Snow Storm Bean Soup

I've been cooking this morning and despite the snow storm that's going on outside, I'm really feeling warm. I even opened up a couple of windows. The thermostat only says 69 degrees, but it feels like it's 80 degrees. However, I've been dumping a lot of humidity in the air cooking the bean soup. I'm not a huge fan of bean soup, but it's nice to have once in a while, and it's good to have on hand for a quick meal. I don't like bland navy bean bean soup. I like those bags of 15 varieties of beans. It's so much more colorful and interesting. And I am a bean soaker. I know it's not necessarily the thing to do these days, but the beans cook up better if you do it, especially when you are using a variety of beans that don't necessarily cook up evenly.

I also don't use chopped ham. I like to use a ham shank or a ham hock. They are less processed, and cooking the bone makes the soup heartier and healthier. And really, it's not that hard to fish it out of the soup after it's cooked a while and then cut the meat off the bone.

By the way, I vaguely remember buying that Lucite cutting board pictured here, but it's turned out to be a real wonder. It's got a little trench around it to catch juices. I've been able to cut up whole turkeys on that thing with little to no mess. And watermelon is really easy with this cutting board. I really lucked out when I stumbled across it.

Aside from water the only other ingredients I've included are chopped onions, carrots and celery.

The celery looks funky because it had been in the freezer. The ham is salty enough that no additional seasoning is necessary. Each individual can add additional salt and pepper to taste. I cooked this for hours although I don't think it needs to be cooked all that long. It's really hard to screw up a recipe like this.

Drinking Night and Day

Hah! I fooled you with that title. You thought it was cocktails...well maybe that's what I should try next, cocktail recipes. But for now, these two drinks are meant to wake you up in the morning, and help you sleep at night. I've never been too excited by smoothie drinks. They usually include some ingredient like kale that just doesn't seem like a refreshing drink, but when I got the most recent Cooking Light magazine, there were two beverages that caught my attention. The first one is called "Double-Apple Morning Elixer" and the other "Golden Milk Tea." The recipes for both can be found at http://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/double-apple-morning-elixir.

Double-Apple Morning Elixir"

The drink is mostly comprised of Granny Smith apple, but it also has vinegar, water, and a little honey in it. I'm afraid I couldn't find fresh cilantro on my most recent grocery shopping trip (I'll save that rant for another day), so I didn't include it. I'm not terribly fond of cilantro anyway, so no loss. And the blender which is on its last legs was not up to the challenge, and I tried, so I ended up processing it my food processor. It worked just fine. And of course it had to be strained. My good old strainer really is a work horse. I'm always using it.

I took this picture of it just so you could see the lovely color of it. It looked so good, but I was convinced that it was going to taste horrible. Boy, was I surprised. A little tart, a little sour, but with that little honey in it, it really seemed to balance the flavors. The darn thing tasted like spring, and it made be think of spring grass without actually tasting like it. During the week, my morning is rushed enough. I don't think I'll be doing this on a regular basis, but on a relaxed weekend, I'll definitely be doing this again.

Golden Milk Tea

This drink is mostly comprised of coconut milk, turmeric, ginger, a little honey, and even less cardamon. We've all heard how great turmeric is and how we should include it in our diets, so I thought this might be the way to do it. I've only had one other thing with turmeric in it. It was a turmeric kombucha, and it was horrible, so I was wary. I think this drink is greatly improved with the honey and ginger. I LOVE ginger. I was happy to do this recipe for no other reason than it was an excuse to have the scent of freshly ground ginger in my kitchen for a while.

Ok, it's not repulsive. It's not bad at all, but it's not exactly my new favorite refreshment. The texture is thin, but it makes me think of squash soup, which isn't thin, so it sort of startles my senses. And with that little kick of ginger it sort of smells like squash soup as well. I really like squash soup, so it is sort of a disappointment, but the color is lovely. I've been sipping it the entire time I've been writing this, and I've been trying to come up with a description of the flavor, and I'm afraid, I'm coming up short. It definitely has a spicy flavor, but at the same time, sort of flat. To be honest, I really preferred the apple morning drink. This drink is supposed to help you sleep. I really don't see that happening. By the way, I dumped half of it down the sink if that tells you anything.

Poached Eggs

I don't know if it's because I've grown old or whether it's because I never had them really cooked well as a kid, but I have become very fond of eggs, in particular poached eggs. Paradoxically, they seem to be quite simple and yet very complex. When you eat a well-poached egg, it feels, looks, and tastes like it's been stripped down to its very earthy essentials, but to prepare a well-poached egg is difficult. There are all sorts of recipes and strategies and I've tried them all, from swirling to cooking them in little silicone "sail boats." I recently found what I consider to be the best method so far in Cook's Illustrated magazine.

Probably the strangest thing you do is the first step. You crack the egg open in a colander. It sounds so strange, and yet it works. According to the Cook's Illustrated article there are two kinds of egg white in an egg. There's the thinner white that turns to a thready mass when poached and the thicker stuff that surrounds the egg yolk. It's that thin stuff you get rid of when you put the egg in a colander. The article also indicated that fresher eggs have more of the thick egg white and less of the thin stuff. And seriously, if you've ever tried to poach an egg before, it is that thready stuff that makes it almost unappetizing.

The next thing you do is boil a pot of water. That's not too tough. Then once the water is boiling, you add 1 tablespoon of vinegar and a teaspoon of salt. I know you're curling your lips thinking about the vinegar in with the eggs, but you smell it in the process, but you don't taste it. The purpose of the vinegar and salt is to change the pH of the water which helps cook the whites while not overcooking the yolk. It's so funny to see the chemical reaction when you add the vinegar to the boiling water. I had never seen that before with water. It's very cool.

Once the salt and vinegar are added, you gently pour 1-2 eggs in, cover and remove from the heat. It only takes 3-4 minutes to cook. Then use a slotted spoon to catch the eggs and enjoy. Poached eggs on toast is wonderful when you're not feeling the best, but I love them anytime. I also like to use poached eggs on a salad, especially a steak salad. Who needs fattening, processed dressings when you've got a runny egg!?!