Thirty Minute Cold Busting Soup

(Would you look at that?? A relatively attractive food picture!)

I am highly, highly suspicious of any recipe that brags about how little time it takes to make. I usually find that there is a pretty big trade-off for flavor and general quality. However, there are always exceptions. Black beans and rice can be one, and this soup is another.


So, R is out of town, and I have come down with a cold. Blah. You know how it is - you can't breathe, nothing tastes good. When I'm all stuffy, I want something hot and spicy - namely, soup. But what a pain in the neck to make a pot of soup for a bunch of ungrateful children who really just want chili mac or PBJ.


I made this for myself today, while my kids were napping, and it was really, really done in half an hour. And it was just the thing to clear my stuffy head, full of all sorts of immune-boosting goodness. Feel free to improvise - this is a pretty rough outline. The point is to be able to cook it for yourself, while sick, with ingredients you're likely to have on hand.



Cold Season Soup

4 cloves garlic, minced

1-inch piece of ginger, finely minced

2 medium onions, diced relatively small

1.5 qt. broth or stock (homemade, or use a good quality canned or boxed - chicken or veggie)

salt and peper to taste

chili flakes, to taste

1 tsp. fish sauce (you can leave it out, if that's not your cup of tea, or sub soy sauce)

3/4 cup basmati rice, raw

1 carrot, sliced thin or diced - you choose

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup shrimp, leftover chicken, or tofu (optional - I didn't have any, but it would be good)

1 handful of fresh cilantro, chopped

slices of lime, for garnishing


Heat pot over medium heat, add about a tablespoon of cooking oil. Saute onion until clear, sprinkling it with a couple generous pinches of salt while it's cooking. Add garlic, ginger, and about 1 tsp of chili flakes, for a mildly spicy soup, or more to taste. Saute until ginger and garlic are fragrant, but not browned - just a minute or two. Add broth and fish sauce, bring to a boil.


Reduce heat to a simmer, add rice and carrots. Simmer for 20 minutes, until rice is tender. Add peas (and optional shrimp, meat, or tofu), return to a boil. Remove from heat.


Serve in big bowls, garnished with cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Feel better.

Looks Good To Me!

A round up of yummy stuff I've been ogling lately:

Homemade Granola Bars

Okay, so this isn't knock-your-socks off sexy or anything, but it looks like a good snack that my kids would really like. Need to try it.

Dark Chocolate Pear Jam

This, on the other hand, is very sexy. I made it this week. The directions aren't too specific, which was a bummer - I peeled the pears (thus removing most of the natural pectin, which makes it firm up - d'oh!) and while it was so delicious, I actually poured myself a little bowl and ate it with a spoon, it did not set up, and is now canned and labeled as syrup instead. No great loss, in my opinion, and a great reason to try it again, right?

Thai-inspired Butternut Squash Soup

I love Thai food, and happen to have a steady stream of butternut squash from our CSA, and this looks outstanding.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

If I have time, I'm making these tomorrow. If I wasn't feeling like I'm coming down with something really nasty, I'd make them tonight.

Ethiopian Lentils with Berbere

This might be just the thing for tomorrow night's dinner. It's a more basic version of a recipe I've tried already, and we all like (except for R, who has had a few bad run-ins with berbere in recent months). I've been having the kids help me with dinner lately, but only one kid at a time (that was genius on my part - having all three "helping" is a circus act). Tomorrow is Danny's turn - he'd be excited about this. Throw it on top of some basmati rice, if you don't have injera, and all will be right with the world.


Pumpkin Fondue

I can tell you for certain I will NOT be making this tomorrow night. Nor this weekend, or possibly ever - while some of you take me for a workaholic kitchen fanatic, you have me mistaken. This looks like way too much trouble, but boy, would I be excited if somebody made it FOR me.

So there you go - my food dreams of late. I made some apple butter this week, too, but I bastardized the recipe so badly it's not worth linking. If it turns out to be a hit, I'll share my version with you at a later date.

Aw!

I was browsing some old pictures on my desktop, and got curious about what I might have in my folder from two years ago - November 2007. Would you look at this little munchin?? The feetie jammies, the giant stuffed camel (sent from his dad in Iraq, but let's not go there). Aw!!

Boy, when everybody says, "They grow up so fast," they are not kidding. This same kid can recite my phone number and read DOTS .... backwards.

Update on the Washer and Dryer

Lina, almost one year old, in Ethiopia

I got some good news this week, that I absolutely must share with you. Many of you may remember about a year ago, I asked for your help in raising funds to purchase a washer and dryer for the Thomas Center, the foster care center in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where my children were cared for while they waited to come home with us. The purpose for the washer and dryer was to prevent the spread of disease between children, after three children died of pneumonia there, waiting for their new families.



I was utterly floored by your generosity, and the mind-blowing fact that I was able to raise the $6000 needed in just ten days. Ten days! Y'all are amazing.



If you've ever done business in a developing country, you know that life has a different pace there, and things take a whole lot longer than we'd expect, here in the United States. It's part culture, part logistics, part.... who knows what. When you build scaffolding by hand from tree limbs, and cart cinder blocks for foundations with donkeys, things take longer. And there's not quite the overwhelming sense of unmitigated urgency that we have here, which is not necessarily a bad thing.



However, you all opened your hearts and wallets, and deserve some news. I have been pressing Children's House for an update, and finally got one, while it's not perfect, it was good.

Hi Jenn.....

I just got off the phone with Abdissa, and I apologize that he hasn't gotten you more info on the Washer/Dryer. The machines were purchased some time back, but the installation was delayed due to electrical and drainage problems. After some time, they were installed temporarily in an alternate location while the issues with the Thomas Center could be fixed. They will be moved back to The Thomas Center within 3 - 4 weeks. These things, along with permits for the work needed, take too much time in Ethiopia.

I have asked Abdissa to send you photos and he mentioned that he will send you a receipt as well. He will take the photos when they are installed at The Thomas Center.

Hooray!! They are up and running! I will post those photos when I get them, so you can see what you've done. Thanks so much, to all of you that helped out. It really, truly makes a difference.

Veteran's Day Parade

Danny marched in our city's Veteran's Day Parade yesterday with the Boy Scouts. He's awfully cute in his uniform, isn't he?

He was so excited. Rome and Lina and I found a good vantage point to watch from. Rome and Lina had never been to a parade before (a shock to me when I realized it, having been raised on Mardi Gras), and were pretty impressed, especially once I managed to convince them that "parade" and "pray" are not the same thing ("Mama, what are we going to pray about?" "No, son, PA-RADE."). It was a nice little city parade, with two high school marching bands, lots of jeeps carrying veterans of various ages, several color guards, and a couple of fire trucks for good measure.

Lots of parade participants threw candy, and while Lina was a little slow on the uptake with her candy gathering, Rome was all over it. He was, however, profoundly unphotogenic yesterday, so no pics of his candy catching triumphs. Lina will have to stand in for him.

Combat veterans, South Dakota style. We had beautiful weather - nice for all the guys and gals on Harleys.

I've never been to a Veteran's Day before, and I have to tell you, it affected me more than I expected. I found myself misty-eyed more than once. Seeing all those men and women, both in the parade and on the sidelines, whose lives had been permanently altered by war .... I guess, now that my husband is among their ranks, I understand their sacrifice a whole lot better.

And just in case you needed a reminder of who the soldiers in your all-volunteer military really are, check out this guy.

Veteran's Day

To the sisterhood of wives whose battle cry is, "I'll make it work, honey," I commend you. To the children growing up with parents on webcams, celebrating birthdays and Christmases at a distance, I salute you, too.

To all those who serve, to the families left behind, to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, and to all those who know all too well the true cost of war, I thank you.

To everyone whose lives have remained largely unchanged in the eight years since this country went to war, I ask that you take a moment today to remember all those who make that possible.

S'mores!

True confession: until last night, my kids had never had s'mores. Never. Not once. I am a bad, bad mommy. I must thank our dear friends, A and C, for rectifying this truly unfair situation for my children.



If the sight of these little people close to the fire makes you nervous, you are not alone. However, I was a bit desensitized by this point, as R had already spent the afternoon trimming trees with the children, a task which included lessons with real saws for the children. All fingers and limbs accounted for, even so. Dads can do that kind of thing. I couldn't even watch.

But, back to the bonfire, shall we??

The little cutie on the far left is our friends' son, who will be two at the end of this month and was also adopted from Ethiopia. He is so unbelievably adorable. My kids do look kind of monstrously huge next to his wee little self, don't they? Did I mention both my boys have grown another inch since the summer?

Lina was all over the cooking part, but not so much the marshmallow part. She takes after her mama in this respect, and only nibbled her s'more before moving on. My boys, who have a deep and abiding love for all things sticky and sweet, were in kid heaven.

Oooh, the oozy stickiness. No wonder my mother never let us have marshmallows.

Danny making absolutely sure that there was no marshmallow left neglected on his stick. Waste not, want not, right?