Egg Drop Soup

In 30 years of life, I have never had egg drop soup. When we order Chinese food, we always went for the won ton soup. Being that we are trying to get off our carb addiction, I decided to give making this soup a try.

The first thing you need for egg drop soup is, of course, eggs. Three of them.

Which you will crack open and beat up for a few seconds

Then you are going to measure out 4 cups of chicken broth.

Then take 1/2 a cup of that, and set it aside. You are going to mix in to that 1/2 cup, 1 Tbsp of corn starch

Now leave it alone.

We of course are going to need some chopped up green onion. Three to be precise

And grate up some of this ugly thing...about 1 tsp

Real ginger seriously makes this come alive so step away from the powder!

We also need 3/4 cup of mushrooms.

Sliced up, or in my case, chopped pretty small. My husband isn't the hugest mushroom fan so I was trying to keep it manageable for him.

You also need 1Tbsp of soy sauce, and about 1/4 tsp of pepper.

In a pot, combine the chicken broth (3.5 cups), the green onions, ginger, mushrooms, soy sauce and pepper. Bring it to a boil.

Once it is boiling, add the cornstarch mixture (give it a stir first)

Let that simmer for about a minute. Now, slowly add those beaten eggs, stirring as you do. They will form threads all throughout the soup. Turn the heat off and serve!

It was seriously delicious. My non-mushroom liking husband went back for seconds. A serious hit!

I served it with ginger and soy sauce broiled salmon and a side salad. It was a wonderful meal.

Who doesn't like a good salad?

Yesterday's lunch salad included a mix of baby greens, leftover garlic chicken breast chunks, apples and goat cheese. I topped it with a raspberry vinaigrette. The goat cheese contrasting with the apples definitely made the salad.

Low carb fabulous

We have taken a low carb turn. I have my reasons but for this blog, I will concentrate on recipes. My goal is a new recipe every day. To keep my family from killing me, I am only concentrating on one dish at a time, pairing it with things I know they will eat. Tonight's new dish is Bok Choy with Cashews.

Ingredients

* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 1/2 cup chopped green onions, including green ends
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 pound bok choy, rinsed, cut at the base
* Salt
* 1/4 cup chopped, roasted, salted cashews


After the green onions are rinsed, the ends are chopped off.

The green onions are chopped. One bunch, chopped up through the light green equals about 1/2 cup.

Rinse the bok choy well, then trim away from the base.

I use pre-minced garlic, but if you don't, mince it now. This dish goes together quickly, so we want everything prepared before.

Add 2 Tbs of olive oil to a wok or large skillet and heat on medium high.

When the oil is hot (don't let it smoke!) add the green onions.

Let them cook for about 30 seconds, then add the garlic, and allow to cook for another 30 seconds. Then add the bok choy, salting lightly. Lower the heat, and cooked covered for 3-4 minutes. In the meantime, chop the cashews.

After the time is up, and the bok choy is soft, stir in the cashews and allow to heat for another minute.

That is it! Dinner is served.

On the menu tonight is garlic chicken, bok choy with cashews and green beans. It went over very well.

The last week of May

I am a rather poor blogger. I get busy and forget to get my camera out. My husband cooks and I forget to get my camera out. I get it out and realize that the batteries for my flash are dead. The end of the school year is just busy in general.

So here are some pics I have taken sometime in the last week. Most were underexposed as I refuse to use the on camera flash and I have yet to get batteries for my bounce. These were taken under natural light conditions, which didn't leave me a lot of room and then processed on a laptop which didn't leave a ton of accuracy. Still, I have to admit to the bad along with the ok ;)

This was lunch one day. I was having a large craving for fresh fruit and veggies, so that is what I had. Orange slices, strawberries, grapes, cucumber, radishes, green bell pepper and to make it stick a little better, pepperjack cheese. Nothing lasts very long without a bit of protein.


On the complete opposite side of the spectrum, first BBQ of the season means meat and carbs. Hamburgers, slow grilled on a whole wheat bun, grilled smoked sausage, potato salad and chips. Nothing wrong with some meat and taters on occasion.



And back the other way, because we are not an all meat all the time type of family, my wonderful husband made these awesome black bean quesadillas on whole wheat tortillas with black beans, peppers and sweet corn nestled in with yummy melted cheese. Yum.



So today I will get my lighting issues taken care of and hopefully be back to photographing food the way I like it, rich with color.

5/22/10 - Veggie Stir Fry

My husband made a lovely vegetable stir fry with broccoli, red and green bell peppers, onions, garlic, bean sprouts, baby corn and water chestnuts served over jasmine rice. It was very very good, and very colorful as well.

5/20/10 - Cheesey macaroni and broccoli

White trash dinner extraordinaire made with the cheesey goodness of processed cheesefood. Mmmmmm Chemicals. Does a body good!

Steamed broccoli, velveeta-garbage cheese melted with 2% milk, all mixed together with elbow macaroni. It may not be good for you, but it sure tastes good.

5/19/10 - Brats, baked beans and asparagus

Brats boiled in beer, then broiled to cripy perfection, served with onions, bell peppers and garlic on a sesame seed bun, baked beans and asparagus marinated with olive oil, lime juice and fresh ground pepper, broiled until crisp tender.