Carrot Cashew Soup From The Bagelry

Oh, people, I am a bad, bad person. I try to be good, but I am human.

Last night I made a variation on Rice & Tuna: Mixed Sushi. A salad of cold sushi rice, smoked salmon, spinach, soybeans, and carrots. Sounds pretty good, right? NOT! And this is what I paired it with -- (am I crazy?):

Carrot Cashew Soup

OK, so we ate it as a family, and Ariel went to bed peacefully, and then I was HUNGRY! I have unused tickets for pregnancy cravings and postpartum depression, so I asked my DH to get me junk food. I wanted a junk food sandwich. He brought home a Milio's Italian sub and I ate the whole thing. He kept asking me, "Are you going to finish that?" because I would pause and breathe, and enjoy, and he knows I never finish something so huge as that. But I ate ALL of it.

It feels wrong, and it feels wrong. I HATE supporting factory farming of any kind. Weak! I am so weak! My body is speaking for me! My body is having more power than my intellect! I hate that!

Anyway, this soup is freaking' awesome:

CARROT CASHEW SOUP
From The Bagelry in Santa Cruz, California (where I worked for 2 years)

Saute 1 onion, some ginger, and some garlic in sesame oil.
Add some sliced carrots, and broth, and cook until almost done.
Add whole cashews, and cook until soft.
Puree.
Add soy sauce to taste.

The recipe I had from The Bagelry was for about 8 quarts of soup, enough to supply customers for a day. I adapted it for just a family. You do what you think is right. For me, making soup is all about salt content and texture.

Tonight, I'm going to ask my DH to make greasy tacos, filled with ground beef. Ethically-raised beef, of course.

Rice & Tuna

No one knows what they want for dinner. Quick fix!

White rice
Canned tuna
Mayo
Soy sauce
Jalapenos
Tomatoes (optional)

Don't mix it all together!!! Each forkful (or spoonful) should be an individual creation of mouth watering sensation.

We used to eat this dish quite often. Then I read "Bottomfeeder" by Taras Grescoe. It broke my heart. It is very bad to eat tuna. I have too much knowledge about the woes of poor Mother Earth. The ocean is... well, you don't even want to go there. It hurts. It makes you have to make really tough decisions about what you eat.

I have always liked my tuna in a can. I don't really like tuna steak, or tuna sushi, but I can totally go for tiny morsels of seared tuna on a bed of micro greens.

Alas, I found myself at the grocery store just missing my canned tuna so much. I said to myself, "Should all the ignorant people eat all the food that is available without so much as a wince, as the oceans become depleted and our planet is destroyed, while I, with all my stupid knowledge, go without the splendors of seafood on my table?" I shrugged. I bought the evil food.

PEARS!

One of the great things about having a kid is that she unearths things that I forgot I had. I don't know where she finds the stuff -- I think there must be a secret fairy world where children are allowed to go and fetch the things that the fairies took. Anyway, yesterday Ariel found an old sketchbook of mine, and she colored on all the pages. As I leafed through the book myself, I found a couple of recipes that I had jotted down, probably from watching a cooking show on TV. I drew a little picture with it.

We've been eating a lot of pears lately, because my acupuncturist says they are good for my lungs. Also, the organic pears taste like flowers right now, like lilacs or other spring blossoms. This recipe was just perfect, especially because it includes blue cheese.

PEAR SALAD OF UNKNOWN ORIGIN
Ingredients:
pears
thyme
honey
salad greens
blue cheese
vinaigrette dressing

Directions:
In a medium size baking dish, slice pears and fan them over thyme sprigs. Drizzle with honey. Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees F. When cool, combine with fresh spring greens and blue cheese. I also add toasted walnuts to this salad.

This recipe called for a vinaigrette made from white grape juice, grape seed oil, and shallots. I say you should always use your favorite homemade vinaigrette. I don't usually stock shallots. For this I found that the Eden organic apple cider vinegar was a good match. After tasting the Eden vinegar, I will never buy generic cider vinegar again. Pear vinegar would be super tasty with this salad. Have you ever tried blood orange vinegar? Maybe I should do a post on vinegar some day.

Spanish Cooking Made Easy

Check out this link from my amiga, Carmen, in Spain.

Brava Carmen!

It's a New Age

Folks, you are watching me change before your very eyes! Spending so much time at 3 Treasures Community Acupuncture has me developing a taste for New Age music. Yup, you heard me. NEW AGE MUSIC. I find myself shopping on iTunes for the best stuff. I know it sounds crazy, but let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I went to college at the University of California Santa Cruz. If you know anything about the school, enough said. But if you don't, here's some tidbits:

1) No grades.
2) Big Environmental Studies program (back in '86 this was unheard of).
3) Shirt & shoes optional in class.
4) It's in the redwood forest overlooking Monterey Bay.
5) Longhairs, longhairs, longhairs.

Also, the town of Santa Cruz is THE hippie 60's throwback town. At least until the earthquake. Of course, now it's probably rivaled by Burlington, VT, or some place like that. But I digress.

I eat well. I eat whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. I used to be a vegetarian. Then I was "vegetarian-like." Now I'm an omnivore. I love meat! (But of course, I buy only the most responsible meat, because I just can't stand the thought of factory farming.) I bring my own bags to the grocery store. I shop at farmers' markets.

OK. None of this no big deal, right? I'm not special. I've always leaned towards the recycle, reuse, compost. And now I like New Age music. My acupuncturist has me off coffee and sugar. Yikes!

What's happening? I am scared. What if I want to do some crackpot diet like Only Lemon Juice for 10 Days? I once knew a woman in SC who only ate tomatoes. Exclusively. I am really scared I might be losing my mind. So if you catch me wanting to change my diet (or my daughter's) to some crazy shit like that, please put a stop to it.

But, there's probably no real danger here. After all, I still swear publicly. Also, I shave my legs if they are going to show. And while Ariel was napping today, I spent about 20 minutes plucking my eyebrows. So I think I'm safe from becoming a total naturalist freak.

Neighbors, if you see me naked in the yard, call the police!