Monday, October 27, 2008

I've been tagged!

Well, I learn something new about this blogging business every day. Seems that if you've been "tagged" by some other blogger, you need to respond in some way.

Wiseacre tagged me along with 6 other bloggers yesterday and since I owe him for allowing me to use his cute swinging gnome on my blog, I guess I'd better try to do this tagging thing.

First I’m supposed to post the rules:

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now, we'll see if I can think of six random things about myself:

1. I was born in Germany and can speak fairly good conversational German

2. I married my high school sweetheart 42 years ago and still consider him my best friend

3. I never thought I was a cat person til my smokey black cat, Spike wandered down my driveway. We have since adopted another cat, Sluggo

4. I'm a really stubborn, independent person

5. I don't like to travel

6. I wish I knew how to play an instrument (I never progressed past the triangle)

So, there are a few things about me that even my family may not know, or maybe they do and just don't tell me how stubborn I am!

Like Joy over at Gardenjoy4me, I'm not going to tag anyone else, but if you read this post, please feel free to join in and tag anyone you like!

So, on to the rest of this post and I warn you, it's all about one of my other loves - cooking! Now that summer is over and I can't spend much time in the garden, my interest turns to other things like knitting and YUM!, cooking.

I love to bake and particularly like to adapt recipes to include anything even remotely good for you and healthful. I do, on occasion, slip back in to my old ways, because some recipes have been handed down to me by my relatives and you just simply cannot improve on a good thing.

So, to begin, this week has been chilly and windy and just the right climate for a nice, warm, old fashioned homemade soup. In my last post, I mentioned the broccoli and potato soup and I will report that it was quite tasty and didn't last long around here. However, I neglected to take a photo of it, so instead, here is the Pea Soup, I made yesterday:

I started by sauteeing onions, celery, and carrots in a bit of olive oil. Then added a smoked pork chop which I had diced and sauteed to render out any fat......

I didn't throw the bone out, because it would add lots of flavor to the soup.

After adding the rinsed and sorted peas and added three cans of chicken broth, I let it simmer for about 45 minutes.

I wish had remembered to take a picture of the finished soup in a nice bowl, but we were too eager to eat! It was really good, though!

Tiring of the same old ho hum steamed mixed vegetables, one day I decided to do something different. Now, mind you, H does not like change so I didn't tell him that I was going to mix all his favorite veggies, sautee them and then add curry powder to them. Good thing I didn't because he probably would have complained. As it turned out, he, at first, looked a bit dubious, but after his first taste, declared it delicious and asked when we could have it again!

So, to a hot, cast iron skillet, the ingredients are as follows:

1/3 C Olive Oil
1/2 Yukon Gold potato, cut into small dice
1/2 Sweet Potato, cut into small dice

Sautee the above until soft, then add the following all at once:

1 C broccoli, cut into small branches
1 C Cauliflower, cut into small branches
1 medium onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 cloves garlic, minced
1 small diced zucchini
any other veggies you like, diced!

Add a bit more olive oil and sautee till all the veggies are al dente (crunchy, but not mushy)

Add salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and enough curry powder to taste. I like to add a bit more turmeric, but be aware that it will turn all your utensils bright yellow!

Man, this is the best veggie dish we have ever eaten!


Add a couple of grilled chicken tenders and you've got yourself a real meal!!!


Life is good AND YUMMY!

Hugs, Giddy

3 comments:

Garden State Kate said...

Looks yummy..your kitties are adorable.

Diana LaMarre said...

The veggies look and sound delicious. That's a lot of veggies in one dish. I must say, though, I have never put curry powder on my veggies. I will have to remember to try that.

Kerri said...

Guten tag Giddy! I enjoyed learning those 6 random things about you :)
The broccoli and potato soup sounds yummy, and so does the split pea. I love homemade soup on these cold days.
The mixed veggies sound delicious too, but R doesn't like curry. Maybe I'll make it anyway, and just add curry to my half :)
I hope the snow stays away from your neck of the woods for a few more weeks at least. We had flurries again today and cold wind. Not nice!