the day's only half over.

Dreary day. Coffeecoffeecoffee. Freshly cleaned kitchen. Husband's weekend is drawing to a close before two nightshift twelvers.

My second day attempting to adjust to falling off cliffs and being eaten by an evil flycatcher dude in Jak + Daxter.

I tossed the ingredients for chicken garam masala curry into the crockpot, so there's that goodness too. :)
A few chicken breasts, a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, a couple dashes of garam masala and garlic salt, a teaspoon each of minced garlic and ginger is also technically called for, but do whatever you can. I had minced garlic, but only ginger powder, so yeah. Make it work.
I'll have it cook on high till the chicken is done, then shred the meat, adjust the seasonings, and serve up to eat with naan I bought at Wally's. :)

cheesy zucchini marinara

Cheesy Zucchini Marinara

Ingredients:
Small zucchini
Marinara sauce
Garlic salt
Butter
Mozzarella cheese, grated
Parmesan cheese, optional

Don't feel like being weighed down with spaghetti or any other carby pasta?
Try this once. I swear it's yummy. But only if you're honestly in the mood for veggies.
Peel a small zucchini, all the way or just in stripes.
Saute it in a small bit of butter until it gets soft. A dash of garlic salt does good right about now.
Add some marinara sauce. I used a mushroom kind. (I love fungi.)
After all of that gets steamy, stir in a wee bit of shredded mozzarella cheese. Moderation or obsession; it's your call. ;)
As soon as it turns melty, serve it up into your vessel of choice.
Shake some grated parmesan cheese over it for some extra goodness and amazing flavor.

You're welcome.

cardamom bread.

Cardamom Bread
(via Sharla:)
Sift together:
4 cups flour
2 tbsp yeast 
3-4 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
 
Heat: 
3 cups milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 lukewarm water

Add to the above wet ingredients: 
3 eggs
Beat and add to milk mixture
3-5 cups flour
Add more flour til dough is of good consistency. Let rise 30 minutes to an hour. 
Separate into 4 parts for loaves. Cut each "loaf" portion into pieces for braiding with 3 or 5 parts. Place on cookie sheet and let rise till double. Glaze top of bread with egg wash. Sprinkle white sugar and/or almond slivers over top. 
Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or till done to preference.
Enjoy! :)

kale-sausage-(baked)-potato soup.

this is my view of the foggy, turning-to-fall surroundings from my kitchen window.
a couple weeks ago, i wrote this post.
so yeah. here goes...copy...paste! ;) read on.

i just made the best soup ever.
the soup mood sprung itself on me.
i've been planning on making this soup for the last two weeks. i even bought a nice bag of potatoes last time we were at aldi's, rinsed and cut them and put them in freezer ziplocs because i knew i wouldn't get to it with summer weather trying to come around again one last go here in southern illinois.

fun times, i tell you.

today has been a day of waking up late (a result of staying up late because justin gets home at 11:30 from work on two of his workdays), brewing coffee that i set up last night, drinking said wonderful brew, kissing the husband before he went off to work, and then pulling out journals from 2008 and up, looking for a journal to end in 2011. it's for a project i've been contemplating ever since then.
maybe sometime i'll write more about it.

but more about this soup.

what i used:

• most of a tube of pork sausage (originally a 16oz tube)
• half a bag of carrots, sliced
• 1-2 white onions, diced
• half a carton of aldi's organic, low-sodium, free range chicken broth (hey, it sounded fantastic, and it was a fantasticer price. so i got it.)
• two huge handfuls of kale (i buy the big, $2.50-3.00 bag of non-baby kale from wally's, for awesome salads mostly, but yay for it already being a regular in my house now for this recipe too.)
• 3-5 potatoes worth of halved/diced potatoes
• 2-4 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• half & half
• salt
• cajun seasoning
• olive oil
• butter

directions:
put your potatoes in a pan, drizzle olive oil over them, sprinkle them with salt, and i also used a bit of cajun seasoning to give them more flavor and kick to bake with. put those in the oven and set it to 350 or 400. depending on how much time you have on your hands to wait on them to be done.
bake until they are soft for your fork to go into when you test them.

cook up the sausage in a covered saucepan on medium-high.
i pulled the sausage apart with my fingers first, because i had it in the fridge for the past day or two waiting for the perfect chilly day to make either eggs, a quiche, or this soup with the sausage.
brown the sausage.

next, with a slatted utensil, take sausage out of the pan and put it in a bowl on the side.
dump your diced onions and sliced carrots into the sausage grease. cover, and saute on medium-high for a few minutes until the carrots are turning brighter orange, and the onions get translucent.
throw in your two or three huge handfuls of kale. i know it looks like a lot, but it will wilt and cook down. don't worry.
cover and turn down to medium.

whisk together 2 cups of milk and 1/2 cup of flour.
put a tablespoon or two of butter in your soup pot on medium-high. (watch closely so it doesn't get too dark.)
once it's sizzling, pour your milk/flour mixture in, and whisk till it starts to thicken.
add a little bit more milk to thin it out, but keep whisking.
after it thickens a little bit again, pour in a cup or two of chicken broth. or three. i had half of a 32oz carton left of my chicken broth, and i dumped it all in to up the amount of creamy broth going on.
keep whisking. once it's heated up, pour your onion-carrot-kale-sausage-grease mixture in.
mix it up, and pour maybe a half cup of half & half in.
turn the stove top down to medium-low. (you don't want the soup getting browned, hardened, or burned on the bottom while it heats.)

test a spoonful of the creamy broth part of your soup.
season to taste. add a dash of salt if it needs it.
add cajun seasoning to the soup if you want more than the zip of it on the baked potatoes.

add the sausage to the soup.
when the potatoes are done baking, add them to the soup.
mix it all up.
let it heat on low or medium-low until it's hot enough for your liking.
serve it up, and enjoy!