Soup

French Lentil Soup with Mushrooms and Kale

January 25, 2016 by Charles Leave a Comment

Lentils are a favorite in our house. We make our lentil burgers and our mustard-vinaigrette lentils. We have our lentil tabbouleh and lentil penne dish. We love our lentils. This lentil soup is a recent addition to our lentil love. The beauty of this soup is that it comes together quickly and makes more than enough to go around (and then some).

So leftovers are a given with this recipe. And the advantage with a good soup is that the flavors tend to intensify with time. A few days in the refrigerator …

Sesame Tofu Stir-Fry with Brown Rice and Carrot-Wasabi Soup

January 31, 2015 by Charles 2 Comments

It’s funny. Some of the easiest things to make can sometimes be the hardest. Case in point: rice. People have been cooking rice for thousands of years. It is a staple crop and a foundation for meals for hundreds of millions of people around the world. And damned if I can only make it well once out of every two tries.

I mean, I could always get a rice cooker, that could gauge the temperature and weight of the rice, and take all the chance out of my hands. But I already have so many kitchen appliances. And I only make rice so often.

Instead, I just stick to my saucepan…

Vegetarian Tofu Chili

December 26, 2011 by Charles Leave a Comment

As the Holidays come to an end and the weather turns from cool to downright frigid, a warm bowl of chili becomes all the more inviting.

While I was in Cincinnati, I made a version of that city’s namesake chili. In that effort, I used ground turkey to thicken the chili and give it that hearty depth.

This year, Caitlin and I have been striving to eat less meat, all …

New Mexican Posole: Part II

August 30, 2011 by Charles 6 Comments

In preparing for my move, I worked on paring down what I needed and what I did not. I went through my closet to determine what clothes I was wearing and what clothes I was not. I looked around my bathroom, and decided what items had outlived their utility. And naturally, I went around my kitchen, searching for redundancies, coordinating with Caitlin to ensure that we did not arrive with two or three of every useful kitchen device.

Beyond these steps, I also worked to use up my food. There was no need to stack my car with bags of flour and sugar. By the same token, there was no sense in throwing away perfectly good butter or eggs. The last few weeks saw a veritable flood of baking and cooking.

Among these items, …

Tuscan White Beans

July 31, 2011 by Charles 7 Comments

These days there are legions of bloggers, forming a veritable army of individuals tapping dutifully on their keyboards from all around the world. And for those who aren’t blogging, there are still brigades of those tweeting and providing regular status updates on facebook. All of which can seem very much like overkill.

But maybe it isn’t.

I’ve been listening to …