Slow Roasted Butternut Squash and Bell Pepper Soup

That’s right, a vegetarian recipe, courtesy of a friend who shall remain nameless for now because she is super sekritive like that. Anyway, I’d just bought bell peppers and fresh basil at the farmers market that week and was wondering what to do with them, when she said, “Roast ’em and turn them into soup!” I usually ignore this friend because she likes to link me things like My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler, but this time, I chose to listen. . . and boy, was I glad I did! Even Mike, he who is an omnomnivore (see below), was won over.

It tastes great warm, hot, or at room temperature, and is perfect for any season.

Roast Butternut Squash and Bell Pepper Soup Recipe

Ingredients

– 1/2 a butternut squash, cut into chunks

– 2 to 3 bell peppers, depending on their sizes, chunked

– 1 sprig rosemary

– 2 cloves garlic, smashed

– salt and pepper

– whatever sort of milk you happen to like (I used semi-skimmed goat’s milk)

For the topping

– Greek yogurt or sour cream

– whatever sort of cheese you like (we always have mature cheddar lying around, so I used that) (Also, I’m starting to feel like this is such a hippie recipe. Whatever you want, dude. . .)

– basil leaves, chopped

Directions

1. Toss all of the soup ingredients except the milk in a pan. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil and season well. Put into a 150 deg C / 300 F oven for about 40 to 45 min or until the veg is soft.

2. When the peppers and squash are all soft and easily pokable, take them out and put them in a blender. Blend, adding enough milk to make it as thick or thin as you want.

3. Serve with a plop of Greek yogurt and a sprinkling of cheese and basil.

SO a keeper. The rosemary and garlic really come through, in a non-obnoxious way. I can’t wait to try this with other veg.

Badassery and Turkey Fajitas

Last night, Mike and I went to see Monsters University, which was really cute. The movie, I mean, not us. Anyway, we had the bad luck of sitting behind two really annoying high school girls. Throughout the movie, they alternated between talking to each other, talking on their cell phones, going “RAWR!” at each other and giggling, and standing up. Seriously, who stands up and stretches in the middle of a damn movie? I ignored it until she started banging on her armrest like a caveman.

Leaning over, I said in my sternest voice, “Can you stop doing that please.”

When she turned around and glared at me, I did this: (Minus the “hur hur” bit. That came later.)

Apparently, my scary face. . . isn’t. She immediately went back to banging on her armrest, at which point I kicked her chair. She turned around again and snapped, “Can you not kick my chair??” to which I snapped back, “Can you stop being noisy??” We glared at each other for a few seconds, and then. . . she backed off. That’s right, people.

Me > Two high school girls.

There are no words to describe how badass I felt. I wanted to beat my chest and roar, “THIS IS SPARTA!!!” But I didn’t, because I’m classy like that. Also I was too busy sweating, trembling, and hiding my face in Mike’s arm. But for that one minute, I was a GLADIATOR. Woe befall those who dare cross my path!

*ahem* Aaanywho. Turkey fajitas! Fajitas are awesome because 1. They’re like an explosion of yum, and 2. If you order them at a restaurant, you can pronounce “fajitas” the way Seth McFarlane does and watch the waiter’s reaction.

Recipe for Turkey Fajitas

Ingredients:

– 500g boneless, skinless turkey (I used leg meat, but you could be all lame and healthy and go for breast. You could also use chicken or beef.), sliced into strips.

– 1 onion, sliced

– 2 bell peppers, sliced

– 2 limes, juiced

– a good pinch (using all five fingertips) of paprika

– an equally large pinch of cumin (I still don’t have cumin, so I used Jamaican jerk rub)

– 1 jalapeno, finely minced (seeded or not, it’s up to you)

– salt and pepper

Directions:

1. If you have a griddle plan, get it screaming hot. How hot is “screaming hot”? This hot:

Phwoar.

If you’re like me and don’t have a griddle pan, a regular frying pan would do.

2. While your pan’s heating up, mix all of the ingredients except for half of the lime juice in a bowl. Once the pan is hot enough, fry the crap out of them.

My pan’s not big enough to fit everything, so I cooked the meat and veg separately. Stop judging me.

3. Fry until meat’s cooked through and the onions are caramelized. Pour the remaining lime juice over it. Set aside and try not to eat all of it while you make the salsa.

Salsa ingredients:

– 250 g cherry tomatoes, diced

– 1 clove garlic, minced

– 1/4 red onion, minced

– 1 jalapeno, minced

– 1 lime, juiced

– 1 small handful (like a baby’s grip) coriander, chopped

– Salt and pepper

Directions:

. . . Do you really need directions? *looks at you with judgy eyes*

You can serve your fajitas with as many toppings as you want. Guac, sour cream (or yogurt), and cheese would work just fine. I served mine with fresh lettuce and a nice sprinkling of mature cheddar and it was good enough that Mike and I fought each other for every last bite.

O little packet of deliciousness, throw yourself into my open maw!

Thai Beef Larb

Larb. It’s such a weird little word. Every time I hear it my first association is “lard”, which is ironic since Larb’s actually such a light dish with fresh, clean flavors. It really is the perfect summer food.

When I came across a recipe for Thai Larb Chicken some time ago, I knew I had to try it. I used beef instead of chicken because ground beef totally kicks ground chicken’s ass, and because we’d had lettuce cups two nights in a row, I served the Larb on a bed of red cabbage salad instead.

Recipe for my bastardized Larb salad:

(*Note: I use rough measurements because holy crap, I can’t be bothered to measure when I cook. Also, rather than adhering strictly to recipes, I believe that you should cook to your own taste whenever possible.)

Ingredients:

For the salad:

-1/2 a red cabbage, finely shredded

-1/4 red onion, finely sliced

-Coriander, finely chopped

Salad Dressing:

-2 limes, juiced

-A good slosh of fish sauce

-As much minced garlic as you want (I put in 2 cloves…most recipes call for one)

-Chili, finely minced (Most recipes call for Thai bird’s eye chili, but I’m kind of a wuss, so I used a jalapeno instead, and left the seeds in. It really depends on how spicy you like your salad to be.)

-1/4 red onion, finely chopped

-A slosh of white wine vinegar

-1 to 2 tsp brown sugar

Directions:

-Mix everything up.

-Sneak bites while you make the Larb and mutter, “Holy crap, I’m a genius.”

For the beef larb:

-500g minced beef

-1/2 red onion (or 1/4 red onion and 2 shallots, if you can be bothered to deal with shallots)

-Garlic, finely minced (I put 2 cloves in because I can never have too much garlic)

-Chili, finely chopped

-1/2 lime

-Another good glug of fish sauce (I went twice round the pan)

-Soy sauce to taste

-A good glug of white wine vinegar (Count 2 mississippis. Am I confusing you yet? Just use everything to taste, dammit.)

-Coriander

-Mint, if you want. I generally hate mint unless it’s in mojitos, so I skipped it. Thai basil would probably work really well here.

Directions:

-Sautee the beef over medium heat, taking out your general anger by stabbing it with your spatula and breaking it up into teeny weeny pieces. If you’re not angry in general, then continue to the next step.

-When the meat is browned, add the rest of the ingredients except for the lime and coriander. Mix them in, then do 10 jumping jacks. (Seriously, is there a better timing method than jumping jacks?) Turn off the heat, squeeze the lime juice in, and pour the Larb onto the cabbage salad.

-Sprinkle coriander on it and kiss yourself in appreciation.

Serves umm…3 people, or 2 gluttons.

Mike gushed a bit between every mouthful, which made me preen a little. Next time I’ll try adding finely sliced lemongrass, crushed peanuts, and more lime. Yet another keeper!

Bircher Muesli

Yay, new food blog!

Recently I’ve been trying to cut down on the amount of carbs I eat. It hasn’t been too difficult cutting carbs out of lunch and dinner, but when it comes to breakfast, I tend to crave something sweet (read: scones and French toast). For a while I tried having omelette for breakfast, which was yummy, but left me feeling somewhat unfulfilled. Then I stumbled upon a compromise: Bircher Muesli.

The beauty of Bircher Muesli is you can add whatever the hell you want to it. The most basic Bircher Muesli recipe contains:

-Plain yogurt

-Grated green apples

-Oatmeal (I add just enough oatmeal to give the yogurt a bit of texture. If I wasn’t cutting back on carbs, I’d add enough so that a spoon left in the muesli will take a looong time to fall.)

-A slosh of apple or orange juice (Again, I minimized the amount of juice I put into this week’s muesli, because juice is fucking wolf in sheep’s clothing when it comes to carbs.)

I was lucky enough to find fresh pomegranates at the market today, so this week’s muesli is filled with pom seeds, along with a bit of raisins (yea yea, I know raisins are loaded with sugar. Bite me.) and toasted almonds and walnuts. It wasn’t until I’d mixed the walnuts up with the almonds that I remembered something crucial: I hate walnuts. How the hell did I forget that? Oooh well. Apparently they’re good for you, so mkay walnuts, you get a pass this time.

Yusss, breakfast.