Sunday Cooking

Happy Monday, everybody! Hope you had a great weekend. Our stay-at-home three day weekend was nice and relaxing, just what I needed.

After my lazy Saturday morning, I met up with Heather and Cathleen for our usual 10:30 am yoga class. I don't get to go every weekend, but try to make it whenever I can. It's such a great way to start the weekend. Even better, Matt agreed to watch Riker and Heather's girls for a few hours so we could go out for coffee, snacks and catching up afterward. Perfect little Saturday morning.

Yoga and girl time relaxation was followed by doing my duty as a teacher's fisherman's wife: bundling up and heading to the cold November beach so Matt and his dad could try to catch some striped bass.

It's been a while since we all went fishing together, and actually I really do enjoy going, even if I'm frozen and, let's be serious, not fishing. I mainly sit under a blanket drinking Starbucks, chatting with MomMom and calling out when the lines look like they caught something.

It's serenity. Being at the beach always makes me thankful for where we live. The guys didn't catch any fish, but Riker had a great time running around and we all got to enjoy an incredible sunset.

Is that magnificent or what?

A new takeout Thai & Japanese restaurant just opened by us and Matt and I have been dying to order from there (we've actually called every weekend for the last 4 weeks to see if they were open yet - stalkers), so after the beach we booked it straight home to take hot showers and order up some spicy food for dinner. Matt's dad and MomMom joined us, so we ordered a bunch of things to share. My favorites were the penang curry with tofu, and the shrimp tempura sushi.

Sunday was a true homebody day and all I really felt like doing was cooking, baking and watching football. So that's what I did. Somehow about 5 loads of laundry found their way into my life too, but folding isn't so bad when you're watching the games and seeing your fantasy football points go higher and higher.

The last time I was home my mom gave me a ton of lentils, so I finally put them to use and made a big pot of lentil soup for a late afternoon dinner. I used my Moosewood cookbook recipe, but adapted it for the crockpot. Something about fall Sundays just really call for using the crockpot.

The recipe called for serving the soup with a drizzle of red wine vinegar, which I'd never heard of. It was fantastic! The vinegar gave it a nice little perkiness without having to use lemon, which would've really changed the flavor of the soup.

I also made a loaf of paleo banana bread, which is now almost completely devoured. I'll share the recipe with you soon!

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For a quick Monday dinner recap, tonight the frittata made its lovely first cold-weather appearance.

Easy and delicious as always, this one was filled with baby bella mushrooms, kale, cheddar and mozzarella cheese. We had some roasted asparagus on the side for extra greenery.

There are plenty of leftovers, so I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow.

Riker's curled up in bed and now that my blog post is done, I'm about to boot Matt off his Wii Golf game so we can watch last week's episode of Top Chef. I'm so cliche. Enjoy your evening!

Parmesan Cauliflower Soup with Kale Chips

Our ridiculous little heat wave of 80 degree weather is finally over. It's time for fall, time for boots, time for SOUP!

When I was little, my mom used to make this creamy cauliflower soup that I just adored. When I mention it these days she says she doesn't remember making it, and doesn't really like cauliflower soup, so thinks I'm making things up. Um, no. I remember. I remember it being creamy, cheesy and delicious and always asking for it.

So now that fall is here and I'm starting to make soups again, cauliflower soup was one of the first that popped into my head. I picked up a head of cauliflower at the grocery store last week along with a bunch of kale to eat on the side, but didn't really have a plan for how to recreate the soup from my childhood.

Thankfully, after just throwing some things together in a pot after work last night and tweaking a bit as I went along, it came out perfectly. It was silky smooth, full of flavor and actually quite hearty. Matt and Riker both loved it and we devoured almost the whole pot. It's also low in carbs, made without cream and can be made in about 30 minutes - bonus!

So you might be wondering about the addition of kale chips on top. Well, with such a smooth and creamy soup I like to have something crunchy. But since we try to eat low carb during the week (meaning no crackers to crush on top or bread to dunk) and I felt we needed a green veggie (you know my feelings on kale), crispy kale chips sounded like a great idea. And they were. They were salty, super crunchy and were great crumbled on top (where they simultaneously stayed crunchy and got chewy as they seeped into the soup), as well as eaten on the side.

These things are majorly addicting.

Parmesan Cauliflower Soup with Kale Chips

Serves 3-4

Ingredients - Soup
1 head cauliflower, cut in large chunks
3 cups water
2 cubes vegetable bouillon
1 tsp. sea salt
2 tsp. pepper
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup extra sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Ingredients - Kale Chips
6-7 large kale leaves, washed and torn into big pieces
Olive oil
Sea salt
Pepper

Directions - Soup
Put the chopped cauliflower and 1/2 cup water in a stock pot; cover and bring to a boil, and cook over medium heat until cauliflower is fork tender, about 10-15 minutes.

Add bouillon, salt, pepper and remaining water. Stir to combine, then puree with an immersion blender (alternatively, puree in a blender). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add milk, cheddar and parmesan, and simmer on low another 10 minutes until cheese is melted and flavors are combined. Top with kale chips and serve.

Kale Chips
Preheat oven to 415 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil, and lay the kale on top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Massage gently until kale is completely covered with oil.

Bake for 10 minutes. Then flip and cook for 1-2 minutes more. Remove and serve immediately.

Sesame Kale Slaw with Scallops

I'm on a kale kick.

I've been buying it every week and making massaged kale salad, using it in veggie lasagna and adding it to frittatas. It feels so good to eat the crunchy bright green. I can actually feel myself getting healthier when I eat it, if that's possible.

A few weeks ago I made Ina Garten's Winter Slaw with kale, radicchio and Brussels sprouts when Heather and Kevin came for dinner, and we loved it so much that I bought the greens to make it again this week, but with a twist.

This salad is similar to the lemony kale salad with scallops I made a few weeks ago, but with other colorful greens and the Asian flavors of sesame oil and ginger. I used the scallops I received from my wild caught, organic seafood delivery and they were perfectly sweet and tender.

Fall salad deliciousness.

Sesame Kale Slaw with Scallops

Serves 2-3, Adapted from Barefoot Contessa's Winter Slaw

Ingredients
6 oz. Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved and cored
6-7 large kale leaves, center rib removed
1 head radicchio, cored and halved
12 sea scallops, heel removed and patted dry
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. pepper
Dash each of dried ginger and garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds

Vinaigrette
1/3 cup grapeseed or other flavorless oil
1 Tbsp. sesame oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. low sodium soy sauce
Salt & pepper to taste

Using the slicer blade on a food processor, pass the Brussels sprouts and radicchio through until sliced thin (alternatively, cut in thin strips with a sharp knife). Slice the kale leaves into thin shreds with a knife. Add all greens to a bowl.

Make the vinaigrette by whisking all ingredients together. Pour over the salad and massage gently with your hands until the kale softens a bit and the greens are fully coated, about 1-2 minutes. Set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet with the olive oil over medium heat until very hot. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, ginger and garlic over the scallops, then add to the hot pan and cook about 3 minutes on each side, until seared golden brown. Once the scallops are cooked, turn off the heat and pour in the soy sauce. The soy sauce will bubble up and reduce very quickly; remove the scallops and place them on the salad. Top with sesame seeds and serve.