Vegetable Barley Soup 5/5 Spoons

Who freakin' doesn't love soup? I mean, seriously? You can literally make anything into a soup. I had a recipe for Veggie Barley soup but just decided to wing it on my own because I've made enough soups in my life now to know what to do. The results were FANTASTIC. It was jam packed with wholesomeness and a lot of love.

(Soup is ugly but it tastes so good. Check out my photos, not bad huh? I got a new phone.)

Here is my recipe:

2-3 T. olive oil (I don't really measure this stuff)
1 onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, diced
2 carrots, diced small
4-5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, about 2-3 cups worth
1 c. shredded kale
5 c. water
1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (I run mine through the food processor to have a little chunk and a little sauce)
2 vegetable bouillon cubes
1 t. paprika
1 c. pearled barley (do not use quick barley, it will cook too fast for all the other veggies to catch up)
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook all veggies over medium high heat with olive oil for about 10-15 minutes. You don't want to brown the veggies but get the onions translucent and tender. Add everything else and crank it up until it boils. Once it is boiling, turn down to medium and let cook for about 30-40 minutes or until barley is cooked yet firm and a knife inserted into the potato comes out easily. Serve with French bread and enjoy!

The kale was the best ingredient in the whole dish. Although the potatoes were creamy and the carrots were sweet, the kale really stood out in this dish. I like any healthy vitamin packed green that can stand up to hot soup. And a big chunk of bread with Earth Balance is a dream come true. I'll definitely make this again and hope this inspires you to really soup it up this fall!

I have been missing in action once again but I promise to be back again soon with a dessert recipe. Take care and stay tuned!

Peanut Noodle Vegetable Soup 5/5 Spoons

I bet you all get really sick of me reviewing 5 star recipes. Actually, why would you? Don't you want to know that I'm constantly eating amazing meals? I would like to wish wonderful meals for everyone in the world. Well if you want to see me break and get mad about something I ate then this post is not for you.

(Photos courtesy of thursday night smackdown)

So I woke up this morning with the full intended desire to make some coffee, sit on our patio and read. Then as soon as I got dressed and my coffee was waiting for me, it started to rain. Dammit. I sat around feeling sorry for myself and then realized I have a lot of veggies to eat up and whoa, I should make that Peanut Noodle Vegetable Soup I had a recipe for. I thought this was also one of those throwaway recipes that I wouldn't end up making and I would have a sad, floppy head of cabbage just rotting away in my fridge. Nope, I wouldn't allow that to happen to this most honorable of vegetables! I'm so glad I made this, especially on such a drizzly dark day. It was warming, creamy but light and full of spice and tart sharpness. A lot of different wonderful flavors play together and sing in your mouth. Plus, it is SUPER healthy. Here are my tweaks and notes:

-- I'm really bad at remembering to grab fresh ginger when I'm at the market, even if it is on my list. So like many other recipes, I used 1/2 T. of dried ginger instead.
-- I definitely used more than 1 t. of red chili flakes. I would guess about twice that because I like it spicy.
-- Did you know that sweet potatoes are different than yams? I used a sweet potato here, there are not a lot of yams floating around in Chicago.
-- When I use canned tomatoes, I puree them in food processor because I don't like chunks. I think the tomato puree in this was perfect.
-- I used vegetable broth over water just to add more flavor.
-- I'm pretty loyal to Jif or Peter Pan peanut butter, so I used that instead of natural. I honestly don't think it would make much of a difference here.
-- So I cooked some cellophane noodles and they like grossed me out once they were done. I know it sounds weird but the texture made me nauseous. At the end here I threw in about 1/2 box of thick spaghetti broken into small pieces. It was perfect.
-- The lime in here is SO GOOD. I would suggest just squeezing the whole lime into the soup and mixing it a bit right before you serve. And I didn't add anymore hot sauce, but it would be nice to cater to each individual person's taste and have it on the side.

Okay, so it seems like a lot of notes, but really I don't think I deviated too much from the original recipe. So yeah, go out and make this now. It is chock full of vitamin C and beta carotene (from the sweet potato, carrots and cabbage) and protein from the peanut butter (although adding some tofu in here would be even better.) All I'm saying is that I love you guys and you need your vitamins. Mama is just watching out for you.

Full Breakfast! 3 Items Reviewed!

Wow, totally missing in action ONCE AGAIN. I find it hard to focus sometimes even when it comes to food which I realize sounds insane. I have been cooking and baking a lot but I've been trying to keep myself busy. When you are looking for work, it is important to keep busy otherwise you will go totally batty. So anyhow, this is one of the best recipes from the last 2 weeks or so.

(Photo courtesy of Post Punk Kitchen)

So, of course I love sweet things for dinner as much as I like them any other time of the day. I try not to make this a habit but sometimes a girl needs a buttery, crispy waffle oozing with warm maple syrup to finish off her day. Usually I go the waffle route because I like any reason to use my grandma's old iron. My friend Ethan pointed me in the direction of these sinfully decadent Vegan Carrot Cake Pancakes. These were made non-vegan with the addition of a Maple Cream Cheese Sauce but I thought it was necessary to go full tilt with the whole carrot cake idea. And to make this a full breakfast, I made my own vegan version of this Sausage and Potato Hash.

My notes and substitutions:

Pancakes

-- Instead of maple syrup as the sweetener, I just used granulated sugar.
-- Allspice isn't something I typically use, so I just added a dash more cinnamon to the mix.

Maple Cream Cheese Sauce

-- All I can say is make sure the cream cheese is FULLY at room temperature. I'm usually super anal about that but I let it slide this time and the sauce was lumpy. It was still good but would be more presentable for guests at room temp.

Sausage and Potato Hash

(Photo courtesy of Never Enough Thyme)

-- Instead of meat (of course), I used Lightlife Gimme Lean Sausage. This is my favorite sausage substitute and use it for meatballs, hash and put it on my pizza among other things.
-- I cut this recipe in half since it was only for two people but I could have easily demolished this all! It was so good and easy customizable.
-- If you are like me and love a good dark crust on your potatoes, crank up the heat. Once the heat is cranked, place a dish on top of the hash and weigh it down with a full tea kettle or a couple of cans to really get a crispy crust. Make sure to stir a few times and replace the weights again until it is to your desired crispiness. I believe this is essential to this meal, but if you are into limp potatoes, more power to you my loves.

Breakfast for dinner is like a pile of a thousand puppies playing. Basically what I'm trying to say it's awesome. Once I made the pancakes, I put them on a pan in a very low but warm oven (200 F) to maintain their heat but not continue to cook. And because it just makes me happy, I decided to toast some almonds to sprinkle on top. The pancakes had a really nice carrot cake flavor without being too sweet (unless you add the sauce, which just made them AMAZING). The salty crispiness of the hash and sweet warmth of the pancakes and sauce made this a perfect balanced meal. Well maybe not healthily balanced but certainly made my soul sing.

I give all the recipes:

5/5 Spoons!

I might not review another recipe for a little while again, but trust me I have notes and will be back. Take care all!

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting 5/5 Spoons

So, I feel like I should have an intense love affair with Carrot Cake. In some ways I do. I love carrots, love cream cheese frosting and love cinnamon based cakes all over the place. BUT this is never my go to dessert. And why not? I don't know you guys. This dessert was so sweet, soft, moist and creamy that I wonder why I don't choose carrot cake over chocolate when I'm out looking for a dessert. Chocolate cake is my dark mistress but I like to think of carrot cake as my booty call. We don't see each other a lot, but when we do, fireworks happen.

Enough of my sexual love towards desserts..... My roommate Steph loves carrot cake. It is her favorite dessert (or at least favorite kind of cake). One night we had just had dinner and I was desperately looking for something to make for dessert. I have this rule for myself. I don't buy myself sweets at the store, if I want dessert I have to make it myself. And trust me, I do. If we don't have a dessert ready to eat, I feel like I must make something. Hence, the carrot cake. When I said that I would be more than willing to make something but didn't have all the ingredients for a carrot cake.... Steph ran to the grocery store and got me some powdered sugar, carrots and cream cheese. I was off!



(This picture courtesy of me! I finally figured out how to get my shitty pictures off my phone onto the laptop. Expect more from me again.)

Once again, I don't think I did anything major in changing this recipe. It didn't need it. Definitely toast the pecans (or whatever nuts you choose). It gave the cake a nice toasty flavor you just won't get with plain old raw nuts. I cheated and used already shredded carrots. If that is a big deal to you, then maybe this is isn't the blog for you. (I'm kidding! I just really wanted to eat it as fast as possible!) And as for the frosting, I skipped the lemon zest. Not sure why, I just didn't feel like it needed it. Oh and those marzipan carrots? Please honey, I did not make those. I'm all about presentation but come on now. The way it tastes is much more important to me.



(Photo courtesy of Joy of Baking)

This was a very tender cake. Not too moist though which is important. The carrots and pecans were crunchy and worked well with the cinnamon spiciness of the cake. And seriously, who doesn't love cream cheese frosting? I don't care what anyone says but if you put butter + cream cheese together you get magic. So I think the frosting here is necessary for the tangy creaminess that it imparts floating on top of the cake.

I give this recipe:

5/5 Spoons!

Okay okay okay, I'll post an entree next. I wouldn't want anyone to think this is JUST a baking blog after all.