Vegan "Clam" Chowder

Vegan "Clam" Chowder pg. 122

This is my 100th post for the CSK Project.  100 times I have blogged about my adventures in cooking.  In all my blogs I have never used the "F" word.  That is until now...

FIRE! Yep, I had a bit of a kitchen fire today! Seriously!

Let me recap for you.  I finally came to the realization that I could not put off the Vegan"Clam" Chowder any longer.  I have only a few recipes left.  It was time to man up and make this soup.  You might be wondering why the resistance to this recipe?  I had two issues with it.  One, I had to make a seaweed broth to put in the soup.  That sounded really horrible to me.

The second and the scarier thing was having to smoke some mushrooms.  That just sounded like a pain in the a--! 

I don't usually like smoked foods to begin with and to take something and smoke it seemed like a guaranteed turn off in my book.  Smoking wood chips isn't something I normally have on hand (or never for that matter), so I had to go buy some.  I also don't have a professional smoker (but who does?) so I tried my best to make one.  CSK gives you instructions on how to do so. 

This is where things got a bit messy.  I thought I would just use two disposable tin pans.  I figured it would work and make for easy clean up.  Here are some pictures to give you an idea of what NOT to do.  I layered the wood chips in one, poked holes in the other, layered the mushrooms in the tin with the wholes, propped the tin with holes over the wood chips, covered it, and watched it burn when I add heat!

I turned on my burner and it was smoking a lot within seconds.  The smoke was followed by big flames!! I was shocked.  I grabbed a glass of water and put out the flames, but not before burning my finger.  Needless to say not only were the mushrooms smoked, but my house also smelled like we had a huge campfire in the family room.   Not to mention my hair smelled like I had been camping as well!  My teen son thought the house smelled amazing, and was instantly hungry when he got home.  Go figure?! He is a growing boy.

After the disbelief that I just had a fire in my kitchen, I got on with the recipe and tried to make smoked mushrooms yet again.  This time I did it on the BBQ.  We had some sort of container under our BBQ that may be for smoking?  So I cleaned it and poured some chips in it. Then called my husband because he is the barbecuer (Is that even a word?) in our house.  I had no frickin clue how to turn the BBQ on.  Sad I know, but now I can say I know how. So try not to bag on me too much. Remember I have a burned finger. Sympathy please!  I tried my best to smoke the mushrooms but still not sure I nailed it?

The rest of the recipe wasn't too complicated, and there were no more fires.  Thank God!  Truthfully, the recipe had nowhere to go but up from the fire incident. The base for the soup was cashews.  Here are all the ingredients needed.

The cashews really made for a creamy soup.

You have to continually add water to the soup because it gets very thick quick. I found I couldn't go too far away from the pot for fear the soup would burn.  In the end, you add some lemon juice, salt & pepper, and lastly the best ingredient Tabasco.  Yum!  I really thought I would hate this soup.  I was so wrong.  It was awesome! No trace of seaweed broth or overly smoky flavors.  It was a creamy delicious bowl of chowder.  The only thing I would keep in mind besides being careful not to burn your house down, is although the recipe says it serves 12 I didn't find that to be so.  I cut the recipe in half because I didn't anticipate liking it, but there is no way it made 6 servings.  It was more like three.  Just thought you should know if you go to all the smoker trouble:)

Even though I really thought this soup was terrific, I will not be smoking anymore food at my house.  I will leave that to the professionals.  Turns out if I get a craving for this soup I can have a bowl next time I am in Las Vegas.  The Wynn hotel serves it.  I am going to Vegas in a couple of weeks, and can't wait to have a taste made by a real chef!

Red Thai Coconut Soup & Semi-Dried Tomatoes

Red Thai Coconut Soup pg. 129
Semi-Dried Tomatoes pg. 213

Today I made one of the recipes that had me scared from the time I saw it.  It has a weird ingredient in it, as well as it is served cold.  One of my biggest pet peeves in a recipe is when you have to search high and low for some strange ingredient.  Have you ever heard of kaffir lime leaves?  Me either!

I went to Whole Foods and asked the produce guy if they ever get them in? He practically laughed at me.  He even said maybe just go to a nursery and pick some leaves off a tree. Turns out my husband found them at a little Indian grocery store about 15 minutes from our house.  The soup calls for the tiniest bit of this leaf, and really I am not sure it makes that much difference?  The soup itself was flavorful, but I don't think I would make it again.  I am not really into cold soups.  I think if I was served a little cup  at a restaurant I would have liked it.  Maybe if you are serving it as a small starter, but I wouldn't want a big bowl.  That is just me though, so here are the ingredients in case you are feeling adventurous.

I have a little game for you.  Can you find the ingredient that should not be in this picture?  I made a boo boo when I pulled out what I needed.  Answer at the end of the post!  I know exciting stuff here! Do you get a prize you ask?  Hmmmm, no but I will tell you how smart and amazing you are:)

Next up is Semi-Dried Tomatoes.  These were a cinch to make, and the finished product was really pretty.

 Just a few spices and these tomatoes come alive.  I loved the fennel. Here are the ingredients.

The prep is interesting because you have to make slits in the bottom of the tomatoes as you prepare to get the skin off them.

When I first tried these I kinda thought, just good, but then I put them in my arugula salad and thought they were great!

The tomatoes just break open and really become the dressing on the salad.  All the herbs are so delish on the arugula.  I added some lemon juice and olive oil to the salad.  I would probably just take the stems off if I wasn't worried about presentation.

So did you find the ingredient that shouldn't be in the picture? Answer: Shallots (The recipe called for an option of scallions.)

You are so smart and amazing!!

Miso Soup with Shitake and Coconut Noodles

Miso Soup with Shitake and Coconut Noodles pg. 128

I woke up this morning to a ton of activity on my blog and Facebook page.  I hadn't even had my cup of coffee yet, but knew something was different, better than usual. I checked the traffic on my blog only to find thousands of page views!  Talk about shock.  I instantly called my hubby.  I was giddy.  This was why I had a spike in viewers:

Kris Carr had given me a very generous shout out on her Facebook page.  It just goes to show you how many people follow her and all her awesomeness.  Thanks for making my day so fun Kris!

All the excitement today got me pumped to make one of the recipes in CSK that kind of intimidated me.  I have a handful of recipes left that will really test my new found cooking skills.  Each makes me sweat a little when I think about preparing them.  Whether it is the difficulty of the dish, or maybe the ingredients aren't my fav. I know I will need to man up and just get the job done.  This Miso Soup was one I wasn't sure I would like.  I don't eat miso regularly although I do like miso soup in restaurants.  Here is what I went to Whole Foods to buy so I could conquer my miso fear.

I have to give Whole Foods a major shout out of my own.  I had to get fresh coconut for this recipe.  Usually Whole Foods will have some cut up and packaged to buy.  Of course they didn't have any today.  So I stood in front of the whole coconuts thinking I was going to have to channel Survivor and Jeff Probst to shuck the coconut.  Luckily, a very nice employee offered to cut up the coconut for me.  What other grocery store provides that kind of service?  It was awesome!! I was so grateful.

I don't think I have ever made anything with miso before.  Miso is quite fascinating, the label says it has been aged for 2 years.  It is like a fine aged wine.  This was inside the package when I opened it.  I thought it was encouraging, yet it confused me a bit because of the soy in it.  I always hear so many conflicting views on the whole soy topic. Let me know if you have any info on miso...

The recipe was easy to make.  You will blend half the ingredients, and chop the other half.  The dish is served virtually raw, so once you prepare the ingredients it is basically ready it eat.

 

This soup was amazing.  My husband was chowing it when he got home.  Although he added some chile sauce to spice it up.  I was surprised how much the ginger spiced it up. 

I love a good surprise.  This soup was pretty fab, that was a tasty surprise.  Kris Carr's shout was an absolutely awesome surprise!  
 

Wild Mushroom Pho Show & Chai Latte

Wild Mushroom, Ginger, and Minted Brussels Pho Show pg. 127
Chai Latte pg. 91

Pho Show

Today I cooked a hot meal!  It is rainy here where I live in LA, and the Pho Show sounded like the perfect thing to make for dinner.  The recipe called for all kinds of mushrooms.  Many kinds my local grocery store nor Whole Foods had.  So I just bought various mushrooms my store did have.  I got Shitake, Portobello, Oyster and some others that were just labeled mushrooms!  The various firmness the different mushrooms brought to the soup was great.  I plan to use the extra mushrooms to make crepes this weekend.  The rice noodles I added were a nice touch to the recipe.  My husband and I added some chile sauce to our soup to give it some added kick (we like it spicy).  It made the perfect hot and sour mixture.

I think we were all surprised how much we liked this soup.  None of us are huge fans of Asian cuisine. I mean we like it, but don't love it.   My teen said and I quote, "That was really good mom.  I am surprised I liked it so much!" They ate brussel sprouts, bok choy, lots of mushrooms and liked it! Yahoo!   This was only the second time I have cooked with brussel sprouts, and the first time I have used bok choy. The recipe called for 5 tablespoons of soy sauce, but I only put 2 tablespoons in my soup.  I can't see where it needed any more than that.  5 seemed to me to be a little excessive.  I also had to add more vegetable broth than the recipe called for.  I probably added 6 cups instead of the 4.  Here is what you will need for a delicious bowl of Pho.

Earlier in the day I also made Chai Lattes.  What a yummy treat.  I added some almond butter to my latte as the recipe suggested as an extra ingredient (It doesn't need it if you don't want it, but I love almond butter so I went for it.).  I know it isn't very Crazy Sexy Kris Carr to drink caffeine, but I think a shot a espresso would be incredible in this recipe.  The name after all is Chai Latte!  The espresso would be a very acidic element to put in your body, but if you needed a pick me up it would do the trick.  I added ice to my Latte, so technically I guess I made a frappuccino.  It tasted like dessert.  I had never used the spice cardamom.  The recipe suggests that a little of this spice goes a long way.  I just followed the book and it turned out perfectly.  Here is what you need to enjoy a great latte at home!

Chai Latte

Lastly, I just wanted to touch on a question I got from a reader.  She wanted to know how I go about meal planning?  I thought this was an excellent question, and that I would do my best to answer it.  Initially when I started this project I just picked recipes that were calling to me. The ones that made my mouth water when I read it or saw the picture.  Now that I am more into the cookbook I try to make at least one recipe from each section of the book weekly.  If I can tie together ingredients that can be used in other recipes I do so. That saves money, and time that I don't have to spend grocery shopping.  Some of the recipes are combined with others in the cookbook as well.  This helps me knock out multiple recipes in a day.  Mostly, I still just make what sounds good.  If I wasn't cooking my way through a cookbook I would have a bit more organized meal plan.  I like to make recipes that have leftovers.  That way I can cook every other night.  I strive to  make foods my entire family enjoys.   I am trying to be adventurous as I work my way through Crazy Sexy Kitchen.  Having fun eating new recipes, and trying to become a great cook. I hope that helps! 

Pumpkin Bisque

Recipe 20 Pumpkin Bisque pg. 124

Pumpkin Bisque

Have you ever cooked with fresh pumpkin?  I hadn't until today.  The only thing I had ever used a fresh pumpkin for was of course my jack-o-lantern on Halloween.  The thing is, I love pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie, but I always just use canned pumpkin for those recipes.  I must say it was a little challenging peeling the pumpkin. Seriously thought my potato peeler might break, but after I got it prepared it was a piece of cake to cook. The soup is a combination of sweet and spicy.  It had excellent flavor, and the roasted pumpkin seeds brought this dish to life.  Here is what you will need to put this soup on your table:

Once you have boiled the pumpkin, and cooked the onion your soup is virtually ready.  All the ingredients go in the blender and then back to the stove for a few minutes.   

The recipe did call for roasted garlic.  I had never roasted garlic either.  I am telling you cooking isn't anything I was able to brag about until recently.  Julie Powell (Julie/Julia) had it right when she decided to cook her way through Mastering The Art Of French Cooking.  Making your way through a cookbook forces you to try new things, and cook foods you may have never ventured to even taste.  Roasted garlic was so easy to make.  Just cut the top off the whole garlic, place in some tinfoil, drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven.  It takes only 20 minutes and your garlic will fall out of its shell with a slight pinch.

Before roasting

This soup puts a wow factor on your table for Thanksgiving.  Imagine starting your dinner with warm Pumpkin Bisque.  So gourmet!  Kris Carr had this recipe on her website this week so I will attach the link if you are feeling inspired to give it a try...

http://kriscarr.com/blog/crazy-sexy-kitchen-is-a-new-york-times-bestseller/

Your guests will be so impressed!

2 for Tuesday! Soup and Salad

Recipe 12 & 13 Tomatoes and Herbs pg. 165 & Split Pea Soup pg. 125

I thought I would give you 2 recipes today.  First off before I talk about the food I made I have to just give tons of love to all you photographers and food bloggers out there.  Taking pictures is so much harder than it looks. Getting the right light and angles is NOT easy! I am inspired to take a class and get better.  I have always been a bit of a historian with my family pictures, but it is totally different when you are attempting to make it visually stimulating for others.  Also, to all the food bloggers who create recipes, cook, take pictures and write about it.  All I can say is wow! Great job!

OK now down to the food! The Tomato and Herbs were great and super easy to put together.  All you need are 5 ingredients.  How simple is that? Then arrange them all pretty and walla!

Tomato and Herbs

Next was the Split Pea Soup with Dulse and Kale.  Except mine didn't have Dulse.  The recipe said add applewood Dulce, but my Whole Foods didn't carry it.  So as a replacement it was recommended to use smoked paprika.  I am not sure my kids would have liked the Dulse anyway? The soup was great as is.  I didn't see where it needed anything else.

Any guess what Dulce is? I had to ask someone at Whole Foods again.  It is red alga.  It is also know as palmaria palmata.  It grows in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.  It basically looks like seaweed to me.  Another little factoid for ya!

I have learned split pea soup doesn't need meat to be good.  A vegan split pea soup is really flavorful.  It was easy to make, and tasted delicious leftover for lunch!  Here are the ingredients for the soup:

My only issue with this soup, it was harder to photograph than the other recipes.  No matter what angle I shot the soup was still green!

Split Pea Soup with Dulse and Kale

Not to mention this is what my daughter and her friend were doing to me as I was trying to be a serious photographer... I think they were making fun of me!

In other news, I posted a comment on Kris Carr's website today.  Guess what?  She responded!  Now I know she didn't have a lot to say, but she still gave me a shout out!  This is a busy woman. She is flying to CA this week to be on Access Hollywood and The Doctors.  So I feel very honored to have received any acknowledgement at all!

Tell your friends to sign up and follow my CSK Project.  Remember a CSK cookbook could be yours!  I will be having a random drawing for all my followers very soon!

Coconut and Red Lentil Soup

Recipe 10 is Coconut and Red Lentil Soup Page 119

Today it was kind of cold and rainy where I live.  It felt like the perfect day to make a big pot of soup.  I love lentils and especially red lentils.  I wasn't sure how the coconut milk would taste in this soup?  Let me just say in a word, "YUM!"  This is the most amazing soup.  The flavors come together brilliantly.  The lemon zest and fresh lemon juice make it a little tangy.  Cilantro, lets face it makes everything better.  The avocado garnish put it over the top  terrific!  Here are the ingredients you will need:

The soup doesn't take long to make.  Red lentils soften pretty quick. That is one of the reasons I love to cook with them.  Plus they taste so darn good.  Not to mention the amount of fiber they give you per serving is awesome.  I decided to add some potato to my soup.  I have a teenage son who wants more than just lentils.  The potato added a bit more heartiness.  I don't think it effected the overall flavor.

Here is what you have to look forward to!

Coconut and Red Lentil Soup

I am always so excited to come across a recipe that I will make again and again.   It will become part of my line up of dinners I serve my family. The kids ate it which makes me happy too.  This recipe is a keeper!

Yum!

Thank You Kris and Chad!!