Results tagged “tomatoes” from Bodacious Girl

The weekend after I moved into my MASSIVE apartment in Chicago, Lollapalooza came to town. A weekend of lewdness and drunkenness and bawdy lascivious women and I decide to leave for the weekend. NICE HUH? Who makes these plans for me?!? I had this massive kitchen in which to cook and create... and here I was leaving.

Yes, YOU DO remember what my kitchen looked like right?

Seriously - it is THAT small. That is a real penny. Was my change from laundry. The laundry room is bigger then my kitchen.

Actually it is bigger then my apartment. But I still lurve it.

I decided after I got back from my weekend (which, I may add contained some debauchery, some bread, a few beers... did I mention debauchery?) that I wasn't going to let such a small kitchen scare me into a life of carry out. I could still cook and boil and maybe even saute' in my lil kitchen. Ooh and maybe even bake! Oh yea, this winter mah teeny little apartment is so going to smell like fresh baked bread and cookies and cupcakes all season long and it is so going to RULE! (But it won't ever smell like cranberry walnut bread. I'm just saying...)

However tonight, I craved a nice & healthy light dinner for myself. Something tasty and satisfying, and not to heavy. So over carryout from Jimmy Johns - I retro-fitted my lil kitchen, and chopped my way into Tabouleh heaven.

In case you were wondering, tabouleh is a bulgur and parsley salad, that is not only yummy, but rather healthy as well. It fills you up and is chock full of fiber and antioxidents - it was just what I needed after the two beers I enjoyed with my #12 unwich.

Here are your required ingredients:

2 bunches of fresh parsley (1 1/2 cup chopped, with stems discarded)
(Traditionally curly parsley is used here, however I prefer flat leaf Italian.)
2 tablespoons of fresh mint, chopped
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 medium tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup bulgur
3 - 4 tablespoons lemon juice
3 - 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 t salt (to taste)
1/2 t pepper (to taste)
dash of cayenne (again... TO TASTE)
optional - left over cucumber (diced) from last nights peanut butter and cucumber pop tart swammich. (I so ROCK the eating for one adventure!)

First - soak the bulgur in cold water for 1 hour.

Drink a beer or 5 while waiting... then,

Chop the parsley:

(I propped my cutting board over my mini-stove top to make room for all the ingredients. It didn't quite work.)

Then chop the mint, the tomatoes, the onion, and you get where I am going here right? It is tabouleh - not bioengineering.

Toss all the chopped goodies with the drained bulgur. Top with the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Then add the cayenne and stir to incorporate. You can serve it immediately with pita or leaves of romaine, but I like to chill it for at least an hour. Mmm yum!

My kitchen is Tabouleh friendly! Yay! Next up little kitchen - chateaubriond. Chateaubreoind? Chateaubriand!! Ah screw it. Chocolate Chip Cookies!...

Be afraid.

Oh it has been a rough one. The weather here has been so blah. Constant rain storms, dreary dark days, and almost freezing temperatures (Ok well 47 degrees isn't quite freezing but) have given me a nice end of autumn cold. Sniff sniff. So all these cool things I had planned for you, my wonderful groupies - has all but pooofed it's way into oblivion. At least - for now. Next week, we will talk about my favorite Christmas tradition in the whole wide world... so stay tuned.

But now, since I feel so icky ugh blah and even waaaa, I thought I would take this time to let you all in on one of my best kitchen remedies for when you have the sniffies, stuffies and the can-I-just-call-it-and-go-back-to-bed-ies.

We interrupt this recipe to bring you this news update! This just in - Congratulations go out to Jennifer R, Rachael G and Andrea P for their amazing prowess in slyly snatching all that mouthwatering Rocky Mountain Jalapeno Popcorn from my grasp. Sigh... it will be sorely missed. However, Jennifer was kind enough to accept only 14 bags of the 15, so that I can have one for little ole' me. Sniff - is that the spirit of giving or what? Thanks Jennifer, but I open one and then that becomes four, and then fifteen and then I am renting movies with your gift card. It could get ugly.

And now back to our regularly scheduled blog already in progress...

...Serve hot. Enjoy.

Kidding. Ha I am such a hoot, esp. when medicated. :-.

Seriously, here is my favorite recipe for "Tom Yum Make-my-Sniffies Goong Away" Soup. It is mmm so spicy in all the right places. Especially thanks to my gaggle of Thai chili plants out back.

(Makes 4 bowls)

Ingredients:

6 cups all natural - organic low sodium chicken broth (am I picky or what?)
5 lime leaves, crushed (Supposed to be kaffir, but key lime works just as well for me.)
2 stalks lemon grass, chopped. (Or 3 Tablespoons prepared lemongrass.)
1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 fresh thai chili - minced
1 cup shiitake mushrooms, sliced (Oyster mushrooms work GREAT here as well)
3 limes, juiced (about 1/4 cup), plus more for garnish
3-4 Tablespoons fish sauce (to taste)
10 large fresh peeled shrimp
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/2 cup cilantro. (Oh I mean coriander for all you anti-cilantro-ites.)
Small handful fresh basil. (Or even Shiso if you can get your hands on it.)
Nam Prik Chili Sauce or Sambal Olek or other Asian chili sauce.
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
Prepared Rice Noodles

In large pot, bring chicken stock, lime leaves and lemongrass to a boil.

Reduce to medium and add the garlic, chili, mushrooms, lime juice and 3 T of fish sauce. Bring to gentle boil for about 5 minutes.

Add shrimp, green onions and tomatoes. Cook for about 1-2 minutes until shrimp are just done. Do not over cook, chewy shrimp does not do a body good. Nor do soggy tomatoes.

Once shrimp are cooked, remove from heat. Taste. If soup needs more salt add a little more fish sauce.

To Serve: In each of the 4 bowls, add some rice noodles and a teaspoon (more of less depending on your love of heat) of chili sauce. Ladle soup into bowls, top with generous amount of basil and cilantro I mean coriander. Serve with lime wedges.

This soup will clear you up, pick you up and give you the energy you need to get through the day when all you would rather do is curl up in bed and be one with daytime TV.

You are looking for a photo aren't you? Funny, me too. See in my head fog, I did not think to have a single charged battery. I blame Enzo.

Have you noticed lately that my posts are leaning towards the foodie in me? Nothing wrong with that. My “day job” consists mostly of drawing and designing and website-ing (huh?) and my biggest love is food. It is what I do to relax. Football Sundays spent at home are one of my favorite times. I literally cook all day. The kitchen is part of the family room (where the big screen is thankyouverymuch) so I can cook, bake, whip up, sling, roast, grill, saute’ and never miss a down. It is a gastronomical Super Bowl every Sunday (when I am NOT at the actual game) at my house.

But I digress. Today’s post is not about that other love of mine - football - but rather about the evil citrus tree out back that taunts me daily. Every morning when I wake - I notice that the limon tree has dropped some of it’s oh so precious limons. And we all know what my favorite thing to do with limons (key limes) is. SO you can understand my predicament. At 5 am. No breakfast yet. Those little limons whispering sweet nothings in my ear… “Are the mountain’s blue yet? And the mugs? Are they frozen?” And they do not fall one at a time - they fall in a posse.

This morning, all I could think about was some fresh pico de gallo over fried eggs and potatoes and mmmmm hungry yet? Lucky me - fresh tomatoes and jalapenos in the yard as well - in NOVEMBER! (I have SUCH an advantage living in Arizona do I not??)

I actually use more tomatoes then what is in the photo - but I started chopping before I took the photograph. Put me around knives and I gotta chop something. Weird, my husband just ran out of the room… So here is my recipe. Simple simple simple is the key to a good pico.

Pico De Gallo

1 cup diced tomatoes
1/3 cup diced white onion
1 T chopped fresh cilantro
1 1/2 T seeded and minced jalapeno
1 - 1 1/2 t fresh squeezed lime juice
1/4 t salt (to taste)

Combine all ingredients in non-reactive bowl. Serve chilled on anything and everything.

Can’t you just smell the freshness? More lime key recipes to come, if I don’t drink them all up first.