It’s winter, it’s cold, it’s finally raining … brrrr..

On Sunday I am going to a Soup Swap at a food blogger’s house in Santa Cruz. You bring 6 quarts of frozen soup and the recipe to swap with others.  So I’ve been thinking a lot about soups and we also just got a huge chest freezer that we need to fill up.  Soup is the best thing to freeze and eat on weeknights.  This soup is hearty and healthy.  We served it with varied toasted bread slices topped with cheese, spinach, and tomato, broiled to deliciousness.

John’s Sweet Potato and Greens Soup Recipe

• 1 c. canned pinto beans (or white beans)
• 2 qt. chicken broth (or veg. broth)
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 large celery stalks (optional)
• 2 cups chopped greens or kale (any, or mixed) cooked to soft with olive oil/lard but don’t brown
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large bell pepper, diced
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 1/2 lb. sweet potatoes, peeled, and cubed in big chunks
• 1/2 to 1 lb. Polish sausage, sliced 1/4″ (or any sausage you have in the freezer)
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1/4 tsp. fresh ground pepper

Cook the greens in olive oil or lard in a saute pan first, until soft (don’t brown). Combine beans, chicken broth and bay leaves. Simmer 1 to 1 1/2 hours until beans are soft. Remove bay leaves when beans are cooked.

Saute the celery (if using), garlic, onion, bell pepper in oil until onion is translucent.  Add sauted veggies to beans and simmer for 15 minutes. Then add the sweet potatoes and sausage.  Simmer 10-20 minutes or until the potatoes are barely tender. Stir in the thyme, red pepper, and pepper; simmer 10 minutes.

Summer isn’t over yet!  This was another potluck summer find recipe for us (thanks Bennys for another good one, that was delightfully surprising).  You know, the surprise with this dish was a treat because it was a new take on an old classic (or maybe the other way around and I’m not aware).  We loved the hint of basil against the sweetness of this unique fruit salad. The mozzarella balls add an interesting texture to the fruit salad because the taste is definitely a subtle taste that mixes well with the fruit and basil.

Fruit Salad with Mozzarella Recipe

from Southern Living

Ingredients

• 3 cups peeled, coarsely chopped fresh peaches (about 1 1/2 lb.)
• 1 (8-oz.) tub fresh small mozzarella cheese balls, cut in half
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 3/4 cup Lemon Poppy Seed Salad Dressing (see dressing recipe below)
• 4 cups seeded and cubed watermelon
• 4 cups cubed honeydew melon
• 3 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 cups seedless green grapes, cut in half

You can toss the peaches, mozzarella, and basil together with the dressing and then serve this fruit salad. Then arrange the fruit in layers in a Trifle dish.  OR you can mix everything together with the dressing and serve.

Homemade Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing Recipe

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons finely chopped onion
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

When our California friend Flo made these crunchy taco shells for us one night we were immediately intrigued about how to make these much tastier, non-taco bell hard shells (funny since our friend had never even been to a Taco Bell until she was in her twenties).  We’ve found out since then that these hard taco shells are also a mysterious and delightful home-made surprise to many who have never made them before either! And, it is pretty easy to make these and they are way better than the hard taco shells you buy at the store. The shells are probably a bit less healthy too, but hey, they are really good, add a uniqueness to your meal,  and have an impressive crunch too.

Perfect Fillings for Homemade Taco Shells:

• Shredded Taco Chicken Meat (Roast an entire chicken or get one already cooked from the store and pull the meat off, then put the meat in a pan on the stove w/ taco seasoning and black olives from a can and cook it up a bit – another Flo special recipe! Serve with all the taco bar fixin’s)
• Al Pastor Recipe
  
• Carne Asada
• Achiote-Orange Pulled Pork (One of my all-time favorite Sunset Magazine Recipes that could be made into a creative taco filling)

Hard Taco Shells Recipe

Ingredients:

• Corn Tortillas
• 2 Cups Vegetable Oil

Tools:

• Heavy Skillet or Cast-Iron Pan
• Two Forks
• Cookie Sheet with Paper Towels

Steps for Making Hard Taco Shells:

1. Pour about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of oil into a skillet or cast iron pan.
2. Heat Oil to medium or medium-high heat. Make sure it is hot enough before you start
3. Place corn tortilla in hot oil and it will start to sizzle.  Let sizzle for 15 seconds.
4. Take two forks and fold the tortilla in half, then push one side of the tortilla down on the bottom of the skillet and hold the shell in place to cook one side first (about 15 seconds).  Be sure to make the folded space big enough to put taco fillings into.
5. Once one side is crispy enough, flip it and cook the other side (see photos above). Cook for another 15 seconds on this side or until crispy brown.
6. Now place the crispy taco shell on the paper towel lined cookie sheet to drain the excess oil.
7. Eat these crispy taco shells right away or they will get soggy!

Delegating these recipes to your friends or family and then setting everything up on a table with crock-pots or warming plates can help this dinner serve-itself all-night-long.  I’ve found that one of the hardest parts about having a dinner party is the fact that you are running around your own house getting all of the food prepared and served and not getting to spend time with friends.  Not to mention, you’re exhausted from cooking, before your friends even arrive!  With this menu, you need 4-5 cooks to complete the dinner.

Cook #1 (The Host):

• Al Pastor Sandwiches with Chipotle Coleslaw from Sunset Magazine

Cook #2:

• Mike Mills’ 17th Street’s Tangy Pit Beans – from the great Peace, Love, & Barbecue Cookbook

Cook #3:

• 7-Layer Taco Dip with Homemade Tortilla Chips

Cook #4 – (The Baker):

• Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
  

For Recipes ->

Chipotle Coleslaw Recipe

from chipotle-coleslaw-10000001622432/”>Sunset Magaine

Ingredients

This is a quick recipe with little preparation time because you are using store-bought sausages (original recipe called for lamb sausage but I found them difficult to find) and you only have to chop a few veggies.   Then you grab some Rosemary off of your plant and open a nice bottle of Berry Preserves (I used one a friend had made and given to me, handy dandy).  This recipe came from Simply Organic: A Cookbook for Sustainable, Seasonal, and Local Ingredients by Jesse Ziff Cool (seriously, you can get this cookbook now, used on Amazon for $3).

If you live in CA and go to the farmer’s market weekly, this cookbook is really helpful because it is sorted into seasonal cooking sections:

• First of Spring
• Late Spring
• Early Summer
• Indian Summer
• Autumn Harvest
• Early Winter
• Deep Winter

Roasted Rutabaga with Sausage Recipe

• 2 lbs. lamb sausage (pork or chicken will work too)
• 1 large rutabaga, peeled & cut into thick wedges
• 1 large red onion
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup blackberry or raspberry preserves (Cherry preserves in MI might work too, w/ cherry sausage …hmmm… OR blueberry preserves in Maine?)
• 2-3 TBSP balsamic vinegar
• Salt and Fresh ground black pepper
• 1 TBSP chopped fresh rosemary

Preheat oven to 500F.  Place the sausage in a shallow roasting pan.  Cook, turning occasionally, for 15 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Reduce the temperature to 350F.  Remove the sausage to a plate and add the rutabaga, onion, garlic, rosemary, and preserves to the pan with the sausage drippings.  Toss to coat well.  Place the sausage on top of the vegetables.  Cover and roast, tossing occasionally, for 45 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and the sausage is cooked through.

Transfer the sausage to a platter.  Drizzle the vinegar over the vegetables.  Mix well and season with salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.  Serve with the sausage.

This salad recipe got me thinking, are favorite dishes or recipes those that you could eat over and over everyday (regardless of calories)? If so, this salad will be on my favorites list for this year and it is only February.  This salad has really grown on me, so much so, that I desire it at every meal where our cousin’s are present.  In this family we eat salad at the end of the meal,  so by the time you are done eating everything, with this salad, you are actually craving it.  Cousin C says this is a variation on a salad his mother made growing up and then he also saw a variation of it at Esalen in Big Sur when he worked there.  Now we can all try and make it.  I think Bragg Liquid Aminos (made from health-giving, NON-GMO soybeans and purified water) is one of the secret ingredients here.  Another fun part of this salad is that you can really add or take away ingredients based on what you have in the fridge as long as you have the onion, lettuce, and the dressing ingredients.

Cousin’s Salad Recipe

Serves 4 as a side salad

Salad:

• 2 cups of Romaine Lettuce
• 1 cup of Arugula
• Dried Cranberries
• Sweet and Spicy Pecans (from Trader Joe’s or an alternative)
• Grated Parmesan (Raw Parmesan from Trader Joe’s or an alternative)
• Avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• Red Bell Pepper, sliced
• Red onion, sliced
• Cilantro, coarsely chopped

Dressing:

• 6-8 TBSP of Olive Oil – per cup of lettuce (2 TBSP per cup of lettuce)
• 3 TBSP of Bragg Liquid Aminos (1 TBSP per cup of lettuce)
• 3 tsp of Balsamic Vinegar (1 tsp per cup of lettuce)
• Garlic powder, sprinkled over top of salad
• Squeeze Lemon juice of 1/2 lemon over-top of salad

Preparation:

Prepare all salad ingredients and place in a large salad bowl.  Toss together.  Then sprinkle dressing ingredients over-top of salad and mix well again. Serve!

If you love food and love letting yourself free in a food experience for the eyes, you can spend a lot of time at the International Food Bazaar in San Jose going back time and time again to look through all of the products.  I love Israeli pickles and found them in the mix of tons of other Middle Eastern products.  IFB sells Middle Eastern Specialty foods including kosher, Russian, Bosnian, European, Middle Eastern, Persian, Greek, and Turkish products in the South Bay San Jose Area  (Campbell to be specific).

We bought a huge piece of Afghan Bread from their very large bread section and made a fast dinner with our already prepared Arugula-Pistachio Pesto.

When I lived in Sydney, Australia I ate the most fabulous vegetarian pizza called Arrostito topped with roasted vegetables, cherry tomatoes, and goat cheese at Arthur’s Pizza in Paddington.  I recreated a version of these toppings below for a pizza combo that loves to impress.

Arugula-Pistachio Pesto Pizza Recipe

Pesto Ingredients

Zach should really be writing this because this is a recipe that he and Lauren, a native Pittsburgh Polish friend, created.  Come on Yinz guys, with the prep it takes to get this recipe off the ground, you would think you could write this post too!  The recipe and interest in Polish food at large  was inspired by Lauren’s grandmothers cooking of Kielbasa, Sauerkraut, Halushki noodles, and Perogies.  When asked if Zach and Lauren ever ventured out to any Polish restaurants in Pittsburgh they remarked that Polish food isn’t really the kind of food you rush out to eat at a restaurant because it is often quite bland.   Considering that Zach is also an expert in the bland food category, being from the Midwest and all where you eat stews, casseroles, and hot dishes all the time, it is a bit amazing that these two came up with such a killer recipe.  Only kidding, these two are whizzes in the kitchen.  The secret ingredients in this recipe is the combination of veal and and pork and the use of tomato soup for the sauce.

This Cabbage Roll Recipe even feels a bit classy served on top of their silky smooth, Creamy Mashed Potatoes (recipe below).  It will brighten up any dreary fall or winter Sunday evening and feed you all week long.

Lauren & Zach’s Cabbage Rolls Recipe

• 1 lb. ground veal
• 1 lb. ground pork
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
• 1/4-1/2 cup Sauerkraut
• 2 TBSP Garlic Powder
• 3/4 cup Parsley
• 2 cups Rice, cooked
• 1 Head of Cabbage

Sauce:

• 2, 12 ounce cans of Campbells Tomato Soup
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP White wine vinegar
• 1- 1 1/2 TBSP sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl mix together the veal, pork, eggs, onion, garlic powder, Sauerkraut, Parsley, and Rice.

Fill a large stock pot with water and place the entire head of cabbage into the water.  Boil the cabbage for 2 minutes and turn off.   Now pull a cabbage leaf out of the pot, one at a time when you need it, and you will be ready to roll it up.  Place 1/4 cup of the meat mixture into the center of the cabbage leaf, roll it up and tuck in the ends.  Place them in rows in your 13×19 glass baking dish.

Mix together the sauce ingredients.  Pour the sauce over top of our cabbage rolls.  Cover the cabbage rolls with foil.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours @ 350F.

For Serving:  Put mashed potatoes in the bottom of of wide, flat boll and spoon two cabbage rolls over top with some extra sauce from the dish! Serve!

Creamy Mashed Potatoes

You want the mashed potatoes to be somewhat thinner and very smooth. 

• 3 1/2 lbs. Russet Potatoes, quartered length-wise
• 1 stick of butter
• Garlic Powder
• Salt
• 1/2-1 1/2 cups of Milk or Cream

Boil the potatoes until soft.  Drain and put pototes into your mixer and add the butter, garlic powder, and salt.  Slowly add a bit of milk or cream until you get a nice and creamy, smooth texture.

On Thursday night we had Tri-Tip, Spiced Tomato Gratin (CSA Box #22 Recipe), and a Balthazar inspired salad with Lemon Truffle Vinaigrette.  Saturday morning we woke up and realized we could make Tri-Tip Hash with the leftover Gratin and meat!  It was like stepping into a greasy spoon on a Saturday morning after a long night, knee deep at the bar, except you’re only 15 feet from a shower to wash away your hang over.

In a cast iron pan throw together the leftover potatoes and meat and cook it up until fairly browned.  Serve with eggs and toast.