Soup Crazy!

This is the rest of my March post and it goes with the "out like a lamb" portion of the theme! It's a carrot soup that I made this earlier this week but didn't actually try it until today. It was alright, but again, as with the black bean soup, I couldn't get past the fact that it was basically a bowl full of carrot. So I don't recommend it...it was a pretty color though. And Jamie was right with the comment she left on my other blog...we are into soup this week!

Recipe Here

LOL!!

Maybe I'm just tired and overworked, but I laughed out loud (just moments ago, at work, at 8pm on a friday mind you) when I was reading through this recipe for 'Breakfast Cookies'. (Which I will make cuz they sound awesome!) If you don't think it's funny then you aren't paying attention!

6. Add walnuts, then the raisins and finally the chocolate chips.
7. Your gonna get dirty now. Form golf-ball sized balls out of your dough with your hands and place them on a cookie sheet.
8. Flatten your golf-balls with the palm of your head, not too much. Think hockey puck.

How good can this possibly be?

So, we have all these recipe books how about trying something new? (Alex, not the biggest fan of plain old tomato soup.) Results below...

The best tomato soup ever.

This may not have been part of any tasks or challenges assigned, but I would be a bad big sister if I didn't share this with you both!

Bananas & Tomato's?! YES!!

March weather has been pretty unexpected around here, 50 one day and 80 the next. In Ohio that's called weather, but it's quite a shock to the frail southern types. So what could be more unexpected then a recipe that combines bananas and tomato's?! I made this for lunch the other day and it rocked! It is officially called "Tomato salad with bananas" and I got it out of the vegetarian cook book someone got me....Kim? Mom? Lisa? well good job anyway :)







Extra Credit!!
These truffles, Pierre Herme's Bittersweet Truffles with Lime and Honey, promised to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb so I had to make them!

TA DA!!

Like a Lion

Alex here, helping with the technical side of things.

So Lisa and I saw this month's theme, and, thanks probably in part to my love of spicy foods (discovered in recent years), we knew the "lion" part would have to be spicy. I'd like to think of "in like a lion" as "warm and spicy." So what you have here is Mexican posole--like a spicy stew made with puffed up corn hominy that has the consistency of potatoey pasta or something. There is celery, carrot, onion, garlic, veggie broth, cumin, cilantro, chili powder, salt, pepper, hominy, and a meatless grain sausage we found at Ozark Natural Foods that was way spicier than either of us thought it would be. Still good though.

Like a Lamb

So the lamb part needed to be a kind of opposite to the lion part, so we thought dessert. Lisa had the idea, in keeping with our Mexican theme, to make pastel tres leche (literally: three milk cake). So I found a recipe here: http://www.texascooking.com/features/sept2002treslechescakerecipe.htm, and we made it (it was often that I brought this home when I worked at the Mexican bakery in Ohio). The only change was that we did not put the liqueur in the milk mixture, and we layered the cake with strawberries in the middle. So "like a lamb" became "cool and sweet." Next time I think I'll just try vanilla soy milk for the same effect and cool whip for the icing. Bottom line: "In like a lion, out like a lamb" = "warm and spicy, cool and sweet."

Tortilla Soup!

I wanted to make this even closer to the beginning of the month so I could be "in like a lion" but I guess this is close enough. My interpretation is I'm beginning March with this dish which was pretty hot (at least to my standards) and I'll end March with...I don't know yet but it will be something all light and fluffy since this was a heavier meal with lots of spice and hotness!

I changed a few things with the recipe. I used flour tortillas instead of corn, didn't make the crispy strips on top, and used Rotel (so it would be hotter!) instead of normal salsa. And I didn't have cheddar cheese so I shredded my own cheese of whatever random kind I had in the fridge. The soup didn't look super appetizing but we thought it was really really good!
Recipe here.

Task Two

Welcome to March!! I think everyone knows that I was in Atlanta this past weekend to see my first ever NHL game!! It was awesome! As if that wasn't awesome enough, it snowed the next day! Big fluffy pretty white snow - more snow than I saw in Ohio during Christmas!
All the news channels were freaking out and the headlines all said "In like a Lion...?" So! Since I love themes, that will be the task for this month. However you would like to interpret the saying "In like a lion, out like a lamb" with food!*










*Please refrain from using either animal in the food itself...