1 small splash veggie oil
1 large or 1/2 jumbo yellow onion, chunked
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground ginger*
1 tsp red pepper flakes*
2 cups water
1/2 carton chicken stock
2 Tbl soy sauce*
1 Tbl sesame oil*
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced thin
2 servings cellophane noodles
12 shrimp
1 fillet orange roughy, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 head bok choy, cut into bite size pieces

You can substitute whatever seafood you have handy, I happened to have shrimp and orange roughy in my freezer

In your favorite soup pot, sautee the onion, garlic, ginger, and red pepper flakes in the splash of oil for a few minutes until the onion turns clear.  Add two cups of water and stir to get up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.  Add the chicken stock, soy sauce and sesame oil. Cover and simmer 10-20 minutes.

Add the mushrooms to the pot, cover again.

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions.

Add the seafood and bok choy to the soup.

Place some of the noodles into each bowl, and ladle the soup over the top.

This was excellent!

This gave us 4 large bowls, the last of which Jason will take to work with him for lunch tomorrow.

* These amounts are not exact.  Use your own best judgment and season to taste.

If I do say so myself, we threw one heck of a party. I think everyone had a great time, at least judging by the fact that no-one wanted to leave.

We all ate, way way way too much. There was drinking, but no drunkards. And the pool, playhouse, and bubble machine were adored by all the munchkins.

I hope your 4th was as fantastic as ours was.

Maybe I’ll even post some pictures later, after Jason wakes up.

I’ve never cooked fresh beets before, but they looked so good at the farmer’s market this week I had to get some. I’ve always loved beets, but was intimidated. Thanks to the internet, I learned what to do, and have no cooked beets! And let me tell ya, DELISH!

I used these two recipes, and Jason grilled the steaks.

From Cooks.com

Buttered Fresh Beets

2 lb. beets
Water

Cut beet tops off 2 inches from beet to prevent bleeding. Do not remove skin or roots. Cover with water, cook until tender 30-50 minutes. Cool. Rub off skins and slice or dice. Add: 1/8 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. salt. Melt butter in saucepan and add salt and pepper. Add to beets. 6-7 servings.

and from Simply Recipes
Beet Greens Recipe
Ingredients

1 pound beet greens
1 strip of thick cut bacon, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large garlic clove, minced
3/4 cup of water
1 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/6 cup of cider vinegar
Method
Wash the greens in a sink filled with cold water. Drain greens and wash a second time. Drain greens and remove any heavy stems. Tear leaves into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.
In a 3 qt saucepan, cook bacon until lightly browned. Add onions, cook over medium heat 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onions soften and start to brown. Stir in garlic. Add water to the hot pan, stirring to loosen any particles from bottom of pan. Stir in sugar and red pepper. Continue cooking until mixture boils. Add greens, reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes (up to 30 minutes for kale or collard greens). Stir in vinegar. (For kale or collard greens continue cooking additional 20 to 25 minutes or until desired tenderness.)
Serves 4.

I only bought 4 beets, ’cause it’s just the two of us. I cooked the greens that came with ‘em. Everything was amazing!

My kitchen is clean and ready for passover, which means my ingredient options are sorely limited.  Hence the creative casserole I made for dinner tonight, which Jason requested becomes "a keeper".  Always a good sign.

It isn’t the prettiest casserole in the world, but it is kick-butt healthy, and way tasty. 

10-15 little red potatoes

3 links spicy sausage (I used chicken andouille)

1 bunch kale

handful of grape tomatoes

3 soft boiled eggs

1 Tbl mustard

2 Tbl olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 F.  In a casserole pan, layer thinly sliced potatoes, slices of sausage, and washed kale torn into bite size pieces.  Throw the tomatoes on top. 

Whisk together the soft boiled eggs and the mustard until they emulsify (there will be some small chunks of egg white — that’s okay).  Slowly add the oil while whisking so you don’t break the emulsion.  Pour the mixture over the casserole.

Cover and bake for 45 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

This was DELICIOUS! 

• 1 onion diced
• 1 cup celery diced
• 1 cup carrots diced
• 1 quart chicken or veggie stock
• 3 artichoke stems chopped (cooked)
• 2 artichoke hearts (cooked)
• left overs from night before
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 tsp aleppo pepper
• 2 Tbls olive oil
• 1/4 cup cream

Sautee carrots, onions and celery in the olive oil until softened, add artichokes and stock.  Bring everything to a boil.  Add the spices to taste.  Simmer until everything is soft.  Hit it with your stick blender or puree in your standard blender.  Add the cream just prior to serving

This soup would make a better appetizer than a main course, it wasn’t "hearty" enough for my tastes.  Jason thinks it would be hearty enough if be served in bread bowls instead of with rolls.

4 lb boneless leg of lamb (get it at Costco where it is cheap)
1 jar carmelized onion sauce (we got it from Tastefully Simple, but lots of places sell it)
12 little red potatoes
3 large carrots cut into bite size pieces
1 tsp salt
lots of fresh ground black pepper (sorry, it’s hard to measure pepper)
1/3 cup water

Put the lamb in a crockpot, and pour the onion sauce all over it.  Throw in the potatoes and carrots.  Rinse out the jar with the water to get every last drop of sweet oniony goodness.  Dump the water on top of everything.  Sprinkle with salt and grind the pepper ’till your hand gets tired.

Set your crockpot to high and walk away for four hours.

Check the temp of the lamb.  If it is at 130, turn down to low until dinner time.  If it isn’t at 130, check again in 30 minutes or so. 

To serve: put the lamb, potatoes, and carrots onto a platter.  Pour the liquid from the crockpot into a gravy boat  (with a fat seperator if possible, otherwise skim off the fat — there will be a LOT) so people can add this perfect sauce themselves.

Serve with the green veggie of your choice.  We had artichokes.

Feeds 4 hungry adults with enough leftovers for one lunch.

This is sort of loosely based on a recipe for PORTUGUESE KALE SOUP.  I make no claims as to any sort of authenticity, except that this soup turned out to be delicious!

1lb andouille sausage (hey, it’s what I had on hand)
1 very large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 carton Chicken Soup Stock (4 cups if using homemade)
2 medium potatoes
1 bunch kale
1 can black beans
2 Tbl paprika
2 tsp Aleppo Pepper (again, it’s the pepper I had on hand — substitute at will)
4 cups water
2 tsp olive oil

1 loaf french bread
shredded cheese (swiss in this case)

Brown the sausage in a large soup pot, and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until everything is translucent, stirring occasionally.  (I added the oil at this point to keep things from sticking)

Pour in the chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes.  Cut the potatoes and tear the kale into bite size pieces.  Add to the pot and simmer for 20 minutes.  

Drain and rinse the black beans, and add them to the pot along with the spices.  If more liquid is needed, add the water here.

Taste to see if it needs salt.  Mine didn’t.

Slice the bread and sprinkle with the cheese.  Toast the cheese bread until everything is melted.

Serve and enjoy!

This was so good.  As Jason said, "this recipe is a keeper". 

I’m saving this recipe for posterity, especially because Jason said that he wants it year round — not just for passover.  That’s the best review a passover recipe can have.

2 lb 7-bone pot roast

1 can tomatoes

1 cup marsala wine

2 tbl saflower oil

1 tsp thyme

1/2 tsp rosemary

1/2 tsp ground celery seed

1 Tbl potato starch 

Combine all ingredients except the starch in a crock-pot.  Cook on high 3 hours.  Seperate liquid into a sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Make a cold water/starch slurry.  Add the slurry to the liquid and stir to make gravy.

Delicious!

I served this with fried yukon gold potatoes.  The plan was to also have asparagus, but it didn’t survive from the weekend. 

Dinner tonight is going to be spaghetti, and after how miserable and grumpy I was yesterday, I want to do something nice for my husband.

So, I’ve got bruschetta ready to go in the oven the moment he walks in the door, and I have an all-day simmered meat sauce on the stove.  Italian tomatoes, dry white wine, herbs, spices, little bit of sugar, ground beef, onions, garlic, mushrooms, the works.  It smells divine.

The problem is, every time I walk by the kitchen, I take a taste. 

I’m afraid there won’t be enough left for dinner!