The Twin's Garlic Soup

I am a Gemini and if you know anything about astrological signs, then you know I am a “twin”. I have absolutely no knowledge of astrological anything but from what I have gathered over my 22 years, a “twin” has split personalities. Not in the sense that I am literally crazy, but sometimes this does seem to be the case. As it happens, I am also married to a Gemini. Thankfully, all four of our personalities all get along, and I think the more the merrier!

The reason I bring this up is because I have about a million blogs. Each one of them represents where I was at a certain time in my life, but once I feel as if I have moved on from that place, my new blogs don’t really fit into the theme and I create a new one. This drives me crazy!! Part of the problem is that I am constantly changing… changing my likes and ideas and passions. Lately I have begun to think it is not actually me changing, but more just a matter of which personality is dominant at that particular time.

You see, I have these two jackets. I love them both, but they are completely different. One is a leather jacket that is very badass and flattering to my figure. The other is a knitted brown sweater that is loose and comfy with little hobo patches on the elbows that make me look slightly homeless and all hippie. When I am in my leather jacket I am super mom, I love to plan parties and entertain and shop. I make dirty jokes, listen to loud music and for some reason I like to bake cookies and make pot roasts. I am a homemaker with attitude; I crochet rasta tams for Will’s dreadlocks and wear my favorite lip gloss. This Jasmine wants to open a catering company for awesome parties full of awesome food.

My hippie sweater is for the more thoughtful and selfless Jasmine. The Jasmine who cannot separate a beef steak from the cute fuzzy face of a sweet little cow, the Jasmine who worries about the impact she is having on the planet and the Jasmine who wants to open a soup kitchen for those people who need a warm meal and a hug. This jasmine is more likely to make a batch of vegan cookies than Toll House (happily I have perfected them to the point where no one knows the difference) and can be found sipping an espresso macchiato in her favorite coffee place. I wear less make up in this sweater, I am likely to have moccasins on my feet and when I am wearing this sweater I make Ally listen to music instead of watching TV. The problem is, my moccasins don’t look good with the leather jacket… When I bought them I couldn’t figure out which one was really me. But I realized I like them both! So what is a girl with split personalities to do?

I still haven’t fully figured it out. Leather jacket Jasmine wants to live a life entertaining large groups of friends in her large house while hippie Jasmine wants to retire on a farm where I can make meals for the homeless. But for now my two personalities have collaborated with Will’s two personalities and we have come up with some compromises. One of them is that from now on the only meat we will consume has to be organic. If I am going to eat a cow then I want it to have lived, hopefully, the best possible life it could have (under the circumstances of being born and raised for the purpose of being food.)

I have a new recipe for a soup that is perfect for this weather and it is a great example of why sometimes meat is better than no meat but it still satisfies both personalities. This particular soup does not actually contain chunks of meat but it does use chicken broth and the difference in taste is very noticeable if you decide to use water or vegetable broth. The leather jacket loves those amazing flavors while the hippie feels good about the chicken broth being organic and is very impressed with the incredible health benefits of this delicious soup.

Roasted Garlic Soup

Garlic is fantastic for fighting colds! Perfect for this time of year while the bug is going around. I adapted this recipe from this month’s Whole Living Magazine with a few changes that make it even better.

3 small heads of garlic, halved and roasted

4 cups of organic chicken broth, bought or homemade

4 potatoes, peeled and chopped

¼ cup freshly grated parmesan

Salt and white pepper to taste

To roast garlic, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle your garlic with some olive oil and sprinkle with salt then wrap it up in foil and roast for 40 minutes. Let it cool and squeeze out the yummy little garlics from the papery skin and set them aside.

In your soup pot, bring the stock, potatoes and garlic to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in parmesan and blend with an immersion blender or carefully in your regular blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper and serve!

Serves 4

How to Roast a Pumpkin

Last year around this time I became completely obsessed with pumpkin. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin waffles, pumpkin bread... you name it. It got so bad that Will actually ended up putting his foot down and telling me he wanted no more pumpkin! To which I responded with more pumpkin spice waffles. I continued with the pumpkin until finally it was time for Spring to pop up and I became obsessed with other yummy things. Well now it is that time of year again, my most favorite time- Pumpkin season! Pumpkin season means pies and homemade crusts, baking, cookie smelling candles, cozy Christmas socks (my Christmas socks make an appearance way before December) and extra blankets on the bed that make it even harder to get up in the morning. I haven't made a single batch of pumpkin waffles yet (Oh but I want to!) because I feel so bad for Will, but I have discovered that nobody in this house ever gets tired of pumpkin pie. Which I love because a lot of people I know actually do not like pumpkin pie!

I truly believe most people who don't like pumpkin pie have just never had a pie made with fresh pumpkin. It is so simple to do and tastes worlds different so I can't understand why people don't do it more often. Then I thought that maybe they just do not know how. So folks, here is how you roast a pumpkin!

Step 1- Buy a pumpkin. I found they do not carry sugar pumpkins at Stater Bros. which is just silly. C'mon Staters! How I miss the days of having a Whole Foods right down the street... But luckily Dowlings has "Jack O Lantern" pumpkins which are the little guys and those are what you want. Some people also call them sugar pumpkins. Trader Joe's has them for very cheap.

Step 2- Cut your pumpkin's little head and butt off, then cut it down the middle. Scoop out the seeds, sprinkle with some sea salt, lay it cut side down onto a tray lined with parchment paper.

Step 3- Roast your pumpkin in a 415 degree oven for about an hour. Check that it is nice and done with a fork. If you can easily stab it then it is done.

Step 4- Let it cool then scoop all of the goodness out of the skin and plop it into a food processor or powerful blender. Puree (adding a little water if necessary) until it looks like mush.

And there you have it... can you seriously buy canned after seeing how easy it is?? Plus, a can of pumpkin will cost you anywhere from $2.50-6 and I just bought 2 good sized pumpkins for under $5 that will make me twice the amount I would have gotten from 2 cans! Now all you have to do is choose from the many many pumpkin pie recipes there are out there and bake away! I like vegan pumpkin pies and Paula Deen's cream cheese pumpkin pie.

Getting back in the groove

I have been avoiding my little recipe box full of Aunt Pearl's weathered recipes. To open the little box and see all of the sweet black and white pictures and casserole recipes would mean I would have to admit that I am not the cute, old-fashioned little wife I am trying to be. If I open that little box then I would also have to put away the laundry that is piling up, scrub the shower and revive the flowers that are slowly withering away in the backyard. And this is just not something I have the energy to do lately! It turns out that raising toddlers is exhausting and when you spend your days reading books, coloring, watching Yo Gabba Gabba and singing songs there is little room left for anything else.

However, for the last few days we have had various pasta dishes because I haven't really felt like cooking and this morning I woke up and decided enough was enough! I scrubbed every corner of my kitchen, made an open faced egg and bacon sandwich, put away the laundry and made a grocery list. And even though I know the pasta dishes have to go (at least for a little while) I made one in particular that I think is worth sharing! A delicious grown up version of macaroni and cheese for days when you really don't feel like cooking at all.

It is incredibly simple to make, all you need is some whole wheat cheese tortellini (they sell some in the fridge section of the grocery store), a bag of frozen mixed veggies and an organic packet of cheese sauce. (I got mine at Clarke's)

Cook your tortellini in a pot of water then drain. Cook your veggies according to the package directions and cook the sauce. My sauce only required 1/4 cup milk, a couple tablespoons of butter and the powdered mix. Once it is thickened, toss together the sauce, veggies and pasta. And there you go! Impossibly easy and impossibly delicious. Ally liked it too which is always a plus.

I also decided it was time to pull down Aunt Pearl's recipes. After flipping through the various casseroles and desserts, I settled on a pineapple upside down cake. I have seen many fresh pineapples in the store lately and I think it sounds like just what I need to snap myself out of this funk and get back into awesome wife mode! Being an awesome mom comes easy, that is no problem. But every once in a while we need a little nudge and extra energy to be able to pull off mom AND wife! 

A New Member of the Family

Hello everybody! I realize it has been a very long time since my last post (a little over a month to be exact) but I have not given up on this blog. Especially now that my life has calmed down just a little bit, I would like to keep doing this, mostly for myself. I don't have any recipes for you today but I would like to introduce the newest member of our family!

This is Ringo Starr!

He is a black and white Pit Bull and before I go any further I realize some of you will already be turned off because I said "Pit Bull". I understand that they have a very bad reputation, I myself was raised to be afraid of them and I always was... until we stopped at an adoption event just for fun and I laid eyes on this little cutie pie. Some people say that every once in a while you will have a moment where a dog chooses you and I absolutely feel like that is what happened to me with Ringo. I usually like fluffy dogs or really big dogs... preferably big fluffy dogs! Like a Saint Bernards or something like that, but little Ringo was sitting in his little wire cage thing and he looked up at me with these big chocolate eyes and that was that. I needed him in my life. We fostered him for a week and he adapted amazingly well, did fantastic with Ally and pulled on every one of my heartstrings. After that week I adopted him officially and I am so glad I did! So for all of you Pit Bull haters... you just haven't met the right Pit Bull, they are actually great dogs! did you know they were once called "nanny dogs"? It's true! Anyway, I am not here to convince you of the wonderful-ness of pit bulls, but I am sure you will be hearing the name Ringo a lot in future posts. I will be experimenting with making my own dog food and dog treats, in addition to trying to create meals that Ally will actually eat (she is in the wonderful phase where she does not want to eat anything at all unless it is covered in cheese... ugh) and healthy meals for me and my husband.

So I hope you stick around! I have recently deleted my Facebook page so I am counting on my regulars to find me without me posting my newest blogs on my page! I promise, I will make it all worth while, now that the weather has cooled off I am looking forward to being able to use my oven again! Yay!

Labor Over Pie for Labor Day!

I had intended to sit down and write a new post for quite some time now but never really got to it. Isn't that the way it goes when you have a toddler running around your house un-doing everything you have done? I finally have a little quiet time but what I really should be doing is taking a shower so I can get ready to drive to Redlands to look at a house we are hoping to rent. However, a little procrastination might actually be good for me today since I have been running around all week. So instead I want to tell you about this amazing pie I made a few weeks ago! I know Labor Day weekend is upon us and this is the holiday for BBQs and pies but this is no ordinary Labor Day pie! It is not a fruit pie or any other such thing, it is actually a peanut butter pie I got out of a magazine and I think it would be perfect for any holiday occasion! A lot of holidays are coming up so keep this one handy in your recipe box.

The name of the pie in the recipe was a peanut butter honeycomb pie but I think this is a lie because the only honeycomb that was on the pie was a homemade honeycomb candy that you are suppose to make and then pile on the center of the pie. It looked amazing, tasted great, but the little pile made it very hard to cut out slices so I think if I were to ever make this again I would really crumble the heck out the honeycomb and maybe even sprinkle it over the whole top of the pie.

Peanut Butter Pie

CRUST

9 graham crackers
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
6 Tbsp butter, melted

FILLING

8 large egg yolks
12 Tbsp sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 up creamy peanut butter
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1/2 tsp salt

TOPPING

2 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (do not exceed 61% cacao)
2 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter
honeycomb (see recipe)

CRUST Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Finely grind graham crackers, sugar, salt, and nutmeg in a food processor. Transfer crumb mixture to a medium bowl. Add butter to the bowl and stir to blend. Pack the crumbs onto the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie pan. Bake 15 minutes until golden brown. let cool

FILLING Mix yolks and 6 Tbsp sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Beat on high until ribbons form, about 2 minutes.
Combine milk and remaining 6 Tbsp sugar in a large saucepan; add vanilla. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve sugar. While still mixing, slowly add milk to yolk mixture. Scrape mixture back into the pan and clean your bowl. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove pan from heat; whisk vigorously for 1 minute. Return custard to mixing bowl; beat on high speed until cool, about 4 minutes. Mix in butter 1 Tbsp at a time. Add peanut butter, powdered sugar and salt. Beat to blend. Scrape filling into cooled crust; smooth top. Chill for 2-3 hours.

TOPPING Stir chocolate and butter in medium bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Drizzle some of the chocolate glaze over the peanut butter filling, making a circle in the middle of the pie and leaving a 2 inch plain border. Pile pieces of honeycomb on top of the chocolate circle and drizzle remaining chocolate over.

Honeycomb

1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Tbsp corn syrup
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp baking soda, sifted

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil. Combine sugar, corn syrup, honey and 1/4 cup water in a heavy deep saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high; bring to a boil. Cook without stirring, occasionally swirling pan and brushing down sides with a wet pastry brush, until sugar turns pale amber. Working quickly, add baking soda (mixture will foam up dramatically) whisk quickly just to combine. Immediately pour candy over prepared sheet (do not spread out) Let stand undisturbed until cool, about 20 minutes. Hit candy in several places with the handle of a knife to crack into pieces.


I know if seems a little intimidating and like there are a lot of steps, but once you get going it is really quite easy and worth it in the end! The honeycomb makes so much that you can even dip some of the pieces in chocolate and serve them on the side as a fun little candy. Enjoy! (This recipe was taken from Bon Appetit Magazine, the August 2011 issue)

spilled espresso

After a very busy and productive week following a busy and hectic visit to South Carolina and leading into another very busy week, Will and I decided to take a super slow and lazy Sunday for ourselves, complete with sleeping in, gorging on pancakes, going to a movie in the middle of the day and cruising around the aisles of Target with our wee one, Ms. Ally. A busy day of doing nothing can be enhanced in its greatness by starting the day off with the perfect cup of coffee! Here are a couple little tips that will enhance your morning coffee time...

#1- use a quality coffee brewing method like a coffee press. It takes a little bit of extra time but the anticipation only adds to the experience.

#2- buy whole bean coffee and grind it just before brewing to keep those oils fresh and the flavor strong.

#3- spend the extra money on good beans... do I really need to elaborate on this one? Auggie's coffee house in Redlands is a small coffee shop with big coffee loving attitude! They roast their own beans on site and have a variety of amazing flavors for under $20 a bag (that's less than a certain large coffee chain charges and their beans taste like burnt pebbles!)

#4- put a small pinch of cinnamon in the bottom of your favorite mug and pour the coffee on top. Cinnamon brings out the yummy coffee flavors. If you can stand it, drink your coffee black! Coffee tastes amazing on its own and not only will you be opening yourself up to new flavors and experiences, you can cut calories by skipping cream and sugar.

I hope these tips can help you enjoy your coffee time a little more in the morning! When I first met Will I ordered a double espresso on our second date and he admitted to me he does not drink coffee. I was mortified! Coffee is a huge part of my life and I loved to share it with the people around me, but I let it go and decided to look at the positives... I was thinking about all of the positives while staring at his butt as he walked away. When he came back he rocked the table and my double espresso spilled all over my lap.

Then we fell in love.

There were many coffee-less mornings and I didn't mind, but when Will bought me a bright red coffee press to celebrate the end of breastfeeding Ally and we picked up some coffee beans I persuaded him to try a sip. He was instantly hooked and we now have "coffee time" every morning before he goes to work! It is my favorite time of day besides for my foot massages at night and that is why I love coffee... it brings people together! Try these tips on someone you know who doesn't much care for coffee and I bet you will be sharing coffee time together in no time!

a summer time shrimp recipe

It has been way too long since I have written any blogs about my culinary adventures as of late! Unfortunately it has been so hot here that I have not been able to try a single Aunt Pearl recipe. The majority of the recipes I have require oven time and there is just no way you can make me turn on my oven in this heat, so instead for the entire week I made up a "summer menu" by pulling recipes out of magazines and using old favorites. While I came up with this menu I realized I have a lot of recipes that use the oven and very little summer recipes! How can this be when I live in a desert city? I decided that I would try a new recipe every day this week that requires very little cooking time and fresh summer ingredients. The best ones would make it into the recipe box so that I can use them again.

It might sound strange to people who do not like to spend much time in the kitchen cooking or planning meals, but this has always been my favorite part of cooking... planning to cook. Designing menus, researching recipes and choosing ingredients is meditative and relaxing to me and I just love it! My menu planning goes a little something like this: I make a fresh pressing of coffee and pour it into my favorite Beatles mug, set up Ally with some favorite toys on the floor in front of me, surround myself with cookbooks and cooking magazines and a notebook and pen. Sometimes it goes fast after a decide on a few key ingredients I want to use and sometimes I sit there for an hour or more! Here is what I came up with for this week...

Monday- Shrimp and Tomato saute over whole wheat pasta
Tuesday- Grilled steak, corn on the cob and grilled texas toast
Wednesday- Ravioli Salad with a cilantro pumpkin seed pesto
Thursday- Burgers with Gorgonzola cheese and bacon scallion potato salad
Friday- Collard wraps with feta and cranberry quinoa
Saturday- Roasted tomato pasta

Let me just say that every single thing came out fantastic! All of these recipes will be making it into the grand honor of my recipe box because not only were they delicious, they were easy! It turned out that all but one of these recipes came from one magazine, "Everyday Food" a Martha Stuart publication. What a shame that it is not a regular publication! Absolutely there was one recipe in particular I will be using again and again until summer is over- the shrimp and tomato saute. Tomatoes are so yummy right now and I want to take advantage of this one for as long as I can get away with it! Here is my version of the recipe, I made just a couple changes to the original...

Shrimp and Tomato Saute

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 lb medium shrimp, peeled and de-veined
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
pinch red pepper flakes
2 cups chopped heirloom tomatoes
2 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt
white pepper

In a large saute pan heat 1 Tbsp oil over high heat. season the shrimp with salt and white pepper and add half of it to the pan. Cook until it is opaque all the way through. Transfer to a plate and add 2 tsp oil to the pan then cook the rest of the shrimp. Once cooked transfer to the plate with the rest of the shrimp. Reduce the heat to medium and add your garlic and red pepper flakes. Cook for 30 seconds and add the tomato. Cook until the tomato breaks down, about 6 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, return with shrimp and any collected juices to the skillet. Cook for 1 minute and toss with the parsley and lemon juice. Turn off the heat, serve over pasta or eat it on its own. Surprisingly delicious!

serves 4