Peanut Free

Growing up in a household where one of my sisters was deathly allergic to nuts of any kind, I have grown accustom to being especially careful while handling legumes of that variety. My mom never cooked with pine nuts, or baked with almonds however, once in a while a tub of smooth peanut butter would make it's way into our house and evidently my sister's life would be on the line. I really have no idea how since peanuts were the most deadly, but whatever the reason, we had it from time to time and the 5 of us would enjoy every last bit. We would put it in ice cream, on apples, and obviously on toast, with it's cohort honey. Naturally, this brought chaos to our already chaotic, 4-daughtered family as honey toast was the breakfast of choice for the allergic sister Jen. We always tried our best to put the honey on first, and even use two different knives for each condiment, but somehow our memories failed us and time and time again Jen would find a tiny bit of peanut butter in the honey. This was a problem for two really good reasons. First and foremost the health of our beloved sister, but secondly, when teenage Jen got upset you did not want to be anywhere near it. This being said, over the years I have become extremely meticulous about my avoidance of any sort of peanuts for both of those especially dangerous reasons. Now, a married lady, with a husband in the same situation as my dear sister, I will dare to say he's lucky to have a wife who is so experienced in accomodating to this specific dietary restriction. He does take it a step further though, no legumes at all. No peas, no lentils and no chickpeas for this guy. Consequently, I've learned to avoid those few items when cooking for him, but for someone who doesn't like to eat a lot of meat it leaves few options for a filling dinner without those two prime alternatives. Navy beans have become a staple which leads me to a dip that my blender and I created this afternoon.

Navy Bean and Sweet Potato (faux) Hummus

1 can of navy beans (drained and rinsed)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
1/3 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup of water
4 cloves of garlic, diced
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. cumin
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste

Saute the sweet potatoes, garlic, and a bit of the oil with the lid on for about 12 minutes or until soft stirring occasionally. Drain and rinse navy beans and put in the blender with oil, water, lemon juice and spices. Add sweet potatoes when they are done and blend it up!

I really like rosemary with sweet potatoes (and in general) so I bought rosemary and onion flatbread crackers from Superstore and they taste awesome with this dip.

Enjoy!

Love,
V. xo

A Pleasant Surprise

An odd tradition that seemingly all of North America practices, is that of wedding showers. Generosity, kindness and smiles flow freely at these events, as friends, neighbors, great aunts, and siblings alike gather together in the name of the bride and shower her for hours with gifts, love, words of advice and in this case, their favorite recipes. This particular recipe was given to me by the eldest of all my sisters, Olivia, whose cooking style, I must say, is one that I aspire to replicate. Or not, but at least use her recipes and hope to all goodness that they taste the same.

On the back of this dainty recipe card covered in flowers and shades of pastel green, yellow, blue and pink reads: "Nessy - I've made this soup for you before and you really liked it so I thought I'd give you the recipe. Happy wedding! xo Livy". In all honesty I can't remember any time in my life tasting this soup and enjoying it and for that matter, I can't remember tasting anything with lentils in it and enjoying it ever. Putting my judgements aside, I decided that tonight was the night that Livy's soup would be brought to the table. As previously mentioned, this soup was a pleasant surprise and, if I can be so bold, I think that it has rapidly been moved to the top of the list of... favorite soups. This is not an easy feat I might add, as I am a soup conoisseur. So for your tasting pleasure, I leave you with this recipe and lips to be licked. It will be a favorite, that is certain. I am also including my mom's recipe for a delicious (and comforting) bread/biscuit that goes famously with homemade soup, I served them together and they were quite the duo.

Lentil Soup

4 cups of stock
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 clove garclic, minced
2 cups diced tomato
1 cup dried green lentils
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil
2 bay leaves
1 cup diced carrots
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

Saute onion and garlic in 2 tbsp stock, adding more stock if necessary, until onion is soft (about 5 minutes).
Stir in remaining stock, tomatoes, lentils, oregano, basil and bay leaves. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
Add carrots, brown sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper. Cook for 12-15 minutes or until carrots are tender-crisp.
Remove bay leaves.

Fergosa

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tbsp butter
1 cup bisquick
1 1/2 cup grated medium or old cheese
1/3 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 425.
Saute onion and butter until onion is transparent.
Meanwhile, combine bisquick, 1/2 cup cheese and milk and mix until smooth.
With greased hands pat into 8" pie pan.
Combine 1 cup cheese and egg, spread on crust.
Top with onion mixture and sprinkle with poppy seeds.
Bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Eat well and be well,
V. xo