Bok Choy and Potato Dill Soup

One of my friends at church is madly in love with my roommate. The poor boy is MADLY in love with her. She is a good friend and talks to him when she sees him...thats all. But it's enough reason, I guess, for him to be absolutely impressed and madly in love with her. If I see him, on the other hand, I'll say hi and find out how he is doing...this is usually how our conversation goes:

Me: Hey buddy, nice to see you!

Him: Hi...where's your roommate?

Me: She's at home. How are you?

Him: I haven't seen her for a while...is she liking her job?

Me: She likes her job! What have you been up to?

Him: Tell her she should join Bountiful Baskets

Me: Uhhh....okay....

Him: I told her about it once. Have you noticed if she's joined yet?

Me: I'm not sure, I'll have to find out...

Him: Well tell her I said hi!

Me: Okay....I'll be sure to do that!

Well...we had this conversation last november....it was also repeated every sunday until about february. I did ask my roommated what he meant by Bountiful Baskets...I thought it was some weird way for poor people to get some cheap, wilted vegetables. Then my best friend posted a picture on her blog and on facebook of the goods she got from Bountiful Baskets and it helped me realized it was nothing I had thought it was. Instead, it was a food co-op done in Washington State, Arizona, Idaho and Utah...not something named after the town Bountiful that I live in. You pay on mondays and go on saturday mornings to your nearest location and pick up your produce...an ample supply of fruits and vegetables that is big enough to last me for two weeks...and the best part is that it is only $15.00!!!! That makes me so happy I could tinkle! ha ha

Here is what I got last week:
Actually, the first time I got my "basket" I was grinning ear to ear and wanted to cry a little...you should all know by now how food is such a big contributor to my happiness...I couldn't help but want to cry. I price-checked everything I got at the store I usually buy my produce from and found out that if I had bought all this at the store I would have spend $45.00! Please grab your neighbors hand and hold a moment of silence right now for such a beautiful thing! Then sing kum-by-a! Okay, back to how any of this relates to Bok Choy and Potato Dill Soup. You'll notice that I got an ample supply of baby bok choy...it filled up two entire bread bags full...what does one do with so much bok choy! I like stir fry, but not enough to eat it till all this is gone.
Then I remembered a soup that a friend of mine made in Ecuador while I lived there and insisted that I tasted it for her. It was a silky, creamy potato soup with some type of leafy thing in it. I was 20 years old at the time and had never seen green leaves in soup before...I had no idea at the time I was missing out on things like Zupa Toscana and a variety of other things that make my taste buds sing. But as I tried that soup I clearly remember thinking, aching, wishing...needing some Dill in her soup.

I haven't owned dry dill for years. Not because I don't like dill, on the contrary, I really like it! It's just that every year I say in my mind that I'm going to grow it in the garden, and every year, just like the year before, it dies...I've slapped my hand for it and finally just went to the store and bought some. I had some milk, potatoes and bok choy that were aching to have some dill as their companion. So here is what was created:

Bok Choy and Potato Dill Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil (my kitchen is never empty of this...if it is, I'll start to cry)

4 to 5 bunches of baby bok choy (or one regular sized bok choy), chopped

6 small red potatoes, diced

4 cups milk, plus 1/4 cup

2 Tbsp dill weed

4 Tbsp butter

4 Tbsp flour

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp celery salt

salt and pepper

1 chicken boullion cube (knorr brand...it will improve your life)

Heat the oil on medium heat and add garlic. Saute till you can smell the aroma of the garlic. Add the bok choy and potatoes, turn heat down. In a large pot, add the potato and bok choy. Pour in milk (except for the 1/4 cup), add boullion, celery salt, salt and pepper and dill. Heat and boil till potatoes are soft. In a separate small saucepan, melt butter. Add flour and let heat and allow the flour to brown slightly. Add to this mix with a whisk the 1/4 cup of milk. If mixture is too thick, add more milk...you are trying to get ready to add to the soup without getting lumpy when incorporating it. Make sure it is a soft and silky liquid before adding it in. Add to large pot with the remaining ingredients. Let simmer 10 min to allow all the flavors dance around, get to know each other and have a party. Serve warm...unless for some reason you like cold soup. Enjoy!

If you are interested in being a part of the Bountiful Baskets or know someone who may be, click here!

Pork Tenderloin with Honey and Peaches

I hopped on my bike monday afternoon to leave work and head to the library. I've been meaning to read a book called No Impact Man by Colin Bevan. I watched the documentary and fell for it...I connected with the message and have already been living my life in a lot of the ways that were mentioned in the movie, but wanted to dig deeper and really see how Colin did things. He is a man who wanted to make no impact to the earth or environment for a year. It might sound boring and another "going green" thing, but I am totally and completely interested in it. Needless to say, I was very excited to find out my library had a copy of the book. I peddled my little heart out to get there, thinking it would be gone by the time I arrived...I just like to assume it's a raging hit with everyone. I put it in my backpack and pedaled home, with just as much speed...(believe me, it wasn't very fast...I'm a wimp on the bike). I got home, planning on ignoring dinner all together. I would simply read the entire night away. BUT....that didn't happen. Yes, I did read for several hours, but I went to go grab a glass of water and caught a waft of the peaches I'd gotten from the food co-op and they were getting old fast. The book disappeared right then and there....all from the smell of peaches. I can't help it. I don't know what my problem is, but the second I realize something needs to be used, my brain automatically starts rolling...playing connect the dots with all the other ingredients I have in the kitchen...mixing them together in my mind until I've figured out the perfect dish! Sometimes I make the dish up....other times I resort to Google. Google lead me to this recipe and before I knew what I got myself into, I was eating Pork Tenderloins with Honey and Peaches along with Cornbread on the side. Here are the recipes:

Pork Tenderloins with Honey and Peaches (from http://www.cooks.com/)

4 med. sized peaches
1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
1 tbsp. salad oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Honey
4 pork loin, blade, rib, or sirloin chops, each 1 inch thick
Parsley sprigs for garnish

About 45 minutes before serving: Peel, pit, and chop 2 peaches. Peel, halve, and pit remaining 2 peaches; set aside.

In 1 quart saucepan over medium high heat, heat chopped peaches, mustard, salad oil, salt, and 2 tablespoons honey to boiling, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 5 minutes. Remove cover and cook 5 minutes longer, stirring occasionally.

Preheat broiler if manufacturer directs. Arrange pork chops and peach halves, cut side down, on rack in broiling pan. Spoon half of cooked peach mixture over pork chops; brush peach halves with some honey.

Place pan in broiler at closest position to source of heat; broil 10 minutes. Turn pork chops and peach halves; spoon remaining peach mixture over pork chops and brush cut sides of peaches with honey. Broil 8 minutes longer or until chops are fork tender.

With pancake turner, remove broiled peaches to cutting board. Cut peach halves into fans; starting close to stem end, cut each peach half lengthwise into 7 or 8 thin slices. Spread slices to form open fan, being careful to keep peach halves intact.

Arrange pork chops and peach fans on platter; garnish with parsley sprigs. Makes 4 main dish servings.

Cornbread
¼ cups Plus 2 Tablespoons Shortening
1 cup Yellow Corn Meal
½ cups All-purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Buttermilk
½ cups Milk
1 whole Egg
1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Heat shortening in an iron skillet, muffin pan, or other baking pan. Combine corn meal, flour, and salt in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk, milk, and egg. Add baking powder and baking soda. Stir. Add ¼ cup melted shortening, stirring constantly. Pour into hot pan, smoothing surface with spatula. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Curry Soup

Today I was supposed to go horseback riding with a friend after work. Then one thing lead to another and I ended up at home this afternoon waiting...and waiting.... and when I wait I'm usually pacing around the house, straightening things up as quickly as I can, priding myself in the amount of things I can accomplish while waiting. As I was moving about the house like this, I noticed my coconut sitting on the kitchen counter. I had gotten it three weeks ago from the farmers co-op I've joined. So out of boredom I started hacking at it - not sure what I was going to do with it, besides milk it. I just knew if I didn't do something it would go bad. I didn't realize that my 6:00 coconut time would turn into a full-blown meal that would finally be eaten at 9:00...but I should realize things like this...because they happen all the time. Thus this recipe was created for you to enjoy. Try it and this soup will never leave your memory!

Curry Soup
1 coconut (or make your life simpler and buy a can of coconut milk!)
2 pork tenderloins
8 small red yukon potatoes (yellow in the middle, red skin...I'm in love with these potatoes)
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp olive oil (if you dare, you can use other oil, but it will ruin your life...I'm just sayin'!)
Salt and Pepper
2 Tomatoes, gutted and diced
2 small red bell peppers, gutted and diced
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 cups of water and 2 bullion cubes...knorr brand preferably...they will never ruin your life...just sayin')
1 to 2 tsp celery salt
1 Tbsp curry powder

Crack open your coconut (you will use an old, meaning brown, coconut...not a soft, meaning green, one). Drain the clear liquid. You won't use it in this recipe, so I drank it, just like that! Start shredding your coconut. If you are smart, you will find a bench to sit on with a coconut shredder nailed to the bottom of it and you can just run the coconut over the shredder...5 min later, you're done!....but since most people don't have one of those...see the picture below for what my shredder looks like.

It will take you all night, as that is how this recipe was invented, just a forewarning....but maybe it's just my weak hands...who knows.

While you are shredding your coconut heat a large pot on the stove on medium high to high heat. Heat the olive oil and butter till melted. Throw in two large pork chops that have been thawed. Give them a nice shake of salt and pepper. Brown on both sides.

Chop potatoes into medium large chunks, like you would for a tin-foil dinner.

Cut tomatoe in half than in fourths. Take a spoon and gut all the seeds and juice out. If you are in love with tomatoes like me, you can save the guts and use them for an omlette in the morning for breakfast. If you don't love them, leave them out of the entire recipe if you want. Dice once gutted.

Gut and dice the red bell peppers.

Once pork is browned till real crispy on both sides, leave heat on, but remove the pork to a plate. Add to the pan the chicken broth and let it deglaze (remove the crispy meat flakes from the bottom of the pan). Throw in, chuck in, whatever you like better, the potatoes, tomatoes and peppers. Add celery salt, salt and pepper, and curry powder. Let boil till sauce is reduced and potatoes are soft. While this is cooking cube the pork. You still have a while, so go back to your now grated coconut. Fill a medium sized bowl with hot tap water. Heat in microwave for 3 minutes. Dump coconut shreds into hot water. Let sit for a few minutes until cool enough, yet still hot, to dare stick your hands in. Grap an empty medium sized bowl and have next to the bowl now containing hot water and the coconut shreds you slaved over. These time consuming babies are about to become painful....stick your hands in the water grabbing as much coconut as you can in your fist without squeezing. Lift it up out of the water, let it drain a little, then holding it over the empty bowl, squeeze the life out of it. Dump the now dry coconut in a third empty bowl (I guess I should have told you about that one too, huh). Repeat until all of the coconut has been squeezed, or milked. Place the dry coconut back into the hot water and do it all over again. You can generally squeeze the milk out of the coconut like this up to 3 or 4 times or until there is no more milk coming out of it. Throw away the remaining dry coconut.

Now that you have just milked a coconut, put a smile on your face and make your facebook status state how amazing you are...or not. Strain the milk to remove any possible extra coconuts that possibly escaped your fists while milking. Add the pork and the coconut milk to the pot and simmer for 15 to 20 min...or not at all, depending on how long you want to draw this out.

Dish up a bowl and enjoy.
(I saw you gag at my picture....just remember, an ugly picture does not equal nasty food...just means I'm a bad photographer, and I don't care either).