Spicy Asian Noodle Soup to Cure What Ails You

Now that everyone's over the initial excitement of being snowed in or polar vortex-ed in or the whole "there's two inches of snow on the ground, shut down the city!" debacle going on down south, I'm jealous, #SouthUSProblems, we're all leaving the house and interacting with each other again. We all know what happens when masses of people start hanging out together in indoor spaces with no ventilation. That's right, flu and cold season is officially upon us!

Thanks to my mother's somewhat questionable habit of always leaving our milk and leftovers out on the kitchen counter all night serving it to us the next day without hesitation, I have an platinum strength immune system and an iron stomach. In short, I don't get sick apparently. Even when I spend all night cuddling and being coughed upon by my extremely sick boyfriend. Hooray.

Anyway, bragging over. Watch, the universe will decide to teach me a lesson in egoism and make me sick tomorrow. I wanted to give you a soup recipe that I'm convinced will cure you or at least make you better enough to go back to functioning. Inspired by Vietnamese Pho and all those other super delicious Asian soups with those amazing toothsome noodles and spicy light flavors, this is our new go-to sick-baby* soup:

Spicy Asian Noodle Soup
- Yields about 4 sizable servings

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp oil (olive, grapeseed, sesame, your choice)
• 1 generous tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 jalapeño seeded and minced
• 6 cups water (include a vegetable bullion cube) or vegetable stock
• 3 green onions thinly sliced, reserve a tablespoon or two for garnish
• 3 Tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce 
• 1 generous tsp rice vinegar
• 2 baby bok choy chopped
• 1/2 red pepper sliced thinly
• 1 carrot sliced thinly
• 7 oz extra-firm tofu cubed
• Generous serving of soba noodles (Mine comes in packages of 3, I used one package)
• Couple tablespoons chopped cilantro
• sriracha sauce, for serving

Instructions

1. Begin preparing the soba noodles. Follow package directions and boil in a separate pot. Drain and set aside in a bowl with a little oil to keep the noodles from sticking together.
2. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat until hot. Then, add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, 2-3 minutes. 
3. Add jalapeno, vegetable broth, and green onions to the ginger and garlic and bring to boil. Then, reduce to simmer.
4. Add soy sauce, rice vinegar, vegetables, and tofu, and simmer until veggies are heated through, 2-3 minutes. Then remove from heat.
5. Pile desired amount of soba noodles in the bottom of individual bowls, ladle soup on top and garnish with reserved green onions, cilantro, and desired amount of sriracha sauce.
6. Eat and be cured.

Honestly though, I'd make this even if we were spry and healthy. It's that good. Enjoy and get better!

*Um, I feel the need to add a disclaimer, sick-baby as in that giant baby of a boyfriend/girlfriend/friend/roommate/adult who's sick, not an actual sick infant… 

Giving of Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was in Austin, Texas, for two weeks and when I returned home, it was pretty much hit the ground running until today. I'll be posting more often in the upcoming days, I apologize!

Today, I wanted to list a few things I'm thankful for. Sometimes, I get wrapped up in the minor details that I forget to take a step back and look at my life as a whole. 

Yesterday, I got really cranky because I spent the whole day cooking and didn't have a bite to eat. I failed to remember I was cooking for the very first Thanksgiving dinner I was hosting... at my house, with my loved ones. 

• I'm thankful for having a home- one that's comfortable, beautiful, and in a neighborhood where the neighbors take their leaf blowing seriously.
• I'm thankful for sharing that home with those that I love- Chanel my cat. Oh, and Guitar Boy too.
• I'm thankful that my boyfriend can take a good joke.
• I'm thankful that my parents are around and well enough to cook their version of Thanksgiving to bring over to the house. The more food, the better!
• I'm thankful for the material things, as superficial as it sounds, because I recognize and appreciate what they've brought to my life: a car that I finally adore, my Macbook because I can write on it and learn from it, and my phone because it keeps me in touch with everyone I love.
• I'm most especially thankful that I'm alive and experiencing life and that I've finally been able to embrace it.

It's a pretty common list many people share. (Come on, admit it, you're thankful for your phone too!) 

Now to the good stuff. What are you making today? On the menu at my house:

First course: Pumpkin Apple Soup

Entrees: 

• Turkey-Less Roast with Roasted Vegetables (from Trader Joe's. First time trying it!)
• A Small Turkey. But we don't care about that. It's for my dad. ("Must have meat! Rawrg!)

Also considered entrees but we can't help ourselves:

• Dried Fruit and Pecan Rice Pilaf 
• Mushroom Quiche 

Sides:

• Garlic-Roasted Mashed Potatoes and Parsnips
• Apple Bread Stuffing
• Roasted Mushrooms with Green Beans
• Rosemary Honey Cranberry Sauce
• Orange Cranberry Sauce (Don't ask why we have two cranberry sauces.)
• Cornbread 

Dessert: Chocolate Pumpkin Pie (Of course.)

I'm super-excited and I sincerely hope I remember to take a picture of it all before we devour it. 

Have a happy, joyful, and delicious Thanksgiving!

Vegetable Scrap Stock

I'm baaaaack. I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post and that is my own fault. There'sbeen a variety of things going on including a period of time where I did not have my laptop, a move, and a period of time where I've failed to have internet connection. Can I just tell you that having no internet connection is really one of the hardest things to experience? Don't get me wrong; on vacation, not having internet is one of the best things to happen, but when you need to, erm, work, it gets frustrating fast. 

So as my apology and olive branch to those of you who might've been getting annoyed that I haven't been updating, I shall offer up my method for making vegetable stock. It's simple to do and perfect to make for these rainy, cold days we've been experiencing in the good old Cleveland-Akron area. Obviously most of you can't make this immediately because this depends on using vegetable scraps from all those days of making dinner, but it's a great recipe to have on hand once you do decide to start saving all this ends of zucchini and skins of onions.

Vegetable Stock Made From Scraps
The yield varies with the amount of scraps you have.

What you need:

• Washed vegetable scraps that you've kept in a bag in the freezer. They can be corn cobs, green onion ends and tops, onion skins, carrot peelings, tomato seeds and juice, parsley or other herb stalks/stems, any ends or peelings from tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, celery, asparagus, green beans, kohlrabi, swiss chard or other greens stems, and other produce that's still okay but you're not thrilled about eating it in it's whole.
• Do not use anything from: beets, eggplants, cabbages, mushrooms*, or anything with a strong, undesirable flavor or color. Note: onions will turn the stock dark so eliminate if you want a clear stock. Also, do not use any produce that is rotten. If you won't eat it in its original state, don't eat it any way else. 
• Salt, pepper, and various herbs such as parsley or oregano. I've heard rosemary can make it bitter but haven't experienced that myself.

*Do save the mushroom scraps in a separate bag because they make a delicious mushroom stock.

To make the Vegetable Stock:

• In a large stock pot, pour in the still-frozen vegetable scraps. Fill with enough water to cover.
• Bring to a rolling boil and season with salt, pepper, and a bit of herbs either dried or fresh. Just throw the fresh in whole since it will be strained. Use a light hand since this is your base for whatever you make it with be it soup, stew, risotto, or whatever else.
• Lower it to a simmer and let it simmer for about an hour and a half. Longer won't really do much so don't waste your time. Then, let it cool.
• Cover a colander or a strainer with some cheesecloth or even a double layer of paper towels just in case you weren't able to get all the dirt out when you originally washed the vegetables you got the scraps from. Then, place it over a large bowl and pour the soup through it. You may need more than one bowl, you may not.
• Squeeze as much water out the vegetable scraps as you can. Either compost or toss them when you're done.
• Divide and pour the stock into cups, pints, and/or quarts either in ziplock bags or bottles or whatever, and freeze. (Or be like me and pour most of it into a gallon sized ziplock and guesstimate whenever you cook with it.)
• To use: either let it defrost in the fridge or in a bowl of or under warm water until melted. Use as normal stock.

I filled up an average-sized soup pot to make my first batch of stock. It yielded enough for two soups and a batch of risotto. I was kind of wary about it because I had added green bean ends and they have a very strong flavor. However, it disappeared and all I had was this very fresh-tasting stock that added a depth of flavor to the dishes I made with it. You may taste your stock and think the flavoring is subtle. I certainly did; but when I used it, I realized that homemade stock really was the way to go. Plus, I save a ton of money since I didn't even need to go buy new vegetables for the stock. 

I keep all my scraps in a large ziplock bag in the freezer. Whenever I'm prepping for dinner, I bring the bag out and throw my scraps in it as I go. When I'm done, I put the bag back in the freezer. Easy!

So start saving your scraps and the next time you get a blah type of day, it's the perfect time to start simmering your own easy homemade stock.

Roasted Vegetable and Mushroom Soup

Everyone knows Kitchen Sink Soup. You just gather up all the vegetables you have that you have too little of to make a real meal or that are on their way out and you dump them into a giant vegetable soup. It's always yummy and perfect for those rainy days where it's too gloomy to consider leaving the house. Well, today was one of those days for me, but mon dieu, I had no such odds and ends veg-wise to make a Kitchen Sink Soup!

All I had were a sweet potato that began to sprout pretty little purple vines, a 12 oz. box of baby bella mushrooms, two scallions, a kohlrabi, and a golden beet. I also had froze some of my homemade vegetable stock that I made over the weekend (instructions coming soon!) I really wanted to try out the stock so I started to formulate an idea.

I roasted all the vegetables, threw in some seasoning, melted down the frozen bag of stock, and pureed them together into a soup, leaving the mushrooms whole. At the last minute, I threw in some spaghetti I had already cooked and kept in the fridge. I expected a meh soup. Nothing to write home about but still edible. When I was done, I was kind of shocked. This soup was actually good. I mean, really good. A nice complex flavor. One vegetable wasn't overpowering the others. Everything melded really well. Best of all, it tasted nice, cozy, and warm. Perfect for this gloomy August day. 

Now, let's hope that these rainy days we've been having this August isn't the norm. I've been angling for another beach day this weekend and the weather better cooperate!

Get together:

• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 large golden beet
• 1 alien-looking kohlrabi (purple or green, it doesn't matter)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup olive ol
• 2 scallions, coarsely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• A couple sprigs of oregano or 1/2 generous tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 quart of vegetable stock
• 1 12 oz. box of baby bella mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 mushroom bouillon cube (optional) 
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1/2 a lime, juiced
• Enough spaghetti for 2, prepared

Now, to make 4 servings of soup:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Peel and coarsely chop the sweet potato, golden beet, and kohlrabi into 1/2" cubes. Add them to a large roasting pan, salt and pepper generously, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 35-40 minutes, tossing the vegetables halfway.
• Meanwhile, prepare and chop the scallions, garlic, and oregano. Set aside.
• Clean and slice the baby bella mushrooms.
• Add the scallions, garlic, and oregano to the roasted vegetables in the last 10 minutes of cooking, tossing well.
• Remove the roasting pan from the oven but do not turn it off.
• In a blender, add cilantro and all the vegetables, scraping every last bit out of the pan. Pour in about half a quart of vegetable stock or enough to cover the vegetables. 
• Move the mushrooms to the roasting pan, season lightly with salt, and drizzle with more oil if needed. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes.
• While the mushrooms are roasting, puree the vegetables in the blender. Pour the puree into a pot and add more stock to thin it out. Don't make it watery, just make it slightly thick enough to have texture.
• Add the mushroom bouillon cube and season with cumin, cayenne pepper, and salt. Bring up to a gentle boil over medium heat. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• When the mushrooms are roasted, soft with slightly crispy edges, remove from the oven and add to the soup. Squeeze 1/2 a lime over it. My lime was particularly juicy so it was enough, yours may be stingy so use a whole lime if needed.
• Ladle into individual bowls and add spaghetti whole. Cut up the strands with your spoon and enjoy.

This is super easy to double up to have a larger pot. Even though it sounds labor intensive, it's really not. A short cut I did was roasting the mushrooms with the other vegetables and just picking them out when they were done. It allowed time for the vegetables to slightly cool so I could handle them in the blender. Alternatively, you could add the stock and the vegetables including the cilantro to the pot and use an immersion blender to puree. Then, add in the mushrooms and continue as directed. 

I know it sounds like a weird soup, but it's well worth it. The sweet potato's sweetness played really well with the kohlrabi's cabbagey turnipy flavor and the beet's earthiness. The roasted mushroom added that "final" punctuation that ends the play of flavors on your tongue. The spice from the cayenne pepper, the smokiness from the cumin, and the tang from the lime really helped bring it together. This is definitely a soup I'd make again!

Holy Kohlrabi!

I have heard of kohlrabi, seen kohlrabi, could probably likely identify it if needed to, but it never occurred to me to actually try it. So when I was at the Farmer's Market last week, I found myself in a talkative mood. Sometimes you just want to get in and get out and woe betide the one who tries to strike up a conversation with you. You don't get that? Maybe it's me.

I was looking for something unusual to bring home. Kale was stricken from the kitchen due to Guitar Boy, ("I don't like the texture," he wailed at me once,) and if I had to look at another zucchini, I might find myself ramming it down someone's throat. Tomatoes, well, yeah, tomatoes are nice, but tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. So my eyes alighted on a deep purple alien ball: "Kohlrabi, .50" as I was purchasing a pint of Italian plums. (You cannot get between me and my plums, so don't even try.)

"Oh, kohlrabi," I said outloud.

"Yes, kohlrabi, you'd love it, it's awesome." The lady at the stand jumped in.

"How do you eat it?"

"You peel it, then slice it thinly, and just sprinkle some salt on top. It's great, you'll love it." She snatched up a spiky royal-colored one and plopped it in my bag. 

"Oh, like a radish?" My moment of enlightenment.

"Yes! Try it and you'll be coming back for more."

"Er... okay, wow, thanks!" and I walked away.

So why wasn't I overly thrilled for being offered a kohlrabi? I have a mild dislike of radishes (understatement.) Being handed this enormous extraterrestrial vegetable that promised to be an oversized, probably more pungent, radish wasn't making me skip for joy.

I find radishes bland with a peppery aftertaste. There's no excitement there. Then, as they sit out, they become slightly rubbery which tended to happen in my household growing up. My mom harbored an unhealthy love for these red and white balls, serving them with buttered bread and salt. Sometimes, she'd throw them into salads. I ate around them, always. She would just have a bunch of slices lying around and nibble at them throughout the day, blech.

But my philosophy is, well, you can't say you hate something without even trying it. So, literally an entire week later, I finally remembered the kohlrabi in my crisper and brought it out to the counter. I stared at it, took a picture or two because, well, it's pretty and unusual so why not. Then, with a peeler, I attacked one side of it. I got the purple peel off, then continuing to use the peeler, I cut out ultra-thin slices. A sprinkle of salt. I ate a piece. Then, another. Then, another. Then I toasted a slice of bread, spread it with a dab of dijon mustard and a kiss of honey and piled loads and loads of sliced kohlrabi on top. Sprinkle of salt, dash of pepper, and a squeeze of lemon.

Holy Kohlrabi!

In my mind, this kohlrabi has proved itself far and beyond the lowly radish. I offer no sorrow for those pitiful things because... kohlrabi.

It turns out there's so much more you can do with kohlrabi other than thinly slice them and dress them with a dusting of salt. I don't know why you want to try because this is kind of perfection on its own, but like one gets sick of zucchini after the upteenth recipe, it's nice to have a backup. You can pickle them, roast them, shave them into salads, turn it into a ceviche, deep fry them, steam them, and probably throw them into a stew with much too thick gravy (guilty.) I can't picture things like cucumber or radishes being cooked (ew, limp, warm radishes,) but kohlrabi has a promise of releasing luscious sweet sugars to caramelize and send the vegetable to a whole new level of food.

I will get around to trying one of the cooked recipes for kohlrabi, but until then, I'm content with a slice of bread and salt. 

By the way, I did go back for more, just like she said.

The Vegetarian Protein Myth Plus Naan "Pizza" Recipe

I'd like to delve into what I consider one of the most commonly misinformed myths about vegetarianism and veganism. That is protein intake. It wasn't until I was watching the esteemed Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn of the Cleveland Clinic and Dr. Colin T. Campbell in Forks over Knives when I discovered the truth about protein.

Typically the most effort I would make in consciously adding protein is throwing in some beans while cooking and daily slices of peanut butter toast. Since I rarely indulge in dairy items, I do not consider them a reliable source of protein for myself. So just by looking at the big picture, it seems like I'm not getting protein regularly at all. So how the heck am I getting up in the morning and having enough energy to do anything at all? I'll be honest, I had worried a bit about it before, believing I needed to double up my efforts and really pay attention to my nutrition intake. Due to, well, laziness, I never really made any measures to do so. Beans can only go into so many dishes until you decide, "Enough!" (image source)

I had heard someone on Forks over Knives, (can't remember who but suspect I was listening to Rip Esselstyn, Dr. Esselstyn's knowledgable son,) explain that as long as we were consuming the proper amount of calories per day, we were covered on the protein front. Meaning, every whole foods- vegetables and grains- contained protein in varying levels. If I simply ate a good variety of whole foods, I was getting enough protein. Fruits, however, does not have a great amount of protein so rely on them for other nutritional benefits. Especially now in the summer when most of them are at their peak deliciousness.

As for the commonly known belief that vegans have to eat rice and beans in order to gain a "complete" protein, meaning consuming all nine essential amino acids found in the correct proportions so the body can build protein. Well, it's not true. Our bodies are pretty darn smart and they can figure out how to function once given the right tools. So if you consume a variety of foods creating a sort of "amino acid soup," your body will simply dip in, collect what it needs, and go about constructing the important building blocks for staying healthy. (source)

This leads me to our next revelation, meat-eaters as a whole are taking in too much protein. Our bodies weren't meant to eat meat in the large quantities we do today, consuming it multiple times a day at each meal and snack time. Grab a beef jerky once in a while? Chicken snack wraps? Bacon and sausage in the a.m.? Turkey sandwich for lunch? It's easy to forget just how much meat a person can eat in a day when it seems so common in everyday life. Too much animal protein, along with all its saturated fats and cholesterol, can wreak havoc on a human body. With whole plant foods, you're at least eliminating all the harmful components found in animals and reaping the benefits of plants, e.g. fiber, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, etc.  

"Cleveland Clinic’s nutrition experts say that too much protein in your diet, which can be caused by low carb diets, can cause your body to go into a dangerous metabolic state called ketosis as your body burns fat instead of glucose for energy. During ketosis, the body forms substances known as ketones, which can cause organs to fail and result in gout, kidney stones, or kidney failure. Ketones can also dull a person’s appetite, cause nausea and bad breath. Ketosis is prevented by eating at least 100 grams of carbohydrates a day." It is a contributor to obesity and it has also been shown to increase risk of certain cancers. (source)

In short, your body knows what to do as long as you give it good, healthy, whole foods. If you're wondering, even though all whole plant foods have protein in varying levels, here are a few that are protein powerhouses.

• Pumpkin Seeds
• Asparagus
• Cauliflower
• Peanuts
• Mung Bean Sprouts
• Almonds
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Quinoa

I believe in not telling people what to think and how to eat, but giving them the tools and sources with which they can educate themselves. The information above was found in these sources, as well as the documentary: Forks over Knives. If you are interested in learning more, please visit these links and decide for yourself what is the best lifestyle for you.

Sources:

• Alisa Rutherford-Fortunati: 10 Protein Packed Plants
• J. Morris Hicks: Protein
• Vic Shayne PhD: Too Much Protein is No Good

If you made it through all that, pat yourself on your back! I hope that it didn't come across as too preachy and allowed you to open yourself up to learning more about alternative diets. I just want to inform people and let them make the decisions for themselves. Anywhoo. Onto the recipe!

Tomato and Greens Naan "Pizza" 

I make this "pizza" a lot when I need to make a quick and hot side dish to a salad or any other meal. It's really simple to make and usually ends up being the most delicious thin on your plate. It serves two as a side dish or one as a lunch or light dinner.

Gather up:

• 1 piece of whole wheat naan (Found in grocery stores in the bread section.)
• Hummus (I used roasted red pepper but you can use your favorite.)
• 1 fresh, ripe tomato, sliced
• Several basil leaves, torn
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Drizzle of olive oil
• Handful of mixed greens (Lettuce, kale, arugula are all good options.)
• 1 lemon for juice

To make:

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Spread the naan edge to edge with a generous amount of hummus. Add slices of tomatoes in a single layer. You may not need the whole tomato because too many can make it watery.
• Sprinkle with torn basil leaves. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
• Transfer to a pan and bake for about 10 - 15 minutes until edges are browned and tomatoes are warm and soft. Check often to prevent burning.
• While the naan is baking, mix together the salad greens with a hearty squeeze of lemon. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper.
• When the pizza is done, mound the salad greens on top of the pizza and cut into wedges.
• Serve immediately.

I got the idea of putting salad greens on top of the pizza from my trip to Italy. There, a popular dish is a large pizza simply made with tomatoes and basil and very little cheese, topped with fresh crisp arugula. Delicious and refreshing, perfect for a hot summer day!

Spicy Lemon Ginger Vegetable Stir Fry

I didn't care about buying a wok when we moved and had to stock our kitchen from scratch. However, Guitar Boy was obsessed with finding one. It had to be a big one and it absolutely had to have a glass lid "so I can see what's cooking inside," he said to me every time we looked at one. Every time. I cared more about getting an immersion blender.

Well, we have a wok thanks to Bed Bath and Beyond and their coupons. And I still don't have an immersion blender. Though the wok has been nice, I still think an immersion blender would've been a better buy, but alas, I make do. (See my tomato soup recipe for my ingenious, if I may say, use of a potato masher.)

Dinner last night was a quick and healthy stir fry. Typically we use vegetarian oyster and mushroom sauce or just a run-of-the-mill stir fry sauce from the Asian market but they can be packed with sodium, sugar, and god knows what else. I wanted to avoid using them this time just because we had been eating pretty crappy the day before (read: two giant doughnuts each and pizza and cheese and much too sweet Ohio wine and crap and more crap and more crap.) So I really amped up the spices and flavors in this one to make up for the lack of that ooey gooey deliciously overly processed sauce.

Also, you don't absolutely need a wok for this recipe. Woks are nice for having a ton of surface area that can cook all the vegetables all at once, but a large skillet over high heat will do just as well.

Also, again, you can use your favorite vegetables. I used whatever I had on hand, but you can switch it up with your favorite add-ins. The ingredients in bold is what makes up the flavor and sauce so they shouldn't be swapped out.

Get together for 2 main dish or 4 side dish servings:

• 1 onion, sliced thinly
• 3 carrots, sliced in half-moons
• 1 large Hungarian sweet pepper, chopped coarsely
• 1 small (8 oz?) box of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• Splash of dry white or rice wine (optional)
• 2 tomatoes, chopped coarsely
• 3/4 to 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 3/4 to 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• Pinch or dash or heaping spoonful of cayenne pepper (whatever floats your boat)
• 1/2 lb swiss chard, rolled up and sliced into 1/2 inch strips
• Enough Rice or Pad Thai noodles for two large servings, prepared 
• 2 or 3 packets or 2 or 3 tbsp of your favorite soy sauce (add more or less to your preference)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 5 or 6 large basil leaves, torn
• Salt to taste

Other vegetables you can use: broccoli, peas, corn, snow peas, water chestnuts (not a veg, I know,) bell peppers, red onions, shallots, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, napa cabbage, broccolini, portobella mushrooms, celery, eggplant (Japanese or traditional,) and anything else that strikes your fancy. Just eyeball the amount and go for it.

And to make it:

It's best to have everything all chopped and prepared in advance because stirfry cooking is over high heat and fast.

• Prepare the noodles according to package directions.
• Heat up sesame oil over medium high to high heat in the wok. Peanut and canola oil work too. Do not use olive oil. Add in the onions, carrots, and pepper and let cook a minute or two until soft and onions become slightly translucent. Then, throw in the mushrooms and stir and let cook for a few more minutes.
• Optional: Add a splash of dry white or rice wine to deglaze or just flavor, let it reduce down.
• Add in the tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, and swiss chard and let it simmer and cook down slightly- about 3 minutes.
• Continue cooking until the swiss chard (or your favorite green) is tender, tasting and adding more cayenne pepper if desired. 
• Lower the heat to low, stir in the noodles and season with soy sauce and lemon juice starting with 1/2 a lemon. Taste and add more lemon juice, soy sauce and/or salt if needed. (Soy sauce has sodium so salt by tasting.)
• Sprinkle basil over the top and serve!

 Do you make stir fry a lot? What's your go-to set of ingredients? When we're low on prep time, we turn to frozen broccoli, peas, and mixed vegetables to make a fast and healthy dinner.

Earthy, Smoky Fresh Tomato Soup

It's a hot, humid day today, but it didn't really stop me from making some good old tomato soup. Sometimes, when you're feeling down, tomato soup can really perk you up. One day, they're going to discover some sort of compound that legitimately proves why it brings back nostalgic memories of happiness.

I know everyone has their own tried and true recipe for tomato soup, but I like to experiment every time I make it... like a boss. (Haha, no. I promise I won't say that again.) This version has a hint of smokiness thanks to the cumin, an earthiness from a surprising source, and a whole lot of freshness because... it's tomato season! Whoooo hoo!

To serve two main dish or four appetizer, gather up:

• 1 shallot, diced
• 1 smallish yellow onion, diced
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 3 garlic cloves minced
• 6 or 7 well-sized Roma tomatoes, chopped coarsely
• Pinch cayenne pepper 
• 1/2 a mushroom bullion cube (Trust me on this.)
• 1 generous tsp dried oregano or 1 tbsp fresh oregano minced
• 1 quart vegetable stock (I used Trader Joe's low-sodium)
• 1 15 oz. can white beans, drained and rinsed (I used Goya's Small White Beans)
• salt to taste (remember, bullion cubes are salty too)
• Handful fresh torn basil
• Your favorite cheese for garnish (I used one of those tubs that have parm, asiago, etc. mixed together.)

And chop, stir, cook:

• Warm olive oil in a stockpot or dutch oven over medium high heat and add in the diced shallots and onions and let cook until translucent, about 6 minutes. Then, stir in cumin and garlic and cook for 30 seconds until aromatic. 
• Add in the chopped tomatoes, stir, and cover, allowing it to cook over medium high to high heat until broken down and very soft. Sprinkle the cayenne pepper, add the bullion cube, and season with oregano. 
• Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low and let simmer for 5 minutes. 
• Then, add in the white beans, stir, and cover partially and let simmer for 15 - 20 minutes, depending on how hungry you are like right now. 
• Now, my favorite part. I discovered this method when I first moved and had no blender either upright or handheld. Turn off the heat and take a potato masher (I have those wire ones that look like a squiggly line) and mash the beans and tomatoes together. Do a few good mashes just to break down the beans a little bit and let the soup become slightly thicker. You don't need to turn the whole thing into a smooth puree, and besides, you couldn't no matter how good your mashing arm is. 
• Taste! Then, season with salt. And taste again!
• Sprinkle basil and cheese on top and serve with oven-toasted whole grain bread.
• Reminisce. 

Vegetarian Creamy Farmer's Market Polenta

Typically, polenta is hearty and creamy and usually not summer weather fare, but if you mix in some super-fresh produce and herbs, it can definitely be the perfect meal after a trip to the farmer's market.

Where, of course, I had just gone and picked up some grape tomatoes, garlic scapes, zucchini, and fresh basil. So what went into this meal was a complete no-brainer. The polenta was the longest and, well, hottest part so make sure you have plenty of ventilation. If you want to make this go quicker, have all the stuff for the vegetables cut up and ready to go into this vegetarian dish as you stir the polenta.

To make the polenta:

I find that a 1:6 polenta:water ratio makes a really nice creamy consistency. You can use your preferred ratio or do some research to find one that works best for you.

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a heavy bottom pot. (It helps prevent burning that may happen with a thin bottomed pot.) Season well with salt. Pour in 1 cup polenta in a nice thin stream while either whisking or stirring with a wooden spoon rapidly to prevent any lumps from forming. (Lumps formed for me so I just pressed them against the side of the pot to break them up, haha.) Then, bring it down to a simmer and stir frequently to prevent sticking. You will need to cook it for about 45 minutes if not more, then read below for the finishing touches.

For the vegetables:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large leek, washed and chopped

2 carrots sliced into 1/4" pieces

2 celery sliced into 1/4" pieces

2 large zucchini halved and sliced into 1/4" pieces

3 garlic scapes sliced thinly

1/2 pint of grape tomatoes, halved

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

A few leaves of basil, torn into small pieces

Either before you make the polenta or while you're making it, heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium low heat. Add the leek, carrots, and celery and cook until slightly softened. Then, add in the zucchini, the dried oregano, salt and pepper to taste, and let cook until slightly softened as well. Once's that's done, I throw in the garlic scape, let it saute for 30 seconds, then pour in the grape tomatoes. Let that cook together until the tomatoes have popped and everything is tender, about 10 minutes. Taste and add more seasoning if desired. Set aside until the polenta's done.

When the polenta is nearly done, it will be thick, creamy, and leave the sides of the pot as you stir it. Taste it and season with a little bit of salt and pepper. Pour in about a couple tbsp of olive oil to help keep it soft and loose. Then, while it's still over the heat, pour in the cooked vegetables and stir well.

To serve: Scoop the vegetable and polenta into a bowl, top with a drizzle of yummy olive oil, and garnish with pieces of basil.

Tip: Keep a well oiled casserole dish by to pour your leftovers into. Polenta will harden as it cools so move fast. Then, you can cut slices of it once cool and panfry it with a chunky tomato sauce or a garlic infused olive oil drizzle for the next day.

It was a hit in my house and I hope it becomes a hit in yours! Will you make it? What would you do differently? Write in the comments below, I'd love to hear your take!

As a disclaimer: I cook like most people, by the handfuls and pinches and tasting and adjusting and tasting. The measurements are my best, best, best estimates so you should take this as a canvas for your own preferences. Add more oregano, use an Italian herb mix, switch up the vegetables, use two big tomatoes, whatever you like!

P.S. I just realized that this meal is not only vegetarian, but vegan as well. Although, if you want to add cheese, that's fine by me!