Funny Green Eggplant Soup

My poor mother got told by my sisters that I managed to make eggplant soup pea green. Actually I had made Asparagus Lemon Soup, it was the only vegetarian recipe I found and because I had no broth at all, I needed a soup with a lot of flavor. My yummy work is still in the fridge waiting for me to be like Eric Carmen.

1 pound fresh asparagus

3/4 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup vegetable broth

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup yogurt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

knife
saucepan with cover
blender
whisk
measuring spoons
measuring cups

Directions
1. Place asparagus and onion in a saucepan with 1/2 cup vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until the vegetables are tender.

2. Reserve a few asparagus tips for garnish. Place remaining vegetable mixture in an electric blender and puree until smooth.

3. Melt butter in the pan that was used for simmering the asparagus and onions. Stir while sprinkling flour, salt, and pepper into the butter. Do not let the flour brown. Allow the mixture to cook only 2 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and increase the heat. Continue stirring until the mixture comes to a boil.

4. Stir the vegetable puree and milk into the saucepan. Whisk yogurt into the mixture, followed by lemon juice. Stir until heated through, then ladle into bowls. Garnish with reserved asparagus tips. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving Calories: 134 Total Fat: 5.7g Cholesterol: 15mg Powered by ESHA Nutrient Database

Mayonaise

My stepdad bought this wonderful sounding mayonaise with cracked pepper, but it's got so much cracked pepper that you can hardly stand to use it in anything. But I have found some things I like it in. Here's my recipe for this semi awful condiment.

Tuna Fish Melt

1 can water packed tuna fish
1 tablespoon cracked pepper mayo
1 medium tomato
2 slices swiss cheese
2 slices bread
cooking spray

knife
tablespoon
can opener
plate
small frying pan

1. Open and drain tuna fish, give to water to whatever animal is making themselves pesky.
2. Dice tomato so it looks like relish, mix into tuna fish, then mix in mayonaise.
3. Take one slice of swiss cheese and put over each piece of bread so the tuna goes in the middle.
4. Spoon tuna mix onto bread.
5. Spray the frying pan and cook sandwich until bread is light brown and the cheese squeezes out the side.

and because probably no other culture does something so unhealthy to their   serving of omega-threes, I'll say haga chic los dedos.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan -

I have two thoughts for tonight, either I'm really bad at baking eggplant or it's better fried, and I need to stop adding extra calories to my meals, even veggie calories. I took baked eggplant parmesan, and immediately added shredded carrots, extremely diced broccoli, and smattering of frozen spinach to my spaghetti sauce. The recipe said cut the slices of eggplant to a half inch thick, I cut them thinner. Spray both side of the pieces with cooking spray, and coat with bread crumbs. Then bake at 450 f for 30 minutes, remove tray and spread mozzarella cheese, put back in oven for two minutes. Heat your favorite spaghetti sauce on the stove top and serve three slices of eggplant with 1/2 cup of it for each serving.

Burgundy Cream Vegetable Noodles

I usually harp on, try, and enjoy making everything from scratch but I only had fifteen minutes to get dressed, cook, and pack for an overnight. So I used tomato soup as the base for spaghetti sauce, and left over roasted asparagus, and quick cooking egg noodles.

1 can ready to serve Cambell's tomato soup
1 table spoon burgundy wine
1 table spoon cream cheese
chives and parsley to taste

1 1/2 cups egg noodles
roasted vegetables: asparagus, mushrooms, peppers, broccoli, spinach
(mix any or all)
olive oil

2 sauce pans
1 tablespoon
sieve
cork screw
1 mixing spoon

1. If your starting with raw vegetables drizzle with olive oil and put in the oven. (or take cooked out of the fridge.)

2.  Pour soup into one of the sauce pans, drop in tablespoon of cream cheese, using same tablespoon pour in the burgundy. Mix in chives, and parsley over low heat.

3. Start at the same time the boiling water. Put in a pinch of salt. When the water starts boiling pour in noodles.

4. Remove vegetables from oven when tender, drain the noodles and mix both with the sauce.

Roasted Mushroom Asparagus Parmesan

Yum, yum, yum, yum, I had asparagus that I needed to cook immediately before it went bad. I'm now obsessed with this nutrient rich fern. Meals should be a slice of Elysium and asparagus, mushrooms, and peppers would bring Hades to the table.

1/2 lb. asparagus

6 button mushrooms

1 1/2 cups milk

1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

4 cups cooked spaghetti
1/4 fresh red pepper
1 tsp. garlic
sweet basil
chives
parsley
pepper
salt
olive oil
flour
shredded mozzarella cheese

knife
fork
sieve
sauce pan

frying pan

glass stove pan

1. Preheat oven to to 450 F.

2. Remove woody stems, chop asparagus into 1'' sections, chop mushrooms and julienne peppers.
3. Mix into glass pan, toss with olive oil and cracked pepper, place in oven for about 30 mins.
4. Set water to boil and leave spaghetti to cook in sauce pan.
5. Blend garlic, basil, chives, and parsley and pour milk over it in frying pan.

6. Turn heat on low, slowly stir in all the parmesan, when warm blend in flour until thick.

7. Drain spaghetti, and plate vegetables, pour cheese.

And have a warmed over heart attack.

No groceries for a year

I've heard about this challenge and would love to be able to do this. This year my garden provided for about six of my meals and Mrs Tuttle's provided a few others. I collected eggs, apples, tomatoes, eggplants, blueberries, and blackberries. I want room to plant more, and may have found a way, the volunteers at the Live and Let Live Farm, can help in their organic garden and take home both knowledge and food. I wonder if I'll ever be able to make things like egg drop soup, minus the salt, directly from my own yard.

Egg drop soup

2 large eggs
3 cups water
parsley
chives
salt

optional: corn or mushrooms

pot
measuring cup 

1. Turn on stove burner, combine all the water; parsley, chives, and salt to taste.
2. Let water boil for five minutes.
3. Crack open eggs, drop them in and stir.

http://www.liveandletlivefarm.org/

Ovo-vegetarian

I'm trying hard to be an ovo-vegetarian only. I can get my eggs cruelty free from my boyfriends family, not so with milk and cheese. Then my friend makes his fresh caught by him tuna steaks, homemade cream of mushroom soup with organic milk, rice pilaf, broccoli, and corn. And layers it into that dreaded tuna casserole and again I'm back to being a pescatarian who has to physically concentrate on not adding the alot less then fantastic ingredients to my own food. I wish for a world where we could trade organic foods rather than needing cash for them.

Asparagus

I cooked Asparagus Officinalis or very obviously those yummy green stalks that pop up in spring and have charmed people since the time of De re coquinara to the George Foreman grill cookbook. I was going to pick the unused Asparagus from Rob's garden next year for my mom, but hey she decided to forfeit the treasures from my gathering sessions. So anyway I've decided to cook Asparagus again, again, and again. My recipe last night was soy sauce, chopped cashews, sesame and flax seeds. I added the cashews to obtain protein because I didn't know Asparagus carried protein in it's very cells.

Soy crusted Asparagus

1/2 pound fresh Asparagus
1/4 cup cashews
sesame seeds and flax seeds to taste
3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 medium sauce pan
measuring cups
knife
wax paper
cookie tray

1. Preheat the oven to 150 F.
2. Clean, steam, and cook the asparagus until just soft.
3. Finely chop the cashews.
4. Add the cashews, and seeds to the covered cookie tray and put in the oven.
5. Mix cashews, and seeds with the Asparagus, drizzle with soy sauce.

Cherry Tomatoes

I knew nothing about hybrid plants beyond the fact that they existed. I didn't know that unlike dogs breeds that have been breed together, like the pug and the beagle, which can have the next generation breed one pugle with another pugle to become purebred animals, plants genetic structures break down in following generations. So I blithely planted unknown half rotten cherry tomatoes in a broken purple pot I got for free. I planted from seed in late May instead of late February or March when more experienced planters start their seeds inside. They grew spindly plants that have finally born fruit that I'm checking daily hoping and begging that they ripen and taste good so I can cut one and save the seeds for next years growth. The internet sources I have read say that saving your own seeds eventually, if you choose healthy plants with good production, will lead you to have plants uniquely suitable for your garden. Please let all my fuck ups and experiments actually lead to something good for once. I have had only one of my fuck ups lead to something good. I now know how to apologize but the one person I want to be forgiven by won't listen, so hopefully the good that comes out of my garden won't be so painfully earned.

Stuffed Italian Eggplant

1 large Eggplant
1 small tomato
2 button mushrooms
2 tblsp olive oil
parsley
salt
pepper
mozzarella
pairing knife
oven safe dish
spoon

Preheat oven to 350.

Cut the eggplant into circles, and peel.

Core every piece leaving a little at the bottom.

Dice the tomato, and mushrooms.

Drizzle with olive oil and garnish with parsley, and mozzarella.

Cook for 25 minutes, serve.

Ivory Egg Tomatoes

I haven't written in the past couple days. I have doing internet digging instead of the physical kind. I've been looking for seedlings for Ivory Egg tomatoes. I only found traders or sellers in Chester Mass or Upstate New York. I don't have enough sunlight, space, or experience to start plants inside from seed. Does anyone have these plants in New Hampshire? I'd love to find a tomato both my boyfriend and I might like. Plus, I like the idea of doing a heritage garden, and trying something my ancestor Anna C. Johnson had eaten other than Rye bread.

Applesauce

Ever wonder why we use imitation vanilla it's because those black sticks are so, so, so expensive. The extract from them can when made by Watkins company up to $124 per quart and as little as $89 per quart. Then Mt. Williams imititation vanilla is $19 per quart. Now you're wondering why I'm talking about vanilla when the title of this post is applesauce, aren't you? My boyfriend Rob and his family have apples they don't use so as long as I trot myself up the ladder to get them I have about a six year supply that rounds itself out every year. I made plain applesauce this time and canned it, but next year I might make GOURMET APPLESAUCE and add vanilla or homemade caramel. Hopefully by then I'll have a job so I can afford to fail at making my own food.

Basics

I totally missed the basic steps to creating a garden. My soil was undernourished clay based scum from underneath a destroyed porch, and yes I expected it to grow vegetables! Later i used my intelligence to look up soil improvements. My suggestion for clay heavy soil is to mix environmentally safe rabbit litter, chicken manure, hay, chopped maple leaves deep into the soil, using a rototiller. Actually know the variety of vegetables or plants you have and give them proper space. Release earthworms into your garden they really help and they mean less work for you. Then finally occasionally loosening the topsoil to allow water to sink into the ground.