Recipes: Cauliflower Soup

Haaaar... cauliflower = my favourite vegetable, ever! So at the farmer's market I go to every Tuesday (total highlight of my day; I go at lunch, afternoon break, and sometimes after work... -__- totally my hobby, geez), all the cauliflowers are $3. I cry at how expensive they are getting, so I hunted down the biggest cauliflower I could find. This one is bigger than my face, behold it lounging on purple suede. Yeah. It's that special :p

Cauliflower soup recipe:

-1 head cauliflower
-1 or 2 tomatoes
-1/2 of yellow onion
-1 ladle of fish sauce
-1 1/2 ladle of soy sauce
-2-3 medium bowls of water
-vegetable oil

Cut the onions and saute in vegetable oil. Cut the tomatoes and add. When onions are translucent and the tomatoes are cooked, add the fish sauce, soy sauce, and water. When it starts to boil, check for taste, it should be a good balance of salty and a touch of sourness/tartness from the tomatoes. Add the cut up cauliflower; turn the stove off right after they get done. Serve over rice or eat as is.

Lenka - Everything at Once

Recipe: Chia Seed Pudding

I am really bad at eating breakfast, either I skip it or I want a full meal, with rice and meat. But I am also bad at waking up early, so yeah. I've gone through the oatmeal phase, but going to Starbucks to get oatmeal every weekday was taking too much time and effort. I started to mix my own at home, but like a dumbass, I can never get the right amount of soy milk or water right. Gg, I'm just that type of person. But holy crap! My coworker/friend/office nutritionist Vanessa shared her chia pudding with the room one day, and it's totally solving my breakfast problem. It's SO easy to make, and if you don't mind the frogspawn look and texture, this is great! :p

-1 part chia seeds
-5 parts almond milk
-a bit of agave nectar (optional)

Mix almond milk and agave nectar first, then add them to the chia seeds. Stir and let sit in a container in the fridge for at least 4 hours, going back to it midway to stir to make sure no seeds are dry and clumped together. Enjoy!

Office chatter during morning break~

Recipe: Squash Blossom Soup (Dinengdeng)

Recipe for squash flower soup (dinengdeng) for Vanessa (:

-a bunch of squash flowers (sepals and stamens taken out)
-a bundle of string beans (cut into 2-3 inch pieces)
-shrimp (6 pieces or so, pull the heads off, set aside, peel and devein the shrimp)
(other ingredients can be added also- mushroom, bittermelon, squash, horseradish tree leaves, eggplant)
-1 medium sized tomato
-1/5th of a yellow onion
-1 ladle of fish sauce (patis) & 3 tsp fish/shrimp paste (bagoong)

Medium-high heat setting; sautee the onion in oil.
When it's translucent, add the tomato (I personally like to crush it, to get all the juices out).
Stir a bit, then add the fish sauce. Stir a bit again, then add 2 medium bowls of water.
Let the water boil, add shrimp heads for flavoring.
When the shrimp heads are cooked, try the soup to check the taste.
Add water or more tomatoes as needed. (It's important that the fish sauce + water boils.)
Put string beans in first. Add the squash flowers and shrimp after a minute.
You basically want these ingredients just cooked.
Turn the stove off and remove the fish heads from the soup.
Serve over rice (:

Above & Beyond pres. Oceanlab - Lonely Girl

Recipe: Almond Orange Avocado Salad

 One night, I only had avocados and almonds left... thought they'd be good for a salad. Googled, and found this: Almond-Avocado Tossed Salad.

I made changes according to my own preferences... I'm definitely a laidback, barely measuring things type of person in the kitchen, so I'm not putting any quantities. If you try this, do as you like :p I considered balsamic vinegar for this, but decided not to add any. I thought the creamy avocado and the juicy blood orange, coupled with the mesquite smoked almonds provided enough texture and interest.

ingredients:
-baby spinach
-Persian cucumbers (sliced)
-red bellpeppers (thinly sliced)
-avocado (diced)
-blood oranges (peeled)
-almonds (Trader Joe's Mesquite Smoked Almonds)

Delerium - Self-Saboteur