Bread Soup

The cold days and nights that descended upon us in the past week have prompted me to desire a nice warm soup. I got a nice HOT soup! [Maybe I should have put slightly less crushed red peppers in it.]
I stumbled upon this recipe accidentally, and it fitted my plans for the cold night precisely. It is fairly easy to make, quite quick, too, and it is warm, delicious, and filling.
I made two separate batches, mine had fennel in it! From our garden! Mark didn't want fennel in his, because "it's gross". I had his version tonight, and indeed, both were good, even though both didn't have celery, and both were equally HOT.


My soup. Yes, the spinach is also fresh from the garden!


Mark's soup - sans fennel

I used the insides of the bread bowls Mark made ages ago, but any old bread will do, I believe.

Okay, here are the directions:

On medium-high heat with 1 T olive oil, saute:

• 1/2 onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, diced (optional)

When onion is translucent, add:

• crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper, to taste
  
• 1 bulb of fennel, sliced (optional)

Saute for a few seconds, then add:

• 4 c vegetable broth
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes

Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add:

• cubed bread (about 1/2 of a small loaf)
• a bunch of spinach, cut to manageable pieces

When bread is spongy and spinach is wilted, stir in:

• 2 T Parmesan (or Romano) cheese

Serve immediately with some more cheese on top, if you wish, and enjoy!

Xmas Pizza

It is our tradition (2 years old, but tradition nonetheless) to have a green and red pizza for Christmas. It didn't happen this year, because we were invited to over to Mark's brother's. But we did have it the day after:


Thick honey crust, red tomato sauce and green bell peppers, and very thinly-sliced onion (no color, but lots of flavor) - what a nice tradition :)

Pop-Overs

Christmas is a great holiday! If only because of the days off and the gifts! We got an ebelskiver pan from the CrazyLikeThat lady, along with a recipe book for all kinds of filled pancakes and other ebelskivian goodies. I couldn't wait to make something, and the healthiest-looking recipe (we had way too many unhealthy-but-delicious food all day) was that of pop-overs, which we ate alongside some pomegranate-pecan salad (with greens from our garden, of course):


I can't wait to try some of the more luscious-looking, savory or sweet, recipes in the cookbook!

Potatonion Bread

This is such a moist (from the potato) and flavorful (from the onion) bread! It is delicious by itself, and it tremendously improved the lentil-mustard greens soup when dipped in it.

Bread Bowls with Lentil-Mustard Greens Soup

Last night we put the mustard greens from our garden in a lentil soup, and served it on yummy, fluffy bread bowls that Mark experimented with (he used all-purpose flour and some wheat gluten instead of bread flour).
The bread was delicious, and the soup was pretty good too, for a simple lentil soup.



To make the soup, I followed this recipe:

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lb lentils
10 cups veggie broth
a bunch of mustard greens, cut to large strips

Cook onion in some olive oil in a large pot, until soft and golden-brown. Add garlic, then 10 cups of veggie broth. Add lentils and bring to a boil. Simmer with tilted lid for 20 minutes or so, till lentils are soft. Mash some of the lentils and return to the pot. Add the mustard greens, 1 T of soy sauce, black pepper, a bit of MSG, ground celery seed, 2 T lemon juice, and whatever other flavors you might want to add.

Onion Garlic Sicilian Pizza

Thick honey crust, roasted garlic, and onion. A nice accompaniment to this citrus salad.

Bread and Soup

If that's what prisoners would get in prisons, people would commit crimes just to get in :)

Despite the fact that our oven is standing in the middle of the kitchen again, Mark baked this delicious loaf of bread, and we ate it with a hot soup loaded with vegetables: onion, celery, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, and corn. It was good on a night with below-freezing temperatures!