Finally Friday

OK Mom, it's time to get up. The alarm has rung, and you have already hit the snooze button once. Your light is on, and that means you are awake. I am hungry and need my foods. Get with the program already.

Feed Me Friday (the Sunday version)

I have been asked to provide the recipe for the Potato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup Mom will serve on Thanksgiving. There's a neat story behind it, so I will let her tell it:In early 2001, I sent an email to cookbook author Rick Rodgers lamenting the problems of cooking for one after my son went away to college. He was gracious enough to reply with some suggestions.

Later that year, my sister and I went out for dinner together at a fussy restaurant. She ordered a roasted red pepper soup. It looked pretty good. I thought it would be easy to make and emailed Rick asking if he knew where I could find a recipe to get started. To my surprise, he replied the next day with a recipe. I read it and immediately drove to the grocery store to get the ingredients and make the soup. It was great, and I took this picture, and emailed Rick, telling him the soup was fabulous. He replied, telling me he would be testing the recipe himself for his then upcoming book "The Carefee Cook."

The final recipe includes sausage, but I still prefer the original.

Rick says: “Don't use bottled red peppers, as they are usually packed in vinegar, and that will make the soup too strong, especially with the balsamic on top.

“Here's an easy way to roast peppers. I broil them, which is much easier than any other way and you can do a lot at a time. The trick is to cut the peppers into large, long strips. Cut off the top lid and bottom inch of the peppers--set these two pieces aside, but poke the stem out of the top lid. Cut the pepper vertically down the side and open up into a long strip. Cut out the ribs and seeds (the strips make this chore easier, too). You can do 3 or 4 peppers in no time this way. Now lay the strips, tops, and bottoms on a broiler rack and broil in a preheated broiler until the peppers turn the familiar black…" Put the peppers in a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap, let cool. When cool enough to handle, simply peel the skins away.

You can find the recipe here, on Rick's website: Potato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup.

Mom says it is very easy to make.

Feed Me Friday!

OK! Finally, Mom's got a BEEF recipe for all us carnivores. This is a favorite recipe around here. Mom's had it for like a squillion years. It's one of those "Beef, it's what's for dinner" recipes. It is easy, and good, and Mr Karate LOVES it!

Szechwan Beef Stir-Fry (30 minutes)

1 lb beef flank steak
2 Tb soy sauce
4 tsp dark sesame oil
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp minced ginger
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper pods
1 small red pepper, cut into 1" pieces
1 8 oz package frozen baby corn, defrosted
1/4 lb snow peas, julienned

Cut beef lengthwise into 2 strips; slice across the grain into 1/8-inch thick strips. Combine soy sauce, 2 tsp oil, sugar and cornstarch; stir into strips. Heat remaining 2 tsp oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic, ginger and pepper pods; cook 30 seconds. Add bell pepper and corn; stir fry 11/2 minutes. Add pea pods; stir fry 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from the skillet; reserve. Stir-fry beef strips (half at a time) 2 - 3 minutes. Return vegetables and snow peas to skillet and heat through.

Serve over hot cooked white rice.

Serves 4


American Beef Council

Feed-Me! Friday

Brownies!

Mr Karate says these are really good with vanilla ice cream. Or with whipped cream. Or just a cold glass of milk. A pan of these rarely lasts more than 24 hours at our house. Mr Karate says these are the bestest brownies in the whole wide world. Mom got the recipe from her Mom's Betty Crocker 1953 Red and White Cookbook. Mom likes brownies with nuts, but Mr Karate doesn't. Since there is no beef in them, I don't like them at all.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Melt together over hot water:
2 squares unsweetened chocolate (2 ounces)
1/3 cup shortening or butter (5-1/3 tablespoons)

Add to bowl containing these ingredients and mix well:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
¾ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Mix in: ½ cup broken walnuts (optional)

Spread in a well-greased 8” square pan. Bake 30 minutes, until top has a dull crust. A slight imprint will be left when top is touched lightly with fingertip. Cool slightly, then cut into squares.

This recipe doubles easily: put in a 13 x 9 x 2” pan and bake for the same amount of time.

Feed Me! Friday & Road Trip Update

I hope you all have been having fun reading about the Road Trip! I was trying to keep my absence a secret from Mom! You all know I am not good at keeping secrets. Like Monty's karaoke machine... You should see what the Sammy Meezer found down in the luggage compartment... He was down there with Abby "investigatin." Oops, there I go again.

Go to Beezer's blog to find out what we have been up to lately. He's now my hero -- you're just gonna have to go over and find out why. The answer is one word: BEEF!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mom has decided to hijack my blog again in my absence and post another recipe. Well I never!


This is another vegetarian pasta recipe. It's a little bit spicy, but not too much. Mom says to make it -exactly- the way it is written or you'll lose the something that makes it special. This is another recipe that takes about 30 minutes.

By the way, Mom is from New Hampster, so what she thinks is "a little bit spicy" will probably be "not spicy enough" for some beans in the Southwest.

Spicy Penne with Cauliflower

1/4 cup golden raisins

2 Tablespoons pine nuts

2 Tablespoons olive oil

4 cups cauliflower florets

4 cloves garlic, thinly slivered

1 14-1/2 ounce can no-salt-added stewed tomatoes

8 ounce can no-salt-added tomato sauce

¾ Teaspoon salt

½ Teaspoon red pepper flakes

½ Teaspoon ground ginger

12 ounces penne pasta

¼ cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Start heating a large pot of water to boiling for the pasta. In a small bowl, combine the raisins and ½ cup of hot water. Let stand until the raisins have softened, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small dry skillet, cook the pine nuts over low heat until lightly toasted, stirring frequently, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat.

2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over low heat. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring frequently, until the cauliflower is golden, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the garlic is lightly golden, about 3 minutes.

3. Add the raisins and their soaking liquid, tomatoes, tomato sauce, salt, pepper flakes, and ginger, breaking up the tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Cook until the cauliflower is tender and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 4 minutes longer.

4. Meanwhile, cook the penne in the boiling water until just tender. Drain well. Transfer the cauliflower mixture to a large bowl, add the penne and parsley, and toss to combine. Spoon the penne mixture into 4 shallow bowls, sprinkle with the pine nuts, and serve.

this recipe is from a book called "Great-Taste Low-Fat Pasta"