Cream of Potato and Asparagus Soup

Linds,

As you know, I have been majorly sick for the last 3 days. The last time I threw up was in 2011, and Friday night I decided to make up for lost time. I'm feeling better now, but when I eat, I still feel nausea spread over me. Luckily, everything stays where it belongs.

Anyway, people always tell you that soup is what you have to eat when you're sick. So, I made soup. Today. Not Saturday when death was at my door.

I had no idea what food was in the house since I had not eaten anything but peanut butter crackers and Sprite since Saturday, so when I got home I did the eyes-glazed-over, open refrigerator stare for about 5 minutes. Finally, I saw some asparagus that I bought sometime last week. Thank goodness it hadn't spoiled! I can't stand vegetable waste.

So some of my recipe isn't what I would have preferred to have done. For example, I used onion powder instead of onions. Turns out, I had asparagus but no onions in the house. Weird. I also used chicken bouillon instead of broth. Again, no broth. Or perhaps the broth was too high for me to reach in the pantry.

Cream of asparagus and potato soup does not photograph well, but do you see the cute little triangle I made?

Cream of Potato and Asparagus Soup
Serves: 2
Serving size: 1 cup 

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 bunch of asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 small baking potato, peeled and cubed into 1 inch pieces
1-2 cloves garlic, minces
1/4 cup white wine
1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
8 ounces water
4 ounces skim milk
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

Instructions

1. Heat the olive oil in a 2 quart pot over medium heat. Add the asparagus and potatoes and cook until slightly browned stirring occasionally. Add the garlic. Continue cooking until the garlic is fragrant.
2. Pour in the white wine and let it cook for 2 minutes.
3. Add the chicken bouillon, onion powder, and water. Cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium low.
4. Simmer for 8-10 minutes  or until the asparagus and potatoes are soft.
5. Blend the asparagus/potato mixture until creamy.
6. Pour the asparagus/potato mixture back into the 2 quart pot and place on low/medium heat. 
7. Pour the milk in slowly and stir continuously. Continue stirring until it is hot all the way through.
8. Add the Greek yogurt and continue stirring as before. 

*This recipe would be very easy to make vegetarian. I even had vegetable broth in the freezer I could have used. Shoulda, woulda, coulda. 
**To reduce the sodium content, use homemade chicken or vegetable broth.

Per 1 cup serving: 265 calories, 9 grams protein, 20% DV iron, 237 mg sodium (10% DV), 179 mg calcium (almost 18% DV)

I was surprised by the iron content in this dish!! I did not realize how much iron is in asparagus. I realize some of this iron's potential can't be realized because of all the dairy I added but eh. I considered making it dairy-free, but I didn't have enough potatoes and didn't want to make a roux or use cornstarch for thickening.

Now for more information about asparagus. It helps you pee. It fights cancer. It makes you smart. Boom.

Actually, that might have been an over-simplification. 

Asparagus does contain two compounds that are natural diuretics, asparagine and potassium. So...when you feel bloated, eat some asparagus (and avoid salt). Asparagus also is full of vitamin C, beta-carotene, and other antioxidants which when included in the diet in the form of TONS and TONS of fruits and vegetables, can reduce the risk of some cancers. Finally, it contains folic acid which is used in DNA synthesis and protein metabolism. Several studies have found that low levels of folic acid in the body are associated with increased risk of developing heart disease or dementia. (Whew! Did you see all that passive voice? Ack!)

Overall, this soup was pretty good. The Greek yogurt almost gave it a cheese-y flavor to me, but my taste buds are off right now. I personally would have liked more salt but am making a conscious effort to begin stepping back on sodium overall. The best part about this soup though is that it did not make me nauseous.

In fact...I'm still hungry. My body wants to make up for lost time I suppose.

--Kit 

Tuna and Couscous Zucchini Boats

Dear Sister,

This has been a weird week. I’ve been craving vegetables and fruit, so I’ve been cooking vegetarian. I’ve had fish a few times, but basically give me beans, squash, onions, and grains. I’ve also been traveling the globe with my meals. Indian, Mexican, Italian… with lots of fusion, of course.

I had to laugh at myself, because my week night dinners- which I aim for taking 30 min or less to prep- are not your typical meals. Last night I made sole sautéed in browned butter and capers, pasta with a homemade kale pesto, and roasted kabocha squash. It only took 1 hour from start to finish. That’s a normal meal in the Linds household! Being a culinary nerd is interesting and usually strange.

I didn't take the time to arrange my pear slices 

or make this pretty since I was ravenous!

These zucchini boats I made are a combination of several recipes I looked at online, but I really used my personal tastes to make them. I’ve been craving zucchini boats specifically for a while, and I finally remembered to actually buy zucchini at the grocery.

Couscous  Tuna Zucchini Boats

¼ c couscous

1/3 c water or chicken broth

1 can tuna

1 carrot, small dice

2 green onion, thin slice

1 roma tomato, small dice

2 T olive oil mayo

2 t honey mustard

2 t lemon juice

2 t dry parsley

½ t chipotle powder

¼ t garlic powder

¼ t onion powder

salt and pepper

2 small-medium zucchini

¼ c cheddar cheese

Bring water to a boil and add couscous. Stir, turn off heat, and cover. Let sit 5 min.

Drain tuna and break up chunks. Stir everything together except zucchini and cheddar cheese.

Cut off ends of zucchini; then scoop out insides, leaving ¼” shell. Spray outside of zucchini with pan spray or olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Flip over and fill with tuna mixture. Mound it up inside, packing lightly. Place on baking sheet and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 350 30 min.

Notes:

*You could use quinoa in place of couscous. I basically used couscous because it has a shorter cook time.

*I buy canned Starkist solid white albacore tuna in water.

Puffed Amaranth Balls

Linds,

So I made these at a rather inopportune time. For the month of March, Paul and I decided to go low sugar as part of an effort to be more aware of what we are eating. Sugar is hard to cut down on! I cheated once with a latte, and he cheated with 2 jelly beans. Ha. He sent me a message immediately after he ate them to confess. The most eye-opening part of this fast has been how easy it is for me to forget that I am trying to do this. I drank that latte and it wasn't until Paul confessed his jelly beans that I even remembered we had made this commitment. Oops.

Anyway, he has been working the late shift all this week, and I get SO bored when he isn't here. My boredom drives me to the Internet where I scroll past hundreds of foodie pictures. I happened upon a recipe for energy balls (which are REALLY trendy right now. People like to eat spherical foods. Make a note of that.) That recipe looked like a bust to me (nothing but smashed up seeds and dried fruit), but it reminded me of some quinoa balls I had seen before.

Yes, I have quinoa in my pantry, but I bought amaranth back in August and still hadn't used it because most of the recipes I see for it online are really awful looking. 

So one YouTube video later and a quick Google search later, this is what I came up with.

Vegan puffed amaranth protein ENERGY power balls!
--I used all the catch phrases I could think of in this one title.--

Yields 12 balls

• 1 cup puffed/popped amaranth
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 heaping tablespoon ground flax seeds

Step 1. Pop the amaranth. I did this 1/8 cup at a time until I got 1 cup. It was the most fun I have had cooking in a long time. Why did no one tell me how much fun popping grains is? Why have I never made Jiffy Pop before?

Step 2. Mix together the peanut butter (or almond butter in your case), molasses, and vanilla. You could also use honey or maple syrup, but I wanted these to be vegan and my syrup is artificial.

Step 3. Mix in the ground flax seeds and puffed amaranth. It will stick together pretty quickly.

Step 4. Using a tablespoon, scoop up the filling and roll into balls. I had to wash my hands a few times during the process to remove some of the extra goo. Clean hands made rolling much easier.

Step 5. Decorate if you want to. I rolled half in powdered sugar. I thought about rolling some in cocoa powder, but I am almost out of it.

Step 6. Enjoy your delicious protein-packed snack!

Nutrition information per ball: 88 calories, 11 grams carbohydrates, 2.5 grams protein, 5% DV iron, 12% magnesium, and 21% manganese

Pretty much these are full of most of the essential minerals. The only significant vitamins of note are niacin and B6.


So here are my notes on this one. The molasses is good but it does give a little bit of a scorched taste (especially since I might have over cooked my amaranth). I think honey would work well, but the sweetness would be overwhelming. In the future I think I am going to do about 2 T honey and 1-2 T applesauce. I might also get away with less molasses or honey by warming my peanut butter up first so it is liquidy.

--Kit

What to do on snowy days

Dear Kit,

I woke up today to a snow drenched world. There has been some snow cover all winter, but this has been a very mild winter compared to the past few. Therefore, having 6 inches fall overnight came as a bit of a shock to me.

 It doesn't look that deep on those logs, but that would be the wind.

I trekked outside so I could get some pictures for you, since you don’t get the same kind snowfalls. I had forgotten how much of a workout it is to walk through 6” of fresh snow without a trail already broken. There is a howling wind today, which means it feels “stupid cold,” so I didn’t stay out long.

As I was contemplating what to do with a snow day, I had an epiphany: snow ice cream! I haven’t made any in several years, since I always think of it several days after the snow has fallen. Fresh snow is a must when consuming it.

You know me, and how I usually cannot leave well enough alone, so it shouldn’t surprise you that I would do a specialty snow ice cream. What did I choose?

Green tea snow ice cream with sweet soy sauce!

(it's not green because I didn't add food dye)

Yes, you read that correctly. I have had matcha ice cream before and thought it delicious, so I simply used that remembered experience as a springboard for this recipe.

Green Tea Snow Ice Cream

4 oz  milk, whatever type you have on hand

1-2 green tea tea bags, depending on size of bags and personal preference

2 T honey

½ t vanilla bean paste

3-4 c fresh snow

Heat milk in microwave til steaming. Add tea, honey, and vanilla. Stir until honey is dissolved. Let steep 4 min. Chill in fridge until completely cold. Taste and adjust sweetness. Get a bowl of snow and pour on the tea. Stir until texture is like ice cream. You need to eat this immediately. Drizzle with sweet soy sauce and enjoy!

Notes:

*You may use any type of tea for this. I used a high quality green tea, since I’m a tea snob. Just imagine a chai infusion with some caramelized pears on top!

*I recommend honey as a sweetener, since it adds a nice subtle flavor. With snow ice cream, you need to layer flavors. Since snow is water, it thins out the flavor of anything you add to it. Therefore, you should brew extra strong tea and use a more flavored sweetener.

*While you do want to brew strong tea, that doesn’t mean you should over steep your tea. The longer you steep, the more bitter flavors will be pulled out. You should brew black tea 3-4 min, green or oolong 2-4 min, and tisanes 4-6 min. The key is to brew your tea in less liquid or with extra leaves, thereby concentrating your infusion.

*You can find sweet soy sauce at Asian food markets. It is very thick, running more like honey than water. The one I have has a slight molasses flavor.

*This made enough for 2 generous servings. 

Later gator,
Linds