Quick & Easy Noodle Soup

Today's food related part of the post is all about ramen/instant noodles!

In North America, they are known as a quick & cheap instant lunch/dinner - mostly enjoyed by college & university students. 
When I'm feeling lazy, or tired (which is a lot lately), I use them as a basis for a quick & easy veggie noodle soup.

Step one is to throw out the MSG laden bouillon packet that comes in the package.  That stuff is nasty.

Fill up a pot with water, and then dump in any/all of the following to form your broth base:
soy sauce
worchestershire sauce
hoisin
lemon or lime juice
prepared ginger
prepared garlic
prepared horseradish
hot sauce

Put the pot on the stove on high.  Then, depending on what veggies you have in your fridge & freezer, start chopping and adding, starting with the ones that will take the longest to cook. 
I usually start with sliced onion, frozen green beans and frozen corn.  Last time I made this, I also added carrots, broccoli, mushrooms & radishes. 
For a bit of protein, you can throw in some red lentils at the beginning, or cubed tofu (new or leftover), or crack an egg into the soup near the end (which is what I usually do). 
For the egg option, you can either beat it in a bowl first, to get more of an 'egg drop soup' effect, or crack it straight into a pot for more of a hard-poached egg.
When the water boils, add your noodles, and then turn the heat down so it doesn't boil over.  Then keep adding any veggies/egg/etc that you haven't added yet, and keep on the heat until the noodles are cooked and your veggies are heated.
Then slurp away!

On the note of the bread machine, today I made oatmeal bread.  It is delicious.  Once again, I have failed to take pictures.  Sorry.

Oh, and the baby is doing pretty awesome.  I think she's going to be tall like her daddy - she's already lengthy enough that the doctor called her a long noodle!

On the Subject of Yeast

On a visit with her new grandchild, my MIL brought their breadmaker.  They hadn't used it in more than a year, so they gave it to us!  She also brought a bag of whole grain wheat, an unopened jar of yeast and cooking oil (ie. all the leftover breadmaking ingredients they had). 

I'm very excited!  I have made bread before, but I've always had to do it the long way by hand.  Now that I have a little one, I think it'll be nice to make bread by dumping ingredients in the machine & forgetting about it for a few hours.  I've already made a loaf of whole wheat bread (which is pretty much gone except for one heel, so there's no photos).

If anyone has any good recipes that can be adapted to a bread machine, let me know!

It's Official - I'm a Parent!

February 18, 2012 was a pretty monumental day in our household - our new daughter Esmeralda Marie arrived.

My cousin-in-law, who is a pretty awesome photographer, came by about 6 days later and took some photos.  You can see a few of them on her blog.

It's all crazy and new and I'm really glad that I stocked the freezer with muffins, cookies, lasagna, chili and other meals before she decided to show up.  It's made things a lot easier.

 Speaking of chili, here's a way to use up leftover chili (since I always make too much chili, I use this a lot).

Chili Lasagna (or Chili Lasagna Casserole, depending on how you want to play this out).

Aside from a bunch of leftover chili, you'll need the following.
One package of oven-ready lasagna noodles (or the regular kind of you're up to boiling them first, but I'm lazy)
A bunch of shredded cheese - whatever kind floats your boat.  I like a lot of cheese, so I use at least half a package of the pre-shredded stuff.
Any additional veggies you want to throw in.  Since I'm vegetarian, my chili is already pretty full of vegetables and I don't usually bother adding more.
Any or all of the following to garnish: sour cream, guacamole, tortilla chips, diced green onion

If you're doing this like a proper lasagna, layer everything in your baking dish like you would for a regular lasagna, using the chili in place of tomato sauce.  If you're doing it like a casserole, break up your noodles into chunks, and mix them with the chili and cheese in your casserole dish, making sure to leave enough cheese to do a layer on top.

Bake in the oven at about 350F for about an hour (or follow the package directions for the noodles).  Make sure to remove the lid/foil and bake for an extra 15 minutes so the top layer of cheese gets all melty and awesome.

When it's done, serve it up and garnish it with your choice of toppings. 

Now I'm going to run, as I have a wee baby who'll be waking up soon expecting her next meal.  I hope you enjoy!

Pumpkin Bread/Muffins

I know! Posts two days in a row!  This whole being on leave while waiting for my baby to show up thing has given me some more time than I thought (at least for now).

As part of this whole process, I've been trying to stockpile the freezer with some meals and snacks.  Today, I made pumpkin muffins.  My house smells amazing!

The basis of this recipe was a pumpkin bread recipe I got from my MIL.  I've altered it to try & make it a little healthier (and to use up what I have in the house).  I also add more spices than the original, since I like my pumpkin with a lot of different spices.  I do the same thing to pumpkin pie.  You can use it to make either a loaf, or a dozen large muffins.  Here's what you'll need:

1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves
1 cup mashed, cooked pumpkin (or a 28 ounce can of pumpkin)
1 cup of oil (I usually use canola)
3 eggs

Optional 3/4 cup of any of the following: raisins, chocolate chips, nuts (walnuts are nice), pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds - it's what I used today.  They're high in iron!), unsalted sunflower seeds or dried cranberries.  Traditionally this is made with 3/4 cup of raisins AND 3/4 cup of nuts, but I personally hate raisins in my baked goods.

Preheat your oven to 350 F and prepare your muffin tin or loaf pan.

Mix all your dry ingredients together (you can see the eggs and my ziplock of defrosted pumpkin behind the bowl.  Kindly ignore the mug of hot chocolate).

You could mix the wet ingredients in a separate bowl, but I usually just dump them all in the dry and then stir everything together. 

You'll end up with a nice, thick batter.  At this point, you should add in your optional ingredients, if you are using them.  Hey look, pepitas!

Once your optional ingredients are all stirred in, you can pour the batter into your loaf pan, or spoon it into your muffin cups.  Then, put it in the oven!

If you are making a loaf, bake for 60 minutes (1 hour).  If you are making muffins, halve the time (ie. bake for 30 minutes).  I like to rotate my pans halfway through the cooking time, in case there are any uneven spots in the oven.
Here's the finished muffins I made today:

I've already eaten one, and I'm hoping that I can get the rest into the freezer before I eat them too!



Award Season

In addition to the Oscars, the Emmys, the Junos and all the other awards which are part of the rapidly approaching award season, there's apparently this thing called an MOV award for blogging.

Both the lovely Julie over at Feeding the Cat & the equally lovely Skwishee at Just a Mom? gave one to me.
They're both pretty rockin' so go read their stuff if you haven't already.
Also, Skwishee, you really should give quick pickles a shot! They're easy, fun, cheap and delicious.  As an added bonus, extra jars make handy gifts.

I don't know who to give an award to in return, since I don't read a ton of blogs (and will likely be reading fewer in the coming weeks after our new human arrives).

However, I'm apparently supposed to post why I started writing.  While I really like my job, it doesn't use my degree or creative muscles (for the record, I have a B. of Fine Arts in Theatre Production and Design - specifically lighting design, costume design and stage management).  It also lets me avoid driving my loved ones crazy from talking their ears off about the latest recipe I've tried/thing I've done in the garden/etc.

So there ya go.  Thanks for the appreciation :)

Garlic Breath Salad Dressing

Here's my problem with posting recipes that are 'mine' as it were.  I'm not a measuring kind of person.  I tend to just blob stuff in until it looks about right (unless I'm baking, because the basics in baking are SCIENCE!).

Onto the salad dressing.  This is base of this recipe started life as a free recipe included with my Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker.  Then I messed around with it.  It's delicious on both green & potato salads - just don't expect to be able to talk to anyone without having them recoil in garlicky horror until after you've brushed your teeth a few times.

You will need:
1-2 large cloves of garlic
white wine vinegar
dijon mustard
olive oil
sour cream
salt & pepper

Peel the garlic.  If you have a Flavour Shaker, bash the living jahosiphats out of the garlic in there.  If you don't have a flavour shaker, you can use a mortar & pestle to turn it into garlic mush.  Failing that, dicing it super-insanely-fine will also be adequate.
Put your mushed up garlic in a bowl (or leave it in your shaker and just pour the remaining ingredients in there). 
Add about 3 kitchen teaspoons (not measuring spoons) of olive oil, 2 of white wine vinegar, about 1 of dijon mustard and a giant heaping kitchen tablespoon of sour cream.  Beat all the ingredients together (I usually just use a fork) until well combined. 
Add salt & pepper to taste.
Pour it over your salad and enjoy your newfound ability to repel vampires simply by opening your mouth!

Remember that all the measurements above are approximate and feel free to make substitutions!  I've used yogurt or mayo when I was out of sour cream (or if you were fancy-pants, you could use creme fraiche).  Cider vinegar & red wine vinegar are ok too (slightly different flavours and colours, but no harm done).  I've even added a giant blob of honey to make creamy honey-garlic dressing.

I hope you like it!

Random Pregnancy Facts I've Learned So Far

This baby's due date is rapidly approaching.  It is both exciting and terrifying to think about how much life is going to change when they finally decide to show up.

Here's some random things about pregnancy that I've learned so far, that aren't common knowledge.

1) Morning sickness is a misnomer.  It's more like random-anytime-throughout-the-day-nausea-and-throwing-up.  Not nearly as cute sounding as 'morning sickness'.

2) Morning sickness affects everyone differently, and can be different from pregnancy to pregnancy.  Some people don't get it at all (lucky ducks!).  Other women are so sick they end up in hospital for the entire pregnancy.  I just felt like I was seasick 24 hours a day for the first 3 and a bit months.

3) As your stomach gets larger, you may experience localized belly button pain or itching.

4) Your ankles, like the shallowest of friends, are very likely to abandon you before the end of the pregnancy.

5) Yes, it's really, really weird to feel the baby move, especially at first.

6) Depending on where the placenta attaches, it can affect how soon you feel the baby move.  If it attaches anteriorly (the side where your stomach is), it'll likely be much later, since the baby will be facing toward your spine and internal organs, where there aren't as many nerve endings.

7) Your feet may permanently change shoe size.  On the upside, if this happens to you, it means that you'll get to buy new shoes!

8) You may or may not experience food cravings (weird or otherwise) but most women definitely experience strong smell and food aversions.  Cooking meat is apparently a very common aversion for many women.

And my brain has now tapped out.  Goodnight!