Friday Jams: The Hoopy Frood Edition!

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm so sorry I missed my Wednesday post, I was just losing my mind this week and I got distracted and spooked watching a scary movie for 365 Days of Horror!  This is the 3rd guest post I've done, and I watched House on Haunted Hill!  Vincent Price sure is dreamy but it's a little disconcerting to watch the movie alone in your basement apartment.  You can read my review of HoHH here, and you can read my other two reviews if you're interested: Suck and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil.

But onto the jams!!!

Jam:
HAPPY TOWEL DAY EVERYONE!
If you are a hoopy frood then you know where your towel is, and you know that today is Towel Day!  Today is meant to celebrate the life and works of the late author Douglas Adams, who wrote The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and all but one of its sequels.  It's crazy funny sci fi and they also made a movie, starring Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, and Sam Rockwell.  Even if it's not book accurate it's one of my favorite movies, here's the trailer:

I just love this movie!  It's so charming!

Jelly:
REGINA SPEKTOR
Speaking of people I love, this lady is amazing.  And she has a new album out this Tuesday!!  In the meantime you can listen to a stream of the whole amazing record on NPR here!  Or watch the video for the single "All the Rowboats" if you're so inclined:

Eeee I'm so excited!  I really love this album, and I think it's better (or maybe just brighter?) than her last one.

Marmalade:
EGGPLANT BACON!
No that is not a word salad and I am not having a stroke, eggplant bacon is the genius invention of IsaChandra Moskowitz, as seen in her cookbook "Appetite for Reduction"!  But if you really wanna try it, she's also posted the recipe here!  My 2 tweaks: I toasted some spices (whole peppercorns, cardamom, coriander, crushed red pepper flakes and chunks of garlic) in a tiny pan and added the soy sauce to that with a little water and let that mixture heat up.  It's like a spicy soy sauce tea, but this adds more flavor without extra fat/calories; I let that cool before adding the liquid smoke and eggplanting it up.  And when I put the eggplant slices back in the oven for the last time, I sprinkled a little paprika on top because paprika is wonderful.  And this was so delicious!  I had an eblt with garlic hummus and OH MAN IT WAS WONDERFUL.  Definitely give this recipe a try, I wasn't even sure I liked eggplant but this made me a believer!

And that's it!  Happy long weekend friends, I hope you have a good one!

Love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Chili Lime Pineapple!

Hello my anchos and cascabels!

A quick food post for you, but it's so delicious and simple, maybe it will chase away the Monday blues!  I was going to make some chili lime mango for my lunch tomorrow, but my mangoes aren't ripe enough, so instead I decided to use some of the pineapple in my fridge, and I'm so glad I did.



After I made this for my lunch, I made another batch to nibble on.

The construction could not be simpler: chop up some pineapple, squeeze on some lime juice and sprinkle on as much cayenne as you like.  The sweetness of the pineapple pairs nicely with the tart lime and cayenne and I bet it would be pretty good with a little sea salt.  Or you could give whole pineapple rings the same treatment and then grill them for extra deliciousness.

And that's all I've got for today, thanks for reading!!

love and cupcakes,
Ms. Meghan

Potato and Roasted Tomato Soup!

Hello my little crumpets and scones!

I'm going to share a delicious soup recipe with you today that is not only delicious and far superior to the canned iteration but it's also vegan and gluten free!  But truly, you won't miss the cream/butter.  I mean I'm okay with butter and I don't miss it at all in this soup! 

This recipe was definitely inspired by the "Creamy Tomato Soup" recipe from "Veganomicon" by Isa Chandra Moskowitz, and I referenced that recipe for the stock/potato quantities for this recipe.  However I've been making a roasted tomato and pepper pasta sauce for a while, and I thought roasting tomatoes would translate well for soup, and boy did it ever!  Incidentally you could roast the tomato mix for only about 30 minutes and then puree that mixture for an excellent pasta sauce. 
 

Potato and Roasted Tomato Soup

2 lbs. small tomatoes (cherry or grape) washed, cut in half

4-6 cloves of garlic, smashed

2 tbs balsamic vinegar

2 tbs tomato paste

1 tbs olive oil

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp of dried thyme & oregano

½ tsp of salt

1 tbs of olive oil

1 medium carrot, 2 ribs of celery and a medium yellow onion diced

½ tsp of salt

6 cups stock/broth

1 lb of white or Yukon gold potatoes peeled and chopped

1. Preheat oven to 500F.  Mix the tomatoes with the garlic, vinegar, tomato paste, olive oil, paprika, thyme, oregano and salt.  You want all the ingredients to be well-combined and especially for the tomato paste to be completely mixed in with the other ingredients.  It should look like this:
   
   
2. Place the whole mix in a roasting pan (lined with foil if you like easy clean up!) and roast for 50 minutes, making sure to give the pan a shake every 10 minutes or so.  You want the tomatoes to look a little bit roasted and you want the liquid to be about halfway evaporated. It looks like this after roasting:
   
   
3. While the tomatoes are cooling in a large-ish pot sautee the carrot, onion and celery in the olive oil with the salt on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes.  Once they have begun to turn translucent and brown a little add the stock, and the potatoes, as well as the tomato mixture.  Bring it up to boil and turn down to a simmer.
4. It should take about 30 minutes for the potatoes to be cooked through, and once they are cooked, puree the mixture (carefully!) in a blender or using an immersion blender if you have one.  Once the soup is completely blended, run it through a strainer back into the pot and heat for another 10 minutes and serve.
   
   

You can garnish it with fresh basil or parsley, pesto or some cheese if you’re not vegan.  This would be great with sandwiches, especially grilled cheese or a garlicky chickpea type sandwich or just some good garlic bread. 

And that's it for today, I hope you all try this soup and love it as much as I do!

Love and cupcakes,

Ms. Meghan

turkey and black bean skillet

Hello lovely followers, long time no see!

I could make excuses, or I could make it up to you and post a delicious recipe. Sound good? Okay!! I've listed special diets this can apply to as well, the recipe is pretty easy to tweak.

Turkey and Black Bean Skillet
(serves 4-ish)
Special Diets: gluten free, vegan/vegetarian (just double the black beans and take out the turkey, and no cheese for vegans!), kosher (if using kosher meat and don't garnish with cheese)

1 tsp of olive oil
1 medium red onion chopped
5 cloves of garlic diced (you can use more/less to taste)
~1.5 tsps of chili powder (or more to taste)
`.5 tsps of ground coriander
.25 tsps of ground cumin (or leave out if you're like me and you think cumin is too stinky)
1 red pepper chopped
1 package of ground turkey (I used Empire All White Meat)
1 can of black beans, rinsed/drained
salt
water, as needed
~4 c. cooked, warmed, brown rice

Optional garnishes: hot sauce, chopped cilantro & scallions, grated cheese of some kind

1. Cook the onions with a pinch of salt until they soften in a large, non stick skillet on medium heat, you can cook them for longer if you prefer, I cooked mine 7-8 minutes.
2. Add the spices and garlic, cooking for one minute, adding water if the pan starts to look dry.
3. Add the peppers and turkey, and a couple more pinches of salt. Break up the turkey into manageable pieces as it cooks, again, adding a little water if the pan starts to look dry.
5. After ~5-6 minutes, add the beans and cook for an additional 5-7 minutes.
6. Serve over the rice and garnish as needed, or in my case not at all, it was still completely delicious!!

A note on my "pinches of salt" and spice measurements: I highly recommend adding salt in layers (so not all at once, and definitely not only at the end). I tend to cook without measuring, but I also know when to stop for seasoning/salt. So add at least a little salt, in the beginning, and a little bit more in the middle. Then you can wait until the end and see if it needs more. Same with seasoning; I sometimes think I have enough, and then I try/smell it and realize it needs more.


I didn't have the time or energy to take a fancy/nice picture, so this is the best I could do with Picnik and my not so great camera phone. Either way you should take my word that it's more delicious than it looks!