Monthly Archives: October 2008

Oct 24 2008

Chicken Soup

Posted in Chicken, Duck and Turkey|Events|Meat|Soups and Stews

eat local challenge, eat local challenge 2008, chicken soup, fresh cranberry beans, comfort food, organic food, cooking, culinary, eating, food and wine, food and drink, entertaining, dinner, chicken stock

We are both coming down with something and decided to blow-off our spin class last night.  Instead we stayed in watched Planet Earth and ate chicken soup with fresh cranberry beans.

I picked up these beans at the Farmer’s Market last weekend they were an impluse buy, their brilliant color caught my eye and provoked intrigue!  I was really not sure how I would use them, until now.  My goddaughter, Maggie, came over at the end of the day and we sat on the floor shelling them.  I had a feeling we would only have a couple left, as she preferred to shell and then put into her mouth!  I was quit surprised when we had a large bowl of them left.  I warmed up some of that really fantastic Chicken Stock that I had put into the freezer last weekend, added some carrots, celery, onion and the beans.  The end result was a very nice and hearty (thanks to the beans) chicken soup.

Any other suggestions for Cranberry beans?

Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge:

Chicken from other meal  – Organic & local

Carrots, celery, onions & cranberry beans – Local & Organic from SF Farmer’s Market

Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand

Posted in Chicken, Duck and Turkey|Events|Meat|Soups and Stews
Oct 21 2008

Mushroom Soup with Hazelnut Gremolata

Posted in Events|Soups and Stews|Vegetables

mushroom soup with hazelnut

I was scrambling last Saturday while planning out our weekly menu, when I stumbled upon this recipe in Bon Appetit.  We like mushrooms and we like soup so this was perfect to add to the planning.  I am sitting here and I just don’t know what to say about this recipe.  I definitely was not crazy about it.  I am not sure it was the overpowering porcinis or that is really tasted like a forest. The entire time we were eating it, I kept thinking the roasted wild boar should be coming out of the oven.  It was as if we were in the deep woods of Germany eating wild mushrooms in a dark but cozy hunting lodge.  At least the gremolata definitely helped break up the wooded out doorsmen taste. Thank god for the wholewheat bisquits I made to go with it, or I would have starved ….

We have leftovers, I may try it over pasta tonight, to see if that helps.  Oh, Lenny thought it was good, he said her really liked it;  but, did not have to see it in the house again.

Breakdown for this meal & the Eat Local Challenge:

Mushrooms – Local Far West Funghi

Onions & Carrots – Local from SF Farmer’s Market

Veggie Stock – Organic

Garlic – Local from SF Farmer’s Market

Parsley – Local from SF Farmer’s Market

Orange – Local from SF Farmer’s Market

Flour – Organic & had on hand

Milk – Local & Organic

Butter – Local & Organic

Salt & Pepper – what we have on hand

Posted in Events|Soups and Stews|Vegetables
Oct 19 2008

Contradicting …

Posted in Events|Meat|Soups and Stews

eat local challenge, eat local challenge 2008Just a couple nights ago, I wrote about how we never really eat breakfast so we had “breakfast” for dinner.   Today we had breakfast and it was so simple and so ordinary that I wanted to share it.  As well since we are have been doing the Eat Local Challenge, I have been receiving emails asking if we eat local at dinner or all our meals;  the answer, we try to at every meal.  So for the next couple of weeks I will give a recap of our entire day.

It was a cold and dreary day out this morning, so when we woke up we drank lattes, watched the news, read and just kind of hibernated.  It was really nice as usually we are heading out for a bike ride or separately to ride bikes, meet friends or worse, do errands.  It was really great to hang out with each other.  After about 5 cups of coffee, we decided to make breakfast.  We had this baguette and great hunk of cheese on our minds, which then wandered to some lazy breakfasts in Germany I had years ago, so I added some soft boiled eggs.  There I go again, contradicting my feelings about the runny egg.  Back to my first trip to Germany where I had a breakfast of soft boiled eggs and warm bread daily – it was sublime!  I loved these breakfasts and this morning it returned to me, some 20 years later.  Today’s breakfast was so good that it flooded my mind with these warm feelings of this first trip to Europe and my first German Breakfast.  I decided then, that I don’t mind “runny eggs” as long as they are not raw and as long as they are not on pizza.  Warm “runny eggs” with sea salt and fresh cracked pepper, well, it is still sublime!

eat local challenge, eat local challenge 2008, soft boiled eggs, breakfast, food and wine, cooking, culinary, eating, recipes, dinner, chicken and dumplings, organic food

soft boiled eggs, warm crusty baguettes, cheese, blood orange marmalade & lattes …..(got to love natural light …. someone make a light bulb that does the same!)

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Posted in Events|Meat|Soups and Stews
Oct 19 2008

Third week of

Posted in Events

the Eat Local Challenge.  I actually got to spend the morning at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market today.  It has been years since I have really shopped this way and I really enjoyed it.  I was able to get most of this weeks groceries there and the reminder I got at Whole Foods.  90% of the groceries were local and/or organic.

A weeks worth of groceries two bottles of sustainable wine from Sonoma County came up to $90

This week’s menu will include:

Mushroom Soup

Chicken Soup

Grilled cheese & baguettes

Pasta with Spinach

Green Salads

Zucchini bread

Sausage Lasagna

Lamb & chickpea stew

*Please keep in mind when I am writing the weekly menu I do not put breakfast nor lunch down, but, the price of groceries does include both of these additional daily meals.

Posted in Events
Oct 13 2008

Cream of Fennel Soup

Posted in Events|Soups and Stews|Vegetables

I stumbled upon TS & JS’s food blog, [eatingclub] vancouver and drooled over their Cream of Fennel Soup – YUM!  After, last nights over indulgence, we decided it was a good night for soup – soothing soup!

eat local challenge 2008, soup, food and wine, cooking, culinary, recipes, fennel, bacon, dinner, eating, food and drink, culinary, food photography, organic food

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Posted in Events|Soups and Stews|Vegetables
Oct 13 2008

Pre-wedding cocktail party ..

Posted in Cocktails|Events

Eat Local Challenge 2008, cocktail party, Deutz Champagne, Organic food, salmon dip, fig tarts, blue cheese, sweet walnuts, lavash crackers

……last night we took a little cocktail party over to Andy and Jeff’s house.  They are getting married on tomorrow and we wanted to give them something in celebration of their special day.  These guys are the the couple who have everything and really don’t need anything, as well they did not want anything.  As they love food and wine, we decided to put together a little soiree.  In keeping with our Eat Local Challenge, I am proud to say everything on the menu was local, and/or organic, except for the bottle of Deutz Champagne!  I wish the photo was better as the food was really fantastic;  but, we wanted to have it dimly lite for the romance!

The menu was:

Smoked Salmon Dip w/crudites

Fig & Blue Cheese Tart

Lavash Crackers (fennel/garlic/smoked pimento, cracked pepper/sea salt and rosemary/sea salt) with Tapenade

Sweet meringue nuts

Posted in Cocktails|Events
Oct 12 2008

Second week of …

Posted in Events

the Eat Local Challenge.  I had all intentions of doing a majority of the shopping at the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market when I got an emergency phone call and had to leave.  Too bad as I was really getting into it.  I did get about 15% of the things we needed for this weeks menu but had to get the rest at Whole Foods.  90% of the groceries were local and/or organic.

A weeks worth of groceries including a cocktail party menu and two bottles of sustainable wine from the Monterrey coast to have on hand at home came up to $177.00

This week’s menu will include:

Cocktail Party – smoked salmon dip w/crudites, fig & blue cheese tart, lavash crackers & tapenade, & sweet meringue nuts.

Cream of Fennel Soup

Lennox Biscotti

Baked Eggs with pancetta

Duck fried potatoes

Chicken & dumplings

Posted in Events
Oct 11 2008

Pancetta & Tarragon Chicken

Posted in Chicken, Duck and Turkey|Events|Meat

We have had a pretty long week which did not end on a great note – problems at work, servers, demanding clients, etc…  not what you want for a Friday.  We left the office early and wanted to just get home, open a bottle of wine and relax.  Cooking helps me relax and comfort food was definitely in order.

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Posted in Chicken, Duck and Turkey|Events|Meat

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