Baked Potato Soup

Typically, I prefer a big steamy bowl of soup during winter when it's nice and cold outside.  But if I waited for cold weather here in Luanda, I would never make soup.  So, I have adapted.  Now, I make soup and turn the air down and pretend like it's winter.

Potato soup is delicious and comforting and so easy to make.

Ingredients
7 slices bacon, diced
1 med onion, diced
4 carrots, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 - 8 med potatoes, peeled and diced small
4 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
salt and pepper
1/2 teaspoon cajun seasoning
1/2-1 cup cheddar, shredded
chopped parsley


Fry bacon until crisp.  Removed and drain on paper towels.  Pour most of the bacon grease out (save it in a jar for other recipes).  Add onions, carrots, and garlic and cook until about until onions are translucent.  Add potatoes and cook 5-10 minutes. Add seasonings (salt, pepper, cajun seasoning). Add stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are done (approx 15-20 minutes).  Use immersion blender and blend soup until smooth.  Add cheese and stir. Garnish soup with bacon pieces, parsley, and more cheese (if desired). Confession - I didn't have any parsley so I used chopped arugula.  It was a great substitution.

Pesto

Pesto is one of the easiest things to make and it makes such a delicious meal!  Of course, the trick here in Luanda is actually finding basil in the grocery store.  When I DO find it, I buy a bunch and make this pesto sauce.  You can serve it over baked chicken or mix it with pasta, or have it on toast or just eat it straight from the jar (no judgement here).  There are only five ingredients and it takes just a couple minutes to prepare.

2 cups basil leaves

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

1/2 cup pine nuts (you can substitute walnuts or pecans if you prefer)

Place everything in the food processor except the oil.  Pulse a few minutes until everything is chopped well. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil. Continue to process a few more seconds. And that's it.  You're done!  I'll be posting my chicken pesto pasta recipe in the next few days, so watch for it :)

Spicy Potato Curry

It was one of those days.  I had no meat thawed for dinner and no real plan on what to cook. Luckily, I had some potatoes that needed to be cook soon anyways, so this is what I threw together.  It was delicious! I had  leftovers twice the next day (lunch and dinner). It is spicy so if you don’t enjoy the heat, either reduce the cayenne or leave it out altogether.

6 medium potatoes, cubed

Vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons cumin

1 ½ teaspoons cayenne pepper (less if you don’t like spicy)

4 teaspoons curry powder

4 teaspoons garam masala

2 teapsoons salt

¾ cup cauliflower, cut in bite sized pieces

14.5 oz can diced tomatoes

15 oz can garbanzo beans, drained

½ cup frozen peas

14 oz can coconut milk

Bring large pot of salted water to boil then add potatoes.  Simmer until tender (15-20 minutes). Drain thoroughly.

Over medium heat, place oil in a large pot.  Add onions and garlic and saute until onion is transuclent. Add seasonings and stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Add cauliflower and cook 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes, garbanzo beans, peas, potatoes and coconut milk.  Bring to a simmer and allow to cook 10 minutes.

Great over basmati rice or with some delicious naan or both!

Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

Here is a simple recipe for a condensed cream of chicken soup to use in recipes.  It's so easy and takes about 10 minutes to prepare.  It makes 3 cups so if you don't need all of it, you can freeze the rest of it.

This is especially helpful here in Angola, where you can't find this soup. This can be a problem because it's found in so many quick-cooking casserole recipes that we all need to make sometimes when we are having one of those crazy busy nights where we barely have time to breath.

Here is your super easy, 10 minute condensed cream of chicken soup recipe:

2 cups chicken broth

1 1/2 cups milk

3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon seasoning mix of your choice (I used a mix of seasoning salt and garlic powder)

Bring chicken broth and 1/2 cup milk to a boil.  Mix remaining ingredients together and whisk until smooth.  Reduce chicken broth/milk to low. Add the milk/flour mixture and whisk for about 5 minutes or until thickened.

For the seasonings, you don't have to use a prepared seasoning salt.  You can use whatever you like and/or have on hand (onion powder, garlic powder, tarragon, rosemary, etc).  

Simple, easy, and fast!

Cape Town, South Africa

I am so late getting this post up!  My excuse is that I had hundreds of pictures to sort through to try to give you the best idea of our lovely family vacation in Cape Town.  Just looking at these pictures again makes me want to hop on a plane and head down to this magnificent city and take in the beautiful views and enjoy a lovely glass of shiraz.

This trip was filled with great sites and lasting memories.  We experienced gorgeous views at Cape of Good Hope and Cape Point, we visited with the penguins at Boulders Beach, we spent a few days at a vineyard and had some amazing dinners and wine and we learned some great lessons at Robben Island. We also had some great outdoor time with runs through the vineyard, hikes in the mountains, and a few outdoor chess games.

Cape of Good Hope

Franschhoek

Penguins at Boulders Beach

Robben Island

Roasted Butternut Squash Quinoa Bowls

Here's a healthy recipe to start the new year.  The bonus is that it tastes pretty good too!

3 cups large-diced butternut squash

1 cup frozen spinach, defrosted (substitute fresh if you have that option)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt & Pepper (to taste)

1 tsp cumin

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons tahini

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (may want to add a little more at the end)

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons water

1 cup cooked quinoa

2-3 green onions, diced

Preheat oven to 400F.  Toss squash, 2 tablespoons olive oil, cumin, salt, and pepper together then place on baking sheet. Roast until cooked through and slightly crispy (about 30 minutes).

Make the sauce by adding garlic, tahini, vinegar, olive oil and water and blending (with an immersion blender or food processor or just a whisk). Add salt and pepper. Add the sauce to the quinoa.

Heat spinach.

To assemble place quinoa in bowl, top with spinach, butternut squash, and green onions.

Healthy, quick, and pretty!

Chorizo and Pumpkin Pasta

It’s October and I love pumpkin.  Even though it’s not autumn here (it’s spring, quickly approaching summer), I feel a need to have pumpkin dishes in October. I really enjoyed this dish!  The chorizo and pumpkin go really nicely together. This is an easy, quick dish perfect for a weeknight meal.

Chorizo and pumpkin pasta

1 package cured chorizo sausage

2 -3 cloves garlic, minced

1 large onion, finely chopped

2  teaspoons dried sage

1 bay leaf

2 cups chicken stock

1 can pumpkin puree

½ cup milk

1/8 teaspoon chipotle powder

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Salt and pepper to taste

1 lb bow tie pasta

Parmesan (optional)

Brown sausage in a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet.  Remove sausage and drain on paper towels.  Drain oil and rinse out pan then add a tablespoon of oil and saute onions and garlic until translucent. Add bay leaf, sage, chicken stock, nutmeg and chipotle powder to the pan. Let it cook down for a minute or two then add the pumpkin. Add the sausage back to the pan and then add it the milk.  Allow the sauce to cook 5-10 minutes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. While the sauce is cooking, prepare the pasta.  Remove the bay leaf from the sauce, drain the pasta, mix together and serve.

I also added a few shavings of parmesan to the finished dish.