Hot! Hot! Hot! — Hot Soup?

Things are settling back into a routine after a busy summer. Grandchildren are back in school so we won't see them as much. We've enjoyed spending time with them the last several weeks. It's good to watch them change and grow. See that sweet baby under the bright green blanket on the blog header? She provided the impetus to start this blog. 

I was keeping that tiny baby after her mommy went back to work. And tiny babies aren't good conversationalists. The two of us were home all day for months. During her long naps I got bored. A friend suggested starting a blog might be fun. She showed me the basics of setting it up. And I was off and writing.

That baby was six months old when the photo with the green blanket was made. She's driving now. We celebrated her 16th birthday last weekend. And there are four more grandkids behind her. I am never bored now.  

 

Lentil Soup

Now, "back to our regular broadcast." It's HOT here. The heat index has been over 100 for most of the past two weeks. It's too hot to think about outside things. It's too hot to think about much of anything. I was concerned about the roofers I drove past early this morning. Surely they stopped as the temperature rose to the danger zone at midday.

I have mostly stayed indoors. I've had more time in the kitchen this week. So what new recipe did I make? Lentil soup. SOUP! In this heat I made soup. It was delicious. I would not want to eat it outside, but it made a tasty lunch for a couple of days.

Why this soup? I saw a picture of Paul McCartney a few weeks ago. He's still looking good. (Dare I say he's still cute?) I remember seeing the Beatles when they did their first TV appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Doesn't seem like over a half century ago. The article was about how Paul stayed so fit and still had energy to do a 3-hour concert on stage at age 83. Part of the article talked about his vegetarian diet and what he liked to eat. Lentil soup was one of his favorite foods. He and his late wife, Linda, developed the recipe and tweaked it until they thought it was perfect. 

Who would not want to try a perfect soup that might also have rejuvenation powers? I found a cookbook, Home Cooking, written by Linda McCartney and ordered it, hoping it would have the recipe. I have owned a few vegetarian cookbooks but found most too exotic to actually cook from. This one is so useable. Real basic foods that most people would eat.

Be forewarned that this recipe does not make much soup. The recipe says it serves 4 to 6. Translates to about 6 cups. If you are a household of one or two, it's perfect amount. You'll have enough for another day or two, but you won't be eating soup for a week.

LENTIL SOUP

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 cup carrots, chopped

2 sticks celery, chopped

1/2 cup lentils

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon freshly chopped parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

2-1/4 cups vegetable stock (or water)

Heat the oil in  a 2-1/2 qt saucepan and gently sauté the onion and garlic. Add the carrots and celery and cook, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. 

Wash the lentils twice in cold water. Drain them and add to the pan. Add bay leaf, parsley, salt and pepper, and stir well.

Pour in the vegetable stock, cover the pan and simmer the soup for 1-1/2 hours, until the lentils are very soft. Add a little extra stock as it cooks, if necessary.

If you know DaddyO, you know he is not generally a soup lover. But he liked this one. After lunch I asked if he would eat this again. He answered instantly, "Absolutely!" 

I must confess that I burned the first pot of soup. I made it and left it to simmer while I did an online piano class. Bad mistake. But I wanted to try this recipe so badly that I made it again the next day—and watched the lesson replay in the kitchen. No way was I leaving this alone again. 

So glad I tried again. It's really simple to put together. I'll be making this again...but probably on a cool day.

It's August!

 What have I been doing since June 24 when I last posted?

WHEW!

It's So Hard To Say Goodbye

Easy Beef & Broccoli

There has been so much going on around here. One item top on our list has been deep cleaning. We've lived in this house (the one where Daddy-O grew up) for over 20 years. Pretty sure there are items that haven't been moved since we carefully placed them on a shelf when we moved in. 

Well, no more. Things are getting shuffled around. We've moved paintings from one wall to another. I've "shopped" the house for decorative pieces to restyle some spaces. And goodness, what we've thrown away! The "why did we even save this" kind of stuff. And some things are just no longer useable. Mini DVDs anyone? Still, we have to work at telling these things goodbye.

We are not done but already the house feels fresher. It feels like it can breathe again. This will be a forever project. Because as soon as we feel like we've finished, we need to circle around again. This kind of work is so dusty as we've dragged things out of closets and cleared shelves. So we've been dusty—too dusty to go out to eat, but we've also been too tired to dirty up the kitchen.

Which brings me to a new recipe I made this week. Incredibly simple. Delicious. And the leftovers were good, too. It was the perfect quick lunch while we were working. See the recipe at the end of the blog post.

It's so hard to part with old cookbooks. 

The copyrights are from 1970 - 1976.

Did we really cook like this?

Successfully making a molded jello was a desirable skill in the 1970s.

Spam casserole...look at the ingredients. 😂

I also own a few really old cookbooks.

It would be fun to do a little recipe archeology. 

Might be a Mimi Camp project.

 The reward at the end of busy days—time to sit here.

This is a recipe I'll make again.

EASY BEEF and BROCCOLI

1- lb lean ground beef

1/2 yellow onion, diced

8-oz fresh broccoli florets, cut into bite-size pieces

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoon hoisin sauce

1 tablespoon minced garlic 

1 teaspoon minced ginger

2 to 4 tablespoons brown sugar (optional)

Brown the ground beef and onion until cooked through. Add the sesame oil and chopped broccoli and cook for about 2 minutes.

Add soy sauce, hoisin, garlic, ginger and brown sugar. Stir until everything is well coated. Let simmer for another 2 to 3 minutes until broccoli is tender. 

Serve over rice, in lettuce wraps or in a bowl.

To make this even quicker, I used minced garlic from a jar and minced ginger from a squeez bottle. You'll find both in the produce section at the grocery store. 

Red Beans and Rice, Peach Cobbler—Life Is Good

Easy Red Bean and Rice

Another month has disappeared! Where do the days go? Your guess is as good as mine. But we're still here. Still kicking. And still eating.

We have a peach orchard local to us. Nothing like fresh-off-the-tree peaches. The weather was brutal to this year's crop. But there were enough of a harvest for us to have our two favorite summer recipes. I'll link them below instead of rewriting the recipes. 

 

Homemade Peach Ice Cream

I asked Daddy-O to stop and get peaches on. his way home from the lake this week. I really wanted homemade peach ice cream. I have a countertop 1-1/2 qt electric churn. It's so quick and easy. Stir the ingredients together, pour the mixture into the churn and push the button that says ice cream. (Gelato and sorbet are the two other buttons.) And 25 minutes later, you have soft serve ice cream. Of course, we eat it soft the minute the churn turns off. The rest goes into the freezer and I'll need an ice cream scoop next time.  

      Click "homemade peach ice cream" to find the recipe.

Peach Cobbler

Daddy-O gets credit for baking the cobbler while I was in a piano class this afternoon (on zoom.) I could smell this baking while I was trying to pay attention to the class. It had just come out of the oven when I finished. It tasted as good as it smelled. We've used this recipe for ages and ages.

Click "peach cobbler" to find the recipe.

  

And glory be, here's a new recipe. Needed to find something for supper a few days ago. Of course, I had not been to the grocery store yet. But I had a turkey smoked sausage in the refrigerator. There was the first green pepper ready to be picked in the garden. Thankfully I had two cans of kidney beans in the pantry. If you are a true red beans and rice connoisseur, this is not authentic by any means. But it was quick and it was easy and it was delicious. 

RED BEANS AND RICE

2 cups water

1 cup uncooked rice

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 (16-oz) package of smoked sausage (I used turkey) cut into 1/4-inch slices

1 onion, chopped

1 green bell pepper, chopped

1 teaspoon minced jarred garlic

2 (15-oz) cans light red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 (16-oz) can whole tomato, chopped (use the juice, too)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Cook rice according to package directions. While rice is cooking, heat oil in a large skillet. Add sausage slices and cook about 5 minutes. Stir in onion, bell pepper and garlic and cook until tender. Add tomatoes with juice, oregano, salt and pepper. Simmer uncovered about 20 minutes. Serve over rice.

If you don't find a 16-oz can of whole tomatoes, you can do like I did and use a can of diced tomatoes. The recipe says to chop the tomatoes anyway. So what's the difference? I can tell you. There is not nearly as much juice in a can of diced tomatoes as there is in a can of whole tomatoes. So I added some water as it started to look dry while it was simmering. If I'd had tomato juice I would have used that. But we work with what we have. 

I put 2 pint containers of the bean sausage mixture in the freezer for another time. I'd be happy eating it without the rice even. But the name is so classic—red beans and RICE. 

I'm posting this supper photo from earlier in the week just for fun. About once a year I fry chicken and make gravy so I don't completely forget how to do it. Roasted green beans and mashed potatoes finished the plate. Daddy-O usually has clean up duty when I cook. As much as he loved this meal, I think he might be glad he only cleans up after this meal once a year! Frying anything is messy. But, oh, it was so good.

I'll leave you with a couple of summer photos. We have been so lucky to have had days to enjoy being outside. The screened porch is my favorite spot. And this week it hasn't been too hot and the humidity hasn't been too high.  A cup of coffee in the morning. A book in the afternoon. Every now and then a glass of wine in the evening. There's no place like home.

One Old Recipe & One New Recipe

Garden Pasta Salad

Don't faint. Two recipes in one post. I made the pasta salad for a church dinner last Sunday. It's a never fail kind of recipe. I first posted it here on the blog in 2011 when Little Sister was one year old. She has her drivers' permit now. I could not begin to tell you how many times I've made this salad. I like all the pasta salads (except the ones with olives) but I like this one best because it's loaded with vegetables. I use five cups of cut up veggies—every color I can put in. You get vegetables with every bite of pasta. Some pasta salads are mostly pasta. You know what I'm talking about. 

GARDEN PASTA SALAD

16-oz. box of rotini pasta, cooked and drained

14-oz. bottle Italian salad dressing (use your favorite--I like Wish Bone Italian)

3-4 tablespoons McCormick's Salad Supreme seasoning

about 4-5 cups of fresh vegetables, cut up

Stir all ingredients together and chill for at least an hour. But it's better made the day before.

I typically use a mix of broccoli, grape tomatoes halved, cucumbers, red and yellow bell peppers, fresh corn (cooked and cut off the cob), diced onion, celery and carrots.  This time I only had red pepper, I skipped the celery and added zucchini and yellow squash. Use the vegetables that you like. I make sure to have a lot of colors. 

This salad keeps for days in the fridge. We finished Sunday's leftover salad today at lunch. The only issue I've had with the recipe is what to do with all the vegetables left that didn't go in the salad. Yes, I could buy one yellow squash. But it's hard to buy one carrot. And red onions are so big, I only used half. And I used half a red pepper. Fresh corn usually comes in a 4-pack. 

Here is a photo of my cut up vegetables. You can see how many vegetables I used. With this many different vegetables, you get to five cups quickly. I had half of this and half of that left in the fridge.  The internet fairies must have known my dilemma. The day after the church dinner, a quick, one-pan recipe popped up. It called for the same vegetables that needed to be used up. Perfect!

I used the rest of the red onion, the other half of the red pepper. The rest of a broccoli crown. It was perfect! I almost always have a can of pineapple chunks in the pantry. Plus, I had bought a pack of chicken thighs without a particular recipe in mind. 

 

Is this the most delicious recipe I've ever made? No. But it's plenty good. Where it shines is in the ease of making it. It took me make 10 minutes to cut everything up and put it on a baking sheet. After it was seasoned and in the oven, I got to sit down for nearly 20 minutes. Line the pan with foil before cooking and the clean up is a breeze.

Sheet Pan Pineapple Chicken

SHEET PAN PINEAPPLE CHICKEN

1-1/2 lb. boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt, pepper, garlic powder (or House Seasoning*)

1/2 can pineapple chunks, well-drained

1/2 red bell pepper, cut into one inch pieces

1/2 red onion, roughly cut

1 cup broccoli florets

1/2 cup teriyaki glaze

Preheat oven to 400º.  Toss chicken, pepper, onion and broccoli with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder. 

Spread the chicken, vegetables and the pineapple evenly on the pan. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the chicken is done. 

Remove from oven and drizzle teriyaki sauce over it all and stir.  (I didn't measure anything. No real need to with this recipe.)

I fixed a bag of microwave jasmine rice to finish our super easy supper. 

PS...we finished the leftover pineapple chicken tonight. I declare it was better than the first time.  

Now the weekend has rolled around again. And thinking about what to cook starts all over.  Ever calculated how many meals you've made? It's probably best if we don't. 

*House Seasoning:   Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tablespoon black pepper and one tablespoon garlic powder. Store in an airtight container. 

Still Here, Still Standing

 

I've been asked if I've stopped writing my blog. I guess the honest answer could be yes AND no. I haven't posted for two months. I haven't stopped completely but the posts do seem to get further and further apart. We seem to get busier and busier at the same time as we are moving slower and slower.

We had a full house for a good portion of my "missing in action" time. Grandchildren (and parents) were here at the farm during spring break. 

I've totally lost track of who was here when. There was a lot of coming and going. Lots of back and forth and lots of here and there. But everyone had some time here. Making "remember-ies" as Brother says. 

We had part of the family here for Easter. No new recipes this time. Just our favorites. This is pretty much the same menu that my mother always had for Easter. 

That long highway runs the other way, too. We made a couple of trips down their way. One to see Little Sister—who isn't so little now—in her high school musical. And one other trip to attend the Atlanta Master Chorale's jazz concert. 

They were back here for Little Sister's piano recital last weekend. (They live there, her piano teacher lives here, so zoom lessons work well for them.) In addition to seeing our family musicians, Daddy-O and I attended several concerts this spring. We got to see Samara Joy, an up and coming jazz singer, in concert and a few weeks later, we saw Yo-Yo Ma perform. Seeing him has been on my bucket list for years. I can check that one off now. 

And during this very busy season I have continued filling in for our church pianist. Lots of practice time at the piano. I had to set other things aside—like this blog—to keep up with that. Next week is my last Sunday to play. I am counting on a slower month of May. I'll let you know if that happens!

The flowers mixed in with the other photos? These are all in bloom in our yard now. I am not a gardener. Never have been. Never will be. But I love flowers. So I'm thankful for the old varieties that come back year after year without any help from me.