"I Bought Too Much at the Farmer's Market Vegetable Soup"

Last week I was trying to bring order out of chaos in the fridge. I dragged out all the produce and it was immediately obvious that there was no way two people could eat all that veg before it went bad. So, out came the cutting board, the knife, and the 16 quart pot. Here's what went in:

brussel sprouts
bok choy
savoy cabbage (1/2 a head)
red cabbage (1/2 a head)
baby carrots
celery
cauliflower (1/2 a head)
shallot
(I can't remember - but maybe an onion and some garlic)

All veg was chopped into bite sized pieces and sauteed in some olive oil. After things started to soften up, I added 2 quarts of frozen turkey broth (recipe posted on the blog as "Blue's Soup". Then I added another 2 quarts of water that I had boiled in the tea kettle.

After the pot got close to a boil I added 1 cup of quinoa, put on the lid and simmered it for 30 minutes.

At the very end I added some kosher salt and some black pepper until it passed the taste test with Little Man's father.

I was afraid it might smell cabbage-y, but the end result smelled and tasted wonderful! I put a lot of it into the freezer right away, but what I kept in the fridge thickened up nicely and tasted even better on day 2 and 3.

Cranberry-Pineapple Jello

Yesterday in an attempt to clean out the pantry and fridge, I tried a new recipe and was happy with the results. I had cherry and strawberry sugar free jello and a bag of tired cranberries. The recipe I came up with on the internet called for a can of cranberry sauce, so the first thing I did was wash the cranberries, pick out the bad ones, then cook what was left with equal parts water and sugar. The recipe on the package called for 1 cup of water to 12 oz. of cranberries. I used 2/3 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar, brought it to a boil and cooked it for 10 minutes.

Here's the recipe:

6 oz of red jello ( I used a 3 oz cherry and a 3 oz strawberry)
2 cups boiling water
20 oz can of crushed pineapple - drained (reserve the liquid)
Can of cranberry sauce or 1 bag of cranberries cooked per the sauce recipe on the package.

Put the jello in a bowl and add 2 cups boiling water. Stir until dissolved.
Add the cranberry sauce
Add cold water to the pineapple juice to bring it to 2 cups - add to the bowl.
Stir in the pineapple.

Chill until set.

I think this would be a nice way to incorporate cranberries into a turkey dinner.

New Twist on Apple Crisp

Yesterday I made the apple crisp recipe I posted on June 2, 2010. However, this time I made it gluten-free on behalf of a friend at church who is gluten intolerant. Apparently rolled oats could have small amounts of gluten due to their place of processing, so I bought some gluten-free oats. I substituted tapioca flour for regular flour. And I checked online and the brand of brown sugar I used (Aldi's baker's corner) is gluten free. The rest of the ingredients (apples, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg) are not a problem. The result was delicious (if I do say so myself!) and I couldn't detect any difference in the taste to the original recipe.