They’re really just bean tostadas, but you should make some anyway because they’re fantastic.
This is a strange but delicious guacamole. Make some. (Click on the pic for the recipe.)
Now put it in the fridge to chill.
Put some grated cheese — I used a Mexican three-cheese blend — on a fried corn tortilla/tostada shell.
Nuke until melted. I do mine for 33 seconds.
Top with, in this order: bubbling-hot refried beans (black, ideally, but I had regular refried pinto beans on hand), diced onions, salsa or hot sauce, shredded lettuce, a dollop of the cottage cheese guacamole, and diced tomatoes.
Eat your tostadas.
Here’s a salsa recipe, if you want one. (Click on the pic for the recipe.)
In which we talk about breakfast! Yum! Because while I read a lot of involved, uplifting, active, and self-referential blogs, personally I’m just not that interesting. Plus: there’s a bunch of food porn!
Yesterday I was craving a big old bowl of the Egyptian breakfast food known as ful medames. The stuff is just so delicious I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
Since my shift today didn’t start until one o’clock, I got up and took myself to the grocery store this morning. I didn’t go to Loney’s because they don’t carry fava beans and I never can find any pita bread there. Instead, I took my brother’s truck and went over to Super 1. It was gigantic:
There, I spent about two million years fifteen minutes looking for fava beans and pita bread. They were there, but not where I thought they would be, and I must have covered two thirds of the store’s square footage before I located them.
Then I went home and watched this video again on my iPod Touch, because it’s my favorite recipe for ful and I couldn’t remember how much lemon juice to use:
After that, I cooked up a big old batch of beans with garlic and lemon and garnished it with olive oil, parsley, tomato, radish, hard boiled egg, green onion, picked vegetables, and olives. It looked really pretty plated up:
And then?
And I eated it! With whole wheat pita bread! OMG teh yum!
(G’ma said the concoction “looked pretty, but didn’t taste all that good.” This is because I did not salt it per about ten recipes I’ve read which don’t call for salt. At all. Apparently you’re supposed to salt at the table. Which I did!)
The last time I had ful was in Brooklyn, in an Egyptian place around the corner from Deboka’s brownstone. It was freakin’ delicious there, too, and came with a giant squeeze bottle of tahini (!!!) and even had green peppers in it.
The time before that, I made a batch myself and packed it in a bento box with some falafel:
And here’s an entire gallery of fuul porn, just in case you doubted the status of my fandom for this dish! (Go look. Srsly. I’ll wait.)
Ful is the bestest, cheapest, fillingest breakfast ever. Bonus: it has the added benefit of giving you garlic breath first thing in the morning!
And yes, apparently I did just write an entire post about beans. Guess who needs to get laid?
In which I liked it enough to make it a second time, which means that the recipe goes on the intarwebs for YOUR reading pleasure!
This soup is easy to make, nutritious, and cheap.
I’ve made it twice — the first time I made it up as I went along, and it was yummy enough that tonight AmmZon requested it again! So I decided to write it down, lest it be lost like that amazing soup Chloe made that one time that was “too simple to forget” but was.
So here goes: a simple, filling spinach soup my household really likes.
Creamy Spinach Soup
In a large pot over medium flame, heat:
1 T. butter
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
add and saute until translucent:
1/2 yellow onion, diced
1-2 cloves garlic, minced.
Add:
2 c. whole milk
2 c. broth, vegetable or chicken
1 c. water
scant pinch ground cloves (optional)
1/4 tsp. ground tumeric (optional)
Add:
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 pkg. frozen spinach
Bring to a simmer and cook until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the solids into a blender. Add a little broth and pulse until smooth, then return to the soup pot and stir.
Adjust seasonings:
kosher salt and black pepper to taste.
Ladle into warm bowls and serve with a good, crusty bread.
Servings: 4-6 Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Recipe Source
Author: Me!
Source: goblinbox.com
Now that you’re into recipe mode, go read this one.
This is what I made for dinner tonight. On the off chance you happen to need a chowder recipe, here one is! (I majored in literature so I can say shit like “here one is,” and you all immediately understand that I did it on purpose, for, like, effect.)
Medium dice: 2 stalks celery
1/2 large onion
2 small or 1 medium carrot(s)
Sautee, in a large soup pot over medium flame, in: 1 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. butter
When veggies are tender, add: 3 c. broth* 1 c. milk
Bring to a simmer.
Dice and add to the pot: 4 medium potatoes
Add: 1/2 tsp. dried parsley
Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 8-10 minutes.
Add: 1/2 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
Remove 1/4 c. of the broth from the pot with a cup. Mix in: 2-3 Tbsp. flour
Whisk the broth/flour mixture until there are no lumps in it, then slowly add it to the chowder, stirring constantly, until the soup has thickened. Let the chowder cook a few more minutes, maybe five to ten, so that the flour doesn’t taste raw.
Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve. Like all soups, this chowder is great served with crusty bread and a green salad.
*For broth, you may use vegetable or chicken broth, or water. (I always use water and Knorr brand vegetable bouillon, because of all the veggie bouillon on the market it’s the only one I don’t hate.)
To make a non-vegetarian version: fry up 4 strips of bacon and put aside to cool, then sautee your mirepoix in the bacon fat (reducing or omitting the olive oil and butter) and continue with the rest of the recipe as written except add the crumbled bacon to the chowder along with the corn, or sprinkle it on before serving.
I made this last night. It was good. Here’s the recipe. Sometimes I feel like I’m a freakin’ soup-makin’ goddess.
Pea & Carrot Soup
1/4 c. butter
1/4 white onion, diced
1-2 rib(s) celery, diced
2 c. carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
1 c. frozen peas
1 tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 clove
2-3 c. broth
1+ c. heavy cream
salt & pepper to taste Continue reading Pea & Carrot Soup→
Easy, yummy, and filling. this soup goes great with salad and bread. I made it the day before yesterday and was pretty pleased with the results. Yum! Continue reading Golden Lentil Soup→
Soak and rinse asparagus. Remove top 1 inch of each spear, discard tough lower part, reserving middle portion of stalks.
2
In a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat, saut? onion in butter for 3 to 5 minutes or until translucent.
3
Add chicken stock, asparagus tips and stems, potato, celery, thyme, and pepper. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Remove from heat and let cool.
4
Remove asparagus tips and set aside. Place half of the soup at a time in a blender container. Cover and blend at high speed for 20 to 30 seconds or until very smooth. Pass through a fine sieve and return blended soup to saucepan. Add reserved asparagus tips and cream (or half and half, or milk) and heat thoroughly, or refrigerate to be served cold.
Servings: 4
Cooking Tips
This soup is wonderful served hot or cold. Half & half or milk
may be substituted for the cream if fat content is a concern, although
it won’t taste quite as good. Be sure to adjust the seasoning after you
add the cream (or half & half, or milk), especially if you plan to serve
it cold.
You may want to use evaporated skim milk to cut more fat. There is
about 25g fat in original. We used 2% Milk. This made each serving
approx. 150 Calories and about 5 grams of fat. Enjoy!
Recipe Type
Brunch, Soup, Vegetarian
Created using The Living Cookbook recipe management
software. Visit www.livingcookbook.com
for more great recipes.
