I Love Soup

Soup is the easiest, most satisfying thing to make for dinner, especially on a cold night. Even though it is getting warmer out, the nights are chilly and I still turn to soup for a quick meal.

I had a delicious corn chowder at Cafe Deluxe in DC one afternoon and then went on a research expedition to find the perfect corn soup. Twenty cookbooks and several online sites later and I found Creamy Corn Soup with Red Bell Pepper on Epicurious. It is from Bon Appetit's March 2001 issue and is a recipe from the Double Rainbow II in Albuquerque. I made it for Easter last year and it was extremely popular. I have made it several times since and we never tire of it.

The beauty of it is the corn does not have to be in season -- you use cream-style corn and frozen corn. In fact, I think it would be a waste of fresh, in-season corn to use in this soup. I've got a salmon chowder recipe that just cries out for fresh corn. But that is another blog. You could even make your own cream-style corn, but that seems like a waste of time. Just use the cans and have delicious soup in about a half hour. Add more or less canned chipotle chilies depending on your tolerance of spice. Me, I like lots.

Now on to the recipe. Makes 4 main-course or 6 first-course servings

2 TBSP butter or olive oil

1 large red bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 14 1/2 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice

2 cups (or more) water

2 TBSP chopped, canned chipotle chilies

2 14 3/4 oz. cans cream-style corn

1 16-oz. package frozen corn

1 c. whipping cream (or milk)

1 tsp. dried oregano

Melt butter (or heat olive oil) in heavy, large pot over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion and garlic; saute until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes with juices to pot; cook 2 minutes. Combine 2 cups water and chipotle chilies in blender and puree. Mix puree and cream-style corn into pot. Bring soup to boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add frozen corn, cream and oregano; simmer 5 minutes.

YUM.

Simple Things for a Healthy Diet

Michelle Obama is the most amazing woman. Besides the shallow reasons for thinking she is fabulous such as her beauty, her fabulous arm muscles and her marvelous sense of style, I admire her for her incredible intellect, her interest in things that I think matter such as healthy eating habits and her most recent job of working on the task force to combat childhood obesity.

This post is a bit late since the announcement was early last week, but I keep thinking about the interview I saw on the PBS Newshour where she made ever so much sense. The thing that resonated most was her no nonsense approach to changing the eating habits of her girls when a doctor's visit found that their BMI was not what it should be. This happened when Mrs. Obama was a working mother in Chicago with her husband away in Washington, D.C., when President Obama was a Senator. She had to juggle the responsibilities that a single mother would -- getting the kids up, fed and to school, herself to work and then dinner for herself and the children. It is so easy to rely on prepared foods and unhealthy snacks, because who has time to be the mother of two, the wife of a U.S. Senator, have a career and to make three well-balanced meals a day. Mrs. Obama said that with very simple changes -- and that is the key, because major, life-altering changes are so daunting -- she was able to make major changes in her daughters' health. No juice boxes in their lunches, desserts being offered only on weekends, etc.

The acknowledgement that parents are busy and major changes generally are a nonstarter is a necessary ingredient for success. Involving the agriculture department and other organizations responsible for feeding children is so important. New York City and San Francisco have some really interesting school lunch programs that involve fresh foods and local farms. I hope the White House looks to leaders in school lunch who say no to cardboard pizza and sodas and yes to homemade foods from local farms. Alice Waters and her Edible Schoolyard project is also inspirational in getting kids involved in growing vegetables, understanding where their food comes from and then cooking it. Not all kids will be into that, but many will. Anything that can get people thinking about what they put into their bodies is a big deal as far as I am concerned. It matters for overall health and it matters for the planet. Take your pick -- be inspired for reasons of self or broader global reasons. Whatever works.

The interview with Mrs. Obama really resonated with me, because the things she said are things that I found work for me. Any time I decide I need to go on a diet, I immediately begin feeling like I am starving and I crave pizza. I simply can't handle the mental idea of depriving myself. Being naturally oppositional, if I am told "no" -- even when I tell myself -- I rebel. So now when I notice my weight sneaking up and that my eating habits have been less than impressive -- 3 oatmeal cookies and two individual-serving bags of Cheetos in one day, for example -- I realize it is time to get myself in hand. Instead of going on a diet, I go on a cooking spree.

So after that theoretical cookie/Cheeto binge, I made a big pot of white beans with herbs and garlic. I have breakfast tacos in the morning with the beans, corn tortillas, perhaps some scrambled egg whites or some low-fat roasted potatoes and salsa. I might add a small grating of cheese for flavor. My goal is to eat a high protein breakfast with more calories in the morning and taper off at night.

I made a curried lentil stew with carrots, onion, garlic, curry, Swiss chard and homemade vegetable stock. Add some wild rice and you've got protein, vegetables, whole grains and something warm in your stomach on a cold winter afternoon. That serves as lunch.

Snacks are almonds, oranges, grapefruit or some oatmeal.

Dinner is yogurt, fruit and granola. I wake up really hungry, but don't get hungry throughout the day and very shortly the weight starts to drop off. If I have a craving for something sweet, I have a bar of bittersweet dark chocolate in the pantry and it will take me at least three months to polish it off one little square at a time. Although, I admit sweets are not my downfall and salty treats are, so I hardly ever buy those kinds of things. You will not find prepared foods, chips, etc. in my house. Not because I am such a health nut or so superior, but because I will eat the whole damn bag in one sitting. So I just don't tempt myself. I swear the corn chips call to me, begging to be liberated from the pantry and being so kind-hearted, I must stop the suffering. There have been times when I swear I can feel my legs getting fatter after one of those missions to free the chips and it is disturbing. So I just don't buy those things that will cause my thighs to turn to jello before my eyes.

I also have to make sure I get up off the couch and move, which is pretty difficult some days when the snow is falling and I have a sweet dog snoring away in my lap. It is much more enticing to stay under the blanket and dog and watch old movies. Even just mopping the first floor and cleaning the upstairs bathrooms is a start. But I really need to make it a priority to work in some cardio and weight training. I am never going to get those Michelle Obama arm muscles unless I pick up those weights and get my heart rate up.

So while I toil away at my flabby arms, I will also be keeping an eye on this White House and new task force. I have high hopes that with the combined intelligence of the folks on that panel and with Mrs. Obama at the helm, we're going to see some really interesting and doable proposals.

Red Lentil Soup

For years now I have followed Heidi Swanson at www.101cookbooks.com. I relate to her obsession with collecting cookbooks and recently counted mine. I come in at just under 100. Ninety eight to be exact. I’ve identified a couple that I never use, but otherwise I use them all. When I want to cook anything, I cross reference the recipe until I find one that sounds the best or cobble together elements from various recipes that I think will work.

Part of that collection includes Heidi’s “Supernatural Cooking,” an extremely healthy collection of vegetarian recipes. I like the book and the recipes are good, but they often include ingredients that are difficult to find and it becomes discouraging. As a devote of Julia Child, I try to follow her advice and not to be daunted by a lack of ingredient and just forge ahead without it or find what seems like an adequate substitution. For example, she has a recipe for chocolate chip cookies with mesquite flour. I've never found the mesquite flour and don't feel like sending away for a bag of it just for these cookies. A substitute of whole wheat flour just has to suffice. The cookies get rave reviews, so I guess they aren't suffering too much from the missing ingredient.

Heidi recently announced that she is working on a new cookbook and I can hardly wait until it comes out. The recipes are going to be quick, weeknight recipes. While I firmly believe the best food involves time and attention, I don’t always have hours to cook dinner and having some quick, healthy recipes at my fingertips will be welcome.

As if the extensive collection of cookbooks and cooking magazines weren't enough, I continually go to 101cookbooks to check out Heidi's new recipes and find something for dinner. I recently made her red lentil soup and it was unbelievably fantastic. Of course, I modified it because I love spice. The original merely called for a bit of red pepper flakes, but I found that an addition of curry powder and a hint of garam masala was just the ticket. The brown rice adds body to the soup, which is much needed as red lentils can be a bit weak.

This soup takes very little time to make and is the perfect thing for a cold winter night.

Red Lentil Soup

extra virgin olive oil


1 onion or shallot, chopped


2 garlic cloves, crushed

1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes

1 tsp. curry powder

dash of garam masala

6 cups good-tasting vegetable stock (or water)


1 1/3 cup red lentils, picked over and rinsed


1/2 cup brown rice, picked over and rinsed


salt as needed

In a big soup pot, over medium heat, combine the olive oil, onion, garlic and red pepper flakes. Let them brown, and caramelize a bit, stirring occasionally.

Stir in the broth, bring to a boil, then stir in the lentils and rice. Simmer for about 30 minutes or until the rice is very tender. This may take longer depending on the type of rice you have. By this time, the lentils will have collapsed. If you need to add more water/broth at any point, do so a splash at a time, until the soup thins out to the point you prefer.

Salt the soup until it no longer tastes flat.

Serves 4 - 6.

Cornmeal Date Scones

When I worked at CakeLove, the owner made the most amazing scones filled with dates, ginger and a bit of cornmeal. He whipped them together for a general manager's meeting and didn't have a recipe. Believe me, I asked. I obsessed about them for weeks afterward and way more than a year later I still think about them.

With no formal recipe and my faulty memory, the best I can do is try to create something delicious and I think I succeeded this AM. I used buttermilk since I always have buttermilk in the frig. Cream would make them richer and could be substituted. Or milk.

Not liking things too sweet, especially breakfast food, I didn't fill up the 1/4 cup measuring scoop with sugar because it looked like A LOT of sugar vis-a-vie the amount of flour. I could have used the full 1/4 c. of sugar, but when the measuring scoop was about 3/4 full, I tossed it in. That was just the right amount for me, but feel free to add full 1/4 cup if you like sweeter scones.

I could have used more dates, although the occasional bite of chewy fruit is adequate. The six I chopped up looked like a lot, but I love dates and it never hurts to have more fruit than less.

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. fine yellow cornmeal

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

scant 1/4 c. sugar (maybe about 3/4 full)

1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter

1 c. buttermilk or milk or cream

6 pieces of crystallized or candied ginger, chopped

6 to 8 dried dates, pitted and chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Using a pastry blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal with larger clumps. Add the chopped dates and ginger. Toss with your hands to combine.

Pour in the buttermilk (or other liquid). Using a rubber spatula, fold buttermilk into the dough, working in all directions and incorporating crumbs at the bottom of the bowl until the dough just comes together. If you need to add a splash more liquid to bring the dough together, go right ahead. The dough will be slightly sticky. Do not overmix.

Drop mounds of dough (about 1/3 c. each) about 1 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. You can use your hands or two spoons.

Bake until the scones are golden, 15 to 20 minutes.

On Yankees and the Cold

I once met a man from Louisiana who accused me of being a Yankee, because I lived in Washington, D.C., even though I am a Texan through and through. He was belligerently Southern and I found him both hilarious and disturbing. But his words have stuck with me and I must say I find myself agreeing with him. He went on and on about how he didn't trust people from up north on the grounds that "you can't trust a man who thinks it is normal to shovel snow out of his driveway before he goes to work." Nor can you trust someone who thinks temperatures that dip below freezing for several months out of the year is any way to live. "That ain't right. That just ain't right. You can't trust a man who thinks that is right," he said.

Indeed. That ain't right. While I have no snow to shovel, it is raining like crazy and when it hits the sidewalk it immediately freezes. Is that what they call freezing rain? I never did understand that term, because I always rather thought that when it was freezing rain turned to snow. I think maybe now I get it and it just ain't right. It sucks. I nearly killed myself getting the newspaper the sidewalk was so slippery. Well, I exaggerate. I did a crazy dance trying not to fall on my ass, but I could have nearly killed myself.

Then there is the dilemma of how do you heat a house built in the 1800s? There should be a class or at least a brochure on things you should know before you buy an old house up north. Maybe I'll write it.

1) No matter what you do, you won't be warm. Your nose and fingers will be popsicles, the pets will need earmuffs and there will be a frigid breeze whipping through stairwells, near windows and doors. The stairways act like breezeways, really.

2) It takes 10 minutes to get the hot water from the basement to the second floor (where all showers are), so your water bill will be extra high. (An on-demand water heater installed on second floor is in my future.)

3) Medicine cabinets installed on an outside wall result in frozen (or very nearly so) toiletries. You must take the deodorant out of the cabinet a good 30 minutes before using and place it in a warm spot unless you want quite the wake-up call.

4) Dishes kept in cabinets on outside walls must be warmed before using. That nice hot cup of coffee becomes lukewarm (at best) upon being poured into the cup. No wonder the man at the kitchen store made a big stink about getting a warming drawer. I scoffed at that as an unnecessary expense.

5) Store your PJs on the radiator. Socks, too. So when you go to put them on, you will be warm for a few minutes.

6) Invest in those fingerless gloves -- several pair -- so you can tend to household chores. Mittens and gloves make writing, cooking and anything else requiring fine motor skills impossible. But you can't go around without insulating yourself.

7) A scarf must be worn indoors at all times.

8) The house makes creepy noises at night. Sleep with soothing music playing to drown them out or you'll lie awake freaking yourself out. This one is especially important if you have a good imagination. And you'll need to be well rested to have the energy to not freeze to death in your own home.

9) In late summer when the temperatures dip at night, your house will get cold and not warm up during the day. So on those lovely September days when it is high 70s, low 80s, you'll be wearing sweaters and long pants inside and will have to change into summer clothes (near the door so you freeze before you get outside) when you leave the house.

I could go on, but I am depressing myself. I had grand plans to go to the grocery store, to search out cool photo albums and then finish wrapping gifts. I'm not leaving the house. I'm going to put on another pair of socks (or two), find my new hat and stay under the covers with the dog, who definitely needs ear warmers.

Even baking Christmas cookies is out, because it is too cold in here to allow the butter to come up to room temperature. I guess on the bright side, you don't really need a refrigerator during the winter. I could just leave all the stuff out on the counter. SIGH.

Venison Pie

We don't eat much meat for a variety of reasons and I have been a vegetarian on and off since high school. I love animals so much it makes me sad to eat them and I have a horror of the meat industry. "Fast Food Nation" anyone? That book seriously changed the way I eat. But I love meat, so every once in a while I fall off the vegetarian wagon and have some bacon.

Then there is the fact that my motto has always been "the cuter they are, the better they taste." Cows are OK, bacon delicious, duck is divine, lamb is fantastic, venison is even better and rabbit is heavenly. I don't see the point in wasting calories on food that is not fabulous, so I don't eat a lot of meat. In fact, in 2010 we are going to start a policy of only eating meat that was killed by someone we know. I couldn't possibly do the killing myself -- I'm not a good enough shot and I faint when I see blood.

Luckily, Drew's dad is a hunter, so we get quite a lot of venison every year and I made venison pot pie based on a recipe out of the November issue of British Country Living called "Venison, Guinness & Chestnut Pie." I didn't have chestnuts, so I added mushrooms and used a bottle of Duck Rabbit Milk Stout. I bought the beer because the logo is fabulous. The beer is so-so.

I cubed some venison cutlets, dipped them in salted and peppered flour, browned the meat in a large pot and set the meat aside aside. Then I sauteed leek, garlic and carrots and set that aside with the meat. Next added stock and scraped up the browned bits from the venison pan, added the meat and all the vegetables and the bottle of beer and some sprigs of thyme. Once it was bubbling gently, I put on the lid, turned down the heat and wandered away for about an hour until the meat was tender.

After the meat was done and the sauce thickened, I poured it all into a 2 quart baking dish, topped with pie crust decorated with pie dough antlers and baked it at 375 degrees until the crust was browned. YUM. Here is the recipe as I made it.

1 to 2 lbs. venison stew meat

3 TBSP flour

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 to 3 TBSP butter or olive oil to over bottom of pan

1 leek, chopped

3 carrots sliced

4 garlic cloves crushed

several sprigs of thyme

1 bottle stout beer

2 to 3 cups of beef or game stock

1/2 to 3/4 lb. mushrooms

1 recipe of pie crust for a single crust pie (only butter in the pie crust, please)

1 beaten egg to glaze

Toss the venison in flour, salt and pepper. Melt butter in a large pan and cook in batches until nicely browned. Transfer to a plate. Add leek and carrots and cook 15 minutes, add garlic and cook until fragrant and soft, sprinkle in thyme. Transfer to plate with venison.

Add the stock and bring to a boil, scraping up meat residue and browned bits. Add meat, vegetables and beer. Bring back to a boil, lower heat, cover and simmer until meat is tender, one hour or more.

While cooking, heat butter or olive oil and saute the mushrooms until they give up their liquid and are browned. Once the meat is tender, add cooked mushrooms. Leave to cool or the pie will boil over when it goes in the oven.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Pour the filling into a large pie dish or baking pan. If there is too much liquid, reserve it for serving as gravy. Cover the filling with the pastry, using the trimmings to shape antlers to decorate the pie. Brush with beaten egg to glaze and bake for 45 minutes until deep golden.

Pumpkin Scones Part 2

These scones are based on the recipe from the Joy of Baking site, but I ramped up the pumpkin for a deeper pumpkin flavor, took out the raisins and pecans and added nutmeg, because pumpkin simply cries out for a bit of nutmeg. These scones have more of a flakey biscuit texture than a cakey texture, because I simply prefer the flakiness. They are slightly sweet, but get flavor much more from the pumpkin and spices. They make an excellent breakfast treat without the resulting sugar coma you get from other overly sweet baked goods.

Pumpkin Scones

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

½ cup whole wheat flour (or 2 cups all purpose)

1/3 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

½ cup (one stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1/3 cup buttermilk

1 cup fresh or canned pure pumpkin

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Roasted, salted pumpkin seeds to top (optional)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender or pulse in food processor. The mixture should have different sized pieces of butter – small and large.

In a separate bowl mix together the buttermilk, pumpkin puree and vanilla and then add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together. Do not over mix the dough. You may had to toss in more flour if dough is too sticky – just add a sprinkle or two at a time until you have the right consistency.

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead dough gently four or five times and then pat the dough into a circle that is about 7 inches round and about 11/2 inches thick. Use 2-inch biscuit cutter for small, round pastries. Squish scraps together and pat down to use all dough, trying not to overwork the dough.

Place the scones on the baking sheet. Brush the tops of the scones with buttermilk (or an egg wash) and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds if desired. Bake round scones for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly browned on top.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Yield: About a dozen small scones.