Baguette

Since I finally bought an immersion blender and got to make my favorite soup, I wanted to make some bread to go with it.  Last time I made a variation of this carrot-ginger soup, I had some white bread from a local bakery, and they went really well together.  I didn't feel like going out and buying bread, so I decided to change my bread recipe and make my own white baguette.  I normally put at least 1 cup of whole wheat flour in my bread, but this time I did only white flour.

So. Delicious.  

I've decided that maybe using whole grains is overrated.  

White Baguette

3 tsp yeast

7 oz hot water

garlic powder

ginger powder

1/2 tbsp salt

1/2 tbsp sugar

3+ c white flour

1-2 tbsp olive oil

Mix together everything but the flour and stir.  Add 1 cup of flour, mix well.  Add flour roughly 1/2 c at a time, kneading as you go, until the dough is no longer sticky.  Cover and let rise for an hour or so, then divide into 2 loaves.  I ended up adding more flour after the first rising because the dough was super sticky again.  I let the loaves rise for about another hour, then baked them at 425 for 20 min.  

pre-bake beautiful white loaves

 Perfect combination.

I just ate half a loaf of bread...it was so good!

Immersion Blender!

I just bought myself a new kitchen toy that has made soup-making sooooo much easier.  

I've been planning to make carrot-ginger soup for awhile now, but it's usually such a pain, I was dragging my feet about making it, even though I was craving it.  But then I ordered an immersion blender and it came yesterday.  So tonight I made my soup.  Cooked everything, threw it all in a pitcher, and blended it smooth.  So much quicker and easier than processing it cup by cup in my food processor.  Also, the immersion blender is so easy to clean!

Olive oil, 2 inches of ginger root, 1/2 yellow onion, garlic powder, mustard powder, splash of veggie stock.

9 carrots, steamed with 1/2 stick butter, a bit of water.

When the carrots were soft, I poured the entire contents of the pot into the larger pot with the onions, etc.  Then I added 1-2 cups of heavy cream and a bit more veggie stock. 

I let it cook for a few minutes, then I spooned it into a pitcher.

Then I put my new toy to work.

Yes, I made soup in a green drink pitcher.  

The instructions for the blender said tall and thin containers work best. 

I decided this was the best thing I had.

Deliciousness.

Strawberry - Ginger Fruit Topping

Ingredients

12 strawberries, chopped

c. 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger root

1 spoonful of brown sugar

orange juice

Brown the ginger in a little bit of olive oil in a 2 qt saucepan, then soak up as much oil as possible with a paper towel.  Add enough orange juice to cover the bottom of the pan.  Add the chopped strawberries and the sugar.  Stir for a bit, then bring it to a simmer and let simmer til it has reached the desired thickness. 

Peachy Perfect Pasta

Ingredients

1/2 - 1 cups chopped onion

2 carrots, chopped

1-2 cups chopped cabbage

2 peaches, chopped

fresh basil, chopped

Boil water for pasta. When it boils, add the pasta, then:

Saute the onions in some olive oil.  When they are lightly browned, add the cabbage, carrots, some more olive oil, and 1/4 c water.  Put a lid on the pan and let it steam for awhile.  

While the veggies steam, chop up the peaches into bite-sized pieces.  When the veggies are done, remove the lid, turn the heat to very low, and add the peaches. Chop up some fresh basil and add it as well.  

Drain the pasta and toss it with olive oil and just a little bit of mustard and pesto.  

Put some pasta in a bowl, dump some fruit/veggie mix on top, and stir it up.

Eat, enjoy.

Stuffing Muffins

I always throw the ends of bread loaves into the freezer.  Sometimes they turn into stuffing, sometimes bread pudding.  I got a new roommate recently, and it's been getting hard to close the freezer door.  I had almost 2 loaves worth of bread in there, so I figured it was about time to do something with it.  I didn't manage to use all of it, but I did manage to use of some of it!

Ingredients

garlic cloves

fresh ginger root

1/4 yellow onion

2 slices of bacon

2 small carrots

big handful of cranberries

1 egg

veggie stock

c 3/4 loaf of dried bread

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350.

Chop the garlic, ginger, and onion and saute in some olive oil.  Chop the bacon and add it when the onion starts to brown.  Grate the carrot and put it in a big bowl.  Chop the cranberries and add them to the bowl. Add the garlic/ginger/onion/bacon mixture.  Beat the egg and add it.  Add c 1/2 c of veggie stock.  Mix well.  Break the bread into roughly 1 inch pieces and add it.  Stir well until all of the bread is moist.  Add more veggie stock if needed.  Grease a muffin tin.  Shape the stuffing mixture into 12 balls and put them in the muffin tin.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  

Gazpacho-ish

Cool and refreshing.  Pretty thick though, I should have used regular tomatoes instead of roma tomatoes so there would be more juice .

Chop all ingredients, then put them in a food processor.  My processor is small so I had to do a few ingredients at a time and then mix them together in a separate bowl.  If you have a big processor, feel free to process everything at once . 

veggies

1/4 c onion

1/4 c carrots

2 roma tomatos

1 zucchini

1 yellow squash

basil leaves

big handful spinach leaves

seasonings

garlic

ginger

mustard 

cumin

liquids

rice vinegar

olive oil

veggie stock

First I processed the onion, carrots, 1 tomato, and some basil with a dash of vinegar and olive oil.  Then, I processed the zucchini with some olive oil and the seasonings, then the yellow squash with some olive oil, then the last tomato and some more basil.  Then I processed the spinach.  I mixed all the ingredients together, and it was super thick so I added some more olive oil and a bit of veggie stock to try to make it a bit looser.

I added a spoonful of plain yogurt to the gazpacho I had with dinner.

Gazpacho/yogurt, sloppy joe, and some chips.  

Dinner is served.