Roasted Potato Fennel Soup

I'm not crazy about following recipes generally, but I am crazy about Ina Garten. And I'm trying to become a better cook, which probably won't happen if I'm just always making stuff up without a ton of direction. I have recently acquired quite a few new cookbooks, so I'm hoping to expand myskills and learn some new techniques, which I can in turn pass on to you! The first thing I made out of "The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook" was this Roasted Potato Fennel Soup. It took a good bit of time (as soup generally will), but it was definitely worth it. I'm in a fall state of mind, even if it's still sundress weather around here for the most part. This was my first time using fennel, and I absolutely loved it. I still have a big tupperware container of this in the freezer, and I'm pretty sure Leon and I will have gotten about four meals out of this soup when all is said and done. Ina's recipe is supposed to serve 10-12 and I halved it. I'll post herportions so that you can adjust as you like.

This was a really nice, hearty and earthy fall soup. I'm not huge on potato soups typically, but the fennel adds a whole other dimension to this. Potato, fennel and onions should be cheap and easy to find in your grocery store during the colder months, unlike a lot of other produce. Serve with a cold salad or some crusty bread while wearing a pair of warm, fuzzy socks for maximum enjoyment.

Roasted Potato Fennel Soup

Ingredients:

4 pounds red potatoes, unpeeled and quartered

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons good olive oil

1 tbsp. minced garlic (about three cloves)

1 tbsp. kosher salt

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper

4 cups chopped yellow onions (4 onions)

4 cups chopped fennel bulb (about 2 pounds)

3 quarts chicken stock

1 cup heavy cream

Chopping that delicious, aromatic fennel

The soup boiling, shot with my new fisheye lens :)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, toss the potatoes with 1/4 cup olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for about 30 minutes, until cooked through. (I try to use high calorie items like butter and oil sparingly, so I used a little less than this but it still coated the potatoes).

3. Saute the onions and fennel with 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large stockpot on medium heat until translucent, 10 to 15 minutes.

4. Add the roasted potatoes (including pan scrapings, for flavor) and the chicken stock. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower the head and simmer uncovered for 1 hour, until all of the vegetables are very soft. Add teh heavy cream and allow the soup to cool slightly.

5. Pass the soup through the largest disk of a food mill or chop coarsely in the food processor. Add salt and pepper to taste and reheat if necessary.

Note: I used the food processor to homogenize the soup. The first time I put it through for a little too long, so there weren't any chunks of potato or other veggies. Just a couple pulses should do, check frequently to make sure that you don't over-process it.

One [run inhibiting] thing after another

I really hate looking and seeing how long it has been since I've updated. The last month has actually been kind of busy for me, in some good and bad ways. Things were going well with the running and I was excited to be really pushing myself. Then came the shin splints. I tried to work through them and do a run anyway, and completed it, but then I went to Zumba afterwords and had to leave after 20 minutes because I felt like I was about to die. I was hobbling up and down the stairs at school looking mighty pathetic, but I kept stretching so that I could jump back into running as soon as possible. My shins started feeling better and I was even comfortably bending my legs to go up and down stairs - great success! Then Leon and I both got sick and I was out of commission for another week. Things were looking up and I was finally ready to get back to my regular Monday Zumba class and climb back on that treadmill, but my car wouldn't start. This was probably the saddest roadblock of all.

I had been driving my Suzuki Swift for six years and we had spent over 50,000 miles driving together, from going out to lunch with friends my senior year of high school, to accompanying me on the first of many commutes to UCCS and eventually around Tallahassee - my new home far away from family. Sure, it looks like a clown car, but I bought it in high school with my hard earned McPaychecks from my first job. I knew it wasn't fancy, and decided that instead of a bumper sticker I would affix a BMW logo (which had fallen off of my father's motorcycle) to the back of my no-frills Japanese car to take advantage of the hilarious irony. I confused a few people over time who thought that I really did drive the shittiest BMW they had ever seen. I still chuckled when I saw the sad, worn BMW logo on the back of my car, which had acquired a few bumps and bruises over the years. The lack of power steering, power locks and decent acceleration didn't bother me much; however, having no air conditioning in Florida was a lot more horrible than going without it in Colorado. Even so, my little car kind of became symbolic to me, and it was sad to see our relationship coming to a close. Of course, I was a little less sentimental and a little more annoyed when I hadn't been to the grocery store in like a week and a half, couldn't go to the gym and was starting to rely on Jimmy John's to feed me the sentimental aspect wore off.

Nevertheless, things actually worked out quite well. Leon and I rented a car to go visit my grandmother and aunt in central Florida and a member of my aunt's family who works at a car dealership gave me a good deal on Toyota Corolla. It's pretty fancy compared to the good old Suzuki Swift, what with its air conditioning and non-crank windows. I sold the Swift about a week later and have already spotted it driving around town once. Finals are looming on the horizon now, so I don't know if my work out schedule is going to stabilize any time soon. This turned out to be a little longer than I had planned, but it's good to pay homage to my car, which I seem to have attributed a personality to over the years.

The last picture of me with the Swift, with my new car on the other side.
Needless to say, I was feeling very MTV Cribs-esque.

Operation Active

I've been working hard over the last couple of weeks to be more active. I wanted a goal to work toward so that I would feel more motivated, so I signed up for a 5k in October and have been working through the Couch to 5k Running Plan. I was chugging along pretty well, but on Monday I started week three with terrible shin splints. I ran a little more than I was supposed to during week two, which I felt great about at the time, but now I'm definitely regretting it. I finished the first run of week three and went to my usual Zumba class after, but I had to leave after twenty minutes because my legs hurt so badly. I've been trying to take it easier and stretch this week, but I'm really disappointed that I'm not on schedule. But I don't want to let this little bump in the road deter me. My ultimate goal is to complete the 5K in October in 30 minutes, but if that doesn't happen it's OK. Really, this is about being healthy, making some lifestyle changes and losing some weight.

Last week as part of the "get active" effort, Leon and I went canoeing at the FSU Reservation. We had a little picnic before we got out on the water. Last time we went we each had individual smaller canoes, but this time they gave us a big metal canoe. The individual canoes were really stable, but the big one we got this time was NOT. Thankfully we didn't flip, but it got a little touch and go :)

It was a super hot day, we went in the afternoon and it was 95 degrees, but a little breeze coming off the water made a huge difference. There are some cute houses bordering the water, but what I really love are all the crazy trees. They have this beautiful swampy quality, and I love how they grow right out of the water.

Taking a quick photo break, isn't it gorgeous?

Me, feeling zen out on the water.

Leon, clearly not feeling so zen.

I wish I could have brought my good camera out, but you get the idea.

Vegan, One Ingredient, Low Calorie 'Ice Cream'

I've made this several times and I must say, it's pretty amazing. I know the title of this post sounds humorous, and me saying that it's "amazing" may take it from humorous to hysterical. But it's true! So, what is this amazing single ingredient that contains no animal products or by-products, yet can magically form a substance quite comparable to ice cream? It's that breakfast staple that comes in its own vibrant packaging: the banana.

Ok, so it doesn't magically taste like Chubby Hubby, but the texture is pretty well spot on. This is a great low-calorie, healthy way to treat yourself. Oh, and did I mention that it's super cheap!

So, all you need to do is peel a ripe banana, cut it in about four pieces and freeze it. When the banana has completely frozen, throw it in your food processor and pulse for a couple of seconds at a

time. The banana will probably not be smooth and will look fairly crumbly. Fight your desire to blend it for too long and use an ice cream scoop to remove it. Voila! You have a satisfying frozen treat.

I added a mixture of equal parts almond milk and nutella, which I microwaved for around thirty seconds until it was warm and mixed. I used about two teaspoons of each.Enjoy!

Spaghetti with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

This is a highly adaptable recipe with so many possibilities that I want to make it again, like, now. You can certainly forego the mushrooms entirely, switch them out for caramelized onions, add in a couple handfuls of spinach, mix in some fresh grated parmesan - they would all work well. Regardless of how you do this, it's a perfectly light, flavorful dinner to pair with a cold glass of white wine on a warm summer night.

I bought organic mushrooms, which I found to actually be of better quality than what I generally get at the grocery store. I cut them fairly wide so that they would be substantial enough to stand up on their own in the dish.

Spaghetti with Mushrooms and Goat Cheese

Ingredients:

1 pkg. spaghetti or other long pasta

1 pkg. cremini mushrooms, sliced

4 oz. herbed goat cheese

1 tsp. lemon zest

3 cloves garlic, minced

Juice of 1/2 lemon

Olive oil

Herbes de provence

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

Basil, for garnish

Method:

1. Begin cooking pasta according to package directions.

2. Saute the garlic in a pan with a bit of olive oil. When garlic becomes aromatic, add the mushrooms and more olive oil as needed. Season mushrooms with salt, pepper and herbes de provence. Cook until soft.

3. In a large bowl, mix the goat cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest and a tablespoon of olive oil. Add the pasta and mushrooms and toss to coat.

Notes: My lemon was particularly juicy and the dish was a little more lemony than I would have liked. I would suggest only adding a bit, tossing the pasta and tasting it to see whether more lemon is desirable. The lemon zest is much more flavorful than the juice, so be careful to not add to much of that either. Roll your lemon on the the counter for a few seconds to make it easier to juice.

Extreme Makeover, on the Cheap

Over the last year my apartment has been a major work in progress. I moved down here with two pieces of furniture in my possession: an office chair and a mattress. It has been a slow process over the last year turning this apartment, with its many quirks, into home. The place isn't so bad, but the main reason we moved here is its proximity to the law school. It's probably a one minute walk, but for obvious reasons I haven't timed it. The bedroom has never felt quite right, but I gave it some attention over the summer and I'm pretty pleased with the result. The room has always felt a little too bare and asymmetrical to me, but changing up the color scheme and adding some decor to the walls has made a great difference. It was fairly inexpensive - I got the new bedding set for around $80 on sale at Bed Bath and Beyond, a featherbed from Overstock.com purchased the frames above the bed for $1(!) each at Wal-Mart and printed out some of my own photos to put in them, which was only around $3.00.

The blue, white and black scheme is much more zen than the bold red and the featherbed makes my bed feel so much more luxurious. You definitely have to fluff it up every few days, but it's definitely a great way to make a less than perfect mattress feel a bit better. I would love to paint, especially since I'll be here for another two years, but the walls aren't in the greatest condition and I don't know if it would be worth the effort.

Before:

After:

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of my favorite things, but I have always been too cheap to buy portabella mushrooms. But I was in the grocery store recently and realized that they weren't really all that expensive. I only paid a few dollars for two, and if you use it in place of meat the meal isn't all that expensive. You can really switch this recipe up quite a bit - mozzarella, feta or bleu cheese would work instead of the goat cheese. I used A LOT of onions, so if you're not crazy about that tone it down. I really liked how these turned out, and they were relatively simple and quick to prepare. The meaty, savory flavor of the mushroom paired with the sweetness of the onions and the creaminess of the cheese makes for a really amazing combination of flavors, I know I'll be making this again.

Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms

Yield: Four

Ingredients:

Four portabella mushrooms, stems reserved

1 red onion, medium dice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 bag spinach

1 small tomato, diced

4 oz. herbed goat cheese

Olive oil

2 tbsps. sugar

Salt

Pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Clean the mushrooms with a damp paper towel; washing them will cause the mushroom to absorb too much water. Cut off any dry portions of the mushroom stem and roughly chop.

2. Sauté the minced garlic and shallots in a pan with a bit of olive oil. When the garlic and shallots become aromatic, add the mushroom stems, onions and sugar. Keep the burner at medium heat so that the onions can slowly caramelize. Add some salt and pepper depending on your preferences. When the onions are fully cooked, add the spinach and stir until the spinach is all wilted, probably around a minute.

3. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil on the mushroom caps to keep them moist and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Put an equal amount of the spinach and onion mixture among the mushroom caps. Top with crumpled goat cheese and tomato.

4. Bake the mushrooms for around fifteen minutes, until the cheese is slightly melted and browned and the cap is cooked through.