Tomato Fennel Soup

Autumn has definitely fallen upon those of us in Montana, judging by the snow it may actually be winter.  With colder weather one starts craving hot soups and delicious comfort food.  I got my first taste of tomato fennel soup while shopping in Missoula.  Not normally a fan of tomato soup I decided to try it as I had limited options.  I was pleasantly surprised that the fennel actually made me like tomato soup.  After internet searches and recipe modifications I came up with my own version, now I'm going to share it with you.  I recommend pouring a glass of delicious wine, turning on loud music and singing along as loud as you can.  Wine and music make everything better-even tomato soup.

You will need:

olive oil
1/2 a small onion, diced
1 shallot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
one large carrot, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 fennel bulb, diced
1 can diced tomatoes-do not drain
1 cup chicken broth
2 T. fresh basil
dash of oregano
dash of parsley
salt
pepper

In saucepan heat oil and cook your veggies until they are tender.  Add diced tomatoes and chicken broth and let simmer about 5 minutes.    Remove from heat and add chopped basil, sprinkle with basil, oregano and parsley.  Puree the soup with an immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender to puree.  Salt and pepper to taste.  I garnished mine with some of the fennel leaf but that's not necessary.

Enjoy!

 In honor of Halloween's approach I am offering you this ridiculous picture of me with my even more ridiculous looking friend, Ruthie in the background.

Black Bean Dip

I have to apologize for the delay on recipe posting, our little blog's future has been somewhat unknown due to personal changes.  I'm hoping that I will continue to have the time to write despite an upcoming move to Missoula (depending on job prospects) and eventual return to school to work on my master's in social work.  I hope that my co-writer will also be able to find time to submit as well, dependent on her own busy schedule.

You may have noticed I've been really bad at taking pics for my posts, mostly I'm a bad photographer but also I usually just forget.  When we started this blog I just took pictures of anything and everything I made, just in case it was "blog-worthy," now I'm lazy.  My apologies, I will try to get better at the picture taking.  This recipe I made for a pot luck and it was quite a big hit.  You can use it just as a dip for tortilla chips or use it as a topping on baked chicken or whatever comes to mind. 

You Will Need:

2 ripe avocados, peeled and diced
juice of 1 lime
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can whole kernel corn, drained
1 red bell pepper, diced
2-3 tomatoes, diced
about 1/8 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 T. olive oil
1 tsp.red wine vinegar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
tortilla chips for dipping

In a small bowl combine avocados and lime juice, let sit until all other ingredients are mixed.  In a large bowl combine beans, corn, pepper, tomatoes, cilantro and garlic.  In a small bowl combine oil, vinegar, salt and pepper and whisk together.  Drizzle over the bean and corn mixture, mix to coat.  Fold in the avocado mixture.  Chill until cool, I chill overnight, the flavor seems to be better that way.  When I make this it becomes my snack for days, I get to snack and feel like I'm eating mostly healthy.  Next time I make this I'm going to use some of it on baked chicken, maybe with a little cheese on top.  Nummy!

Megan S.

Mmm...Steak

Recently I had the pleasure (I mean displeasure) of taking care of a whole crap load of farm animals for one of my bosses.  There were cows, cats, chicken, ducks, turkeys, and worst of all, geese. I was shown the ropes by my boss's wife and left to my devices.  One of my responsibilities was wrangling the geese into their corral in the evening.  So the first night I head outside and start shooing geese into the general direction of their corral.  As you're aware geese stick pretty tightly together so I didn't think it would be too hard.  All was going well until I realized one of the calves had found its way into the corral.  Now what?!  Could the calf get out on its own, did I have to coax it out of the goose corral?  I tried encouraging the calf to abandon it's location, but I was a bit scared, even a small cow is a LOT bigger than me.  After a few valiant attempts at calf removal I gave up.  That calf could stay there for all I cared.  As I headed back to the corral gate to resume goose wrangling the geese panicked and ran away.  I regain control of the gaggle by waving my hands and what do you know, it works, they're all headed through the gate quacking and flapping away.  Then I realize, much to my dismay...four geese have missed the gate.  I think to myself "no biggie, I can handle this."  Unfortunately, the four separated geese see their gaggle on the other side of the corral netting and are determined to join them.  To do this they start running at the netting.  All their heads are getting stuck in the net and I'm starting to panic.  Holy shit!!!  I'm going to kill my boss's geese!!!  As luck would have it the weight of the geese forced the fence down and three of the four found their way into the corral and were happily reunited with their gaggle.  Now I only had to deal with one goose.  As bad luck would have it this goose continued launching him/herself at the netting, getting it's head stuck in the netting over and over.  I try holding the net down thinking maybe this goose will be able to get over the top like its buddies.  This doesn't work, so I'm thinking I'm going to have to get in close and I might even have to touch it.  I slowly work my way towards him and he starts quacking, then his protective friends in the corral start coming at me, they're quacking and flapping their wings, but worst of all they are HISSING at me!!!  That's right, hissing, who knew geese hiss?!  That's when I gave up and slowly backed away from the scary gaggle of geese.  I was not getting attacked by a goose, oh hell no!  It was at that time the remaining goose found its way back to the gate and I safely locked the gaggle away for the night.  Oh and if you were wondering about the calf, amidst the melee of my geese wrangling it found its way out of the corral on its own.  I happen to think it was just as afraid of the hissing geese as I was and ran away.  Now that I've given you something to smile about (hopefully), it's time for a new recipe.

You will need:
1 sirloin steak
2 T soy sauce
1 T vegetable oil
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground mustard
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
a dash of pepper

Mix everything but the steak together in a tupperware container.  Once mixed coat steak with mixture on both sides and then allow steak to marinate overnight.  Once done marinating, grill steak a few minutes on each side.  I'm not giving you time estimates because in my experience people prefer their steak rarer than I prefer mine.  So grill it how you like it, rare, medium rare, whatever.  Pour a nice red wine, or a cheap red wine (if you haven't already) and enjoy!

Megan S.

Sea scallops and green beans

Have you ever noticed that Megan S is all up to date on her blogs and ahead of the game?  I know, I'm envious too.  I am clearly the slacker.  I promise I've been doing cool things to make up for it though!  Like hiking and drinking many margaritas.  Oh, and working too.

If you don't like swears and liberal agendas you'll probably want to skip straight to the recipe.  Just a warning.

As long as we're on our serious story time I wanted to voice my approval for Megan's last post.  I am a hippie dippy liberal tree hugger.  It's true.  I am vegetarian (although for health reasons), force people to recycle, drive a Subaru and FIRMLY believe that any one should be allowed to any one as long as they love one another.  People seem to have all sorts of bullshit arguments as to how same sex marriages are destroying the moral fiber of our society and causing problems but we all know that's a giant load of shit.  People are just scared of what they don't understand and need to find a group to persecute.  Well, assholes, knock it off.

And on to the food :)

You will need:

1/2 shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
juice of half of a lemon
1/4 cup white wine (I went for pinot grigio cause I wanted to drink it too!)
1 tbsp dijon mustard (stone ground is preferable)
a dash of black pepper
2 quarts water
a decent handful of fresh green beans
1 1/2 tbs butter
1/2 lb sea scallops
1/4 tsp salt

Start out by combining the first 5 ingredients in a bowl with a dash of the pepper.  In the mean time, bring the water to a boil.  You can also use the time while your water is heating to prep your green beans by snapping off the weird ends and getting them into manageable sized pieces.  Once the water is boiling add your beans.  Cook about 3 minutes and then drain 'em.  Melt butter over medium heat and add the shallot mixture and cook for about 1 minute.  Add beans and saute over low heat for as long as it takes the scallops to cook.  In a separate pan heat up a little butter.  Place sea scallops in and lightly dust them with salt and pepper to taste.  Cook about 2 minutes on each side.  One trick with scallops is to cook them for less time than you think.  If you over cook them they get gross and super chewy.  They should be soft on the inside.

Combine everything together and eat up :)  And while you're at it, why not finish that bottle of wine you used while cooking?

Cheers!
Megan J

Easy Pork Chops

Today I am going to write on a serious subject, wait for the next post if you prefer me light-hearted.  I want to briefly talk about a subject that is more near and dear to my heart than I ever expected it could be.  The subject I'm talking about is same sex marriage.  I know this post may offend some and may please others but either way it has been on my mind this week.  I identify as a straight woman, I have very few gay friends and yet I pray for the day that gay marriage is legal.  Yes, I said pray, I don't believe that my belief in a higher power is at odds in anyway with my belief in everyone's right to enter into a marriage.  I have researched the Christian doctrine most people use to support their belief that marriage is between a man and a woman.  In that research I have come to feel even more strongly that anyone, regardless of sexual orientation should be given the right to wed.  To maintain some of my relationships in life I have silent, mutual agreements with some friends and some family that this is a subject we just won't discuss. This being my (and Megan J's) blog I'm choosing to ignore those silent agreements and speak my mind.  Now that I have spoken my mind I will offer you a delicious recipe.  If you don't like what I have to say you may at least enjoy this dish.

You will need:
1 pork chop
1/2 can cream of mushroom soup
1/2 can golden mushroom soup

Put pork chop and soup in your crock pot and cook on high heat for about 4 hours or low heat for 8 hours.  The longer you cook the more tender your pork will be!  The soup will turn into a delicious sauce, make sure when you dish up you pour it on your pork.  I usually cook this with potatoes and veggies.  I like to just dice potatoes and boil them, I use the soup "sauce" on top of the spuds in lieu of anything else.  This is probably as easy as it gets in the cooking department so hurry up and try it out!

Megan S.

Parsnip and carrot bake

Dear Spinsters,

I apologize profusely for the hiatus.  It's summer.  I got distracted by cocktails and cute boys and late nights.  Happens to me every summer.  Sooo, I wasn't really cooking.

However, I did take a brief pause to satisfy my seasonally inappropriate craving for something rich and hearty.  You know, perfect summer food!  I've always been that person who starts to get Christmas songs in her head in August and longs for Thanksgiving in July.  I guess my internal calendar has always been a little off.

Truthfully, I made this as an entree but it would probably be better as a side dish.  Here's what you'll need:

2 parsnips
2 carrots
1 oz butter (use real butter, you know you want to)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
one block boursin cheese (preferably the herb kind)
1 cup italian seasoning bread crumbs
1 cup cheese
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary (minced)
1 teaspoon dried parsley
Ground black pepper, to taste

Start out by chopping your parsnip and carrot into inch or so chunks.  Drop them into your handy dandy food processor and grate them up!  (Side note - this is the first time I realized you could use your food processor like this and it has opened my eyes to a whole new world.  I feel like Aladdin).  In the mean time, melt butter over medium heat.  Cook garlic for one minute.  Add parsnips and carrots and cook until almost done.  Stir in the boursin cheese.  Stir in rosemary, parsley and pepper.  Transfer mixture to baking dish.  Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and then your other cheese.  Bake for 30 ish mins at 400 degrees.

Cheers!

Megan J

Chicken and black beans

I'm told dating is supposed to be fun and exciting, unfortunately I've always found it scary and awkward.  I'm not good with new people, I'm shy and uncomfortable and I'm told this comes off bitchy.  I don't intend to be that way, it seems to just happen, especially when I really want someone to like me.  The more into you I am the more awkward and shy I am.  Over the years I've gotten somewhat better at this meeting new people thing and by somewhat I mean just the tiniest little bit better at it.  Generally speaking I'm actually only better at it when I've had a couple of drinks to help out.  This is one of those things that I'm constantly trying to work on to become a better version of myself, I'm sure you have your own thing.  One of the other things I'm constantly working on to be a better version of my already pretty awesome self is cooking.  When I eat I usually eat because I suddenly realize that I am STARVING and must eat right now!!!  This blog has forced me to plan meals and plan dinner before I'm ready to pass out from hunger.  It seems that I'm currently a little bit stuck on beans, I'm pretty sure several of my posts have used them, but I never knew they tasted good until recently.

You Will Need:
1 chicken breast
1/2 can black beans (drained and rinsed)
1/2 c. corn
1/2 red pepper (diced)
1/2 tomato (diced)
1/4 onion (diced)
1/2 c. uncooked rice (I used brown, it's good for you)
1 c. water
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/2 c. mexican blend cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Place rice and veggies in the bottom of a baking dish with water, place chicken on top.  Sprinkle dish with spices, cover and bake for about 30 minutes, until chicken is done and rice is cooked.  Sprinkle cheese on top of dish and bake for another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.  I used extra beans, rice and veggies so that I could use it as a dip for tortilla chips as a snack later, which was a pretty good idea!

Hope you enjoy!

Megan S.