It's good for what Ails Ya, Garlic Cilantro Soup.

Its getting cold out. That means that people tend to stuff themselves into houses, schools, office buildings and malls and touch things with their unwashed hands. They think they are getting cozy with you while spittling all over your face. This is when our children come home with all sorts of new bugs, lice included. Hopefully I have not grossed you out to much and you will latch onto my prevention theory. Garlic is the answer. Lots of it. It may not necessary strengthen your immune system but it definitely keeps those who want to become close away (yes that sometimes can mean your "what I never get sick" snuffling husband). That in my mind equals a healthier you.
Now I know you are thinking but what about your kid? Mine of course doesn't do garlic but I think if I breath heavily on her head at least I can keep the lice away. Your kid,on the other hand, if partaking in this glorious concoction may keep my kid at a bit of distance and then maybe, just maybe, they both won't get sick. I know, I know, I can dream can't I?
Here is another thought I have about illness and cooking: Clean your Kitchen before you Cook. I am a bit anal about this little tidbit of advice. Not only will it keep you healthier, it will make it so much easier to cook. Clean as you go and after you are done, Clean up whatever is left. Oh, and wash your hands frequently. Before, during and after. That applies to all things, not just cooking. There don't you feel better?


Garlic Cilantro Soup with Lime
(for Reyna)
1 large bulb of garlic (that you grew or from Bread and Roses CSA cause it's better)
1 bunch of cilantro (that you grew or you got from Sweet Clover Market that in turn got it from Pete's Greens)
1 organic lime  (from Healthy Living Market)
2 tbs of butter
4 cups of pressure cooker chicken stock (YES you finally get to see it) or 1 32 ounce box of Organic Chicken Stock
Whole Wheat Orzo, cooked.


Let me be clear- I don't care where you get your ingredients, this is where I like to get them. Besides if you are trying to be healthy the best way to go about it is to get produce from local places that you know. I know these places. They are healthy places to get food if I can't grow it.

I run down to the basement to get my pressure cooker chicken stock and thaw it out.

Then I wash my cilantro and set about chopping it up.

After I have chopped it into tiny pieces (you can use an electric chopper too if you want it really fine), I take apart the garlic and peel. I think this garlic that I grew is gorgeous so I have taken several shots of it, naked even. Garlic has NO modesty.

Clothed Garlic

Naked Garlic

Smashed Naked Garlic

That garlic, it starts taking off its clothes even before it gets smashed...wanton bulb. I digress.

Okay chop that garlic.

Then add your 2 TBS of butter to the pot.

Melt at a low to medium heat.

Add your garlic and saute until soft.

Then add your cilantro and saute for a few more minutes.

Add your chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes or so.

Cut a couple wedges of lime and squeeze into the soup.

Cook up some orzo, add it to the bottom of a bowl.

Now sometimes I let the orzo cook in the soup (because its my house and I am the only one who eats anything in it)  but when you sock the leftover soup into the frig, it gets gluey from the gluten so by cooking them separately you avoid all that. 

Add garlic cilantro soup.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This soup will kill anything that is brewing in that body of yours and its delicious to boot. Not that my family would know though, they have never ever tried it. My friends on the other hand (Reyna, Rebecca, Michele G.) all can attest to this elixir's taste and transformative powers. 

Cheers! To your Health! Hey, if you eat it, you won't notice the garlic smell on me! That makes it all worth it doesn't it?

Hot Mama and a Hot Mama Flourless Chocolate Cake

When I make cake at my house no one gets excited. There is a lot of " I'll try it later" or "Oh yeah not really hungry right now" or just plain "no". Seriously people, how can this man and child not get that you don't have to be hungry to eat cake? What is wrong with them? So when someone gets excited about the prospect of me making a cake for them well, of course I have to follow through.
Here is a facebook conversation I had yesterday with my new friend Kathleen:

Happy Birthday Kathleen, remember cake calories do not count on your birthday especially if you make your own cake.

• 
  

  Kathleen likes this.
• Kathleen But, I refuse to make my own cake...
  

  Yesterday at 10:54 · 
• 
  

  Susanne  Maybe I will make one for you.
  

  Yesterday at 15:18 · 
• Kathleen OMG!!!!
  

  Yesterday at 15:23 via Mobile · 
• Kathleen OMG YES!!!!
  

  Yesterday at 18:30 via Mobile · 
• 
  

I mean how can you not make a cake for a gal who is this excited about cake? 

Hot Mama Flour-less Chocolate Cake (inspired by Civil Eats Hot Mama Cookies and Gourmet Magazine's Classic Chocolate Flour-less Cake)

4 oz of bittersweet chocolate chips (get the good stuff)

1/2 cup of unsalted butter

3 Large organic eggs

1 cup SugarTree Maple Farm maple sugar flakes

.1/2 cup of Champlain Chocolates unsweetened Cocoa

1/4 tsp instant expresso powder

1 and 1/2 tsp organic vanilla extract

1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp black pepper

Get out your 9" spring form pan that you never use and line the bottom with parchment paper. If it isn't nonstick, butter the sides too. Yes, you have to do this or the cake will stick to the bottom and that will be a disaster. After you do that turn the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit to preheat. 

 Put your chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl.

Add your butter to the bowl with the chocolate chips. Put in the microwave and heat 30 seconds at a time, stopping to stir together until all is melted into one sweet chocolate buttery soup.

That looks like this:

In another larger bowl (yes it has to be larger because you are going to mix the rest of the ingredients in there) add your maple sugar flakes and then add the buttery chocolate soup.

Mix the crap out of it.

Then find an egg and crack it in. Hold your horses, don't get ahead of me. Just ONE egg. Not all THREE eggs.

Stir it together so that the egg is thoroughly incorporated.

Repeat with the remaining eggs. ONE AT A TIME. I don't know why this is so important but it is- trust me on this one.

Meet my little friends, the hot mama crowd: vanilla, pepper, cinnamon, cayenne, oh yeah, I threw a little chili pepper in there but you don't reallly need it and for a jolt of enhancing chocolateness- instant expresso powder.

Throw them all in and stir baby stir.

Last but not least, the cocoa powder, best sift it in there because otherwise it gets lumpy. Mix, mix, mix people.

By now your oven should be nicely heated.

Pour into your spring form pan, lick the spatula only after you have swirled the batter around even though its tempting.

Place in your oven for exactly 25 minutes! No I am not kidding. 25 minutes and you have this:

I let it cool for about 15 minutes before  I released it from the pan and flipped upside down onto a plate and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Gorgeous isn't it?

Little Miss H certainly thought so, but then again the gal takes after her Momma Kathleen.

Hey us Foodies have to stick together.

Terrifyingly Good Cupcakes and Butter Cream Frosting

My daughter turned 9 today. She is an amazing child. She has beaten the odds in many physical arenas. She has a group of fairly rare medical anomalies that makes life challenging at times, particularly gaining and maintaining weight. She is a sweetaholic. She loves her cupcakes, frosting, candy corn, starburst, maple candy, snickers etcetera. I counteract this caloric junk fest by trying to at least make from scratch some of these things so at least we KNOW what is in them. It is a balancing act the need for calories and the challenge of feeding this food adverse child.
There are no pictures of the making of these amazing cupcakes or frosting because we were really busy doing this:

and this:

By the way, the Viking is my peanut.

The best thing about these cupcakes is that they are not overwhelming sweet so the butter cream frosting works well to balance them.

One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

3/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder (get the good stuff, because its chocolate and why the hell not)

1.5 cup King Arthur Cake Flour -yes, I am name dropping

1.5 cup maple sugar flakes (thank you www.sugartreemaplefarm.com)

1.5 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon sea salt

2 Large Eggs (thank you www.jerichosettlersfarm.com)

3/4 cup warm water

3/4 cup Kate's Buttermilk (read  REAL buttermilk, plus you need it for pancakes and waffles)

3 tablespoons of grape seed oil (or any other mild tasting oil)

1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Get out your muffin pan, line with cute paper liners. Get out a mesh strainer or sifter and sift all the powdery stuff (cocoa, flour, maple flakes, baking soda, baking powder and salt). Then add the liquidy stuff (all the other remaining ingredients). How simple is that? One bowl!

Mix everything until the batter is smooth and scrape down the sides to make sure you have incorporated everything.

Pour the batter into your muffin tins (did you line them? because if you didn't it's gonna be a hellava mess). Fill only about half way, I filled 2/3's of the way and they got very weirdly shaped as they popped out of the top which is okay for a Halloween decorating cupcake but not so much for other occasions. Bake until tops spring back when touched or about 20 minutes. I don't really poke at them, 20 minutes seems reasonable and it worked well in my case.

It makes 18 to 20 cupcakes.

For the frosting I am going to refer you over to Alice at http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/ because she put it together and it is fabulous. I added an extra stick of butter because as I've said, I need to get calories into the kid.

Happy Birthday to those October Babies!

Because Just Everything is better with Bacon, including Soup

I love soup. Thick, stand your spoon up in it soup. Stick to your ribs, no need for a main course, soup. And bacon. Not your run of the mill go to the store filled with crap bacon but Hi! I have met the pig from whence this fatty meat goodness came from, my child has frolicked among them and even named one Babe.
These pigs have a terrific life up at our friend's farm www.breadandbutterfarm.com. They are happy pigs and I am happy to eat them. My philosophy is that everything is better with bacon and goat cheese. Goat cheese? Yep nothing better then a good Vermont Chevre. So imagine my joy when our CSA share included a Doe's Leap Chevre from Fairfield, VT.
 Soup is not hard. Seriously, anyone can do soup, especially this soup.

Today is definitely a Potato Leek Soup day. With Bacon. And Goat Cheese.

Bread and Butter Bacon

Chopped or scissored into a soup pot

Fry up your bacon. I have two large thick slices of no nitrate local bacon. I take my kitchen shears to them. Cook over low medium heat. Damn that smells amazing!
While the bacon is slowly melting into yummy crisp morsels, attend to the other ingredients.
Next in line, leeks.

I tend to first chop and then wash.

This way the dirt sinks down to the bottom of the container .
Swish it around through a few changes of water.

Bacony Gold!

Yum, Yum, I have to hold myself back from just eating those morsels of heaven.

Now most people would try to lower the fat content in their soup and drain off some of the bacon fat after the bacon bits have cooked down. Not me. I throw those leeks into all that wonderful yummy bacon fat.

I slowly saute those leeks in that decadent pasture raised pig fat and am not at all sorry. In fact I turn my attention to my potatoes that I  grew this summer and commence peeling about 2.5 lbs of them.

After the leeks become nice and soft. I throw the potatoes in with them, Toss them into a bacony marriage with the leeks and out of laziness (and because I don't feel like going down to the freezer to get the pressure cooker chicken stock) I use the BOX.

I pour that on top of those potatoes and commence the low boil.

Before the Boil

After the boil when the potatoes are fork soft, I weld the handy dandy immersion blender and create the velvety goodness we all know as potato leek soup.

But this gorgeous concoction is not finished. It needs a bit of pepper and sea salt.







And then my friends, all of us girls know that it really is the accessories that make the outfit.....

Bacon Bits and Chevre

Oh, how can I forget! The thing that makes it a meal! Gerard's bread with butter!

The kid rolls her eyes and clamps her mouth shut. This is not a battle I am in the mood to engage. She eats Grand Isle Veggie Pasta with butter and green beans. The hubby is busy visiting with friends at the Hornets Nest, he never makes it home for dinner. Sheesh.





Potato Leek Soup with Bacon and Chevre
2 slices of bacon chopped or scissored into small bits
2 leeks chopped and washed
2.5 to 3 lbs of potatoes peeled and sliced
4 cups to 6 cups of pressure cooker chicken broth or THE BOX of Imagine low sodium chicken broth
 32 ounces.
Salt and Pepper to taste
A dollop Chevre

Fry bacon until crisp. Pour off half the bacon fat (or more if you are really out to deprive yourself). Add leeks, saute until soft. Add the potatoes, toss with the leeks and potatoes. Saute for 5 to 10 minutes. Add the chicken broth. Bring to a soft low boil for about 20 minutes or until you can poke the potatoes through easily with a fork. Bring out your handy dandy immersion blender or blend in small batches in your blender. If too thick for you, add a little water. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into a bowl. garnish with bacon and a good dollop of chevre. Roll your eyes at your child and butter some really good crusty bread. YUM.
Realize you are a damn good cook. Think about writing a blog post about it.