Chilled Avocado Soup

3 Medium Ripe Avocados
1 Tablespoon Fresh Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Red or White Wine, or Dry Sherry if you have it
3/4 Cups Chopped Cucumber, peeled and seeded
1/4 Cups Chopped Scallion
1 Teaspoon salt
2 Cups Chicken or Vegetable Stock 
Hot Pepper Sauce (optional, I didn't use it)

Cut avocados in half, peel and seed.  Chop and place in blender (or food processor if you have one).  Add lemon juice and blend (you may need to use a spoon to get it all blended).  Add wine/sherry, cucumber and scallion.  Blend again.  Add Stock (I used Chicken this time because it was what I had at home) and blend until smooth.  Salt and blend one more time (if adding hot sauce add it here as well).  Cover and chill in refridgerator.  When ready to eat, serve and add a few extra scallions on top.  You can also add a spoonful of cream or yogurt and swirl (this is mostly for looks and does not add anything to taste).

Sorry Soup does not always take pictures well, this tastes better than it looks, I promise!!!

Homeade Salsa

2 Jalepenos
1 Yellow Pepper
Onion
4 tomatoes (I used Roma)
Salt and Pepper
Garlic
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

Chop up Jalapenos, Pepper, Onion (amount desired), Tomatoes and one clove garlic.  In food processor or chopper mix all of them together.  Make sure they are blended well, tomatoes will be more crushed and liquid than the other ingerdients.  Add lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper to taste, continue blending.  Not all salsa will blend the same and this turned out to be chunky which my husband liked.

My husband likes Salsa for chips and on his burrito and in his omletts, so instead of buying store bought I decided to make some.  I don't eat spicy food so I didn't taste it but he said it was quite spicy so I suggest using only 1 Jalapeno.  Enjoy!

Baked Scallops and Green Beans

Scallops:
Panko Breadcrumbs
black pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1 lb sea scallops, rinsed and drained
1/2 Cup butter melted (I use vegan butter)
1/4 Cup tequila or white wine (used pre-mixed margarita mix)
1/2 Cup lemon juice

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.  Combine breadcrumbs, pepper and garlic in a small bowl.  Press scallops (slightly damp) in mixture until they are evenly coated (they will not be covered just dusted) with the mix and place them in the baking dish.  I actually just cover a dish with foil because then it leaves less to wash later.  In a separate bowl mix melted butter, lemon juice and alcohol.  drizzle mixture over scallops.  Bake for about 15 minutes, until scallops are lightly browned.  Serve.


Green Beans:
Enough Green Beans to serve as many people as you are cooking for.
1/2 Cup Melted butter (again I use vegan butter)
minced garlic to taste
Grated Parmesan

Cut off tips of green beans.  Cut green beans into thirds and then in a skillet cook them, the butter and the garlic.  Stir occasionally while scallops are baking (about every 5 minutes), mixing butter and garlic well with the beans.  When finished place in a bowl or directly onto plates and put on cheese to taste.

I got this idea after watching "Hell's Kitchen" last night.  I wasn't sure how hard scallops would be to work with and to be honest they weren't too bad.  I really enjoy them but they are not for everyone.  Originally I wanted to do brussel sprouts with the scallops but when I got to the store they didn't have any fresh ones, so I chose the green beans instead.  If you can always use fresh food, not frozen, because they are crisper and don't get soggy or mushy as fast. 

Chilled Asparagus Soup (Vegan)

2lbs fresh Asparagus

4tbs olive oil or pretend butter (I used pretend butter)

1 ½ C sliced leeks or scallions (I used scallions)

3tbs flour (I used wheat)

6 ¼ C Chicken Stock, Water or Veggie Broth (I used Veggie Broth)

½ C light cream or plain yogurt (I used soft tofu)

1 tbs chopped fresh tarragon

Salt and pepper to taste

     Cut top 2 inches of asparagus spears and blanch in boiling water for 5-6 minutes.  Drain thoroughly.  (Blanching means boil then put into an ice water bath).  After done set aside (you can cut into smaller pieces). Trim ends of stalks removing any brown or woody parts.  Chop stalks into ½ inch pieces. Heat butter or oil in heavy bottomed sauce pan.  Add sliced leeks or scallions, and tarragon and cook over low heat for 5-8 minutes until soft but not brown.  Stir in chopped asparagus stalks, cover and cook for 6-8 minutes longer until stalks are tender (stir occasionally).  Add flour and stir 3-4 minutes (cooking uncovered).  Add stock and bring to a boil stirring occasionally.  Lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes stirring about every 10 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  

Puree soup in food processor !TIP if doing it in a blender wait until soup has cooled to blend or top will pop off and you will get burnt and soup will be ALL over the kitchen!

Chill well, stir before serving.  If using yogurt or cream stir in a little for each serving.

Sorry there is no picture for this one, most of it ended up on my kitchen.  When I make it again I will post a picture.

Miso Soup

3-6 Tablespoons Miso Paste - miso comes in several varieties and ways.  Choose whatever you think sounds good if it is your first time making Miso soup.
1 Cup Scallions chopped
1 Cup Mushrooms chopped
1/2 Cup Soft Tofu cubed
4-6 Cups of water (or Vegetable or Chicken/Beef Stock if you choose)

You can use whatever veggies you like in your soup and make it to your desired taste.  If using soft tofu remember that it is SOFT and can be hard to cube due to it's softness.

In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine Miso and Water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to and stir continuously. Stir in tofu. Separate the layers of the scallions, and add them to the soup. Add mushrooms last because adding them earlier will cause the soup to be mushroomy in taste.  Mushrooms tend to seep flavor if they are boiled for a long period of time.  Simmer gently for 2 to 3 minutes before serving. 

Miso is very healthy and delicious.  It can be a meal on its own if your choose or you can have it as the first course of a meal.  Add edamame to your meal and you can have an Asian night themed dinner.  When ever my Husband and I go to eat sushi we always order a cup of miso soup as our first course.  If you want to make it a meal you can add meat, more veggies, or if you choose more tofu (if choosing a vegetarian option).

 

Chocolate Cheese Pie

Pastry:
1 package of Shortbread girl scout cookies (not the whole box just one package)
4 tbs fake butter

Filling:
2 250g packages of cream cheese
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 oz dark chocolate, melted

Smash up cookies really well into fine crumbs.  Melt butter add cookies and mix well.  Place on the bottom of a pie pan and flatten with the back of a spoon until all the cookie mix is flat to create the crust.  Cook in the oven at 200 degrees for 10 minutes.

Press cream cheese until easily mixed in a large bowl.  Add eggs and sugar until light yellow in color.  Mix in the vanilla and the melted chocolate.  Pour into pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes depending on your oven.  Once the pie is finished you can sprinkle chocolate sprinkles on it or melt more chocolate to create a shell on the top.

Mine doesn't look very chocolatey because I didn't fully melt the chocolate.  I left it a little chunky, it was still pretty yummy.

Mini Eggplant Pizzas

1 eggplant, peeled and cut into as many slices as you want (just don't make them too thin)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Pasta Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese (I like adding Asiago, Parmesan, and sometimes other cheese)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Brush both sides of the eggplant with oil and then season with salt and pepper to taste.  If you like you can also add some Garlic - fresh or ground.  Arrange them on a baking sheet (use parchment or foil to line it otherwise you have a lot of hard cleaning later) and bake until browned and almost tender, 6-8 minutes, turning once.  Spread desired amount of pasta sauce and cheese on each eggplant slice.  Bake until the cheese melts, 3 to 5 minutes.

Sometimes I add things to my pizzas like mushrooms or turkey pepperoni (did you know they had turkey pepperoni???), so make these your own and they are a healthy delicious meal. 

The reason I made these today was because I needed some comfort food and what better comfort than pizza?  I needed comfort to get over a recent rejection, so instead of making cookies and baking a dessert I made pizzas.  Interesting how cooking can be so cathartic.  The rejection still hurts so maybe I will bake some tofu cheesecake later, but for now both my psyche and tummy are satisfied.

Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

½ C butter, margarine (I use fake butter)

½ C peanut butter

½ C granulated sugar

½ C packed brown sugar or honey (to make it lower fat you could use 2/3 C brown sugar instead of any granulated sugar)

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp baking powder

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

1 ¼ cups wheat flour

1 Package mini peanut butter cups (I get mine from Trader Joe’s, sometimes they have healthier versions such as sugar free or dark chocolate)

            In large bowl melt butter and add peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar/honey, baking soda, baking powder, egg and vanilla.  Mix until the mixture is a dark brown.  Add flour ½ Cup at a time. Add mini peanut butter cups and mix well.  This mixture will look like it has WAY too many peanut butter cups but trust me is doesn’t. 

            Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll the dough into balls, it might be very sticky depending on which type of butter you use, and if it is too sticky then you may need to chill it in the fridge for some amount of time until it is less sticky.  Place balls 2 inches apart and put on cookie sheet.  You can flatten them but I don’t recommend it.  Cook for 7-10 minutes (time depends on how fast your oven cooks).  Transfer cookies to counter or wire rack to let cook.