Desperately Seeking Soup

So for those of you who don't already know the story..... St. Stephens night (the night after Christmas) is the biggest going out night in Ireland. It's the time that you meet up with your friends in your hometown and go around the local pubs.
Last year I was in Ireland for Christmas and so when St. Stephens night rolled around I found myself heading out with Eleanor (my sister) and Orela (my best friend) for a night on the town. We had a wonderful night, but the next day I was suffering a little in the tummy. I didn't eat any breakfast and when the dinner bell rang I approached the dinner table with an anxious trepidation.
Mum placed a bowl of soup in front of me and my nervousness increased as the fragrance hit my nose. But, not wanting to be the naughty daughter, I took a spoonful of soup........ IT WAS THE BEST SOUP EVER!
Ever since then I have been trying to find a soup that I like as much. My butternut squash soup came pretty close, but was not enough.

So today, on it's anniversary, I tried to recreate this soup.

I started by sauteing some onions over a very low heat in butter. I then added some chopped carrots (1 cup) and 2 potatoes. After 10 minutes I added 2 bay leaves and the defatted stock from the turkey. When I say 'defatted' I mean I spooned off all the hard fat from the top. I know there is still fat in the actual stock.
I brought this up slowly to a simmer and then added some chopped ham, green lentils (pre soaked and rinsed) and dried thyme. The boys wanted to head out for a walk around the lake and so I let in cook super low for about 90 minutes before serving with some bread rolls.

The final product was a great soup..... but not on par with my Mums soup. I don't think it can be recreated. Matt suggested that maybe my lack of a hangover this year impaired my appreciation of this years soup. I do find that using actual stock from a roasted bird makes all the difference to a soup. I've been impressed with the concentrated tubs of stock (knorr) but they don't match the real thing.

Tofu Noodle Soup

Tonight for dinner I decided to experiment and I am happy to say that it turned out well.

A while ago I bought some tofu soup seasonings from Cleveland Asia Market. When I went to buy the tofu at my new favorite supermarket (Heinens) I saw that you can get tofu in NOODLE form!!!
It's still just tofu, nothing else is added. I picked up a pack but also picked up a block of regular tofu too, as I had my doubts about the noodles.

I added the tofu soup seasoning to boiling water and then added soup chopped bok choy. I rinsed the noodles well (they stank!) and then threw them into the soup to heat through.

I served with a sprinkling of sliced green onions.

The soup was delicious! The sauce was very flavorful and had a good spicy punch to it. The noodles were surprisingly good too. They don't have the same consistency of regular noodles, but they managed to hold their shape and didn't smush up (I had thought they would turn into mush). I was able to eat them with my chop sticks.

I used the whole packet of noodles (8oz) and I now have a lovely full, warm belly. The calorie count for the noodles? 40 calories per serving, there are 2 servings per bag, so only 80 calories. I am going to try to make spagetti with them some day, as a way to keep the carb count down.

All in all a successful dinner, I'll definitely be making it again soon!

And here is bonus photo, because I think it's just sooooo cute. Here is Penny waiting in the car for Matt in Buffalo. Too cute!

Home Sweet Home

After more than 2 weeks of no internet we finally have the house hooked up!
It was amazing to see how much of an impact no internet had on my daily life at first, it really threw me for a loop. Even something as simple as trying to decide what to make for dinner became complicated when I had no recipes at my fingertips.

I love the house we are living in now. It's older than any of the places we've lived in over here. It has squeaky floor boards, heavy wooden doors and only one room ever becomes truly warm.

I had to laugh at myself the other day.... I had been sitting reading in the living room (the one room that becomes warm) and walked through the kitchen to the downstairs bathroom. I shrieked when I sat on the loo, the toilet seat was freezing!! What made me laugh is that rather than fret about the coldness, I started grinning and thinking how it reminded me of back home in Ireland, where you can be sure that during the winter months your bum will get a cold kiss when ever you visit the loo. And, just like back home in Ireland, if you want to warm yourself up in the house you make yourself a good cup of tea and head to the living room! I have drank more tea since we moved into this house than I have in the past year, it's great!!! I'm making  myself a cup right now! One huge difference is that there is no AGA in the kitchen, so the kitchen doesn't get that lovely warm glow.

In 2 weeks Matt and I will be heading to Omaha for Christmas. We will spend a couple of days getting some stuff in order and then we will go pick Joshua up from Kansas. I haven't seen him since the summer, so I bet he's going to look older already :)
We are going to bring in the New Year in Omaha. We have decided that we are going to try and sell most of our remaining furniture in Omaha rather than bring it all the way here. We don't know where we are going to be or what we are going to be doing after the lease runs out here and so we want to live a little more light weight. There are some things that I am not willing to sell: the tables we got from my Papa and my dining room set, but the rest of the furniture is really rather superfluous at the moment.



We had our first snow on Wednesday. It only snowed for the morning and didn't accumulate much, but it was fun all the same. It was nice to sit at the window in the kitchen and look out at the birds fussing around in the hedges. I am no birdwatcher, but could see that we have several species out there, some with lovely bright blues and reds. Here's a picture of our backyard at the moment...

I am beginning to get used to the area in which we live. The street names are becoming familiar and I am developing a mental grid of the city. We live in a safe enough area, there are several blocks of nice housing on either side of us and so I feel completely safe walking the dogs by myself. However, I am disappointed to see that the homes here are not decorated at the frequency of homes in Omaha for Christmas. I loved walking the dogs around the neighbourhood in Omaha at this time of year, there was a lot to look at (for a change ;)

I have got a job! I will be teaching Anatomy and Physiology at Cuyahoga Community College in January. I am very much looking forward to it, I love teaching and I love the subject matter. What makes it even cooler is that I shall learn something too, as the labs are geared towards medical imaging students and so they will have to interpret various forms of imaging.

Well I think that is all my news for the moment. Now I'm going to go plan the menu for over the weekend :)

Homemade Irish Soda Bread

I had a request from a reader to publish my recipe for Soda Bread.
So here it is! It is super easy to make and is great with soups this time of year!

You will need:

525g whole wheat flour
A little over 16 fl oz of buttermilk (I use 1%)
a teaspoon of salt
a teaspoon of baking soda

Heat the oven to 400F (200C)

Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl.
Add half of the buttermilk, stir and then add the second half. Sometimes I need to use a little extra. Add enough so that there is no dry flour left.
Dump the mixture into a greased bread tin.
Score a line lengthways along the middle of the loaf.


Bake for 30 minutes at 400F (200C) then reduce heat to 350F (175C) for another 20 minutes.

Remove from the oven and place tin on wire rack. After about 10 minutes remove loaf from tin and wrap in a clean damp tea-towel. This prevents it from getting to hard on the outside while cooling.

I like to have a slice with natural peanut butter and a good cup of tea!

Enjoy!!

Finally, two firsts.

Today I finally got to do two things that I have been wanting to do for a while.
The first was to buy and use a Chinese hot pot.
Matt and I went to the Cleveland Asia Market this morning to buy it and some ingredients. I bought several different hot pot soup bases, so I'm looking forward to trying them all.
Today I made a spicy Szechuan broth. To it we added some noodles, bok choy, bean sprouts, beech mushrooms and specially sliced beef.
It was delicious, but very VERY spicy. I think I will only use half a packet of the base next time.

The other first was achieved, finally, when we were out for a stroll. I have been trying to get a photo of the scenic railway train for the past couple of months, but always seem to miss it. Today we were at the station just as the train pulled up...

 ... and a ticket master was kind enough to wave to us as the train left the station :)

Mexican Stew

I had a request from a reader to cook some authentic Mexican recipes.
THIS is NOT an authentic Mexican recipe! I am going to do one in the near future, I've always wanted to cook with cactus, but I need to get to a specialty store first to see what's available.

The main part of tonight's dish was an altered version of this recipe. I added black beans and used chipotle peppers in adobo sauce instead of 'chipotle paste'.

I also used fresh tomatoes instead of canned.
I have a secret about using fresh tomatoes in a sauce..... Cut the tomatoes into chunks of various sizes, from small dices to ping pong ball sizes!
I have found that if I cut the tomatoes to approx the same size it doesn't really become a sauce, but rather a mash of hot tomatoes. I think the different sizes allows the smaller ones to cook down quickly while the larger ones remain more 'chunky'.

I also had some potatoes, celery and carrots that I wanted to use too, so I made up a side dish.
The finished product yields 6 generous servings!

Side Dish


5 idaho potatoes
1 onion chopped
2 carrots diced
2 sticks of celery diced
Throw all veggies into a roasting tin.
Season generously with salt and pepper.
Add enough olive oil to to coat potatoes (approx 3tbsp)
Bake at 400F (200C) for 60 minutes, stir every 20 minutes.

'Mexican' Stew


3 large chicken breasts, cut into thirds
1 onion chopped
4 garlic cloves sliced
500g tomatoes chopped.
430g tin of black beans
200g tin of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

In a large pan, fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil over a low heat until soft.
Add chipotle peppers and tomatoes.
Bring to a gentle boil.
Add chicken.
Bring back to boil and then lower to a simmer for 20 minutes.
Add drained black beans.
Simmer for another 10 minutes.
Remove chicken and shred with 2 forks.
Add chicken back to pan and bring to final boil right before serving.

I became worried after adding the chipotle peppers that I may have added way to many. A google search heightened my fear when I read that 10lbs of Jalapenos make 1lb of chipotle!!!

But I was worrying for nothing. The dish was spicy but pleasantly so, with a lovely smokey finish on the palate. 

The potatoes turned out great too. Although this side dish is not a typical Mexican food it still went well with the stew, adding some starch to mop up the juices. Maybe some Mexican seasoning would have made them 'more suited' to the stew.

Stay tuned for some authentic Mexian cooking in the near future!

Seriously Scrumptious Soup

Dear readers, please listen to me when I tell you YOU HAVE GOT TO MAKE THIS SOUP!!!!

Nothing is better than a good autumn/winter soup that'll warm you up on a cold night. I have found a really REALLY good soup. It's my own recipe, I was making it up as I went along and it turned out absolutely fabulous!

You will need:

• 1 butternut squash (about 2lbs)
• 2 small onions finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 2 tablespoons of butter
• olive oil
• crushed chili peppers
• garam masala
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 cups of chicken stock (I had some left over stock, skimmed of fat, from yesterdays roast)
• 4-6 strips of previously fried bacon. I am had some in the freezer and so crushed it into small pieces while frozen.

Heat oven to 400F (200C) 

Peel the squash, remove the seeds and then cut up into dice sized chunks.

Place squash into a roasting tin. Add enough olive oil to coat the squash. Sprinkle with crushed chili peppers and garam masala.

Roast for 30-40 minutes. Stir them every 10-15 minutes.

While the squash is roasting go ahead and saute the onion, garlic and bay leaves over a low heat in the butter. The longer and slower they cook the better!

When the squash is finished roasting add it to the onions and garlic. Add the chicken stock. 

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low for 20 minutes. We want the flavours to develop and the squash to get nice and soft.

Serve with some homemade Irish soda bread.

I cannot say enough good things about this soup. It was perfect! I still have a lovely flavor in my mouth and it's 2 hours later.

I went to the store tonight and enjoyed being welcomed back to the fragrant reminder of the soup when I returned. The chili pepper gives the soup an extra warmth, which is perfect for this time of year.
I'm really really happy with this soup!! I urge you to try it! I think it would also be great with a small amount of red lentils in it too, but not too many, you don't want to change the consistency of the soup.
It would also be super easy to turn it into a vegetarian dish. Leave out the bacon and use vegetable stock instead. You would probably want the lentils then for sure!

Monday's Sunday Dinner

As previously mentioned, yesterday I was planning to make a roast dinner, but we were out too late. So I made it for dinner tonight! Roast chicken served with roast potatoes, steamed green beans, broccoli, bread sauce and pepper cream sauce.

Penny and Lucy were both in attendance, hoping for some food....

 ... after a while, they figured they  might not actually get any....

 ...so Penny started being obnoxious!

 The war zone. This was where I did the cooking. It's a lot smaller than what I'm used to and it got very hot.

All flustered ;)

Sunday afternoon walk

Today it was cold and rainy. I loved it!
We decided to take a drive to lake Erie to walk along some of the shore that we haven't yet been to. When we got there it was still grey and drizzly, perfect beach walking weather :)
Of course, I just HAD to get a shot of the heron for my Dad!

There was a beautiful weeping willow on one end of the beach

Lots of shells to look through....

and some smoothed glass...

And stones to skim....

Here's a shot of downtown Cleveland...

Another heron....

Matt posing for a catalogue ;)

On your marks.... get set...

 GO!...

I was planning on making a roast chicken dinner tonight but we spent a lot longer on the beach than originally planned. So we stopped by #1 Pho for dinner. I decided NOT to have Pho this time, and instead opted for a curried squid dish. It was absolutely delicious!!!

Yet another wonderful weekend in the Cleveland area :)

'Fall'-ing head over heels in love with Ohio

We nearly always have our two companions with us when we go exploring. This time of year they have been confined to the boot of the car, as they tend to get very muddy!

The start of our 11 mile hike

Past goats and chickens

Here's a feel for some of the colour,

Setting off on a 10 mile hike..

This is so beautiful....

Walkabout

Feeling a little blue the other day I decided to head out for a walk by myself, sans doggies...

The season is changing in full force and I hoped that my pictures would capture it, but they haven't. There is still so much green in them that you don't notice the browns and oranges yet, but they are still pretty so I figured I'd post them.

It was a lovely walk. Leaves were falling in such numbers that it sounded like it was raining.

I call this next photo "Are you there God? It's me..little tree"

There are a LOT of squirrels and chipmunks about at the moment and so Penny has become quite a handful on walks: she pulls constantly.
I have bought a gentle leash which goes around her nose and so when she pulls she's pulling her own head downwards. It's stopped the pulling, but she's getting used to it. We are just going for short strolls around the neighborhood as she gets used to it and so we often look like this

Hopefully she'll get used to it soon, it's rather embarrassing and I'm sure some people think I'm being cruel to her. She is not in any pain whatsoever, she just wants the band off her nose so she can pull where she wants.