Fruit Salad

Just saying fruit salad sounds boring, right?

I never eat enough fruit, and even though Adam and I were asked to bring goods for smores for his family's barbecue, I thought I would still "make" something.

Epicurious to the rescue with a fruit salad with honey and lime syrup.  Super easy and adaptable to whatever fruit you like the best/have on hand.  I used the same fruit the recipe called for, just in different quantities and kept the syrup the same.  Out of my four kiwis, only one was actually ripe this morning.  I put them in a brown paper bag, but I should have put in an apple to help them move along more quickly.  Fail!

Lentil Soup

Once when I was sick, or lazy, Adam went to the grocery store without me.   He came home with Dinty Moore microwaveable meals.  Do you know what they are?  Because I didn't, and I still wish I didn't.  Ever since then, I get really scared when Adam goes by himself (sorry, sweetie, love you!), which is pretty rare in itself (still love you).  He went by himself last night and came home with a can of Campbell's lentil soup. "But I make lentil soup all the time?" I asked.

Anyway.  Tonight, I made lentil soup.  The last lentil soup I made had bacon and the one before that was curried.  I didn't want to do either so I used the epicurious app to help me.  I wanted to use lentils and carrots, and while I suppose I could have thought of this easy Red Lentil and Carrot Soup by myself, I didn't.  I only read a few of the reviews before committing myself to this because I couldn't bare to read any more than a few (ADD) and because I didn't care.  I wanted lentil soup, and I got it!

I know I've mentioned how much I love recipes, but I haven't touched upon how I actually modify them to better fit my or Adam's preference:

ingredients

3/4 pound red lentils*, picked over 2 cups red and French green lentils

7 cups water 2 cups chicken broth, 5 cups water

1 cup chopped onion

3 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

5 carrots (about 10 ounces), halved lengthwise and sliced thin crosswise

1 diced yukon gold potato

1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper Adam does not like cooked peppers

1/4 cup packed fresh coriander sprigs, washed well, spin dry,  and chopped fine not in my fridge

1/4 cup chopped scallion greens forgot about this

cayenne to taste forgot about this too, but didn't really want a spicy lentil soup anyway

SALT AND PEPPER!!!

preparation

In a 4-quart saucepan bring lentils and water to a boil and skim froth. Stir in onion, garlic, ground coriander, cumin, and turmeric and simmer, partially covered, 15 minutes. Stir in carrots and bell pepper and simmer until carrots are tender, about 10 minutes. Soup may be prepared up to this point 3 days ahead, cooled, uncovered, and chilled, covered.

Stir in coriander, scallion greens, cayenne, and salt and pepper to taste.

Serve soup garnished with coriander sprigs

Rinse lentils.  Saute onions for a few minutes before adding garlic. Add chicken stock, water, lentils and spices.  (I would have added the spices before the liquid and lentils but I was short on time and I thought the garlic was one second away from burning).  Bring to boil, let simmer for 15-20 minutes.  SEASON with salt and pepper.  Add carrots and potatoes and let simmer for another 15 minutes.  Taste and SEASON AGAIN.  Then Booyah - Lentil Soup time.

Sea salt and freshly ground pepper are your best friends.  There is a difference between too salty, unsalted and perfectly seasoned.  Good luck.

p.s. I spilled Chimpy's food while trying to refill the container, and I contemplated leaving it all on the floor for him.  

I did not.

Valentine's Day, Part Two

"What do you want to eat with the steak?  We have some potatoes."
"Potatoes au Gratin."
"Are you kidding?"

We had New York strip and potato gratin.   I think Mark Bittman taught me to leave the cast iron skillet heating on the bottom floor of the oven - and that's what I do.  The oven was at 450 degrees for the potato gratin before I took out the skillet, put it on medium high and seared both sides of the steak for a few minutes. I finished it off in the oven at 350 degrees and just kept checking the internal temperature with a thermometer.  Still have not mastered cooking great meat without a thermometer...

Since I make ten times too many portions for just myself and Adam, I attempted to cut the recipe in half. I used less potatoes, a lot less heavy cream and cheese, and more garlic.  I couldn't find gruyere and used a Whole Foods shredded three cheese blend (fontina, asiago and parmesan) instead.

And then I baked the Funfetti cake, from the mix I purchased on clearance after Christmas hence the red and green, in a non-fluted bundt pan, covered it in Pillsbury white frosting and called it a day.

Here is to celebrating one, of many days, with someone you love more than small, appropriate portions of meat, potatoes without cream, and cake from scratch.


p.s. listen to the sizzle! look at cream and cheese bubble from residual heat!