Lily's Fruit Salad

2011-4-12

For lack of a better term, since this salad seems abundant with fruit, I'm calling this a fruit salad. No mayonnaise, though. Do people put mayonnaise in fruit salads? I can't stand mayonnaise.

Under normal (non-pregnant-with-multiples) circumstances, I'm not at all drawn towards salads. But, I am now. I have a guess as to why this is the case.

This particular salad has the following ingredients:

• baby spinach
• arugula
• freshly peeled clementines
• fresh strawberries
• shredded mozzarella cheese
• pine nuts
• Annie's Tuscany Italian dressing

I had been putting raisins in some of my salads, but this seemed plenty laden with fruit.

Eggs, sunny side up

I don't remember ever making eggs sunny side up or over easy.

This morning was a morning I wanted eggs. But not scrambled. Sunny side up seemed the right fit. Without any prior memorable experience, off I went.

The moment the eggs went into the pan and the girls could see what I was making, I knew they would want some. Made enough for the ladies in the house.

In a non-stick pan with some olive oil massaged into the pan, I turned the pan on lower heat. Once the pan was heated, I broke the eggs into the pan. After a bit, I loosened the eggs from the bottom of the pan, to ensure the eggs weren't sticking to it. Letting the egg whites and yolks to solidify, I left my yolks quite tender (and runny in one case). Some parts of the egg whites were crispy underneath.

2011-3-27

The girls, after they had finished their breakfast, decided they were going to prepare their own eggs and wanted me to take their pictures.

2011-3-27

Want some?


That's sea salt and freshly ground black pepper on top.

What I can eat

Hello. I promise, some day, some day, some day, I will return to recipe postings. But, in case you haven't heard, yet, I'm pregnant. With twins.

Never in my life before this, have I ever been this picky, this nauseated. Textures and colors can make me nauseated. I'm not kidding and I'm not exaggerating. Makes eating tough, especially since I am hungry. All. The. Time.

So far, vanilla yogurt with fresh strawberries always sit well with me. Good thing strawberries are in season now.

By the way, I have made my own yogurt in the past, but I'm much too tired and exhausted to contemplate making anything most of the time. Yes, a sad state of affairs.


Spaghetti with pasta sauce, with shredded cheese on top. Another staple I've been able to stomach. Again, I didn't make either component. I'm interested in making pasta and pasta sauce some day. Just not now.

Chicken Noodle Soup, without chicken

2011-3-10

Chicken Noodle Soup, without the chicken

I have been craving Chicken Noodle Soup for some time now, and that soup has always been a favorite of mine. Haven't always had the soup cooked to perfection, but that's another subject for another time. Anyways, I saw this recipe, and I decided to use that for a jumping off point for making my own twisted recipe. Not sure why, but I haven't been a fan of the chunks of chicken in the various versions of soup I have sampled. Perhaps the chicken was too dry, not juicy enough. I decided to make a chicken-less version.

Ingredients:

• pasta - I fancied elbow macaroni the day I was grocery shopping - approximately 1/3 to 1/2 a really large box
• cream of chicken soup
• cream of mushroom soup - I prefer not to use a majority of cans of this I've seen on the shelf, because they contain msg. My body throws fits when I consume msg; I'm insanely thirsty, I get headaches. Need I go on?
• parsley flakes
• olive oil - enough to cook the red onion
• sea salt
• butter - nearly 3 tbsp
  
• red onion - diced
• celery - the whole bundle - washed and cut thinly
• carrots - the whole package - cut into thirds or fourths
• can of tomato sauce
  

• garlic - oh my goodness, how could I neglect to include these? - 5 cloves, diced. I love garlic; the more the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.
  

Directions:

• In a pan, with a bit of olive oil on lower medium heat, cook the red onion until transparent. I added a pinch of sea salt. Then throw in the carrots, celery, and garlic, adding in the nearly 3 tablespoons of butter. Cook with a lid on until tender. I was distracted and lost track of time. Probably only needed to cook for 10-15 minutes. Mine ended up cooking for around 30 min. Like I said, I was distracted.
• In a pot, cook the pasta until tender and then set aside.
• Add to the contents in the pan: cream of chicken soup, cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, some water, parsley flakes, and sea salt. Once that has been boiling, let simmer for a bit.
• To the pan, finally, add the cooked macaroni. After the soup is boiling, it is ready to serve.
  

When I consumed it the day it was cooked, I thought it was a bit strong tasting on the cream of mushroom. But, when I had it the next day, adding a bit of water when reheating it, I favored the soup much more.

Breakfast, pure and simple

2011-2-24

Vanilla Yogurt with Fresh Strawberries

These days, finding food that satisfies is difficult for me. Nothing to do with the food, I am sure. It's me that has issues.

This isn't a post about making yogurt (though I have done that) or growing strawberries. Just a small meal - vanilla yogurt and fresh strawberries - I can stomach.

When precious little seems appealing

2011-2-13

Sliced Rice Cake Udon Soup

I'm taking a forever lasting hiatus from trying new recipes. Alright, I'm just kidding about the forever bit. But, I am taking a break.

Unfortunately, these days, precious little seems appetizing to me. Puts me between a rock and hard place, when eating is kind of important. Anything, everything I cook seems repulsive to me right now.

Udon hasn't reached that status, yet, thankfully. And, I purchased Korean sliced rice cakes at the Asian grocery store recently. So with just a bit of sea salt, green onions, and a touch of soy sauce, along with rice cakes and udon, I made a little soup.

Stovetop Vegetarian Chili

2011-2-7

Stovetop Vegetarian Chili

This is recipe #1 in Good Housekeeping: Vegetarian Meals; Meatless Recipes Everyone Will Love. This is actually the third recipe in the book I've tried. For those of you who are just joining me, I had meant to go in order, for the most part. Somehow the pages got stuck together, and I neglected to see the first two recipes. Also, I am not a vegetarian, but I have good friends who are. One of those really good friends has this cookbook, and I told her I'd go through it kind of like Julie Powell did with Julia Child's cookbook.

I made this in a bit of a hurry, being on a time crunch, this morning. I'm pleased with how it turned out. Very tasty. My husband agrees. I made several of my own tweaks, as usually. You'll have to get a hold of the original recipe to see the differences. Unless you're content with my version. Plan on adding this to list of foods to make in the future.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 medium red onions - chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, sent through a garlic press
• 3 medium sweet potatoes - peeled & cut into small squares
  
• 1 jalapeno chile, seeded & minced
• 2 15.5 oz cans of black beans, drained
• 1 15 oz can of tomato sauce
  
• 1 28 oz can of pre-cut mushrooms
• olive oil
• 3 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp red sugar
• 3-4 tbsp sea salt
• 6-8 c. water
  

Directions:

• In a pan, with a few tablespoons of olive oil, on low medium heat, cook the red onions until transparent. I added a bit of sea salt towards the end of cooking.
• In a large pot, place in the sweet potatoes with just enough water to barely cover the sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil & lower heat until simmering with lid on but somewhat displaced. Cook for about 20-30 minutes.
• In the large pot, add everything else to the sweet potatoes: garlic, jalapeno chile, black beans, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, pre-cut mushrooms, chili powder, cumin, coriander, sea salt, and sugar. Add the red onions as well. Allow the contents enough time to soak in all the flavor, and it's ready to serve.
  

One rookie mistake I made was, I wish I had pan-fried the mushrooms first, before throwing them into the soup. Cooks fast that way. Sometimes the mushrooms don't quite cook well if they're thrown into the soup late in the game. Thankfully, the mushrooms were fine this time.

A delicious soup.

Still steaming. Can you see?


As my dad would say, "Try it; you'll like it."