"Better than Chicken Soup" Soup

Despite the fact that spring has sprung, my birthday is around the corner, and I had spent a sunny Sunday watching a baseball double-header and eating ice cream, I whispered and pleaded my way through a day at work. I accidentally got to work early and took a nap on the couch in my classroom until a few minutes before students would arrive. This should have been my first warning sign. By 2 pm I was ready to cry every time someone made me use my voice (i.e. "Can I go to the bathroom?" "What are we supposed to be doing?" "Can I use the computer?" "What's our math homework?")

When I find myself sniffling, aching, or hacking, I make this soup. That is, of course, if I don't feel too bad to cook and don't just buy Whole Foods Chicken Noodle Soup, which, by the way, is worth every penny of the 799 it costs.

Whole Foods Market, The 'Better than Chicken Soup' Soup Recipe

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 6-8 shiitake mushrooms, sliced
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 cups fresh kale, julienned
• 1 cup butternut squash, cut into 1/4" cubes
• 2 tbs. grated ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (if you can handle it)
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1 tsp. miso paste

Directions:

1. Over medium-high heat, saute onion and garlic in the oil for about three minutes.
2. Stir in the turmeric and mushrooms, saute for another two minutes.
3. Add the broth, kale, squash, ginger, and cayenne. Bring the soup to a boil.
4. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Remove the soup from heat. After it cools slightly, add the lemon juice and miso (adding the miso when the soup is too hot will cause the miso to lose some of its nutrients). Cover and let sit for five minutes before serving.

What makes it so beneficial?

• Garlic: Helps increase the power of your immune system, while decreasing the duration of a cold.
• Turmeric & Cayenne: These spices help support your immune spices. Plus, spicy foods, like cayenne, help clear sinuses.
• Shiitake Mushrooms: You can also use reishi, maitake, and cordyceps. These mushrooms contain compounds that stimulate your immune system.
• Kale: Dark, leafy greens like kale contain immune boosters: beta-carotene, lutein, and lycopene.
• Butternut Squash: This squash is rich with Vitamin A, which helps the production and activity of some white blood cells.
• Ginger: The benefits of ginger are endless, but it is known for supporting your immune system.
• Fresh Lemon: Hello Vitamin C! Vitamin C aids white blood cell production and healthy inflammation response. Vitamin C can be taken preventively to decrease the severity and duration of your cold.
• Miso: This soybean paste contains probiotics, helping your body maintain healthy levels of bacteria.

It had been awhile since I made this soup (health!), so I didn't remember the kale or the butternut squash when I was at the market last night. They definitely make it a lot more toothsome, but it has all the same flavor without. And while the miso adds a nice touch, it's impossible to buy a container small enough for me to feel efficient about purchasing it, so I went without that too.

L'chaim!

New Year, New Fruit!

It's been awhile, I know.

Happy New Year! Because even though it's almost Valentine's Day, the Lunar Near Year was only 3 days ago!

As I was grocery shopping for a big New Year's weekend full of celebrations, my eco-conscious friend strongly suggested I buy only fruit grown in the U.S. I agreed, though disappointed that our brunch-making wouldn't include berry speckled fruit salads. The grocery store didn't offer much but citrus. Have you any idea how much of our winter fruit comes from Chile?! So in addition to navel oranges and grapefruits we bought a pomelo. What is a pomelo, you ask?


Pomelo is an ancestor of today's grapefruit. Mine was rather green and oddly light-weight. It had an incredibly thick skin--between 1/3 to 1/2 inch--and a thick layer of feathery pith underneath. Peeling that white stuff off was like what I imagine pulling cotton balls apart might be like if pulling cotton balls didn't make the skin inside my ears tingle.

There was a lot of waste...


And then there was beautiful salmon-pink fruit, a bit dry (hence being oddly light-weight), but I personally enjoyed that it didn't run down my chin with juiciness and it was more bitter than sour. The larger than grapefruit "juice pockets" reminded me of the frozen grapefruit I ate in Copenhagen last summer.

I haven't seen any pomelos since, but if I did, I'd gladly spend another 15 minutes peeling one.

Michelle Rhee knows Soul food?!

I like Michelle Rhee. There I said it. Maybe don't tell any public school teachers, though, okay? So I was interested to hear that she's in the know about some of the best soul food in DC, which happens to be located in a church basement. I must check this out.

Michelle Rhee’s Favorite D.C. Restaurants Run the Gamut

Hummble Sandwich

Summer...the most glorious season for produce...is gone. Well, at least the local peaches are gobbled up, and I go back to work/school on Tuesday. And shamefully, I didn't enjoy the glorious produce much this summer. Traveling kept me from making the farmers' market a weekly endeavor (Lord knows I tried!) as well as doing much of any grocery shopping.

Excuses, excuses, right?

Because my grocery store endeavors and cooking have been almost non-existent, tonight I made myself a Hummble Sandwich. Hummus, grated carrot, marinated artichoke hearts on a super thin whole wheat bun, open-faced. Get it, Humm-ble? Humm-us. Ok, I probably didn't need to spell that out for you. It is humble, but also good for me (you, too), amazingly filling, and quite attractive with zillions of bright orange shreds dangling off the edges. Mmm...almost makes me want another one. Oh, and did I mention...it's so cheap. Like, equivalent of a 25 cent pack of ramen noodles, perhaps. This might become my go-to-lunch this school year. I'm also starting to brainstorm variations and additions, thinly sliced cucumber, olives (if I could stand them), greens, tomato, chopped red onion, pickles, hard-boiled egg, ful made with fava beans (something new to me, but why not?!) ...do you have any ideas?

I've made hummus a few times, but have generally preferred the taste of some store-bought. My current favorite is Whole Foods store brand. I've tried many from Trader Joe's but can never remember if I prefer the one with tahini or without. (You should see me at the grocery store, ogling ingredient lists; it's ridiculous.) In researching accompaniments to hummus, I came across this article from the San Francisco Chronicle. My three take-aways are:
1) I must try making ful, slow-cooked fava beans with lemon and garlic, to eat with hummus.
2) Hummus should be made from dried chickpeas* than have been soaked overnight, not canned.
3) Hummus should be made with less and higher quality oil and processed longer. This sounds like a reasonable explanation of the key to thick and smooth (not grainy) hummus.
I know I said three, but...
4) Hummus needs cumin. My sister told me this a few weeks ago and I'm not sure why it seemed like a revelation.

Maybe the autumn squashes and the crisp breezes--don't think they're getting to DC anytime soon--will renew my resolve to get back in the kitchen, but for now I think I'll eat a few more Hummble Sandwiches.

Can I make one more excuse for not cooking? or not blogging? or maybe both? My camera broke a few weeks ago and I can't commit to another model. I want my camera back. I know how to work all the buttons! Why cook if I can't take a picture of it? Why blog if I can't post a picture? I know that's what you really want to see.

Excuses...


* i.e. chickpeas: A good friend once told me that she thought her dad made up the name "garbanzo beans" to be funny until she heard people call chickpeas garbanzos in college!