the secret sauce

Shhh, I'm about to share a secret with you.

First, let me start by reminding you that I have not always been a fan of vegetables. I recently blogged about it here.

Second, I have started in on pasta. October was soups. Now it's pasta.

I have tried making my own red sauces for awhile now. I'll admit, jar sauce has always been better.

Until now.

I discovered the secret.

It has to do with a particular vegetable that I still don't like.

Celery.

Many of the sauce recipes I have, start with the basics; an onion, a carrot and celery. In the past I have omitted the celery because I do not like it.

This week, two of my recipes called for celery and I decided I may as well buy it to use in both sauces. (That is part of the reason why I haven't bought it in the past, because it wouldn't get eaten and would be wasted.)

I made the first sauce yesterday. It was a marinara.

I took a little taste of it before adding it to the lasagna.

I'm not sure what I expected, but when I tasted it, I was impressed. It tasted good! No, it was better than good. It definitely ranks with some of the best marinara I've ever had.

That's when I realized it, the celery must be the secret. It's the key. Whatever taste those pale green stalks have is what gives sauce the depth that my previous attempts had lacked.

I made a meaty sauce tonight. I added the celery and sure enough, this sauce is also good. Better than anything I have ever made (except for the marinara that I made yesterday).

I wouldn't put my sauce up against someone from Italy, but I do think it can hold it's own in this house.

All About Soup

I've mentioned that I've been making soup. Fall is soup season. I'm not making that up. Pioneer Woman says so, it must be true. Here's her post about soup.

I thought I had mentioned all the soups I've made so far, but I forgot a few. Let's see how many I can remember. So far this fall I have made:

Ribolita
Creamy Carrot
White Chicken Chili
Creamy Artichoke
Cheesy Potato
Creamy Tomato
Chili Verde
Corn Chowder
Fall Harvest

Hm, I think that's all. One a week since mid-September… That's about right. I'm making Chicken Tortilla soup tomorrow. And PW reminded me of French Onion and Broccoli and Cheese. Bill mentioned that we can go buy ingredients for his chili.

Yup, it's soup season.

This is better (for our health) than pasta season.

Don't worry, that's next.

Thanksgiving tip #13

Or a "tip for peeling carrots". I have discovered that it is much easier to peel a carrot if you start out holding the skinny end. Peel the fat end first. Then turn it around and peel the skinny end. My first instinct has always been to peel the skinny end first. But then you have no grip to hold the carrot while you peel the fat end. It can easily slip out of your hand. Trust me, it's much easier to peel the fat end first.

I just thought you might find that helpful for Thanksgiving dinner.

Of course it may have been more helpful had I posted it when I thought about it ten hours ago. But I was too busy cutting the vegetables for my new favorite holiday dish.

That will be a post for another day.

Why #13? Because I'm not sure I've given any tips before and I didn't want to start with #1 because I didn't want you to think it was the most important tip. Besides #13 is my favorite number, so I started there.

t-shirts and tags

I have a t-shirt that is pretty old. It may actually be older than me. I have to ask my parents if they remember where and when they got it. I think they got it from my grandparents when they went to a trade show. My grandparents owned a small electronics shop in Niles, Michigan.

The shirt says "Built to Move, Road-Rated Receivers, Craig".

I don't know anything about the Craig brand and wonder if they're still around. Yes, I could do a quick google search, but frankly I don't think I care enough right now.

The point is the tag in the shirt. Have you noticed how much our tags have changed? Many clothes are tagless. Most have symbols, which I don't understand. This t-shirt that is easily from the 1980's has a tag that, get this, is only written in English.

Shocking.

Plus, the best part, it was made in the U.S.A. and actually has the address of the Ohio company that made it.

It's like a piece of history. 

Maybe it belongs in a museum.

At any rate, I thought that was cool and wanted to share that with you.

If you read my post yesterday, I mentioned I had a secret ingredient in the carrot soup. We've eaten dinner, so I can share the secret with you now; it was honey. Just a tablespoon or so. I didn't measure, I just squeezed in an amount close to that. You can't taste it, but I think it helps cut the otherwise overwhelming carrot flavor. 

What's up Doc?

You might assume that with a title like that, I had to go see the doctor. You would be wrong.

This is what I was thinking as I was peeling and cutting up some carrots. I've made mention before that one of my favorite things to eat for lunch, outside of apple season, is carrots with hummus. I had to buy carrots for some other dishes I'm using, so my lunches alternate between the in-season apples and the carrots.

In true Looney Tunes fashion, while I was cooking dinner, I watched in slow motion as the pot of boiling tomato sauce bubbled. I was peering over the pot, checking on it, like you do, when the bubble started. It was supposed to be simmering. I looked closer (yup, I leaned closer) to see if this was a lot of small bubbles. As the sauce moved and my brain comprehended what was about to happen, my body froze. I couldn't move out of the way. The bubble grew bigger and bigger. The entire pot seemed to be alive. It wasn't many small bubbles, it was one BIG bubble.

POP!

Mt. Vesuvius erupted. All over me. As if the sauce were taunting me. And all I could hear was Bugs Bunny with his carrot, "eh, what's up doc?"

Needless to say dinner was delicious. I made Baked Eggs in Spicy Tomato Sauce with Goat Cheese and Toast. Yeah, I'm going to have to find a shorter name for that dish. It was exactly what the name says it was. The only problem was that I burned the roof of my mouth. It was hot. Very hot. Another Bugs Bunny moment.

Hey, wait. It's a full moon isn't it?

apples & carrots

Strange title for a post, let me explain.

Last year, I decided to try to eat a fruit or veggie a day. Yes, just one. Baby steps. Well it worked. I eat a lot more than just one fruit or veggie a day and it started with apples for lunch. That is one of my favorite things to eat. A Honeycrisp apple with natural peanut butter. It's filling, tasty, crunchy, and sweet all at once. It hits all of my cravings. I also enjoy fresh blueberries and strawberries in my yogurt, but I miss the crunch (hence my need for granola). From spring through early winter, I can have these fruits for my lunch and am quite satisfied. Then comes winter.

The Honeycrisp apples last a long time in my fridge. When I went back to the local apple orchard late this fall, the Honeycrisp season was over. The woman recommended Fuji. They were okay, but not as sweet as my Honeycrisp. After the Fuji were gone, I bought a couple Honeycrisp from the grocery store, knowing they were really from Washington, or somewhere far away. The flavor was completely different. I could tell. Time to look for something new.

I've found a winter alternative. Carrots and hummus. Sure the carrots are also from someplace far away, but at least they're labeled organic and they keep for a long time. I like to buy them as seen in the picture, and cut them up myself. That's how my mom always kept carrots and they have more flavor (in my opinion) than those baby carrots. Add in some hummus (which is at least made in Michigan) and it's just as filling as my apple.

I did freeze some berries, so I'm going to pull those out for some smoothies just to mix it up a bit. I may buy some rice cakes too (the cheesy ones are my favorite). Notice anything about my cravings? I enjoy crunching. I don't know why?