Francesca Filanc

Tag: Vegetable Soup

BIRTHDAY LUNCH FOR A FRIEND

Birthday girl with flowers and Vegetables

May I take you out to lunch for your birthday?

Fran, I’d rather just come over and have a good girl talk visit.

We talk about deep things — things that matter to us, our children, grandchildren, gardening, and spiritual things, about where we have come from, the sad times and the happy ones. How as we get older, we are each more content in our own skin. That is a gift of growing older. Not worrying so much what others think, but appreciating our own gifts, accepting the struggles and being more present in the present moment. After all, it is all any of us have. There is that saying, The past is gone, the future is yet to be and where I am is in the present.

Author arranging flowers

A friend related to me the other day about the book The Artist’s Way. I read the book years ago. This friend reminded me about how an artist should take an outing once a week by herself – An Artist’s Date With Herself. Whatever it is that turns her on. Going to an outdoor market, going antiquing, going browsing down a tree-lined street in the city. In this way we open ourselves up to the beauty in life and how we fit ourselves into it. When we age gracefully in a spiritual sense we are coming more into our own of who we really are and what gifts we give and have given to the world. Some of us are just coming into our own as we mature in years.

As Leanne and I talked I prepared leek vegetable soup, green salad from my garden and locally caught sea bass from the Del Mar Farmer’s Market bathed in lemon juice and cooked in a skillet.

Recipes

Lemon Lime-water with Sprigs of Mint
Fill two glasses with ice, add fresh slices of lime and lemon, squeeze juice of one slice of lemon and lime over the ice. Rim the glass with lemon and lime, add water. Garnish with sprigs of mint.

Vegetable Leek Soup
Slice four large fresh leeks into one-inch sections. Rinse several times in water to remove sand. Using your fingers peel back all layers of sliced leeks to remove any remaining sand. In a heavy cast-iron skillet saute four chopped cloves of garlic in 1 tablespoon Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. Add to this one large chopped onion and leeks. Cook until color is translucent. Transfer to a soup pot. Dissolve 3 tablespoons Rapunzel Vegetable Broth concentrate in hot water. Add about a quart of water or enough to cover vegetables that have just been sautéed along with the vegetable broth. Dice one to two Roma tomatoes and add to soup. Add pepper and salt to taste along with Garam Masala seasoning, Turmeric, a dash of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. (I also added mint, ¼ cup cilantro, chives, oregano and basil fresh from my garden). Simmer for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Spoon into bowls and top with a little grated Parmesan cheese and toasted sunflower seeds.

Salad

Salad
Fresh greens from the garden
Chopped mint, cilantro and basil
1-2 sliced Roma tomatoes

Dressing
in a jar add two whole cloves garlic,
1/2 cup best organic olive oil,
to that add 1/3 cup good quality fruit
vinegar or vinegar with a little jam mixed in for flavor.
(I used fig and currant vinegar.)
Salt and Pepper to taste.
For people not sensitive to garlic, chop up
two cloves garlic and add to dressing. Shake well.

Rim the salad bowl with garlic; pour about 1/4 to 2/3 cup salad dressing in bottom of bowl. To this add your greens, tomatoes, top with toasted sunflower seeds, and feta cheese. Toss just before serving.

Sea Bass

Sea Bass

Sauté in coconut oil 1-2 cloves garlic, add to this the sea bass washed in the juice of two lemons. Season with salt and pepper. Sauté with chives from the garden, leeks, one sliced tomato, and lemons. I cooked the fish with some finely chopped lemon on top. Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the fish. Sauté one side and about half way through turn it over to finish cooking. Serve on plates with Gloria’s Pico de Gallo and tomatillo salsa artfully spooned over the top of the fish and then sprinkle with fresh cilantro and sunflower seeds. (See my March 8 ^th 2012 blog for the recipes)

We walked in the garden to collect the vegetables for the salad. We picked flowers for her birthday bouquet. It had rained yesterday morning so as we wandered through the garden and the air smelled fresh and the plants and flowers that we picked had little droplets of water caressing each leaf and petal.

We sipped lemon lime-water with sprigs of mint and feasted at the beautiful table. The food was delicious.

Here’s to having deep conversations speaking of the art of living a fulfilling life over delicious food in art filled environments.

Bye for now

Francesca

June 6, 2012
EXPANDING VEGETABLES RECIPES

Glad you all stayed tuned for the recipes I talked about in my last post.

Menu:
Vegetable soup
Black beans with quinoa
Collard greens with bragg
Steamed white rice in rice cooker
Sautéed onions with mushrooms and garlic
Baked sweet potatoes with skins on
Chile rellenos using poblano chilies
Rice pudding “Pete” style

The first recipe below is for the vegetable soup.

Francesca’s Wonderful Winter Vegetable Soup
6 cups water
2 to 4 cups vegetable broth (box variety or I use the powdered Rapunzel brand)
1 rutabaga chopped
2 or 3 beets chopped
1 or ½ squash such as acorn or delicata
2 or 3 large tomatoes diced (I just stopped using canned tomatoes because of a potential health issue in the liner. Read this article for more information: Are Canned Tomatoes Dangerous? The Latest BPA Scare)
1 or 1 ½ white onions chopped
3-5 leeks chopped
1 bunch celery chopped
1-2 cans Cadia organic sweet corn
Several cloves of garlic

Be as creative as you wish when you add the spices to this soup. Some of the ones I used were: cumin, Tabasco, a dash of nutmeg, dash of cinnamon, celery salt, & garam masala.

In a large pot put 2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil. When hot add chopped garlic. When the garlic is nice and brown add chopped onion. After onion turns translucent, add chopped leeks and chopped celery. After they cook a bit add chopped squash. You might want to remove the other ingredients so the squash can caramelize a bit or add squash before pot is too full. The caramelized squash I find gives a meat-like flavor along with consistency. Adding spices at this time also helps that process. Now you are ready to add water and broth. You want to have enough broth to cover the veggies nicely. Sometimes I’ll put in a bit of white wine. Let all ingredients simmer in pot for 45 minutes to an hour and a half.

Meanwhile, brown raw sunflower seeds in a pan on your stove. Set them aside. Grate some Parmesan or asiago into a small bowl.

When this hearty soup is finished you’ll find it is a meal in itself. Add a sprinkling of cheese and sunflower seeds, good hot bread or tortillas and you have a delicious meal.

In the menu from last blog’s post I used corn tortillas to make tacos on the plate with black beans and quinoa, sweet potatoes, salsa and Pico de Gallo — delicious!

Black Beans with Quinoa
½ onion
2 or 3 cloves garlic
Salt and pepper to taste and 2 or 3 T cumin or more

The night before take 2 cups black beans and cover with water in a large pot. In the morning drain and rinse the beans. Pour 4 to 5 cups water over the beans. Bring to a boil and then slow simmer for two or three hours. Meanwhile sauté chopped garlic and onions in a pan. After beans have cooked one hour add quinoa and spices salt, Tabasco, cumin. After another 45 minutes add sautéed ingredients. Serve as a side dish or as the main meal. Delicous over eggs or in an omelet. Sprinkle a few roasted sunflower seeds on top. Equally nice with the sweet potato. Yummy :)

Collard Greens with Bragg

Wash collard greens well and chop into 1-inch pieces. Place 1-2 T olive oil or 1/4-1/2 cup water into skillet, cover, cook for 2-3 minutes until limp. Drain off any excess water. Pour 1-2 T bragg on top of collard greens.

Chile Rellenos using poblano chilies

Roast chilies on the stove till they get black. I like using the poblanos because they are larger and can be filled with so much more cheese. Place them in a brown paper bag for 20 minutes. Then peel them immediately under running water in your sink. Carefully use a knife to cut down one side of the chili and clean out the seeds.

Slice cheese in long triangle shapes. I like using asiago or red cheddar. Most people like using Monterey jack.

Prepare 4 chilies, take 3 eggs and separate the whites. Use a mixer to whip the whites into peaks. Then fold the slightly beaten egg yolks into the whipped egg whites. Place 2-3 T Flour on a plate.

When ready to cook heat 3 T olive oil in a large skillet. While waiting for olive oil to become sizzling hot, lightly flour the cheese-stuffed chilies, then dip them into the completed egg mixture. Place in skillet. Pour any leftover egg mixture into pan on top of chilies. Let them cook till you see brown on edges then turn over to get the other side golden brown. Amazing and delicious. Bon Apetite!

Rice Pudding “Pete” style
½ cup cooked white rice
¼ cup milk
Dash cinnamon
Dash nutmeg

Enjoy :)

Stay tuned for Gloria’s Salsa and Pico de Gallo recipes. Yummy!

Bye for now,

Rippin’Lips

Francesca

February 29, 2012
EXPANDING VEGETABLES

A couple of days ago I went to our organic local market, Jimbos, to stock up on vegetables for the week. In my zeal, marketing without a list, and thinking about …oops it’s February already, (what about those New Years Resolutions I kind of made; eating lots of vegetables, losing a few pounds, and getting into better shape.)

(Badly needed for lifting big canvases around the art studio.)

Vegetable Soup

I arrived home late; the vegetables had somehow multiplied in the car as I drove home.

My kitchen counter was covered! Exhausted, stuffing them in the refrigerator and thinking what in tarnation am I going to cook that will taste good and that I will enjoy eating for the next decade! I will have to invite an army over to eat or, freeze the food and will that even taste good?

My sister, Wendy Woolf, became a vegetarian a few years ago. She is an amazing cook and always knows the right spice to add here and there to make the food even delectable to “a meat and potatoes person.” Check out Eat Well on Girls Gone Child.

The End Results!

The next day I was ready to tackle the veggies…Oh my they had quadrupled in my refrig! I cooked all afternoon and I had a ton of food! I called and texted my sister several times to see if she and her husband could come to dinner. No answer, so asked two other couples who were unavailable and ended up eating the seven course meal on a TV tray while watching Antique Roadshow on KPBS.

Menu:

Vegetable soup
Black beans with quinoa
Collard greens with bragg
Steamed white rice in rice cooker
Sautéed onions with mushrooms and garlic
Baked sweet potatoes with skins on
Chile rellenos using poblano chilies
Rice pudding “Pete” style

Stay tuned to next blog post for recipes.

Bye for now,

Rippin’ Lips,

Francesca

February 7, 2012