Saturday, January 14, 2012

Delicious Soup


Delicious Soup

1 tbs olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
l small onion, chopped
2 carrots, grated or chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 - 2 tsp cumin, to taste
3 - 4 cups water and appropriate amount of bullion, or stock
1/4 cup split red lentils (more if you want a thicker soup), rinsed
1/2 cup cooked rice

Optional protein of your choice, such as: shrimp, fish, chicken, sausage, tofu, egg...

Heat the oil in a medium pot over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and onion and saute until the onion is starting to become translucent.  Add the carrot and celery and saute for another 3 - 5 minutes.  Add the cumin and stir to combine.  Add the water and bullion or stock and the split red lentils.  Bring to a boil, lower to simmer and cook for 20 minutes.  Add the cooked rice during the last minute.

Depending on the nature (raw, cooked?) of your optional protein - add or precook it accordingly.  If you have leftover meat or fish this soup is begging for it.  We add raw egg to soup a lot - it will cook up in the last minute if you stir it around.  For this amount of soup, 1 or 2 eggs would be fine - too much egg-to-soup results in thick wet custard - not delicious.  Alternate or additional veggie could include broccoli, sweet potato, spinach, cabbage, mushrooms...  In lieu of rice, other grain additions could include a small handful of quinoa, barley, or Israeli couscous.  Depending on the grain, you could use it raw and add along with the liquid (quinoa or couscous, for example, would cook within 20 minutes).

It's extra delicious topped with sour cream or plain yogurt, grated cheese, fresh herbs, a squeeze of lemon or lime, hot sauce or anything else you like.

3 - 4 servings

As I wrote out this recipe I thought Mark Bittman, in particular his article, "Chop, Fry, Boil: Eating for One, or 6 Billion."  Worth a read or reread.  The idea of getting into a groove of cooking without a recipe per se, instead to your own particular tastes with simple ingredients is very compelling to me.
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M's menu today consisted of a bowl of cereal and strawberries for breakfast, a day old pancake (buttered and syrup-ed) and peanut butter crackers for snack, pizza (mostly bites of the crust) and a few antipasto bits for lunch, a chocolate croissant and "coffee" (a big cup of warm milk with a little decaf cappuccino foam) and a scrambled egg with spinach for afternoon snack.... Needless to say, by dinner some veggies and a non-carb laden offering was in order.  This soup hit the spot.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

There are 854 results for books about "toddler sleep" on Amazon.com

I've read a few of them.

This.  This is the jackpot of toddler parenting
We joke that girl is a natural born sleep fighter.  But last night was the second in a row where she fell asleep half way through Amos & Boris... at 7:30pm.  Before you run out and buy a copy of Amos & Boris for every insomniac/ parent - the stupid science of this sweet gift occurs when she skips her nap.  I'm guessing we are in the netherland zone which will eventually result in no nap - as it stands now the nap happens about 50% of the time.  The great inconvenient truth is that kids basically sleep when they are tired.  Of course, it's our job to present a predictable schedule and encourage sleep at the right times.   But so far I've had little luck forcing this small person to do anything.  Not to say I haven't been known to utter through clenched teeth, "please close your eyes and close your mouth", as 9 pm rolls around and I'm being serenaded with mashups of Old MacDon (sic), the preschool goodbye song and Skinnamarink...

Amos & Boris happens to be a pretty awesome book - it's about a journey, a friendship and about how having an open heart can change, maybe even save, your life.  It's sweet.  According to The New York Times Book Review -- "The book is funny and earnest, pellucid and profound."

Sunday, January 8, 2012

New Year

M's imaginary life is in full swing.  Popular alter egos include a baby called Archie, a girl named Macarona or Sally, the virgin Mary, a frog... among others.  Phone conversations with Mickey and Elmo are de rigueur.  It's incredibly entertaining.  We like it too.

Some pictures from the end of 2011...


camera thief

there are so many of these "stollen" pictures

Christmas

Christmas break - we need to get out of the apartment...

... 7:15pm train to Washington DC




The National Gallery

Love

showing monkey

back home - New Year's Eve