Cooking for One

You may have noticed that I have not been posting recipes lately. That is because my DH has already left in our big move. We are moving to Lausanne, Switzerland, and he went ahead. So, I have a few "Cooking for One" recipes.
First, a fabulous sandwich.

Balsamic Chicken and Ham Sandwich
2 slices of white bread
3 slices deli shaved honey ham
3 slices deli shaved rotisserie chicken
1 slice provolone cheese
3 slices on-the-vine tomato
10 arugula leaves
balsamic vinegar
1/2 Tbsp goat cheese with herbs

1. Spread the goat cheese on one piece of bread. Pile on the deli meats and top with the provolone. 2. Build the salad on the sandwich. Spread the tomato and place the arugula on top. 3. Sprinkle with balsamic vinegar and enjoy! This goes well with a handful of blackberries on the side.

Microwave Scrambled Eggs
1 slice red onion, diced
1/4 green pepper, diced
2 eggs- one whole, and one separated so that the egg white goes in and you save the yolk for something else.
a splash of cream
some cheese
S&P

1. Place your vegetables in the bottom of a microwave-safe bowl. Add the eggs, one whole and one just egg white, and stir around the vegetables. Add a splash of cream. 2. Microwave for 30 seconds until the eggs begin to set up. Add the cheese and pepper BUT NOT SALT (it will make the eggs rubbery). 3. Continue to microwave for thirty second intervals (you'll probably need another minute in total). Keep an eye on the eggs so that they are not overcooked. When the egg starts to bubble, pull it out. 4. Season with salt to your taste. Enjoy!

Florentine-y Rotini

Oh, this is such a wonderful recipe. It's creamy and delicious, and it's fairly healthful. At various times, I added chicken, kielbasa, and meatloaf to this, and also ate it without any meat at all. It served me, my mom and my sister several times over. I would say you can get 4-6 heaping servings of this.

Florentine-y Rotini
3/4 lb short cut pasta, such as rotini
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1/4 cup milk
1 shallot, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/2 package frozen spinach, defrosted and drained in a kitchen towel
15-20 stalks asparagus, cut into two inch pieces
3/4 cup Parmigiano reggiano, grated
Salt and Pepper

1. Put your pasta water on to boil. When it reaches boiling, season the water and add the pasta.
2. Start a traditional milk sauce in a large saucepan. Melt the butter over medium high heat and whisk in the flour. After a minute or so, when the flour taste has cooked off, pour in the milk. Whisk briskly until it begins to thicken. Add in the garlic and shallot to the sauce. Let it cook down for a moment or two. Then, begin adding the chicken stock in batches, stirring it in over the cooking time of the pasta. After all the chicken broth is in the sauce, stir in the spinach.
3. Drain the pasta. Quickly flash-cook the asparagus pieces. Put the pasta in the saucepan and stir it around. Turn off the heat, and melt in the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Budget Friendly Arroz con Pollo

I hope you are all weathering the economic downturn with smiles and good luck. However, if you are worried about your food budget, I'd love to introduce you to a budget (And figure) friendly dish gleaned from my ultimate source of recipes--my mom. This is a Panamanian-style Arroz Con Pollo. My mom spent some time down there when she was younger, and I've never seen this version online. DH and I are stuck in the house today thanks to a great festival taking place literally right outside our door. We are already parked an eighth of a mile away, thanks to traffic. Can't get out, so it's time to hit the freezer/pantry. DH is happy that I'm cooking out of the kitchen because we're getting ready to move out of the country. That's right! We're moving to Switzerland really soon! Anyway, here's the recipe.
Arroz con pollo
1 package saffron rice
3 chicken breasts
salt
pepper
smoked paprika
red pepper flakes
paprika
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 can diced tomatoes (or whole tomatoes, chopped)

1. Start the saffron rice (I like Mahatma) according to package directions. Also, chop the chicken breasts into bite-size pieces. Season one side with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, red pepper flakes, and Hungarian sweet paprika to taste. Then put the chicken pieces in a saucepan over medium heat with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Salt and pepper the other side.
2. Add in shallots and garlic and cook until the chicken is barely cooked through. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. Add the can of tomatoes and the juice they came in. Also add the frozen peas. As soon as they're cooked, turn off the chicken mixture.
4. Once the rice is barely cooked, turn it into a glass casserole (I like a 9x9") and spread it out thinly. Pour the chicken mixture over it. Salt and pepper it again to taste, then turn lightly into the rice. Put it in the oven for twenty minutes. Serve once the chicken on top has lightly browned. If you like, add cilantro for garnish.

There it is! The colors on this recipe are amazing. You will be so glad you added it to your easy file.

Picture Preview!

Here are pictures from my baked chicken of this evening. I will post on it soon, I promise. Probably tomorrow, but at the latest on Tuesday. Raw first. Then after cooking.

Pasta Primavera

It's spring, and the vegetables I can get are just flat out gorgeous. I made this lovely vegetarian primavera to celebrate the season. After eating this (So fresh! So Flavorful!) and seeing how easy it truly is, I will NEVER order it in a restaurant again. This version took me about half an hour (including cutting time!) and served DH and me three times each, so I guess that means it serves 6, or 4 really hungry people.
Ingredients:
1/2 lb short-cut pasta (I think you're supposed to use farfalle but I used rotini)
olive oil
1 shallot, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced (You might want to use 1 and 1/2, it was REALLY garlicky)
Fresh vegetables, varied. I used:
1 cup frozen peas
1 orange pepper, broken into large pieces
10 stalks spring asparagus
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 yellow squash, sliced
For the sauce:
3 Tbsp butter (that works out to 1/2 a tbsp per serving, so stop fainting)
3 Tbsp flour
1 cup 1% milk
8-10 fresh basil leaves, torn
1 handful grated parmesan cheese and extra to grate on top

1. First, I put cut up my vegetables and had them all ready to go.
2. Put water for the pasta on to boil. Once it boils, add some salt, then the pasta.
3. Start the vegetables. In a large saucepan, I ran the olive oil around the pan a couple times. Over medium high heat, I sauteed the shallot and garlic. When they got soft and slightly browned, I added in the frozen peas. Once the frost evaporated, I added the rest of the veggies, seasoned with salt and pepper, and cooked until crisp-tender.
4. Start the sauce. I used a separate pan, but you could easily push the veggies aside and make the sauce right in your veggie saucepan. Melt the butter, then whisk in the flour. Cook for a couple minutes so the flour doesn't taste raw. Then add your milk and basil so you end up with a basil-scented milk sauce. Add a tiny amount of salt and generous amount of pepper. Melt in your cheese.
5. Check your pasta, and drain it when it's just on the crunchy side of al dente. Toss the pasta, sauce, and vegetables together. Check the seasoning. Turn off the heat, scoop into bowls, and add a smattering of freshly grated parmesan. Enjoy!

Austro-Hungarian Casserole

This is a silly name for a yummy, comfort food dish. I made it up to use up some stuff in my fridge, but the end result was really good, so I'm sharing.

Austro-Hungarian Casserole
First layer:
1 bag sauerkraut
olive oil
celery salt
paprika
salt and pepper
honey mustard
white wine mustard

1. Drain the sauerkraut. Turn on the oven at 350F. Heat a saucepan over medium high heat and pour in about a tablespoon of oil. Brown the sauerkraut. Sprinkle liberally with celery salt, salt and pepper, and paprika. Pour out the sauerkraut into a 9x5 baking pan. When you have it laying flat, squeeze out lines of mustard on top. I did a crosshatch pattern so in some places my white wine mustard and my honey mustard combined. That's the closest you can get to sweet mustard from Austria without buying "senf" in tubes (cheaper too).

Second Layer:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
paprika
salt and pepper

1. Using the same pan as the sauerkraut, pour in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook the onion and pepper, stirring frequently, until glassy. Add LOTS of paprika. Your onions should turn orange. Season with salt and pepper. This is the layer I found myself sneaking tastes of out of the pan. 2. Pour over the sauerkraut. Don't mix.

Third Layer
kielbasa (however much you want, I was almost out when I created this recipe)

1. Cook your kielbasa according to package directions. I was using precooked, so I browned the edges using Rachael Ray's method. It's murder on your pan, but the sausage casings get nice and crisp. She has you put about an inch of water in a pan and a drizzle of olive oil. Then put in the sausages over medium high heat and leave them be. Once all the water evaporates, turn the sausages frequently. Try to get the casings crisp before the oil and fat turn to black sludge. :)
2. Pour out the sausages and any fat you managed to salvage over the casserole. Put the whole casserole in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve in bowls and stir up to your own satisfaction, or leave it in layers.

Voila! You have made a delicious, definitely eastern-European tasting comfort food. Next time I'm going to saute in some turnip greens or kale in the green pepper/onion layer. :)

Scallops Appetizer and my feelings on FRESH fish

I have a friend who, unfortunately, has to avoid gluten. She does not get to eat outside her own kitchen very often as a result. However, DH and I recently decided to accept an offer to live in Switzerland. So we decided to have my friend over to celebrate. Celebration dinners are wonderful, because it's ok to splurge a little. And believe me, I did. We ended up with a menu of bacon-wrapped sea scallops, wild mushroom risotto, salmon with a white wine compound butter sauce, and sauteed spinach. Yum. I was pleased to find that both my friend and her husband were sea scallop virgins. Admittedly, scallops are slightly intimidating. But they are truly one of the most delicious things in the world, especially fresh. I think my friend and her hubby were lucky that their first experience was with this easy, classic recipe.

Bacon-wrapped Sea Scallops
8 diver scallops, muscle removed
8 slices of thin-cut bacon (I used center cut and hickory smoked)
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons of butter
toothpicks

First, prepare the scallops. Make sure you buy them THAT DAY and that they are kept in a bag with ice underneath it all the way home from the grocery store. Look them over for a little tough muscle on the side. If they have it, pull it off. I also rinsed them in cold water and then patted them dry with paper towels. You don't want them wet at all, because it messes up the caramelization.
Next, take a slice of bacon and roll the scallop in it. You end up with what looks like a coin--white on the inside, pink on the outside. Stick two toothpicks straight through the bacon and scallop so your bacon stays on. This is actually pretty cool, because now you have something you can grab with your tongs and you don't have to worry about the scallops slipping.
Once you have wrapped all your scallops, salt and pepper them liberally. Then melt 2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a pan. With tongs, place the scallops in your pan. Make sure you leave room between the scallops--don't let them touch! Don't move them at all for at least five minutes. Then, when you have a nice caramelization, turn them over. One time. That's it. Don't move them again for about four minutes. Remove to your serving plate and serve. If you like, pull out the toothpicks first.
My husband has a strange scale when he rates my food. I'm usually at an 8 or a 9, even when I make his favorite dishes. But my scallops were a 10. I think that says it all.

Now, about the fresh fish. One of the comments my friend made was that my salmon tasted better than hers. I asked her where she bought hers, and she said Wal-mart. Now, I am like most people, and the big W can save you a lot of money on certain things. In fact, if you're planning on serving it THAT night, and you're feeding at least 8 people, Sam's sells good fish. But if it's just two of you, and you're buying fish...well, I'm sorry, but you should buy it the night you plan to serve it, and it should be fresh. We compared prices, and I paid 23 cents an ounce more than her. I think the taste is worth the price. I live in Atlanta, which is landlocked. So when I buy fish, I go somewhere with a fish department. I also ask what's fresh, and I always get ice for my bag. Snooty? Probably. But I've never had food poisoning from my fish. And it tastes great. Plus, there are all those health benefits. I'm sorry to get all preachy. I could go into wild-caught versus farm raised and talk about trying to buy fish as locally as possible. But I won't. I'll just say that if it's not fresh, it's probably not worth it.

Oh where oh where have I been?

Actually, cooking. It's just that, unfortunately, I've been writing for my graduate studies at a rapid clip as well, so I haven't been posting. I spent all last week cooking from the Rachael Ray website, and everything I made was yummy (especially her crunchy Chinese Lemon Chicken). But the recipe I'm going to give you is one I have adjusted and changed from a black bean soup recipe I found on allrecipes. At this point I've changed it enough that I feel comfortable calling it my own. This is a great recipe on days you haven't been to the grocery store in weeks.

Pantry Black Bean Soup
drizzle of olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped (I used red)
salt and pepper
1 14 oz can diced fire-roasted tomatoes
1 can yellow corn, drained
2 cans black beans, drained (my pictures don't look very black bean-y b/c I only had one)
2 cups chicken broth
3 Tablespoons salsa (great place to spice this up)
3 shakes Tabasco sauce

optional: white or yellow rice, cooked
sour cream and shredded cheese

1. In a soup pot, soften the onion and peppers in some oil. I salt and pepper these and never touch the spices again
2. Stir in the canned veggies, allowing each to heat through before adding the next. Then add in the chicken broth and simmer for ten minutes.
3. Stir in the salsa and Tabasco and serve.

About the optional ingredients: I prefer to eat this fresh with sour cream and cheese. However, in order to make the most of my leftovers, I take it to work the next day spooned over some cooked rice. Yum!

Beef Bourgeois and Meyer Lemon/Basil Mousse-y Semifreddo

Last night I had a lot of fun creating some fake-out french food for some old friends and my DH.



I didn't look up anything, I sort of created it based on what was in my grocery store. The first thing I saw was this beautiful bottle of meyer lemon syrup. Meyer lemon has become my new secret obsession. I love its gorgeous color, its minty aftertaste, and its luscious juice. My guests arrived as I was mashing my potatoes, so I'm doing fake-out pictures, because I was too busy to take them last night. I'll post the Beef Borgeois after I re-heat the leftovers for lunch but for now, here's the syrup that inspired my beautiful dessert.


Admit it, you'd buy that, too! Ok, I made the dessert first, so let's start with that. I had 2 hours to prep.



Meyer Lemon/Basil Mousse-y Semifreddo

*This recipe includes raw eggs. Please don't eat this if you're pregnant or your immune system is compromised

Serves 4 generously with leftovers for a day when DH is out of town

Ingredients:

1 1/4 pint whipping cream

1/3 c. Meyer Lemon simple syrup (my sugar was taken care of here)

3 eggs, separated

10 leaves of fresh basil, torn over the bowl

1 Meyer lemon, zested and juiced

1 pinch of salt

1 dash of vanilla

Garnishes:

10 crushed gingersnaps

blueberries

I made this with my hand-held mixer, but afterwards I wished I had used my stand mixer!

1. Start by whipping the cream into soft peaks. Then add the syrup and egg yolks. Mix them in, then add the basil, lemon zest and juice, salt, and vanilla, mixing briefly after each addition. Add in the egg whites and whip them heartily until the mixture looks and has the texture of mousse (This took approximately 10 minutes with a hand-held mixer).

2. Place the metal bowl in the freezer for 45 minutes so it can start to freeze.

3. Prepare your parfait glasses by covering the bottom with gingersnap crumbs, then scoop in the mousse. If you like, you can do several layers of alternating gingersnaps and mousse. Then, add blueberries on top for garnish. Store in the freezer until ready to serve. It will be cool and smooth but only slightly frozen.

The layers of flavors in this are really wonderful. One of my friends called it "the perfect food" and said if he could get required vitamins and minerals out of it, he'd eat it every day. It's lovely, and while a little bit labor intensive, it makes an impression.

Beef Bourgeois with Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes

We joked that this is a bourgeois version of Beouf Borguignon. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp butter

2. Tbsp flour

4 Tbsp olive oil

1 package stir-fry cut beef (Isn't it nice when they pre-cut your beef for you? This is a wonderful money-saver, too)

1 head of garlic

1 onion, sliced

1 green pepper, sliced

1 carrot, thinly sliced

Nutrition

I am teaching my kindergarteners nutrition in conjunction with the man that Jesus healed after his friends lowered him through the roof. I know, funny, right? But anyway, I decided to teach them about eating the "colorful" way by bringing in a special snack each day. On Monday (orange), I gave them a stick of cheddar cheese and some slices of mango. On Tuesday, we had kiwi and haricots verts. Wednesday was strawberries and grape tomatoes. Today will be blackberries and blueberries. We vote on what we like and don't like each day, and I get such a kick out of expanding their palates, even just a tiny bit. I even expanded my own-- I figured out that, like many people allerigc to latex, kiwi makes me itchy. Learn something new everyday! :) I'm looking forward to yellow on Friday...

hooray and oh dear

Hooray! I've been approved to join the Foodie Blogroll, which makes me really happy because I LOVE that site. But oh dear, because the Rachael Ray MYOTO I mentioned was an unmitigated disaster. Seriously, it was probably one of the worst things I've ever put in my mouth. The meatballs were dry and flavorless, and the spaghetti was greasy. Eating it made me feel ill. I am NOT going to post the recipe, because I can't in all conscience recommend it. I don't think the error was on my side. I checked what I did afterwards to the recipe posted online, and while my measurements and method weren't exact, it was close enough that I think I got a similar result. Next time I'll just make regular stir-fry, thank you very much anyway. I have been out of town this weekend, but I'll try to blog another recipe soon to make up for my promised one. Also, now you know that I screw food up, too. :) It's always good to remain humble. Thank God DH was not homee for that one.

well, so long romantic dinner

Hubby dearest will be stuck in Pennsylvania on Valentine's day, so instead of cooking a romantic dinner, as I have for the past two years of dating, I will be at home alone. :( Sad. Especially since I was planning a nice, romantic London Broil. Maybe if I'm lonely I'll post it. At any rate, I am going to try Rachael Ray's MYOTO chicken meatballs and chinese spaghetti, or whatever she called it on TV on Sunday. I will be using turkey and making it from memory, so it might be different than her original recipe. I'll post it later today.
Have a good day.

perfect anytime hamburger stroganoff

This picture is ancient, but that's ok because this is a great anytime meal that you can always turn to when you don't really feel like cooking!

To make this recipe, you will need:

1 pound hamburger

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 onion, chopped

1 drizzle of olive oil

1 bag of extra wide egg noodles (I like no yolks a lot)

1 carton sour cream

1 cup of milk (skim works but it's creamier with 2%)

2 slices American cheese (optional)

fresh parsley (optional)

1. Put a huge pot of water on to boil. Egg noodles need their space. When you have a nice rolling boil, add a generous handful of salt and the noodles. Stir well.

2. Meanwhile, brown the hamburger and onion in the drizzle of oil. Be sure to break the hamburger up nice and small.

3. Add in the sour cream, canned soup and milk. Stir up all the drippings from the bottom. Let the sauce heat to a nice simmer.

4. By now your noodles should be done, so drain them. Turn the heat off on the sauce, and melt in the cheese if you're using it. Add salt, pepper, parsley, and, if you're me, paprika. Pile a generous scoop of noodles in your bowls and cover in the sauce. Whatever noodles are leftover, place immediately in a plastic container and cover with remaining sauce. As long as you get it into the fridge within about 15 minutes, the stroganoff will save beautifully for up to a week.

Asparagus Salad and a link to coffee goodness

I had a little dinner party last night. I did something I almost never do, which is make all new recipes. I prefer to use old favorites, but my guests ate without complaint, so I was glad I let the Whole Foods selection inspire me. We had a nice cold asparagus salad, then some Italian-inspired salmon. For dessert, I was eager to try this coffee fluff from The Kitchn. It was time-consuming, but it was really yummy. I love a nice dessert that isn't too sweet. My guests were definitely licking the coffee cups I used to serve it, so I guess the next time I have three hours to prepare, this will be my go-to dessert. My guests also complimented my asparagus salad, which was highly inspired by what was in my fridge.
Asparagus Salad (serves 4)

20 stalks of young asparagus
8 sun-dried tomato halves, minced
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 grated clove of garlic
salt and pepper
dash of Worchestershire sauce

1. Cut the asparagus into 2 inch pieces. Then put them in a saucepan and just cover them with water. Simmer for approximately 5 minutes, then drain and put the asparagus into a bowl of ice water.
2. Meanwhile, in the bottom of a bowl, mix the remaining ingredients with a whisk. Once the asparagus gets nice and crisp-tender, place them in the bowl and toss to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and refridgerate for at least 1 hour. The longer the asparagus sat in the dressing, the better it tasted! It was really a pretty salad, too.
I hope this is helpful. I would think that the closer we got to spring, the better this recipe would be. I don't normally eat asparagus in the winter, but this asparagus was very nice.

party food

I went to a party last night, and made some (apparently) crazy good crab-stuffed mushrooms. I don't know, because I don't eat mushrooms, but I brought a dozen and they were gone in about 45 minutes, so I'm going with it.

Crab-stuffed mushrooms
12 portabello mushrooms (I used the Dole "Stuffer mushrooms")
1 12-0z can of crab meat (I used claw meat, and I have to throw in praise for the Phillips company here, because there wasn't a piece of shell in the whole can)
1/2 teaspoon fresh dill, chopped
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
salt and pepper
1 egg
1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)

Preheat oven to 400 F.
First, I cleaned the caps and chopped the stems. Then, I picked over the crabmeat (unneccesarily, as it turns out). I mixed the mushroom stems and the rest of the ingredients into the crabmeat and prepared the pan. I laid the caps out in the pan, and filled each with the filling (which stretched perfectly between the caps, luckily). Then, I topped each cap with a sprinkle of mozzarella.
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 Tablespoons butter, melted
I poured the wine around the caps in the pan and spooned melted butter over each mushroom cap. Then I baked them, uncovered, for about 12 minutes. Just before I served them, I reheated them for about six minutes.

I hope they are as successful for you as they were for me!

homemade marinara

I made this last night so I'd have lunch today... :) I like to think ahead like that.

Marinara
1 small onion, chopped

Cook the onion in a couple tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat until they're nice and glassy. Then add
6 mini carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced

Heat the mirepoix until the celery is softened. Then add salt, pepper, and garlic. Cook until the garlic is crispy but not burnt. Then add:
28 oz can San Marzano crushed tomatoes
14 oz can diced Italian tomatoes
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Simmer over low heat for twenty minutes. Then take out the bay leaf and stir in a handful of grated Parmagiano-reggiano. If you have time to let this simmer on low for another 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, then that really adds to it.

I serve this over rotini or farfalle, but spaghetti or linguine would be nice too.

Sick in Bed Chicken soup

I am really sorry, because I owe you all a long post filled with awesome pictures and at least two recipes, and I promise that you will get them soon. However, DH is out of town, I feel awful and I really want to lay in bed and moan, but I needed to eat first. So I made up this "Sick in Bed Chicken Soup" which is a cross between Avgolemeno (lemon/egg) and Chicken Rice (rustic veggies) soup, and I promise you...it is AMAZING. As in, if anything on the face of this planet is going to chase off whatever the heck I managed to catch, this is it AMAZING. I can't wait til I feel better to write this one down because I'm pretty sure I won't remember it and that would be a travesty, since the lemon and egg are velvety smooth on my sore throat and the chunky veggies are cooked perfectly, plus the chicken is crunchy which actually gives this "layers" of flavor. So here it is: my new go-to sick soup.
Sick in Bed Chicken Soup
(serves one with leftovers for lunch and dinner tomorrow)
2 boneless chicken breasts, thawed
salt and pepper
olive oil, 2 turns around the pan

I sauteed the chicken in the olive oil after seasoning it, over medium-high heat. Yes, I know it's an extra pan, but as a bonus, you can sit down for six minutes per side while the chicken sizzles away! (See, the recipe even has built in rest periods!)

1 small onion
1 stalk celery
4 cups chicken broth (I actually added a couple of tablespoons of chicken stock too because I wanted it really chicken-y and it was open in the fridge)

I roughly chopped the onion and celery and dumped them in a soup pot with the broth/stock. Then I took the chicken out of the pan and shredded it with a fork. Put the pot right where the pan was and heated it to a simmer. I added:
1 teaspoon dried minced garlic (I TOLD you I felt like crap!)
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon dried oregano
5 handfuls of Basmati rice (that was the closest package. I have tiny hands, so that was probably about a cup)

I got the soup to a boil, then turned it down to medium (aka simmer) and sat down for about ten minutes. Then I rolled the heck out of a lemon on my dining room table and was ready for the last part.

3 eggs (I need my protein and I'm not in the mood to work for it...I started with two but really wanted the soup to be creamy. It feels so good on my throat that I can't bring myself to regret it.)
1 lemon

I broke the eggs into a small mixing bowl and whisked them until they were well-scrambled. Then I cut the lemon in half and juiced it well. (Notice that the rice has been in the soup for about fifteen minutes) Then I took a ladleful of broth and whisked it in well to temper the eggs. I did that three times until the eggs and lemon juice no longer felt cold when I touched them. THen I dumped the bowl into the soup pot and whisked briskly for a minute. I turned off the heat, (equals about 18 minutes on the rice) and pulled out the bay leaf. I served myself and ate while I wrote this post. Now I'm going to go ladle the rest into plastic containers for tomorrow's lunch and dinner and go to bed.
Enjoy.

pan-fried gnocchi, picture has arrived!

I was a little hungry, even after eating the leftovers from New Year's Eve at Nagoya (note: do NOT try on New Year's Eve....worst service we've had in 14 years). So I decided to try and save a few things that had been in my fridge since we left on our Christmas trek through 9 states. Inspired by the foodie blog 101 Cookbooks, I pan-fried some gnocchi I had in the fridge in about two tablespoons in olive oil, and then made a little pan sauce with tomatoes, garlic, basil chiffonade, and shallots, plus salt and pepper, of course. Very good. I just got the oil nice and hot, and by the time I toasted those gnocchi, the base for my sauce was hot enough that the sauce came together in 2 minutes flat. No lie. Marvelous-ness, although I suspect the gnocchi would have been even better fried in butter, as 101 cookbooks suggested. Husband was a little suspicious, "Why does everything you make have to be gourmet?" but he ate it in about three minutes once he overcame his initial reserve. :) Easy-peasy and it used up things in my fridge that were pretty close to dead, so all in all, it was an excellent start to 2009.