Curried Carrot Coconut Soup

While my husband and I both agreed that we like curry squash soup a little more, this was still a delicious recipe and we have now made it a couple of times. It takes a lot less time than squash soup and feels a little less fallish since it is just made with carrots.


Ingredients

1 tablespoon butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
2 teaspoons yellow curry paste*
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 pound baby carrots, chopped
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 can (15 oz.) coconut milk
1/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt
3 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over high heat. Cook onion, garlic, curry paste, cayenne, and salt until fragrant, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Add carrots and broth and cook, covered, until carrots are very tender, about 12 minutes.
2. Purée soup until very smooth, using a blender and working in batches. Stir in coconut milk and heat until hot. Mix yogurt and cilantro in a small bowl. Serve bowls of soup with a dollop of yogurt.
*Find in grocery stores' Asian-foods aisle.
serves 4

*recipe from Sunset magazine

Zucchini Rice Gratin

My CSA delivered a whole ton of zucchini and yellow summer squash this last week. The first recipe I turned to was my tried and true zucchini, goat cheese and walnut pizza. After that I needed some help. My sister in law recommended this recipe from Epicurious and it was a winner. I did make some changes after reading some of the comments on the website though. I'll post the original recipe first and my changes at the bottom.


Ingredients

1/3 cup long-grain white rice
1 1/2 pounds zucchini (about 3 medium), sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
6 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, sliced crosswise 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon chopped thyme
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, divided

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°F with racks in upper and lower thirds.

Cook rice according to package instructions.

While rice cooks, toss zucchini with 1 tablespoon oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a shallow baking pan. Toss tomatoes with 1/2 tablespoon oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt in another baking pan.

Roast zucchini in upper third of oven and tomatoes in lower third, turning vegetables once halfway through roasting, until tender and light golden, about 10 minutes for tomatoes; 20 minutes for zucchini. Leave oven on.

Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt in 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy skillet, covered, over low heat, stirring occasionally, until very tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Stir together onion mixture, cooked rice, eggs, thyme, 1/4 cup cheese, 1 tablespoon oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Spread half of rice mixture in a shallow 2-quart baking dish, then top with half of zucchini. Spread remaining rice mixture over zucchini, then top with remaining zucchini. Top with tomatoes and drizzle with remaining 2 tablespoons oil, then sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup cheese.

Bake in upper third of oven until set and golden brown, about 20 minutes.

*My changes-
I used about 1 1/2 cups cooked brown basmati rice and it probably could still have had some more. This recipe is pretty wimpy on the rice. I used the brown rice purely because I do not keep white rice on hand. If I was to make it again, I would still use brown rice just more of it.

I also used less oil than it calls for. I calls for a quite a bit of oil at every stage and it just seemed like a lot. I probably cut the oil in half.

I am a garlic nut, so I used 3 large garlic cloves and one smaller one and while the dish was quite garlicky, I thought it was wonderful.

And last but not least, I sprinkled some fresh basil on top of it. My basil plant has gotten quite large and I pretty much add basil to everything now.

Lemon Ginger Frozen Yogurt

3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
1 cup plain nonfat yogurt
1 cup low-fat buttermilk
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

Preparation

Bring water, sugar, light corn syrup, and grated ginger to boil in medium saucepan, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil 2 minutes. Strain into medium bowl and chill until cool. Whisk in yogurt, buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Process in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions; cover and freeze.


*I made this almost exactly according to the recipe and it tasted great. I used greek yogurt instead of regular yogurt. It has a very lemony taste and the ginger is much more subtle. The texture is more like sorbet. I topped it with fresh raspberries. Next time I may try it with less water and more yogurt to make it more creamy. My family all really liked it though.

Beef, Snap pea and Asparagus Stir-Fry

I made this for the first time tonight and was impressed. Hopefully you enjoy it too. Sorry only half the picture shows up. I'm not sure why, but hopefully you can still see enough to get a feel for the food.

Beef, Snap Pea, and Asparagus Stir-Fry

Ingredients

1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 pound boneless New York strip steak, thinly sliced
Coarse salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 bunch asparagus (14 ounces), trimmed, cut into 2-inch lengths
6 ounces snap peas
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon peeled minced fresh ginger
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, plus lemon wedges for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons torn fresh basil leaves


Directions

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar. Season steak with salt. In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over high. Cook steak, undisturbed, until brown on one side, 2 minutes (do not overcrowd pan). Flip and cook until cooked through, 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl.

Add asparagus, snap peas, garlic, and ginger to skillet. Cook, stirring constantly (add a little water if pan gets too dark), until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Add soy mixture and cook until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Remove skillet from heat and stir in lemon juice and basil. Toss steak with vegetables; serve with rice and lemon wedges if desired.

* recipe from Martha Stewart Food

Blueberry Muffins

This is an amazing blueberry muffin recipe. If you read some of the additional notes on the website, you'll see that you can substitute all sort of other fruit for the blueberries and that you can refrigerate the batter for up to a week and just make a couple of muffins each day. I've also made it with half whole wheat flour and they were really good. Seriously, give them a try.

Here is the website where I got the recipe.

Blueberry Muffins
Ingredient Section

2 1/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1 1/2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
coarse white sparkling sugar for garnish (optional)

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with papers, and grease the papers.

2) In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then set aside.

3) In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a hand-held or stand mixer, until light, fluffy, and almost white in color. Start the mixer at low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, then gradually increase speed to medium-high until the desired color and texture are reached.

4) Scrape down the bowl to make sure all the butter is incorporated, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5) Add the vanilla and sour cream or yogurt, and mix until incorporated.

6) Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until the batter is smooth. It will be thick.

7) Fold in the berries by hand.

8) Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cups, using a heaping 1/4-cup for each. Sprinkle with regular granulated or coarse white sugar, if desired.

9) Bake the muffins for 18 to 24 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center of one comes out clean. Remove them from the oven, cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling on a rack.

Blackened Tilapia

4-6 tilapia
2 tablespoons paprika
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons dried, crushed basil
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup unsalted butter, melted

Heat iron skillet on high 5 minutes. Mix all seasonings in a bowl. Dip fillets in melted butter and coat with seasonings. Place fillets in hot skillet and cook 2 minutes on each side.


My Notes:
I've also dipped them in olive oil instead of butter. Not quite as good as it is with butter, but still really good
I typically serve this with some sort of salad and rice, but it is delicious actually in a salad or in fish tacos.

Strawberry Asparagus Spinach Salad

I love spring produce. Right now the strawberries are beautiful and the asparagus is fresh and crisp. Around Easter I always start craving this salad. It is amazing. Oh how I wish I had a picture of it right now. If you saw how good it looks, you would go to the store right this minute to buy the ingredients, and you would not be disappointed by how it tastes. It is so incredibly good.

Strawberry Asparagus Spinach Salad

8 cups torn lettuce (spinach, romaine, butter, red)
1 avocado, cut into chunks
1 lb. steamed asparagus
2 c fresh strawberries cut into slices
1/4 c. pecan halves, chopped
1 sliced cucumber
1/4 c. blueberries

Dressing
1 pkg. good seasons Italian dressing seasonings
1/4 c. raspberry flavor vinegar
1 T. fresh orange juice
1 t. grated orange rind
1 T. water
1 t. poppy seeds
1/4 c. olive oil
1/4 c. vegetable oil
1 T. sugar