Soup's On!

My mother is currently living in Seattle with my sister and was planning on joining us here in Portland for Thanksgiving as my sister had plans to visit her son in the DC area. The plan was to meet in Centralia, WA (halfway between Portland and Seattle) and make the switch. The Monday before Thanksgiving was the appointed day. We woke up to some pretty wintry weather and had a phone conference regarding the possibilities of actually pulling this off. We decided to give it a shot and go for it. I loaded up the car with chains, sleeping bags, blankets, gloves, hats, water and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich...just in case, you know, and headed out. It was snowing but the roads were just wet and not slippery. As I got further north, the snow was heavier and slush was starting to build up on the sides of the freeway. At one point, I pulled into a snowy rest area to call my husband to verify how I use the 4 wheel drive in my Jeep and after a refresher, continued onward. I made it to Centralia in just a little bit more time than it would have under normal driving conditions. We met at Burgerville. Their drive had been a bit more harrowing, avoiding 3 accidents as cars slipped and slid all over the freeway in the Seattle/Tacoma area. It took them 1 1/2 hours to get through Tacoma but we both made it safely...they a little more worse for wear than I! We all grabbed hamburgers and got right back into the cars to head home. The ride home was very snowy and quite beautiful but the roads remained only wet and our Seattle contingent had a much less harrowing return trip. Upon our return to Portland, I was ready for something warm and soothing...and a good stiff drink! I had some sweet potatoes laying around that needed to be used so decided to concoct a sweet potato soup. We ordered several pasture raised chickens from Afton Field Farm and have been making amazing chicken stock and keeping it in the freezer. You can substitute vegetable stock if you prefer a vegetarian option for this soup.

SWEET POTATO SOUP FOR AFTER A SCARY WINTER DRIVE

1 qt. chicken stock or veggie stock
1 large sweet potato
1 Tbls. minced fresh ginger
1/2 large onion, chopped
1/2-1 Tbls. minced jalapeno pepper
1 15 oz. can fire roasted tomatoes, chopped
1 bunch greens (chard, kale, collards or spinach), de-ribbed and coarsely chopped
1/2 can coconut milk (not lite)
1/2 cup red lentils
1 Tbls. coconut oil or olive oil
1 tsp.-1 Tbls. curry powder (depending on how much you like curry)
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. dried or 1 Tbls. fresh chopped basil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash sweet potato and cut into 1/2 inch cubes...no need to peel it. Toss with melted coconut oil or olive oil, a little salt and cumin. Roast for about 15-20 minutes. You want to be able to pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork but not too soft. Set aside. You can skip this step if you like and just toss the sweet potatoes in the soup and cook until tender but I like to roast them as it really brings our their sweetness and caramelizes them.

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, melt coconut oil. Add garlic, onion, ginger, and jalapeno. Saute until onion begins to turn translucent and soften. Add curry powder, cumin, basil and salt. Saute until fragrant. Add tomatoes with their juices and deglaze the pan. Bring this mixture to a boil then reduce to simmer.

Bring stock to a boil in a stock pot. Add red lentils and cook until they start to become tender, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat and add the tomato mxiture, sweet potatoes, greens and coconut milk. Bring to a simmer and allow the flavors to come together, about 10-15 minutes. Squeeze in the lime juice and serve. Can be garnished with a sprig of fresh basil or cilantro.

So, there you have it...my first post in a very long time and no pictures to heighten the experience but I'm back! Winter is such a wonderful time to experiment with soup...just about anything goes. Something I would like to share is that making homemade stock and using it in soups brings the soup to another level. I don't know if I can go back to using the packaged variety. It's so easy to make. There are a couple of ways to go about this and I'll give you a quick primer here.

POULTRY STOCK

Either use the carcass from a roasted chicken or turkey or buy some backs, wings or legs from your butcher. If using fresh, roast them in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes to an hour before making the stock. Always add your ingredients to COLD water, in a stock pot, so that the bones will open up and release their goodness into the water as it heats. Add onion, carrots, celery, peppercorns, fresh herbs (I use thyme...just throw in the whole sprig), bay leaf and anything else you think would be good. These veggies don't have to be pretty as you will be throwing them away. Make sure you have enough water to cover the ingredients completely...you can add more water while the stock is cooking if need be. Bring the ingredients to a boil and reduce to a simmer and let it simmer all day. I usually cover it for awhile and simmer uncovered for awhile, depending on how concentrated I want to make the stock. Cool and strain the stock and discard the veggies and bones. You can store the stock in the fridge for about a week or freeze for about a year. You can make a bunch at once and then have it available anytime! It is really easy, fairly inexpensive and oh my, the difference is amazing!

Happy slurping!

Bittersweet

Don's Mom, Bonnie, died at the end of August after a brief illness. It was quick and unexpected. The peace she came to, after enduring incredible pain, was a blessing. It is difficult to write about something like this on a blog but many of the experiences we had because of this event were beautiful and bittersweet...and made around food. Cooking, in a time of grief, can be an amazingly healing experience. Maren came home to say good by to her Grandmother. We spent one day with relatives, sharing feelings and stories of Bonnie, and the next day was spent at home with our thoughts, tears and prayers, as we moved through the day. Maren and I went to the Farmer's Market to fetch provisions for our dinner that night. It felt good to have a purpose and a direction. We found fresh sweet corn, tomatoes (yes, it's true, there are some available) yukon gold potatoes, romano beans (mine are just flowering), and beautiful, blushing peaches. Maren came with a couple of recipes in mind that she found on http://smittenkitchen.com/; a Tomato Corn Pie and a Creme Fraiche Peach Pie...it was to be an evening of pie and felt exactly right...comfort food. We split the duties and shared the rolling of the doughs, assembling our pies in a dance around the kitchen (our kitchen is not large). The biscuit -like crust for the Tomato Corn Pie was delicious (Zach said he can really get into this biscuit crust idea...anything to do with a biscuit is a good idea!) and the all butter pastry crust for the peach pie was flaky with just a little "tooth".






Some of the photos were taken the next day as we were so hungry and so tantalized by the aroma of baked biscuits that we tucked right in to those pies. We shared a meal together, sitting around the table, swapping stories of Bonnie, laughing, tearing up and feeling the comfort one finds in being with your loved ones, enjoying a meal prepared as a celebration of family and the healing power of cooking with those you love! Thank you, Bonnie, for all the richness and love you provided our family for over 33 years!

Whidbey Island

Four years ago, our family was invited to Whidbey Island, Washington to celebrate my sister's birthday and the start of a tradition was born. This is the third year that we have been invited to join my sister's family for their annual getaway to Whidbey Island. I don't know what it is about this island that is so magical. Perhaps it's the feeling of all the cares of the world dropping to the ground, where you will leave them, as you drive on the ferry. Or, perhaps it's the light, the cool breezes, fresh air and breathtakingly beautiful vistas. It's an interesting duality in that the shoreline is high-end real estate, as you can imagine, whereas the interior is rural and rustic. My dream is to have a lavender, peony, lilac farm and make goat cheese on Whidbey Island...at least this is the most current vision of my ongoing dream. For now, we are content to sit back, relax, explore the island, read, nap and, of course, EAT! My nephew, Clay, contributed wonderful photos to share with you! Thank you Clay!

My sister has been reading my blog so she thought it would be fun to make pizza on Whidbey Island and I can't think of a better place to take the time to create "passionate pizzas"! Pizza night arrived and I polled everyone to see what they would like on the pizzas. We had four balls so we were able to create something for all tastes.

First off the stone was the Margharita pizza. It started with my quick start tomato sauce, then fresh basil, fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, a little salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil upon emerging from the oven.



Next up was the "man pizza". This pizza sported tomato base, onions, olives, mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage, mozzarella, parmesan and a scattering of mama lil's peppers. Mmmm, a hunk of manly goodness!



The last two pizzas have no pictures but that doesn't mean they weren't good...it just means we were so taken with the subject at hand that we passed by the photo ops! We enjoyed a pizza with tomato base, grilled chicken, goat cheese, fresh basil and mama lil's peppers with a drizzle of olive oil and the favorite, among the female persuasion, was the final pizza with a garlic spear pesto base, chicken, feta cheese and mama lil's and the drizzle. The setting, company and laid-back vacation state of mind elevated our passionate pizzas to another level.

My brother-in-law and my niece celebrated birthdays one night while we were on Whidbey and no birthday for my brother-in-law would be complete without pie! Greenbank Farms on the island has a wonderful cafe that makes amazing pies and the favorite is the loganberry pie. The crust is light and flakey and the fruit is flavorful and just the right balance of sweet and tangy.



I look forward to many more delicious experiences on Whidbey Island and who knows, maybe one day I will be writing about my lavender, peony, lilac farm with fabulous goat cheese for sale!

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Tastes Great, Wish I Had Some...

Where has all the rhubarb gone? I love rhubarb. As a kid growing up in Minnesota, Spring meant rhubarb. The neighborhood "pack" would roam the neighborhood, begging rhubarb from anyone that had it in their garden patch. We would take it home, dip it in sugar and greedily consume the fleeting treat. This year, I learned that the reason the rhubarb I have growing in a pot on my back porch fails every year is not because of my cat napping on it daily, but because it is pot bound! Thank you big sis for the heads up! So, I have to get my rhubarb elsewhere. My current work schedule makes it difficult to frequent the Farmer's Markets so I depend on my store to supply me with this spring treat. Unfortunately, this year, the rhubarb crop has been decimated and delayed by the incessant rain, as have been the famous Hood strawberries. However, I did snatch some in a brief window of time early this spring and created a wonderful rhubarb tart in puff pastry. You can find the recipe at Epicurious.com. Here is the link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rhubarb-Tart-with-Orange-Glaze-352290. I like my rhubarb tart, tart (maybe I should say sassy to avoid redundancy) and so I cut way back on the sugar but if you prefer yours sweeter, follow the recipe. Grand Central Bakery has begun supplying our store with their marvelous, buttery puff pastry...a HUGE improvement over what was previously available. I'm going to give it a little plug here as it was SO easy to work with and SO incredibly delicious, it is totally worth the price and WAY easier than making it yourself, which I have also done. I'm thinking that with the somewhat improved weather patterns, we may be seeing a little more rhubarb available. If you're a rhubarb fan like me, grab it!

Proud Mama

Spring is a time of many transitions and a big one for our family. Maren, the "baby" graduated from Clark University in Worcester , MA. Our family traveled to Boston and spent a couple of days with her boyfriend's family who treated us like royalty! We then proceeded to Worcester for the big event. We even had brunch at Armsby Abbey which is a Slow Food restaurant and had wonderful food and libations...their Chipotle Bloody Mary is unequaled in my book. Don't we look proud?

Improvised Green House

Last Spring, I purchased many packets of seeds from Terroir Seeds (http://terroirseeds.net/) and one of those packets was Padron Peppers. But first, the back story. I first purchased Padron Peppers (pimientos de padron) from Viridian Farms at the Portland Farmer's Market several years ago. They are amazingly delicious and all you do is saute them in a little olive oil and salt until blistered and pop them in your mouth for an amazing taste sensation. Every year we eagerly await the arrival of these peppers at the market. So, you can imagine my delight when I found them in the seed catalogue. I started the seeds and they took FOREVER to sprout and to get to the point where I felt safe putting them in my garden. They grew and grew and produced a bounty of peppers, much to my surprise! I had some seeds left over and decided to try it again this year but with some improvements. I concocted a make-shift green house out of a shoe box lined with black plastic from a garbage bag and a piece of plastic wrap. I potted the seeds in little coconut pots that can go right into the ground, set them in my mini green house, covered them with plastic wrap, set them on a heating pad covered with a towel and put them in the south window of our dining room. A friend at work told me I needed to use grow lights so, my husband got in on the action. He concocted a make-shift grow light system to help those little guys along. I am pleased to report that the seeds sprouted much more quickly than they did last year and they are growing beautifully. I am now ready to harden them off and get them in the garden. I guess I've been waiting for a stint of warm weather but they are rapidly outgrowing their pots so this is the week. The pictures are of the plants after Don installed the grow lights and today, as they begin their journey to the outside. If you find seeds for these peppers, or even plants, go for it...they are delicious. But you can always find the peppers themselves at Viridian Farms' booth at the Portland Farmer's Market (and I think Hillsdale too).
PS Regarding the dance for Zach's job...must've been for another job yet to come as that one wasn't the one. Keep on dancing!

Dance Your Prayers

This post has nothing to do with food or gardens but it does have to do with feeding the soul. My son applied for a job that he is very excited about and of course, being the good mother that I am, I go into fret mode waiting for the news as to whether or not the job is his. I sent an e-mail to my sister telling her about it and knew she would understand as her son recently went through the same process. She replied saying that she would do a dance. Recently, she has taken up the practice of doing little dances for the people in her life that she has hopes and dreams for, rather than fretting. For instance, her daughter was in China when the volcano blew in Iceland and her flight was scheduled to return through Paris, posing the very real possibility of endless delays for her. So, my sister did the "The Volcano Lets Her Through" dance. When her son was being considered for the new job, she did the "The Job Is His" dance. Yesterday and today, I did "The Job Is His" dance. It is an energizing, uplifting and powerful way to direct your concerns, hopes and dreams! Fret and worry are released through the wonderful power of movement...quite a metaphor, actually. I felt great afterwards and will be putting it into regular practice. I suggest you give it a try! By the way, her daughter made it home and her son got the job!