Potato soup

This couldn't be easier! Takes about ten minutes to put together, 20 minutes to cook while you do whatever else, needs no tending. Potatoes, cut into large pieces, skin on. Onion, chopped garlic, chopped 1/3 tsp cardamom 1/3 tsp coriander 1/2 tsp sage 1/4 tsp white pepper water 1 bay leaf sprig worth of rosemary, or 1 tsp dried/fresh 1/4 cup butter or olive oil, whichever you prefer Wash and cut up in large pieces some potatoes, however many you like, one, two, or six, whatever. As long as they fit in your pan, eh? Add water to cover them and bring to boil. Meanwhile, chop up an onion, or some leeks and add those, too, and turn down the heat if it boils too hard, a good simmer is fine, medium heat usually works fine. Put in a bay leaf, and a chopped clove or three of garlic, depending on how much garlic you like. Add white pepper, cardamom, coriander and sage. Add butter, or, if you're using olive oil, put it in right before you serve it to preserve the delicate taste. Mash up the potatoes and remove any skins you see and/or don't want to eat.

Pork Chop rice skillet

I got this recipe from a Southern Cooking cookbook. It takes about ten minutes or less to put together, and another 30 minutes to let cook. It's one of my favorites. Pork chops, any kind, one or two per person. (About four fit in an average fry pan for this recipe and serve two or three people, depending on their appetites) tomatoes, 16 oz can, whole or diced, or three fresh ones chopped green pepper, chopped clove garlic, diced tablespoon basil 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 cup uncooked rice water Heat a large fry pan, then rub the edge of a pork chop in it to get it greased so the pork chops don't stick. Put the chops in the hot greased pan. Fry them a minute or so until they're not pink on the outside, flip and do the same to the second side. Remove them to a plate. Add the rice to the pan, the green peppers, and onion. Add tomatoes and about a half can (cup and a half) of water, basil, garlic and pepper. Stir to mix up, put pork chops back in the pan on top of the rice mixture, turn heat to very low, almost off, cover, let it cook a half hour, then serve. You can watch tv, or surf the web, or do laundry, all sorts of things while it cooks. There's no flipping or stirring, just let it do it's thing. I like to pour a good soy sauce like Yahama over the rice and pork chop when I eat this. It's delicious and all three of my kids love it, too. *Don't use tinfoil with tomato dishes to store the leftovers, the tomato's acid eats through the aluminum. I use a plate over a bowl if I don't have a storage container available. It works fabulously. Enjoy!

Iron rich foods that don't break the bank

Some of you might say "gross!" but half the population is female, and we have issues sometimes. Grow up and deal with it. Due to some ongoing, serious and untreatable (without *major* surgery)"lady issues" I've been experiencing for some time now, I've become anemic, which at least explains why I'm so exhausted all the time. So, I've looked into how to get more iron in my diet with the almost nonexistent budget I have , or should I say, don't have, lol. It wasn't hard to find iron rich foods on a tiny budget. Fortunately for me, I just so happen to love mussels, and they're almost as high in iron as clams. Mussels are much cheaper than beef, chicken or pork, traditional sources of iron, and they are much, much higher in iron as well! Win, win! I've also recently discovered kale, which I have been growing in my garden all summer, and which also is high in iron. Both are low cost and easy to prepare in a variety of ways. My favorite way to eat mussels is to boil water, drop them in (after thanking them for giving their lives to nourish mine), let the water come back to a boil, strain them, and then dip them in melted butter with fresh squeezed lemon juice. It couldn't be easier, and it takes less than 10 minutes start to finish. If I want something a bit different, I cut up some tomatoes, garlic and onion and add a cup or so of white wine to the water and cook it all up together and then use some bread to soak up the yummy soup-like broth. Fantastic! Kale is just as easy, I soak it for anywhere from 10 minutes if I want to eat it then, up to overnight if I'm planning on eating it later, to make sure all the dirt comes off. Seriously, it can't be easier: throw the kale in a big bowl of water and walk away. Come back whenever and pour it into a strainer, then put it back in a fresh bowl of water and swish it around, then strain it again. It's usually clean at that point and ready to eat raw in a salad or sauteed in a pan with a bit of olive oil as greens. Or chop it up and add it to a soup or rice dish. So simple, fast and easy. Kale is chock full of not only iron, but almost everything else. It's a multi vitamin on a fork! So yummy, too. I've taken to rationalizing the occassional steak purchase, too, even though it doesn't have nearly as much iron in it as clams or mussels; it's always going to be an iron source for those who don't eat shellfish, and let's face it, steak is delicious! I know what you're thinking: "why doesn't she just take iron pills?" well, I've started to. I'm taking a multi pronged approach to a serious problem. Generally, though, I prefer to absorb nutrients the old fashioned and best way: from food. Pills are not a long term solution in most cases and I try to stay away from them and just solve the underlying problem instead - there's fewer side effects! Spinach, while high in iron, isn't a good source because it's also high in phytates which basically take the iron with them right out of your body. Cooked spinach has fewer phytates than raw, so it's still an ok source for iron, but not the best. Our bodies have to be able to access the iron, so it's important to understand absorbability quotients. Iron from raw spinach is poorly absorbed, so don't think you're getting enough iron from it when you're not. Try kale. I think you'll love it. I do. bon appetit!

Steamed Mussels with Brussel Sprouts on the side

Since I found out I'm anemic I decided to put some extra iron into my diet, and one of the best, cheapest and easy to make dishes is mussels, so tonight I'm making a delicately flavored pot of Steamed Mussels: One saucepan with two TBS butter on medium-low heat Add, in no particular order: Chopped onion Minced fresh garlic, as much as you want, at least 1 TBS Chopped tomato Chopped fresh parsley, as much as you want, at least a TBS Chopped Red bell pepper 1/4 tsp salt/ or to taste 1/4 tsp pepper/ or to taste 1/8 tsp white pepper pinch rubbed sage 1 TBS chopped basil Sautee vegetables in butter first, add 1 Cup white wine, any kind, as long as you'd drink it :), bring to boil & add anywhere from 1 lb to 3 lbs of fresh live mussels. Steam for 2 minutes, if they're not open, steam for one minute more, no longer! - you *don't* want to overcook those tender mussels! Brussel Sprouts are easy, too: Cut the ends off, steam them for 20 minutes, put into a serving bowl with 2 TBS butter and juice of half a lemon. ENjoy!

Baked Salmon over linguine with thickened milk sauce with cheese

I picked up a nice filet of salmon on sale for $5, wild caught Alaskan that was already thawed, which meant no refreezing but cooking right away (I'd never eat farm raised). I put it in an oven safe bowl and poured milk over it and baked it at 350F for 45 minutes until it flaked. I'd put water on to boil about 15 minutes before it was done baking, and made some linguine. Drain the linguine, and then pour the salmon and milk over it, add some butter and garlic, nutmeg

and white pepper with some grated Parmesan cheese and oh my goodness deliciousness ensues!

Prep time: 30 seconds for the fish, and really, how long does it take to fill a pan with water and turn on the heat?

Overall time invested in prepping, preparing, etc. less than five minutes. Cost estimated at $6.

Enjoy!

Julie's Mousaka with Rhubarb pie for desert

Last night I made my own version of a classic Greek dish, Mousaka. All I had to eat was some potatoes and a few eggplants so that's what i cooked with. Mousaka is sort of like the well known Irish dish, Shepherd's pie (if you've never had it). It was, and still is (as I eat the leftovers) delicious.

It takes a bit of time to make, but well worth it. I start by slicing up a large eggplant, or a few small ones, enough to cover the bottom of a large casserole dish. I drizzle some olive oil in the dish and layer the eggplant. Then I slice up some potatoes, and layer those over the eggplant. That part doesn't take too long. I cover it and put it in the oven and let it bake for an hour at 350F - I want those potatoes and eggplant slices cooked and soft. While that's baking, I make the sauce that is the next layer. I take a quart of tomatoes that I've canned, juice and all, put it in a saucepan, and grab a couple sprigs of rosemary, lots of oregano, a few basil leaves and some thyme from my garden or windowsill (if it's winter, I grow herbs indoors and move them out in the spring). I put the herbs in with the tomatoes, and a bay leaf. I put in about a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, and two minced garlic cloves. Then I just let it simmer on low until the timer goes off for the potato/eggplant layers. I pull the casserole out of the oven, remove the cover and pour the tomato/spice sauce over it evenly and put it back in to bake, without a cover this time. If you're not a vegan, which I'm not, you can fry some ground lamb (about 1/2 lb) and put it in the tomato sauce before you pour it over the layers in the dish. I just love the added flavor that lamb gives this dish. I suppose ground turkey would also work if you like.

While the tomato sauce is baking into the eggplant/potato layers in the oven at 350F I make the bechemel sauce that goes on top (which is not vegan, but is vegetarian if it's ok to eat butter and eggs). I made this up, and I think it's pretty tasty:

Take 6 TBS flour and 6 TBS butter and over a very low heat, melt the butter and blend the flour into it. Slowly, while continuously stirring, add 6 cups of milk and four egg yolks and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon. I only had five cups of milk so I used one cup of water in addition and it came out fine. It's ok to be creative up to a point in cooking. Stir like crazy until the sauce thickens (I cheat and turn up the heat after the milk is blended in smoothly with the flour/butter mix). Once it starts to thicken, take it off the stove and pour it over the casserole mix from the oven. Bake it another half hour.

I can live off this for about three days, and not have to cook anything. It takes about an hour to do, but well worth it.

While the mousaka was baking the last half hour I went out to my garden, cut enough rhubarb to make a pie, came back in, washed the rhubarb, cut it up into 1 - 1/2 inch pieces, put it in a big pan with 2 cups of sugar and 1/4 cup of flour and then made some pie crust. The pie crust consists of two sticks of butter and 2 cups of flour: Cut the butter into the flour until it's pea sized. This is one time where lazy is good - you'll get a flakier crust the less you work it, those big hunks of butter make delicious flakes in your crust! Drizzle 8 TBS water over the flour/butter mix while lifting the dough up and around with a fork. Next, use your bare hands (take your rings off and thank me later) and mix the dough just barely until it mostly sticks together, but no more! Remember, less is better here. Squeeze off about half the dough and flour a cutting board (I love my wood one!) and roll it out, use a floured - rub flour on it - rolling pin, or a wine bottle, anything round and smooth will do. Roll it out in different directions until it's about as big as your pie pan. Any kind of pan is fine, glass, ceramic, thin tinfoil ones. Doesn't matter. Fold the pie crust in half on your board. Now fold it in half again. It should look like a triangle at this point, but don't squish it, you're going to unfold it on your pie plate! Pick up the folded dough carefully, and move it over your pie plate, position it so it sits near the edge and the point of the triangle is in the middle of the plate. So easy! Now all you have to do is unfold it. Perfect! Pour the rhubarb surgar mix into the pie plate with the crust you just made. If you're lucky enough to have strawberries or rasperries, put them around in it, too. I didn't have any, so I used some incredible rasperry preserves. yummy. I just used a small spoon and globbed small bits around the pile of rhubarb/sugar/flour. It worked. Repeat what you did with the first half of the dough: roll it out, fold it, move it, center it, unfold. You can use your fingers to pinch the top and bottom halves of the dough together or press down ont the edges with the tips of a fork if you want it pretty. Ok, now this is VERY important: Cut some holes in your top crust to let out the steam and juices. Rhubarb has a lot of water and it will make an awful mess if you don't cut holes AND put a cookie sheet under it to catch all the sugar water that WILL bubble up and out when you bake it for an hour and 20 minutes at 350F. Your rhubarb should be very soft at this point, and there should be a lot of syrup in your pie - it'll gel up quite a bit when it cools.

Enjoy!

Onion bagels

I love fresh warm bagels, but who doesn't? Today I'm making onion bagels. Someone gave mehave a bread machine years ago, I've only recently started using it to make bread and bagels. It's so much cheaper, and healthier to make bread at home that buy it in the store. Crazy cheaper! I can buy a bag of flour for around $5 and make six loaves of bread that would cost me $18 to buy, and since I'm on a tight budget, I make them at home. Plus, there's no nasty chemicals to give me cancer in 20 years! It's a win - win! I started with a basic bagel recipe, which takes less than three minutes to put together. Here's the recipe, and you just put it all into the bread machine basket, it doesn't matter the order, either: 2 tsp yeast 2 TBS sugar 1 cup water 1 tsp salt 3 cups flour, white or whole wheat 1/4 cup minced onion (about 1/4 of a large onion) 1 TBS olive oil 2 tsp rosemary Most bread machines have a "dough" funcion. I just put the ingredients in and let the machine knead and mix it for me. After about an hour (while I'm off meantime doing something else productive out of the kitchen), I put a couple tablespoons of flour on my wood cutting board and using my hand, spread it around - it keeps the dough from sticking in the next step: take the out of the bread machine, cut it into 8 roughly equal pieces, stick a finger in the middle of each piece to make a hole, and sort of spin it around the finger to "pull" the dough out into a round shape. Do whatever works for you, it's not rocket science! This only takes about three minutes to do. Fast and easy! I let the bagels rise for about a half hour or hour, depending if it's summer or winter, they rise faster when it's warm. I go do something else while they rise, they don't need any attention while they rise, go do some laundry, pay some bills, take a shower, whatever, they're fine. When they've about doubled in size, drop them into boiling water and flip them in the water after a two or three or five minutes, longer gives a thicker crust, shorter makes them softer. Leave them in the boiling water another two to three to five minutes on the second side. Again, how long is not that critical, I just do it by feel, this isn't Julia Child! This is making something to eat that's yummy that didn't take a ton of effort. After you take them out of the boiling water, put them on cookie sheets that you've sprinkled with corn meal or covered in parchment paper and bake them at 350 degrees Farenheit for 25 minutes (I eyeball them, when they're golden brown, I take them out). Your best timer is your sense of smell. When you smell them, they're done - but keep an eye on the time, just in case your sense of smell is off and check them! While they're baking I can do more work, or read a book, or whatever, you can do what you like with your time you didn't spend driving to the store or fast food joint! Nice, isn't it? I like to slather my warm bagels with an obscene amount of cream cheese; I think of the bread as a cream cheese delivery vehicle. Honey and butter also work wonderfully. Bon Apetit!

Fast & yummy potato soup

As an artist, my income is mostly nonexistent, so I've learned how to eat for literally next to nothing as well as fast, since I'm usually working or tired from working and don't feel like spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

I've found that I can purchase a 50 lb bag of potatoes for about $12 that will last me a couple months. Potatoes keep very well for a long time, even unrefrigerated. Get the classified rated potatoes, too, if you're buying a big bag. The unclassified ones aren't any good to eat unless you're farm animal. As for storage, they'll start to grow after a while, just knock off the white roots and it's good to cook with still. If they get shrivelled up a bit after a while, they're still good to eat, especially for soup, which is what I made last night for dinner.

It's a simple, easy recipe:

Put enough water in pan to cover your washed potatoes. It doesn't matter how many, two or ten, depends if you want leftovers and if you're feeding more than one person. I'd go at least two potatoes per person, no matter the size; Leftovers are always yummy if you have any. Turn on the heat on your stove and let it boil. No peeling, no cutting. Just boil the water with the potatoes in it. How easy is that? ok, now, to make it tasty, add some kind of oil, I like butter and use anywhere from four to eight tablespoons (a half or a whole stick, depends on my mood). You can use whatever, experiment, you'll find a glob of bacon fat is pretty good in there, too, if you're like me and you keep the bacon fat to cook with later. No, it's not bad for you, either, that's B.S. from the big pharmaceutical companies - if you eat margarine (which is basically flavored petroleum, yuck) and when you get sick, you can take pills and give them higher profits. Stick with millenia of evolution, mother nature is pretty dang smart - your body knows how to digest fat, trust me. I'm thin, I eat whatever whenever, and no one in my family has EVER died of a heart attack from high blood pressure or high cholesterol, not one, and I have a HUGE family. Ok, back to the soup:

Ok, this *might* sound like it takes more time than it does, but again, trust me, it's a couple seconds per spice you'll want to add, really! So, grab your spice bottles, or pinch some off your plants, and throw it in the boiling water with potatoes. I like to put some sage in there, if you have to measure, try about 1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon of it. Same for white pepper. and black pepper. I believe in pepper, it's delicious. Salt if you like, I use 1 tsp or so of it. I like the Kosher kind - it's yummy. Next, put in 1/4 teaspoon each of rosemary, oregano, thyme and basil. I use fresh, because it's so insanely easy to grow, I have pots of herbs I grow outdoors in the summer and I bring them in in the winter, put them in front of any window that gets sun, water once a week (make sure there's a drain hole, so you never overwater - it drains out, heh). Dried herbs will work just as well. Don't forget the garlic, too - I use three fat cloves, or a half teaspoon powdered, depends on if I've got the energy to chop it or not.

I almost always add some onion, too, or leeks, which I grow in my garden and can pull and use year round. I plant them in the spring, they're so tiny, like little chives or blades of grass. They grow anywhere easily with zero maintenance, at least in Michigan, where I'm from. When you want to eat them, literally pull it up with one hand out of the dirt, shake it off, cut off the roots, give it a rinse and chop it up. Throw it in the soup. With a regular onion, I cut off the top and bottom where the roots are so it sits flat, I cut it in half and turn it onto the larger flat area I just cut, then I cut 1/4 inch slices, keeping it all touching and still together so I don't "cry", turn it all, and cut it again the same way into perfect little cubes. Takes all of a minute.

Next, I take a fork, and spend maybe about five minutes mashing the soft and cooked potatoes right there in the pan while it's still boiling, just be careful and use your noggin! Now I've got a creamy, nutritious soup that's delicious and cost me probably less than a dollar and under 15 minutes of my time to make.

Enjoy!