Merry Christmas!

If this is your first time visiting this blog, it is probably because you've received a present from me.
I like giving homemade gifts and I'm a secret (not so secret) green girl.
Let's get to the good stuff...

Jar contents:
Long grain rice
chicken broth powder
chopped, dried apricots, apples, cranberries, and raisins
dried chives, bay leaves
salt and pepper

One jar serves 6-8 people

Directions:
Boil a pot of water.
In a pot or sauce pan, heat up as much or as little butter as you'd like.
Add a little bit of hot water to the pan, stir with a wooden spoon.
Add jar contents, stir.
Add more water, the contents should be in a soupy state by now.
Keep a lid on the pot for a few minutes. Keep your eye on it in case it boils over.
Check on the state of the contents. A lot of water should have been absorbed by the rice, so add a bit more water.

Cooking time: 15 minutes.

Other ideas:
Once you are done cooking the rice, the fun doesn't need to stop there. You can also try the following ideas:
Put rice in a casserole dish, flatten it until it is leveled. Place sliced/shredded cheese on top. I recommend a sharp, old Cheddar. Crush candied walnuts/pecans/almonds. Sprinkle on top. Bake for 15 minutes.

OR YOU COULD DO THIS:
Add a can of chicken broth and turn it into a chicken rice soup.

OR YOU COULD DO THIS:
Make a balsamic glaze to drizzle on top of the rice.
Directions for balasmic glaze:
in a small sauce pan, heat up balsamic vinegar, brown sugar, salt and pepper.

Friends, this jar of rice is really just a blank canvas for your culinary imaginations. I encourage you to listen to your intuition. Leave a comment and or a picture of what you've created.

Merry Christmas to all!

Chick pea penne

Chick pea penne has a nice ring to it. I was going to call it Chic Penne but that was too lame for my liking.
I made this dish a few weeks ago but have only found time now to blog about it.
This is vegetarian soul food at its best. Let's review the ingredients:

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups of penne or whichever pasta you prefer
1 can of chick peas (cheap, and oh so healthy)
1/2 a chopped red onion
1/2 cup of chopped PRE-BOILED squash
1/2 cup of chopped grape tomatoes
1 cup of tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons of olive oil
as much BASIL as you want

DIRECTIONS:

1) Boil pasta. I'm not going to teach you how to do that because most of you already know how and if you don't, that's what Google is for. My only tip for you is to add some salt and olive oil to the boiling water. The salt gives the pasta a bit of taste and the olive oil prevents it from sticking.

2) In a pan, saute the red onions for 1 minute, then add squash. This is where you can add some seasoning of your choice. I added salt, pepper, and basil. Saute for 3 minutes until the squash is soft and browned.

3) Add in chick peas (drain from can and rinse before using).

4) Add tomatoes and tomato sauce to the pan. Stir gently.

5) Taste it with your long wooden spoon. Is it missing anything? More spice? Needs kick?

6) Put sauce on top of pasta and serve.

Term of Endearment: Soupy?

I want a soup man. That's right, a man who will make me soup. :)
This is a picture of "The Original Soupman" made famous by Seinfield. I ate there as my last meal in NYC. For $12, I had a bowl of soup (crab bisque), apple, piece of chocolate, bottled water and a chicken panini. YUM-O!

I long for soup in the cold weather. Soup on a cold day really has the ability to hit the spot. It satisfies me to a tee! Today I made a soup that combines Eastern and Western soup "philosophies". Asian people prefer watery soups whereas Western soups are a lot thicker and stew-like. I made a soup today that uses Asian ingredients, but cooked Western style.

Alie's Winter Soup

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 cup of cold water
3 tsp of corn starch
2 cloves of garlic
1 giant king oyster mushroom, julienned
2 large shitake mushrooms, chopped into tiny bite size pieces
1/2 of a bar of fried fish cake (totally optional), sliced
7 large dried scallops (this is the money right here, baby!)
1/2 cup of squash, chopped into tiny bite size pieces
1 tsp of white cooking wine
1 bunch of vermacelli, cooked

Directions:

Additional prep work:
You need to cook the vermacelli noodles and dried scallops before putting it in the soup. In a pot of boiling water, put in vermacelli noodles and dried scallops. Cook for 10 minutes. Drain water into a strainer.

Let's get on with the soup!

Turn the stove to a med-high heat. In a pot, add a tsp of olive oil and when the oil heats up, add in chopped garlic. When the garlic is infused, add in shitake and king oyster mushrooms. Keep stirring. Add in fish cake slices, dried scallops and squash. Keep stirring. Add in white cooking wine. At this point, the ingredients are almost cooked. Add in chicken broth. Keep stirring. Add cold water mixed with corn starch into the pot. Keep stirring. Finally, add in vermacelli noodles. Keep stirring! Turn to a low-medium heat and keep it simmering for 10 minutes.

Soul Food: Love in a Pan

It has been snowing non-stop for the past twelve hours. Everything that I was supposed to do today has been cancelled. Thus, I spent the day cooking. =) Even when I was half awake and stirring in bed, I was dreaming up recipes of what to create today.




I wanted something warm, gooey and comforting.

Ingredients:
8 small Russet potatoes, sliced in 3
1/2 cup of corn
1/2 cup of shredded squash
salt and pepper to taste
2 tsp. of organic salted butter
1 pinch of herb de provence
3 tsp. of dill
1 sprig of parsley
a few slices of cheddar cheese
a dash of chicken broth
a dash of milk
2 cloves of garlic

Directions:
I basically put everything in a pan and baked it. haha. Ok, here goes:
First you put a tsp or so of olive oil onto the pan. Then you add in the chopped gloves of garlic. Then you slice the potatoes (3 to 1) a throw them into the pan. Add in the milk and chicken broth. Then you add in the squash, and season away! You top the pan with the corn, cheese and butter.
Bake in the oven at 400 C for 40 minutes.