Sunday soup: Bean and Kale soup

Wow, it's been a busy weekend!  It was the first weekend we've spent in Madison in three weeks, so I had a lot to catch up on around the house.  As you may know from previous posts, Joe has a Finance midterm on Monday, and this happens to be the most notoriously challenging class he will take in his MBA program (we'll see!).  He's been studying away all weekend, and I'm doing my best to take care of things around the house and make him some good, hearty brain food.

Today's soup was a basic Bean soup, with the addition of some yummy and nutritious kale.

Sadly, I forgot to take a picture before we ate and cleaned up.  Let's just say, it looked pretty delicious!

A hearty meal in support of Finance

In preparation for the ominous Finance Midterm on Monday, it seems the entire business school is hard at work.  I'm supporting my meat-and-potatoes husband by making my first Pork roast. Keep in mind that all veggies (except the celery and garlic) were purchased at the Dane County Farmer's Market.

Pork Loin Roast with Root Veggies

1 boneless pork loin roast, about 2 lb (I got mine at Trader Joes for about $7, not bad considering this will probably feed us dinner tonight, lunch tomorrow, and probably a couple of lunches next week)

salt and pepper

2 tbsp canola oil

2 medium, or 3 small, yellow onions, sliced, not too thin

1-3 cloves garlic, chopped

3 carrots (yes, I put these in voluntarily. I'm trying, people!)

3 parsnips (I added more carrots instead - really!)

6 medium red potatoes, or 2 large potatoes of another variety, roughly chopped (you can peel if you want, but I think the skins are good, and they add nutrition)

2-3 turnips (or more potatoes), peeled and roughly chopped

a few stalks of celery, chopped to about 2" pieces

1 c. chicken or veggie broth, plus more as needed

Season the pork with salt and pepper on all sides.  In a large frying pan over medium heat, warm the canola oil. Sear the meat on all sides, until browned, about 10 minutes. During this step, I worked on the chopping and other prep. I just tossed the veggies into the slow cooker as I chopped them.  Remove the pork from the pan, place it in the slow cooker.

Pour off most of the fat in the pan.  Add the onion and saute until softened and lightly browned, about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic and saute for about 1 minute. Add these to the slow cooker.  

Add salt and pepper and the broth (watch your salt if your broth is not low-sodium).  Cover and cook on the low setting for 6-8 hours, until the pork is very tender and the veggies are fully cooked.  

To serve, carve the pork into slices.  Spoon the veggies and cooking juices over the port.  Enjoy while wearing your slippers, since it's probably a chilly day.

(Recipe adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Slow Cooking)

Cure my long, bare hallway

This month, I am participating in the Apartment Therapy (apartmenttherapy.com) Apartment Cure.  This means that each day, I'm assigned a small (supposedly 20 minute) task toward "curing" my apartment's ails.  I've posted a couple of rooms, and a couple of others are coming down the pipelines, with a few tweaks to go.  The cure is happening in a very timely manner, as I need that last bit of motivation to complete all the little tasks to make this apartment a home.

Today's task: Search for inspirational photos to help with a design dilema.

My dilema: my loooong hallway. I painted it a nice, pale blue when we moved in, and I'm happy with that.  I'm also happy with the first part of the hallway, which I've treated as an extension of the living room.  I found zero pictures that I liked.

I'm finding myself really challenged in this little jog in the hallway.  It adds character, yes.  It keeps the whole apartment from feeling like a bowling alley, sure. But it takes up so many square feet!  I mean, it would be a whole additional room if it were smushed into a different shape!

 

I need help.

A couple things I'd like to accomplish here:

1. Find some way to tack down that cord that runs across the hall.  There is no grounded outlet in the 2nd bedroom/office, and that is where the desktop computer is kept.  Obviously, it needs to be plugged into an appropriate outlet, and it doesn't seem likely that the landlord is going to be fixing this issue any time soon. Hence, the extension cord across the hall.

2. While I do want to keep the paint, I need some sort of wall treatment that would make this space interesting.  I'm open to hanging art, however, it's a narrow hall so I would be pretty limited in the size of art (since you can't stand back and look at it).

3. I'm open to a floor treatment/rug, but I need to keep the jog in the hall and $$ in mind.  As in, no fancy expensive rugs, since we don't know whether we'll be needing anything like that in the next place.

4. I'd love to have a very narrow console table in the space where the hall jogs.  This would serve as a "landing strip" where we could put mail, keys, etc.

5. I'm thinking it would be really cool to paint both doors (front and back enterances, not the interior doors) a bold color.  The paint job is pretty crummy at the moment, so anything would be an improvement.  

Please send me your ideas!

Le Creuset

As promised, I am here to update you on what is happening with my Le Creuset braiser.

When I bought the thing, I was told that Le Creuset has an amazing customer service system.  Thought I'd never need it (considering they guarantee these things for a lifetime, I figured that meant the products didn't self-destruct).  Turns out, I do need them, and, it turns out to be true!

I immediately emailed the customer service department (their hotline closes pretty early, I think at 4:30 EST).  I woke up to an email asking for a bit more information.  By the end of the day, I had instructions to ship the pan to Le Creuset and expect a replacement in 2-4 weeks.  Crisis averted, I think.

In the meantime, I have been busting out the old Emerilware skillet, which I don't think I've touched since I bought the Le Creuset.  Good thing I didn't get rid of it when we moved!  I am taking this as an opportunity to rediscover what the skillet can do.  I'm seeing it as a sign from the heavens that I need to expand my mind when it comes to my cooking utensils.  Sign taken.

Sunday soup: Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Walnuts

It's fall here in the midwest!  It's been a couple of years since we've been a part of this amazing season (since Los Angeles seems to have only two seasons: June Gloom, and everything else).  We experienced the contrast first hand this weekend, with Joe heading to Los Angeles for the Reaching Out MBA Conference, and myself making the trip to central Michigan.  I met up with the Hagen parents for the weekend at the Hunting and Fishing Club where they are members (i.e. one of the most beautiful, serene places I've been).  The fall colors were at their peak, and let me tell ya, it was stunning.  Those flaming trees had me inspired for the evening's soup.

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up a little Pie Pumpkin at the Dane County Farmer's Market.  It was a cute little guy, a little bigger than a grapefruit.  I played with the recipe a bit, and I will say, I made a couple of mistakes this week.

Pumpkin Soup with Toasted Walnuts

One small Pie Pumpkin
1 1/2 c. chopped leeks
6 c. chicken stock (I used about 4 c. of stock and 2 c. of water, partly to save $$ and partly to keep the sodium content down, since I did not have low-sodium stock on hand)
2 tsp. dried rosemary (I used ground sage, since that's what I had.  This was a mistake.  The flavor was fine, but it really took the color down a couple of notches...)
2 tsp. kosher salt (taste and add little by little so as not to oversalt!)
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 c. creme fraiche (I actually used greek style yogurt, but I think it was a little too tart)
1/3 c. walnuts, chopped and toasted
6 fresh rosemary sprigs (I omitted these, didn't have 'em.  They would have been good, though!)

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  Rinse and dry the pumpkin, cut it in half and remove the seeds/muck.  Quarter it, then slice into 3-4 in pieces.  Arrange them in a baking pan, cut side down.  Add water such that it comes about 1/4 in up the sides of the pan.  Cover tightly with foil.  Bake for 45-50 min, until they are fork tender. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skin with a sharp paring knife.  I realized I needed to be careful and only cut off the peel, since my pumpkin was pretty small.  Cut the pieces into 1 in. pieces.  If you've got more than, say, 8 cups, reserve the extra for another project (pie? bread?).

Melt butter in a large, heavy, lidded pot.  Add leeks and cook, stirring, until they become translucent and soft.  Add the pumpkin cubes, stock, salt, herbs and spices.  Stir to combine, bring to a simmer. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes. 

Puree the soup in batches in a food processor or blender (or an immersion blender if you are so blessed).  Whisk in about 3/4 of the creme fraiche.  Taste and season as needed.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche, rosemary, and chopped walnuts (these are key - they add texture and a nice flavor, yum!)

Serve with some crusty bread, or in tonight's case, some onion pan bread... that recipe is a'comin!

Sunday soup: taking the week off

I just wanted to let my readers know that I did not forget about your Sunday soup post this week.  We simply took the week off of soup because 1. we were out of town until late afternoon, and 2. it is about 80 degrees outside.  Next week is another question mark, because Joe will be coming back from a conference in LA, and I will be coming back from visiting family in Michigan. If I do make some soup, it will be a simple, likely rustic soup.  Have a good week, everyone!

A little kitchen project

On our way back from a weekend in Chicago, we decided to stop at Ikea for a few things for my office.  Needless to say, we quickly realized that we needed so much more for our apartment!

I'd been meaning to do something to corral my dish washing/kitchen cleaning equipment.  It's been sitting on the edge of the (grubby, old) sink since we moved in. Here's what it looked like before...

Note the messy arrangement, bleh.

A new hanging bar/basket, an S hook, and a couple of screws later, voila!  Tidy, organized, and purposeful!

Now, if I could just get a new backsplash/counter/sink/cabinetry/entire kitchen, we'd be in business...