I really owe Trish a heee-uge thank you for this cocktail which she had in my hand about 10 minutes after entering her house in Denver. It was HOT that day (as it still is…) and she made this gingery bev in a large mug.
Try this drink. It’s simple, has only 3 ingredients and is such a treat!
You need:
1/2 oz lime juice
2 oz vodka
4 oz ginger beer
ice cubes
Ok. Including the ice, that’s 4 ingredients. Sue me!
Pour your lime juice into a glass.
Drop in a few ice cubes, add the vodka, then fill up the rest of your glass with ginger beer. Stir!
Highball glasses are recommended but of course we ain’t formal like that (read: we don’t have highball glasses). That’s why ours were strong.
Can you use ginger ale in place of the ginger beer?
Certainly! You can use your old dishwater if you want to.
I found ginger beer at Ralph’s in the “fancy soda” part of the soda aisle.
Some call this the “Shrek” smoothie. Since my kids don’t know Shrek as well as Kermit I called it a Kermit smoothie.
They LOVE it!
INGREDIENTS:
1 frozen banana
1 c frozen peaches
1 c frozen mango chunks
2-3 c cold almond milk
2-3 ice cubes
2 handfuls spinach
OPTIONAL: splash lemon or orange juice
Honestly, I don’t measure this stuff! I put about half the frozen fruit into the blender & 1 c of the almond milk & blend. Then add the ice cubes. Blend. (Add as much more almond milk as you may need.) Add the rest of the fruit. Blend. Then add the spinach. Blend. As you can probably tell, I don’t have a powerful blender. If you have a Vita Mix or whatever you can probably toss it all in at once!
Start out using less almond milk until you get used to it. It’s easier to thin the smoothie out than it is to make it thicker.
I love to add a few ice cubes and 2-3 TBSP lemon juice since it’s a sweet drink and needs a little acid.
You can’t taste the spinach at all! My kids LOVE this! They have had variations on this one for the past three days. What’s the spinach for? Spinach is SOOOOOOO full of vitamins!! And it makes a crazy bright Kermit green smoothie! (Unless you add blueberries & strawberries, in which case it makes a gnarly brown smoothie that is still delicious.)
There’s my other “smoothie” on the left. A STRONG coffee.
The kids drink it from those plastic cups you get at restaurants.This one is from Benihana’s. And the beer cozy (koozie?) is courtesy of a pre-kid weekend up at the Tuolumne River. Classy!
Maddie wants to call it “Frog Pillow Smoothie” after a particularly filthy little someone special to her.
This is AMAZING!!!! It requires a little more babysitting than I typically have time for but the stars aligned here & Bea slept through the constant stirring & checking, waking only when it was done. (Thanks, Bea!) Not only is this pretty to look at but it’s sooooooo tasty & full of veggies. A little something special. Next time I make this it will be for guests since it is such a labor of love. But still MUCH easier than I had expected…
Here’s what you need (more or less):
INGREDIENTS:
5 c low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I used vegetarian chicken flavored bullion)
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP butter (unsalted if you have it)
1/2 large yellow onion, finely diced
3 carrots, peeled & finely diced
1 c asparagus, end snapped off & finely diced
1/2 c cauliflower pieces
1 c mushrooms, scrubbed & diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBSP olive oil (additional)
1 TBSP butter (additional)
1-1/2 c arborio rice
1-1/2 c dry white wine
1-1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
1/2 c frozen peas
4 oz, goat cheese
1/2 c parmesan cheese
fresh dill for garnish
OPTIONAL: change out any veggies you like or have: broccoli, squash, bell peppers, zucchini
Let’s get started! You’ll be surprised how easy this is – I was a little intimidated to make a risotto after hearing about all the work but this wasn’t difficult at all. That said, it requires a lot more than a crock pot soup.
1. Dice onion & veggies. You want them diced finely & uniformly so they’ll cook evenly & quickly.
Which reminds me, when a recipe calls for “trimmed asparagus,” have you ever found that actually cutting it does NOT ensure the tough ends are gone? Try just snapping the end off wherever it naturally “wants” to snap. No more impossible to chew end!
Simmer broth in a small saucepan – keep it on low.
In a large pot, heat 2 TBSP of olive oil and then melt 2TBSP of butter into that.
Once it’s heated, add the diced onions, carrots. Stir & cook for 3 minutes.
Add asparagus, stir to coat & cook for another minute or so.
Yummmmm…
Add chopped mushrooms.
Add salt, stir to combine. Turnout veggies from pot onto a platter. (You’re going to use that same pot for the risotto so don’t clean it!)
Ok. Now, add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP olive oil to the pot/Dutch oven you just cooked the vegetables in. Heat on medium-low & add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP butter.
Add rice & stir (keeping heat on medium-low).
Cook for 1 minute.
Add 1/2 the wine and 1-1/2 tsp salt.
Now, get your stirrin’ hand ready. From now on you’ll be stirring a lot. Just an easy stir though – nothing too strenuous.
Stir the rice & wine every once in a while until the liquid has been absorbed. (I think you are supposed to stir constantly but I had to run and get something for Maddie or wash a dish etc. so I just stirred often.)
Here’s the liquid. You don’t want liquid. Rice wants liquid.
Now, keep adding 1 cup at a time of your simmering broth to the rice & stirring until it has been absorbed (before you add the next cup.) I think that was awkward writing. Just add a cup of the remaining broth (which is on LOW), keep stirring rice until the liquid has been absorbed. Now add another cup of broth & stir until THAT liquid has been absorbed. Capiche? This is the part that takes a while but you can do some other stuff in between stirs.
Taste your rice to see if it’s done. If it has too much bite to it, add more broth.
I didn’t actually use ALL my broth – I reserved a 1/2 c of broth to add later in case my final risotto was too thick.
Once all the liquid has been absorbed, add the peas and stir. Taste to check salt content. Add salt to taste.
Now for the REALLY yummy part: add the goat cheese & stir. It helps to slice it up a bit. I didn’t.
Author: Christina Cox (slightly adapted from The Pioneer Woman)
Recipe type: Main
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 6-8
Extra special creamy comfort food using any fresh veg you have on hand.
Ingredients
5 c low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (I used vegetarian chicken flavored bullion)
2 TBSP olive oil
2 TBSP butter (unsalted if you have it)
½ large yellow onion, finely diced
3 carrots, peeled & finely diced
1 c asparagus, end snapped off & finely diced
½ c cauliflower pieces
1 c mushrooms, scrubbed & diced
½ tsp salt
1 TBSP olive oil (additional)
1 TBSP butter (additional)
1-1/2 c arborio rice
1-1/2 c dry white wine
1-1/2 tsp salt (more or less to taste)
½ c frozen peas
4 oz, goat cheese
½ c parmesan cheese
fresh dill for garnish
OPTIONAL: change out any veggies you like or have including: broccoli, squash, bell peppers, zucchini
Instructions
Dice onion & veggies. You want them diced finely & uniformly so they’ll cook evenly & quickly.
Simmer broth in a small saucepan – keep it on low.
In a large pot, heat 2 TBSP of olive oil and then melt 2TBSP of butter into that.
Once it’s heated, add the diced onions, carrots. Stir & cook for 3 minutes.
Add asparagus, stir to coat & cook for another minute or so.
Add chopped mushrooms.
Add salt, stir to combine. Turnout veggies from pot onto a platter. (You’re going to use that same pot for the risotto so don’t clean it!)
Add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP olive oil to the pot/Dutch oven you just cooked the vegetables in. Heat on medium-low & add the ADDITIONAL 2 TBSP butter.
Add rice & stir (keeping heat on medium-low).
Cook for 1 minute.
Add ½ the wine and 1-1/2 tsp salt.
Stir the rice & wine every once in a while until the liquid has been absorbed. (I think you are supposed to stir constantly but I had to run and get something for Maddie or wash a dish etc. so I just stirred often.)
Keep adding 1 cup at a time of your simmering broth to the rice & stirring until it has been absorbed (before you add the next cup.) I think that was awkward writing. Just add a cup of the remaining broth (which is on LOW), keep stirring rice until the liquid has been absorbed. Now add another cup of broth & stir until THAT liquid has been absorbed.
Taste your rice to see if it’s done. If it has too much bite to it, add more broth.
Once all the liquid has been absorbed, add the peas and stir. Taste to check salt content. Add salt to taste.
Add the goat cheese & stir. It helps to slice it up a bit. I didn’t.
Add the parmesan cheese and the vegetables stirring to combine.
My friend, Olivia, put me onto this! Why didn’t I think of it??
All you need:
3-4 TBSP miso paste
roasted seaweed, cut or torn
16oz firm tofu, pressed & cut into small cubes
8 oz soba noodles
OPTIONAL:
green onions, sliced
shiitake mushrooms
baby spinach
crushed red pepper
Knowing how those soba noodles like to be babied, I looked at a few recipes to check on the order of things. Those of you who have cooked soba noodles know they have to characteristics that make them distinct from, like, spaghetti.
1. They expand QUITE a lot during cooking.
and
2. After cooking, they need to rinsed with cold water to avoid unsightly CLUMPING.
My advice: follow the package directions to a T. (Tee or T? I dunno!)
Here’s what I did after reading several recipes:
1. Press tofu. Also: I think FIRM tofu would be best for soup. I had extra firm so I used that.
2. Start your water for the soba. Use a medium or large saucepan since the soba will expand. Follow package instructions. I know I already suggested this. I can’t stress it enough because of my own failure to follow package instructions.
3. While that’s boiling, cut the seaweed into strips of whatever size you’d like! I used kitchen scissors.
I cut some of the strips into thirds afterwards. By the way, what’s Monkey Binky doing on the floor?
4. Drain your noodles, rinse & set aside. Do NOT skip the rinsing or you’ll have a giant clump o noodle.
5. Set 4 c of water to boil. This will be for your broth. In a small bowl, whisk together 3 or 4 TBSP miso paste with some of the hot broth water. Then add that mixture to your broth water & stir to combine. This supposedly helps avoid clumping but you can try skipping this step & just add the miso paste directly to the boiling water if you’re feeling adventurous (i.e. short on time.)
Add the seaweed & tofu to the broth and let it sit for a few minutes.
Ready to serve!
Drop some noodles in your bowl:
Ladle some broth over the noodles.
YUM!
DISCLOSURE: My broth isn’t as purdy as it could be because I was trying to save on dishes/energy use. I decided to reserve 4 cups of the noodle water to use for the broth. (Instead of tossing perfectly good hot water & starting over again.) The results tasted excellent but looked sort of murky.
Next time I’ll add shitake mushrooms & green onions.
Btw: both kids showed their usual level of disinterest in it the first night but I now realize they are not big dinner eaters. They eat most of their food during the daytime. The next day they scarfed down 2 bowls each! Which tells you the leftovers are great too…
During my salad-a-day month last March, my Canadian friend Kinga sent me this recipe. It’s a really popular dish named not after anything in the movie Porky’s but rather a ski bowl at Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, British Columbia. It took me a while to get over to Whole Foods for the nutritional yeast flakes. I had never heard of them & tried to never go to Whole Foods for various reasons. Also, when I read this recipe it sounded a little TOO healthy in that unsatisfying way some restaurant salads are. So I put it off.
Finally I had all the ingredients and decided to go for it. It’s SO WORTH IT!!!! SOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!! It’s amazing – something that looks like a pile of what G would call “Rabbit Food” but is so flavorful, satisfying & doesn’t weigh you down.
You’ve got to try this. Although it has a lot of components, the prep for each one is pretty simple.
Here’s what you need for the salad:
**NOTE: this makes enough for 8 people so you may want to halve it, which is what I did.**
SALAD INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 c cubed extra firm tofu (remember to press water out first!)
8 c hot cooked brown rice
2 c grated carrots
2 c grated beets
2 c packed baby spinach
2 c slivered or slice almonds, toasted
For the dressing:
and this:
DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c soy sauce (or tamari)
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c water
2 TBSP tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-1/2 c vegetable oil
2. While that’s a-pressin’, add all your dressing ingredients to the blender & puree until creamy!
(Note: Properly stored, this can be kept for up to ONE week in the refrigerator.)
3. Cook your rice. I found this quick cook brown rice at Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 mins instead of 45 mins so I did it! You can also find pre-cooked brown rice in the FREEZER section at Trader Joe’s. Just pop in micro for about 3 mins. That’s what I do when I’m in a crunch. **NOTE: if you’re using the regular brown rice – start this earlier according to how much time you need. You can always heat it up if you need to.**
4. Now prep your veggies. As you may or may not know (or care) I use a hand grater. Builds character.
5. Time to lightly pan fry that tofu! Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. I sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the tofu and turn when it’s golden brown. After all sides are lightly browned, drain on a paper towel lined plate.
6. Now for the fun part: ASSEMBLY! Add your rice layer in a nice sized bowl.
Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over the rice.
Top rice with spinach.
Add carrots & beets.
Now the almonds.
The tofu and about 3 more TBSP of the dressing.
Bea loved this dish! She doesn’t have that many teeth yet so she had some trouble chewing the spinach but she ate 2 bowls of this.
2 c cubed extra firm tofu (remember to press water out first!)
8 c hot cooked brown rice
2 c grated carrots
2 c grated beets
2 c packed baby spinach
2 c slivered or slice almonds, toasted
DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
½ c nutritional yeast flakes
⅓ c soy sauce (or tamari)
⅓ c apple cider vinegar
⅓ c water
2 TBSP tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-1/2 c vegetable oil
Instructions
First, press your tofu. This needs about 15-30 mins and can be done while making the dressing, cooking the rice & grating the carrots/beets.
While that’s a-pressin’, add all your dressing ingredients to the blender & puree until creamy! (OR start your rice – depending on your cook time.)
Cook your rice. I found this quick cook brown rice at Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 mins instead of 45 mins so I did it! You can also find pre-cooked brown rice in the FREEZER section at Trader Joe’s. Just pop in micro for about 3 mins. That’s what I do when I’m in a crunch.
Now prep your veggies. As you may or may not know (or care) I use a hand grater. Builds character.
Time to lightly pan fry that tofu! Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. I sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the tofu and turn when it’s golden brown. After all sides are lightly browned, drain on a paper towel lined plate.
Now for the fun part: ASSEMBLY! Add your rice layer in a nice sized bowl. Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over the rice. Top rice with spinach. Add carrots & beets.
Now the almonds, the tofu and about 3 more TBSP of the dressing.
Glory, glory!!!
Notes
1. Start your rice depending on how much time you need. You’ll want warm rice to put in your bowl. Or you can always reheat your rice if you’ve made it ahead of time.
2. The dressing will keep for up to a week, properly stored in the fridge.
3. Definitely halve this recipe if you need to. This is for EIGHT people!
Here’s the liquid. You don’t want liquid. Rice wants liquid.
