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Sunday, August 17, 2008 Chilled Tomatillo-Mole-Yogurt Soup  So it started with tomatillos. At the farmer's market we had them, and I had never had them. So I took some home. And they sat in my fridge. And I asked everyone I knew, "Have you ever made anything with tomatillos?" And everyone who answered in the affirmative pretty much had only ever used them to make salsa verde. Nothing against salsa verde, but I wanted something different, and I had this idea in my head that stuck of making a tomatillo soup.A Google search found lots of recipes, but lots of them involved chicken, which I don't eat, and none of them seemed to promise the idea in my head of a tangy, cold, sweet, spicy, somewhat-creamy soup. So I kept searching. I don't know where I got the idea that pumpkin seeds should be included in the recipe, but that's how I found recipes for Mole Verde, a green Mexican sauce that uses tomatillos and pumpkin seeds. So I took ideas from various soup and mole recipes, added my own touches, and I think I have come up with something pretty grand. Here's the recipe. Many of the measurements are approximate, cause I didn't write any of this down as I went along. Chilled Tomatillo-Mole-Yogurt Soup 10-12 tomatillos (about 1 1/2 quart) 1 quart vegetable broth 2 small onions, chopped fine 2-3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds (pepitos) pinch or three pumpkin pie spice 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cumin 1 tsp red chili pepper flakes 2 tsp salt 3 tblsp sugar (I used turbinado) 3 tsp lime juice 2 cups swiss chard leaves (or other leafy green or lettuce) yogurt (I used kefir, actually, but regular yogurt should work) Shuck tomatillos, wash, and cover with water in a large pot. Boil until tender. While tomatillos cook, toast pumpkin seeds in a frying pan until they start to pop. When tomatillos are soft, drain and puree using a food processor. Return most to empty pot, but leave about 1/2 cup or so of the pureed tomatillos in the processor. Add toasted pumpkin seeds. Process seeds with the tomatillos until pretty ground up. (If you have a better way of achieving this end, go for it, this is just what I did.) Add pumpkin seed/tomatillo mixture to pot remaining tomatillos. Add also 2/3 vegetable broth, onion, and garlic. Blend in a blender remaining vegetable broth and chard. Add to pot. Bring mixture to a boil and reduce heat and stir. Add spices and lime juice. Now here's where it gets hairy. I just added spices willy nilly. So measurements are really really approximate. Taste your creation a lot, and add to your tastes, keeping in mind the relative quantities. More cinnamon than cumin, etc. Cook soup 10 minutes or so, then remove from heat and allow to cool. Blend soup in blender in batches until all soup is thoroughly pureed. Chill. Serve with dollop of yogurt (or kefir) mixed in. The yogurt really makes the soup, so don't leave this out. Enjoy! Friday, June 13, 2008 I will mourn the lack of Tasty D-Lite in DC no more...  So anyone who knows me knows that I love frozen desserts. For years that meant I would often make ice cream my dessert, even in the winter time. I have since discovered that uncultured dairy products don't sit well with me, so I have moved onto other options. Sorbet for one. I have very current love affairs with Dolcezza's offerings in Georgetown, as well as Ciao Bella's selection at the local supermarket. However, anyone who knew me in my New York days knows that I was also somewhat obsessed with Tasty D-Lite. This is a soft serve dairy dessert, but incredibly low-fat, low-calorie, and includes lactase as one of its ingredients, making it more friendly to my digestive system. And oh, they have a gazillion flavors, including Oreo Cookie and Butter Pecan. And even though Harry on Sex and the City referred to Tasty D-Lite as whipped flavored air, for me it has always been a more than adequate substitute for the real thing. But now it has been trumped by something far more simple and wonderful. Tangysweet. My friends and I visited Tangysweet a week ago, not long after its grand opening in Dupont Cirlce. I had been anxious to try the place since reading about it in DCist. The concept is a twist on the classic frozen yogurt. Instead of making frozen "yogurt" that tastes just like the soft serve crap you get at McDonald's, offer a soft-serve frozen yogurt that actually tastes like yogurt with that tang that most of us associate with the cultured delight. Such a product would in theory appeal to the diet- and health-conscious crowd, because it would at least appear to be lower in sugar and calories, and thus, healthier. Tasty D-Lite has exploded in popularity in the places it has found a home (thus far only in New York and Miami and some random place in Texas) because it can claim it is both "all natural" and low in calories. And it tastes really good. But Tasty-D can't claim it's actually good for you. Yogurt on the other hand, is widely known to contain beneficial bacteria that makes your gut happy and helps you absorb the vitamins and minerals from your food better. And yogurt, for me, has the additional benefit of being a dairy product significantly lower in lactose than most, since that is what the bacteria eat up when they are culturing the milk to give it that tart taste. That, plus the promise of fresh fruit toppings made it pretty impossible for me to stay away from tangysweet for long. The shop had a long line on Friday at 8:00 PM. Makes sense, given that's the prime dessert hour on a night when everyone tends to go out on the town. Even so, the line moved quickly, and my friends and I had no trouble finding a seat in the small shop when we finally had our yogurt. The staff was friendly, and we were able to sample the different offerings before ordering - right now, pomegranate, green tea and "classic". The difference in the flavors is subtle, but the green tea flavor definitely had the dusky flavor that green tea ice creams often have. All were delicious. I was also delighted to find that when they said fresh fruit toppings, they actually meant it! No vats of syrupy, squishy-looking strawberries or canned pineapple. No: fresh strawberries cut into chunks. Whole raspberries and blackberries and blueberries. Freshly cut (though not altogether ripe) slivers of mango and pineapple. But while the fresh fruit was a definite treat, I have to say that the frozen yogurt all by itself was so wonderful that I had to talk myself down from getting back in line and ordering another cup "naked". The texture is creamy, but not thick and heavy. The flavor of the "classic," which I favored, was tart without being sharp or puckery, lightly sweet without being cloying, utterly wholesome and clean-tasting - no lingering aftertaste signaling something artificial or off in the formula. I heartily recommend those of you in DC who are reading to check it out when you get a chance. Friday, May 30, 2008 The Power of Words There was once a wise sage who wandered the countryside. One day, as he passed near a village, he was approached by a woman who saw he was a sage, and told him of a sick child nearby. She beseeched him to help this child. The sage came to the village, and a crowd gathered around him, for such a man was a rare sight. One woman brought the sick child to him, and he said a prayer over her."Do you really think your prayer will help her, when medicine has failed?" yelled a man from the crowd. "You know nothing of such things! You are a stupid fool!" said the sage to the man. The man became very angry with these words and his face grew hot and red. He was about to say something, or perhaps strike out, when the sage walked over to him and said: "If one word has such power as to make you so angry and hot, may not another have the power to heal?" And thus, the sage healed two people that day. --- Author Unknown Friday, May 23, 2008 Whole Foods, you suck. And this is why I prefer to get my stuff from the farmer's market.How sketchy! But yay for ABC reporting on the Dupont FreshFarm! They rule. (for whatever reason, I can only get the embedded video to display in IE.) Monday, May 05, 2008 Tidbits There's been lots of worry recently over plastic bottles and other food containers, and what is safe and what is not.Here's what's safest: #2 and #5. #1 is okay (it's what most bottled water is sold in). But you don't want to repeatedly reuse it these kinds of bottles - they don't hold up super well over time. #3 is PVC. Very very bad. Dioxin, phthalates, and other carcinogens. We should not be using this stuff at all. #6 also not cool. Polystyrene. Styrofoam, generally. #7, which is what your Nalgene bottle is made of (although apparently not the new ones), is bad. Releases bisphenol A, which is an endocrine disrupter, (acts like a hormone in your body. Bad bad bad.) Canada banned BPA, and there has been a real worry that a lot of baby bottles are made of #7 plastic. Hormone-like chemicals + babies = bad news. Actually hormone-like chemicals + adults = bad news too. #2, #4, and #5 are fine. At least for now. My Rubbermaid water bottle that I drink from at work is made of #5 plastic. I'd recommend you chuck that Nalgene. Apparently all that mess about canned vegetables being much less healthy than fresh veggies is not so cut-and-dried. Heat-sensitive nutrients like vitamin C break down in canned veggies, but other phytochemicals in vegetables, such as the ones found in corn and tomatoes, actually increase when they are exposed to heat. So pile on the corn and tomato salsa I guess. Apparently, our shoes are ruining our feet, and we should all either walk barefoot, or buy expensive shoes that are almost like walking barefoot. At least according to New York Magazine. I'm somewhat skeptical, as I felt like the article was pushing a particular product pretty hard, but I did find it interesting that women who wear high heels all the time actually cause the tendons in their feet to shorten, thus causing them to eventually only be comfortable in high heels. I also thought it was interesting that historically, shoes were not made for walking, but were rather a sign that you were so rich you didn't have to walk. I also saw someone running barefoot in the 10K I did on Saturday. Makes me want to give it a try (though probably on a treadmill...) I haven't been posting much lately because I am planning to start a new blog. It's slowly coming together, and I'll keep you updated as soon as it goes live. Hopefully sometime in mid-June. Friday, March 14, 2008 Tornado season came early this year to Atlanta This is just wild! A tornado swept through Atlanta and ripped up parts of the Georgia Dome (during a basketball game!). Oh yeah, and it was happening three miles away from my mom's house, where I am right now.View Larger Map Thursday, February 28, 2008 Maybe this is why people are often pack-rats... This article from the New York Times is awesome:The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors My friend Susanna shared it on Facebook. I know she's thinking of it in the context of grad schools, but there are so many applicable contexts to the ideas in this article. Man, the New York Times has some pretty kickass content. Good food for thought. |
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