Comments (33)

By kilax, January 6, 2010 5:40 am

What’s better than arriving home to a fresh cooked meal?

Nothing, really.

When I arrive home and Steven has a warm dinner on the stove, ready for me to eat, I feel like a pampered princess.

Do you like it when someone else cooks for you? Whose cooking is your favorite? Or do you prefer to make your own food?

Last night, Steven made a modified (because we were missing a few ingredients) version of Anna’s (newlywednewlyveg) Black Bean Fiesta Soup.

Here are the original ingredients, crossed out with what we substituted. Check out her site for the full recipe! I hope you don’t mind that we changed it up a bit, Anna!

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 3 clove(s) garlic, chopped
  
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped 1 1/2 T. Dried Red Pepper, 1 1/2 T. Dried Green Pepper
  
• 1 4. oz. can green chilies, chopped 1 1/2 Tsp Dried Jalapeño
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder 1/4 tsp. Ancho Chili Powder and 1/4 tsp. Chipotle Chili Powder
  
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1/8 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. lime zest
• juice of one lime 1 Tsp. Lime Juice
  
• 3 2 15. oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
• ADDED: 1 15 oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
  
• 3 cups 2 cans vegetable broth
  
• 1 15 oz. can corn
• ADDED: 1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
  

Also, our favorite cornbread made a guest appearance. It went deliciously with this soup! I recommend trying the soup (either the original or our version). It was so tasty – perfect for a cold evening, and not too spicy!

Crap. I better be careful. I don’t want to turn into a food blogger. Stop making such tasty eats Steven! (no really, please don’t stop)

Time for another meme! Ayla (dainty vegan), Leah (why deprive), Kim (Adventures in Wanting) and Trayn Harder all gave me the Happy 101 award. Thank you! I am supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. Making this list was fun (I could have kept going past 10). I think I could do this everyday! Give it a try! Click “more” to read on.

Continue reading 'A twist on Anna’s Black Bean Fiesta Soup / Happy 101 Meme'»

Comments (15)

By kilax, April 11, 2009 7:11 am

4/10/09 Version of our homemade Pad Siew

You’d think a spouse that had Friday off and stayed at home all day (and took a 3 hour nap!) would have dinner ready when their spouse came home. Oops, not THIS wife!

Steven asked me to cook Pad Siew while he ran, and I gave him a really pained look. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to cook it, just that I was nervous about it. Steven’s the Chef, I’m only the Sous Chef. My responsibilities in the kitchen include baking, cleaning up, washing dishes, and chopping vegetables. Asking me to make this dish was a big step… for me. I guess I should consider it an honor!

Steven gave me very specific instructions then went up for his run…

A bit of history on this dish: In winter of 2008, I went to a Thai restaurant (with a buddy) for the first time and randomly selected Pad Siew, a dish with chewy noodles, sweet soy sauce, broccoli, egg and sometimes tofu (or meat). I was instantly hooked on the dish and introduced it to Steven, who also loved it… but wanted to try and make it at home. So I talked to a coworker from Thailand about the dish, and he hooked me up with the key ingredients. Steven kept making the modified recipe (we add more veggies) over and over and over until he got it very close to perfection. Steven’s still working on it though! I like to consider this one of our “signature” dishes – we like to share it with friends and family, usually with egg rolls or pot stickers – but it’s different every time we make it! The last time we made it for kapgar, tori and diane, I asked Steven to leave out the crushed red pepper, and oops, it was so bland, we discovered that IS one of the key ingredients. Sorry guys!

So I took a lot of photos while I was making it all by myself last night, hoping to share the recipe and step by step with you guys! But when Steven came down after his run, he had to do a little “re-seasoning.” He said, “Re-seasoning is when you season it the first time then tweak it in the end!” (I think he was trying to make me feel better)

So it turned out good, but he doesn’t want me to share his recipe until it is perfecto! Should I share it then? Does it look like something you’d like?

Simmering on the stove…

I look funny – my face felt sore all day Friday, especially when I was eating dinner.

I am a stickler about eating at the dining room table, but we almost always eat this dish on the couch, while watching a movie. The perfect Friday night!

Just a little question – when I write about cooking/baking, do you think it makes sense to go into the “Health + Fitness” category? I don’t think I cook/bake enough to have a “recipe” or “food” category… Steven does though! I’ve added a poll below if you’d like to leave input!

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