Sunshine Soup

When I have someone in my life who is enduring something tough, just like you, I want to do something for them. With food a universal currency of comfort, I've made what I call "Sunshine Soup" my new offering. I prefer savory to sweet, and this soup is a unique alternative to baked goods or casseroles. It's a simple labor of love, easily deliverable, unexpected, and unencumbered. This soup is healthy and safe for gluten free and vegan friends; it's easy to cook in about an hour; and it's like a sunshiney warm hug. 

The recipe below is the vegan version of a carrot ginger soup with potential substitutions in parentheses.  I tend to adjust quantities as I cook, but I know these ratios below make a wonderfully smooth and creamy soup. Make your own soup thicker or thinner, tarter or sweeter, milder or spicier, etc... The recipe can be halved to make less than a full pot.  Adding curry powder or yellow Thai curry paste would easily make a Curry Carrot version (yum). This soup tastes great hot and even lukewarm--a winner for all seasons.

Sunshine Soup (Carrot Ginger)

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs of whole carrots, peeled and chopped in chunks
• One white onion, chopped
• I added two small sweet potatoes to today's batch, peeled and chopped, but this is optional
• A bunch of garlic, chopped
• A sizeable knob of ginger, peeled and chopped--I prefer light ginger, so add more at this stage if you want "ginger forward" flavor
• One seeded and chopped jalapeno or Thai chili, depending on your/friends' spice tolerance
• Coconut oil or olive oil--enough to saute onions and garlic (substitute butter if desired)
• A carton of vegetable broth (or chicken if desired)
• Two cans of coconut milk (milk or cream if desired)--Note:  this soup can also be made WITHOUT coconut milk if that's not your jam--to keep it vegan, add more broth to reach desired consistency at the blender stage
• Salt to taste
• 1TBS turmeric
• 1/2 to 1 cup citrus juice--I squeezed orange into the soup initially and then lime and lemon into later to taste, making it "brighter"

Making the Soup:

• In a sizeable pot, saute onion, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno in oil until onions are tender/translucent
• Add carrots (and optional sweet potato), turmeric, and juice; saute for a bit and then add broth
• Bring vegetables in broth to a boil and then simmer on low for 15-20 minutes until carrots are soft/easily cut through with a spoon
• Remove pot from heat; add a can of coconut milk and stir
• Blend with immersion blender (or in portions in a blender) until smooth.  My soup was too thick without the second can of coconut milk and was perfect after I added it.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  At this stage I added more citrus in squeezes until the soup tasted just right (IYKYK--and it's your own taste buds that know :))

Possible Garnishes/Toppings:

• I like a little dash of carraway seed with my carrot soup--pictured above.  Crunchy roasted chick peas are also awesome
• A friend who received this soup added her own seed mix on top for some crunch/texture, including pumpkin, sunflower, chia, and hemp seeds (this friend also claims the soup makes a great salad dressing!?)
• Cilantro (or a dollop of cilantro lime pesto?) would be delicious too, along with some sour cream/yogurt
• French fried/crunchy onions

Warm sunshiney hugs come in many versions and forms.  I hope you give and receive many!

Pumpkin Made Saucy

I'm not doing so well at the writing-every-day routine so far.  But I'm thinking about writing almost every day!  I'm also thinking about exercise every day.

Tonight I made both pumpkin pizza (original recipe here) and ravioli with pumpkin sauce, two favorite seasonal dishes I haven't made in a while.  For tonight's version of the pizza I used naan bread for the crust (super quick and way easy), sweet Italian chicken sausage, shredded mozzarella and romano cheeses, and arugula.

I used the same pumpkin sauce for the ravioli (spinach and cheese), and sprinkled with shredded romano cheese.  The ravioli went to feed the twins' parents.  We ate the pizza.

Pumpkin sauce makes for a mellower/less acidic sauce on a pizza, and in my view, draws more attention to the toppings.  Worth a try!

Easter Egg Cake Pops, Executed

We rallied and pulled off our Easter Egg Cake Pops.  Our project was saved from jettisoning by a lucky find in a Costco "Cake Pop" making set, which included colored candy coating discs, cake pop sticks, sprinkles, and a styrofoam platform for propping the pops.  We ditched the cake mix part of the set, because our recipe requires only a package of Oreo cookies and a package of cream cheese, food-processed, chilled, and shaped into eggs by little hands (no baking!).  We dipped them in the melted candy discs, sprinkled them--and then used the remnants of each melted candy color to make frosting swirls on some of the pops.  We nestled the "duds" that fell off their sticks into the paper grass. 

Voila!

Easter Ideas to Execute or Just...Consider

Last weekend the girls and I were feeling crafty, and the Easter box from the garage provided some inspiration.  We created a simple papier mache/decoupage egg project out of three materials:  plastic eggs, cut/torn tissue paper, and gluey water. 

All the eggs are waiting for now is a little Modge Podge shellacking, or some glitter glue stripes or ribbon, stickers, or...?  Note:  littler fingers can get frustrated with the gooey tissue paper...but I, who had many more important tasks to accomplish, found decorating these eggs (and "fixing" Little Sis's attempts) to be conveniently soothing and distracting.

We're going to a party on Saturday, and I'm tempted to make these cake pops (find recipe here):

We could shape them into eggy ovals and cover them with white chocolate and decorate...they don't require baking, and don't have eggs...perfect for our friend with allergies.   

But there's a very real possibility that the Easter Bunny will never get around to Modge Podge-ing the eggs above (I believe the Podge is packed in the storage container), and has enough to do figuring out how she's going to fill some baskets (and hide some eggs QUIETLY) on Sunday. 

What about you?  Any dyeing or decorating or basket-filling buds of inspiration?

Easy Autumn Sauté

Tonight's dinner just couldn't be one more night of leftover chicken from Way Too Much Chicken that I grilled on Sunday.  

So I searched the freezer for an anchor ingredients and found chicken apple sausage.  I sautéed the sausage with refrigerator remnants:  an onion, kale, and sliced Roma tomato, then added a dash of olive oil and thyme.  I threw it all over quinoa:  one bowl and one spoon per person. 

Done.  

Like daylight savings time, the elections, soccer season (almost), summer weather (maybe), and me. 

Cakeless, Bakeless Cake Pops

I've never wanted to make cake pops.  Yuck=frosting--I scrape it off when I eat cake--but you can't avoid the frosting in cake pops, because it's mixed in.  The mere thought of the stirring of the frosting and mushed cake makes me feel oogy the way packaged Danish with white icing does. 

But Big Sis received the Betty Crocker Halloween Cookbook from her grandparents in Iowa and she chose the "Boneyard Dirt Pops" when I told her we could bake something today with a friend.  I was so psyched to find that these are not even cake pops--they're Oreo cookie and cream cheese pops, dipped in melted chocolate chips.  No baking!  So easy!  So...sweet. 

We used a package of reduced fat Oreos blended with eight ounces of light cream cheese.  The girls rolled balls of batter and we chilled them for 45 minutes.  Then we stuck the pop sticks in and dipped the balls in melted chocolate.  Excess "dirt" (crumbled Oreos) and sprinkles topped them off. 

We're giving some to the friends who kindly dropped off owl cupcakes the other day (*burp*). 

Sweet Potato Soup

Mmmmm, I made some yummy soup for us tonight and I have to share my excitement and the "recipe" (it won't be exact...bear with me!).

As I was taking this photo, I had a bit of déjà vu; it turns out that I have been exuberant over sweet potato soup before--here's a 2009 version on gearheadmom.com (with more exotic ingredients like parsnips and turnips and butternut squash).

Tonight's soup is waaaay easy.  Here's the recipe:

Sweet Potato Soup

Ingredients:

a quarter-stick of butter (or olive oil)
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
1 onion (I used red because that's what I had), chopped
A handful of carrots, diced (because I had some--not necessary)
3 cups (or so) of chicken (or veg) broth
2 cups (or so) of milk (I used 1%--but how about coconut milk?)
3 dates (because I had some)
a clove of garlic, minced
a teaspoon cinnamon or cinnamon stick
a teaspoon nutmeg or to taste
a teaspoon ginger or to taste
4 fresh sage leaves (because I had some; not necessary or use dried)
pepper to taste

Sauté onions, potatoes, and carrots in butter till onions are translucent.  
Add spices and dates and stir to coat vegetables.  
Add broth and bring to a boil; lower heat and simmer till potatoes/vegetables are soft.
Remove cinnamon stick.
Add milk, stir, and blend soup with immersion blender (if you don't have one of these, you need one!!) until smooth.
Simmer till ready to eat.

Add maple syrup or cayenne paper for sweetness or spice.

Garnish with toasted nuts (pinenuts, hazelnuts, etc.) and/or sage.

It's What's for Dinner

Husband coached out of town for my first week back to work after summer, which meant early-morning camp drop-off for the girls and exhaustion for all of us. (Oh, how often I bow down to single parents and partners of deployed spouses!  This week, I paid homage again). 

I didn't feel like cooking.  My clientele were tired, listless, and cranky.  Even beans and rice felt too ambitious. 

So we kept it simple (and sodium rich!). 



Almost MRE.

Scrounging the cupboards for the easiest and cheapest meal options reminded me of my post-college days in Washington, D.C., when I shared an apartment with two roommates and we had the opportunity to analyze and/or adopt one another's eating habits.  One of my roommates had a "default" meal--the dinner she would eat right before payday or when creativity, motivation, or other groceries (including ours) had run out.  She dubbed it Corn As A Meal. 

Corn as a Meal relied on one staple:  frozen corn.  At its most basic, Corn As A Meal comprised corn and salt and pepper, heated in the microwave in a big bowl and eaten in front of the TV.  Sometimes Corn As A Meal included hotdogs, cheese, other vegetables, or more exotic herbs. 

My roommate's "Frozen Starch" As A Meal backup plan inspired a phase when I would enjoy Peas As A Meal (tasty with parmesan cheese, by the way).  And my other roommate would fix herself Rice As A Meal. 

Despite the billing spaghetti-os, mac 'n' cheese and ramen enjoyed this week, ideally, Big Sis would love a caprese salad for dinner, and Little Sis would prefer Trail Mix As A Meal (and it would be nice if I'd go ahead and remove everything but the chocolate chips, please). 

What's your default dinner, folks?

Naan Pizza

We have a friend sleeping over, and it's Make-Your-Own Pizza Night.  We used whole-wheat naan bread as the base (perfectly sized for the big girls to eat their entire individual pies):  easy, yummy, and healthy.  They chose from pepperoni, ham, red onion, fresh garlic, artichoke hearts, basil, pineapple, and sliced tomatoes for toppings.

Parents' Pizza:  Pepperoni for him; ham for her

It's a gorgeous Memorial Day Weekend, so we ate outside.  One of us ate her pizza in the wagon:

Yay for summer!  So close.  

Thanksgiving

This year we ate on Wednesday; today is reserved for visiting Grandma and delivering desserts to Christie's Place. 

I went on a long run yesterday morning and thought of what I'd say when it was my turn to contribute my words of gratitude at the dinner table.  I concluded that I most thankful for my deep sense of fulfillment and contentment.  And for the relationships in my life which have strengthened.  To have a rich and meaningful life...?  'Nuff said.

Yesterday was spectacular, despite missing our far-flung family members.  We watched a few first-season episodes of ALF  (oh my gosh; still so hilarious!), gobbled turkey prepared three ways, played Catch Phrase, and chowed pumpkin cheesecake. 

I brought a squash dish, and the epic battle between me and tough-skinned gourds was worth it (it's a whole lot easier to cut a squash in half and bake it than it is to peel and dice, yikes). 

Here's the recipe:

Roasted Squash and Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:
1 each:  kabocha, butternut, and acorn squash, peeled and cubed.
3 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
3 large leaves swiss chard, finely shredded
1 onion
1 tablespoon butter
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon pepper
dash cayenne pepper
1/3 cup pine nuts

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Arrange squash and sweet potatoes in a shallow baking dish.  Add swissh chard, and toss with olive oil and kosher salt.

Saute/caramelize onions in butter, garam masala, and sugar until just brown.  Add to pan, mix.

Roast; toss squash intermittently.  Dish is done when squash is soft and bubbly. 

Toast pine nuts in a skillet and sprinkle on top before serving.

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pizza

We invited some friends for dinner last night, and I wanted to make something seasonal.  I love cooking with pumpkin, but my go-to dish, Ravioli with Pumpkin Sauce, wasn't inspiring me.  I had pizza dough, though, and thought, what if...pizza with pumpkin sauce instead of tomato? 

It was yummy (phew).   

Here's Pumpkin Pizza with Sweet Italian Sausage, Shaved Parmesan, and Arugula:

I used pre-made dough, which I bake a little before heaping with toppings to avoid soggy pizza in the middle.

For the sauce, I reduced a cup of port wine (try sherry or marsala) with a teaspoon olive oil, minced garlic, and pinches of sage and garam masala.  I added a can of pumpkin, a tablespoon of rice vinegar (optional), and simmered the sauce for ten minutes.  (You can make the sauce sweeter,  if you like, with the addition of some apple juice or maple syrup). 

I spread the sauce on the already crusty dough, layered the shaved parmesan, and then added dried thyme leaves, cooked sweet Italian sausage, and arugula.  I baked the pizza for about 15 minutes at 425 degrees. 

We munched on pumpkin pizza and slurped asparagus soup.  A nice autumn meal!

Beans 'n' Rice Night

We are going to lighten things up around here with some dinner dialogue. Specifically (and all "paleo" diets aside), we've been eating a lot of beans lately.  Because beans are good!  How about them white beans--Great Northern beans?  Cannellini?  My goodness, those are yummy.  Saute them in oil with some greens and garlic and pour over pasta.  Or mash them into hummus.  Make soup!
 
My kids love beans, too, which has encouraged me to keep the cupboard stocked with pintos, chick peas, black and white beans (I'm not a fan of the kidney bean, a result of too much exposure to yucky three-bean salad in my youth).  One of our daughters' favorite dinners is Rice 'n' Beans Night.  I wish I could recall which friend's friend inaugurated this tradition so I could give credit where it's due, but we adopted the idea ourselves, with rave reviews from the Peanut Gallery every time. 
 
Beans 'n' Rice Night is the perfect solution for evenings when the fridge stores are running low; for when you need to feed 'em, fast (as fast as rice cooks); for when you're tempted by take-out but want to save some cash; for when a hearty or warm meal is in order; for when you're in charge of a crowd.  Here's what you do:  cook some rice.  Warm up some beans.  I like to mix pintos with black beans and add a tablespoon of salsa and some cumin to give the beans a little more dimension.  The rest of the excitement is in the condiments.  Depending on what's available, and the extent of your planning ahead, you can top your bowl o' rice 'n' beans with shredded cheese, salsa, diced green chilis, scallions, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, avocado, shredded lettuce, olives, crunched tortilla chips (or serve with warm tortillas). 

Easy, peasy, crowd pleasy!

A Little for a Lot

Parents from our daughters' local preschool held a fundraiser on Saturday night.  It's the second year we've applied the "keep it simple, stupid" philosophy, understanding that at this time of year, families are both worn out from organizing and attending events and likely running low on funds.  One kind family agrees to host the party at their home/in their backyard, and the obligation for guests is to bring a beverage, hors d'oeuvres, item or service to donate, and a willingness to spend $25-$100.  Preschool teachers offered babysitting services at the preschool from 4 to 7 PM, and approximately twenty couples in attendance raised over $2000. 

It occured to me that this formula is a winning way for a small group to raise quick funds in a community-building atmosphere for a variety of purposes:  a common cause, a family in crisis, a community project. 

The best part was the modesty and creativity of the donations.  Folks offered babysitting, handmade pottery and jewelry, landscaping consultations, favorite craft beers and wine, a ready-for-kindergarten kit, and I donated a curry dinner. 

Also the food:  no Costco contributions anywhere in sight.  Someone brought bruschetta with Sicilian grandpa's homemade sausage; there were frittatas, orzo salad, and pizzette.  My caprese-salad-on-a-toothpick was not particularly inspired, though the pancetta was a nice addition: 

And now, our preschool will have an updated art room!

Sticky Stained Glass

Check out Gearhead Mom, where I am making "stained glass" ornaments out of Jolly Ranchers with the girls. 

Happy Sunday!

Autumn Meal

This afternoon San Diego's uncharacteristically humid weather culminated in thunder-and-lightning storms.

Thunder and lightning! Very very frightening!

Particularly in San Diego, where even water falling from the sky constitutes a weather emergency.

I pretended that the rain did, in fact, cut the humidity, that it both looked AND felt like fall outside, and made an autumn soup of sorts:

Squash Ravioli in Broth with Spinach and Cannelini

32oz. chicken broth (I used the low-sodium variety)
2 C. water
A 16 oz. box of mini squash ravioli
1 T olive oil
Garlic
1 small onion, halved and sliced in narrow wedges
1 can cannelini (white) beans, rinsed
Bunch of fresh spinach, roughly chopped
Fresh chopped basil (or basil leaves)
Fresh parmesan cheese

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil in pot (you will use this pot to boil the ravioli, so medium-to-large size is best) till onion is translucent.
Add broth and water; gently boil as directed.
Lower heat.
Add spinach, beans, and basil and simmer.
Add salt and pepper to taste.

Sprinkle with parmesan cheese, and serve!

Lemony Thai Noodle Soup

One of my favorite meals is the Buddha Bowl at Isabel's Cantina and I have been wanting to replicate it at home. The good news is that Isabel released a cookbook including the recipe for that yummy soup; the bad news is I don't have it yet.

But I forged ahead and made something different yet delicious--good enough to share, and which my daughters loved too.

Some of the ingredients came from Trader Joe's, but are easily substituted.

Lemony Thai Noodle Soup

2 TBS olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 yellow onion, sliced lengthwise for slivers

Chicken breasts or thighs, diced/chunked

1 small head cauliflower (or broccoli)

Some carrots, sliced in lengthwise matchsticks

A bunch of bok choy, chopped

A bunch of cilantro, chopped

Juice of one or two lemons (you could try limes!)

1 can of coconut milk (I use light)

1 carton chicken broth

1 11-oz. jar Trader Joe's Thai Yellow Curry Sauce (a yellow curry paste can be used instead to flavor)

1 package rice noodles (Trader Joe's "Rice Sticks")--or--serve soup without noodles over basmati or jasmine rice

Salt and pepper to taste; chili flakes to desired heat

(Use or add other vegetables on hand, including green onions, green beans, snow peas).

Saute garlic and onion in pot with hot oil till just translucent; add chicken until cooked and then vegetables, saving bok choy and cilantro. Add lemon juice, coconut milk, chicken broth, and Yellow Curry Sauce. Set aside.

In a separate pot, boil water and cook rice noodles. Drain and add to soup. Add bok choy and bring to simmer. Stir in cilantro and use sprigs for garnish.

Serve and share--enough to feed ten!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

Sunday evening we were still stuffed full of a late lunch but with room enough for an early evening appetizer: artichokes fresh from our garden.

Five! And only one earwig discovered inside.

We invited Auntie T over and each enjoyed our own; how decadent.

Our daughters are more evolved than we were at that age: T and I recalled our fathers delighting in scavenging our leftover artichoke hearts--as kids, we only liked the leaves. Big Sis and Little C eat the whole darned 'choke, even the hairy parts.

Our garden is bursting with growth, and we are reaping what Mother Nature sows, with recent and regular rains so atypical here. We pick lemons, limes, and artichokes and await our volunteer zucchini to grow just a bit more robust.

There's a certain reassurance in enjoying the success of what we didn't have to try hard to grow, as our lives are consumed by tending carefully to the living beings in our care. The neglected fish doesn't fare as well as the overlooked artichokes, alas. Our kids? Thriving, for now. So far.

A secret we know: one of the greatest pleasures in life is to grow something; eat it. Share. Pass it on.

Curry!

I love making curry; I love eating curry. Yum, yum, YUM, CURRY!!!

My parents cooked curry from time to time when I was young, and even made their own green mango chutney. In Kenya I learned to make several variations on the curry theme; the recipe below is my best version, although every batch I make is slightly different. I love making a pot of vegetarian and pot of chicken and having a Curry Party: folks only need to bring beer and contribute a condiment* and you've got yourself a yummy meal!

I apologize in advance that I do not measure things (in the list of ingredients below my friend "Aitchpea" has kindly added her approximations). Since I usually make this for a large crowd, the quantity in this recipe will be large. The key to curry is to keep tasting it to decide if it needs more tomato, more coconut/sweet flavor, more "heat", more 'curry' flavor...or more or less "broth"--I like mine soupy enough to appreciate the rice, but thick enough to be very flavorful.

CURRY:

butter/ghee [1 stick]
black (or yellow) mustard seed [about 1-2 TBS]
ground black pepper [maybe a tsp?]
Patak's mild or hot curry paste [half a jar] OR curry powder--many tablespoons
garam masala [TBS] (garam masala is a spice combo of pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, cumin, ginger--add more of any of these spices to your own taste )
cayenne pepper or chili powder for heat
potatoes [4-6, cubed]
carrots
onions [one large, diced]
garlic [4-5 good-sized cloves]
chicken[1 package of breasts or thighs, cut up into bite-size pieces--~1.5 lbs]
peeled diced tomatoes [one large can]
coconut milk [one can, but maybe more]
chicken or vegetable broth [one can or carton]
lentils and water
turmeric [tsp]
V-8 Juice [to desired taste]
other veggies: green beans, cauliflower, garbanzo beans (I've even used sweet potatoes)
Basmati or jasmine rice

Start with a STICK OF BUTTER (or equivalent amount of olive oil or ghee, depending on how authentic you want to be). Melt in a large pot and add some BLACK (or yellow, if you can't find black) MUSTARD SEED. Add GROUND PEPPER, GARAM MASALA and PATAK'S CURRY PASTE (this is way better than any curry powders I've tried--you can get it at Cost Plus/World Market). The idea is for the spices and butter to simmer together awhile. Before the butter burns/browns, add diced POTATOES, CARROTS, diced ONIONS, GARLIC, and CHICKEN (if you're making non-vegetarian). Saute for awhile--let those spices soak into the main ingredients).

Add a big can of PEELED DICED TOMATOES. Add a can of COCONUT MILK. Add a can or carton of CHICKEN or VEGETABLE BROTH. If you're making veggie curry, you might add LENTILS and water. Let this cook awhile and taste. If the curry flavor is there but it's not yellow enough, add TURMERIC. If you need more liquid, add a can of V-8 JUICE and/or coconut milk. For sweeter flavor, add pineapple juice (but condiments add this element, too).  Add SALT to taste.

Add your GREEN BEANS and CAULIFLOWER about an hour before serving so they don't overcook. I usually let the curry simmer at least four hours (crock pot!). Serve with BASMATI or JASMINE RICE.

Top with CONDIMENTS*: diced BANANAS, GREEN ONIONS, plain YOGURT (a MUST!), shredded or flaked COCONUT, PEANUTS, CILANTRO, CHUTNEY, RAISINS, PINEAPPLE, MANGO.

Mermaid Munchies

I'm over at Gearhead Mom today, talking about Mermaid Food. Sushi, anyone?

One-Pot Wonder

My ideal family meal is one that includes all the food groups and fits in one pot. I am a fan of the casserole, the stew, the soup, the Crock Pot Creation. All my creative energy focuses on one dish; there's no need to compartmentalize; as far as setting the table goes, simple: it's either bowl-and-spoon or plate-and-fork. One-stop slop.

Last night's dinner fit the bill, and I write about it here not because it so much represents the best of the one-pot repertoire, but the among the most haphazard in terms of what I scavenged to throw in there.

We subscribe to an organic farm's biweekly veggie delivery. The original months-long subscription was a gift from my aunt after the birth of our first daughter--a thoughtful, rather cutting-edge meal/gift at the time. We let it run its course and lapse; we renewed it last year when the farm called with a rational plea: Help us survive in these tough economic times.

I've enjoyed the culinary challenge posed by the random assortment of food arriving every other Thursday. We never know what's going to be in our box. And sometimes, even after it arrives, we don't know what is in the box. I've learned to recognize swiss chard, bok choy, thyme, fennel, starfruit, kumquats, and purple green beans when they're bundled and unlabeled on our doorstep. Right now we've got a bag of tomatilloes whose fate I'm pondering. They narrowly survived last night's Amalgam Stew.

Most of my cooking begins with an anchor ingredient--the protagonist of the Dinner Drama. Last night it was a bag of green lentils. I sauteed an onion and garlic in some olive oil in the pot, and then foraged in the fridge for what else could boil up nicely with the lentils. I chopped up some nearly compostable carrots, beets who were waiting to be properly roasted, summer squash and kale. I poured in a big can of peeled chopped tomatoes, three cups of water, a tablespoon each of vegetable bouillon and curry powder, and simmered our summer stew.

Eldest daughter's sniffer sensed something on the stove, and she pulled up a chair to investigate.

"Where's the meat, Mom?" asked our little hard-core carnivore.

I satisfied her by adding some chicken-apple sausage.

We ate outside, in homemade ceramic bowls, with optional dollops of sour cream on top.

And dinner even earned that elusive seal of approval from our discerning daughters, with a request for more: "This time a super meaty scoop, please!"