sweet corn soup

we've finally made it to nyc, and are all unpacked and ready to start the school year. get ready for some exciting dorm meals! but first, we have some more food from home to show you......like delicious sweet corn soup.
while we were in seattle, we had the most amazing corn soup at poppy, our splurge restaurant for the trip (well that and pok pok in portland, which is amazing. go there and get the chicken wings. right now!). it was like the freshest, sweetest ear of corn you've ever had, in soup form. when we cooked our final home meal of the summer, i knew we had to include corn soup. we found a good recipe in alice waters' the art of simple food. it was quite tasty, although it looked a little grayish. the recipe was also super simple and fast.
-Lola

easy vegetable soup

this is one of our quick lunch staples. just saute whatever veggies you want in olive oil, then move them to a pot and add a can of diced tomatoes with their juices plus a can of beans (whatever kind you like) with their juices. heat, stirring, until hot and add italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. this makes enough for a satisfying, healthy lunch for 2.
-Lola

black bean and zucchini soup

left to right:spoon, soup, tortillas.

after a week of eating ridiculously good food, laying in the sun with my family, and watching baseball in arizona (me) and taking a road trip to atlanta to volunteer (rita), and another week of massive amounts of homework, we're finally back to the blogging world!
today, i decided to experiment once again with my spiffy immersion blender.
i chopped up 1 smallish zucchini and sauteed it in olive oil with medium sprinkle each of cumin powder and cayenne, and a smaller sprinkle of chipotle powder. once the zucchini was reasonably cooked, i added 1/2 can of drained blackbeans, a tiny bit of fresh cilantro, and about 1/2 cup water and heated it all up in pot. finally, i blended it all together and ate my soup with a corn tortilla.
this turned out pretty good, but it would have been great with some lime juice, and maybe some sour cream on top(which i don't like, actually, but some creaminess would have been nice. maybe yogurt?). oh well, something to try next time.
-Lola

Tomato and Mushroom Soup

Lola actually made and ate this soup, so I can't testify to its taste, but I'm sure it was delicious. We made an exciting expedition out to the Target in Brooklyn at the beginning of this semester and got an immersion blender, so Lola has been making many soups. It looks a bit weird in this picture, but I can assure you that in person it was a lovely pinkish-red color.


Tomato and Mushroom Soup serves 1
Chop up 1 tomato and saute it in olive oil with a handful of mushrooms. Add a small pinch of red pepper flakes and a larger pinch of Italian seasoning and saute until mushrooms are soft and lightly browned. Blend with 1/2 cup to 1 cup veggie broth (depending on how thick or watery you want the soup)

-Rita
p.s. from lola: the soup was delicious, our kitchen counter is super messy but i wanted you to see my awesome blender, and in the top photo you can also see bread with tj's chipotle hummus, which you should try.

Soup!!

The weather here seems to have gone from summer directly to winter. A few days ago, I was in a t-shirt and skirt, finally adjusted to the fact that I don't always have to bring a hoodie when I go out, and then last night I went out in a big coat and was still freezing. It's really just fall weather, and I didn't even need to break out the huge, sleeping bag-like winter coat, but being from San Francisco, I always forget that seasons exist, let alone change. Anyway, the point of this is that Lola & I were in need of some warming soup.


Rice, carrot, and tomato soup
serves 2
ingredients:
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked
2 medium carrots,sliced
1/2 onion, diced
Italian seasoning to taste
14 oz diced tomatoes & juices
1/2 cup water
3/4 can cannelloni beans
1 teaspoon olive oil
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and add the carrots and onion. Saute until they start to get soft, about 5 minutes. Add everything else except for the Italian seasoning and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.
The next day, I used the leftovers to make a Mexican version of this soup with fried corn tortillas instead of rice, cumin instead of Italian seasoning, and some cayenne and hot sauce. I topped that with some grated cheese.
Both versions of the soup were warming, comforting, and very filling. They also turned out a bit more like stew than soup, because we tend to throw in a lot of veggies, rice, etc when we make soup. So if you'd like it more soupy, use the liquid from the canned tomatoes, but not the tomatoes themselves.

Shrimp Ceasar Salad + Zucchini Soup

So, I didn't end up meeting El Vez yesterday. I'm very sad. I was supposed to be helping out interviewing the Zeros, which is the band El Vez was in before he realized his true calling as an Elvis impersonator, but only one member of the band showed up. I did get to see the Zeros play though, and they were awesome.
Anyway, to the food!
I made caesar salad from cooking light, but added some shrimp for more protein. I also made zucchini, potato, and cilantro soup from Bon Appétit. Both were very good, but the soup came out the texture of mashed potatoes. I probably should have added a bit more broth.
-Rita
p.s. i'd also like to point out that we have a whisk shaped like a squid. observe:

two easy lunches

these are two easy,quick recipes. they're the type of thing we throw together when we're at home for lunch and want to use up some random leftover ingredients. obviously you could make them for dinner too, i just liked the sound of "two easy lunches" as a title.
first up, we have black bean soup, created and eaten by Rita.serves 1
*2 cups already made black bean soup (the smooth, pureed kind, she used trader joes)
*1/4 cup salsa verde
*2 tablespoons cilantro, roughly chopped
*2 teaspoons cumin
*1 teaspoon chipotle powder
*2 cloves garlic, minced
*olive oil for frying (about 2 tablespoons)
*1/4 cup green onions, sliced
*cheddar cheese to grate on top
*2 teaspoons lime juice
1. heat oil up in a medium pot.
2. add garlic and green onions. saute, stirring frequently, until onions start to get soft and garlic starts to brown, about 3 minutes.
3. add everything else except cheese to pot, stir and cook until thoroughly heated, about 5 minutes.
4. grate cheese on top.

and next we have pasta with tomato sauce and mussels, by yours truly, Lola.
not really a recipe, more just an idea and list of ingredients. also, its good without the mussels. we just happened to have leftover mussels, but they're not an ingredient we often have on hand.
serves 1
*1 serving of pasta (i used 3/4 cup whole wheat bowtie pasta)
*enough tomato sauce to coat pasta (the sauce i used also had garlic and basil)
*mussels, cooked and removed from shells (i used 10)
*a small handful of walnuts
*half an onion, sliced
*olive oil for cooking onions, about 2 tablespoons
1. cook pasta according to package directions.
2. meanwhile, heat oil in a small frying pan.
3. add onions to pan and saute, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft and translucent, about 10 minutes.
4. add sauce, onions, mussels, and walnuts to pasta. stir.

i'd also like to thank Molly Jean at the rookie chef for our first ever blog award!

so how does this work?
These are the rules of this award:

* 1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
* 2. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered.
* 3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
ok, who to pass this prestigious award on to? these are all people we've just discovered since we started blogging
the ordinary vegetarian
coffee beans and curry leaves
veganize it, don't criticize it!
latest addictions
peanut butter swirl
chick n' pastry
cake, batter, and bowl
veggie num nums
um, that's all i can think of right now. i hope the blog award police won't come after me for not having 15. and i'm sorry if i've left anyone off. i love you all, really!

happy birthday! also, pumpkin soup

in honor of john taylor's birthday--the blog's namesake song!
hungry like the wolf

yes, i am a nerd. in my defense its not like i knew in advance that it was his birthday. i just happened to see it when i went on facebook this morning. yes, i am a fan of duran duran on facebook. i'd also like to point out that if you go to john taylor's wikipedia page (link above), you will learn that he was in a movie called Sugar Town in which he played Clive, whose "life is thrown into upheaval when a cult member shows up on [his] doorstep to drop off a surly 12-year old "love child" that she claims Clive fathered." hmm, interesting.
but you didn't come here to learn fascinating facts about 80s band members, you came here for delicious recipes...

...and delicious recipes you shall get!
i liked this recipe because it used things we had on hand, either leftover from other recipes or because they're just general things that we usually have around. that always makes me feel like i'm getting the meal for free, which makes me happy.
curried pumpkin bisque with cheddar cheese

changes: since we were serving this as a main dish, we made the full recipe although there were only four of us. we also added 1 can kidney beans (don't forget to drain and rinse!), substituted vegetable broth for the chicken broth, and left out the tomatoes because we didn't have any.

yum! served with crackers (trader joe's multigrain entertaining crackers, in case you were wondering. and they're very entertaining, haha.)