Chilled Carrot Soup

Although July has almost passed (how quickly!), we still have August to face here in DC.  August comes in with more heat and humidity, and by its end everyone cannot wait for fall.  I’m sure others also have to deal with this heat- and this soup is perfect for it.

None of us want to stand in the kitchen, so this is a great soup to make over a weekend (less than 30 minutes), and then be able to pull it out for lunch or dinner throughout the week!  If you have an overabundance of tomatoes, feel free to add those it- it’ll change the flavor profile a bit, but it’ll add a great taste!

Need other ideas for cold soups?  Try these: cucumber gazpacho, shrimp gazpacho, or a tomato soup with basil.

Chilled Carrot Soup
Fifth Floor Kitchen original

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, roughly chopped
6 garlic cloves, halved
2 lbs carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
1/2 tsp curry powder
4 cups water
1 cup almond milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

In a large pot heat olive oil, then add the onion.  Sauté the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Then add in the garlic and carrots, cook for another 5-8 minutes.  Next, stir in the water and curry powder.  Bring to a boil, and then simmer for another 15 minutes.

Finally, pour all of this into a blender (or food processor), and blend until the consistency is to your liking.  Then pour it back into a pot, add in the almond milk, salt and pepper.  Cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve this warm, or you can keep it in the fridge and serve this chilled.

Lebanese Salad with Pita Chips

Summer is the time to eat salads, when all the veggies (and fruits) are fresh and vibrant.  Usually, it’s also so hot that turning on the stove or oven is not what you’d like to do.  So there is always salad.

The only problem I have with salads is that they sometimes get boring.  So I’m always searching for a new flavor, a new component, or a new idea.  I’m sharing this salad with you since all of you might need some new inspiring ideas for salads, with summer in full swing!  Or if any of you have delicious ideas, I’d love to hear them!

Lebanese Salad with Pita Chips
Adapted from: Vegetarian Times (July/August 2012)

Salad
1 head of romaine lettuce, chopped
1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
3 cups of chopped cucumbers
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
3 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
2 cups of whole grain pita chips, crumbled/broken

Vinaigrette
3 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp pomegranate juice (such as POM Wonderful)
2 tsp ground sumac
4 garlic cloves

4 oz crumbled feta

In a large bowl, mix together all of the ingredients for a salad.

In a small bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette.  Top the salad with the vinaigrette.

Sprinkle the crumbled feta over the top and serve.

Food Matters Project # 22: Fresh Corn Salsa

Apologies for a delayed Food Matters Project post!  I was traveling yesterday, and just lost track of time!  But don’t worry, I did have enough time over the weekend to try out the new recipe.

This weeks host as Jenn, from Vanilla Lemon.  She recently has moved from Italy back to the US, and had a gorgeous daughter!  Jenn chose the Corn-Avocado Salad with A Little Something Seared on Top from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters Cookbook.  Also, check out what other Food Matters Project member did here.

So I will say that I did not have anything seared on top of my salad.  I was hosting a book club in our condo building, and since one of our members is moving to Mexico, I thought it’d be nice to have a little Mexican theme.  So there was chips and salsa, Mexican brownies, chili bites and a bean dip.  I’ll definitely try to be more creative next time, but the salsa with the fresh corn was perfect!

Fresh Corn Salsa
Adapted from: Food Matters Cookbook (pg 184)

4 fresh corn, kernels stripped
2 small onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 tomatoes, chopped
1 jalapeño, minced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 green onions, finely chopped
1 tsp chile powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
juice of 1/2 orange
chips

Mix all of the ingredients together.  Keep in the fridge at least for an hour before serving.  Serve with chips!

Garlicky Focaccia Bread

Although in the past I have been intimidated and scared of yeast,  I think I am completely over it.  After a couple of trials and some winning recipes (whole wheat pizza, wheat bread, peasant bread, whole wheat pitas, mostly whole wheat bread, and dinner rolls) I’m definitely feeling confident.  So don’t be afraid and make some bread from scratch today!

Focaccia is not my go-to bread, but when I saw a recipe posted by A Couple Cooks, it looked so delicious!  I had to make it right away.  This dough was great, and I can’t wait to make different variations- adding eggplant, onions, or topping it off with some meat.

I ended up cutting it up into smaller pieces, this way we could eat some with a salad, or with morning eggs.  Otherwise, use this when making a sandwich or when you just need a snack.

I hope the heat wave has ended for everyone so you all can turn on your ovens this week to make this.  Definitely something great- and I’d love to hear what other variations are out there that everyone enjoys!

Garlicky Focaccia Bread
Adapted from: A Couple Cooks

2 cups warm water
2 tsp dry yeast
2 cups of all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil + more for bowl and drizzling
1 tsp honey
8 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh herbs (mixture of thyme and oregano)
1 tbsp sea salt

In a stand mixer bowl mix together the warm water and yeast.  Allow it to stand for a couple of at least 10 minutes.  Then add in 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, salt, olive oil and honey.  Using a dough hook, mix the ingredients together.  On a low speed, mix the dough for about 10 minutes.  Every couple of minutes add in the remaining all-purpose flour (1/2 cup).  At the end it should turn into a ball.

Place the ball of dough into an oiled bowl.  Cover with a towel, and leave it for at least 1 1/2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Spray a 9×13′ baking dish with cooking oil.  Preheat the oven to 475ºF.

Punch down the dough into the bowl, and knead it for another 2-3 minutes.  Then spread the dough into the baking dish.  Allow it to rise for another 30 minutes.

Once the dough is ready, drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil over the top of the bread.  Then sprinkle the garlic, herbs and sea salt on top.  With a finger, make small indentations into the dough- about 1/2 inch thick and about 1/2 inch apart.

Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned.

Food Matters Project #6: Hummus

It’s another recipe idea from The Food Matters Project!  I’m slightly delayed, but I’m blaming it all on the chickpeas.  This weeks recipe was chosen by Erin of Naturally Ella.  She has a beautiful blog, with wonderful pictures that everyone should check out!  Erin had chosen the Hummus Served Hot recipe from Mark Bittman’s book- Food Matters Cookbook.  Check out the comments section to see what others had made.

The original recipe was hummus served hot, which Mark Bittman discovered while visiting Turkey.  He also suggested a variety of different flavors for the hummus, not just the plain one.

Although hot hummus in a sandwich sounds wonderful, we’ve been trying to make our own hummus for a while now, with a number of failed attempts.  Most of the time we can’t get the texture right, although that hasn’t been our only issue.  Of course when making this, we have another failed attempt- but the kitchen disasters are what makes cooking fun!

We’ve been trying to use less canned goods, and trying out more dried lentils and beans.  So I picked up a couple of bags of dried chickpeas from the grocery store.  Per package instructions, I intended to soak them overnight.  But we had somewhat of a busy weekend, and about 48 hours later, when we checked out the chickpeas they had a weird smell to them.  Yes, they began fermenting in their water, yes the 2 pounds of dried chickpeas.  Which is why I’m blaming this delayed post on the chickpeas- I had to grab another bag from the store yesterday.

Round 2: Rinse of the chickpeas.  Soak the chickpeas in water and 1 tsp of baking soda (mix it up) for about 3.5 hours (or longer).  Rinse off the chickpeas.  Add them into a large pot, fill with water well above the chickpeas.  Heat until the water boils, and then lower the heat to medium-low.  Boil the chickpeas for about 2 hours, or until they are soft and mushy when you try them.

Yes, we won over the chickpeas!!!  My excitement doubled when I made pitas from scratch yesterday- and they worked on the first try.  But that recipe will have to wait for tomorrow.

Garlic Hummus
Adapted from: The Food Matters Cookbook (page 356)

1 lb chickpeas (canned or cooked)
1 head of garlic, roughly chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water

Add the chickpeas, garlic and lemon juice into a food processor.  Purèe until the texture is smooth.  Then slowly add the olive oil and water, do this a little at a time- you don’t want to hummus to get too soggy.  Continue to purèe until the consistency is to your liking (this means you can use less/more water or olive oil).

*Note: I am allergic to tahini, but it is usually added to hummus.  You’d add it in with the chickpeas and garlic, about 1/4 cup.