#I just cut up the leeks and add potatoes about the same or a bit more and add water to cover and a tablespoon of salt

[yunyin]

Leek and Potato Soup

So bit random but I really like this soup (just made/ate it again) and I thought I would share just in case anyone else wants to give it a try!

The most tedious part is washing the leeks but it's worth it imo.

Written recipe: https://www.food.com/recipe/potage-parmentier-potato-leek-soup-julia-child-270731

This guy makes some pretty fun cooking videos, too!

[psalacanthea]

Vegetarian Pot Pie

hey whats up i made this for my friends and they said it was good, so I decided to write the recipe down while i still remember it (for once in my life), so I can make it again. I will share it with you.

This is rich, filling, delicious, but doesn't just taste like a sad chicken pot pie with no chicken. This is a proper vegetarian dish, and perfect for winter. Extremely cozy and nice. If u need something to make for Christmas but don't want to work all day, this is for you.

It does not have peas because I'm not a fucking MONSTER

...

Ingredients:

1 leek

1 sweet potato (I used white sweet potato, orange are too sugary for me)

1 large russet potato or 2 small-medium

1 large carrot or 2 small-medium

1 large parsnip

mushrooms of choice (i used pre-sliced baby bellas)

2 decent-sized cloves of garlic

sage

rosemary

thyme

parsley

cream (milk or a milk sub is ok too but it won't be as rich)

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp ap flour

1 carton (or 2 cans) vegetable stock

white wine (i used chard but any other non-sweet white like a pinot grig would be ok. just no sweet whites, the root veggies are plenty sweet)

s&p

store-bought pie crusts (if you like suffering make it yourself!)

utensils:

1 pie pan

1 small pot

Strainer (you can use a slotted spoon to remove stuff if you don't have [or let it cool and use your fingers])

1 lg. saucepan

Knife

Spatula or Big Spoon

(steps below cut)

To begin you're going to want to enhance your vegetable stock-- store-bought veggie stock is boring and often too tomatoey, we want to mitigate that. Veggie broth doesn't have to taste dull!

Separate leek greens from whites. If your leek is pretty stumpy, you can use 2.

In a small pot at medium-high heat, sear the leek greens on both sides, and sautee 1-2 mushroom, sliced. Once the leek greens have been browned in spots, add 3/4ths cup white wine or so (you can eyeball it). Simmer until all the alcohol smell is gone from the wine (won't take long.)

If you feel inclined, you can also add any carrot/parsnip tops you might have trimmed off, to save waste. Keep in mind that these are both sweet vegetables, though, and that might change the flavor a little. Carrot greens tho would add a nice bit of freshness, and would be a fine sub for parsley.

Add vegetable stock, a sprig of thyme, rosemary, sage, and parsley (you can tie them together w/kitchen twine to make a bouquet garni, but if you're gonna strain the stock you don't need to)

You can also add bay leaf if you have like 3 containers of them in your spice cabinet for some reason and need an excuse to use them.

Turn the heat under the stock down to low, and simmer until it's reduced by about a third, maybe an hour (it can hang out while you do other stuff.)

Peel potatoes, cut into 1 to 1/2 inch chunks (small but not tiny). You should have about two cups. cube size is partially preference, but smaller chunks mean you can get all the flavor in every bite.

Do the same for the sweet potato, but reduce amount to a cup. You won't use the whole potato for this recipe, but they're SO good roasted wrapped in tinfoil and eaten plain with salt.

Scrub parsnip and carrot, cut into pieces that seem about the same as the potatoes, about a cup of each. (I don't peel my carrots don't @ me.)

Cut leek whites into half-circles.

If your mushrooms are not pre-cut, slice mushrooms until you have about a cup of them ready to go.

Please note, if you have extra veg cut-- just add it. Extra filling is no big deal you can just eat it by itself or add it to your plate of pie. No need to waste anything.

Squash and finely chop garlic cloves.

In a large saucepan on medium- medium high heat, add 3 tbsp butter and 3 tbsp flour, mix together as butter melts to form a cohesive mixture- a roux.

Cook until roux is starting to bubble. Add leeks, add carrots, mushrooms, and parsnips. Salt lightly to encourage moisture loss.

Sautee in the roux for 3-5 minutes or so until the veggies are starting to smell good and the roux is getting gold, then add garlic.

Cook for 30 seconds to a minute more, stirring constantly, until you can smell the garlic. Garlic burns easily!

Strain enhanced stock into saucepan.

Add potatoes and sweet potatoes.

Stir until the roux dissolves into the stock and it begins to thicken, and then turn down to low heat (you want small and regular bubbles, but not big glorpy ones).

It might not look like enough gravy, but we don't want a ton. It's a pie, not a stew. If you REALLY think it's not enough, your stock might have reduced too far. Add a bit of water if you must.

Remove leaves from 1 large sprig thyme, and add to filling. Remove leaves from and finely dice 1 sprig rosemary. Do the same for sage. Toss out the stems.

The gravy should still be thin-ish, but we're going to reduce it down more as the potatoes are cooked through.

Cook until potatoes are just barely fork-tender. Even slightly undercooked is ok. Taste gravy for salt and pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add 1/3rd cup heavy cream/milk or so. Stir in.

Strip the leaves from 1-2 sprigs of parsley, finely chop, stir into gravy.

Taste again. Season again if necessary.

Let the filling cool. Try not to eat it all.

Unroll 1 pre-made pie crust, and put in the bottom of your pie pan. Try to make it even all the way around.

Now! The easy way to seal a pie (without egg wash) is as follows.

Fold down the edge of the lower crust so that it sticks out past the top edge of the pie pan.

Add filling. Get that shit as full as you can while keep that sticking out edge of the pie crust dry.

Place top pie crust over the pie.

Fold the edge of the lower crust over the upper crust, rolling them up together to make the crust edge.

Either with a fork or with pinching, make the edge crust look prettier.

If the edges of both the lower crust and the upper crust have been rolled inside themselves, you shouldn't have filling leakage.

Cut venting holes on top in whatever quirky design you want.

Stick in a 350f (177c?) oven until it's done.

I don't know how long, I don't measure those things. The crust will be golden brown and the filling will be bubbly.

the wine is skippable, yes, but it adds some acidity that you need. try a squeeze of lemon into your gravy if you don't use it.

[dino-boyo-agere]

Ratatouille soup :00 that sounds so good!! I've always wanted to try ratatouille but put it off bc I don't like the texture of most cooked veggies

Could we get a recipe mayhaps? 👀👀

Oh definitely!!

I don't really have measurements, but I'll try my best! I always cook a little more, and freeze the rest. I have about four days of food with these ingredients.. I also eat fairly small portions though, so keep that in mind!

Without further ado, let's get to making the ratatouille!

For the ratatouille you need:

1 aubergine

1 courgette

1 red bell pepper

1 yellow bell pepper

1 green bell pepper

1 to two red onions

1 can of peeled and diced tomatos

1 teaspoon of sugar

Salt, pepper to your liking

Herbs & spices of your choice (I use salt, pepper, rosemary, parsley and tumeric.)

Half a tube of tomato paste

And technically garlic, but I hate that stuff so I leave it out lol (about one to two cloves should be enough, the garlic should be minced)

Maybe rice, pasta or potatoes to eat it with. (I'll follow up on that later in this post)

for the ratatouille you gotta:

Clean and dice the aubergine

Put the aubergine dices in a bowl with salt and shake it up - cover up the bowl and put it aside.

Next clean and cut the courgette and onions. (& the garlic if you choose to add it). - Put all those in one bowl.

Now clean and dice the bell peppers and place those in a separate bowl.

Take the aubergine out and tap it dry with a paper towel & clean out the bowl - put it back in the bowl clean bowl for now.

Heat oil in a pan (any oil works but olive oil tastes best)

First add the courgette, onion (& garlic) in the pan and cook them until the onions are slightly see through.

When that's done add the bell peppers.

After those are integrated through stirring, add the aubergine.

Let the veggies cook for 5 minutes - keep stirring.

After 5 minutes add the tomatoes, tomato paste, the sugar and whatever seasoning and herbs you want. (I add salt, pepper, rosemary, parsley and tumeric.)

Cook the ratatouille for about 20 minutes on middle heat - don't forget to stirr it every once in a while.

Ratatouille pairs great with:

Rice, pasta or potatoes (I prefer rice).

Simply cook one of these in the 20 minutes the ratatouille needs to fully cook. - Keep it in separate containers, otherwise the add INS suck up all the moisture.

Also, Pasta & Rice Arend good to freeze & it doesn't work with the soup!

If you don't like the texture of cooked veggies, blending them into a soup could be the perfect solution. A friend of mine also has a sensory problem with those textures and she loves this soup. I have the same issue with mushrooms, so I also only eat them in cream soup form.

Sensory issues are way more common than most people think, it's nothing to be ashamed of! <3

So, without further ado, let's get to making the soup!

For the soup you need:

The Ratatouille (without rice, pasta or potatoes)

1 bunch of Parsley

1 Parsley root

1,5 Leeks

1 cup of Cooking cream (250 ml)

I also like to add 2 - 3 carrots, it's not a must though. - That just makes it taste a little different than ratatouille, and I prefer to not have the same tasting food two days in a row! (If you just want to make ratatouille soup right from the start, there's no need to add them at all)

What you gotta do:

Clean and cut/ dice the parsley, parsley root, leeks (& carrots)

While you do that, bring about two and a half cups ow tater to the boiling point.

Add vegetable broth, pepper and the veggies.

Cook until the carrots and parsley root are soft enough to easily poke them with a fork/ toothpick.

Take it off heat and add the ratatouille. [If you youse previously frozen ratatouille leftovers, keep it on heat until it fully unfreezes and heats up too.]

Leave it to cool off a bit before pouring it into a blender to blend it up. - otherwise the blender might leak/ the lid may pop off. [If you use a stick blender, you don't need to let it cool first & can just blend it in the pod you're cooking in.]

After it's pureed to your liking, pour it back into the pot and add the cooking cream (or vegan substitute) and cook under constant stirring, until it begins so simmer.

And now to the toping & side:

I highly recommend to top it with shredded chicken / shredded chicken substitute. - just fry it in a frying pan until it's golden brown. - Make sure to use the same oil you did for the onions & courgette in the ratatouille!

And flatbread with sesame seeds & poppy seeds is amazing to dip it in the soup. - simply heat it in the oven until it's nice and crunchy outside and fluffy inside (ca. 10 - 15 min at 150°C - that's 302°F)

And that's that!

I hope the receipt is easy to follow, if you have any questions just ask in the comments or DMs!

I'd love to see your results if you choose to cook it too! <3

Have fun and good luck cooking!!

[another-shameless-fangirl]

RECIPE

Zuppa Soupa

Ready in 30 minutes

Serves 5 people because my family finishes a pot with big bowls and gumption but use your judgment

Ingredients

1lb raw italian sausage of choice (use hot if you can)

2 onions, sliced thin

2 potatoes, cubed or diced

2-3 liters of chicken broth

Chicken bouillon to taste

Red pepper flakes

White pepper

(Optional) Heavy Cream

Kale- 1 bunch stemmed and torn. Sub for spinach among other things

Preparation

Brown Sausage in whatever pot you’ll use for your soup. Remove all of it once it’s cooked through to your liking. I like mine just finished or extra brown whatever nothing matters I'm a person of varying desires. Let it rest in a bowl until the end so you don’t end up with boiled meat texture. Give your favorite person the bowl you used when you're ready to serve everything.

Add onions to the oil and use them to deglaze your pan. Stir with a wooden spoon and scrape the bottom of all your fond. If it doesn't all come up you can get rid of that layer with a bit of cooking wine or water.

2.5 You can add any other vegetables you like at this point. Leeks, carrots, whatever but the basic version is pretty hearty too.

Add that broth/stock. If you use stock, add some bullion to get that more intense meat flavor if you need to. It could be fine though idk check yourself.

Add the diced potatoes. Doesn’t matter what kind, white potatoes or russets are our fave. Make sure they’re all cut to the same bite-sized cube.

Boil the whole thing until the potatoes are cooked through. Smash one against the side of the pot with your spoon to check this.

Add the kale. It’s going to look like a lot but it will wilt down significantly.

Add the sausage back in and scrape the bowl for any accumulated juices.

Turn the heat off. Stir together until the kale is wilted down and everything looks distributed.

8.5 Add heavy cream. About ½ cup to start then in ¼ cup increments until desired.

Try it. Season everything to taste. Add more salt.

That’s it, eat it.

Tips

Spicy sausage is best in this. Italian mild is acceptable if you don’t want it spicy which is fine but kinda setting yourself up to drink it like savory tea.

Dropping a bag of frozen veggies in at the end can cool it down and add nutrients at the same time. Tastes great with corn or peas or frozen spinach anyway and then it's cooled down enough to eat all that faster.

You can also add cream to individual bowls so it’s not as heavy for each serving or if future you wants butter veins.

if you send me your favorite 1-pot soup recipes i'll be so grateful! i have a cold and one of the burners on my stove is broken, i'd like to make a tasty soup to lift my spirits. maybe a spicy soup to clear my nasal passages!

[boy-and-girl-crazy123456]

do you perhaps have a link to the recipe for the soup it looked really good

i didn't really use a recipe actually but i can just kinda tell you what i did :) you need: A 3lb bag of potatoes (i used red, yellow should be good too. wouldn't recommend russets for this but if it's all you have it's fine) one large leek

one largeish carrot

one rib of celery

1 lb of cream cheese

a cup of half and half (you can also just use cream or milk) one and halfish quarts of broth or stock (i used chicken broth but it can really be whatever; you could also just use water ig but then it wouldn't taste as good). For this i used a full quart and just added more from the other one as i went on just if it seemed like it didn't have enough liquid and all.

Whatever seasonings you want, I used rosemary, thyme, sage, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne pepper but it's whatever you wanna do

so from there it's pretty simple, clean and dry all the produce. dice the celery, carrots, and potatoes, and cut the leek in half between the leaves and the root, and then chop up the root as well. In your cooking vessel saute the celery carrots and leek root (not the leaves) for a few minutes, then add the potatoes, broth, and your seasonings, and let it simmer for about 30-45 minutes. While it's cooking take the leaves from the leek and chop them very thinly. Once you've boiled it long enough turn the heat down and add your cream cheese and half n half (or whatever you're using) and blend with an immersion blender (if you don't have one you can also use a regular blender or food processor but it'll be a lot more intensive; if you don't have any or don't wanna go through all that you can make an alternate version with solid bits of all the produce in it but it won't really be the same thing as this). After it's blended fold in the sliced leek leaves from before and then it's ready to eat :)

[whereimfeminine]

This might sound like a silly ask but: I have never used a slow cooker and I am about to move into a house that has one. Do you have any soup recipes to recommend? I would like to make some say once a week to take into work with me for lunch! Vegan recipes would be incredible! (If you have the time to share that is, obvs!)

this is not a silly ask at all, slow cooker soups are my true joy and passion, and i'm very excited that you get to embark on a slow cooker journey. BUT unfortunately i don't really follow any recipes, my approach to slow cooker soup is to throw whatever i have in the fridge and pantry into the slower cooker and call it soup lol. BUT, what i find usually works well is: whatever amount of water, bouillon/stock cubes (or a bunch of spices if i'm out), whatever spices strike my fancy (usually some random mix of italian seasonings/herbs de provence/ garlic / onion power, red pepper flakes; but sometimes i like to get a lil Spicy and do some curry or cayenne powders instead, or i had some piri piri spice i did i rly liked; i just throw random large shakes of spices and hope for the best and it usually always works). and then for veggies, potatoes, onions, carrots are the most standbys, always good, usually on hand. sometimes i like to do sweet potatoes, they tend to get a bit mushy and disingrate a little but i like that when i'm going for a thicker consistency soup, more stew-like of a soup. today i had some leeks which was new for me. and for a protein, i usually do a whole bag of either lentils or split peas -- neither of them require soaking and cook really nicely. (except today, i was out of lentils and split peas (usually i always have them on hand) so i was gonna just do veggies but then I saw @lithographarry's tags about pasta in soup and it inspired me and i cooked up some pasta and put it in my soup for some more substance, v into this development). I put everything in the same time, and then i just stir and taste it a bit throughout the day (but you could also not stir and taste it, it'd be fine lol). i think i put my soup on around 11:30 today and had it at 6! i put it on high part of the time and low part. but the fun part of slow cooker soup is it never comes out quite the same each time and you can make it as different as you want and it's always warm and delicious and low-effort.

one other great thing to do in slower cookers is a bean chili - just cut up an onion, and then add some cans of beans (the standards, i usually do kidney, chickpea, black beans), stewed tomatoes or something of that sorta, and then you can add like unspiced tomato sauce + chili powder, but tbh i'm usually rly lazy and get beans in chili sauce, and use a couple jars of those plus my other beans and then Boom Warm and Delicious (and if you really wanna be next level, can add a baked potato and put the chili on the baked potato, with some ~cheese of your choice)

pls keep me updated on your slow cooker adventures, my crock pot is my fave

[websurfingspider]

Some additional cooking stuff related to meats (under a read-more bc this is already a very long post):

Red meats (like beef, lamb, goat)--these will look red when raw due to their high iron content, and somewhat dark brown when cooked. These don't need to be cooked all the way through, and in fact many people prefer red meat that is still pink in the middle or even a bit bloody. There are also a few recipes that use raw beef, though that might be a bit extreme for some people.

Roasts are expensive, but you can stretch them pretty far since they're usually sliced thinly and served with generous helpings of other filling foods like potatoes. Fatty roasts are best eaten hot, and lean roasts are great for sandwiches. Either way, you're going to want to marinate it overnight before cooking it, unless it's a very expensive cut of meat. There are lots of recipes for this but I use a mixture of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, stone-ground mustard, black pepper, garlic, fresh rosemary, and fresh thyme. For the herbs, you can either take the leaves off the stem and chop them finely, or you can add whole sprigs to the marinade and remove them before cooking if you don't like the texture of the cooked herbs. Personally I do the first option. Before marinating it you should make some shallow cuts in the fatty side of the roast, about an inch to an inch and a half apart in a diamond shape. After marinating, let the roast sit out at room temperature for about an hour or two before cooking. Put in in a baking pan with about 1/2 cup each of broth and red wine, cover with foil, and cook for roughly 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If you spoon some of the liquid over it every 15 minutes or so while cooking, it will come out moister and tastier. Check it with a meat thermometer when it's close to done--it should be about 130 F. Once it's done, take it out and let it sit for half an hour before cutting it--this is really important! If you cut it too soon the meat will be dry. Cut it into thin slices with a sharp knife, and if you want you can store some of the meat in the freezer for later.

Stew is a great choice for cheaper cuts of meat. The distinction between a soup and a stew is mostly texture; if it has legumes or grains and is thicker in texture, it's a stew. My favorite recipe for this uses beef, carrots, onions, fennel stalks (most people would use celery here but I don't like it and my mom is allergic), barley or another whole grain (I have an "ancient grains" mix with barley, rice, red rice, bulgur, and wheat berries that comes out beautifully in this recipe), broth, salt, and spices. You can also add potatoes or flour which will make it thicker, or mushrooms which will help bring out the beefy flavor.

Steaks can be cooked in a frying pan and, while they tend to be expensive, are extremely delicious. Some people substitute the large shiitake mushrooms in place of steak, and while that has a very different texture it is also good. Just like with roasts, I prefer to marinate steaks and the ingredients for the marinade are the same. Some people get really fussy about steak but really just fry it in a hot pan until it's seared on one side, then flip it and sear the other side. If you want it more cooked in the middle then cook it a bit longer. Steaks cook up very quickly and will probably be the last thing you make before the meal is ready. I make lamb for several holidays and usually serve it with roasted veggies (carrots, onions, and radishes baked in the oven with just salt, pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil) and mashed turnips (to which I often add potatoes, leeks, mustard, and a generous amount of cheese). You can save the seared bones to make a really tasty beef broth.

Pork--the color, flavor, and nutrients depend a lot on the pig's diet and the cut of meat.

Ham is very salty and best in soups, such as cabbage soup or split pea soup. You can also add diced ham to salads. If you get a whole ham with the bone, you can boil the bone in water to make broth after cooking the ham.

Bacon is salty and extremely greasy. Getting it crispy requires either cooking it on very high heat or baking it in the oven on a rack. Oven baking can be dangerous because shallow pans can slosh out the hot grease when you're removing it; but it's the best method for making large amounts of bacon to store and use later. Aside from being a common breakfast food with eggs, bacon is extremely versatile and can be used to add a punch of flavor to soups, salads, sandwiches, just about anything really. The grease from cooking bacon is also very flavorful, and some people save it in a can or tupperware after it has cooled for use in various recipes. Take care to store it safely and check to make sure it's not rancid before using it--rancid grease is very obvious because it stinks really bad.

Other cuts of pork tend to be extremely lean and frankly kind of anemic in the US, but might be better outside the US. This is a fairly recent development (within my lifetime) and I think it's mainly due to the diet that pigs are being fed not being nutritious enough, but there could be a lot of other factors. This super-lean pork is hard to cook without it coming out tough and dry, and I haven't had much success with it. Pigs that are allowed to forage a significant portion of their diet have a red color to their meat similar to beef and the meat is more flavorful. If you get good quality pork you can cook it with applesauce or pineapple, and it goes really well with roasted fennel bulbs.

Poultry (like chicken, turkey, duck, goose)--can have light meat or dark meat depending on the part of the bird, water birds like duck have all dark meat and are fattier. Poultry can carry salmonella and must be cooked thoroughly; if it's still bloody or pink in the middle it's undercooked! Use a food thermometer if you're unfamiliar with what fully cooked poultry should look like or just want to be safer. I won't cover cooking whole birds except to say that they dry out very easily and are prone to being underdone in the middle due to their size.

Light meat such as chicken breast cooks very quickly and dries out easily. The best use for it that I've found is frying it in oil--first you slice the breasts in half so they're thin enough to cook evenly, then dredge it with flour, then beaten eggs, then seasoned breadcrumbs, and cook in hot oil. Frying in oil is quite dangerous as it can cause serious burns and doesn't wash off easily, so make sure you use tongs or a frying basket and a heavy-bottomed pot that won't flip easily. If you end up with a grease fire, cover it with a pot lid or smother it with salt and turn off the stove--do NOT use water to put it out! Another option is to mix parmesan with your breadcrumbs, cook the breaded chicken in the oven at 450 F for about 20 minutes, and serve with marinara sauce for delicious chicken parm.

Dark meat is quite versatile and much more forgiving when it comes to cooking. One of my family's standby recipes is chicken thighs coated with sesame oil and seasoned with salt, ginger, soy sauce, and sesame seeds. Bake it in the oven at 400 for about half an hour or until it reaches a safe temperature. You can use this same method of baking chicken with a wide variety of seasonings and sauces.

Chicken soup is often made with meat that is still on the bone, as the bones contribute to the broth. Cook a dark meat such as thighs with water, salt, pepper, savory, bay leaves, and vegetables of your choice (peas and carrots are good options but you can use whatever you like). Some people add pasta or dumplings but I prefer it without. You can add beaten egg when the soup is finished cooking for some nice egg ribbons if you want. Remember to remove the bay leaves and chicken bones before serving!

Shredded chicken can be made by boiling the chicken until it's done, then waiting until it cools and shredding it with your fingers, a fork, or a food processor. Season it with some cumin and chile powder and store any extra in the freezer--it's great in burritos or eggs, and if you're feeling fancy you can roll it up in tortillas with enchilada sauce and cheese and bake them to make enchiladas.

Fish--white fish tend to be milder in flavor, small fish like anchovies or sardines have a very robust fishy flavor. Some fish like salmon or tuna can be eaten raw, but usually you will want to cook it. Fish have a lot of nutrients that are hard to get elsewhere, but they also can contain heavy metals, so it's best to eat them in moderation especially if they're wild caught. To start with you need to deal with the bones; there are a lot of them, unless you get boneless fillets. If the fish is really small like sardines then it's ok to leave the bones in. For fillets that have bones still, check them over very carefully and pull out the bones using tweezers or your fingers--they should just slide out easily. I'm not an expert at dealing with whole fish, but I know that you need to gut it (remove the innards, which can taste bad and contain stuff that is unsafe to eat). Most people remove the head and tail but there are some recipes out there that use fish heads. You can leave the skin on or remove it depending on your preference and the type of fish; fish skin has a stronger flavor which I personally love. If you're catching fish yourself you might encounter some that are poisonous or have sharp spines; never eat a fish species you don't recognize!

For white fish such as cod or tilapia, my favorite method of cooking it is baking it. First I melt about 2-4 tablespoons of butter by microwaving it in a bowl for about 5 seconds at a time, swirling it in between each time until all the solid pieces have broken down. Then I cut the fish fillets into serving size pieces and put them in a glass baking pan, and drizzle butter over both sides of the fish. Finally I season both sides of the fish with salt and dill (fresh or dried are both good, use as much as your heard desires!). Sometimes I add a light sprinkle of paprika (the hot hungarian kind, though you could use sweet or smoked paprika too if you want). I bake the fish at 400 F for about 15-20 minutes, until the meat is fully white with just a little brown at the edges. This method also works for more flavorful fish like salmon, though personally I like to get a little fancier with those. Up to you!

Shellfish, crustaceans, mollusks--these must be handled very carefully to avoid food poisoning! I've never cooked with mollusks so I'll just talk about the other two.

For shellfish, if you're collecting them yourself then make sure that it's legal in your area and that there are not currently any major safety hazards--shellfish can accumulate a lot of dangerous things like red tide (a type of algae that paralyzes people), pollutants and heavy metals. Check the shells to make sure they are tightly sealed--if the seal is broken, the shellfish is dead and not safe to eat. Clams and other buried shellfish need to be flushed thoroughly to get rid of the sand, which should already be done for you if they're storebought. To flush them yourself, put them in a bucket of clean water and change the water periodically; as they exchange water they will filter out the sand themselves. Shellfish can be cooked by boiling, steaming, or grilling; the important thing is to cook them while they're still alive (as they develop food poisoning *extremely* quickly once they're dead) and to eat them immediately while they are still at a food-safe temperature. I would not recommend trying to store leftovers tbh unless you have a set up where you can cool them to refrigeration temperature very quickly.

For crustaceans, I can only speak for crabs and shrimp as I've not tried other kinds. Whole crab is an experience that should be enjoyed with butter, a handheld nutcracker, and crab picks. The shell is not edible but the meat in the legs and body is. Crab meat is liquid when raw, and like shellfish it goes bad very quickly. Boiling whole crabs is the most common method of cooking them and tastes amazing. For packaged crab, you can get the real thing or imitation crab (which is made of a mixture of crab and white fish). To be honest, I prefer the flavor and texture of imitation crab. It's really good by itself or in seafood salads and doesn't need to be cooked. Shrimp can be boiled or fried in oil; I don't cook with it much but I've made a decent paella-like thing by mixing rice seasoned with turmeric with steamed mussels, clams, and boiled shrimp. Real paella uses saffron but that is WAY too expensive and I can't recommend it unless you grow your own.

Ground Meats and Sausage--Ground meats develop bacteria quickly due to their high surface area, so they must be cooked thoroughly even if the base meat is something like beef. Ground meats tend to be sold as flat rectangles or logs, though you can also get pre-shaped burger patties sometimes. You can make your own loose sausage by mixing ground pork (or another ground meat you prefer) with onions, garlic, salt, spices of your choice (I like pepper, fennel, savory, and oregano as my base spices for sausage but you can really do whatever combo you fancy), and some type of carby thing such as diced potatoes, oatmeal, breadcrumbs, or maybe flour. I also love adding a little apple or raisins to my sausage but that's a matter of preference. Add your mixture to the frying pan and cook it until it's fully brown, using a spatula to break it into small pieces. You can also shape it into little balls with your hand and make delicious homemade meatballs! Swedish meatballs are similar but they contain milk and the sauce uses sour cream and the juices from the cooked meat rather than tomatoes.

A great sauce for spaghetti or other pasta can be made by cooking ground beef in a frying pan with garlic, onion, oregano, thyme, marjoram, and a touch of rosemary, and adding tomato sauce to the cooked meat. You can mix this up in a lot of ways while the meat is cooking--add spinach or chopped kale for extra veggies, use small pieces of chicken instead of ground beef, add mushrooms if you like. You can also make your own tomato sauce very easily from fresh tomatoes, just dice them and cook them in a pot with salt, spices, onions, and garlic until they're the flavor you want, then mash them with a spoon or use a food processor if you want a smoother sauce.

Meatloaf is another great use for ground meat--it's basically a kind of baked sausage. This is one recipe where you can actually use ground turkey and have it come out good, but I'd recommend doing half turkey and half beef or pork in that case. My family always adds grated carrots to meatloaf because they add moisture and a little sweetness.

Whole sausages can be boiled or cooked in a frying pan, though if they're bigger they tend to sear on the outside before they get done in the middle (this actually makes them taste better though so don't worry about it unless they're getting really black). Always use a food thermometer to test for doneness. You can add a couple tablespoons of beer or another alcohol while cooking (I love using jagermeister for this); it will hiss very loudly when it hits the hot pan. It's best to eat greasy foods like sausages with something sour or fresh-tasting to cut through the grease; that's probably why sausages and sauerkraut are such a popular combo. If you're making breakfast sausages, cook them first, then make eggs and other breakfast foods in the leftover oil in the pan.

Tofu--while not technically a meat many people use it like one, as firm tofu can be substituted for meat in some recipes if you're careful. It cooks much faster than meat, so it's best to add it near the end. You can make stir fry with by cooking vegetables in a wok or frying pan with oil, a little soy sauce, salt, garlic, ginger, and turmeric, and when the vegetables are done or nearly done add tofu, rice vinegar, green onions, and a little sesame oil. Some good veggies for stir fry are broccoli, whole pea pods, bean sprouts, onions, bamboo shoots (you can find these in a can if your grocery store has an Asian section), and mushrooms. Some people add baby corn or water chestnuts but I don't like those personally. All the veggies should be cut in relatively equal sized pieces and added in order of how long they take to cook.

Survival skills: Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, Living space maintenance, and other extra stuff, for those who need the basics because they've never been taught by abusive parents/caretakers! (this post is cooking only, I made another post for the rest)

Cooking

I'm going to assume you know absolutely nothing about cooking, and you're just looking for basic survival meals. There are videos online but it can be overwhelming to watch them without knowing the basics!

One of the first thing people usually learn is to make eggs; this is how you do it:

You find a pan, some eggs, and turn on the stove. You only turn the part of the stove on that you're intending to use. New stoves can be turned on by a click of a button that tells you which heat circle you're about to activate, old gas stoves sometimes need a little lighter, in order for the gas to catch fire! Don't worry; the fire will only be enough to heat up your meal. Once you've successfully turned the heat on, you put a pan on this heated area, and you leave it there for a minute or so, because you want the pan to be hot before you start putting food on it. That way the food will stick less to it too. You pour in about a spoonful of oil, if the pan is heated enough, the oil will easily spill around, then crack an egg directly into that oil, carefully not to splash oil on yourself. You can crack as many eggs as you want in there, depending on how hungry you are. The easiest way to crack it is to do it against a surface, and you're trying to keep any shell from getting into the pan – if you get some shell in, you can fish it out using some utensils.

If your pan has a lid, you can close it to allow the egg to be surrounded with heat on all sides. Some people like to add in a little water to steam the top of the egg, when they close the lid! The water will evaporate (if you add it, you don't have to). You'll see it's done very quickly, when the eggwhite is all in white color, and it gets a little brown on the bottom, you can check with a fork if it's brown yet! You turn the stove off, put the eggs on a plate. You salt it at your preference, and you have a meal.

Pancakes are the second thing I ever learned, it goes like this:

You need a bowl big enough for the pancake mix, a pan that is flat at the bottom, a whisk (or a fork if you have no whisk), a knife or some long flat utensil that can flip pancakes. One or two eggs, milk (can do with water too), flour, sugar, salt. American version uses baking soda or baking powder, in my country we do without that and will sometimes add mineral water. Baking soda and baking powder just make them puff up and make the little air bubbles inside of them, so you can decide if you want flat pancakes or puffed up ones!

You crack the eggs into the bowl, add milk (you add however much you want the mixture to have, there's no hard limits), add a spoon of sugar, pinch of salt, and you mix this up with a whisk or a fork, and then add flour bit by bit, until the mixture becomes a bit thick. It's still supposed to be liquid, you're supposed to be able to pour it out easily, but the consistency is supposed to be thick enough to not be runny, if you drop some on a plate, it should not spill around. If this is confusing, you can try making it with different consistencies and see which one you like best and which one works best for you!

Once you have your pancake batter, you can turn on the stove, put your flat pan on it, and wait for it to heat up, you want it hot before you start. Put about a spoon of oil on the pan, pick it up and angle it around, so the oil covers the entire bottom of the pan – if the oil is hot, it should spill around the pan easily! Then you can grab either a big spoon, or a telugu, or you can just pour directly from the bowl, the pancake batter. If you've added baking soda or baking powder, you want small little puffed-up pancakes, so you add them in little circles and wait for them to be cooked on one side. If you want flat pancakes, you add the mixture to the middle, then grab the pan and angle it around so the batter spills over the entire pan, so it covers the entire bottom of it, like you did with the oil.

It's cooked on one side when it's no longer looking liquid on the top, usually within one minute. At that point you grab your knife, or whatever utensil you have that can flip pancakes, you push it under the pancake, see if the entire pancake is unstuck to the pan, if there's bits sticking, you unstick that first! If you can easily separate the pancake, you try to flip it. Later when you have more confidence, you can flip them just by grabbing the pan, shaking it to unstick, and then snapping it so the pancake snaps up, turns in the air and falls down – it's what I usually do, but you need to be careful to not have a lot of oil under it in that case.

If you mess up the flipping, don't worry, it's still edible even if not cooked perfectly on both sides, it also happens to everyone on the planet, I mess this up regularly, you didn't do anything wrong, pancakes are fickle and don't listen to reason or logic, you can still eat it, it's all good.

Once it's been cooking on the other side for half a minute or so (usually takes less time to cook the other side), you can slide it onto a plate, then cook the rest of your pancakes (usually the first looks the worst and the second one is better), and then you can put whatever toppings you want. We usually use jam, or cocoa, it can work with just sugar, or maple syrup, or honey, or fruit (berries), or some melted chocolate. You can eat it as-is if you don't have anything. In any case you've made something nice tasting that has some protein from the eggs, milk and flour, and you're not going to be hungry after eating them.

Vegetables

I'm going to assume you don't know anything about vegetables, and what you need to know is that there's 2 main differences between veggies: cooking time, and whether they let water out, or soak water in. You can cook any vegetable in water, salt it, and it will become edible, it's not complicated, it's healthy no matter how you do it. If you want to mix different vegetables, you need to know what their cooking time is, so you could add them at different times in your soup/stir fry/whatever you're doing.

All of the legumes (beans, peas, chickpeas, lentils, soy beans) will take water in when they're cooked, they usually are soaked about 8 hours before cooking (lentils and fresh peas don't need the soak) and then cooked for about an hour. Soaking just means you put them in a bowl, cover them so there's twice as much water in there as beans, and then just leave that for 8 hours. Afterwards you throw away that water, put them in a pot, pour new fresh water over them, put this on heat until it boils, then reduce the heat so it's not bubbling so violently, it can be a very gentle bubbling, cover it and let it cook for about an hour. Then you can take one out with a spoon, check if it's soft and nice tasting, and if it is, you're done! You can now use your cooked beans for a meal.

Fresh peas you can just cook for 10 minutes and they're done, lentils can take up to half an hour, chickpeas can be an hour and a half of cooking time, you can adjust this to how these taste to you. After you've done your basic cooking of them, you can eat them in a salad (you just add some oil, salt, vinegar, spices and whatever other veggies you have, and you got a salad), or you can additionally bake them, cook them in a pan, use them for other recipes. You can NOT eat these raw, you need to cook them until soft, if you attempt to eat raw legumes, you will get poisoned.

Vegetables like cabbage and asparagus also likes to take in some water, so be sure to never let them cook just on oil for long, they get softer and nicer with some water.

Vegetables that let water out while cooking are: Zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, beets; this means that if you put them in a pan with some oil, the mix will get soggy quickly, they will let out their own juices, which you sometimes might want! Also they will let more juice out more quickly, if you salt them, salt helps take juices out.

Vegetables that don't take water in or out, meaning they can be cooked just on oil and the mix will stay the same: onions, leek, potatoes, green beans, garlic, carrots, pumpkin. You can put any of these in a hot oiled pan, cook them, and you will get a nice stir-fry, that won't get soggy. You can also add the peppers, zuchinni, or any water-letting vegetable in, and then cook it until all the water evaporates, that works as well! This is then a sautee, meaning you're cooking the vegetables in their own juices, which is delicious.

Greens like spinach and swiss chard are usually added to stir-fry mix last because they are done cooking very fast. Okay let's look at some of the cook times (these are in water, oil cooks them all faster):

Cooking times for vegetables

Potatoes: 20 minutes if in big pieces, 10 if cut really small. Cannot be eaten raw, poisonous when raw.

Carrots: Can be eaten raw, you can cook them for any time you want, they'll get soft after 10 minutes, in soups they can be cooked for long time to let the flavor out.

Zucchini: takes only 5 minutes to get soft and start letting water out, you can cook anytime in a soup, it's not poisonous when raw either.

Peppers: will get soft after 5 minutes, can be eaten raw and are full of vitamins.

Pumpkins: 5-10 minutes to get soft, can be cooked in soups for longer.

Onion and leek: 5 minutes, gets soft very quickly, you can cook in soup for any amount of time, this is the main flavor of many meals! Onions and leeks are added to meals specifically to make them flavourful, and so is garlic.

Green beans: 20 minutes, don't eat raw.

Peas: 20 minutes if fresh, longer if they're dry and soaked.

Spinach, swiss chard, other greens: they're done in an instant almost, a minute of cooking is enough.

Broccoli, cauliflower: 5-10 minutes, depends on how small they're cut.

How to make a vegetable soup:

You'll need onions, and other vegetables of your choice, you can decide which ones mix well for you. Where I live it's traditionally onions, parsley, celery, carrots for the base, and then it can be leeks, potatoes, peas, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, zuchinni, peppers, even just one or a few of these ingredients will make an okay soup, you can mix and match them to your liking or according to what you have. The main flavor of the soup usually comes from onions, or garlic if you want to make garlic-tasting soup.

You cut your vegetables first, and the size doesn't really matter, you cut them how you want to eat them, it won't specifically affect the quality, can make the cooking time less if you cut them really small.

You turn on the stove, put a pot on it, let it heat up for a minute or two. Then you add a spoon or two of oil, and you add your onions. You let onions cook for a few minutes while stirring them, this is your main flavor, and the longer you can stir them without them getting burned, the better the soup will taste. When they start browning, you can add other flavor enhancers, like garlic if you have some, salt and spices, and if you're doing potatoes or green beans or leeks, I would add those in sooner too, because oil enhances their flavor. Once these have some good flavor profile, you can add the rest of your cut veggies, and pour water until all of your vegetables are covered. Then you let the water come to boil, reduce the heat, and let it cook until the longest-cooking vegetable is fully cooked.

Soups made of only vegetables are not super filling, so people will usually add some pasta-like stuff in it, I will make a little mixture out of flour, water and salt, with soft consistency, and then add spoonfuls of that in the soup – this is done in the last 5 minutes of cooking, because this only needs a few minutes to cook. That will make your soup more filling!

It's also normal to add some kind of meat to your soup from the start, to enhance flavor and add more nutrients, I can't really write about this because I actually don't consume meat so I am not smart about it, but I know stuff like pieces of meat, or pieces of bone are added to soup, and then soups are cooked much longer in order for the nutrients and the flavor to combine.

If you're feeling super lazy you can just add bunch of vegetables and pasta and whatever to a pot, add water, boil, and it will still be a soup, even if you don't pay attention to how flavours combine and if cooking time is not aligned, this will still turn into something edible if you add salt and you won't be hungry or lacking in nutrients. So if my detailed description sounds intimidating, you can do it in whatever way. Just adding water and heat and salt to vegetables, makes them edible, and you can eat that and be done. It doesn't need to be perfect.

If you want to make a specialized soup, like mushroom soup, tomato soup, pea soup, it's basically the same thing with putting some onions on oil, but then you just add this one thing you want your soup from, like you'll just add tomatoes, garlic and some spices to the onions if you want tomato soup. For mushroom, you just add mushrooms and whatever spice you want, and later you can blend it with together if you want a creamy soup. For peas, you just add peas on top of onions, add water, cook that, smash or blend it to make it creamy. Those are super easy soups, and onions are a base flavor for all of them. And you can even do it without onions and it's fine, they'll still have an okay taste.

Sauces: are very similar to soups, except you add some flour on the oil, mix that to make a roux and then add water to make it thick! You choose whether you want a tomato sauce, mushroom sauce, or whatever else, and you make it a thicker consistency than a soup, and with more concentrated flavor (less water).

Mashed foods: you cook your vegetable in water, cut to any size you want, once the cooking time is over and your vegetable is super soft, you pour the water our (you can reuse it for soups later), add salt, you can add some butter or milk if you like it more creamy, and you mash it with a masher or a fork, until it's all mashed! You can do this with many vegetables, you can make mashed potatoes, pumpkins, zucchini, carrots, peas. You can even mix two veggies, I love mashed potatoes with zucchini mix.

Fried foods: I don't do this a lot, so I am not the best to explain it, but the basics of this is that hot oil cooks the food much quicker, draws out much more flavor, and makes it delicious! It also adds a decent amount of calories so it's great for when you need a lot of energy quickly. I know people like to smash pieces of meat, cut it or grind it into small pieces, then mix it with cut up onion, garlic, spices and herbs, add some flour, and then form it into nice little patties, which they can fry on oil, and it makes for a good sandwich pattie. You can also make this type of pattie out of vegetables, if you mix some cooked beans, soy, lentils, potatoes, cabbage savoy, kale, really anything with some flour, garlic, spices and salt, and form it into a pattie, you can put it on hot oil and make a little burger pattie, or mix it with some mashed potatoes to create a meal.

I'm unable to make detailed instructions for meat as I don't consume it, but I know it's important to cook it thoroughly, and make sure it's never raw in the middle, because it could give you diseases otherwise. I won't go into making bread because this post is already too long, but if you want me to write it out in detail, let me know!

If you want to make more specialized meals, you can find instructions and recipes anywhere, knowing the basics will make it easier to understand any recipe out there. I myself am not good at baking so I won't go into that!

I'm going to write a separate post on cleaning, maintaining space and laundry, because this is already very long and might be overwhelming to read. If anyone wants to write details about non-vegetarian dishes, please do add it in the comments!

[welcometophu]

Into the Split: Revolution 2

Twinned Book 3: Into the Split

Revolution 2

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Monday dawns with perfect spring weather. It’s warm enough that Nikolai doesn’t need more than a t-shirt, and as he and Seth walk to Teas Please, they see several PHU students in shorts, sundresses, and sandals. The combination of Spring Festival Week and the good weather lends an air of celebration to campus and the surrounding homes. Towels are spread on lawns, music plays loudly, and people are everywhere outside, tossing frisbees and footballs, or basking in the sun while studying.

Nobody cares that Nikolai and Seth walk hand in hand down the street. Some kids wave cheerfully, and one apologizes after diving in front of them to capture an errant frisbee.

“I think I’ll miss this place when we go,” Seth says quietly as their near miss darts off again, flinging the frisbee at his friend. “Not enough that I want to stay, but there’s something about this—”

“It’s innocent,” Nikolai agrees. “Freeing. It’s like it’s easy to live here.”

“That’s it, yes.” Seth’s thumb slides along the edge of Nikolai’s hand. “We can go get food. We don’t have to scramble for a place to sleep. If we stayed longer we’d have to work somehow, I’m sure, but right now, we’re just able to enjoy everything. I’m going to miss that part.”

Nikolai grabs the door to Teas Please when they get there, pulling it open for Seth to go through first. Nate spots them and waves, calling out, “I’ve got them,” as the hostess at the front pulls two menus from a stack.

“I guess Nate will be with you shortly,” she says with a small smile, handing them the menus while they wait.

Seth holds the menus as they follow Nate into the back of the restaurant. A group is already at the u-shaped table, but Cass sits at a table for two next to it, and the table next to her is empty. She looks up as they approach and sighs heavily, standing up to help squeeze the two smaller tables together into one space.

“I’ve got lunch break coming up,” Nate says. “Give me your order and I’ll get everything in at once and bring it out, or—” He breaks off, frowning as he leans in close to Cass. “Hey. Want a Mallory special?”

She rolls her eyes and sits back, arms crossed over her chest. “Whatever. It was good before.”

Nate hesitates a moment, then nods. “Okay, fine,” he says before he walks away.

Nikolai has the chair opposite Cass, with Seth next to him. She’s piled a light sweater and purse on the bench next to her, effectively making it so no one could get close. “Are you okay with us sitting here?” he asks.

She looks at the ceiling, shakes her head. “No. But it’s fine. I knew when I came here that I’d probably end up with half my sorority or some other random group of people I know coming in eventually.”

“Then why did you come?” Seth looks for a moment like he’s going to say something else, but his expression gentles instead.

Cass shrugs. “Nate’s here. The food’s decent. I don’t have most of my classes this week because the professors know no one’s going to show up anyway, except for this one stupid exam I have on Thursday. That professor’s a total dick; he made the exam this week just because it’s the festival and he knows people will be out drinking on Wednesday.” She tilts her head to look at them more directly. “That’s Election Day.”

None of that makes sense, but Nikolai nods like it does.

“Would it help if I—” Seth cuts off, his hand in the air when Cass glares at him.

“Don’t,” she says curtly. “I don’t need any kind of Talent induced high, or the equivalent of an emotional back rub. My emotions are just fine the way they are and I will deal with them, thank you very much.”

“Noted,” Seth says, his hand falling back to the table.

It occurs to Nikolai that Nate never asked him and Seth what they wanted to eat. He supposes they’re getting a Mallory special as well.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Seth offers. He doesn’t shrink away when Cass glares at him, just watches her with the same quiet consideration he’s given Nikolai his whole life.

Cass blinks first. She picks up the napkin wrapped around silverware and carefully unwraps the fork and knife. She lays them on the table, flattening out the napkin before putting it on her lap. “I’m fine.”

Even Nikolai can tell she’s lying. “You don’t sound it.”

“This semester—this school year, really—has been… a lot,” Cass says slowly, her voice tight and words careful. “This,” she gestures at Nikolai and Seth, “is just the end of several months’ worth of too much to deal with.”

“And you’re the kind of person who would rather bottle it up than rely on anyone else,” Seth says. When she tries to skewer him with a glare again, he just spreads his hands palm down on the table. “It’s an observation, not a judgment. You have your reasons, and given that I don’t know what they are, I can’t say whether this is a good or a bad thing. But you seem pretty miserable just from body language alone. I’d know even if I couldn’t feel it radiating off of you. Not that I’m listening on purpose. I can’t help it—you’re doing the emotional equivalent of empathic screaming right now. I’m kind of surprised that Heather hasn’t tried to hold you down and smother you in happy. She seems kind of like the type who’d do that.”

“Heather isn’t very good with negative emotions.” Cass has a small smile at that. “She likes being our social director, because it means she gets to work hard at making people happy. On the other hand, she’s also very easy to fool. A thin layer of pleasure over everything else and she doesn’t try to dig any deeper than that. I love Dax. I love sex with Dax. And I generally have fun at house events. Just the Dax parts are enough to keep her from looking for more.”

Her head tilts as she considers him more closely. “Is it because you haven’t seen me as much with Dax, or because you don’t know us as well? Or am I slipping?”

Seth nudges his glasses up his nose. “I think it’s the first. I’m just getting my first impressions of you now, and I don’t have that formed opinion of you as a part of you-and-Dax. If you asked me, I’d say your closest friends are… hm.” He leans back in his chair, tapping his chin with one finger. “You rely on Dax, but that’s a comfort thing. Like he’s that blanket you take everywhere. And he kinds of treats you the same way. Which isn’t a bad thing, but it’s like you both take each other for granted the way people who’ve been together forever do. Then there’s Mac and Carolyn and you have this weird love/hate thing going with them. You’re like that with all your sorority sisters, but you’re afraid of Heather, which is why I know you don’t like Empaths.”

“Or Telepaths,” Cass admits, “but I’ve only ever met one person who could really get inside my head like that.”

Nikolai’s surprised by that statement. It’s a more common Talent than that. “You may not know you’ve met them. Most Telepaths are more instinctive, like Empaths,” Nikolai says.

Cass’s expression twists into something vaguely constipated. “Lovely.”

“Then there’s Nate,” Seth continues as if they hadn’t interrupted him. “You have this really weird level of comfort with him, but it’s like you’re afraid of him at the same time, and other times you look at him like you have no idea what he’s even doing there. But you trust him and I think you hate yourself a little bit for that.”

“Cass hates herself for trusting someone?” Nate nudges her sweater and purse out of the way so he can drop into the empty spot on the bench next to her. He pushes a plate in front of her, piled high with salad and a thinly toasted sandwich cut into four wedges decorating the rim interspersed with what look like homemade thick-cut potato chips. “One Mallory special. Kim’s bringing out a shared meal for the two of you,” he tells Nikolai and Seth.

He keeps his own plate in front of him, with a three tiered sandwich made of thick, dark bread. Nikolai can smell the peanut butter, and the strong scent of smoke and maple. “What is that?”

“Bacon peanut butter club,” Nate says. “Take a peanut butter sandwich, then slather the top of it with mayo and some cranberry sauce, add lettuce and bacon and a third slice of bread, and there you go. It’s disturbingly good.”

“Ew,” Cass says, but she still holds out one small triangle of her toasted sandwich and accepts a quarter of Nate’s sandwich in return.

A girl who must be Kim arrives with one of the three-tiered contraptions, but instead of small bites on each plate, each one is overflowing, and she carries another plate in her hand. “Mallory apparently thinks you’re starving,” she says as she sets it between Nikolai and Seth. “I hope you’re in the mood for some citrus. You’ve got a carrot and leek non-dairy creamed soup with fresh lemon and ginger, and a spring salad with candied orange peel and walnuts. The sandwich is a chicken and brie panini with apple slices; I’ve had that one and it’s really good and I wish we’d put it on the menu. And for dessert, a lemon berry crêpe with a dark chocolate drizzle.”

Kim straightens up, glancing at the booth next to them where the patrons are filing out in a burst of noise. She lowers her voice, nods at it. “It’ll take me five to get it cleaned up, okay?”

Nate grins. “You know us so well. I don’t think we’re expecting anyone else but I wasn’t actually expecting anyone at all in the first place, which is how it works. If that booth’s emptying out, I figure there are more people incoming.”

Cass rolls her eyes but doesn’t speak, her mouth full of Nate’s peanut butter club sandwich.

As soon as Kim finishes cleaning the table, Nate nudges Cass, and they all pick up their things to move into the booth. There’s plenty of room to spread out, and Cass slides all the way down to the end, leaving space between her and Nate.

“So,” Nate asks. “Who do you hate yourself for trusting?”

Cass holds out another of her toasted sandwich triangles, and Nate silently passes her another quarter of his club sandwich in return. “You, obviously,” she says, before taking a bite. “I don’t trust people easily.”

“But you do trust me,” Nates says. One hand on his heart, he smiles at her. “I’m honored.”

“I’m going to throw chips at you soon.” Cass brandishes her piece of sandwich, and Nate laughs.

He stops mid-motion as he turns away, then lifts a hand, waving as he slides further down the bench and closer to Cass. He makes enough room for Mac to slide in, but Carolyn lingers at the end to kiss Serina.

“I’ll come by later or if you’re still here when my shift ends we can, I don’t know, go somewhere else then,” Serina says. She leans up on her toes and kisses Carolyn’s forehead. “Eat some real food. You’ve been buried in the library so much you’re going to turn into a book.”

“I’ve been eating,” Carolyn protests. “I swear I have, but Pawel—” She glances at Mac. “We should bring home something for Pawel. He’s—”

“He ate an apple at breakfast,” Seth comments.

Nikolai thinks that was his whole breakfast. Sort of. “I saw him eating a bowl of cereal a while after that. He’s drinking a lot of coffee. And he eats granola bars. If you put one next to him, it’s gone when you come back. What he’s not doing is sleeping.”

“I tried to stop in and he threw me out and told me you were here,” Mac grumbles. “I bumped into Carolyn on the way over. He needs to take care of himself. He’s no good if he’s so worn out he passes out.”

“I think he’s too grouchy to let go,” Seth says.

“Like a toddler,” Mac insists. “He’s like a toddler who doesn’t want to miss anything and won’t nap.”

Serina gently pushes Carolyn onto the bench. “I have to go work.” She wiggles her fingers at Nate. “See you when your break is over,” she calls out to him, and he lifts a hand to wave back.

Nikolai watches Cass as Mac and Carolyn settle in. She doesn’t tell them to leave, but she doesn’t seem welcoming either, focusing instead on her salad and her remaining toasted sandwich triangles. Mac reaches past Nate to steal a chip from Cass’s plate. Carolyn pulls a laptop out of her bag and opens it up along with a dark purple notebook.

“I have information,” Carolyn says. She looks at the others, frowning slightly. “Not that we came here to meet. We need to order food. But since some of us are together, I thought I could catch you up.”

“Pawel is there every second of the day, but he’s not actually telling us anything. So yes, please, talk to us.” Seth makes a go on motion. “Have you made any progress on the Ritual?”

“Pawel’s still looking into it, but I don’t think the original ritual can be reversed. Not as it was.” Carolyn’s fingers move quickly over her keyboard, then slow as she finds what she’s looking for. “According to what we’ve learned, I think that if we tried to reverse what was done, we might destroy the Split completely, but that could backfire and either destroy all the Shadows—effectively committing genocide against an entire Lineage of Talented humans—or it might end up encouraging another global Emergence, and consume more Talents with vestigial Shadowwalker blood while also pushing them into the Dreamscape. If we close our world, that means we are effectively destroying lives and sending them to other worlds to wreak havoc.”

“That’s not an ideal solution,” Cass mutters dryly.

“Exactly,” Mac replies. She steals another chip, easily dodging as Cass swats at her hand. “Which is why reversing the Ritual is off the table for now. But Pawel’s desperately researching a different Ritual and making plans that don’t involve sleep.”

Carolyn scrolls through her document, frowning as she reads something on the screen in front of her.

“I’m half afraid to ask, but what kind of Ritual is he considering that won’t end up with us all turning into our inner Shadowwalker and succumbing to the dark side?” Cass asks sharply.

“We need a place—or rather several places—where the liminal spaces between reality and the Dreamscape are weak.” Carolyn touches her screen as she reads from it. “The idea is to create a Ritual that transcends this one world. If we have the worlds in contact when we work against the Split, that should protect us. Them.” She motions as if to indicate unseen Shadowwalkers.

Which is exactly what Nikolai had thought they’d been talking about, only this seems a bit more  specific. “What about the Benford house?” Nikolai asks. “The Berman place here. We could feel it in our world, before it was cleansed, and here it hasn’t been touched.”

“Would it end up with you dragging us all into the Dreamscape?” Cass asks. Nate gives her a confused look, and Cass points at Carolyn. “When she brought that Shadowwalker back. She dragged everyone into the Dreamscape with her somehow.”

“That was Mattie’s crossover, and has nothing to do with this,” Carolyn replies. She closes her laptop with a soft thunk and crosses her hands on top of it. “It was a unique situation that I think was caused by her soul being so close to the reality and my own Talent still being in the process of Emerging. Not to mention Del’s presence and our history.”

“I think that if you’re looking for somewhere that blurs the line, that’s probably a good place.” Mac’s words nudge the conversation away from Cass and Carolyn glaring at each other. “You think it’s a liminal space?”

“It’s close to the Dreamscape,” Carolyn agrees. “It was close enough that Del and I were able to get us there accidentally. Do you think the cleansing of the Benford place would mean it’s not as close now?”

“You know what happened to the wards,” Nikolai reminds her. “Everything kept coming back to that one place, and I think that points to it being exactly the kind of place Pawel’s looking for. I’ve been to the Berman house here—”

“So have I,” Carolyn says softly.

“Then you’ve been to both, too. You know what I mean. They aren’t the same, but they correlate,” Nikolai says. “Alia won’t like the risk, but I think Val could be persuaded. The Alia and Val of our world,” he amends, because now there’s a Valentine here, too, and talking about them is potentially confusing. “I don’t know what Alia here would think about it, and it’s probably not something Valentine really gets to talk about. It’s not her home.”

“The Alia of this world isn’t a fan of magic,” Mac admits.

“But she’s getting better.” Carolyn closes her laptop, opens the notebook instead. She shows a page with cards drawn on it, and neatly penned writing beneath. “She actually came to me for a reading a couple of months ago, and I told her to start a revolution. Which is exactly what seems to be happening.”

Mac makes a hmm sort of noise and steals another one of Cass’s chips.

“I actually need to get back to work.” Nate slides his plate in front of Mac, the sandwich gone but a pile of crispy chips still remaining. “Let me out, then you can finish my chips. Leave Cass’s alone.”

Mac and Carolyn slide out to let him go, but Carolyn doesn’t manage to sit down again before her phone sings out. She looks at the number, lips pressed together as she silences it. “I’ve got to go,” she says, shoving her laptop and notebook back in the bag. “I’ll get something to eat later.”

“Want me to bring something back to the house for you?” Mac offers as Carolyn is already walking away.

“Actually, yeah, that’d be great. I just need to—” She stops several steps from the table, turning back to say, “Make Nikolai and Seth take something home for Pawel.”

“If he’s eating granola bars he’ll eat whatever they put out, probably, yes,” Mac agrees.

“And tell Serina that I—”

“Had to go. She’s right there,” Cass points. “Kiss her on your way out. I’m sure she gets it.”

“She probably doesn’t really get it,” Mac murmurs as Carolyn catches Serina and kisses her cheek on the way by. “Serina’s kind of swept up in this because Carolyn is, but she hasn’t really been a part of it. It’s all happening around her. Alaric and Nikita are on her floor. She’s got Carolyn. But she’s not Talented and she just kind of goes with the flow.”

“But she’s there for Carolyn,” Seth says. “Right? Sometimes when one person’s the raging river of chaos, it’s good that the other one’s the stable rock.”

Nikolai reaches under the table to slide his hand over Seth’s knee in silent thanks for being his rock. “Are you saying I dragged you into this?”

“You are the Dreamwalker who dismantled wards so badly that you not only got us thrown out of Havenhill, we left the world entirely,” Seth says. The sharp words are softened by a fond smile, and Nikolai can’t resist stealing a kiss.

“Is that what I look like?” Cass murmurs.

“All the time,” Mac whispers back. “Only you tend to look even more like you’re going to jump Dax any second. What I’d like to know, though, is when you and Nate started trading food like an old married couple?”

Cass blinks. “You stole my chips, not him.”

They’re distracted and it’s a perfect time to steal another kiss that tastes of blueberry crêpe and bittersweet chocolate. While Cass and Mac bicker and laugh in the background, Nikolai can just enjoy the moment here with Seth.

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[drlaurynlax]

How Healthy is Your Gut? Take this Helpful Short Quiz Right Now!

Our gut is very important. How healthy is your gut?! Take this 10-Question Quiz to find out! PLUS get 3 Game-Changing Action Steps you can do to improve any markers that show up today. 

Gut Health Quiz

Answer the following questions based on your typical symptoms. 

1. I get bloated after meals…

1. Rarely! I feel pretty good after most meals. 2. Only on occasion. Like if I eat something out of my routine. 3. At least once per day if not more.

2. I experience heart burn/reflux symptoms or feel like I need to pop a Tums…

Never

Occasionally. Like after spicy Mexican food or when I eat foods like tomatoes, citrus or beans. 

Daily!

3. How often do you go to the bathroom?

Daily. At the same time. Like clock work

Most days. Occasionally if my schedule is off or I travel I’ll skip.

Who knows?! Sometimes I go days without going or I often feel constipated.

4. When you DO the doo, how would you describe your poop?

Well-formed, brownish color, smooth and sausage-like.

Sausage shaped, brown with lumps or cracks in the surface. 

Random! Sometimes it’s loose, sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it’s pellets. 

Sometimes it’s snake-like. I’m all over the place!

Like pellets or little turds.

Mushy with ragged edges!

Super loose or watery! Sometimes even diarrhea like with food in it. 

Light clay colored OR greasy, shiny stools. 

5. How many servings of green veggies do you eat per day?

3 or more! 

About 2 most days. 

Do French fries and ketchup count?

6. Within an hour after eating you usually feel…

Refreshed and enlivened to get on with the day!

Maybe a little bloated initially, but overall no crazy differences. 

Sleepy (like I need a nap) and/or super bloated or constipated. 

7. We all pass gas! What is yours like?

Not super frequent. Maybe once or twice a day.

Most days. Slightly embarrassing, but no one has to clear the room (I can keep it covered up).

P-U! Foul and smelly. Silent and deadly farts OR belching/burping after most meals. 

8. What foods (if any) do you notice you’re sensitive to (check all that apply):

Dairy

Gluten

Grains

Nuts

Eggs

FODMAPS (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, apples, avocados, onions, high amounts of fruit)

Nightshades (tomatoes, potatoes, chili powder & spices, egg plant)

9. You often crave…

No real intense cravings. I like yummy food, and enjoy it when I eat. 

Occasionally I get a hankering for dessert after dinner, or a favorite meal, but

Sugar, bread or starches, coffee, chocolate, cheese or any other food that you eat most days(even if you don’t feel great after)

10. I eat a “healthy” diet, and I feel…

Amazing!

Pretty good. Definitely different (in a good way) than life before this diet.

Still have gut issues! Even though I eat ____ (paleo, vegan, AIP, etc.), I don’t get why my gut doesn’t love me back?!

11. Do you have… (Check all that apply) (If check any, they get 1 point)

An autoimmune condition 

Dark circles under your eyes

Adult acne, skin breakouts or dry/itchy skin that peels

Seasonal allergies

Been diagnosed with anemia

Loss of taste for meat

Use over the counter medications (NSAIDs) or prescription medications regularly

Drink tap water or plastic bottle water most days

Pain under the right side of your ribs or abdominal cramping

Significant coffee or alcohol consumption (more than 1/day)

History of an eating disorder or drug/alcohol abuse

Easily get sick or colds frequently 

Difficulty losing weight or easily gain weight (even if you do all the right things)

A sedentary lifestyle (rarely exercise, often sit at a desk, in traffic, etc.) OR Overtrain or workout a lot (more than 60-90-minutes/day most days)

Less than 6 hours of sleep most nights

11. Bonus: When it comes to gut health, you feel…

Like you know a lot and you do your best to love your gut.

You’ve heard buzz words like “leaky gut” or “apple cider vinegar” and you try to eat “healthy,” but you’re interested in learning more

In the dark: What’s the got got to do with it?!

Quiz Submit Response

Woo hoo! You finished! Thanks for taking the quiz.

Survey Says…. ______

Scores

1 = Lookin’ good.

Based on your answers, your gut is on point. However, there’s always more we can do to love our gut and boost our health! Your gut is the gateway to ALL THINGS HEALTH (including your hormones, mindset, mood, skin, immunity and more). Continue to love your gut and elevate your total body wellness with these 3 Game Changers:

3 Game Changing Gut Boosters

1. Eat Bugs.

Incorporate probiotic rich foods and pre-biotic rich foods into your diet. Aim for a serving of fermented foods daily (sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir, beet kvass, grass-fed full-fat yogurt), along with a little bit of pre-biotic starchy tubers or veggies (like green-tipped plantains or bananas, cooked and cooled sweet potatoes or squashes, leeks, onions, fresh garlic, or partially hydrolyzed guar gum)

2. Get your greens on!

Only 1 in 10 Americans eats the recommended servings of 3 veggies or more per day (ESPECIALLY leafy greens!). Get your greens on girl! I love cooked greens especially! 

3. Detox (your life).

Beyond the food we eat, there are TONS of other lifestyle factors that impact how you feel (energy, hormones and brain health included).From our toxic exposure to our environment (over 85,000 toxins in our water, foods, plastics, beauty products), how long we sleep, screen time and burning a candle at both ends (i.e. saying “yes” to everything), your body ultimately desires balance!Detox 1 stressor from your life such as:

Replace plastics with stainless steel and glassware

Ditch the conventional shampoo and conditioner from Target in favor of a sulfate and paraben-free version

Try natural, fluoride-free toothpaste

Download f.lux or Nightshift on ALL your electronics; use blue blocking glasses at night; and/or rise with a sun alarm

Cut out 1 thing draining you and your schedule. 

2 = A little squeaky.

No one is perfect and based on your answers, you have a little bit of “squeak” or imbalance going on in your gut.

The good news? You’re not too far gone.

75% of people have some sort of gut dysfunction that impacts their total body health (not just their gut). In fact, did you know that your gut health influences other things like your skin health, mood, metabolism and immunity? 

Continue to love your gut and boost your health with these 3 game changers: 

3 Game Changing Gut Boosters:

1. Boost Stomach Acid.

Add 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar to 2-4 oz. water around meals to boost stomach acid (necessary for healthy, complete digestion)

2. Drink Up.

Are you drinking enough water? Make sure you’re getting half your bodyweight in ounces (at least) most days of clean filtered water. Tote around a stainless steel water bottle if you need.

3. Check In.

Be aware of how food makes you feel. (Even healthy foods). Common gut-inflammatory foods don’t just have to be fast food or sugar. Foods like nuts, eggs, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, yogurt and rice impact a lot of people.

If you suspect a certain food may be making you feel worse or symptomatic, take it out for 7 days, then reintroduce it back in 3 days in a row. Note how you feel. 

3 = Your gut needs some love!

Based on your answers, you indicated clear signs and markers of underlying gut dysfunction. And guess what? You are not alone! 3 in 4 Americans have some sort of gut imbalance, including conditions like leaky gut, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), healthy bacteria insufficiency, fungal/parasitic infection, food intolerances and/or IBS.

There is a wide array of underlying gut imbalances that can happen when our gut is unhealthy! The good news? You can heal! Knowledge is power, and there are TONS of lifestyle factors (nutrition, stress management, movement), along with support (supplements, lab testing, working with a practitioner) that can help you reset your gut and feel amazing (from the inside out). 

1. Boost Stomach Acid!

Add 1 tbsp. Apple Cider Vinegar to 2-4 oz. water around meals to boost stomach acid (necessary for healthy, complete digestion)

2. Ditch the Commercial Probiotics

95% of probiotics on shelves do NOT contain the probiotics they claim. This is due to heat  processing, shipping, shelf-life and non-necessary bacteria strains put into many of these “lactic acid” based probiotics. Ditch MOST commercial lactic acid probiotics in favor of Soil Based Organisms or Probiotics that not only withstand shelf-life, but are wayyyy more like the natural gut bacteria humans had in our ancestral time. Try Primal Probiotics or MegasporeBiotic, and ideally take 1 in the morning and 1 at night.

3. Heal (Don’t Just Manage)

Be aware of how food makes you feel. (Even healthy foods). Common gut-inflammatory foods don’t just have to be fast food or sugar. Foods like nuts, eggs, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, yogurt and rice impact a lot of people. If you suspect a certain food may be making you feel worse or symptomatic, take it out for 7 days, then reintroduce it back in 3 days in a row. Note how you feel. 

  The post How Healthy is Your Gut? Take this Helpful Short Quiz Right Now! appeared first on Meet Dr. Lauryn.

Source/Repost=> https://drlauryn.com/gut-health/how-healthy-is-your-gut/ ** Dr. Lauryn Lax __Nutrition. Therapy. Functional Medicine ** https://drlauryn.com/

[hyperbolicpurple]

ASOIAF cooking challenge: the Crownlands (with recipes)

more info below

I chose the Crownlands as my region to represent. All the dishes except the actual crown roast are represented in the books from chapters set in King’s Landing (all Tyrion and Sansa chapters, as you can tell from the menu). The actual crown roast symbolizes the crown itself of course, as well as honors Robert’s death by boar. ;) Hence the red sauce, also!

My goal was not really medieval authenticity--just something tasty that made strong connections to the dishes set in the books. While I consulted Inn at the Crossroads and A Feast of Ice and Fire, I mostly used them as a reference for finding food and dishes represented in the books and didn’t follow any of their recipes in particular.

SUMMER GREENS SALAD:

I wasn’t sure what exactly constituted “summer greens.” Some googling led me to various greens like Malabar spinach, dandelion greens, sweet potato leaves, etc, that I wasn’t going to find in stores (and it’s not summer here anyway). I ended up going with a spring mix with some watercress (named as a summer green in at least one article I read). The ingredients are all the same as listed on the menu, and the salad dressing came from a bottle, because who has time for that? Also I added edible flowers I found at Whole Foods, since I know they’re a medieval thing and they charmed me. I kind of want to grow edible flowers now.

CREAMY CHESTNUT SOUP WITH CRUSTY HOT BREAD

Ingredients:

3 slices of bacon, cooked and set aside

2 leeks, white and light green parts halved and sliced

2 parsnips, peeled and diced small

1 lb dried chestnuts, soaked in water overnight

1 c white wine (I used a chardonnay)

7 c chicken stock

1 c half-and-half

Instructions:

Add a few tablespoons of butter (or bacon fat) to a soup pot over medium-low. Saute leeks until soft.

Add parsnips, chestnuts, and white wine. Let the wine reduce by half.

Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 30 minutes.

Blend. (I used an immersion blender.)

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer, one ladleful at a time and pressing with the back of the ladle to coax the soup through. (Seriously, don’t try to pour a bunch in at once ... I had to start the process over.)

Add the half-and-half. Garnish with crumbled bacon.

Other Notes:

I actually forgot to use bacon, so it didn’t make it into the soup. Other people said they really liked the soup, but personally I felt the carrotty flavor of the parsnips overpowered the chestnuts and I couldn’t really taste them (which is a shame, because the whole reason I wanted to make this soup in particular was my love of chestnuts). If I try this again, I’ll probably swap the parsnips out for rutabaga, which simmers up sweet and very mild, and see if it tastes more chestnutty that way. I might also try fresh chestnuts instead of dried.

I entertained a notion of making bread from scratch and then decided, nah. That’s store-bought, my friends.

CROWN ROAST OF PORK WITH BUTTERED CARROTS

I got an 18-rib crown roast (!), which was more than 12 pounds and hella expensive, and there are a lot of leftovers because that was way too much meat for six adults and a child. I dry-brined the pork a day in advance with two tablespoons of table salt, some minced garlic, and a mix of traditional fresh and dried herbs. In the future, I would want at least 2-3 days for the meat to continue to brine itself.

I followed the Serious Eats crown roast recipe. It came out moist and delicious, but fair warning: it took three hours at 250F, not two, for the thickest parts of the chops to come to 140F. Dinner delayed. Also, I sadly didn’t get the “charred bone” look the SE article promised. I thought they would look authentic! Alas.

The sauce was a basic red wine pan sauce. I started with some butter and a diced shallot in a pan. After sauteing, I added half a cup of red wine and half a cup of chicken stock, along with about 2-3 tablespoons of cherry preserves. I let that reduce by about half, then stirred in 2-3 tablespoons of cold butter to thicken and emulsify the sauce. (Contra many recipes, I’ve never found room-temp fats to emulsify correctly.) (Tip: A lot of pan sauce recipes are frustrating because they’ll ask you to do reduce, like, an entire bottle of wine, which might literally take hours in my experience, and there’s no point that much sauce anyway! One cup of starting liquid was more than enough for all of us.)

For the buttered carrots, I simmered carrot coins cut on the bias until they were soft-ish, then added them to a pan with half a stick (four tablespoons) of butter. To this was added cumin, cinnamon, and ginger paste (I didn’t measure the amounts tbh), then a few long drizzles of honey and a bit of apple cider vinegar, which I let reduce again. They got a bit too soft like that; I would drain them earlier if I made this recipe again.

HONEYCAKES WITH BLACKBERRIES AND NUTS

I thought I had taken a picture of these, but apparently I didn’t. It’s a shame, because they’re cute!

Inspired by basboussa, Arabic semolina cake recipes soaked in rosewater or orange blossom water syrup, I made this semolina cake recipe, leaving out the baking soda (unless I missed something, there was no acid to react with it, so it wouldn’t do anything), and adding 1/2 c of sliced almonds and 1/2 c frozen blackberries halved/quartered to the batter. It made about 10 nice thick cupcakes, but you could make it 12 if you wanted. They baked at 350F for about 25 minutes.

For the honey syrup, I stirred together 1/2 c each honey, water, and white sugar and let it simmer and reduce a bit on the stovetop. When the cakes were done, I took them out of their tins (I have a square cupcake tin, so they came out squares) and put them in a 9x13 pan, poked some holes in the top with a fork, and drizzled all the honey syrup over and let them soak it up. It might seem like too much, but the cakes are up to the task! They were really delicious, IMO. The best part of the dinner. But then, I love sweets.

Although this wasn’t on the menu, I served them with iced milk sweetened with honey. I gently heated a half-gallon of whole milk and stirred in about a cup of honey, then splashed some half-and-half in for creaminess. Medieval milk had cream in it, didn’t it? So that’s totally authentic, right? ;) VERY GOOD. And rich. And good.

[happylittlemarmite]

Creative Journal

16/11/20- Week 7

Sessions Themes: In todays session we discussed the concept of “overchoice” (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970), defined by wikipedia as “cognitive impairment in which people have a difficult time making a decision when faced with many options.” We talked about how if something is endlessly editable it would lead to endless indecision which is something that resonates with me in a big way in terms of graphics, when it comes to making different variations of a design I always find I'm overcomplicating it. 

Analysis Paralysis - Overthinking causes paralysis in terms of decision making

Decision Fatigue - Deteriorating quality of decisions after too much decision making

Planning

Not about being impulsive

Commit to creative decisions

When mistakes are made build on them or work around them

How Steve Jobs’ Love of Simplicity Fuelled A Design Revolution - Smithsonian

“I love it when you can bring really great design and simple capability to something that doesn’t cost much”

“It takes a lot of hard work.... to make something simple, to truly understand the underlying challenges and come up with elegant solutions.”

“the headline of Apple’s first marketing brochure proclaimed in 1977, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.””

Steve was always critical - Loved one design but hated the next where others could tell no difference between models.   

Simplicity is the Key to Creativity - The Guardian

Case Study: Pizza Express 

Changed Lemon Chopping duties for drinks from waiting staff to chefs.

Saved time ∴ money

“ Our conscious brains overcomplicate stuff. We can’t help but overthink and try to be clever. If we trust our gut and feel our way to solutions we have a much greater chance to deliver simplicity and ideas that work. The simplest ideas are often the best.”

Living With Complexity - Donald A Norman (2010)

We have fetishized simplicity and privileged hiding complexity

Complicating simplicity -  “Complexity is good. Simplicity is misleading. The good life is complex, rich, and rewarding–but only if it is understandable, sensible, and meaningful.”

Complexity must mirror that of our own lives - “ Bad design complicates things unnecessarily and confuses us. Good design can tame complexity.”

KISS- Keep It Simple, Stupid

Competitive analysis - Research what others are doing, how their conventions and affordances can improve your project

Revisit Existing Designs - Think about functionality of design elements, get creative with affordance. Identify sources of existing elements to inspire new ideas.

Look Beyond Conventions - Replace conventions with affordances not in common use but instantly recognisable

I found the parts from Donald A Norman’s Living with complexity particularly intriguing. I had never thought before about the idea of simplicity or hiding complexity as a privilege. It made me think about how older and cheaper technology is usually more complicated than what we have now, in terms of people who are less socially and economically privileged usually owning such technology. Like for example, TV’s used to have a big box on the back for all the components but now almost every TV is flat with much of its components engineered in a way to make the device more compact and visually pleasing. We are privileged in that we have the technological knowledge in order to do this having used these old box TV's for so long, we’re privileged that we have the resources/materials, privileged that we’ve even had the luxury of TVs of a box on the back to recognised that these flat screen TVs are something more appealing. 

I also found the concept of “simplicity as a design aesthetic” to be quite interesting. Continuing with the example of modern technology, it’s interesting to think of how many devices designs have changed in a way that would’ve previously been deemed largely unuseful. A good example i can think of for this is the development of the smartphone in the early 2010′s. It started out with devices like the blackberry that had so many buttons, but with the development of touch screen technology buttoned mobile phones became obsolete. It’s so wild to think my siblings will never know the concept of having to press number 9 thrice just to type the letter “y”. These design adaptations have made our lives easier yes, now that we’re acclimatised to them, but i remember many adults in the beginning were extremely sceptical of such design features being removed, and i doubt much of the generation ahead of my parents would be as comfortable to use such devices. Another example would be with the release of the iPhone model that had no earphone jack, as the company had chosen aestheticized simplicity over necessary functionality.

DSD:  For my DSD activity this week I have been experimenting with cooking different types of food that I wouldn’t usually make. I have always been a very busy person, working and getting an education at the same time for years, and so cooking something nice for dinner is like the one thing I can hold onto in the daytime and look forward to. There are so many foods that i disliked growing up but have since realised my mum is just not great at cooking, so i feel like I’m a little behind the curve in terms of eating healthily and enjoying it. I always cook more asian-style cuisine, lots of rice, noodles, fish and white meat; so now I’m experimenting with what I’ve been calling “british winter warmers”. I always dismissed these kind of meals as boring and stodgy, but as my skills have developed and I have grown more confident with certain ingredients the asian-style food i was eating before is starting to become boring to me instead. I think i must’ve categorised “foreign = interesting” at some point in my brain because I always refuse to eat anything with potatoes or minced beef at its core. I think especially as we’re approaching the festive season and it’s getting a bit colder outside these classic “family favourites” are on my mind a little more, and I’ve realised i can always add my own touches to make it more interesting should i need to. Some things I have made already this week are bolognaise using spicy pork sausage instead of minced beef and Chicken, leek and bacon pie, the former being pretty major considering how historically i have always HATED bolognaise.

Inspiration: An interesting piece of media i have come across this week is the work of James Kerr (@scorpiondagger on Instagram). Facebook advertised some contemporary fashion house to me on Facebook and the animated ad was unlike anything I’d ever seen from any similar brands. Although i can’t find the original ad i had been looking at on any of their social media, I did take a screenshot as shown bellow and went on to explore some of his other work.

As I’ve mentioned before, I love to use mixed media and elements of collage in my graphic design work and have been trying to hone my own style for years. Kerr’s work uses collage of what i believe to be cut outs of classical paintings, reformed together to make new people and settings. What makes this ad stick out against his other work for me, is the combination of classical art alongside snippets of modern streetwear fashion. Looking at the cigarette ads from a few weeks ago I have been thinking a lot about incorporating retro art styles in my work.

[meatismurderbutalsodelicious]

How I Make a Chicken Stock

This is a special request from a friend and former colleague who wanted a good, simple chicken stock recipe. 

As a home cook, one thing I’ve learned over the years is that it’s good to have various stocks and broths available for making soups, sauces and stews, as well as to add character to a variety of notoriously bland starches like potatoes, pasta or rice.

I first learned to make stock on Alton Brown’s Good Eats back when the Food Network actually cared about cooking, food and educating its audience.

However, over the years I’ve seen and read other recipes and the following is how I make one type of chicken stock; I’ll refer to it as Western-style. 

I also make an Asian-style chicken stock, inspired by the broth needed to create Hainan Chicken Rice. 

A lot of stock recipes begin with using the carcass, giblets and remnants of a hearty roast chicken dinner bird. 

I don’t know about you, but I don’t roast a chicken on a weekly basis. If anything, I might just roast or pan-fry some chicken thighs if I am in the mood for a chicken dinner. Also, of late, butchers, especially those in supermarkets can sometimes not include the giblets—the liver, heart and neck—in the raw bird’s cavity.

So this is a recipe completely made from scratch, that incorporates basic ingredients, a few not-so-basic, and a little bit of roasting.

Carpe pullum!

Ingredients

4 pounds chicken wings or thighs or a combination

1 large onion, skin-on, halved

4 carrots, washed  cut into 2-inch half-moon slices

4 Celery ribs cut into two inch slices

1 Leek

2- to 4-sprigs Fresh Thyme

1- to sprigs Fresh Rosemary

1 cup Fresh Parsley

2 bay leaves

1-tablespoon of black peppercorns

1- to 2-tablespoons kosher or sea salt

4 to 6 whole cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

3- to 4- tablespoons vegetable oil

(Optional, see recipe below: Saved miscellaneous vegetable bits and bobs)

Water to cover and replenish

Butcher’s twine

First off, I’m all fancy ‘n shit, so I make a bouquet garni with about a 5-inch piece of the leek. I tend to take from the transition part of the leek, where the dark green begins to turn white.

Next, cut into the leek segment about half-way through, so you can open its leaves and run it under the water to remove dirt, insects and impurities. Once that’s completed, open the leaves and tuck in the rosemary and thyme sprigs and the bay leaves. Then, using the butcher’s twine, tie the leak up firmly. It should look like this.

I use either all chicken wings, or a combination of chicken wings and thighs for this recipe. Both parts of the chicken are full of fatty skin, rich meaty flavor, and cartilage, which adds an underlying unctuousness to the final broth.

Next, pre-heat your oven to C200-F390 degrees for at least a half-hour.

Grab your carrots, give them a quick wash under the tap with a veggie brush or good sponge. I want all the nutrients and flavors for this recipe. Then chop the  carrots into 2- to 3-inch half-moon slices. 

Toss the chicken and carrots in the vegetable oil in a bowl to make sure they’re all evenly covered. Season with kosher or sea salt and fresh crushed black pepper.

I prefer to use a roasting pan with a rack, since I want to cook the combination on a high heat, very quickly to evenly brown and to render out as much fat as possible. I do not like a fatty stock, it limits its culinary flexibility.

Pop the tray into the middle of your oven and let it cook for 20-minutes. Then, go in and check for browning and to make sure you avoid uneven cooking and/or burning of the carrots. 

This is all about caramelization and releasing sweetness.

Flip the chicken and carrots as you see fit then return to the oven for another 20- to 30-minutes until the chicken is cooked through, its skin golden and carrots lightly charred.

Obviously, you can go for longer in the oven and get the skin much darker and crisper, but, remember, that impacts the color and flavor of the final stock.

While the chicken and carrots were browning, you should have prepped your veggies. I mean, it takes all of five-minutes, but micromanaging is kind of the whole point of writing recipes, when you stop and think about it.

This is where Alton Brown and I diverge—you’re going to be simmering your big stock pot for three to four hours and in the end you’re going to want to be able to strain as much of the nectar from the pot without having to be squeezing water-logged vegetable matter through a sieve. I mean, I don’t, anyway...

We’re talking big chunks of celery, 2-inches, easy. The onion? Just leave the skin on and half it. 

The broth is going to be simmering for so long, it will draw out the flavor and nutrients from veggies without them all collapsing to mush. Well, almost all...

Garlic. I love garlic. I believe it adds the underlying umami flavor to a chicken stock, so, depending on their size, I use anywhere from 3 to 6 crushed garlic cloves with their skins. But, you do you.

Let’s get to the simmering...

Into your stock pot—I use my trusty Dutch Oven (because you can bung this in a C200-degree oven if you’re in a hurry and get it done in about two hours)—add the chicken and carrots, the bouquet garni, celery, onion and garlic.

Fill the pot until the contents are covered by at least an inch of water. Throw in the parley, and the whole tablespoon of black peppercorns and on tablespoon of kosher or sea salt. You can taste and season again towards the end of the cooking process before you prepare the broth for storage.

Now, this is where we kind of throw authenticity and strict rules out the window. 

I cook a lot and I hate food waste. For the last two years, inspired by Not Another Cooking Show’s Steve Cusato, I’ve been storing remnants and bits and pieces of leftover fresh veggies in my freezer in a storage bag. 

The ends of fresh asparagus or fresh broccoli? Yes. Mushroom stems? Yes. Whole tomatoes or mushrooms that are looking a little long in the tooth? Of course!

My mission, when I create a stock, is to maximize the flavor so that the final product is complimentary with a wide variety of other vegetables, meats and fish. 

My chicken broths never taste the same, their colors vary, but, they’re flexible and delicious. And that’s the joy of cooking, really.

Now, put a lid on the pot and bring it up to a rapid boil, give the pot a good stir to mix all the chicken, herb, spices and vegetables together, then put the temperature down to create a nice, gentle, easy rolling simmer. 

Put the lid back on and let the stove-top burner do the rest.

I tend to check on the broth on the hour. I give it a good stir and if I see the fluid level dropping too much, I top it off with water and adjust the burner.

Four hours is the longest I’ve ever simmered a broth. As I said above, I once did it in about two hours by blasting it in the oven, but for me, making a chicken stock is the kind of exercise you do on a cold, rainy Fall or Winter Sunday afternoon. 

It’s actually easy to prep and the steps are pretty straightforward, the monitoring, quite lazy. 

Once you feel the chicken stock is completed to your taste profile, season as needed, stir and then strain the broth into storage containers.

I use a fine-meshed strainer with either cheesecloth or paper towels as a screen to make sure all the meat and vegetable matter is screened from the liquid.

This recipe easily gives me 2- to 2-and-1/2 quarts of chicken stock. 

Normally, I keep one quart in the fridge, while portioning off the remainder into 8-ounce or 16-ounce containers I can keep in the freezer. 

I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!

[bestelectricsmoker]

What to Bring on a BBQ Potluck?

Who would not like to go to a BBQ potluck? It is extraordinary compared to other social encounters served over an incredible assortment platter of culinary delights, which we as a whole without a doubt fantasy about having. Bar-b-que potlucks are an immense draw, however their prosperity doesn't exclusively rely upon the host, but instead aggregately on each participant. This implies you need to choose what you will bring to the table and add to the accomplishment of the entire occasion. Keep in mind, it's tied in with sharing and extraordinary grill sides will integrate everything consummately.

Anyway, WHAT SHOULD I BRING TO A POTLUCK BBQ?

Strikingly, these days, a few hosts are facilitating themed BBQ potlucks to limit a ton of dish conflicts. On the off chance that you are going to a themed potluck, consider the troublesome part over as that will manage you on the ideal sides at a bar-b-que with that specific topic. Be that as it may, most occasions are still as open as anyone might think possible. These can cause you a serious cerebral pain when choosing what precisely to bring. On the off chance that you happen to be considering over it, here are a couple of recommendations on what to bring along to a potluck BBQ;

Wines and refreshments

Usually, when we catch wind of a BBQ potluck, our psyches race to the various kinds of meats, primary, and side dishes (more on that later). Individuals will in general overlook or ignore the requirement for certain rewards and refreshments to mosey such meat down the throat. You may state, "Well who composes a BBQ potluck without drinks?" Remember, the host has a ton of things on his/her brain as of now. Likewise, on the off chance that you have a wine or drink that you know works out positively for the dish you are wanting to bring then why not bring a jug or two, to permit your companions to encounter the desire for themselves. It is, along these lines, the ideal chance to make them all evaluate your top choices.

Consider white wines that are fragrant or red ones, particularly those with tannins. Search for white wines that are un-oaked as they are more viable with food. The point is to bring wine that is fragrant, clean, and splendid. We propose wines like Chardonnay, Albarino, Barbera, Zinfandel, and so forth. Shimmering wines like Cava, Sparkling Pinot Noir are likewise ideal.

Keep away from wines that are too alcoholic since they wind up quieting the food flavor and tire individuals' palates. You additionally don't need individuals to become inebriated at such a happy and affable occasion.

Flatware

There are sure dishes that individuals should eat off a plate. Try not to accept your host has enough on the grounds that, to be honest, with an assortment of dishes, they sure won't be sufficient. Dishes like lasagne, pureed potatoes, soups, stews will require a different serving plate. You would prefer not to expand your hosts' remaining task at hand. Bring along plates, cups that you will convey back and clean yourself. This is additionally important for making a difference.

Remember trivets, dish towels, serving spoons, and other essential things, particularly those you use at home when you serve the dish you have arranged. Locate the best blade set for home cooking to make life simple for both your host and yourself. We accept they will be glad to see you completely arranged. Disposables can likewise work.

Prepared to eat dishes

By this, we don't mean cooler virus dishes, except if they are an extraordinary sort of serving of mixed greens. Or maybe, bring dishes that will reduce the utilization of the broiler for re-warming. On the off chance that you need to choose which one is the best pick for you between that prepared pasta which needs 15 minutes to re-heat and a prepared to serve lasagna, at that point go for the last mentioned. Envision if four visitors bring such warmth before-you-eat dishes, that is an entire hour lost in the kitchen as opposed to getting a charge out of the dinner – not to mention the force bill. Thusly, something that can be appreciated at room temperature is in every case best.

WHAT SIDES TO BRING TO BBQ POTLUCK?

Side dishes are a key part of each effective BBQ potluck. Truly, a BBQ potluck is a substantial undertaking from the very beginning. As the meat sizzles on the flame broil, just incredible side dishes will hold everybody under wraps. Ineffectively figured side dishes can undoubtedly occupy the entire focal point of the gathering to the meat alone. There are a ton of assortments to look over that you can bring along, running from pasta, servings of mixed greens, punches, and even takeaways. Truly? Indeed, takeaways likewise make incredible sides for bar-b-que!

Before we jump into the ideal or ideal cluster of flavorful and lavish side dishes to bring at a BBQ potluck, you to recall one brilliant standard;

Try not to bring an overwhelming dish. Dodge excessively hot, too garlicky, and peculiar fixings. A get-together isn't the best spot to explore that unusual outlandish formula that you haven't gave a shot all alone!

Truly, you Mr/Mrs. Test who likes to make another formula occasionally! Considering that, let us investigate the different bar-b-que sides you can bring along to a BBQ potluck.

NO-COOK SALADS:

Caprese Salad – This is an Italian work of art. All you need is a cluster of new tomatoes, basil, and mozzarella. We wager you have seen it around at most get-togethers. It's mainstream for its newness and tart taste.

Watermelon-feta serving of mixed greens sprinkled with mint – Watermelon carries a sweet touch to the sense of taste. It is anything but difficult to plan, and you can really blend the fixings on location for better taste. Mint consistently brings that newness.

Broccoli Salad – A pack of slaw and pre-destroyed broccoli blend is all you need. Perhaps the most straightforward plate of mixed greens to make.

Cucumber serving of mixed greens – This never gets old nor obsolete, any natural product plate of mixed greens besides. Include some tart dressing and a touch of onion for a healthy test. You can try different things with various dressings as new cucumbers are incredible dietary sources.

Smooth Coleslaw – The veteran of servings of mixed greens can prove to be useful. Take a stab at blending cabbages of various tones and sprinkling a touch of destroyed carrot. Dress it with mayo blended in with nectar and a touch of apple juice vinegar to a more full creamier taste.

COOKED SIDES

Leek Pasta Salad, Bacon, and Goat Cheese – A mix of bacon, leek, button mushrooms, red ringer pepper, and garlic give the base flavors. Pasta and white wine are added and permitted to cook to wed the flavors and decrease the wine. Include disintegrated goat cheddar top when serving. Trust us, it is wonderful for both the eyes and taste buds!

Blended Greens Salad – This might have been recorded on the no-cook plates of mixed greens, yet it requires broiling zucchini to finish it. The zucchini carries incredible flavor to a blend of kale, and green pea which can be presented with a rich dressing willingly. However, take a stab at including the Za'atar velvety dressing. You can set up this daily before the occasion by simmering the zucchini just as blending the kale in with vinaigrette. You can gather the full plate of mixed greens not long before serving at the occasion.

Barbecued at that point Marinated Veggies – Grill an assortment of veggies. Ensure they are of corresponding amounts. You can utilize summer squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, thick tomato cuts, asparagus, and different vegetables that won't lose taste because of the barbecue heat. Subsequent to flame broiling them, sprinkle with a spice vinaigrette and hang out for quite a while to get overall quite delicious. You can make it ahead and it shouldn't be warmed to eat. Flame broiled Veggies presented with a delicious bit of barbecued meat

Bean based Salads – This has been difficult for us to pinpoint just one for this post. However, any bean-based or lentil-based serving of mixed greens is a decent side dish at a BBQ potluck. Much the same as nursery servings of mixed greens, bean servings of mixed greens don't effortlessly get spongy, and an incredible wellspring of protein too. You can attempt the accompanying famous blends;

The heavier side dishes are not to be ignored on the grounds that they supplement the entire potluck experience. With a potato plate of mixed greens close by, your visitor will definitely get stuffed full. They are frequently present at each BBQ potluck, famous for their rich flavors.

Lasagna – This is a typical side dish all things considered BBQ potlucks. Regardless of how normal, lasagna stays mainstream among both the kids and grown-ups. You can attempt to include more cheddar for wealth and sprinkle some on top after re-warming.

lasagna

Heated or Grilled potatoes – an extraordinary wellspring of taxis and can keep the youngsters running while the grown-ups watch out for the flame broils. A heated potato can be blended in with an assortment of dressings. You can likewise attempt to serve along with enhanced margarine. Trust us, you won't think twice about it.

Pizza cuts – Surprise! Truly, you can likewise alongside a container or two of pizza. We felt anxious like you are doing well now when we saw one of our invitees acquiring 3 boxes, yet toward the finish of the occasion, there was not so much as a piece left. It can spare you, particularly on the off chance that you didn't have the opportunity to get ready.

Twisting up

Going to a BBQ potluck is without a doubt a good time for everybody, except just with aggregate exertion. Check with the host if the occasion is of a particular topic, and in the event that he/she needs something explicit from you. Toss in a portion of your best business bar-b-que rubs excessively just in the event that your host doesn't have assortment. Remember to evaluate others' dishes as well, they presumably put in a great deal of exertion to unite it. Appreciate!

[classywastelandbread-blog]

(Vegan) Potato-Leek Soup Recipe

There are a lot of notes on this one because I apparently have Very Strong Feelings about this haha.

(But I like food - a lot - so that doesn’t surprise me.)

If anyone wants any other recipes I may mention at any point in time, just ask! I love sharing recipes and ideas.

Potatoes

I think the original recipe called for 1lb but of course I used more

1 can coconut cream

Not milk

Not cream of coconut

Leeks

Original recipe called for two, I believe...of course I used like three or more

4 cups vegetable broth

2 Tbsp white miso

Prepare coconut cream by placing can in refrigerator upside-down.

Cut potatoes into even-sized chunks. Throw on the stove in a large stock pot to boil - as if making mashed potatoes. When the potatoes are cooked, strain and set aside, keeping the pot.

Slice and clean the leeks: 

Cut in half length-wise from root to tip. 

Slice off both ends - an inch from the root bulb and about an inch of each leaf. Discard other leaves and both ends. 

Chop into half-moons and pour into a bowl or a colander. 

Rinse carefully under running water - see notes for more information. 

Saute the leeks with a little bit of olive oil in the bottom of the pot until tender and translucent. 

Mix miso paste with enough water to make a slurry and add to the pot. 

Mash the cooked potatoes and add to the pot.

Add all but one cup of vegetable broth 

Remove coconut cream from refrigerator and turn right-side up. Scoop out the “fatty” portion (thick white stuff) and mix with remaining cup of vegetable broth until smooth. Add to pot. 

Using a hand blender, blend until smooth. 

Season to taste and let thicken to desired consistency. 

Serve however your little heart desires - I like to eat it with sourdough bread!

Notes:

Preparing the coconut cream....and yes, it must be coconut cream as all others (coconut milk, cream of coconut) won’t quite work. You can find this in the International Foods section of most grocery stores (at least in my area). 

The best way to describe it is that there is a “fatty” component and a “syrup” component to the can. By turning it upside down, it forces the denser component (the “syrup” component) to sink while the lighter component (”fatty”) rises. 

In the refrigerator it solidifies, allowing for it to be separated later.

Cutting the potatoes into even chunks means that they will all cook evenly at the same time. Am I lazy? Yes, absolutely. Do I always do this? Not at all. 

Cleaning and cooking leeks:

Leeks grow in sandy soil so that means that a lot of grit gets in between all of the leaves. That in turn makes it extremely difficult to clean when tiny particles of sand are caught in very small crevices. 

The best way I found to clean and treat leeks was to chop them to how I needed them to be and then wash them. Think of it as trying to clean grit out of the layers of an onion - once sliced, you can pull apart the layers of the leek and more easily rinse in between. 

Most literature - and personal discussion I’ve heard - regarding leeks says to only use the green parts but...I like all parts of the leek. It’s very much like a mild version of a green/spring onion and all parts of the stalk have their own merits. I also don’t much like the idea of wasting too much of my food, especially in terms of produce which is not only easy to waste, but also easy to save and use again. This is why when I use leeks, I use nearly the whole thing except for the very tips of the leaves and the very bottom of the stalk near the root bulb. This is, of course, personal and you are welcome to do whatever your little heart desires. 

Miso paste is a fun ingredient that comes in a small tub. It can vary in terms of whether or not it’s vegan so if that’s a concern, then you need to check the ingredients. Typically it will only say that there are soy beans and a few other ingredients but occasionally you’ll see a note that says “may contain bonito”. 

Most dashi broths have flavor and salt added from a particular type of preparation of bonito fish where they are dried, salted, and then shaved. Once water is added, they sort of dissolve and add a lot of flavor to a broth. 

You will not always see this in your typical grocery store, but some specialty places (like Wegman’s, Whole Foods, etc.) or larger stores will have them. It also depends on your area because 100% growing up I could always very easily find it. Now........not so much. 

Mixing the miso paste with water before adding it allows it to become incorporated into the ingredients without clumping. Controlling the lumps in a small portion is much easier than controlling a large portion in the pot. 

If you don’t have a hand blender, you can (very carefully) use a regular blender or a food processor.

You need to be careful that the blades do not get mucked up (primarily in the blender) or the hot liquid splashing up (primarily the food processor).

If you don’t mind a chunkier soup, it is also possible to continue without blending up the whole thing. Using a potato masher, you can get a lot of the chunks out so it resembles a chowder rather than a soup. Should this be the way you wanted to go, make sure you do the majority of the mashing before you add too much liquid. 

Feelings:

My friend is vegan but I am not. It’s an interesting relationship as a result haha. When I got to visit her, I’m “mostly vegan”, usually only when we’re cooking together. 

This was recently a recipe that I had found because I really like to play around with the idea of playing around with food to make it seem like it’s not vegan. It’s really interesting to me that a soup like this - cream-based - can be recreated in such a way that it is vegan. 

[benjamingarden]

Planning Our Summer Garden

I am so excited to report that I am starting my work in the garden this weekend!  The snow is gone, for the most part, and I have a few remaining raised beds from last year that I can plant first.  We (meaning my husband...) have to build more beds because we moved things around last fall.  We (husband) also have agreed to build us (me) a cold frame, a small coop in the garden area, and a FENCE!!!! I am so excited. It's been a few years of discussion and I am told that it will finally all come together this year.  The small coop was a new "to-do" list addition because I had the (brilliant) idea of closing the coop girls in the garden area in spring and fall to allow them to clean up the beds.  (it also will work to keep them and other wildlife out during the growing season, of course) Without the fencing it's nearly impossible to keep them focused on the garden beds, so fencing and a nesting box area (as well as shade, food and water) is a necessity. And the man with the skills (and tools) agrees. So, with that hurdle gone, the next hurdle was purchasing seeds.  Have you attempted this yet?  My goodness, I hope so.  It's way worse then years past, which I'm not surprised by.  Unfortunately I attempted it a bit late but I found just about everything I needed to add to my seeds that I've saved.

I determined what I will plant/not plant (and quantity) based on garden space and what we eat.

I eat raw greens every day, usually 3 times a day.  So I purchased a LOT of seeds for greens all season and then in the cold frame.  This includes lettuces, salad greens/mesclun mix, spinach, dandelion, arugula, and baby kale.

We've been eating a lot of beets, so I purchased quite a few more beet seeds then we've had in the past.  I'll plant them spring and late summer.

Carrots and onions are great fresh but they also store well in the fall/winter, so we'll do 2 plantings of each of them.

We add kale to soup and stews so I'll plant enough to freeze for fall/winter use.

I am the only one who eats mustard, collards and swiss chard.  I add these to soups and stews, but also sauté as a side dish, and use collards as a burrito-type wrap.  I won't plant too many of these.

We eat and freeze a LOT of bell peppers.  We have a local pick-your-own farm that we can get these from as well, but we always try to grow enough for fresh eating and freezing (we freeze 8 gallon sized bags of sliced peppers to get us through winter).  We aren't always successful at growing that many so Labor Day weekend we can pick them locally if needed.

I typically plant a little bit of corn because we like to pick it fresh.  We typically, however, purchase it from a local farm in a very large quantity.  We eat it fresh and freeze enough to get us through winter and spring.

We absolutely love brussels sprouts, however, they take up a large amount of space so I won't be planting them this year.  Instead we'll purchase them from the farmer's market.

I always plant too many summer squash/zucchini (usually 8 plants, 4 of each), and will likely do so this year as well.  We love it sautéed, baked, grilled, raw in salads and used in baking, so it all works out.  I freeze just a little bit, grated, for baking.

We like fresh cucumbers and quick-pickled cucumbers so I usually plant about 10 plants.  I don't can or ferment pickles because they are too salty and we don't eat them. 

I won't have enough room to plant all of the tomatoes that we would need.  We eat them fresh quite frequently and then we plan to can tomato sauce, crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes as well as freeze oven-roasted tomatoes.  I will also try a couple new salsa recipes for canning this year.  I will plant enough for fresh-eating and oven-roasting and we will pick, from the same farm we pick peppers at, enough for canning.

I have struggled with potatoes on and off.  I'll only plant 6 or 8 this year and we'll purchase the remainder from our farmer's market.

I have only grown sweet potatoes once before.  They were easy, but I wasn't eating them as much as I am now, so I've chosen to save garden space for other veggies in the past. This year, however, I will be planting quite a few for Oliver and myself to enjoy.

I have never had good luck with watermelon or cantaloupe.  It's a bummer because we eat them a lot.   I've decided to just purchase them from the farmer's market, as I inevitably have to do when the plants fail, rather than continue trying them.  Some day I'll try them again.

I eat broccoli every single day and Jay enjoys it as well so I will grow a lot of it for fresh eating and for freezing.  I'll do 2 large plantings of it.

I also eat a lot of cauliflower and Jay enjoys it from time-to-time.  I'll do 2 moderate plantings of this as well and we'll eat some fresh and freeze the remainder.

My fence (I'm told) won't be built until late summer/early fall, so I'm going to fence off one bed to grow cabbage in.  It seems that all of the wildlife that passes through our yard loves to feast on my cabbage, so hopefully this will allow us to harvest it before others take bites from each head.  I was not successful in getting seeds for red cabbage, so green is the only one I will be planting.

We really like fresh kohlrabi so I'll plant probably 8-12 plants for fresh eating.

I found that freezing jalapeno peppers & poblano peppers worked really well for us this year. I'll plant 5-6 jalapeno plants so we can enjoy some fresh, pickle some for canning, and then freeze both diced jalapenos and stuffed jalapenos.  For the poblanos, I'll plan on 5-6 plants so we can grill them and store in the freezer for use in soup, enchiladas, tacos or for stuffing.

I've had great success with tomatillos in the past so I'll plant probably 3-4 plants for fresh tomatillo sauce and salsa this summer.

We are growing mushrooms for the first time this year.  We bought shiitake plugs and then a boxed set for button mushrooms.  We shall see how that goes.  I'm not sure if it will be financially worth it or not.   I think if we get comfortable with it and can switch to purchasing sawdust spawn then it would be a cost savings (for the shiitake).  Not sure about the button mushrooms though.  I'll have to keep looking for better pricing to grow your own.  Comparatively, a 24 oz. package of button mushrooms are just over $4.00 at BJ's (when groceries are plentiful) so it will depend on how many this box produces.  The claim is "up to" 6 pounds.  We eat quite a lot of them so it would be nice if we can make it work.

We love green beans.  We eat a lot fresh but we actually don't mind them frozen.  I know a lot of people are turned off by their texture, but we still enjoy them so I usually grow a lot of these.  I'm going to try two new varieties this year as well.

Sugar snap peas are something we munch on all spring.  I am planting tons of these this month because I can use their space for cucumbers once they are done.  We freeze any excess (although we don't usually have much excess).  I haven't been planting shelling peas and won't be doing so this year.  I do love them in salads so maybe next year.

I've planted celery in the past and I have some seeds so I may plant a little bit.  I like to dice it and use it in salads and freeze it for soup.

We don't eat a lot of eggplant but we do enjoy a few dishes such as baba ganoush and eggplant parm in the fall so I always plant 3-4 plants and will do so this year.

I've started eating more radish so I'll probably increase my planting this year and do 2 plantings instead of just a spring planting.

We don't enjoy parsnips, turnips, fennel or okra (it's ok in soup but not my favorite) so I won't be planting these.  And leeks give Jay migraine's so we haven't had them since we figured that out about 14 years ago. 

We eat quite a bit of winter squash and our favorites are blue hubbard and sugar pumpkin.  They take up a lot of space so I usually plant only a couple plants of each of those and a couple each of delicata, acorn, and butternut.  If I have space I'll do that but with the increase plantings of the other veggies, I may default to the farmer's market and the pick-your-own field.

I adore bok choy both in stir fry and miso soup (Jay will eat it but it isn't his favorite) so I'll plant a few plants of it.

We have horseradish and asparagus already planted.  Best decision ever!  Our rhubarb is no longer around and I probably won't worry about that this year.  I would like to add more blueberry bushes and maybe another fruit tree to round out our fruit.  We currently have a grafted pear tree (6 varieties) and an Asian pear tree as well as a couple elderberry bushes.  We have a paw paw tree too but I keep forgetting to order another and there aren't any available locally.  It needs to cross pollinate.  Someday I will remember to do this before they are sold out.  We planted thornless blackberry two years ago so hopefully it will produce this year.  

I will plant herbs continuously throughout summer in containers on the deck again.  It worked really well last year.  I usually plant dill, basil, cilantro, oregano, chives, mint, thyme, sage, and parsley.  I dry what we don't use fresh for use later in the year.

I'm not planting shelling beans this year but would like to do so next year.

I would like to cut down what produce I buy from the grocery store throughout the winter.  I typically purchase mushrooms, greens, broccoli, carrots, onions, tomatoes (for salsa), potatoes, cilantro, and fruit regularly.  We always freeze enough corn, peppers (bell/jalapeno/poblano), berries, and green beans to get us to the start of summer.  I also keep winter squash in our basement as well as freeze some.  

This year I hope to grow enough greens throughout winter in the cold frame, micro greens in the basement, and find a good canned salsa recipe to cut those off of the grocery list.  Also I need to freeze enough broccoli & cauliflower (I prefer it fresh, but frozen is fine for winter), carrots, and onions to keep those off of the list as well.  This way I would only need mushrooms, potatoes and fruit in addition to pantry staples, meat and dairy.

What about you?  What will you be planting this year?

Planning Our Summer Garden was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

[iolitewitchcraft]

A family recipe and a little kitchen witchery

I’m gonna start this post by warning you all that I cannot cook. I can bake, sure - I make a seriously awesome red velvet cake! But cooking? Definitely not my thing. There’s no science to it. There’s no real precision. I don’t like not knowing how a recipe will come out.

But man, this borscht turns out amazing every time. I guess it’s pretty hard to mess up soup, but I had to share my version of this recipe with you guys. Everyone has their own spin on borscht, and everyone swears by their particular recipe (which has usually been passed down through generations). That being said, mine is the best.

If you’re not familiar with borscht, it’s an Eastern European beet soup that has an interesting sweet/sour flavor and a gorgeous bright red clear broth. My recipe isn’t vegetarian, but with a few tweaks it easily could be. It serves... Probably 8 people? I’m not sure exactly, but S.O. eats a lot and we still have a ton of leftovers. Maybe try halving the recipe? Either way, you’ll want a big soup pot.

Apologies for my photography skills - I promise it tastes better than it looks.

Ingredients

2 tbsp salted butter

1 white/yellow onion

1 bulb of garlic (about 10 cloves), roughly chopped

beer (maybe half a bottle)

6 medium-large beets

3 carrots

3 celery stalks

red cabbage (about a handful)

kielbasa or another sausage or meat (if raw, cook beforehand)

whole allspice (maybe 10 berries?)

2-4 bay leaves

8 cups chicken broth

4 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tsp sugar (optional)

salt and pepper

Directions

Start by chopping up all your veggies and meat into soup-sized chunks. I don’t know how big/small they’re supposed to be. I just try to avoid having anything thicker than half an inch so that it doesn’t take too long to cook.

Melt the butter at the bottom of your pot and throw in your chopped onions and garlic. Cook on medium heat (or be like me and turn it way up because you’re impatient) until the onions start to get translucent, then throw in a splash of the beer. Keep cooking them until you ~feel~ like they’re ready - just don’t quite caramelize them!

Throw in all those other veggies you’ve cut up. And the meat, and allspice, and bay leaves. Mix it together and get everything nice and coated in that oniony beer mixture. Then add your chicken broth (it’s supposed to be beef broth, but I don’t eat beef) and the rest of the beer and let it cook for a good long while until the vegetables are soft.

Right before you serve the borscht, add the vinegar, as well as the sugar, salt, and pepper as you think is necessary. You might strain the vegetables out and serve it as a clear red broth, or you can leave them in and have a good chunky soup (though I usually at least pick some of the beet slices out). Borscht can be served hot or cold, but if it’s cold you almost definitely want to strain it. It’s usually served with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprinkle of fresh dill.

Witching It

With such a huge variety of ingredients, you could take this soup in several different directions magic-wise. 

First, we have love - in the context of romance, for the most part. A few of the ingredients apply to general love (beets, bay leaves, sugar, and dill), but most have sexual connotations or other factors relating to romance (butter, onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and allspice). Stir a little love into this recipe and share it with your significant other to strengthen your bond!

Protection and purification could be another use for this soup. Nearly every ingredient has some protective, purifying, or grounding influence, making this an excellent soup to eat after a spell or ritual to bring you back to earth and cleanse yourself of any unwanted residual energy. 

And finally, borscht is a healing soup that, in my opinion, is even better than chicken soup! Keep a bit in your freezer to warm up when you’re not feeling great. It’s got tons of healthy ingredients and tastes good even when you can’t taste much. Even better, it’s nearly as good cold, so it requires minimal work when you’re low on spoons (just don’t leave it in your fridge for more than 4-5 days).

If you’d like to modify it for a different intent, try adding different veggies (the beets, onions, and celery are the only really necessary ones). You could experiment with potatoes, parsnips, leeks, or tomatoes in hot borscht, or, if you plan to serve it cold, try adding some freshly chopped cucumber and scallions after it's been chilled.

The herbs also vary from recipe to recipe - many swear by marjoram, while some add parsley, caraway, or even horseradish. You might also replace the vinegar with fresh lemon juice (double the amount) if you’re making your borscht specifically for love. 

The beer is my family’s “secret ingredient”. I’ve never seen it in any recipes online, and I’ve never made borscht without it, so I’m not sure if it’s necessary (either way, the alcohol burns off when the soup cooks, so you don’t need to worry about that). When I make this recipe, I add the beer as a tribute to my ancestors and local spirits (and I always set out a little bowl of the borscht for them). You might choose to do the same - try using a great-grandparent’s favorite beer, or a beer brewed near to your ancestral home.