Ginger-Carrot Cream Sauce and Figgy Chops

Ginger-Carrot Cream Sauce

3 small-medium carrots, grated

1/4 small vidalia onion, chopped small

1 clove garlic, chopped small

1-2 inches ginger root, grated

heavy cream

Figgy Chops

First, buy some of this amazing stuff

Then, rub it all over some boneless pork chops and cook them in a skillet with some olive oil

Ginger-Carrot Sauce

Figgy Chops and Asparagus

Chops, Pasta, Meal.

Arugula Rolls and Bacon-y Joes

The original Sloppy Joe recipe can be found here.  Today's was mostly the same, but I added two big, thick, strips of bacon.  And didn't measure any of the ingredients.  And instead of tomato soup I used a bunch of leftover sauce from the last time I made meatballs.  And I used a bit of heavy cream this time too.

Here's the Arugula Rolls recipe:

Side note:  these are still a work in progress.  They were pretty good, but not nearly as taste-full as I had hoped.  I will definitely be playing with this recipe some more in the future!

Breakfast Eggs

scrambled with onion, asparagus, and fresh oregano

w/bacon

omelet with fresh oregano and gouda cheese

w/toast

scrambled with mushrooms, grape tomatoes, and fresh basil

w/bagel

scrambled in bacon grease

w/bacon and leftover arugula rolls 

Pumpkin Scones

Have I mentioned lately that I love trying new things in the kitchen?  Tonight was my first scone-making adventure.  I've been wanting something new for breakfast, this will be a nice change.  I love my chocolate-chip pancakes, but they do get old after awhile...

I recently subscribed to an email list that sends me weekly recipe ideas.  This week's had a recipe for Sweet Potato Scones that caught my eye.  I would have actually made Sweet Potato Scones if there had been any sweet potatos in my kitchen.  But I've been starting to crave pumpkin bread lately, and I did have a can of pumpkin in the cupboard, so I decided to make pumpkin scones.

Here's my adapted recipe:

1 c wheat flour

2 1/2 c white flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 c pumpkin

1/4 c vegetable oil

1/4 c milk

1 egg

Mix the wet ingredients together in a bowl (or a 2 c glass measuring cup).  Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl.  Then mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Put the resulting dough onto a floured work surface and pat it down until it's a bit less than 1/2 inch thick.  Cut out some scones.  You can use a biscuit cutter, or you can be "creative" like me and just use a knife to cut out the scones. 

Put the scones on a greased cookie sheet.

Press some toppings into the scones if you wish. 

 I put sunflower seeds on some, and chocolate chips on the rest. 

Bake at 410 for 12 minutes. 

Delicious.  I think these will go nicely with some scrambled eggs for breakfast tomorrow.

Breakfast success.  Popped a chocolate-chip pumpkin scone in the microwave for 20 sec to warm up the chips, then drizzled it with some hershey's special dark chocolate syrup.  Fabulous.

Quinoa with Shrimp

1/2 c quinoa

1 c water

salt

olive oil

1/2 c chopped onion

1 medium carrot

2 small stalks of celery

ginger root

1 clove garlic

garlic powder

mustard powder

frozen shrimp

Rinse the quinoa thoroughly, then bring it to a boil with the water and a dash of salt.  Once it boils, turn down the heat and simmer until the water is gone and you can see the germ ring in the grain.  Chop the vegetables.  When you turn down the heat on the quinoa, put the chopped veggies in a pan with some olive oil.  Grate some ginger root onto the vegetables.  Chop a clove of garlic and add it to the pan as well. Thaw shrimp under running water, then chop into thirds.  When the veggies are soft, add garlic and mustard powder.  Add shrimp.  Stir well, put some in a bowl, eat up. 

yum.

I went back for seconds and added 1/2 an avocado.

double yum.

Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies

Best. Brownies. Ever.  

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet!  I was in the middle of whipping up a batch to take to the bike shop this morning, and suddenly realized that I hadn't added them to the blog.  So here they are.  

RECIPE

4 squares of baker's chocolate

1 1/2 sticks of butter

3 eggs

2 c sugar

1 tsp peppermint extract

1 c flour

1/2 c chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Carrot Soup

Delightfully Orange.  And very tasty. 

Ingredients

6-7 medium carrots

2 large parsnips

1/3 medium vidalia onion

5 small cloves garlic

2 chunks of ginger root

1/2 stick butter

large spoonful bacon grease

2 slices of Gouda Cheese

Jack Daniel's Mustard

heavy cream

water

salt

garlic powder

onion powder

oregano

basil

mustard powder

Directions

read all of the directions before starting...

1) Chop 3-4 of the carrots into 1-2 inch chunks, put them in a pot, just barely cover them with water, and boil them. 

2) While waiting for the carrots to boil, chop the onion, remaining carrots, and parsnips.

3) Once the carrots have started boiling, steam the chopped veggies with the butter, bacon grease, and a dash of salt.  Add some water if they start sticking.

4) Peel and chop the ginger and garlic.

5) When the boiled carrots are soft, pour out the water and set it aside.  Mash the carrots with the gouda cheese.  

6) When the steamed veggies are soft, add the ginger and garlic.  Stir well.  Add seasonings/herbs and mustard to taste.  Stir well.

7) Add 1/2 c heavy cream and the carrot water that you set aside earlier.  Let simmer for a bit, then add the mashed carrots.  

8) Add another 1/2 c or so of heavy cream.  

9) Throw everything in a blender and blend until mostly smooth.

10) Return to the stove and add more cream/water until desired consistency is reached.  I like mine pretty thick.  

11) EAT UP! (and enjoy the deliciousness)