AMAZING SOUP

Wow... it's almost time to turn this thing in. Well, THEN LET'S GET STARTED.

Simple Italian Wedding Soup

Ingredients(Your choice on amount):

- Black Pepper

- Cheese(Any)

- Chicken Broth or Beef Broth

- Ground nutmeg

- Some kind of bowl

- Pan

- Salt

- Eggs

1.) Pour the broth into the pan and put it on the stove in medium heat.

2.) Combine the eggs, cheese, and nutmeg into a bowl and stir.

4.) After the broth has heated up, put the mixture into the pan with the broth and let it cook for about a minute.

5.) Serve immediately. Enjoy!

Wow! Doesn't that look soooooooo good? As Emeril Lagasse says, it is a "Kind of an Italian version of egg drop soup"(4). WHO DOESN'T LIKE EGG DROP SOUP!? This soup is filled with flavor and can be a very filling meals as it includes the savory chicken with the smooth texture of the cheese. According to Lagasse, this is a simple but savoring and craving soup (6). Man, it has been a study journey with you guys. Till next time guys, till next time...

What kind of soup would you prefer to eat on a daily basis?

Lagasse, Emeril. Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast. Comp. Steven Freeman. New York: HarperStudio, 2009. Print. 

The Super Fun Lemon Milk Drink with Alex 😔: Sour Power

I'm not sure entirely why I decided to put lemon and milk together but if this book hasn't brought me fantastically delicious natural snacks as advertised, I would've never. After my 1 am trip to the grocery store for the ingredients I'll need for the next three rapid-fire posts, I was ready to get lemony fresh and also milky fresh I guess. Jill Pinkwater didn't give a little detail or fun caption to this recipe so in the passage for the "Beverages" section, she says, "Unfortunately, with the exception of dietetic drinks, that are loaded with chemicals, all flavored sodas and most fruit drinks available are full of sugar" (Pinkwater 41). The sentence still holds true today and nothing really gets more straightforward and healthy with said ingredients:

1 tbs. of lemon juice

1 tbs. of honey

1 cup of ice cold milk

Surprising I got all those things and set them up super nice:

Wow I got it all!

We also need the basics of a bowl, a mixer, and some measuring utensils of course. To get started, I threw (and dripped for the honey) into the bowl as delicately shown here:

I hate how slow honey drips

Next I mixed the ingredients until it's fluffy as the book calls for. My whipping skills are obsolete these days to it was a matter of no time until my beautiful milky lemony drink was ready:

I can't wait...

Mmm tasty mmm mmm. I poured it into a measuring cup and then a cup (because bowls are hard to pour into a cup) and took a sip. Can you guess how amazing this foam tasted!?!?!? It scars my taste buds to this day. I had my father (the only one brave enough to say yes) try it and he promptly said drank a Powerade afterwards. Shows just how exhilarating and pumped you can get off such a refreshing drink. One thing I took away from this experience is how if a product doesn't sound good, it probably isn't good. Another things is that the drink is more concentrated than the foam it also has so in my next drink I made, I took that into consideration and it was a lot better. Luckily, my next blog will tell you all about that drink! See you next time fellers and don't forget to bring mouthwash.

The final product

Question: How much honey does it take for you before things actually start tasting better/sweeter than before? 

Pinkwater, Jill. The Natural Snack Cookbook: 151 Good Things to Eat. New York: Four Winds,   
    1975. Print.

Chicken and Rice Soup

As my posts come to an end, I decided to make the classic home style chicken soup everyone loves and adores. I grew up eating a similar recipe throughout my childhood. My family loves this particular dish and we enjoy it constantly. As Carla Snyder mentions in the book, an amazing tip for seasoning your soup is with a little acid, for example, with a lemon. This really heightens the flavors in the soup instead of using the common salt or pepper. Throughout these few months I believe I've really improved my culinary skills, with even more practice I hope to improve even significantly more. If you're looking for an amazing chicken soup recipe, feel free to use Snyder's delicious recipe below.


Recipe (Serves 10)

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
16 cups chicken stock
2 carrots, roughly chopped
2 celery stalk, roughly chopped
4 chopped potatoes
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 sprigs fresh thyme
5 cups cooked white rice
1/2 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preparation:
1. In a large pot, bring chicken and stock to a boil over medium-high heat. Partially cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently until a thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 170 degrees F, about 45 minutes. Skim the soup if any scum develops on the surface.
2. Using tongs, transfer chicken to a large plate and let cool slightly. Remove skin and bones and discard. Shred the meat into bite size pieces. Set aside.
3. Skim the fat from the surface of the stock with a large spoon and return to a simmer over medium heat. Add carrots, potatoes, celery, onion and thyme; simmer until vegetables are softened, about 15 minutes. Remove thyme sprigs. Return chicken to the pot and stir in noodles, parsley and lemon juice; increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Put 1/2 cup of rice into bowl and ladle soup on top.

Snapshot of my bowl

Snyder, Carla, and Meredith Deeds. 300 Sensational Soups. Toronto: R. Rose, 2008. Print.

The BEST Pasta

Today you are going to learn how to make my personal favorite: Spaghetti with meatballs. This turned out the best and the meat balls were to die for. I highly recommend this for a gathering of any kind. This recipe also made quite a lot so I decided to cut the ingredients in half. I found this on page 226 of Domenica Marchetti's book 'The glorious PASTA of Italy.'

INGREDIENTS

• I cup of bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 pound/ 455 grams of ground beef (My family didn't want to pay a whole bunch for 3 different kinds of meat but if you're feeling fancy: 1/2 pound of ground beef, 8 ounces of ground pork, and 8 ounces of veal)
• 1 large egg lightly beaten
• 1/2 clove of garlic, or just a really small garlic clove
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of minced flat-leaf parsley
• 3 tablespoons and some more of parmigiana reggiano cheese
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt
• freshly ground pepper
• cooking spray
• 5 cups of pre-made tomato sauce/ I used Bertolli Organic olive oil, basil, and garlic
• ***You can also make your own sauce that only takes 30 minutes by following the directions at the bottom of the page
• 1 pound of dried spaghetti

Time for the Fun

Step 1: pre heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Defrost the ground beef by filling your sink with hot water and keeping the beef still packaged in there. This should take about 10 minutes so while that is defrosting wash your hands and prepare your food by combining the breadcrumbs and milk and mincing your parsley. Once the beef is done put it in a large bowl with the moistened bread crumbs, minced parsley, egg, cheese, salt and pepper. Combine using your hands to fold to combine thoroughly.

  

Step 2: Take a large rimmed baking tray and spray it with cooking spray. Roll the meat in your hands the size of a golf ball and you should end up with about 14 meat balls and place it in the oven for 20 minutes.

 

Step 3: start to prepare the homemade sauce if that is what you want to do but if not 5 minutes before the meat-balls are done; in a heavy bottomed pot pour in the sauce and let it simmer at medium-low heat. Once the meatballs are done, pull the meat balls out of the oven and use tongs to put them into the sauce pot.

 

Step 4: In a separate pot (medium sized or large) fill with water and salt generously to bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling add the pasta and wait until they are soft. Remember to stir the pasta before they stick to each other. Once they are soft drain the pasta saving about 1 cup of the water to loosen up the sauce. Pour as much of the water into the sauce as you want (you don't have to pour any in if you don't want).

 

Step 5: Serve with a little bit of cheese on top and enjoy!

 

This recipe was by far the most delicious recipe I've made on my blog. The meat balls really brought the whole dish together by being juicy and with the perfect amount of cheese and bread crumbs. I can tell you that this certainly wont be the last time I make these balls of meat. I'm not a good cook but when it comes to meat I cook it just right. She says, "I promise that my version will bring back wonderful memories of your Italian grandmother," (Marchetti 226) and it did. :)

Pun of the post:

Question: What is the best dish you've made?




***to make your own sauce read these saucy instructions (Marchetti 49)



Marchetti, Domenica. The Glorious Pasta of Italy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle, 2011. Print.

Rock Climbing: Performance Nutrition

I'm back! Hello viewers, today I am here to teach you the best part about rock climbing or even the best part about anything, FOOD! Rock Climbing requires a lot of energy, and it exerts a ton of calories. Meaning, you need to eat the right foods and the right amount of them. "The foods and beverages you consume play a primary role in determining your mental acuity, physical performance output, and ability to recover from vigorous training or climbing." (Hörst 193) 

Protein

Protein is a major piece to a fantastic meal for rock climbing, in order for your body to build muscle, and repair body tissue, you need a good helping of protein in your diet. Some exceptional protein infused foods could be things such as bacon, eggs, steak, assorted nuts and much more. In the meal that I cooked, I used bacon and eggs as my protein. The book that I chose to use as my guide says this about proteins, "Protein has many functions in the body, including building and repairing of tissue, acting as a major component of the immune system, and making up enzymes, which facilitate every reaction that goes on in the body."(Hörst 194) This just goes to prove that protein is essential for your climbing diet. Now here are some pictures of me cooking up the protein portions of my breakfast.

Carbohydrates

Another key piece to obtaining the fuel you need to climb is carbohydrates, these give you short bursts of energy to do the climbs that you want to do. An example of an excellent carbohydrate is whole grain toast, to make the taste a little but better you can put pieces of avocado on it, or you can just put any type of spread that you like on it. "Although fat and protein can be used to provide energy, carbohydrate is the most efficient and effective source of energy for the muscle and brain."(Hörst 196) Carbohydrates will give the energy you need to do the hard climbs that you are performing. So make sure that you include carbohydrates in your next meal. Enjoy the next few pictures of me cooking the superb serving of carbohydrates to fuel me throughout the day. My whole grain toast is on the right in the toaster, and yes it is the same picture.

Water


Maybe one of the most important pieces to having outstanding nutrition is water, it keeps you going all day and keeps your body functioning throughout the body. When climbers are out climbing all day, it is natural to sweat, and when they do it drops there water percentage. You want to keep your water percentage as high as you can. In the book it explains how crucial your water consumption is, the book says, "even a 1 to 2 percent drop in water will cause problems in performance." (Hörst 198)
This just goes to show that water is so important to your nutrition. A common rule about water consumption says, you should never be thirsty, you should just be constantly drinking water. I try to live by this rule, although it never really works.

Now that you know the basics of what to eat, go out and try some new food combinations. Also, make sure you are balancing sweets and fats to your whole grains and lean meats. Nutrition can mean everything in climbing, so make sure you are aware of what you are eating.


Hörst, Eric J. Training for Climbing: The Definitive Guide to Improving Your Climbing Performance. Guilford, CT: Falcon, 2003. Print. 


Question: How much water do you consume a day, and have you ever gotten a headache from not drinking enough water?

Dumplin' Soup

Today you're going to learn how to make Fluffy Semolina Dumpling Soup. But if you aren't Italian and don't know where to get Semolina flour, you can substitute it for all purpose flour. This will just make the dumplings thinner so you might need to add a little more flour than asked. You can also substitute it for Kamut flour or Durham wheat flour. This is found on page 76 of Domenica Marchetti's book 'The glorious PASTA of Italy.'

INGREDIENTS

• 2 Cups of Half-and-Half
• 2 Tablespoons of unsalted butter
• 3/4 Tsp fine sea salt
• Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup of semolina flour (1 and a little bit more cups of all purpose flour)
• 1/2 cup plus a little freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1 Tablespoon finely minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 Large eggs, light Beaten
• 6 cups of canned chicken broth, the chicken broth recipe at the bottom of the page (which should be made in advance), or your own recipe
• If you are using canned broth  add 1 teaspoon of Chicken Granules instant Bouillon for flavor



Time for the Fun!

Step 1: Wash your hands and prepare all of your ingredients for the dumplings by grinding your salt, beating your eggs, cutting 2 tbsp. of butter, mincing your parsley and having your cheese, nutmeg, milk, and flour ready.

 

Step 2: Grab a large sauce pan that can hold 6 cups or a large pot and place over medium heat. Pour in your chicken broth (and the Chicken Bouillon if it's canned broth) place the lid over it until it starts to boil. When it starts boiling anytime during the rest of the procedures just take off the lid and turn the heat down slightly.

Step 3: Pour the milk, butter, salt, and nutmeg in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan and place over medium heat. Bring it to a boil and gradually pour in the flour while whisking it into the mix. When it has thickened and is starting to pull away from the pan, pour it into a bowl using a spatula to scrape the sides

 

If your mixture looks too wet add more flour or make sure you have all the ingredients

Step 4: Stir in 1/2 cup of cheese and parsley, stirring slowly and easy. Carefully pour in the 2 eggs

Step 5: In this step you want to make sure that your chicken broth is boiling. The book says to grab 2 small spoons or  dessert spoons and scoop up about 1 tbsp. of the mix and to form it into an oval and gently drop it into the broth, but I did it a little differently. I just used 1 spoon and my finger to plop the dumpling in the broth because I attempted shaping it and I couldn't quite get it. You should have about 20-24 dumplings. Reduce the heat and let the dumplings simmer. Once they float to the top and puffed up considerably they are ready. If you wait too long yours will become mushy and fog up the broth and it'll look like mine. You don't want this.

 

(I should've turned down the heat long before it was boiling)

Step 6: Once you've turned down the heat, scoop a couple dumplings in a bowl and with a ladle, scoop some broth over the dumplings. Sprinkle some cheese on top and Enjoy! 

 vs. 

The pun of the post:

This recipe was fairly simple, but this was the recipe I messed up the most. This was probably because I rushed through the easiest part thinking I wouldn't need to worry about it. Always read the procedures thoroughly before starting the recipe to know exactly what you are going to be doing. So while I rushed I forgot the eggs, but strange enough the dumplings still tasted decent. That shows that if I actually made them correctly this soup must be pretty good. I also think that my dumplings would've benefited greatly with an extra large sauté pan rather than a pot. As always have fun with it. As she says in the book , "this is a soul- warming soup, just the thing to chase away the chill on frigid winter night," (Marchetti 76)

 

Question: When do I realize I've made a mistake in the recipe?

***To make your own broth follow the following steps from the book on Page 62

I didn't type it up myself because I didn't actually make it and get a chance to change it up a bit. Have fun, this is all you!
Marchetti, Domenica. The Glorious Pasta of Italy. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle, 2011. Print.

Pastissets

Pastissets

In English, the Spanish word pastissets translates to powdered sugar cookies. They are made with cinnamon and lemon flavors, which the book describes as "hard to resist." These cookies are incredibly easy to make and only took about an hour total.
You start by beating together some butter, sugar, egg yolk, and lemon peel. I didn't have any fresh lemons, so I just used lemon juice. However, I wouldn't recommend this because you had to use about 3 cups of lemon juice for the flavor to really get through.
Then, you add some cinnamon and flour to the dough and mix until it is thick. After this, you place the dough in a pan and bake for 10 minutes. The recipe calls for cookie cutters, but I just balled my dough and made circular cookies.

the cookies before they were baked

Here's the recipe so you can make it yourself!

                              2/3 cup vegetable shortening or     1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

                              unsalted butter, softened                1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

                              1/2 cup unsalted butter                   1 egg yolk

                              1/2 cup sugar                                  sifted confectioner's sugar

With a wooden spoon, beat together the vegetable shortening and the butter, then incorporate the sugar, egg yolk, and lemon peel. Combine the cinnamon and flour in working with your hand to form a smooth dough.

On a floured surface, roll the dough a scant 1/4 inch thick, and cut with a 1-inch scalloped cookie cutter. Arrange the cookies on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350￮ F about 10 minutes, or until golden. Cool, then coat with confectioner's sugar.

finished lemon cookies

What are some fun and interesting twists you could make to this recipe?

Casas, Penelope. New York: Knopf Doubleday Group, 1996. Print. 

Chicken Not Noodle Soup

Whether you have a minor head cold or the flu, chicken noodle soup always helps to make you feel better. There are endless variations when it comes to chicken noodle soup and each variation showcases unique cooking practices from its point of origin. Unlike the traditional American version, Canja is a classic Brazilian chicken soup where rice is used in the place of noodles. Like many Brazilian recipes, Canja can be manipulated to suit any taste, but rice is always the mandatory ingredient. In the book The Art of Brazilian Cooking by Sandra Cuza it states, "Canja is not served as a first course but always as a main dish, usually accompanied by Italian bread" (Cuza 115). While this soup is not always served with Italian bread, it is usually paired with a bread in a similar form.

To achieve it's classic flavor, this recipe calls for a lot of ingredients, the most important ingredients being the two chicken breasts and the half cup of uncooked rice. Canja is made of two tablespoons of salad oil, two small finely chopped onions, one large clove of minced garlic, a half teaspoon of grated ginger, one medium carrot chopped, one medium potato cubed, one and a half quart of chicken stalk, two sprigs of basil, and salt and pepper to taste (Cuza 116). For garnish, use one quarter of a cup of chopped parsley and one thinly sliced green onion. Because there is not an exact size the ingredients need to be or cut to, you have more control over the dish to fit your preferences.

To begin, use oil to fry the onions in a large saucepan. Next you would add the garlic and ginger and fry for two minutes before adding the chicken breasts and lightly browning, but because I personally do not care for ginger I chose to not add it.   

Then add the rice and use a spoon to ensure the grains are equally coated in oil. When the rice is evenly coated in oil, add the carrot, potato, chicken stock, basil, and salt and pepper. Cover the pan and simmer until the chicken and vegetables are fully cooked. Allow the soup to cool a bit before removing the chicken breasts to de-bone. Cube the meat and return to the soup, adding more stock if needed (Cuza 116). When you are ready to serve, reheat and top with parsley and green onions.

Canja is served throughout Brazil as one of the many variations of chicken noodle soup. I was home sick with the flu this past week, and I decided to try this to see if this Brazilian version of chicken noodle soup would also help make me feel better. It appears that no matter where you look you can always find variations of this classic dish that all help . They may have many variations, but they all share a similar base. Upon this I began to wonder: what are some other variations of chicken noodle soup? 

Cuza, Sandra. "Soup." The Art of Brazilian Cooking. Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2012. 115-116. Print.