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Autumn Vegetable Stew with Mashed Sweet Potato Topping

By mlb, on October 22nd, 2006%

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At Thanksgiving this year, we are having two non-meat-eating guests, which is not a super big thing as I myself was one of those types for many years. Because of this, I understand the holiday meal made of mashed potatoes, green beans and rolls. So, I have been trying to come up with some sort of main dish for them, along with the non-meat sides, of course.

I kept envisioning a vegetarian shepherd’s pie, which after throwing all of my ingredients together, is pretty much the kind of dish that I came up with here. And the best part? It can be made and assembled the day before, stored in the refrigerator and baked in about 30 minutes — while the turkey rests, I’m thinking. Perfect!

Aside from it fitting in the schedule nicely, it was also very good. jwa and I had a practice meal last week — I . . . → Read More: Autumn Vegetable Stew with Mashed Sweet Potato Topping

5 comments   Autumn, Comfort Food, Holiday, Pumpkin & Squash, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian

Soup Experiment: Delicata Squash & Sweet Potato Soup with Hazelnuts & Sage

By mlb, on October 18th, 2006%

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This is one of the best kinds of recipes — one of the recipes where you just throw everything together that you think will be pretty good and it is. The kind that works pretty much like you hoped it would. One of the things that I love about Fall soups is that you can just simmer vegetables with broth, blend them up and the result pretty much always works out.

This soup also has many of my favorite Fall ingredients — squash, sage, hazelnuts and pears. In fact, that’s pretty much how I came up with it — everything I like about the season in a blender. In this version I used vegetable stock and water, as I was testing it out as a soup for vegetarians, but feel free to use chicken broth. Or even a combination of chicken broth with a little apple juice. Really, . . . → Read More: Soup Experiment: Delicata Squash & Sweet Potato Soup with Hazelnuts & Sage

9 comments   Autumn, Comfort Food, Holiday, Pumpkin & Squash, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Winter

Sake-Poached Salmon with Mango & Soy Dressing over Noodles

By mlb, on October 16th, 2006%

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This is the meal we had during a break from the armoir assembly. It may sound like a lot of steps but it comes together very quickly. And it was really good — I loved the soy dressing. The original didn’t call for wasabi but I had some wasabi oil from Trader Joe’s and decided to add some of that — so good. If you don’t have a TJ’s by you (or you don’t want to get any wasabi oil) just add a little wasabi to the blender with the other ingredients — but just a little.

The mango adds both a nice texture and a sweet compliment to the spicy and the salty. And what can I say about the udon noodles besides — I love noodles! Soba noodles will work too, though.

Oh and I have a question for all you expert salmon poachers out there. . . . → Read More: Sake-Poached Salmon with Mango & Soy Dressing over Noodles

6 comments   Asian, Fish & Seafood, Fruit

Saturday Night Fun: Assembling Furniture

By mlb, on October 15th, 2006%

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We recently decided to get a TV armoir to hide the television when not in use and to make the living room look a little nicer. Not wanting to spend thousands of dollars, we opted to buy something we would assemble ourselves. We did and it was pretty much hitchless. Sure, the first item assembled — a drawer — got taken apart twice (!) to fix misreading the directions (twice), but after that, it came together nicely.

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And so it begins. Everthing is unpacked and laid out on the floor. Huh. That’s a lot of pieces.

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jwa devises an evil plan for world domination with a Target armoir. It involves a screwdriver, wood glue and some salty language.

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It’s starting to take form around 10:15 pm. We began the project around 7:00 but had an hour break for dinner around 8:00. . . . → Read More: Saturday Night Fun: Assembling Furniture

Leave a comment   House, Misc.

Zucchini & Sweet Potato Soup with Mint & Pistachios

By mlb, on October 12th, 2006%

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I have been on a soup kick, which is pretty easy for me because I love soup. Mostly creamy soups but I don’t feel that guilty about it, because I almost never use actual cream. I use a potato for creaminess. Oh, and a big blender.

This soup came about because I had four zucchinis that I needed to use. I grabbed a sweet potato to add to the fun and some mint from out front, for I love the combination of zucchini and mint. Going with the green theme, I tossed in a handful of pistachios and ended up with a great, filling and healthy soup.

And it’s even better the next day!

Zucchini & Sweet Potato Soup with Mint & Pistachios
3 cups chicken broth or water
4 small/medium zucchinis (about 5-6 inches long), halved and diced
1 medium white onion, diced
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 . . . → Read More: Zucchini & Sweet Potato Soup with Mint & Pistachios

2 comments   Autumn, Pumpkin & Squash, Recipes, Soups & Stews, Summer, Vegetables
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