"Cheezy" Cream of Spinach Soup

In doing the Whole 30, I've found paleo ways to make old standards that are sometimes better-tasting (and occasionally, easier) than the non-paleo origionals. Take cheesy soups, for instance: how on earth do you make them without having lumps of cheese throughout? I have never mastered the fine art of thickeners to make a perfectly creamy, cheesy soup. Until today, and believe it or not, no cheese was harmed in the making of this soup.
For this soup I used sweet potato as a thickener, turmeric for its color (that it's high in magnesium and iron is another benefit), nutritional yeast for that je ne se quois funk (the protein and B vitamins are a major plus!), and coconut milk for making it creamy.
To make it I used:

• 1 Tbsp ghee (use avocado oil to make it vegan)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 5 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 4 cups bone broth (or vegetable broth to make it vegan)
• 1 tsp each of: dry mustard, turmeric, paprika
• 2 tsp salt (or to taste; just keep in mind that salt is part of what convinces you there's cheese involved!)
• 4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
• 2 heaping cutting-boards-worth of spinach, chopped (about one small bag or container)
• 1 14 oz can (or 2 cups homemade) coconut milk

Heat a soup pot over medium-high heat and add the ghee or oil. When hot, add the chopped onion, and let it cook until translucent. Add the diced sweet potato and garlic and let cook a couple more minutes. Add broth, spices, salt, and nutritional yeast, cover, and bring to a boil.
As it's boiling, chop up the spinach, and add it to the pot one cutting-board at a time. Bring it back to a boil, and occasionally press a sweet potato slice onto the edge of the pot with a wooden spoon to see if it's fully cooked. Once it is, turn off the heat, pour in the coconut milk, and mix with an immersion blender. Serve hot!
This is a very bare-bones recipe. Add a little spice with some hot sauce or pepper flakes! Add some tang with a dash of lemon juice. Add thyme and oregano for a more Italian character. How do you dress up your soups?

Posted with Blogsy

Roasted Almonds: A Formula

Recently I've been on a not-so-much sugar kick. It's several steps less virtuous than a no-sugar diet; I'll have dessert once a week (or maybe twice or three times...depends on the week), and then stick to fruit and leftover dinner for snacks.
This slight change in my diet has definitely made my baking-brain feel ignored. I want to be creative! I want to make you, my host body, something sweet to nosh on after you get home from work! OK, baking-brain, OK. I hear you. Let's make some honey-roasted almonds, and let's get them right!
A previous recipe I'd tried led to almonds that were stuck to wax paper like button candy. I tried it again, but moved it to the jar before it got to sticky, which resulted them to be stuck to the jar. This time I thought, "hey! My cooling rack has been lonely since I stopped making cookies, maybe that would work?" and bam! slightly-sticky honey-roasted almonds! They still stick to the jar, but will un-stick once I give them a good shake.
Now, on to the formula. You will need:

• 2.5 cups raw almonds (Costco, all the way!)
• 1/4 cup dry sugar (white, brown, turbindo, any natural sugar in crystal form)
• 1/4 cup liquid sugar (honey, maple syrup, agave, molasses, etc.)
• 1 teaspoon water
• Get creative with your favorite spices! I use about 2 teaspoons total of spice.
• 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
• Saucepan
• Cookie Sheet
• Wax paper (if using parchment, wet it with a little oil.)
• Cooling rack (with holes small enough that an almond won't slip through)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Pour the liquid and dry sugars and teaspoon of water into the saucepan and heat on medium until the dry sugar dissolves into the liquid. Lower heat and add the spices and salt, mixing until well incorporated. Add the almonds, stirring until each one is coated with the sweet, spicy, syrup. Turn off heat.
Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, then pour the sticky lump of almonds onto it. Use a spatula to spread them into an even layer, then slide the pan into the preheated oven.
Bake for 10-15 minutes, or whenever the smell reminds you that you had something in the oven. Maybe don't leave the room if your method is the latter.
Take out the pan, let it cool for a couple minutes, then lift the wax paper carefully by the corners and slide the almonds onto a cooling rack. Use the spatula to even them out.
Throughout the next hour, revisit the cooling rack, breaking the almonds apart as they dry.
After an hour, or as soon as needed if this is a last-minute present for someone and you need to get to their party RIGHT MEOW, transfer almonds to a jar or a bowl.
The two kinds of almonds I made with this formula are quite fun.

Smoky, Spicy Almonds

• 1/4 cup honey (liquid sugar)
• 1/4 cup white sugar (dry sugar)
• 1 teaspoon each of smoked paprika and chipotle (get creative with spices)

All the other ingredients were the same as the formula. These have a deliciouse, warm flavor. If I had hicory smoke powder I totally would have added that, but the smokiness was definitely present with the paprika and chipotle!

Vemont Vampire-Hunter Almonds

• 1/4 cup maple syrup (liquid sugar)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar (dry sugar)
• 1 clove minced fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons Gateway To The North seasoning from the Spice House (this contains a mix of maple sugar, brown sugar, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt, so if you don't have access to this mix, try using a teaspoon of garlic powder and a smidge more brown sugar.)

Add the minced fresh garlic to the saucepan at the same time as the sugars and water. Other than that, everything is the same as the formula!

Did you come up with a creative combination? Let me know in the comments!

Posted with Blogsy

Deserted Island Chilaquiles

I made chilaquiles for Teri Jo and Steve today, and they turned out delicious! There's really no way you can go wrong with fried tortillas, eggs, refried black beans, orange peppers, cilantro, salsa verde, habinero-jack, avocados, and sour cream. That's all you need, except if you remember to buy red onion, as I did not. Simple recipe: fry corn tortillas in canola oil, heat up refried black beans (I added cumin), slice things, fry eggs, and arrange how you please.

Teri and I think hers looked like a deserted island, especially on the blue plate!