Mexican Tortilla Soup

Avocados are expensive.  $1.25 for a single avocado?  That's four for five bucks.  Sometimes it's only three for five dollars.  Ick.  But apparently this is avocado season because they are at the store for 99cents!  So obviously the impulse is to stock up.

Stock up?  On produce?  Well, according to the internet, avocados will stay in that perfect state of ripeness if you just put them in the fridge.  Really?  I'm trusting you internet.  (On a side note, I roasted my first red pepper last week based solely on what I had picked up from watching tv chefs do it, and that came out great, so I have no reason to doubt the internet either)

And now, with two avocados in my fridge, I needed something to do with them.  Enter tortilla soup.  The recipe didn't look like much.  It's more of a broth base with a bunch of toppings added in at the end.  But it was tex-mex, warm, a little sweet and a touch of spicy.

I'm sorry I didn't take any pictures.  I'm obviously still getting into this so it's not second nature yet.  Not to mention how long it usually takes me to get photos from my lame point-an-shoot-camera to the computer anyway.

But pictures or not, here is the recipe:

Mexican Tortilla Soup
Adjusted from Hass' Avocado and Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:
6 cups Chicken Broth 
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp. olive oil 
1 (15 1/2 oz) can of diced tomatoes in juice (I used the basil and oregano kind)
1 (15 1/2 oz) can of cream style corn
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
A handful of coarsely chopped cilantro leaves 

Toppings:
1 avocado, diced
1-2 oz. low fat feta cheese
1 lime
4 tortillas
frying oil

Instructions:

1. In a dutch oven (my favorite kitchen tool) heat the olive oil and sauté the onion and garlic until onion is transparent.
2. Add the tomatoes with juice to the onion and garlic, and puree with a[n immersion] blender.  (I used an immersion blender, Hass recommends dumping it all into a blender, I might recommend not blending at all if the tomatoes are small enough.)
3. Return the pureed mixture to the dutch oven (if necessary), add broth, cilantro, corn, salt and chili powder.
4. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat just about a Tbsp. of vegetable oil in a frying pan. When hot, add the tortillas one at a time for a few minutes on either side.  Let the tortillas turn golden before removing and cooling.  Then cut them into strips with a pizza cutter (they'll be nice and crisp and easy to cut).
6. Distribute the tortilla strips evenly in 4-6 bowls, ladle soup over top.  Sprinkle the avocado and crumbled feta evenly over the portions and squeeze a quarter of a lime over each bowl.

The cilantro really makes this soup.  It flavors the whole broth with fresh greenness (greenness doesn't sound delicious to you??).  The feta adds a touch of saltiness to it, and the tortillas soften into slime (that's not appealing either?  For real?)  Seriously, it was better than I thought it would be, and I added that creamed corn because it seemed like there was nothing in the soup!  I don't regret adding it, but I'm not sure it was necessary either.  Let me know what you think!

Quilting Project - Swing

When someone passes unexpectedly it leaves a more raw wound than from someone who had been sick for a long time.  It's the feeling of being blindsided, of realizing that anything could happen at any time.  The news suggests this to us every day but those people who die on TV, they aren't real.

My friend with whom I had a monthly quilting date, who taught me how to brew a proper cup of tea, who collected a massive variety of antiques, who hosted dinner parties, loved to walk, adopted a stray cat who saved her as much as she saved him, and who was always a good influence.  Was real.

After a year of being to raw to even want to quilt, I found this bookmark on the ground:

There was something so delicate and so beautiful that it inspired me.  I wanted to recreate it.  And now I am.  Credit for this work goes to Ms. Auralea Krieger.  Check out her sight; it's full of beautiful art in a similar vein (and better pictures of it).

There are many others, I know, who have much more expertise on the subject of quilting.  I learned by word of mouth and imitation, as well as forcing my way forward without care for the rules.  My favorite method is the freezer paper applique technique because it gets all the work done ahead of time.  Then it's just stitching away.  The photo of my layout is still just laid down.  The sewing is in progress so I'll show you what happens when it's finished.  (So far I'm putting all the pieces on out of order.  Cora would be shaking me.)  I think I might change the arms and embroider on her yellow dress detail and her shoes (not pictured)

Easy Delicious Real Bread

So carbohydrates are awesome, right?  Am I right?  There's nothing like homemade bread (except maybe the elusive challah baguette I bought in the Meat Packing District in NYC about 7 years ago). Sometimes bread seems like a project.  Sometimes it seems difficult.  In all honesty: it's neither.

I've made this recipe twice now using all whole-wheat flour.  The product comes out dense and hearty, thoroughly filling and great for sandwiches.  Active time for this loaf is probably fifteen minutes.  The ingredients sum to four: flour, yeast, salt, and water.  No sodium dioxide?  No xanthan gum?  No soy bi-products?  That's right.  It makes it real food.  Check the ingredient list on the bread at the grocery store.  I haven't looked at the bakery offerings but anything bagged and shipped is full of junk.

My bread got sliced and went into the freezer.  It takes a couple weeks for hubby and me to finish it since it's mostly it got eaten one piece at a time with soup or as a snack toasted with locally produced butter.  (Yeah, and I don't think he's eating it at all)

If you've never tried to make bread I highly recommend the Frugal Living method for two reasons: first you don't have to proof the yeast with water of a specific temperature, and second there's no kneading, which means (in my case) no over-kneading.

Welcome!

Hello World!

Er, I mean, hello and welcome.  This is my first blog.  It is an experiment in being open with the world.  Have you ever just wanted to connect with someone?  But you're sitting alone in your condo with the tv playing the tenth episode of Arrested Development in a row?  That's me (and that's only about two hours and twenty minutes so don't judge).

Let's go back to the beginning, though.  I have always been super serious about school.  This earned me (1) good grades, (2) a pretty good job, and (3) a mildly lacking social life.  I don't really have any desire to go out and live the party life like Cosmo seems to think I should, but at the same time, what am I supposed to do with myself?

I finished my masters in computer science in 2011 and got married in 2012, so now I don't really have any excuse to avoid finding myself.  So I'm still working on a list of hobbies:

1. cooking/baking: I love carbs, do you?  Breakfast carbs, dessert carbs, just plain bread.  But my cooking goes past that.  I really want to focus on eating "real" food: food where I know what it actually is.  It doesn't have to be health food, but I don't want  mouthful of chemicals.

2. quilting: I had a quilting mentor who passed away in October 2011.  I haven't quilted anything since... until now.  I just began a new project as a New Year's Resolution, and I hope that I am crossing the hump between grief and honoring a memory.

3. writing:  This is another one I've lost track of for a while.  I loved to write during high school, but it faded during college and beyond.  I roared back with NaNoWriMo in 2012, which was awesome fun, and hopefully that will keep me going.  It also got me reading a bit more, since reading is technically research for writing.

Drizzle says "keep reading... or don't, and then Mommy will play with me"

Hopefully I can document some creations and some delightful meals, not to mention anecdotes that will please you.  Welcome again to this fledgling effort.

~Claire