Trapped in the Kitchen

My kitchen has been in dire need of some TLC, and last weekend it got it!

Friday after work, I spent an outrageous amount of money on a month’s supply of GFCF/vegan/etcetc foods. When I got home, I went through every cabinet, shelf, and drawer in a mad hunt for all things not “safe” for Dylan’s diet. This lead to a complete rearranging of said cabinets and drawers as I ended up with quite a few awkward gaps of space. Though, that is never a problem in a kitchen!

Holiday Soup for the Soul

Next came Soup Night #1:

I’ll admit it – I am usually afraid to try new food items if they sound especially ethnic. My stomach tends to rebel against the new flavors and spices. I bit the bullet by trying this recipe last year, completely on a whim, and haven’t regretted it yet. There is something about the way the spinach, zucchini, carrots and tomatoes marry together with the curry and saffron that is intoxicating. The subtle crunch of the quinoa takes it that one extra step.

GFCF Vegan "Goldfish" Crackers

Now, you can’t have soup without crackers. Right?

Obviously from the picture, these are not goldfish crackers. However, they are full of Daiya’s faux cheddar-y goodness. My sister, who was here at the time of baking, said they tasted like cheese biscuits. While that’s not exactly the flavor I was hoping for, I’ll accept it. She at least tasted cheese in a vegan product. That in and of itself is an accomplishment in my books.

These crackers were absurdly easy to make – almost too easy. They might become a staple that gets mad-kitchen-science’d with experimental spices and alterations. The dough is made up of very simple ingredients, comes together easily, and rolls out perfectly between two sheets of baking parchment. My only gripe was that the dough felt never ending. Though, I don’t think that can ever truly be a problem with a recipe that ends up tasting good. Best yet, they cook up in only 10 minutes. So simple!

Pumpkin Harvest Vegetable Soup

Soup Night #1 implies there was a Soup Night #2. And, indeed there was.

I’ve made this soup before and loved it. I mean seriously, what isn’t there to love about this soup? It has potatoes, yams, squash, pumpkin, and a delicious combination of seasonings.

Usually I just use a whole butternut squash and skip the pumpkin. This year, I had a happy little pumpkin sitting on my window sill thanks to my CSA. So, why not use it in a soup that was designed to be nestled in a pumpkin? While it was an absolutely delicious addition, I can’t say I’d ever purposely buy a pumpkin for the purpose of making this soup. My finger is still recovering from the jab it got while peeling it.

Mango-Nutella Green Smoothie

After spending many, many hours laboring over my stove, I was in serious need of a pick-me-up.

Out came my blender.

I had a bit of leftover baby spinach after making my curry stew, so I decided that a green smoothie was an ideal solution for my grog.

I followed Angela’s basic “Green Monster” formula to make a spinach-nutella-banana-almond-mango (let’s just call it “mango nutella” for short) smoothie of my own. It worked like a charm!

Now that I have a freezer full of soup and a full plate of homework, I desperately need to get a meal plan spreadsheet put together. With five classes, I have a feeling I’ll be pretty busy until Christmas time.

This entry was posted by Areil on Monday, October 17th, 2011 at 3:57 pm and is filed under Health. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response below, or trackback from your own site.