Carrot and Red Lentil Soup / The Best Cornbread in the Universe

September 14, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ 2 Comments

I am currently in the midst of the most strange situation of my life. Three of my roommates and I are sitting in the dark (our light is 15 feet up in the air and burnt out yesterday) talking to our landlord about how we can give our kitchen more counter space. He is now hovering over my roommate Brittany‘s shoulder, interrogating her about apps for her iPad. There are awkward jokes flying left, right and centre and he has started to tell us stories about his wife and children. Heavenly.

Since the weather here in Ottawa has cooled right down, I decided it was time to make my first warm soup of the chilly season. I’ve been waiting the entire summer to make this carrot and red lentil soup, one of the very first entries in my Canadian Living Everyday Favourites cookbook. Contrary to the cookbook, which said I only needed to stew this soup for about 20 minutes, I had this soup on for nearly an hour and a half, as I quickly and messily rushed to make the cornbread which I can so easily describe as the best in the world. Definitely worth waiting for.

This dinner also marked the start of my “indoor photo season” trials. For reasons you will see below, I am less than satisfied with the results of this little experiment, and am quite concerned as to how winter foodie pictures are going to turn out. I took these few pictures in my kitchen as well as my roommate Ariel’s room (only because she has more lamps than any reasonable person should have). Despite what my roommates said (“soup is a cozy food, you want the lighting to be darker!”), I was so disappointed with my pictures that I plated a whole other meal the next day and took pictures in the mid-afternoon sun. I am quite confident I have some strange case of OCD.

And now for the re-plating…

Perhaps next time I will set up a little photo studio in my kitchen. More to come.

Chilled Pea Soup with Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits

September 4, 2010December 31, 2011 ~ Hilary ~ 3 Comments

Although this soup looks like something out of Harry Potter’s potions class, it actually tasted excellent. Being more experimental with my vegetable intake, I decided that this chilled pea soup (actually called “cold pea soup with chives and lemon by Canadian Living) was a great way for me to adventure into the world of pureed vegetable soups. It was super easy to make, and involved me using my roommate Natalie’s fantastic non-stick pan (always a joy) to cook everything up. The “cold” aspect of this soup made it especially enjoyable, since we’ve been experiencing an unusual beginning of September heat wave lately. Since I was far too cheap to buy the fresh peas required for this recipe, I made use of one of the million bags of frozen veggies we have in our freezer. Due to this handy and large supply of frozen peas, this entire meal cost a grand total of…wait for it…$0 to make!

Also, these cheddar buttermilk biscuitswere amazing and so easy to make. Although I had a terrible encounter with biscuit-making when I was young (something involving me using baking soda instead of powder…), every batch since has worked out swimmingly. I definitely recommend these for a fast supper accompaniment.

Something learned from this dinner: Green onions are somehow related to chives. Since I couldn’t find chives at the grocery store, three different people informed me that I could use green onions as an alternative. Who knew?

PS: Sorry to Canadian Living for renaming both recipes, there was no way I could include the word “chives” in the name if they contained no chives. I absolutely refuse to false advertise.

Gord makes dinner (and gets challenged)

June 30, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

I’ll keep this relatively short and simple: my awesomely talented friendGordmade me dinner as a reward for successfully completing his tofu challenge. Here are a few pictures of the wonderful meal he made (super impressive)…

Gazpacho (I still have a hard time saying it, I’ll admit)

Quinoa Salad (also can’t pronounce that properly)

And le pièce de résistance? Crème brûlée…because of course Gord just has a blowtorch casually sitting around in his kitchen (seriously, I laughed so hard). YUM.

Also, I am going to use this post to announce Gord’s FIRST blog challenge: he has requested that I challenge him to make pie from scratch, a thing he apparently has always wanted to do. So there you have it Gord…a little less terrifying than death-by-tofu, but what can you do? Make it photogenic, make it delicious and, most importantly, make it for me!!!!

Cumin Chickpea Soup

June 10, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ Leave a comment

Having been inspired in the past few weeks by my friend Gord and his undying love of chickpeas, I decided that it was finally time for me to cook my first chickpea-centred meal. Not really knowing what I was going to make, I eagerly grabbed the biggest can of chickpeas I could find in the grocery store, and carried it home in my metallic purple backpack. Returning home from a 10 hour workday (it is convocation week at school – exhausting), I wanted something soothing, warm and light, since I had just gobbled down a delicious Carleton cupcake.

Like everything else I make, I got this recipe from Canadian Living. This one wasn’t in my cookbook, but rather on their website. I love typing in keywords and searching for new, scrumptious recipes such as this. I only used up half my can of chickpeas on this soup, which means I will be searching the web again soon for another chickpea recipe…

I ate this soup with a few slices of 12-grain/fennel bread from Grace in the Kitchen, the friendly neighbourhood kitchen store that I mentioned in an earlier post. Although it was the perfect companion to my soup, there was a little too much fennel and not enough grain; I may stick with my boring white loaf from now on. Add some fresh lemon slices, and this meal was complete! My first very-nearly vegetarian meal. Now to substitute chicken stock with vegetable stock – I’ll get there one day!

Probably making chocolate chip cookies tonight for the Friday treat. Since it’s convocation, I have to feed three times as many people as usual! Pressure’s on.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

May 30, 2010January 1, 2012 ~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

I know what you’re thinking: “how can Hilary be making soup when it’s almost June, she must be insane!” Well let me tell you, dear readers, that your diagnoses of insanity is quite accurate; however, this soup was actually perfect for today. With the sun taking a well-deserved break from an otherwise scorching week, I decided to take advantage of the cloudiness and make this heart warming Mexican-fiesta-in-a-bowl.

The recipe was from my Canadian Living cookbook (obviously) and found me making my first ever homemade soup. Gone are the days of Campbell’s heat-and-eat soups – I am officially a cook! I ended up adding way more cumin and chili pepper than the recipe suggested…I like a soup with a little kick!

Also, if anyone is ever looking for a great snack, fry some cut up tortilla pieces. I added my homemade tortilla chips to the top of the soup and it was a delicious crunchy contrast to the smooth consistency of the soup.

First attempt at soup: a success! Also, this Mexican-inspired dish curbed my major craving for tacos, and at half the cost. Hilary: 1, Food expenses: 0.