Lime Bars and Hot and Sour Soup

Monday night I made Lime Squares from a recipe from The Divvies Bakery Cookbook: No Nuts. No Eggs. No Dairy. Just Delicious! by Lori Sandler. I discovered the book while browsing the cookbooks at my local Barnes and Noble, which I then request through my lovely library system. The idea of the Divvies Cookbook is the author's child is allergic to dairy, nuts and eggs so she started her own bakery and make recipes allergy safe. I do not have any allergies to the aforementioned things but I always enjoy trying new things.

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First off, I love the shortbread crust. And I love the first taste of lime I get. Which it should be apparent since there is 2/3 cup fresh lime juice and lime zest on the top (which is difficult to see). But the thing that gets me is the soy taste that is hiding right underneath. Tofu usually picks up the flavor of whatever is mixed, marinated with, etc but maybe I put too much in? It asked for 1 1/2 cup of silken tofu and I found a 1 lb package of soft tofu at Trader Joe's. I assumed soft tofu was silken but just as a safety measure, I pureed it in my food processor and then tried to measure the resulting tofuey glob in a liquid measuring cup. I want to try one more recipe before I pass judgement on this cookbook. Although no matter what, its a good sign when I get excited to bake just when reading and then looking at the pictures I get inspired.

Monday, 9/13 I dvred the Rachel Ray show. I am a subscriber to her magazine but rarely watch her show, let alone dvr it. But I'm glad that I did. Her recipe for the day was Hot and Sour Soup .

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I am really proud of my effort here! http://www.rachaelrayshow.com/food/recipes/hot-n-sour-chicken-soup/ I went to my local Pathmark after work. They didn't have scallions!! They just filled that area with lots of bok choy. Most people notice the difference, especially when the bok choy had a wrapper that said "Bok Choy" on it. When I asked the produce "expert", he looked confused and said "try back next week." Ok...thanks bud! But for the ingredients I did get, and about 40 minutes cooking tim ( at least that's what I felt like it was like) I got this amazing soup that when added with the egg noodles and chili sauce was amazing. One bowl was more then enough for one person.

Ingredients

• 1 pound egg tagliatelle, for wide noodles or whole wheat spaghetti, for a heartier soup
• 6 pieces boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• Salt and black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coriander, half a palmful
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil, divided
• A couple of handfuls of button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 inch ginger root, grated
• 3 to 4 cloves garlic, grated or minced
• 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar, eyeball it
• 1/4 Tamari or low-sodium Tamari, eyeball it
• 6 cups vegetable or chicken stock
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 small bunch scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
• A couple of handfuls crispy bean sprouts
• Coriander leaves, for garnish
• Lime wedges, for garnish
• Sriracha or other hot sauce, to pass at table. Yields: Serves 4

Preparation

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for pasta. Once boiling, add some salt and the pasta. Cook to al dente.

Meanwhile, trim chicken and season with salt, pepper and coriander. Heat about 1 tablespoon of oil, a turn of the pan, in a large, deep skillet or wok over high heat. Add chicken and cook 4 minutes on each side. Remove to a cutting board and rthe pan, a turn of the skillet, and stir-fry mushrooms a few minutes to soften and brown. Stir in ginger and garlic, toss a minute or two more then add vinegar. Stir, add Tamari and stock, and bring to a boil.

Thinly slice the chicken on an angle into strips. Add chicken to soup. Combine cornstarch and water in a small bowl and stir into broth. Let thicken a minute more. Add scallions and bean sprouts to soup and turn off heat.

Twist a bundle of noodles up around tongs or a serving fork and pile into individual bowls. Ladle soup over the noodles and garnish with cilantro and lime juice. Pass hot sauce at the table.

Mobile blogging

I'm trying to get my phone to have the ability to mobile blog. I do all the steps, type in the codes and it says "Success!" but then I try from my phone and wah wahhhhh...no go.

I got some hula hooping in today!! The weather has been so humid that going outside while its light out is a straight up suicide attempt. My dog loves to sit / lay down right under where I'm hooping. I admit, his head and the hoop have smacked together at least once.

Its time to head off to bed....to watch Hair Battle Spectacular!! Good night!

Cinco De Mayo!!

Even though I'm 1/2 hispanic, I'm not mexican but happy Cinco de Mayo!!! In honor of today, I made tortilla soup tonight. But not for tonight, for tomorrow's lunch and some thrown in the freezer for the future ....en el futuro. Buena noche mundo!!

Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice ( part dos)

Hmm...not sure if there is a limit on how many pictures you can put in a post so I'm creating a part two. When I left off I had added all the spices in, then you let simmer for 10 minutes. Great for me to do my trail of dirty dishes while waiting. Add some hot sauce ( I used franks ) and some lime juice and your ready to serve out.

It looks a mess but its really.. .really tasty.


Then I just divided by 4 (1/2 cup rice and 1 cup beans per serving) and put them in some new gladware.




Ta Tah!


One serving of this dish is worth 5 points if your doing Weight Watchers.

Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice

Even though I'm going away in a few days, I really am in need of some weight watchers friendly food. One recipe that I have tried before and am really happy with the results is the Cuban Style Black Beans and Rice.

First I start with some red bell pepper, garlic and onion and saute it in a hot pan with olive oil.
Then while I was doing that, I used some quick cooking brown rice. Just popped it in the microwave.

There may have been some boiling over...maybe.

Add some music and a dog companion...








And while your dancing/cooking /not impressing the dog...


I added the black beans, diced tomatoes, cumin, and oregano.

Today I came home from work and was so excited and surprised to see a box on my bed. It was my order from Paper-Source, the Summer Magnolia Paper Flower Kit. I have been stalking admiring some wedding blogs (even though I'm not engaged) for the DIY crafts and I have fallen in love with non floral bouquets. Some of the paper flower ones are amazingly beautiful.

I really want to just start right in but I have vacation soon so I think its smart to wait until then. But did you ever just want to really start a project even though you know you should wait?


I'm also really proud of myself, tonight I made my third recipe from "Now Eat This!" by Rocco DiSpirito. Last night I made macaroni and cheese with half of the ingredients missing so it was good but not as good as Rocco might have made it. Tonight's sloppy joes were delicious and not all too difficult to make. I'm more of a baker, cooking sometimes doesn't work for me.

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Starting out....again

I had a journal here once before, got lazy and stopped writing and finally deleted it. Why keep out there what no longer matters or is true? Reading other people's blogs has made me tempted to write again, although I'm going to be the typical "this is what I did today, blah blah" type of blog. I have nothing exciting to promote, no business. I'm not really artistic so I might be sticking with a default design for awhile.

Right now what I do like and can do something about is my amazing puppy. He's milling around my room because I won't let him sleep with my dad (grandpop) which is killing both of us because he's whining and my hearts breaking because I want him to want to sleep with me! I'm also waiting for my new green polka dot comforter to come out of the dryer before I can go to sleep, and because I'm bored I'm writing here.

Ok, I'm going to try to stop my puppy from eating everything that's in my room. Good night.