Best New Soup Recipe

I made the best soup last week and was able to enjoy it for days. It was so simple, I had to share it.

Ingredients:

(1) bag of Trader Joe's 10 Minute Barley

(3) cups vegetable broth

(5) cups water

Chopped vegetables of choice - I used broccoli, zucchini, shredded carrots

Spices to taste - I used onion powder, red peppers, rosemary, 21 seasoning salute, salt and white pepper

(1) tbsp vegetable based bouillon

Prep:

Bring broth and water to a boil

Add barley, vegetables, spices and bouillon

Simmer for 15 minutes and serve

Enjoy :)

Eat and Repeat

Last week I met up with some Long Beach girlfriends for dinner. I worked with a great group of people in LB and developed solid friendships during my time there. We got together to celebrate my promotion which was so sweet of them. Thank you Libby for putting it together! I picked my favorite place downtown-Berlin. It's a coffee shop by day, great food by night. They just got their beer/wine license and I knew that would lure the ladies in. ;)

Vintage military coat, Forever 21 v-neck, Roxy jeans, Dolce & Gabana boots

Instead of a bread basket, they set out small bowls of kale chips as a starter. I died!! They were delicious, crispy, savory, healthy and so easy to make. I decided to try it at home without a recipe and was pretty successful. Here's how I did it:

heat oven to 400f

wash one bunch of kale

peel from the stalk and tear into small pieces

olive oil

salt & pepper

place in a glass baking dish

cook for 30 minutes

stir every 10

(I don't recommend storing while still warm or at all. The leaves lose their crunch and become wilted)

I also marinated tofu with a quick creation of sesame dressing, Dijon mustard and soy sauce. I let it sit overnight and enjoyed it chilled the next day.



Kinda Canning

My friend Olivia is from the Amish country of Pennsylvania. She now lives in Baltimore or Balt as we say but her parents still live in her childhood home and across the street is a horse and buggy family. Although Olivia was not raised Amish, they enjoy a lot of the old world charms and simplicities of their neighbors. I have gone out there to visit with her and her family twice now. I love the area because it is like a time warp and reminds me of how simple life can be. One thing that fascinated me about her family is their craftiness: from furniture to homemade clothing and the food they eat. Below is my beautiful friend in the wedding dress her talented mother made!

In PA, I was introduced to the great concept of canning. Some of the family favorites were beets and pickles but meats, fruits and vegetables can all be canned. Luckily most recipes for fruits and vegetables are vegan, which allowed me to chow down and give lots of compliments to Olivia's mother! In their basement, I saw shelves of mason jars filled with colorful cans waiting to be taken upstairs. It is such a simple way to make and preserve food and there are zillions of recipes so I came home telling myself I would give it a try. The last time I was out there was this past October and I'm just now experimenting so it's taken me a while but here I am.

Since the beginning of the year, I started keeping some glass jars from items I'd bought while grocery shopping. Trader Joe's makes marinated Greek style white beans (and they are SO good). The jars are also a great size for food storage and decided to reuse them since I can't buy plastic containers. I decided to use these jars since I don't have any masons but the latter is really recommended. To get the wrapping off, I submerged the jars in water for 15 minutes. Paper labels come off really easily if you use your thumb to push it off. Plastic labels or hard glue may be more difficult to remove but the scrubbing side of a sponge or razor blade should remove it.

After finding several recipes for canning, I realized that most contain a lot of sugar. I try to stay away from sweeteners but it's part of the process. If you don't want to try canning because of the sugar, you can try pickling. The processes are very different and both should be researched before you get started. If not prepped, sealed or stored correctly you can get sick. Visit the National Center for Home Food Preservation to learn more before you start either: Canning & Pickling My first attempt was really pickling, not canning because I decided to work with cucumbers. I'm not going to give you my recipe because I did not do my research before getting started so I don't know if I'll be sick tomorrow....! I looked up several recipes online and found some that I thought I'd enjoy but in the end created my own. There are only a few ingredients:

Thinly sliced cucumbers

Chopped white onion

Sugar

Rice vinegar

Water

Once in the jars, I let it sit for 4 days in my pantry. The result was somewhere between a really strong Japanese cucumber salad and pickles. I think it came out just as I expected. The process is much simpler than caning because the food does not have to be cooked on a stovetop first. I've decided pickling is like the lazy version of canning! Pickled or canned items could be enjoyed with any meal, added to salads, burgers, and sandwiches, taken camping or passed around a large family dinner. Plus, the ingredients are minimal so there are recipes suitable for vegetarians, vegans, gluten-frees as well as meat eaters. Once I try more recipes, I will give another update. If you find a great recipe, please send it my way!

Since I filled two separate jars, I added crushed red peppers to one!

I just tried some with dinner and they were great!

Food, Family & Fire King

I've found a new love for cookware....especially Fire King brown glass. My grandmother gave me two cooking dishes a couple years ago and it started my obsession! At the time, I reluctantly took them home and had no plans to use either; I didn't want to take them out of the cupboard because I hated the color. They sat unused until I found another piece at one of my favorite thrift stores last year. By having three pieces, it meant I had a collection....I love adding to collections. This spurred my quest to search for more.

Fire King glassware has been around since the 1940's and is made by Anchor Hocking Co. which was established in 1905. I never see advertisements for their products but it's a huge company and their glassware is everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if you had some Anchor Hocking dishes in your kitchen. Fire King used to me made in several different colors with cute names like 'Forget Me Not' and 'Anniversary Pink' but now it only comes in clear glass.

I have been using my pieces a lot lately to cook vegetables for dinner. Carrots and Brussels sprouts are my favorites but you can make a number of vegetables with the recipe below. I like to throw heaps of several veggies in at the same time so I can eat them over several days. Below is the recipe and a play by play..

Preheat oven at 400*

Cut up vegetables in small pieces

(Brussels sprouts in half, broccoli or cauliflowers in quarters, baby carrots don't have to be cut)

Place vegetables in the dish and pour olive oil on them until completely coated

(oil can vary based on the amount of veggies, I like a little extra to make them crispy)

Add salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste, lemon zest is good too

Cook for 45 minutes, stirring every 15

My grandma passed away on January 11th and I miss her so much. Dinda was so generous and amazing, the center of my family and a mentor for many on how to love and care for others. The Fire King glass was just one of the millions of things she gave me that was hers and I am so grateful I have them. She will be in my heart and I will remember her daily in the many things I do to be like her. Here are some pictures of her from the last two years.

Taken March 21, 2010

She loved In n Out and would treat herself after every chemo treatment.

Taken April 8, 2011

My last photo with Dinda - September 20, 1925 to January 11, 2012. <3

Taken December 22, 2011

Taken c 1987 - Forest Home