 can crushes tomatoes (800 ml)
1 can diced tomatoes (800 ml)
1/4 cup canola oil
Tbsp and a half paprika
2 cups pitted green olives (rinsed)
3 crushed garlic cloves
1 lemon, sliced, pitted

 Mix in crockpot, add meat balls and cook on low for 5 hours. Goes great on couscous or rice.

How often have you tried preparing a muffin recipe boasting 12 or 24 muffins and ended up with several disappointed empty cups? I do that all the time. Even when I (shamefully) tried these ready-made-just-add-water muffin mixes, I still had to leave some of the cups muffin-less. Now that my conscience is clear, I can proceed to give you this favorite recipe for whole wheat banana muffins I make every time my bananas reach old age. I openly admit that I always end up with 9 muffins, baked in a standard large silicone muffin pan. I decorate each of my muffins with a large walnut, but you can definitely switch that up with other nuts, a piece of chocolate or nothing at all. Awesome with a cup of coffee as an afternoon snack. If served to rugrats, omit coffee and walnut.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins

2 ripe bananas
1 large egg
3 Tbsp tub margarine/room temperature butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

9 walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F ( 190 C).

2. In a bowl, mash your bananas well with a fork, add butter, sugar and vanilla. Create a small space for beating your egg in the very same bowl then mix with the rest (you can SO do this with a mixer if you feel like cleaning it after). 

3. Mix dry ingredients together and add to the banana mixture. Mix until combined.

4. Spray muffin pan with oil spray (or use some more butter) and divide mixture equally between the cups (I always end up with 9). Decorate if you wish with above mentioned walnuts or other goodies.

5. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the edges look golden brown. Do not over bake or the muffins will dry up.

This pasta dish breaks all conventions known to good italian cooking. The spaghetti noodles are allowed to cook until soft. They are (lo and behold) broken in half before immersed in boiling water (but don’t tell  my husband), the uncooked, quickie, hassle free sauce is mixed with the pasta and you are NOT to serve it immediately, but to let the two hang out, get to know each other better and hopefully get even softer. There are no vegetable in this pasta (unless you count the tomato paste), no fresh herbs, no extra-virgin olive oil and no fancy artisan-guild protected cheeses.

And what do you get? an irresistable, comforting, kid-friendly dish that is even yummy cold from the fridge in the middle of the night (not that I tried that of course). I have yet to encounter anyone able to resist seconds. Try to beat that, soggy Kraft Dinner.

Red Spaghetti

For the sauce:

In a heavy bowl or a large Pyrex measuring cup mix together 1/3 cup tub margarine (you can try vegetable or canola oil but no olive oil. The taste is just too strong), 2 cans (156 ml each) tomato paste, 1 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1/2 cup warm water.

For the pasta:

Fill a large pot with water, add lots of salt and bring to a boil. Break in half 375 gr of spaghetti and throw in the water. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes. Drain the pasta and return to the pot with some cooking water still clinging to the noodles. Add sauce and mix for a minute on the lowest heat possible. Get the pot off the heat, cover and leave undisturbed for about 10 minutes.

If you are (like me) making this for a later meal and do not serve immediately, be sure to drizzle some water on the pasta while reheating it gently in its pot or in the microwave. Serve on its own or as a side dish. Any leftovers keep extremely well in the fridge for a few days.

A tray of these molten little sins were first offered to us by our friend Martine, as thanks for a service rendered. unfortunately, I can take no credit in helping her figuring out her tax return. The husband did that all by himself. I did, however, take part in eating these cakes and in making them ever since for countless dinner parties due to the ease of preparation and the guaranteed Oohs and Aahs they are sure to deliver.

Go ahead, you know you want to.

Mini Chocolate lava cakes
makes 12

120 gr (or 4 oz) semi-sweet baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter or margarine (I cheat and use a little less)
3 eggs
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
12 chocolate chip cookies

1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F (or 220 degrees celsius). In a microwave safe bowl, heat chocolate and butter for about 2 minutes, or until the butter melts. Remove from microwave and mix with fork until the chocolate has completely melted.

2. Beat together eggs, sugar and flour until united, Slowly add the chocolate mix and stir briefly until even.

3. Line a 12 muffin pan with paper cups and place 1 cookie in each cup and cover with chocolate mix.

3. Cook between 5 and 8 minutes, until the top touches firm but the middle is nice and melting. Set aside to rest for 1 minute, then gently remove little cakes from the pan and place upside down on your serving plate.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Friday sends me automatically to the kitchen. Ignoring the unpacked luggage, the kitchen “rearranged” by our well-meaning house sitter and the endless piles of laundry I cheerfully set out to plan a dinner party. A quick glance at the clock tells me that I have some 90 minutes before the rise of the baby. So begins the mad race against the clock. Tripping over toys, I reach for my food processor. With help from this trusted friend, I quickly slice cucumbers for my heirloom hungarian salad. Post slicing, it is time to sprinkle salt and let the juices drain away. Thinking about it, I never understood the need to discard the vegetable juices, only to be replaced by plain water later on. Pushing rebellious thoughts aside, I stick to the recipe and move on to trashing the peels, gently placing them on the heaping garbage bin in an arrangement that will surely win me some prizes in a tetris convention.Overlooking the fact that our party includes us two, my non eating toddler and my eternally slim friend that competes with said toddler, I conclude that meat loaf alone is not enough. I now logically proceed to unfreeze some chicken. Having someone living underfoot in your absence has the pleasant side effect of surprise ingredients you will never think of buying. I eye the unfamiliar jar of honey-garlic sauce and quickly pour it over my slow cooker cradled chicken. There. Done.

A swift search of the fridge wins me a handsome basket of mushrooms. Velvety soup come to mind. The trouble with all this blog hoopla is that instead of inventing new ways to tango with produce, I often fall back on  winner recipes I already posted, like this cream of mushroom soup. Clock is ticking. I opt for the good old soup. Just as the soup starts to smell insanely good, my countdown is up, and so is baby. desperately trying to win myself more time, I shove my wiggly love in his swing and hand him over a biscuit, thus buying peace for 15  more minutes. Shamelessly pleased with my time management, I play tetris once more on top of the bin, consciously ignoring the stern lecture that will surely come from my long-suffering husband.

All in all it has been a very fruitful morning. The cucumber salad hibernates in the fridge, my soup is patiently waiting stove top, meatloaf has been prepared the night before and chicken legs are simmering away in the crockpot. The clock has yet to strike 10:30 am. Groovy. I rule the clock.

Friday hurries by and the hour grows late. When I finally find the time to sit and write these words it is nearly midnight. I begin, as my husband likes to say, “to hammer nails” with the top of my head. I would like nothing better than to retire to my bed. Wearily I begin my nightly journey. Gather a few last dishes from around the house. Place in dish washer. Place soap tablets in appropriate cavity. Turn on the beast. Pick up stray toys. Swear quietly over an overlooked coffee cup and a piece of cheese supposedly eaten by my too clever toddler. Go downstairs. Transfer laundry to dryer. Pass the deep freezer on my way to my toddler’s bedroom. Freeze in my tracks. Return to deep freezer and dig a pack of something for tomorrows supper from its jaws. Continue to toddler room. Gently turn the knob until I feel the telltale resistance. My daughter is stubbornly curled up against the door once again, nesting on a stolen pile of her baby brother’s clothing, sound asleep. I gently pick up my precious package to her rejected bed, cover her carefully then quickly retreat , not before placing her milk cup and  favorite stuffed animal in arms reach. I am now ready to enter my own bedroom. In the darkened chamber I notice that her equally stubborn  (6 months old) brother has managed to wedge himself in an impossibly tight spot in his vast crib. Smiling, I turn the baby clockwise until I find his legs. I better his covers and finally climb in bed, only to realize that 25 minutes have passed by since my departure. Not so groovy.  The clock has evened our score.

Heirloom Hungarian cucumber salad

 Ingredients:

6  mini cucumbers (or 1 very large English cucumber)
about 1 Tbsp salt for sprinkling
1 small onion
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp paprika
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 cup water

preparation:

1. Slice cucumbers and onions as thinly as possible, preferably using food processor , mandolin, grater or the likes. I like to leave the cucumber peels on. My father takes them off. It’s up to you, really, I dig the extra fiber. I also tend to slice my onions by hand using a very sharp knife, in half-moon shapes.

2. Once sliced, place vegetable slices spread on a plate and salt generously. Let drain for about an hour (of course you can cheat, 30 minutes work also).

3. In a serving bowl or your salad container, put water, vinegar, sugar and paprika and mix until sugar is completely dissolved. Squeeze vegetables and add to bowl. Mix well and check for seasoning. You can always add some water-vinegar mix with some sugar or salt if necessary. Place in fridge for a few hours. Over night is even better.

Last Friday we had company for supper.  The crowd was an eclectic mix composed of one socially idealistic doctor, an  intellectual nurse, a globe-trotting goth inspired dental hygienist and a sensitive (seriously) IT guy. Strangely enough, even with so many interesting personas underfoot,  the conversation stubbornly revolved around the dip recipes. 

Parsley-tomato sour cream dip

This dip was inspired by my friend Paulina, who made a similar dip for us every time we got together to drink and chat in her microchip sized apartment in Tokyo. Paulina used japanese mayonnaise, who tastes completely different from its western counterpart.  With the lamentable lack of an asian grocer nearby, I substituted half of the mayo with sour cream. It is better to do make this dip at least 2 hours before serving it, to let the tastes combine.

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1 large ripe tomato, chopped finely
1/2 cup chopped parsley leafs
salt and pepper to taste

Mix together all the above, including all the tomato juices. Keep in the fridge well covered until serving time. Great with chips, crackers and vegetables.

Hummus

Find it here:  http://minimeblog.wordpress.com/2009/06/08/homemade-hummus/

Dill and garlic cheese dip

This one got all the glory. So good.

Ingredients:

1 small pack cottage cheese (250 gr)
1 small pack light cream cheese (250 gr)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dry dill
salt and pepper to taste

in a small microwave dish, put garlic cloves and oil and heat for 1-2 minutes, until the garlic is soft. Put garlic preparation in a food processor bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Process until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust seasoning.

It’s cold. And grey.My baby just got his vaccines and diligently proceeded to present all the text-book side effects. So he is crying, and feverish, and sick. I literally had to wash all the bedding in the house. Twice.

In days like these I like to pretend it is summer. That all I have to do to get out is casually slip my feet into a dainty pair of sandals and go. No long underwear, extra shirts, snow pants or mittens in sight. Sigh.

At least in the kitchen I have some environmental control. So yesterday I made some summer. With a wonderfully light pasta dish, full of bright sunny flavours. Pasta putanesca. If the name sounds a bit seedy,that’s because it is. Named after a slightly different type of hard-working girls, you can also manage to make it between your chores.

Pasta Puttanesca

For 500 grams of pasta:

1 800 gr canned diced tomatoes
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of anchovies, drained and chopped (or 1 tbsp anchovy paste)
1 heaping Tbsp capers
1/2 cup black olives, pitted and chopped
1/2 tsp to 1 tsp chilli flakes (depending on how fiery you like your sauce)
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. In a heavy pan put together olive oil, garlic and anchovies. Heat on medium while mashing the anchovies with a fork until almost dissolved.

2. Add tomatoes, capers, olives and chilli. Cook on high heat for about 10 minutes. Add oregano and parsley and stir.

3. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour on hot pasta and serve.

I gotta take a better picture next time

No, I do not mean myself, even though left-over describes me pretty well now, 2 weeks into daycare-time-off. I have been alone at home with one very energetic, destructive, brilliant, zero attention span 2-year-old Tasmanian devil (little girl)  plus a don’t-you-dare-put-me-down-or-I -will-start-hollaring adorable 4 months old. Not an easy combo. In fact, who am I kidding. I was clawing at the walls.

Let’s just say that cooking was the least of my worries. Between protecting our home from utter destruction and breast-feeding every 2 minutes, I still had to come up with something for supper every day. A woman needs her strength and sometimes a grilled cheese just wont do. My husband requested (and got) spaghetti sauce. Only the pack of meat he dug out of the freezer was almost as big as the baby. There is so much spaghetti a person can eat ( my husband and daughter will no doubt disagree). So, faced with the “what’s for dinner” challenge I eyed our nearly empty fridge and spotted the leftover spaghetti sauce. Since it was a cold day, soup was the way to go. We call it chunky soup. It is one of my husband’s all time favorites. You will love it too.

Chunky soup

ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion
2-3 carrots
2-3 celery stalks
2 medium potatoes
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 can of beans (whichever you have on hand), drained and rinsed
1.5 to 2 cups leftover spaghetti sauce
8 cups water
1 (156 ml) tomato paste, if you like your soup thick and “tomatoey”
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup macaroni (or any other small pasta variety)
1/2 cup chopped parsley

1. peel and chop your vegetables into small cubes.

2. In your soup pot, heat the olive oil and saute the onion, carrots and celery until they begin to soften, about 5 minutes.

3. Add potato cubes and garlic, mix until the garlic begins to smell wonderful, then add your drained beans, spaghetti sauce, water and spices. Mix well.

4. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and cook for about 25 minutes, until the vegetables are fork tender

5. Add pasta and cook on low for 10 additional minutes, until the pasta softens up. Add chopped parsley.