baked french onion soup

It is Catriona's Birthday Week - her birthday is on Sunday; she will be 14.

 Time goes by way too fast!

Since it is her birthday week, she gets to choose the menu for this week. That means that I came home with three bags of potatoes from Whole Foods. Mikel might have been Italian in his past life, but Cat was certainly Irish. So, we will be revisiting some food I've blog about already, but that is a good thing. In case you missed it before, you'll have a chance to see it again. That also means that I can tweak the recipes.

For lunch she requested Baked French Onion Soup. I had the hardest time melting the vegan cheese before and I think I've figured out why: my broiler was not on high enough, my food was too far from the flame and I didn't give it enough time to melt. It's like a pot of water - it'll never boil if you watch it. If you've been having the same problem, just step away from the oven!

I used Follow Your Heart for this because that is her favorite vegan cheese (above Daiya!). I cut slices off the block to get it to fit on the bowl and then sliced it into thin pieces. Not so thin you can see through them, but not huge chunks, either. I used three croutons in each bowl to help the cheese stay afloat. It worked beautifully!

I also updated the recipe - add salt when you are cooking the onions (but you can wait until the end - no biggie) and in case you don't want to make your own stock, use 10-11 cups of a good vegetable stock.

Cost Breakdown

onions: $2

bread: $1

cheese: $4

stock (homemade): $1

tamari, wine: $1.50

Total to make 8 bowls:

$9.50

BAKED FRENCH ONION SOUP PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

indian garlic mixed dal + roti + cabbage and potatoes

Indian Night

Indian Night is back, and let me tell you, the more experience you have making Indian, the easier, the faster and the tastier it becomes. I made Garlic Mixed Dal - a great way to use up bits of lentils and dal you have hanging around - and Roti - everyday Indian bread - from scratch. It sounds more impressive than it actually is. And since the winter/late fall CSA is bringing lots cabbage as well, I can see the trickling of it, one in last week's box, one in this week's, an Indian Potato and Cabbage Saute was perfect.

When I make Indian I try to make one dal (legumes), one vegetable and one starch. I have some Indian pickles in the fridge and chutneys that I either make or buy (they keep very well) and it makes the meal plan and the cooking much simpler. Not only that, but the meal is complete. Indian meals can be very balanced and I love that.

Prep all your vegetables and spices before you start to cook, it make it more expeditious that way.

The roti is the simplest of the Indian breads - whole wheat flour, salt and water - but, I spruced it up a bit by brushing on some garlic oil after they were done cooking. They are kneaded, rolled into a flat round (if you can get them to roll in a round shape) and cooked on a dry skillet until spotted and a little puffy.

The cabbage and potatoes are cooked with Indian spices - mango powder, garam masala and cumin - and the dal is mixed lentils (1 cup's worth) cooked with 4 c water. Right before serving you season it with spices and garlic cooked in some coconut oil. 

If you are interested in a written recipe, just let me know!

Cost Breakdown

lentils/dal: $1

spices, onion, garlic: $2

cabbage, potato: $4

whole wheat flour: $1

Total to make 6 servings:

$8.00

GARLIC MIXED DAL PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE

INDIAN CABBAGE AND POTATOES PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE