Celebrate National Soup Month, with six delicious, savory soups

January is National Soup Month. (It’s also National Blood Donor Month, but I’ll leave that topic to the Twilight bloggers.) Here are a half dozen soup recipes from the Blue Kitchen archives—and from fellow bloggers.

My first memory of soup is when I was seven. My mom, my baby brother and I had just come to stay with my grandmother in St. Louis. It was December, and we were arriving from Southern California; the snow outside the train window as we pulled into Union Station was the first I remembered seeing. My grandmother had a big pot of vegetable soup on the stove—its aroma filled her apartment as we walked in.

This sounds like epiphany time for someone who loves food as much as I do, doesn’t it? It wasn’t. To my limited, suspicious seven-year-old palate, the soup was a vegetable-filled nightmare. I fished out the chewy meat bites, probably short ribs, and had visions of starving to death if we stayed at my grandmother’s very long. Continue reading “Celebrate National Soup Month, with six delicious, savory soups” →

Berry, beery satisfying: Beef Pot Roast with Beer and Juniper Berries

Flavorful, inexpensive beef chuck roast, braised for hours in a low oven with beer, juniper berries, onion, garlic, potatoes and carrots, is the very definition of comfort food on a winter evening. Recipe below.

WHEN THE FIRST REAL SNOWSTORM OF THE SEASON IS PREDICTED, most people stock up on sidewalk salt. I bought a chuck roast.

The snow began falling in the morning, not heavy but persistent. I happened to be working from home, and I watched the snow coating first the lawns, trees and bushes, then the sidewalks and the street outside the study window. I also kept an impatient eye on the clock, eager to start cooking our first pot roast of the year. Continue reading “Berry, beery satisfying: Beef Pot Roast with Beer and Juniper Berries” →

Fast food fast tracks Indian cuisine to mainstream

In my latest USA Character Approved Blog post, a bevy of new Indian fast food restaurants reflects the mainstreaming of food from the Subcontinent here.

Fast food gets a bad rap, often for good reason. But something it does well, I think, is spot culinary cultural trends and help make them mainstream. In many cases, it even speeds them along.

One of the latest cuisines getting the fast food fast track treatment is Indian food. Living in Chicago, we’re blessed with lots of good options for Indian food, especially along Devon Avenue. The many restaurants along the crowded street are stuffed with Indian and Pakistani immigrants as well as growing numbers of adventurous Westerners. But dinners there are often protracted affairs, and for the uninitiated, the menus can be daunting. Continue reading “Fast food fast tracks Indian cuisine to mainstream” →

One-pan impromptu in the key of winter: Pork Chops with Chickpeas, Spinach and Cumin

Chickpeas and spinach bring big health benefits to this hearty one-pan meal. Cumin, chili powder, garlic and onion bring big flavor. Recipe below.

This meal wasn’t going to be a post. It was just meant to be dinner. But suddenly, the kitchen was smelling heavenly (assuming there’s cumin in heaven, and I certainly hope so). And when I served the chops and spooned the chickpea spinach mixture next to them, the plates looked really inviting. So before cutting into my chop, I had Marion taste hers. She smiled and nodded, and here we are.

This particular dish came together because we’ve been eating too much chicken. We love chicken, but even for us, there’s been a lot of it. So when I saw a nice looking pair of pork chops in the grocery store, I grabbed them. My first thought for sides were mashed potatoes and a salad, quick and easy. But we’ve been doing those a lot lately too. Continue reading “One-pan impromptu in the key of winter: Pork Chops with Chickpeas, Spinach and Cumin” →

Bake in it, serve in it, then bury it in the yard: Biodegradable, compostable bakeware

Biosphere Industries and its biodegradable, compostable bakeware and serveware made from tapioca are the subject of my latest post on the USA Character Approved Blog.

For having such a tiny garden plot, we compost a lot. (And by we, I mean Marion, of course, the same we who does our gardening.) So when we started seeing compostable “plastic” drinking cups made from corn in some of our favorite takeout places, we got excited. Until we read the fine print. Turns out they take up to 180 days to compost in commercial composting facilities; try composting them in a home system, and they can take a year or more.

Not so with the bakeware, plates and other serving pieces from Biosphere Industries. Introduced last summer, their tapioca-based pie pans, muffin trays and other containers compost in just 10 days in commercial facilities. Continue reading “Bake in it, serve in it, then bury it in the yard: Biodegradable, compostable bakeware” →

Sweet, savory, quick, delicious: Sweet Potato Sage Pasta with Chicken

A handful of fresh ingredients—sweet potato, sage, onion, garlic and chicken—make a sweet/savory pasta dish that’s weeknight quick. Recipe below.

With holiday excesses behind us, it’s good to get back to quick, simple, everyday cooking. This dish is one of my favorite examples of that kind of cooking, in that involves fresh ingredients, using up leftovers and unexpected synapses firing.

One thing I’ve noticed in writing about food for the past five years or so is that it makes me think about food, a lot. Sometimes it seems that everything I see or read or hear or smell or taste has the potential to inspire some cooking idea. Continue reading “Sweet, savory, quick, delicious: Sweet Potato Sage Pasta with Chicken” →

Fighting food deserts and taking the week off

Holidays, birthdays, houseguests and other pleasant distractions have kept us preoccupied in the kitchen this week. We’ve mainly been whipping up reliable favorites or ordering in pizza to keep everyone fed and happy. So no recipe this week. But don’t worry, we’ll cook up something fresh next week.

Instead, I’d like to tell you about my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. One of the great things about writing pieces for this blog is discovering cool new things in food—everything from chefs to trends, restaurants, cookbooks and people working to help us all eat healthier. Stockbox Grocers is one of the coolest stories I’ve come across in a while. Continue reading “Fighting food deserts and taking the week off” →

The joys of wasting not, wanting not for the holidays: A simple Italian Celery Soup

Leftover celery teams up with chicken, carrots, tomato paste and rice to become Minestra del Sedano, a satisfying meal in a bowl (recipe below). And a pair of utilitarian holiday gifts lead to hidden urban treasure.

This time of year, food magazines, websites and blogs are awash in holiday recipes. How to make the perfect Hanukkah latke or Christmas roast, countless cookie recipes, vegan holiday menus… Sometimes, I’ve jumped into the fray, with Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies, a Cherry Orange Loaf Cake inspired by a gift my grandmother received as a child and even a dinner for two for friends spending their first married Christmas together.

Other years, I’ve skipped recipes in favor of my grandmother’s story, a poem remembered from grade school and even our non-traditional traditional Christmas Eve dinner (and yes, we’re going again this year). Continue reading “The joys of wasting not, wanting not for the holidays: A simple Italian Celery Soup” →

Lamb, onions and potatoes become comfort food with an English accent: Lancashire Hotpot

This take on Lancashire hotpot—traditional English food at its most comforting—is made with lamb, onions and carrots topped with sliced potatoes and baked until fork tender. Recipe below.

DON’T YOU HATE IT WHEN A GOOD MYTH GETS DEBUNKED? Turns out one of Mark Twain’s cooler quotes may never have been uttered by him. I say ‘may’ because while no one can find it in his writings anywhere, they also can’t find anyone else who said it. Continue reading “Lamb, onions and potatoes become comfort food with an English accent: Lancashire Hotpot” →

Kids teaching kids to cook and a Last-Minute Holiday Gift Guide

A new web series starring cooking kids is the subject of my latest Character Approved Blog post. And some last-minute holiday gift ideas from the king of the procrastinators.

Our girls were introduced to the kitchen early. I remember Marion sitting on the kitchen floor with them when they were toddlers, mixing bowls and measuring cups spread out around them. The girls would spoon, stir, mix and measure ingredients that would become a gingerbread or cake or some other delicious baked treat.

Lately, getting kids cooking is being seen as a powerful tool for teaching good eating habits. And as the epidemic of childhood obesity and its attendant health risks continue unabated, those good eating habits are more important than ever. Continue reading “Kids teaching kids to cook and a Last-Minute Holiday Gift Guide” →