No idea why it's called "African" peanut soup. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com, which is still my go-to site for new recipes. It was a chunky soup (not blended like most of my other soups have been) and was pretty tasty. It wasn't spicy enough and could have had more peanuts/peanut butter, but everyone (me, two sisters, and one brother-in-law) still enjoyed it. I would definitely make it again, but would up the flavoring a bit by making the adjustments I've added to the instructions below.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 large red bell peppers, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced (or sent through a garlic press)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes, with liquid
8 cups (2 quarts) vegetable broth or stock
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2/3 cup extra crunchy peanut butter (or chopped peanuts and creamy peanut butter)
1/2 cup uncooked brown rice
Instructions:
Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium high heat. Cook onions and bell peppers until lightly browned and tender, stirring in garlic when almost done to prevent burning. Stir in tomatoes, vegetable stock, pepper, and chili powder. (More chili powder would be good as 1/4 teaspoon did not give it any heat at all. Using cayenne pepper and closer to 1/2 teaspoon would probably be about right.)
Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 30 minutes, then add the rice (but add the rice sooner if the bag says it takes more than fifteen minutes to cook). After you add the rice, cover and simmer another fifteen minutes or until rice is tender. Stir in peanut butter until well blended. (If you don't have crunchy peanut butter you can use 1/3 cup chopped peanuts plus 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter. I would actually recommend using chopped peanuts no matter what because they added a nice crunch to the soup. Also, more peanut butter would only make this soup more delicious.)
New ingredients: Ummm... peanuts and peanut butter in real food? In something that's not a peanut butter sandwich or dessert I mean.
New skills: I'm learning a bit about flavoring and spiciness :)
Thursday, May 10, 2012
#17 - Lentil Soup
I got this recipe from my sister, who altered it a tiny bit from a recipe by Alton Brown. It's a pretty thick and somewhat gritty soup, but still tastes very good. It's a really ugly dark brown color if you use green lentils and it's a lighter more orangey brown if you use red lentils. I'd go with the red lentils next time. So this is recipe #1 for 2012. I'm just going to keep counting from last year and see if I make it to #52 before 2013 rolls around :)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound dry lentils (red or green, make sure to pick out the stones and shriveled lentils and rinse before using)
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (or canned)
2 quarts vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (Alton calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise instead of pepper)
Instructions:
Place the olive oil into a large pot and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and cook until the onions are translucent, approximately 7 minutes. Pour the lentils into a bowl and pick out any stones and shriveled lentils and rinse what's left. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth, coriander, cumin and pepper and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Serve immediately.
Makes about 8 servings.
New ingredients: Dry lentils
New skills: I didn't know you were supposed to pick and rinse lentils (I added that note to the recipe above), but now I know!
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 teaspoons salt
1 pound dry lentils (red or green, make sure to pick out the stones and shriveled lentils and rinse before using)
1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes (or canned)
2 quarts vegetable broth
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon black pepper (Alton calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise instead of pepper)
Instructions:
Place the olive oil into a large pot and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and cook until the onions are translucent, approximately 7 minutes. Pour the lentils into a bowl and pick out any stones and shriveled lentils and rinse what's left. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth, coriander, cumin and pepper and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Serve immediately.
Makes about 8 servings.
New ingredients: Dry lentils
New skills: I didn't know you were supposed to pick and rinse lentils (I added that note to the recipe above), but now I know!
#16 - Chocolate Chip Cookies
So... it's been awhile since I last posted. Way back in late April or maybe early May of 2011 I made chocolate chip cookies for one of my last days at my old job. I can't believe that was a year ago. That was the last new recipe I tried in 2011. Yikes. Anyway... I'm 99% sure the recipe I used is the one below (from MarthaStewart.com - Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies), but no promises since it was a long time ago :) They were crazy delicious, but the crumbliest cookies ever. Definitely not soft and chewy. I don't know how to fix that, but I would still make these again even if I had to eat the pieces with a spoon out of a bowl. As someone pointed out last year, that would be the perfect way to eat them. Just so long as the bowl was full of ice cream.
Ingredients:
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl combine the butter with both sugars. Beat until light and fluffy. (The directions say to use an electric mixer set on medium speed, but I just did it by hand. For the next step it says to reduce the speed to low and beat until well mixed, about 1 minute, but again, I just did it by hand.) Add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Makes 3 dozen (supposedly... I have no idea how many I made, but maybe they were a little too big and that was what was wrong with the consistency? I remember them spreading and flattening a ton while baking.)
New ingredients: Nothing
New skills: Nothing
Ingredients:
2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (about 12 ounces) semisweet and/or milk chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl combine the butter with both sugars. Beat until light and fluffy. (The directions say to use an electric mixer set on medium speed, but I just did it by hand. For the next step it says to reduce the speed to low and beat until well mixed, about 1 minute, but again, I just did it by hand.) Add the salt, vanilla, and eggs. Beat until well mixed. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Makes 3 dozen (supposedly... I have no idea how many I made, but maybe they were a little too big and that was what was wrong with the consistency? I remember them spreading and flattening a ton while baking.)
New ingredients: Nothing
New skills: Nothing
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)